From what I have experienced of connect so far - other than the extra things it puts in other places on the MMI (Google Earth, message dictation, myAudi destinations etc), it seems the main menu of connect is driven around a basic web service client (to my eyes anyway).
I think it goes to the Audi website (on a given URL) and picks up a list of available connect services from some web service somewhere, and shows these as a menu - possibly with the icon encoded in here too, or referenced somehow. Once you select an item, it can make another call to show some basic things. All the screens in connect seem to follow the same structure - there is the main services view (a list with icons), a menu view (the 'circular' menu you see - eg, like the main MMI menu), a list view (simple scroll up and down a list - perhaps this is the same as the one with icons?), an item / page view (appears to be a basic rendering engine for either HTML or possibly some kind of custom markup), and all of this information appears to be fed from the web service, given the fact that you have to wait for each to load when you navigate around.
Because of all this - I'm wondering whether it's possible to extend Audi Connect with 'custom' services/apps. I'm a web developer myself so I think I could easily replicate the calls that the car makes to Audi, and insert my own entries (or remove ones I don't use, or even modify & enhance the output of the existing ones). You could potentially add all kinds of custom services in there, linking in to any third party that provides an API at a guess.
This would all hinge on being able to reset the basic URI that connect uses to contact 'home', and switch it to a custom one, which you could potentially then use as a 'middle man' to interpret requests from the car, forward them on to Audi as appropriate, and modify the response before it gets back to the car. Depending on the hardware and infrastructure that Audi are using, there is also the potential to increase the speeds by caching some of the basic stuff (main menus etc) to avoid having to contact Audi for them.
Is there anyone who knows of anything like this being done before? Does anyone know how the URL would be stored (My guess would be that it's hard coded in the MMI software), or if it's possible to override? Could it even be done outside of the car through the SIM card somehow, with additional hardware? Perhaps there is a module you can buy that can monitor web traffic on a SIM card and modify as appropriate?
I think it goes to the Audi website (on a given URL) and picks up a list of available connect services from some web service somewhere, and shows these as a menu - possibly with the icon encoded in here too, or referenced somehow. Once you select an item, it can make another call to show some basic things. All the screens in connect seem to follow the same structure - there is the main services view (a list with icons), a menu view (the 'circular' menu you see - eg, like the main MMI menu), a list view (simple scroll up and down a list - perhaps this is the same as the one with icons?), an item / page view (appears to be a basic rendering engine for either HTML or possibly some kind of custom markup), and all of this information appears to be fed from the web service, given the fact that you have to wait for each to load when you navigate around.
Because of all this - I'm wondering whether it's possible to extend Audi Connect with 'custom' services/apps. I'm a web developer myself so I think I could easily replicate the calls that the car makes to Audi, and insert my own entries (or remove ones I don't use, or even modify & enhance the output of the existing ones). You could potentially add all kinds of custom services in there, linking in to any third party that provides an API at a guess.
This would all hinge on being able to reset the basic URI that connect uses to contact 'home', and switch it to a custom one, which you could potentially then use as a 'middle man' to interpret requests from the car, forward them on to Audi as appropriate, and modify the response before it gets back to the car. Depending on the hardware and infrastructure that Audi are using, there is also the potential to increase the speeds by caching some of the basic stuff (main menus etc) to avoid having to contact Audi for them.
Is there anyone who knows of anything like this being done before? Does anyone know how the URL would be stored (My guess would be that it's hard coded in the MMI software), or if it's possible to override? Could it even be done outside of the car through the SIM card somehow, with additional hardware? Perhaps there is a module you can buy that can monitor web traffic on a SIM card and modify as appropriate?
