feat: Simplify the usage of CLI by improving UX

[amiv1]

Feature description

I'd like to open a discussion regarding the UX direction of this tool. This was kind of already discussed in the original project but it didn't lead to anything in the end. I hope maintainers of Morphe would see benefit in having a CLI tool comparable to the morphe-manager in terms of usability for those who want to patch APKs on a PC.

Here are some improvements the CLI tool could make:

• It could prioritise working with official Morphe patches by downloading the latest ones automatically. Anyone who wants to use custom/non-official patch bundles can do so by explicitly specifying it in the command arguments.
• The --purge option should be the default.
• The keystore could be automatically stored in a directory within the user’s home directory depending on the platform.
• The tool could be interactive, so a user can select what patches to disable.

Is this a good idea? I’m open to contributing by implementing some or all parts of this if the maintainers are on board.

Motivation

As a morphe-cli tool user, I’d appreciate a simple and easy way to apply official patches from morphe-patches to my application with reusable signing key and without cluttering my filesystem with temporary files in the process.

This is what motivated me to create a shell script that provides a simple interface: ./morphe-patch.sh app.apk.

For most use cases, practically nothing else is needed from the tool. I simply take an APK, input it into the tool and receive a patched version as an output.

Acknowledgements

• I have checked all open and closed feature requests and this is not a duplicate.
• I have chosen an appropriate title.

[LisoUseInAIKyrios]

A simple GUI would be much welcomed. I think something like this could focus on being foolproof, simple to use, and handle the most common use cases. Can make it smarter later with patch options and other stuff. Some use cases may still need terminal commands, but those are less common and instead just focus on removing the awful need of looking up patch names to include/exclude and figuring out command line syntax.

Most users don't want to learn how to use terminal or command prompt. A dead simple clickable GUI solves all this.

A while ago I wanted to make something like this with a Java GUI, and the GUI is the manifest main application so cli becomes a double clickable app.

First iteration of this could be as simple as a flow of:

• "Open patches MPP file" (open file picker) or "Use latest Morphe patches" (downloads latest MPP patch file)
• "Open APK" (open file picker)
• "Select patches" (list of patches, default patches are already checked)
• (wait while app is patched)
• "Install?" (yes > installs by ADB)
• "Save patched APK?" (yes > saves patched apk to disk)
• "Thank you goodbye!" (app quits)

By default, it can cleanup and delete the temporary folder after patching completes.

The signing key can be either stored somewhere in the user data (with a way to export from the app), or just save it to disk in the same directory as the cli jar. I think saving to the same directory is easiest and remains consistent with existing CLI usage.

[amiv1]

@LisoUseInAIKyrios sounds like an idea for a whole new GUI based tool, then. It would definitely simplify everything even more. In such case, the current CLI interface could remain as a tool for more advanced/automated usage only.

[LisoUseInAIKyrios]

Ideally everything is Java swing based because swing is built into Java and will work just fine for something this simple.

Anyone could take a go at this.

[prateek-who]

Instead of going the GUI route, we could build a TUI right? A TUI that makes the CLI usage much more user friendly. The user would have to get their own yt app ofc, but after that the TUI would auto fetch the latest patches file and anything else required and simply the process much more. I was pondering on this idea. Also, sorry, I am new to the whole developement, please correct me if I say something that doesn't make sense.

[LisoUseInAIKyrios]

A text based user interface is possible, but using the keyboard to interact is less user friendly than a simple GUI to click on. Everything a text based user interface can do, a simple GUI can do better.

Something like this could probably be ai assistant coded up in a few hours.

[prateek-who]

If one were to build this GUI, does the Morphe team require it to be built in Java? Since everything else is in Java/ Kotlin.

[LisoUseInAIKyrios]

Ideally it would be Java or kotlin because then we can easily improve/maintain it.

For Java GUI components a third party library like JavaFX could be pulled in, but I think it's preferred to use Java Swing because it's built into Java and it's simple to use. The GUI doesn't need to be fancy or pretty, it just needs to be simple, handle the most common use cases (download patches, pick patches, install patched app, etc), and be as idiot proof as possible.

[prateek-who]

Ideally it would be Java or kotlin because then we can easily improve/maintain it.

For Java GUI components a third party library like JavaFX could be pulled in, but I think it's preferred to use Java Swing because it's built into Java and it's simple to use. The GUI doesn't need to be fancy or pretty, it just needs to be simple, handle the most common use cases (download patches, pick patches, install patched app, etc), and be as idiot proof as possible.

I have built something and it would be lovely if you could take a look at it.

[LisoUseInAIKyrios]

Sure. Fork this repo and add your changes to it.

If it's currently just a stubbed out UI (a UI that's not hooked up to actually run patching yet), make a repo for it under your GitHub account.

[prateek-who]

I have privately uploaded it under my repo. Do I add you as a contributor so that you'll be able to interact with it? (I am not the best with git, so my bad on that part)

[LisoUseInAIKyrios]

You can. But a public repo is better if you want others to review or give feedback.

[prateek-who]

I'll make it public once you take a look at it

[LisoUseInAIKyrios]

See the first issue in your repo. It looks great so far.

[ArcherLegend]

@prateek-who can't wait to see it published