BrickTools

BrickTools is a collection of tools and system apps to improve your Trimui Brick device.
It is meant to be used with Stock firmware or with StockMix/CrossMix.
It integrates really well with the device theme by using the same assets and fonts.

Installing

Download the latest release ZIP from here.
Extract the zip to the root of your SDCard.

Screenshots

Utilities

Network

User Interface

LED Control

System

Customization

BrickTools is easy to customize by adding entries to the menu.json file.
You can define new menu options and specify their behavior.
The following widget types are available:

• Command

  • A simple item that triggers an action when pressed.
  • Example: "type": "cmd"

• Toggle

  • A switch that can be turned on or off.
  • On script execution, the first parameter is the new state of the widget. (0 or 1 which corresponds to "Off" or "On")
  • Example: "type": "toggle"

• Select

  • Select an item from a list of options.
  • On script execution, the first parameter is the index of the selected item (zero based, so 0 is the first item).
  • Example: "type": "select"

• Menu

  • Opens a list of sub-items. It can contain any item type and can chain multiple levels.
  • Example: "type": "menu"

The default menu.json contains many examples of each type of widget.

Actions and Shell Commands

In BrickTools, actions are triggered by interacting with the menu options defined in the menu.json file.
Each menu option can be configured to execute specific shell commands based on the user's input. Here is how it works:

Command Execution

When a menu option is selected, the corresponding shell command is executed.
The type of action determines how the command is executed:

• Command (cmd)

  • Executes a shell script or command when the item is selected.
  • Example:

    {
      "label": "Reboot",
      "description": "Reboot the system",
      "type": "cmd",
      "execute": "./scripts/reboot.sh",
      "output": "line"
    }

• Toggle (toggle)

  • Executes a shell script or command to toggle a setting on or off.
  • Example:

    {
      "label": "SSH Server",
      "description": "Manage the SSH server",
      "type": "toggle",
      "execute": "./scripts/sshd.sh",
      "output": "line",
      "load": "./scripts/sshd.sh check"
    }

• Select (select)

  • Executes a shell script or command to set a value from a list of options.
  • Example:

    {
      "label": "LED Mode",
      "description": "Set the LED mode",
      "type": "select",
      "items": ["Default", "Battery level", "CPU speed", "Temperature", "Effect"],
      "execute": "./scripts/ledmode.sh",
      "output": "none",
      "load": "./scripts/ledmode.sh check"
    }

• Menu (menu)

  • Opens a submenu with additional options.
  • Example:

    {
      "label": "Network",
      "type": "menu",
      "description": "Network related tools and settings",
      "menu": [
        {
          "label": "IP Address",
          "description": "{{ip_address}}",
          "type": "cmd",
          "execute": "./scripts/ip.sh",
          "output": "line",
          "load": "./scripts/ip.sh"
        }
      ]
    }

Difference Between execute and load

• execute Property

  • The execute property specifies the shell script or command that is triggered when the user interacts with the menu item (e.g., clicks on it).
  • This action is performed based on the user's input and can involve any operation such as starting a service, changing a setting, or performing a system action.

• load Property

  • The load property specifies the shell script or command that is executed when the menu item is displayed or when the app decides to update the UI state of the item.
  • This script should execute as fast as possible because it is used to dynamically update the UI with real-time information, such as replacing tags with current values or states.

Shell Scripts

The shell scripts executed by these actions are located in the scripts directory.
Each script performs a specific task, such as rebooting the system, managing services, or configuring settings.
The scripts can also provide feedback by outputting information or updating the state of the menu options.

Special Tags

BrickTools uses special tags enclosed in {{ }} to dynamically update the UI with real-time information.
These tags can be used in the description or label fields of menu options to display current states, values, or other dynamic content.
Here is how they work:

Usage

Special tags are placeholders that get replaced with actual values when the menu is displayed.
They are particularly useful for showing the current state of a setting or displaying real-time information such as IP addresses or service statuses.

Examples

• IP Address

  • The {{ip_address}} tag is used to display the current IP address.
  • Example:

    {
      "label": "IP Address",
      "description": "{{ip_address}}",
      "type": "cmd",
      "execute": "./scripts/ip.sh",
      "output": "line",
      "load": "./scripts/ip.sh"
    }

• Service Status

  • The {{listening}} tag is used to display the status of a service, such as whether it is running or not.
  • Example:

    {
      "label": "SFTPGo Server",
      "description": "{{listening}}",
      "type": "toggle",
      "execute": "./scripts/sftpgo.sh",
      "output": "line",
      "load": "./scripts/sftpgo.sh check"
    }

• Toggle State

  • The {{state}} tag is used to display the current state of a toggle option.
  • Example:

    {
      "label": "Max CPU Frequency",
      "description": "Set the maximum CPU frequency permanently.",
      "type": "toggle",
      "execute": "./scripts/cpumax.sh",
      "output": "none",
      "load": "./scripts/cpumax.sh check"
    }

How It Works

When the load script is executed, it can output values in the format {{tag=value}}.
These values are then used to replace the corresponding tags in the menu descriptions.
This allows the UI to reflect the current state or value dynamically.

Example Script Output

Here is an example of how a script might output values to update the UI:

#!/bin/sh

# Example script to check the IP address
IP=$(ip route get 1 2>/dev/null | awk '{print $NF;exit}')
echo "{{ip_address=$IP}}"