dcs wifi import export question

RJR,

After you open the "Files" app tap the menu in the upper right corner (three vertical dots).

If you see "Show Internal Storage" then just tap it to select. If you see "Hide Internal Storage" then you don't need to do anything.

The hamburger menu (three bars) should be in the upper left corner when you open the files app.

There is a nifty app called "ES File Explorer" It makes transferring, copying, and send files to other devices or network locations pretty easy. This is how I've always done my app export. I use the program to copy the file to my Network Attached Storage (NAS) and then any device that connects to my home network can grab the file and import. As my NAS is also backed up frequently. My App configuration is backed up as well.

John, not on mine.  The files app on my phone is titled "My Files."  Is this what you have?

RJR,

It looks like devices from different manufacturers may have screens that look a little different than the ones in the MTH instructions. For example, I looked at my Samsung Galaxy tablet and the app you need to use is called "My Files" instead of just "Files". After I opened the app, I was able to find the file by tapping on "Internal Storage" and then following the path described in the MTH instructions.  You can probably also use a 3rd party app like the one H1000 mentions above to find the file.  The important part of the instructions is part 5 where they tell you the path to follow to find the file.

Thanks, John.  My phone & tablets are also Samsung galaxies.  Found the files.  Next question is why on the newer tablet & phone, the app doesn't open up an e-mail with the file as an attachment.

And of course, the OP's question remains unanswered.  Are there any programs that can take the remote's txt file and convert it to American English?

Glad you got it to work. MTH didn't really give me an answer as to why this happens. At least they are aware of it and will hopefully make it easier in the next update.

Knowing where the file lies, hopefully one can make it an attachment to an email, or else access it directly from a computer thru Explorer and e-mail it from there.

On my Samsung tablet I can just "long press" the filename and a menu will appear at the bottom of the screen. Just choose "share" from that menu and you should be able to email the file to yourself.

Thanks.  Hadn't realized that.

I am currently using my I pad which has the premium app. I have an old  iPhone that I would also like to use. When I use the import export feature I get the message I need to upgrade to the premium app on my iPhone. Do I have to pay for premium again even though I paid for it on my iPad or is there something else I should be doing

you pay once for either IOS or Android version of the app. It will prompt for payment again but your account won't be charged for the same version.

Thank you

If you sign into the Apple App Store on your iPhone using the same App Store account that you used to purchase the app on your iPad, you will be able to download the app again without having to purchase, even with it being on a different device.

Once in the App Store, select your account icon, top right, and select Purchased.  This will display the list of apps you have already purchased or downloaded for free.  Find the Wi-fi DCS app and pick it, it will download without any prompts to purchase.  Maybe a security prompt for your App Store password to allow installation.

Gary

GREAT POST! this has been extremely helpful, & i was able to get the export function to work on an old samsung galaxy note 4 i have been using as a DCS wifi app remote - FINALLLY!

however, now i have a brand new, just purchased yesterday samsung galaxy tab A7 lite (tablet) to use as my new main DCS wifi app remote, but i can not locate the 'created' export file - it is as if it is not making a file.  derived from this post the route i am taking to find the file is:

my files

internal storage

android

data

and then it shows 'no files'.  am i looking in the wrong place?   premium app installed, storage permission has been granted, show hidden files checked & i have opened every 'data' file folder looking for the 'com.spindance.mthremote' & so far no luck (but i can find it easily now on my old note 4, haha!)

thanks for any advice/help in advance,

-travis

You are looking in the right place, but if COM.SPINDANCE.MTHREMOTE isn't there for you to select, I'm at a loss as to why.  After that you select the only choice available, at least for me, CACHE, and it's after that one you get wifiDCSExport... and the date it was created.  From there you email the file to yourself and use your phone's access to your email to find the file and import it.  Ever since JohnF spelled out how to do it on an android device, I've never had the first problem.  I've actually had to go the opposite direction once.  No problems.  I can't imagine that purchasing a new tablet has suddenly caused your DCS Export feature to go hinky.  It's as simple as falling off a log as my dad once said.  You just go to and tap Export.  DCS doesn't really do much after that that you can watch take place on the screen.  You just sort of if not exactly have to take it on faith that the procedure worked.  No, "Export successfully completed", or "You have now exported the file", just crickets.  Then you got to My Files on your tablet and follow the steps confirmed above and when you get to the data folder, COM.SPINDANCE. you know the rest, file is either at the very top or very bottom of the list.  But you get no list.  I wish I had more for you on that one.  If there were more to the export side of this, maybe we could brain storm the problem and figure out what DCS isn't doing.  But since DCS really doesn't do all that much in the way of steps to follow, and never has, in my experience, confirmed the export step actually took place, I'm gonna have to leave it there.

Wish I could be more help

I did some testing on my phone just a bit ago with the export function and ran into the same behavior as Travis.  Now instead of browsing through folders, I use Cx File Explorer and just have it look up all recent files and the export didn't generate any file on my phone I also used its search feature to find all .mth files and only found the import file I used last year.

I know this has worked on my other devices, and I'd like to think the export process did include a confirmation of some sort but it's been a while since I last used it. I'll tinker more with it this evening and see if there is something I'm missing but the process is usually pretty straight forward.

Thanks for the replies!  i am not a 'computer guy' by any stretch, but i can follow instructions.  was pretty sure i was in correct place, but would never get the next 'cache' folder location after 'data' where i found the 'com.spindance.mthremote' file on other devices on the newsest samsung tablet.  i find it easily now on old phone running the older android system - so something with newest android os must have changed & will hopefully be addressed with a new version of DCS app, hopefully we get that soon.  import/export feature is quite handy.

as a side note which may be helpful for other people;  what drove me to a new tablet was that my original primary DCS wifi app remote was a 'cracked' amazon kindle fire - which for the most part worked just fine, even the import/export function.  what it did do weird was that it would loose engine name info all the time, but only active engines on powered track & not all of them would loose info.  seemed random & did not matter if PS2 3v or 5v or PS3.  some times doing several reads would a bring an engine's info back, but if i did another read, it may lose it again.  recover engine function did not help either.  all inactive engines at time of read would have all their info, but be inactive & if not on a powered track can not be moved to active status.  so, i would power up my system, do an engine read, and it could see the engines, it would show their DCS place holder number but no name or identifier info (ie: PR Niagara, GN SD24 #576, etc).  not a deal breaker but annoying especially when running multiple engines with no real identifier other than the DCS number.  so as a back up, i started using the old samsung note 4 as it never seemed to have this problem (until yesterday it did it on 2 engines, but that is the only time, so far).  once i had a good engine list with all info, i would export it & keep as a master when i added new engines or made multiple engine consists and to fix the kindle when it would drop engine info & also keep both remotes the same (all same info, eng's with same place holder numbers)

lastly, my set up is a large seasonal floor layout running through four rooms & a hallway, o-gauge tubular track (lionel 072 & menards 096), rossplate switches (THE BEST), mth z4000 & 2 lionel 180w bricks for power with one handle of z4000 powering individually switched power feeders to sidings & rest powering main lines with feeders every 10 isolated track sections, original tmcc (using gun runner johns tmcc booster) & DCS system (TIU & WIU, no handheld DCS remote)

again, thanks for replies, confirmation, help & co-misery

-travis

Another tidbit of research from Barry's DCS WiFi Companion Book revealed that the app is supposed to display a message like "Export Complete" when the file export is finished.

I'm not going to dispute anyones results on any portion of this investigation.  I can only tell you what happened to me this morning when I tested the Export process.  More...  Advanced Features   Import/Export   then I tapped Export.  Nothing.  Not one word.  Just a blank screen with Import on top and Export under it.  As if I hadn't tapped either one.

I then went to My Files and ran the gauntlet of folders I had to navigate to get to the wifiDCSexport... file and there was today's date proving Export had in fact done what it was designed to do and that is export the current information into a file i could use.  Unless I am not seeing some small, hard to see, blink of an eye message that says Export Complete, as Barry said it is supposed to do, I have to stick to my first thought and maintain that the app is failing to that on my particular tablet.  From this thread and the information given to us about the engine list screen, it appears DCS works differently on different versions of Android devices.  My Tab A has done quite well with running the app ever since I switched form Remote operation to WIFI operation.  As for future new updated or upgraded versions of the app to fix problems, and this is where i got in trouble before I quit coming here, unless one of the companies that bought different pieces of MTH manufacturing or MTH if it still has the DCS system under its wing, I'm way out of the loop these days, decides to spend any time or money on it, you can bet the version we have now will be the version our great grandkids use.  Please fill me in on any strides being made to upgrade or improve DCS, but 6.1 seems to be the last effort they plan to make.  I could be and hope I am wrong.