I'm working on a Honeycomb optimized bible app for my new Transformer, and I was wondering if anyone knows a good source for bibles in sqlite format that are free to distribute. I believe the KJV is public domain in most countries, so that will probably be my starting point. I also want to include the option for supporting a number of different translations though, so I'd prefer to find a common table format that I wouldn't have to modify. I found a few versions available here, but I'm not really happy with the format. Anybody know any other sources?
I'm hoping to have at least a proof of concept version together within the next few days. If anyone is interested, I can post it here for people to try out and give feedback.
May I suggest using a different method? Storing an entire book in an sqlite database doesn't seem smart.
I'd try a text based approach, one verse per line, with an sqlite index used for quick navigation and lookups. this also allows for much better compression.
Thanks for the reply. Could you explain why using a database isn't a good idea? It seemed like a good idea to me, and every existing bible program I've seen uses that approach. Could you explain your proposal in a little more detail? Are you suggesting a plain txt file to store the whole thing?
Sorry if I'm misunderstanding something, I don't actually have any real education in any kind of development. Just an enthusiastic amateur
I'd be most definitely interested. I've used PocketBible for years, but there was nothing really for Droid. So I bought AcroBible, but the interface was clumsy and adding books was really jacked. So lately I've been using Tecarta. It has an easy to use interface and is cheap. I bought my TF because I do a lot of Bible teaching and thought it would be easier to handle than the paper stuff. So what I'd really like is a side by side arrangement, where I could place my own notes (several pages per class) and on the other side have an independently scrolling Bible, much like Tecarta's split screen for viewing two translations at once.
I'd be more than happy to be a beta tester for you.
John 3:30
jideay said:
I'd be most definitely interested. I've used PocketBible for years, but there was nothing really for Droid. So I bought AcroBible, but the interface was clumsy and adding books was really jacked. So lately I've been using Tecarta. It has an easy to use interface and is cheap. I bought my TF because I do a lot of Bible teaching and thought it would be easier to handle than the paper stuff. So what I'd really like is a side by side arrangement, where I could place my own notes (several pages per class) and on the other side have an independently scrolling Bible, much like Tecarta's split screen for viewing two translations at once.
I'd be more than happy to be a beta tester for you.
John 3:30
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's basically exactly what I'm planning. One thin fragment to display a list of available books, and the rest of the screen split evenly between the bible content (verses) and a notes pane. I'll mock up a UI demo first since I don't want to start too much work on the behind the scenes stuff until I decide on a bible container/format. I'll post the UI demo for comments on usability, etc.
I would very much like to Beta test for you as well. I'm currently using the Latin Vulgate bible from the Market and while I like it well, I'd like to have multiple translations (possibly Greek as well?) at my fingertips.
While I wish I could help with the programming side, I can definitely commit to thoroughly testing for you.
Best of luck!
fatbas202 said:
I would very much like to Beta test for you as well. I'm currently using the Latin Vulgate bible from the Market and while I like it well, I'd like to have multiple translations (possibly Greek as well?) at my fingertips.
While I wish I could help with the programming side, I can definitely commit to thoroughly testing for you.
Best of luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is why I really need to find some common format. Nothing would change on the code side to display different translations, you just point it at a different source and everything works correctly.
I was kind of hoping I could use the databases that the Youversion bible stores on your SD card, but they are encrypted (understandably). It would be great to have a 3rd party source (ie, not me) to handle licensing, distribution, and format control for a wide variety of bibles/translations. It's not looking like that is going to work out though. The search continues. In the meantime, UI stuff.
Youversion ftw
HeisRisen said:
Youversion ftw
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Youversion is awesome on my phone, not so much on my TF. I'm sure they will ultimately develop a tablet friendly version, and with the wide variety of translations they offer I'm sure it will be my go-to app eventually.
That said, I thought this would be a fun project to learn how to use fragments.
I found a couple sources for bibles in XML format as well. I'll have to do some performance testing on those vs sqlite based bibles.
Unfortunately I haven't gotten any time to play with this yet, and I'm going to be out of town all weekend (hog hunting then working on a house my wife and I are building). At this rate, youversion might have something available before me!
bedoig said:
Thanks for the reply. Could you explain why using a database isn't a good idea? It seemed like a good idea to me, and every existing bible program I've seen uses that approach. Could you explain your proposal in a little more detail? Are you suggesting a plain txt file to store the whole thing?
Sorry if I'm misunderstanding something, I don't actually have any real education in any kind of development. Just an enthusiastic amateur
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry for the late response. The problem with storing it all in the DB is it will be slow. Databases aren't designed to store massive amounts of text like an entire book.
Imagine trying to display an entire chapter (or whatever they are called in the bible). You'd have to do SELECT * FROM verses WHERE chapter='1' ORDER BY verse ASC. SQLite then needs to read megabytes of text and send it back to you, which is going to be slow.
With a DB + flat file approach, you can do something like: SELECT line FROM chapters WHERE id='1' -- this would get you a single number, which points to a line number in bible.txt. Then if you wanted chapter 1 verse 5, you take that line number, add 5, then read that line from the file. This should be much faster than storing the entire book in a database, and allows for dead simple language support (can have kjv.txt, niv.txt, etc).
I would offer to help further with the project, but am a strict atheist. I do wish you all the luck with the project, though.
Gary13579 said:
Sorry for the late response. The problem with storing it all in the DB is it will be slow. Databases aren't designed to store massive amounts of text like an entire book.
Imagine trying to display an entire chapter (or whatever they are called in the bible). You'd have to do SELECT * FROM verses WHERE chapter='1' ORDER BY verse ASC. SQLite then needs to read megabytes of text and send it back to you, which is going to be slow.
With a DB + flat file approach, you can do something like: SELECT line FROM chapters WHERE id='1' -- this would get you a single number, which points to a line number in bible.txt. Then if you wanted chapter 1 verse 5, you take that line number, add 5, then read that line from the file. This should be much faster than storing the entire book in a database, and allows for dead simple language support (can have kjv.txt, niv.txt, etc).
I would offer to help further with the project, but am a strict atheist. I do wish you all the luck with the project, though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the input. That would allow the flexibility I'm looking for, but would probably require me to set up all the translations myself. I was hoping to use some of the existing resources that are out there, which seem to consist of sqlite or xml.
XML might work OK on a desktop, but I'm not sure the performance will be at all acceptable on a mobile device. I was looking at possibly using SAX to parse the XML bibles I found. We'll see.
Anyway, thanks for the responses
I'm using my church's (LDS) App, and it works great on my Transformer!
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.ldsscriptures.scriptures&feature=search_result
It's free too
Olivetree's products do work...I'm using an NASB w/Strongs. Its fairly customizable but I don't use the integrated notes or anything.
Got a little time to work on this over the last couple days. Basic concept is running. Any comments on the overall layout? I was going to go with a 3 column approach where the chapter list replaces the book list when you select a book, but I think this 4 column layout works better (books | chapters | verses | notes). This allows the fastest possible navigation, and the additional chapters column is really skinny so you don't lose much space for the rest of the content.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Things are coming along nicely. I still have a lot of work to do on the notes section, but the bible portion is basically done. Very happy with the performance too... its fast
If anyone wants to test it out let me know. Otherwise I'll be making the first release after the notes section is functional.
Count me in please. I would love to test things out for you as well.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
bedoig said:
I was kind of hoping I could use the databases that the Youversion bible stores on your SD card, but they are encrypted (understandably).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, I'm almost positive I opened up their SQLite databases a long while back without issue. It may have been on my iOS device at the time though, so it could be different with Android.
Either way, for a standard I would checkout AndBible. Several months ago I thought about trying to get into Android development to make a Strong's Concordance, but when I found AndBible gave it up. They use all public domain stuff hosted on some website that you can download.
I have a MySQL database of NIV, NKJV, NLT, KJV, and a few others. If you're interested PM me. They DO NOT contain formatting markers though, which may make it useless in a book form (I sure wouldn't want to read a Bible without proper formatting ), and I'm not sure about the licensing or anything as I got them free from a piece of open source software and don't use them for anything but personal use. KJV is license free though.
I'd also be interested in checking out what you have.
onfire4g05 said:
Hmm, I'm almost positive I opened up their SQLite databases a long while back without issue. It may have been on my iOS device at the time though, so it could be different with Android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe they figure that iOS devices are more secure since they don't really provide file system access or removable storage. The ones that were downloaded by the Android app seemed to have the scripture fields encrypted. I could view the table structure, see the names of books, etc... but the verses themselves weren't readable.
onfire4g05 said:
Either way, for a standard I would checkout AndBible. Several months ago I thought about trying to get into Android development to make a Strong's Concordance, but when I found AndBible gave it up. They use all public domain stuff hosted on some website that you can download.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll check that out, thanks.
onfire4g05 said:
I have a MySQL database of NIV, NKJV, NLT, KJV, and a few others. If you're interested PM me. They DO NOT contain formatting markers though, which may make it useless in a book form (I sure wouldn't want to read a Bible without proper formatting ), and I'm not sure about the licensing or anything as I got them free from a piece of open source software and don't use them for anything but personal use. KJV is license free though.
I'd also be interested in checking out what you have.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have personal (hard)copies of the NIV and NKJV, so would definitely be interested in the databases for personal use. I really don't want to get involved in licensing, so if I distribute anything it will probably be the KJV. If my program is compatible with external resources it shouldn't be an issue though.
I'm actually not all that concerned about the formatting markers at this point. For a reading program I agree they're important, but I'm currently viewing this as more of a quick study/lookup/note-taking kinda thing. Speed and ease of use are my biggest goals. There are already so many good programs that handle longer reading sessions well. Hope that's not too disappointing. Long term I'd like to format everything properly, but I have a lot of other features planned that will come first.
I was going to wait until I've got the notes section done, but if anyone wants to play around just for fun I could go ahead and post it. I like using the Market since it makes handling updates super easy, but I don't think this is really ready for the general user yet. Maybe I'll post the apk here for the time being.
Edit - apk is attached. It's best to just ignore the notes section for now, the current setup is just a textview as a placeholder.
*** The bible.db.zip MUST be unzipped at "/sdcard/Bibles/". If you don't have the database saved at /sdcard/Bibles/bible.db this will not work.
Let me know what you think, but keep in mind this is still very early.
Edit2 - oh, and take a look at the landscape vs portrait layouts. At first I had the notes section below the verses when in portrait but I took it out for the time being. It worked fairly well though, so I'll make it a user selectable option in the future. Let me know your thoughts either way.
Took a shortcut and used code from the Google Notepad example to fill out my 'notes' section. I think it works good enough for a first release, but I'll probably have to re-do it to accomodate my long-term plans. Version 0.1 will probably be released as a beta on the market within the next couple days.
Anybody have any comments on the bible section? Anybody want to test the full market version before release? If so, I need quick feedback or its useless.
New thread opened for the release of the app on the market. Please make any requests / comments there.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1138355
Related
I want to share this application to manage contacts is a demonstration version, it is really interesting and very fluid, it can display its contacts with photos or icons page of today and navigate shift
Je désire partager cette application pour gérer les contacts c'est une version démonstration, il est vraiment intéressant et très fluide, il permet d'afficher ses contacts en photos ou en icônes en page d'aujourd'hui et de naviguer en glissement
screenshots:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
for more information ...here
thanks again , .. einstein (albert) is my friend lol
sorry for my bad english( google translate)
good program
i will test it
thanks
Interesting ..
I've saw this app on Handago, and thought about giving it a try, but I'm in love with pocketcm. But I'm interested to know who much ram this thing takes, if and when someone uses this app?
hmm... I'm using PocketCM which I love, but I'd like something to give me quick access to certain contacts from the today screen (speed dial). This might be a little more than I'm looking for.
robosiris said:
I've saw this app on Handago, and thought about giving it a try, but I'm in love with pocketcm. But I'm interested to know who much ram this thing takes, if and when someone uses this app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am using it and its about 1mb of memory and I think the CAB is only about 500kb
iggy said:
I am using it and its about 1mb of memory and I think the CAB is only about 500kb
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does it require flash?? I noticed on the website it said something about that.
Thanks,
Curious G
no flash.lite...
No Flash involved. The memory used depends on the resolution of your device as we do some caching here and there to keep the animation smooth.
The binary that does all the work is about 200kb (the file is larger but most of it are graphic resources). On a 240x320 device caching should take an additional 140kb (but it can be reduced if you disable the reflection effect).
Some additional memory may be taken by Outlook Mobile when you interact with dialog boxes to Edit contacts, select contacts and so on.
Please let us know if you have any feedback.
BTW: the bad news is that after months of work, we released this yesterday, and, guess what, it's already been cracked. So while were planning to add some further features soon (such as the ability to instantly filter contacts by category via the right softkey in the Today screen), we may give up all this for the time being and literally WASTE time making it more for difficult to crack (which of course will also make the software larger and slower).
It's a very stupid world sometime...
This looks like a nice app. I can't seem to find the cab file. I am on my Treo. Could someone pls post the cab file. G8ly appreciated
Just visit www.cnetx.com using your Treo, visit the download page and it will automatically download the CAB file for you.
BTW: the CAB file is signed with a Microsoft M2M security certificate, so the process should be pretty smooth indeed.
Enjoy.
I installed it on my CDMA vogue/touch and I *really* like it so far. I have it inside my ultimatelaunch UI and its working great.
Couple points:
-the cracking thing sucks, but all software gets cracked. Its a fact of life. When it comes to PPC software, if I like it, I'll buy it. Most here on this forum will too. I like to support the community. I wouldn't be that disheartened.
-Features I'd like
1) automatically import my all my contacts or contact groups. It would be much faster than adding 1 by 1.
2) ability to resize the picture. The size it is now is okay, but I wanted to make it a bit bigger, although that might distort the picture I guess
3) maybe have multiple rows. If you have a few dozen contacts, you won't be able to see them (they will be "stacked" in the corner so-to-speak). I would like to be able to maybe put a dozen in one row, a dozen in the next (or however many I want per row) and so on.
If I don't find any bugs and I like it, I WILL buy it. Your price is fair.
Matt
1 - Install Cnetx face without serial
2 - In today, remove plug-in
3 - soft reset
4 - Copy dll and paste on windows folder (replace)
5 - run Cnetx face
unlock using 11111111111111
link for programe + crack
enjoy
WAREZ not permitted here you've been warned.
Torayem said:
1 - Install Cnetx face without serial
2 - In today, remove plug-in
3 - soft reset
4 - Copy dll and paste on windows folder (replace)
5 - run Cnetx face
enjoy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
NO WAREZ please remove link
Torayem said:
1 - Install Cnetx face without serial
2 - In today, remove plug-in
3 - soft reset
4 - Copy dll and paste on windows folder (replace)
5 - run Cnetx face
unlock using 11111111111111
link for programe + crack
enjoy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For Pete's sake, give me a f***ing break. This is the reason why developers are decreasing by the hour. It's a shame. Hackers have been cracking apps for the longest, but scammers have even gone so far as to take what developers here created (for free, including ROM's), and selling them on ebay. I'm not even a developer (or cook) of any kind, just a avid supporter, and it pisses me off.
Sorry, I had to vent when I saw this.
how signal to moderator??
Hey Matt,
thanks for your positive comments and your suggestions for future improvements.
Actually as I mentioned in my earlier post, one of the things we have in mind is to add support for contact categories, and this could indeed include adding contacts by category (or by "All Categories"). This should increase "usability", which as you can probably see was one of our main concern during development.
A nice looking UI is simply useless if not effective at accessing information. And most photo dialers or FAV apps fall short exactly in this area. With most of those apps, once you add more than a handful of contacts you simply get lost, because they lack indexing, sorting, direct access to contacts by initial and so on. And then you have to access a separate application and UI to make any little change to your contacts.
That's why, together with the 3D interface, we also focused on sorting, and indexing, or jumping to a contact by simply pressing the corresponding letter on the thumbboard or software panel, and making sure that all kinds of contact management tasks could be performed directly from Face Contact.
As for the size of pictures, actually, we already have support for that, as we handle different screen sizes and resolutions (so internally we are able to cope with different dimensions). But we don't expose any method to let the user resize the interface, which indeed could be another improvement.
Last but not least, as for the guy who just posted the crack here, I don't know exactly what the rules are here at "xda-DEVELOPERS", but I have a feeling he probably did it on purpose after reading my comments of how "stupid" all this is.
To put the whole thing in perspective, I'll say that seeing your own worked cracked hours after it's released, tells you that you probably released something good, or nobody would have bothered.
The stupidity is that, as it is now, something between 5% and 10% of the size of the binaries is probably code dealing with the registration, encrypting keys, supporting a black list to disable keys to are made public, and so on. Which is completely useless stuff.
And it took hours to crack anyway.
The idea of spending more time developing more useless stuff (to make the software more difficult to crack) simply make me sick. And I know, someone at the end will still crack it after a while, and in the meantime the binaries will be larger and slower, because of all this useless stuff.
And you never end.
So, as far as we are concerned, instead then focusing on developing features, we waste time on such useless stuff, trying to make the life of whoever is cracking more difficult. Which means that the cracker himself will also waste more time to succeed at cracking, instead than using his time and abilities to do anything useful. And so on and on and on.
And in the meantime, as a byproduct, the software itself gets larger, slower and full of useless stuff.
That's exactly how stupid it is.
im using the trial
the only request or thing thatd keep me from buying it is
1. it starts at one and not "centered"
2. it doesnt have an option to revolve
3. there isnt an option to hide the name or set it as name only... meaning no (h) (m) or (txt)
these are all simple fixes im sure, if these options could be added, im sure many users besides myself would love and purchase it.
great job guys, keep up the good work
I'm pretty sure that user will get banned as it's xdas policy not to allow warez. too bad for that user.
Looks like a nice app... but i don't have that many contacts with pictures. Would be great for someone that does though i bet.
ROCOAFZ said:
I'm pretty sure that user will get banned as it's xdas policy not to allow warez. too bad for that user.
Looks like a nice app... but i don't have that many contacts with pictures. Would be great for someone that does though i bet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it comes with icons and the option to choose a cropped picture of your choice.... its quite cool... especially if they allow it to revolve!
Hey Michael,
thanks for your feedback.
I'm not sure I understood everything you suggest though:
1) yes, at startup, or after a soft reset, it shows the beginning of the list, but thereafter it simply stays wherever you leave it... so if you leave it on a contat at the center of the list, it will remain there, until you move to a different contact, and so on... I'm afraid I don't understand what you are suggesting...
Or do you mean "centered within the today screen"?
If the latter is the issue simply go to the Contact Manager and then Menu > Display Options, and check the "Hide plugin icon" options... this will make it "centered".
2) By revolve, do you mean start all over when you are at the end of the list?
If this is the case, actually we considered this (and as you suggest it should be pretty easy to implement). The point is that it may get "confusing", because you could be missing a contact and simply go through the list again and again without even realizing. Also, if contacts are sorted, seeing "A" after "Z" could also be a little puzzling.
Anyway, if this is what you meant, we'll experiment and see if it actually makes sense without becoming distracting (as I said it is something that we were considering to at the beginning of development).
By the way, are you aware that you can instantly jump to the beginning or end of the list by pressing an appropriate key (on your thumbboard or software input panel)?
3) this is indeed easy... and as I think of it now, I understand that there are actually some people who don't have their "work contacts" on the phone, and only have "friends and family"... so indeed, as you suggest, the option of displaying only the name should be given.
I have some concern though on hiding completely the caption... as this would also remove the Index-Tracking letter while scrolling, which I believe is quite helpful if you have many contacts, as it tells you where you are in the list while scrolling.
The same applies the (m), (h), etc. which is meant to give you a clue of the number called if you simply hit the START CALL key of your phone... which is the quickest and easiest way to place a call with Face Contact....
So it seems quite important to know in advance what number is going to be called., huh?
But nevertheless, as you said, all such things could be just "options": we could set the "default" at the same settings we have now, and then give each user the ability to change them as preferred.
So thanks for your feedback.
WordStreamer aka MiniMuncher(0.9.2) A Speed Reading Tool
**Looking for suggestions or feature request or mockups from any interested users. See this post for details.**
0.9.2 Adds the ability to stream any text from your clipboard onto the screen or into a file.
0.9.0 Adds to the Persistent settings and Bookmarking along with AppToDate Support! Enjoy!
Intro: The theory and the why
WordStreamer (aka MiniMuncher) is a speed reading tool that I put together for myself and all of you wonderful people. It works on the principle that our brains only process text when our eyes are not moving. WordStreamer simply streams a text file a set number of words at a time, at a rate specified by you. Since your eyes are not traveling from line to line and across the page, this allows you to read at a faster rate in no time by simply pressing up to increase the rate at which the words are displayed.
I got the idea from a British company that has a desktop program called BookMuncher that they are charging money for. I had planned to download and try out there app because I heard some pretty great success stories on the public radio and they had said "It's a free download". But.. it was free to download and $9.99 to try. I also noted they were going to release a mobile version, but it looked as if they planned to lock it down via the mobile service provider market(i.e. pay AT&T to download, pay AT&T for book). So basically I had to see what the fuss was about.
The goal of this release
The goal of release 0.9.2 is to add the ability to quickly stream content as needed and to correct/add some settings. I FINALLY got me a new screen for my Wizard and got to do some overdue bug hunting.
Big Changes:
0.9.2
1. There's a new menu option labeled "clipboard". You can use it to Stream your clipboard data on the screen or into a file. This should cover the problem with supporting /docs/rtfs/any other text you can select. Let me know if you have any issues with it.
2. I've adjusted the settings code to properly adjust for font size.
3. The "Max Chars/Line" should be quite a bit more accurate now when set to auto
0.9.0
1. Settings are now saved and will persist across reinstalls/updates
2. Bookmarking is now exposed. you can add/update 1 bookmark for each file(you can load/delete bookmarks on 'Manage' menu)
3. AppToDate Support has been added, this is a great way to keep your apps up to date with a rapidly growing list of Supported Apps
4.Support for font sizes up to 72 has been added
5.Corrected Font Size in settings(it was previously linked to Line Font Size)
* You can view/reset your average reading speeds on the About screen
0.7.5
1. Lots of font customizations (color,size,style,alignment,max width per line)
2. Text from the surrounding area is displayed when paused
3. Delays can be triggered from line breaks, word length, or punctuation
4. Average words added to 'About' screen(total isn't yet saved across app exits)
5. The install directory has changed from "WordStreamer" to "WordStreamerPPC" (so you'll need to uninstall the old one manually)
\
The main goal of release 0.5.7 was for me to find out if this kind of thing works.. It does. After a short period, you'll soon find yourself reading at a pretty fast rate with ease. The only complaint I've seen online is a person saying their eyes hurt from focusing on one spot for a while without blinking.. Please people, press pause and blink.
/
The streaming control has matured greatly with release 0.7.5, it is now a complete user control and fully customizable
How To Use
The current target platform is Win CE 5.0 Pocket Pc(compact framework 2.0)
You can jump right in when you start up WordStreamer by choosing 'View Demo File' from the menu or choosing a file via the 'Choose File' option, then hitting 'Go' or Enter to start the process.
Keyboard Controls
*items in red are smartphone only
Up,NumPad2,2 - Increase the speed the text is streamed
Down,NumPad8,8 - Decrease the speed the text is streamed
Left,NumPad4,4 - Lower the Font Size
Right,NumPad6,5 - Raise the font size
Enter/Return,NumPad5,touch screen,6 - Start/Stop streaming text
Quirks or Issues
The settings page tab order is still a little bad, Ill work on it next release.
The Status bar per second and per minute timers always reflect values as if only 1 word is displaying at a time (The averages on the About screen reflect the correct totals though)
The settings screen is not dynamically drawn(meaning a scroll bar has to be used) I'll be addressing this in 1.0
If your having issues with foreign characters such as umlauts try using utf-8 encoding Thanks Boops
[0.5.7]I've currently only tested the Smartphone version on an emulators. Testers are needed.
Credits
José Salazar of mobile practices for speeding things up with the base code for the open file control in WordStreamer
http://www.mobilepractices.com/2008/02/custom-openfiledialog-implementation.html
Tam Hanna for speeding things up with his great and small color picker control
http://tamsppc.tamoggemon.com/2007/11/14/a-color-picker-for-net-cf/
Les Smith of KnowDotNet for speeding things up with the base code for the persistent settings
http://www.knowdotnet.com/articles/cfcsetting.html
Future Thoughts(Feel Free to add your own)
Ive got some nifty document navigation thoughts for the future
What about an RSS reader or a tool for more accurately importing web page body text? If we can ever get some help with getting the AutoHotKey for CE compiler going there will be some great great things coming
I know i know the settings page is ugly. im probably going to do a tab view to get rid of the scrolling
Fullscreen view with image buttons for the skinners?
.rtf/.doc support - Good enough on this one, just select the text and copy it then choose "Clipboard-->Stream" in WordStreamer
Attachments
Screen Shots
WordStreamerPPCSetup.New.0.9.2.CAB is the install file for WordStreamer
WordStreamerPPCA2D.xml.txt - If you use PPC and want to do an easy AppToDate install, just save this file as WordStreamerPPCA2D.xml in your "\ApplicationData\AppToDate\" Folder(the icon in AppToDate will come with the first install)
WordStreamerSmartPhoneSetup.0.5.7.CAB is the install file for WordStreamerSmartPhone
Myths And Legends Of Greece And Rome.zip An EBook download from Project Gutenburg(A free ebook repository)http://www.gutenberg.org in .txt format and slightly formatted by me(i.e. removed table of contents)
Let me know what you think. On npr people were reporting comfortably reading at rates of 200-400+ words a minute within 5 minutes of starting!
Note: I find it easier to read at higher rates if i increase the font size a bit and hold the phone back from my face a couple feet(like in my lap or out in front like a book)
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Update 4-9-2008(Smart Phone Supp Added to 0.5.7)
See post here:http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=2100279#post2100279
Wow!
That's incredible!!
Thanks, werD!
Your application is great. Working nicely on my Polaris in WM 6.1. Although I haven't read a lot with it yet, it seems as though I'm much faster than when I read a normal book.
Only thing that's not working for me are german umlauts (ä, ö, ü, ß) and maybe some other characters. If you could fix that...
Some other feature that just got into my mind:
Could you make an option to colorize text that is written in double-quotes or these kind of arrows when somebody is talking? I guess that would help a lot.
Again, many thanks and keep it up!
Edit: just realized that the umlaut-problem is solved when I use utf-8 encoded files Nevermind, then!
Awesome! What lanuage is this written in? I think this may help with some english revision.
A little thing it would be nice to change is the colours of the text and the
Boops said:
Thanks, werD!
Your application is great. Working nicely on my Polaris in WM 6.1. Although I haven't read a lot with it yet, it seems as though I'm much faster than when I read a normal book.
Only thing that's not working for me are german umlauts (ä, ö, ü, ß) and maybe some other characters. If you could fix that...
Some other feature that just got into my mind:
Could you make an option to colorize text that is written in double-quotes or these kind of arrows when somebody is talking? I guess that would help a lot.
Again, many thanks and keep it up!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the input, I'll look into the broader text support. I have also been pondering some more automated text formatting to alleviate common phrasing and punctuation that causes words to be strung together such as two dashes--something John Steinbeck seems to be particularly fond of. Adding some coloring for quoted text seems like a good idea too and it would lump in well with that.
Edit:Boops solved his issue with umlauts by using utf-8 encoding
l3v5y said:
Awesome! What lanuage is this written in? I think this may help with some english revision.
A little thing it would be nice to change is the colours of the text and the
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. WordStreamer is written in .net(mainly vb.net), I think it will be a great tool for quickly reviewing documents and articles on a commute or break as well as for reading a full book. Text and background coloring will definitely be in the next release.
Another thing that would be great:
Stopping the text with a tap on the screen... Thats how I use to pause movies in the movie player... Maybe slide left or right the finger to forward or rewind the text, now that development of everything goes in the "touchstyle" direction - but I think that might be asked a little too much...
Now all I need to do is get my Russian presentation written down and I'll use this to help learn it!
Boops said:
Another thing that would be great:
Stopping the text with a tap on the screen... Thats how I use to pause movies in the movie player... Maybe slide left or right the finger to forward or rewind the text, now that development of everything goes in the "touchstyle" direction - but I think that might be asked a little too much...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both good ideas. i had already implemented the tap to pause, but I commented it out before release, because you had to tap outside of the text area(i.e. settings bar or title bar) to get it to work. This is solely due to the "form magic" I did to get a proof of concept out. I'll be improving the process quite a bit by implementing my custom streaming text control which is still under development. At that point, simple touch gesture recognition is no problem. I think I'm going to test this build first with standard windows mobile smart phones, and if no problems arise I'll move on to the dedicated pocket pc code.
Thanks again, I appreciate the feedback
Thanks for you app werD, it works very nicely on my orbit. One thought that occurred to me was that a floating window that read any text on the screen beneath it would be nice, it would be a great asset to people like my Dad who has trouble focusing on the text on a small screen. Also that root would avoid a any complications with different file associations.
uniqueboy said:
Thanks for you app werD, it works very nicely on my orbit. One thought that occurred to me was that a floating window that read any text on the screen beneath it would be nice, it would be a great asset to people like my Dad who has trouble focusing on the text on a small screen. Also that root would avoid a any complications with different file associations.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your feedback. That sounds like a pretty good idea, although slightly out of the scope of the current project. I'll definitely put it on the table for future thought/
I've released a version of WordStreamer for Windows Mobile Smart Phones as well. You will need the compact framework 2.0 to run it.
There are very minor differences between the smartphone version and the current pocketpc version. i would appreciate any feedback you can give me on the smartphone app as well, because I can only test it on an emulator and not a real device.
very nice app, but not working with non english symbols
cyrillics not supported
fix this please
Thanks
Can you attach a test document for me so i can look into this?
akucher said:
very nice app, but not working with non english symbols
cyrillics not supported
fix this please
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try to use UTF-8 encoded files. That should work like it did for me...
Hi werD, are you still working on this? I for one think you should be. Let us know, I have a couple of suggestions for you if you are. I can read 400+ wpm easy with this.
You may also get some ideas from Speed Reader Plus found here http://www.mobiledynamo.com/prod01.htm
has anyone a good doc,rtf,pdf to txt converter?
its great!
uniqueboy said:
Hi werD, are you still working on this? I for one think you should be. Let us know, I have a couple of suggestions for you if you are. I can read 400+ wpm easy with this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the responses. I've just finished a major milestone on a work project and got back from a canoeing trip. The next update i post will be to wordstreamer, and should come over the next week.
Thanks again for the feedback the plans I have laid out for Word Streamer will soon put Speed reader Plus' implementation to shame
Thanks for downloading and please continue to provide feedback
Cheers
uniqueboy said:
Hi werD, are you still working on this? I for one think you should be. Let us know, I have a couple of suggestions for you if you are. I can read 400+ wpm easy with this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does this program have a test mode, or a means of tracking what your average reading speed is?
If it doesn't, it sound like my first suggestion.
I've yet to try it, I will today, but I'm curious as to how it's displaying the words.
In speed reading, the theory is that the actual reading occurs during fixations. When you read, your eyes actually stop and fixate on a group of words.
Goals for speed readers are to improve recognition and not back track, and increase the words per fixation rate.
By being able to effectively apprehend more words per fixation, you increase your reading speed. (Typographically, this is why columns are so common in newspapers, magazines and even textbooks. Newspaper columns are adjusted to the average reader's word:fixation - 2 or 3 fixations per line. Now if only web page content were managed this way too.)
Ideally this app should allow us to adjust how many words/characters are flashed (each flash is a fixation); the average word is x characters long, so a sized fixation should show y amount of words, minus 1 word if characters in y exceed the x value permitted by your chosen number of words.
If you're interested in this sort of thing, try the trial versions of Rocket Reader and Ace Reader. There's another program called Eye Q that kicks around on torrent sites (despite no update in a few years).
BTW:
Excellent initiative.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Gecko Installer
Current status:
Working on Beta 3.2
(more updates on GetGecko.org)
THE IDEA
Installing applications on your device is a complicated thing for most Windows Mobile users. You have CAB files, EXE files, MSI files, ZIP files... that's a lot! iPhone users have the AppStore and Linux users have Package Managers. Now what would happen if we mixed both and made something for Windows Mobile? That's the Gecko project, and it's going to be great!
In addition, Gecko would incorporate previously unseen features such as application management, favorites, automatic updates, command line operations and app restore. The goal is to provide every Windows Mobile user a way to easily manage and install applications.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WILLING TO HELP?
There are a few things you can do to help me help you all
-List! Add your applications and take part of the release lineup. This also helps testing the database.
-Donate! I registered a domain for 3 years and give a lot of my time for Gecko. The donations will end up being used with Gecko in any way.
-Comment! Your ideas fuel this project and encourage me to continue. You can also leave comments on the Gecko forum
-Test! I always need a few people to test the newest releases. More information can be found at forum.getgecko.org in the Announcements board.
-Design! Once the application is ready for release, I'll need people to help me work on the graphics. Right now I only use a very basic UI for testing.
-Host! Gecko requires direct links for downloads. It would be great to have some people provide hosting space for the .cab files.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Gecko project now has a brand new website where you can see the latest developments, download the latest betas and vote on new features.
Go to GetGecko.org[/CENTER]
People I'd like to thank:
Ayvegh:
One of the hosts. He dedicated some server space for my projects and now for all the Gecko cabs.
9khil:
The host of GetGecko.org. He installed Wordpress on the server, set me up a FTP and helped a lot on the website in general. He's a very friendly guy and I'm glad to have him in the team.
Niikoo:
Author of the WApps application. He had the same idea almost at the same time and offered a lot of help. He will take charge of the graphic design (that will probably be based on how WApps looked: great).
DarkAngelFR:
A great helper too. He is one of the first developers to submit his applications and later offered to make a DLL to include Gecko functions in other applications.
Our donators:
Thanks to our donators, it's even more fun to work on Gecko. Combined with the AdSense revenue, it pays enough to keep working hard on it. Thanks a lot!
The XDA-Developers community:
You are the one who support this project. This is where the idea was born, where it grew in popularity and when I need to think with more than one brain, this is the right place.
Everyone I forgot (yet who contributed in so many ways), the PPCGeeks community, the AllTouchPro community and everyone else who provided support in the last 2 months.
Great Idea
I think this is an great idea and cold give Winmobile a great boost. In my opinion one part of the Iphone success is the Apöstore. But I think the shop maintainers must get some money for their work. I would suggest a percentual fee ( 5-15) per sold shareware.
I think its very hard work to get such a store running.
OMG! This is an AWESOME idea!
N1c0_ds said:
If you have ever used Linux, you probably fell in love with the Package Manager. This sweet application lists most of the programs available for your computer so you can download one of many of them in a convenient way with having to search for the application.
Why not make such a thing for Windows Mobile? We discussed a bit in another thread and we finally agreed it was worthy of its own thread.
THE PLAN
Retrieving applications:
The application would download an XML file with all the applications listed in it along with their description and a link to a CAB and to the screenshot. With an XML anyone could make their own client, leaving room for more talented developers later.
Listing new applications:
Listing applications will cost shareware developers 1$ for each app and will be free for freeware developers. This fee will last forever and there is no royalty fees. Hopefully the low cost and the once-and-for-all payment will attract them.
What do you think?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You did not say who would host the cabs, the xml and collect the fees. These are obviously the most important points.
Surur
Vrtfrank said:
I think this is an great idea and cold give Winmobile a great boost. In my opinion one part of the Iphone success is the Apöstore. But I think the shop maintainers must get some money for their work. I would suggest a percentual fee ( 5-15) per sold shareware.
I think its very hard work to get such a store running.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I won't charge a percentage, developers hate that. If I get 1-10$ per app listed (I don't wan't to turn this into a store, I just want a CAB repo).
surur said:
You did not say who would host the cabs, the xml and collect the fees. These are obviously the most important points.
Surur
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well the 1$ is so he could host the cabs and make the xmls and what not..
This is a very good idea. I think we should all go with it!
I like it. Maybe there would be command line interface like yum and portage.
surur said:
You did not say who would host the cabs, the xml and collect the fees. These are obviously the most important points.
Surur
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The cabs would be hosted by the developers themselves. It will be important to have a way to report broken links. I will host the XML and I will collect the fees.
I don't want to make a huge profit from it, I just don't want to spend an enormous amount of time developing without any income.
i say we start developing
bedaweed said:
i say we start developing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm already started.
It can download and show a screenshot from a given URL (gif only) and it can also download and run a cab from a URL at the press of a button.
I also experimented a bit with CSV and XML files. I'll use CSV after all since they are easier to edit.
19:35: I managed to make the app retrieve the application and version from the CSV and add it to a Listbox. The listbox is not the best choice but I'm just experimenting.
wow this is gunna be great
but developers might not give 1$
This looks to be a great idea. Installer, and later its replacement, Cydia made iPhone very popular with those who jailbroke it. It made it easy to install and browse for new applications. Even my girlfriend finds it easy and fun. This could be the very thing that makes WM more popular with "ordinary users" especially with phone manufacturers aiming their WM phones towards that particular demographic.
I just came to think of something in regards to the idea of charging $1. As much as I am supporting the idea of the hoster to receive some payment for hosting and maintaining this feature, I don't know if $1 is feasible. As far as I know PayPal (which arguable is the largest and most often used service for internet payment) charges some transfer fee. I've read somewhere (no sources, sorry) that any payment below $5 is "wasted" due to transfer fees. Might want to look into that.
AndyGizzle said:
This looks to be a great idea. Installer, and later its replacement, Cydia made iPhone very popular with those who jailbroke it. It made it easy to install and browse for new applications. Even my girlfriend finds it easy and fun. This could be the very thing that makes WM more popular with "ordinary users" especially with phone manufacturers aiming their WM phones towards that particular demographic.
I just came to think of something in regards to the idea of charging $1. As much as I am supporting the idea of the hoster to receive some payment for hosting and maintaining this feature, I don't know if $1 is feasible. As far as I know PayPal (which arguable is the largest and most often used service for internet payment) charges some transfer fee. I've read somewhere (no sources, sorry) that any payment below $5 is "wasted" due to transfer fees. Might want to look into that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will get at least 60¢ for each dollar (that's if they pay with their credit card).
Great idea. Please make it device aware (screen resolution, WM version, Compact Framework version, etc.). Compatibility rating and info from users per device would be awesome. On that note, think about a way you can have user ratings, comments, etc. Lots of options to filter an app search: by your device and category and most popular, new, free/paid, etc.
galt said:
Great idea. Please make it device aware (screen resolution, WM version, Compact Framework version, etc.). Compatibility rating and info from users per device would be awesome. On that note, think about a way you can have user ratings, comments, etc. Lots of options to filter an app search: by your device and category and most popular, new, free/paid, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I already figured an easy way to search for everything (table.filter) but I have a lot of work left. I still don't know how I could work with user ratings and comments. These are especially important as they allow people to decide which apps to get and which ones to avoid (like WeFi and its device-destructing habits).
Right now I've got a functionnal version set up. It loads a CSV, gets info from it and can display the info page of a selected application. I need to test the "contact developer" feature on my device tonight.
I keep changing the CSV (added date, contact info, will add categories and possibly keywords). Compatibility might be something I save for the the description.
Current CSV file columns:
-Name
-Version
-Author
-Contact info
-Date submitted
-Cab link (might add room for mirrors later)
-Screenshot link (might add room for more later)
-Short description (about a line long)
-Long description (the full thing)
N1c0_ds said:
I already figured an easy way to search for everything (table.filter) but I have a lot of work left. I still don't know how I could work with user ratings and comments. These are especially important as they allow people to decide which apps to get and which ones to avoid (like WeFi and its device-destructing habits).
Right now I've got a functionnal version set up. It loads a CSV, gets info from it and can display the info page of a selected application. I need to test the "contact developer" feature on my device tonight.
I keep changing the CSV (added date, contact info, will add categories and possibly keywords). Compatibility might be something I save for the the description.
Current CSV file columns:
-Name
-Version
-Author
-Contact info
-Date submitted
-Cab link (might add room for mirrors later)
-Screenshot link (might add room for more later)
-Short description (about a line long)
-Long description (the full thing)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you are using .net, look at using a data set with xml. all the searching,sorting, etc is done within. It is also a snap to use with a data grid. Just my 2 cents
Gudy
And to clarify my post about device aware, I mean that the apps could be filtered to those that are compatible for your device.
galt said:
And to clarify my post about device aware, I mean that the apps could be filtered to those that are compatible for your device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great idea, I'll think of a way to do this.
New Thread: Go HERE. Thanks
[IN DEVELOPMENT] Mobile XDA-Developers Forum App
Summary
Visit the forums, create posts, manage thread subscriptions, and manage private messages all from a simple app on your phone. Get background notifications when someone creates a new reply on a subscribed thread so you can reply in real-time.
XDA-Theme'd Screenshots, go back with left soft key, text scrolls when in focus, header scrolls with entire page, right clicking brings up a bubble preview!
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
And the Smooth Blue theme:
We've got an awesome developer working on this app right now...his website is here: http://www.ktemkin.com/ But don't worry, updates will be maintained on this forum too!
Features (See Key)
Green = Finished feature, Light Green = Functioning, but not polished, Olive = Working, but inefficiently, Orange = Almost finished, Red = In it's early stages, Blue = Planned for this version, Sky Blue = Planned for later version, Grey = Cancelled feature, Pink = Feature is on hold
Fully Skinnable, including the ability to add user color variables for use with custom layout files.
Full, automatic authentication protocols mean you never have to waste time logging in again!
View fora (plural forums) including post previews, with much faster rendering times than using a traditional broswer, finger friendly controls, and views optimized for mobile devices.
Full finger-friendly kinetic scrolling in all applicable views.
Finger gesture support.
Lose connection while typing a post? XDApp has an option to automatically queue your post and finish sending it next time you have a connection!
Download files and attachments instantly, without even opening a browser.
Upload a picture or file directly from the phone.
Take a screenshot of one's phone, and upload it directly as an attachment.
Configurable cache, utilizing storage card, and not internal memory.
Real-time update checking; i.e. no need to constantly refresh the thread you're on.
Extensible external framework will allow other applications to utilize its features: e.g. allow a user to directly post a bug-report, complete with attached memdump, to a developer's thread.
Full WYSIWYG editing of BB-code post formatting.
Push-style notifications on private mesages and subscribed threads.
Interconnections with my sensor control project which will allow use of the g-sensor, light sensor, capacitive button sensors, stylus sensor and camera to support various types of gestures and interactivities. For example, use the light sensor to automatically switch to a theatre or meeting-friendly 'night mode'.
How Downloads/Links Will Work
Internal XDA Link: Process inside the app.
Internal XDA Download (Attachments): Process inside the app. See note for browser complications.
External Link: Open default browser, or select a custom browser in preferences or by right-clicking.
External Download (direct):Use internal downloader (possibly via a compressing proxy), or right click for custom browser/application.
External Download (RapidShare, Megaupload, etc.): User browser.
Ideas (We're using the "HTML Mining" method right now)
Ideas section removed because the need is no longer here.
How to make the Login work
Login ect would need some type of api work. I've already looked at stepping through the html, it wouldn't be hard. (joel2009)
We've got a developer working on it. If you have any ideas, contributions, or praise, feel free to respond!
Proof that it can be done: PPCGeeks APP
Screenshots should be up later this week (around 7/19/09, I'd say)
Take a vote above in our poll (And no, we won't enslave the developers, just encourage them to work on the XDApp since we all use XDA-Dev) (The poll is old, not needed anymore! We got our developer!)
Messages from administrators:
6/10/2009 - From Administrator
Hi Andrew,
I am the administrator so please provide me with all relevant info.
Best regards,
Flar
Site admin
Xda-developers.com6/10/2009 - We need to take action
So, everyone: Which mobile system should the admins implement into their system? We have these possibilities:
Some Mobile Solutions:
http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=100764
http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=151186
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=108641
Someone has put together a vBulletin extension that exposes a true API using JSON or XML: http://code.google.com/p/vbulletin-api. As a developer, I personally would much prefer this to scraping HTML. This would require installation of the API code into base software of the site: something to be considered carefully due to security concerns.
I think the best way to get xda on our handhelds is to install to the forum a mobile theme like this one: Mobile, Cell, Phone, PDA, iPhone Style, and also this Mobile Phone / iPhone / PDA Detection and Style Assignment
The makers of Tapatalk are looking for Windows Mobile developers that are willing to hop on board with them to make a Windows Mobile client for their program. Tapatalk: http://tapatalk.com/iphone/
Everyone please reply back with what you think will work best. I will then e-mail the administrator back with what we believe would be the best solution, and hopefully he will be able to implement it. Thanks!6/13/2009 - My Reply About Mobile Server Theme
Hello,
We've been thinking about what the best system for designing the Mobile XDA App would be, and we believe this would work best:
I think the best way to get xda on our handhelds is to install to the forum a mobile theme like this one: Mobile, Cell, Phone, PDA, iPhone Style (http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=174375), and also this Mobile Phone / iPhone / PDA Detection and Style Assignment (http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=173239)
So do you think that would work well? You would have to install the theme on your servers, but it sounds like it can be done! If you don't like that, then there are other possibilities, but they are lacking in security or functions currently.
Thanks for helping with this!
Andrew
Bounty! Currently at: $135
jmckeejr: $10 for a fully functioning app with at least abilty to reply to posts without waiting for 5 minutes and trying to chase Opera around to see what I'm typing.
dnieman13: $10
apreichner: $5
codybear: $5 Around $5 if it works with Windows Mobile 6.5 and works better than using the Opera browser
uniqueboy: $20 more if it is that good, I mean I don't want to donate to just some basic app, but I do want to give to something like I visualise, state of the art!
krook6023: $15 for a working version with all the bells and whistles described
akp99: $10
Bijdehandje: $35 Exact: € 25 For a working Kaiser version that is a quality and complete app
greeneyemonstruo: $15
acidbath5546: $10
Benefits of using an App instead of a Mobile Site:
In considering the advantages of a standalone XDA Developers app over a browser, it occurred to me that if the app could cache certain selected parts of the site, for example the user cp and then update that automatically and invisibly to the user according to a schedule that would be very useful. If it were possible to select any thread and have it automatically cached and updated on my phone so that I could for example just start the app and immediately check say this thread for any new posts with a 0 loading time. For others they could schedule a sync only when a free connection was available to avoid a data charge. Just a thought.[/
New Thread: Go HERE. Thanks
I was actually think about something like this before but when puprosed my idea was shot down. I would think an app like this would majorly depend how off then page layouts change here at xda. BUT with that said i have never seen them really change over the three years ive been here. This should be a pretty easy app to make i would think... I have very limited programming skills but ill look into this...
Thanks for post this .
I think that to have the background notifications it might require extra modifications or software on the server side. Ask the admins or server manager if they would allow such things.
TheParadox said:
I think that to have the background notifications it might require extra modifications or software on the server side. Ask the admins or server manager if they would allow such things.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, they have it set up to send E-Mail notifications, so the server's and software is already set up. All the program would have to do is to intercept that message. I don't know the admins but I'm guessing I can find their account on XDA, so I'll look into talking with them.
ace10134 said:
Well, they have it set up to send E-Mail notifications, so the server's and software is already set up. All the program would have to do is to intercept that message. I don't know the admins but I'm guessing I can find their account on XDA, so I'll look into talking with them.
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I thought you meant notifications via the app. Email notifications will not be hard
TheParadox said:
I thought you meant notifications via the app. Email notifications will not be hard
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Well it would be notifications via the app, but it could use the same infrastructure as the email notifications, it would just show up in the App where everything is integrated in.
ace10134 said:
Well it would be notifications via the app, but it could use the same infrastructure as the email notifications, it would just show up in the App where everything is integrated in.
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Meaning the app would have to have a filter to only filter emails from xda to the app it self right....Just trying to help this get started and the basics down
TheParadox said:
Meaning the app would have to have a filter to only filter emails from xda to the app it self right....Just trying to help this get started and the basics down
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yea I was thinking that would work. The other option is that we work with how the server and XDA software actually works with the notifications. Then we could make a more efficient system because email notifications wouldn't work properly. They wouldn't work because the formatting is different. If we want a dedicated App, then we don't need the whole "Dear _____, ____ has just replied...".
I believe the best method would be to use the system that they already have going with the email notifications but work with the admins to modify it some so it would be designed specifically for the app. We first need a developer, though. I'm gonna try contacting an admin right now. I'll post back with what happens.
ace10134 said:
yea I was thinking that would work. The other option is that we work with how the server and XDA software actually works with the notifications. Then we could make a more efficient system because email notifications wouldn't work properly. They wouldn't work because the formatting is different. If we want a dedicated App, then we don't need the whole "Dear _____, ____ has just replied...".
I believe the best method would be to use the system that they already have going with the email notifications but work with the admins to modify it some so it would be designed specifically for the app. We first need a developer, though. I'm gonna try contacting an admin right now. I'll post back with what happens.
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Alright I have limited experience with VB on windows mobile so Idk how much I could help.
Proof that it can be done: PPCGeeks APP
That's based on the same forum technology, so maybe we could hack it to use our forum? And then add our additional features like background notifications.
TheParadox said:
Alright I have limited experience with VB on windows mobile so Idk how much I could help.
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Would you, Paradox, know how to use that PPCGeeks app linked above and create an XDA-Dev app off of it? You might have the know-how to do that since you have some experience.
You mean decompile it? Umm no. Its not really plausible it is but it would but very very hard. Best Ive decompiled was a Axe that I decompiled to the batch source.
TheParadox said:
You mean decompile it? Umm no. Its not really plausible it is but it would but very very hard. Best Ive decompiled was a Axe that I decompiled to the batch source.
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Oh ok. Well I tried asking the creator of the PPCGeeks app for help, but he hasn't responded yet. If we got his source code, then we could possibly make it work, right???
I wonder if there is a way to work with this:
http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=208412
Basically create a Windows Mobile client for that vBulletin plugin.
dumpydooby said:
I wonder if there is a way to work with this:
http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=208412
Basically create a Windows Mobile client for that vBulletin plugin.
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Yep, good idea, that's what I just wanted to suggest before I've read your post.
It just makes much more sense, it increases the number of potential donators, it's innovative (there are twitter clients, facebook clients, but what about bulletin board clients ??), the common framework will make the code more robust (due to testing of the code on many other forums), and it's probably well documented, etc
The interface could work like the RSS Hub:
- on the first page you can choose among any forum you have subscribed to with a pre-configured username and password (e.g. XDA Development and Hacking, PPC Geeks PPC software, XDA Blackstone, etc.) ;
- one level deeper, you would see the top Y thread titles with customizable basic information/symbols such as tags, attachments, views, posts, etc., landscape could offer more information ;
- on the third level, you would see the posts with basic posting functionality ;
- the posting screen would resemble the SMS screen.
Naturally, such a client would probably have reduced functionality : e.g. of course it would not be possible to register a new login via the client, etc.
EDIT: I apologize to dumpydooby, your link says all this without any words and in an easier understandable way.
dumpydooby said:
I wonder if there is a way to work with this:
http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=208412
Basically create a Windows Mobile client for that vBulletin plugin.
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Hmm, well that's only for the iPhone. It'd be a lot easier to work with the PPCGeeks one, but at least this proves once again that it can be done.
I found this on the web: http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=174375&page=13
It's a mobile view mode for the vBulletin board that the admins could put into the website code. It would still require that we visit via a web browser, but that's all we can get right now. Once we get a developer or the source code for the PPCGeeks app, then we might have a chance of making a dedicated app.
ace10134 said:
Hmm, well that's only for the iPhone.
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It's two parts that work in tandem.
One part is a server-side script, which is platform independent. It is a vBulletin plugin developed in PHP.
The other part is client-side, which at the moment only exists as an iPhone application.
I'm suggesting that we work on developing a Windows Mobile client-side application that communicates with the vBulletin plugin.
Again, the plugin to which I linked is platform independent. It's a vBulletin plugin. The iPhone counterpart is just a client and basically irrelevant.
Hey guys... I am hibby50 creator of the PPCGeeks App. I would be happy to make an XDA App. However I have very little spare time so I cannot say how fast I can go. I did respond to your PM via the email address so sorry if it didn't go through. The facts are that I am only 13 years old and go to school in the US seven hours a day with about two hours of homework. Then I spend my free time with friends and on PPCGeeks. I will try to set aside some time for this.
hibby50 said:
Hey guys... I am hibby50 creator of the PPCGeeks App. I would be happy to make an XDA App. However I have very little spare time so I cannot say how fast I can go. I did respond to your PM via the email address so sorry if it didn't go through. The facts are that I am only 13 years old and go to school in the US seven hours a day with about two hours of homework. Then I spend my free time with friends and on PPCGeeks. I will try to set aside some time for this.
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Hey,
Sorry I never got your email, but it's great to hear that you'd like to help! You have summer soon, right? I'm in high school so I have a similar schedule probably. Well it's great to know that you will work on it when you have time.
Yep, summer on June 23rd I can whip one up right now. but it will have the same ppcgeeks look (I.E. same blue graphics)
hibby50 said:
Yep, summer on June 23rd I can whip one up right now. but it will have the same ppcgeeks look (I.E. same blue graphics)
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That's fine if it looks similar. I knew it would be easy to "whip one up", lol, cuz of the same forum technology.
But some questions: Does your PPCGeeks app have background notifications or a system that tells you that you have unread replies? We were planning on putting in a system like that, which would be awesome. You can see the first post here for what we thought would be perfect in the app, if you haven't already read it yet.
But yea, go ahead and whip up a quick version as soon as you can! We'd love to test it out!
My team has been vigorously working on a CAD application for android. I will post some screenshots of the tool if anyone is interested, so please let me know.
It's currently being tested and developed using a Motorola Droid running 2.0.1. Although we can run the emulator and test different screens using it, we find great difficulty in knowing if the "feel" is nice on a smaller screen.
Anyway - current features that are working:
Objects: Line, Circle, Ellipse, Rectangle, 3 Point Arcs, Text Areas
Drawing Modes: Orthographic (including 45s), Grid On Off, Snap Mode On Off (Endpoints, Centerpoints, Midpoints, Quadrants)
Other Things: Undo, Redo, Erase, Modify (reshape & move), Pan, Layering System, Linetypes, Colors & Text Sizes.
In The Works: Zoom (Option for Pinch), Configurable Toolbar (Add/Remove Tools), Export to DXF & Linetypes.
We are looking for a few people that would be willing to get in on a "PRIVATE Beta" to assist us with the continued development. We have our day jobs, so this is a project that when we have time to work on, we do. However, we do spent quite a bit of time working on it .
Anyway - We want to be picky about the testers, simply because we need to have a nice round group of people. Not plumpy, just round. We need a couple guys that are good with input, finding problems, etc. And we also need a few that dont know anything about CAD and can help us to see if the average joe can figure it out.
We also need a couple good mathmeticians or programmers. Or even one would do. We are having some trouble computing certain boundaries (ellipses to be more precise) that we need to understand so that we can build in other commands like Trim or Extend. (Plus our select option on ellipses is a bit hokey, but knowing how to find an ellipse will solve that for us)
For now, the only assistance I can give you is through the board here, and help you get started. The tutorial will come soon, once we get the basics figured out as to how we want to make it really work.
Anyway - To make a long story even longer - let me know if you might be interested. I would be more than happy to post some screenshots if you like of its current state. So let me know if you are interested.
Thank you very much for sticking through the long a$$ read, or even for skipping through to the "thanks" is enough for me.
That being said - LMK! Thanks!
A capacitive touch screen doesn't seem a good candidate for controlling a smooth CAD experience. However on second thought, when coupling together this technology with a trackball, the possibilities really open up. Harness these well and I know you'll be onto something here.
Post some screens to show everyone the progress of your development and I'll let you know if I'd be interested in testing.
Cheers
Well if your looking for anyone with CAD knowledge, I have a degree in engineering with CAD, and Pro Engineer. I don't have much time to devote to beta testing, but I do have time every now and then. I run a ION with 1.6. Good luck on your software!
(Unfortunately - my account has not been enabled for posting outside links or images - so this is the best i can do for you until that is enabled)
talon-designs.net/android/andcad/11.jpg
Above is a screen shot with a couple drawn elements, and the right side of the toolbar tools.
talon-designs.net/android/andcad/09.jpg
Above is a screen shot with a couple drawn elements, and the left side of the toolbar tools.
There are a handful of more screenshots posted up on my site, the links are as follows:
talon-designs.net/android/andcad/01.jpg - Layer select screen
talon-designs.net/android/andcad/02.jpg - File Operations
talon-designs.net/android/andcad/03.jpg - Display Settings
talon-designs.net/android/andcad/04.jpg - Samle Help Screen (Line)
talon-designs.net/android/andcad/05.jpg - Snap Settings
talon-designs.net/android/andcad/06.jpg - Color Picker
talon-designs.net/android/andcad/07.jpg - Snapping to Midpoint
talon-designs.net/android/andcad/08.jpg - Selection of Ellipse
talon-designs.net/android/andcad/10.jpg - Text Input Screen
That should be plenty of screens to keep interest.
@Lancealot - Thank you very much, and I completely agree, that when we started this, there was some doubt as to how precise you could actually be using a "touch based" screen. The good news, through playing with it, and given ability to set tolerances based on the size of your "touch area" as well as snapping options, we found that you can actually be quite precise.
Ill fiddle with it a little today, put together a drawing and give you a nice example of something that can be made with this.
Keep in mind, this is a work in progress, and although much of the functionality that is currently built into the tool, is at a "finished" state, there is certainly room for input and comments from others that may find use in this tool.
Anyway - here are the screenshots as promised, let me know if you have any further questions.
(Again - sorry about the inconvenience on the links)
(edit to update image types to jpg instead of png)
@zul8er - we are certainly interested in your input. Check out the screenshots and let me know if you are still interested. We dont need a huge commitment, but anything that you might be able to provide would certainly be a big help.
Android 1.6 is the minimum OS currently supported. We need to do some work on the graphics to go as far back as 1.5 to compensate for screen size, and we intend on doing so.. Just not at this current time.
I would be interested in trying out your CAD program. I've been doing CAD for ove 10 years now, started with AutoCAD but have been using Solidworks for the last 8 years.
In addition to using the touch screen for input, will you be able to enter X and Y coordinates using a keyboard or virtual keyboard?
What format will it save the files? DXF, JPG, or what?
Noob Squared said:
I would be interested in trying out your CAD program. I've been doing CAD for ove 10 years now, started with AutoCAD but have been using Solidworks for the last 8 years
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Seems there are more and more of us creeping out of the woodwork on a daily basis
Noob Squared said:
What format will it save the files? DXF, JPG, or what?
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Currently the file format is a proprietary format. But we are currently (today actually) working on saving out to a DXF format to be able to reload your files into AutoCAD or other supported softwares.
The ability to import is also in the works, but will require some massaging on the users end to make sure the DXF file is not binary etc. (MTEXT may not be supported either)
Noob Squared said:
In addition to using the touch screen for input, will you be able to enter X and Y coordinates using a keyboard or virtual keyboard?
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We have toyed with the idea of being able to put in specific dimensions on objects, and also work with x/y coords, but at this time, it only supports point to point drawing. We arent completely sure if we intend on building a "FULL ON CAD" application, or an application for people to use to simply get an idea of what they need to do for a job. The other key, is to keep the application at a price range that is reasonable for people. Most "PocketCAD" applications run around 50 bucks a copy - and rightfully so. To keep the tool at a reasonable range (below 10 or 15 dollars) it may need to be a bit lighter weight than those. Most people cringe at a 2.99 app..
IF we could devote our time 100% i am sure we could build a really nice full blown cad app Unfortunately as with most of us, the day job prohibits some of that time.
Its a WIP I'll put you on the list. Thanks for the input.
Are you looking for beta testers?
Hi, are you looking for beta testers. I'm a long year CAD user, and I'm sure I can help with the app development.
[email protected]
Have you tried using some of the java based cad software as a source for your project? There are many and some might be open source.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ycad/
Yeah I am still interested. It will be neat to play with and see how it works. The coordinate input is a good idea, also, ever play with Pro Engineer? They have a cool way of building an initial drawing. You just sketch, regen, and then input your dimensions to make the object to your liking. Makes things a lot faster and easier to edit a shape if changes need to occur.
I dont know how in depth you want to go, or if that idea can be used.
My email is [email protected]
Nice
Give me a couple more days to get a good product out for you guys to test. Currently we are cleaning up a few little "we'll get that later" issues, and should be good to go by mid/late next week.
Thanks for providing the contact info, I will shoot you a message through email shortly.
Thanks agian for the interest.
@zul8er: nice. Look forward to hearing how you like the feel of it. I havent had a chance to play with ProE, as AutoCAD has been my forte for the last couple decades. Ill see if i can any kind of demo for ProE, and get an idea of how it works. Who knows Anything to make it easier for everyone is a good thing.
But yah - the indepth thing is the issue. We keep tossing with ideas and putting them "on the list" in case people start asking for them. I guess it just depends on how people really want to use this tool. (and of course, how much time we can continue to devote to it) - bah i hate day jobs
I enjoyed the screen shots that were posted. Any idea whether you guys will support rendering/raycasting, or physics with inverse kinematics? Either way it looks great; Sign me up!
haha Not sure if we are going to go the IK way. Maybe as a different project, something more suited to 3D, but for this app, we are only intending on running the 2D route.
My lack of knowledge about the OpenGL portion, really limits us with regards to 3D implementation. I spent a good 3 days just trying to get ahold of loading in a 3D model.. Still never got there (or would have probably released a 3D model viewer first).
At any rate, its hard to say where this will go. It mostly depends on the overall interest i suppose. Its certain that the sky would be the limit, if time were as available as the sky
But cool.. Glad I was able to keep your interest.
Currently (as I type even) I am finishing up all of the help documentation for the app, the inline tutorial, and what not.. A couple more days on the file handling (DXF in particular) and should be set to go for a BETA run. ('couple more days' - like we all havent heard enough of that)
@lancelot - can you send me your email address via private message? That way I can do the BETA communications through there (link to files etc). You are welcome to email me as well:
support AT talon-designs.net
cheers!
Hey, I'm a high school student that has just started learning CAD, does that count as average Joe? I'd love to help beta test, I really want android to overpower iPhone 3.0 lol. My e-mail is [email protected] I use g1 with cyanogenmod 1.6...so idk if that qualifies. But anyways, Good luck!
This really sounds promising. In the last few weeks, I really had the need for a good drawing software on my mobile device. But my Tytn II lacks of power. As I soon will get the Desire, I will hopefully have a quite powerful device for all day use (my Tytn II really sux atm). And because I have the re-occurring need of a drawing app, this could be it.
I mean I don't need it for simple drawing, but for constructing things CAD style and on the go Graphics of furniture or something with measures and all that stuff.
Hey guys.. just wanted to pass you an update on status (which is so much more than I seem to be getting from Verizon on the 2.1 update).
Small rant, but its done now.
Ok - status..
DXF Export is working now, supporting layers, linetypes, colors, and elements throughout the drawing. Am having some issues with getting ellipses to export via DXF (and im not alone - faulty specs are at fault), and that combined with the other issues regarding the math behind finding ellipse edges, we decided to comment out the ellipse alltogether for now. Not that it wont be back, but having so many rules with "you can do this to anything - except an ellipse" left us with no other choice.
It's coming back, just not right now.
We have saving and opening completed (simple proprietary ascii format, but it works for what we need it to do).
Zoom is currently partially working (difficult to complete the recalculation on the elements, but its really close) touch events for zoom are coming up as well. Maybe a pinch zoom even, considering that all devices are getting the 2.0+ upgrade - but we will see.. We dont want to keep anyone excluded from being able to use the tool.
@Balrog82 - we have definately taken this tool a long way since its initial conception. We hope to be able to bring more features that are more "CAD Specific" to the application, and will if it becomes a tool that gets used. We want to release it initially as a "basic" drafting tool, and see what kind of input we get. If we see that a lot of people are using it, and would like the ability to put in dimensions the same way that cad does (within limits) we will certainly look into it.
That being said - I hope the tool is still something you would be willing to try out. I find a lot of enjoyment with working with a tool at its early conception (started using paint shop pro at version 1.42) and now its on to version 14 or something and owned by corel. I just kinda get into that sort of thing, and hope that you all will do.
Good thing is, we hope its a draw to the tool, we plan on releasing it at the market both as a free version (no saving abilities) and a full version at a low price. As the tool grows, the price may increase a bit.. Keeping of course the original buyers at a place that they can keep updating the software at no cost to them. We think that will help the advancement and development of the tool quite a bit.
Anyway - It is right around the corner for initial testing. Please to all interested - send me a PM with your contact information (just an email would be great) I am going to see if i can start a private discussion here to invite you all to as well.
@Lancealot - i got your PM.. Am very happy that you are interested in helping. Expect to hear from me again soon..
Until we can see a working model of this app, I thought I would throw out an app that has some great drawing capabilities. The paid was is called "Picso" by Tiki Move, but I used the free version to try out; it's called "Picso Lite".
It's not a CAD app, but it's different from the other Paint apps on Android in that it has tools the other ones don't. It has the usual tools a CAD user would need, such as Rectangles/Squares, Circles/Ellipses, and Lines. You can change the colors and widths of these entities.
What I like about your program is that it has snaps, and the tools are on the bottom of the screen so they are easy to get to: /talon-designs.net/android/andcad/07.jpg
A feature Picso needs is a Zoom tool so you can zoom in to an area and draw whatever you need to and then be able to zoom full screen. It also needs a text tool. Since there is no dimension tool, you could put a text for the dimension.
P.S.,
I want to try your app, but I am only posting this to show how someone else has put these tools on their app and also to have a comparison on ease-of-use. One other thought, you mentioned the files your CAD app will create will be proprietary file types. Will you be able to save-as .jpg or .png so you can email or text-message a sketch to someone? That way if your on-site you will be able to send someone back at the office whatever it is to explain your ideas, and also they would not have to have an Android phone to view it.
Idea sounds great. Good luck with it!
Sorry for being away for so long.. but we had something going on that we had to attend to..
http://developer.att.com/developer/index.jsp?page=event&id=6.3_v1_9700324
More news as it allows.
Android Category Winner
Talon Designs, AndCAD
This application allows users to create simple geometric shapes, combined with notes, to describe plans associated with the art, architecture, engineering and manufacturing industries. Many of the tools familiar to CAD users are incorporated into this utility, meaning that fluent CAD users will feel right at home using this tool. However, the interface for this tool is simple enough for even the most novices of users to understand. This enables certain users (Contractors, etc) to be able to take notes while on a job site and associate them with vector elements within the drawing.
talondesigns said:
Sorry for being away for so long.. but we had something going on that we had to attend to..
More news as it allows.
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AT&T Open Call-Apps for All! Contest
Thank you to all the participants in the 2010 AT&T Open Call—Apps For All! Contest. This year's contest was filled with many great entries. AT&T reviewed over 90 applications this year ranging from games to business applications. The winners from each category will receive $10,000 and co-marketing opportunities with AT&T.
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Did you get $10,000?