Author Topic: NANY 2015 Release: WhenLast (Android app) (Read 130884 times)

mouser · « **Reply #75 on:** January 17, 2015, 08:57 AM »

New versions are uploaded for testers.

This version has reminders, but to facilitate testing, instead of operating on the scale of days they operate on the scale of minutes.
That makes them unusable for real life reminders, so this version is just for testing them out.
I will later convert the reminders/timers from minutes to days.

Some general notes on reminders:

For testing purposes, the Last Time events show not just the date performed, but how long it's been since you performed a task; for testing purposes this is now in seconds+minutes, but like reminders it will be changed to days when the non-testing version is released.
Im still not sure what info to display and what options i need to give user; on phones where space is tight some decision will have to be made.
If you are using the app and it is the foreground window, when the reminder time comes for an event, you will see a short toast message on the screen about it, which will fade out.
Overdue items will also automatically be listed in a "Reminders" tab; such items will show how long overdue they are.
If you are not using WhenLast when an item reminder comes due, you will see an android notification message in your notification area; clicking on that will open the program and bring you to the reminders page.

Ath · « **Reply #76 on:** January 18, 2015, 03:46 AM »

So far I like the way reminders work, but there are some notes:

After a reminder has been 'activated', but no response has been made, I'd expect it to signal again after the original time has past. I realize this is one of the discussion items, above, but it (now) kinda feels natural, after some testing/use
The resolution is now minutes, and planned to be defined in days, but I'd find it quite useful if it could (also) be set in hours, or maybe even in minutes. Maybe the unit of delay (minutes, hours, days, weeks) should be a parameter?

(maybe some more notes later...)

mouser · « **Reply #77 on:** January 18, 2015, 02:56 PM »

EDIT Again - I've added enough tabs to allow them to scroll on the screen, and Aquarium is still cutting off the number of tasks.

yeah it seems a bit of a quirk in the tab element -- ill see what i can do.

mouser · « **Reply #78 on:** January 18, 2015, 04:43 PM »

The resolution is now minutes, and planned to be defined in days, but I'd find it quite useful if it could (also) be set in hours, or maybe even in minutes. Maybe the unit of delay (minutes, hours, days, weeks) should be a parameter?

done.

Updated; a few small bug fixes, but more importantly, you can now set the units for reminders (from seconds to years); this should make it possible for people to test the reminder feature but also to start using it for real reminder time periods. You can also now toggle the reminder option for an entry without having to zero-out the remindertime.

mouser · « **Reply #79 on:** January 18, 2015, 04:45 PM »

After a reminder has been 'activated', but no response has been made, I'd expect it to signal again after the original time has past. I realize this is one of the discussion items, above, but it (now) kinda feels natural, after some testing/use

if a reminder is ignored, you should be reminded again every time another HALF of the interval passes (but no more frequently than 1 minute).

mouser · « **Reply #80 on:** January 18, 2015, 04:50 PM »

By the way, im not much of a mobile user, or i probably would have known that there is an popular free (ad-free donationware) android app that does pretty much everything WhenLast does and is more polished; it's called Regularly. Support donationware coders -- if you need an app like WhenLast you should definitely check out Regularly.

mouser · « **Reply #81 on:** January 19, 2015, 06:17 PM »

Did someone say "widgets" ?
Screenshot - 1_23_2015 , 10_00_13 AM.png

You can choose which category to show on a widget; here's one showing only overdue "reminders":
Screenshot - 1_23_2015 , 10_01_31 AM.png

mouser · « **Reply #82 on:** January 21, 2015, 03:48 AM »

New version uploaded with preliminary Widget support.

mouser · « **Reply #83 on:** January 21, 2015, 07:49 PM »

New version up (wed jan 21); you can now configure the detail level you want reported for timestamps and reminder due dates (in main app options); this value will effect timer resolutions, so if you tell it to show you due dates in terms of seconds, it will set up timers to be able to do that. In the same respect, if you set it to show you such information rounded to the hour/day, it will use less clock cycles on your device. SO, for testing purposes you may want to set the granularity to seconds, so that you can watch the seconds tick by live as it counts up/down.

ps. you can click on the "titlebar" of the widget to re-bring up the configuration options.

mouser · « **Reply #84 on:** January 21, 2015, 09:32 PM »

Another question:

In the current version and in previous posts I have been talking about setting a REMINDER, for example if you have a task you can set a reminder for 30 days after the last time you performed the task.
But then in notifications and display I show this as "HOW LONG UNTIL *DUE*" or "HOW LONG SINCE *OVERDUE*", treating this time as the DUE date.

In the current version there is a REMINDERS tab, but it shows items that have past the reminder date as "overdue".

Now I am thinking about creating TWO automatic tabs -- one called REMINDERS and one called OVERDUE.

So here's my question:

Should I rename the field you edit and change it from "REMIND IN [X] [days]", to something like "DUE IN [X] [days]", and use that value for the overdue tab, and have a separate setting somewhere that says how far in advanced of due date i should put something on the REMINDERS tab. Can I use a global option for that, or do i really need every item to have a separate option for DUE IN and REMIND IN, which I would like to avoid.

Ideally my preference would be to have a single value that the user sets for when to consider the activity OVERDUE (for example 120 days); and show OVERDUE items on an OVERDUE tab, and then use a heuristic to decide when to list items on a REMINDER tab, for example when there the time left before an item becomes overdue surpasses 90% of the interval that is considered overdue.

mouser · « **Reply #85 on:** January 23, 2015, 01:01 AM »

New version up 1/23/15:

Some stability bugfixes
Handles case where there are multiple staggered reminder alarms while app is not running properly
Creating new lasttime entires now shows remind options on first edit

mouser · « **Reply #86 on:** January 23, 2015, 08:51 AM »

New update, more bugfixes and tweaks.

Includes new internal reminder scrolling ticker:
Screenshot - 1_23_2015 , 8_52_46 AM.png

Note: if the app is not running, you will get normal Android notification alarm messages when items are overdue.

CWuestefeld · « **Reply #87 on:** January 23, 2015, 09:26 AM »

Dumb question: these aren't coming through in PlayStore updates. Should I delete my playstore version while you're still testing, and load the APK that's referenced from the topmost post in this thread?

mouser · « **Reply #88 on:** January 23, 2015, 09:34 AM »

I haven't updated the play store version in a while because i've been coding like a mad man on this and with so many frequent major updates, i'm hesitant to push a new version to the store until i settle down a bit.
However, I am rapidly approaching that point.. After a bit more testing I will push a major new version to the store -- maybe at the end of this weekend.

That doesn't exactly answer your question, but explains why you are seeing what you see. I'd love to have more tester reports if that helps to answer your question.

mouser · « **Reply #89 on:** January 23, 2015, 09:55 AM »

Actually there may be a better solution -- I can add people to the official google play store alpha/beta testing area for WhenLast, and then upload new versions there.
Message me with the email you use for google play store (not your password just your email) and i will add you to the testing list.

Deozaan · « **Reply #90 on:** January 23, 2015, 01:12 PM »

Should I delete my playstore version while you're still testing, and load the APK that's referenced from the topmost post in this thread?
-CWuestefeld (January 23, 2015, 09:26 AM)

Assuming mouser uses the same package name (com.donationcoder.whenlast) for both APKs and signs the APKs with the same key, you should be able to install them over each other. No uninstall necessary.

mouser · « **Reply #91 on:** January 24, 2015, 04:09 AM »

Yes, they are same package name and signing key.

mouser · « **Reply #92 on:** January 24, 2015, 04:15 AM »

Regarding my previous post about Reminders vs Overdue..

First an example of how it *CURRENTLY* works:
Let's say you set an event like "change smoke detectors" and set a reminder/due value of 6 months.
Then after 6 months elapses since you performed the task, you will see an alarm/notification that the event is OVERDUE.
After a month the onscreen display will say something like "1 month overdue".

Im thinking of changing this behavior.. I think probably a more coherent view of this app is not for setting hard deadlines and due dates, but for keeping track of when the last time you did something was and how long it's been.
To that end, i'm thinking that a reminder should maybe not have any conception of a "due date".
So if you set a reminder at 6 months, then after 6 months you would get a notification/alarm that said something like "Change smoke detectors was last done 6 months ago".
And if you checked back a month after that it would say "7 months ago".

So, no notion of a DUE date, just always telling you how long it's been, and the ability to ask for a reminder after a certain amount of time.

While it would be possible to let each task have both a reminder period and a separate DUE date, i think this would probably be overkill..

Thoughts?

Ath · « **Reply #93 on:** January 24, 2015, 04:31 AM »

Well, now that it's been like a due date since the release of WL, and there hasn't been much complaint about that, I'd opt for the dual solution: both a due date or a last done date are very useful.
I can understand you don't want to create bloatware, but both feel quite natural for a productivity-type app like WhenLast

Another finding: The graphic used for the WL icon doesn't seem to be really square. I'm using MultiCon to have 4 app links in the space required for a standard homescreen link (so I can fit everything in 1 homescreen

), and the WL icon seems to be somewhat malformed, where other (often round/circle) icons are resized perfect by multicon. Can this be verified?

Edit: Added screenshot:

WhenLast 2 Screenshot_2015-01-24-11-37-44.png

WhenLast 2 Screenshot_2015-01-24-11-37-44.png

mouser · « **Reply #94 on:** January 24, 2015, 05:06 AM »

I'm sure you are right.. I need to get some help making better icon.

Ath · « **Reply #95 on:** January 24, 2015, 05:15 AM »

I need to get some help making better icon
-mouser (January 24, 2015, 05:06 AM)

Well, the icon image in itself is quite alright, just the width/height sizes seem to be somewhat off

Deozaan · « **Reply #96 on:** January 24, 2015, 03:26 PM »

I need to get some help making better icon
-mouser (January 24, 2015, 05:06 AM)
Well, the icon image in itself is quite alright, just the width/height sizes seem to be somewhat off
-Ath (January 24, 2015, 05:15 AM)

@mouser: It appears to me that you just need to add extra (transparent) padding to the top and bottom of the image to make it as tall as it is wide.

So, no notion of a DUE date, just always telling you how long it's been, and the ability to ask for a reminder after a certain amount of time.
-mouser (January 24, 2015, 04:15 AM)

I like this idea.

cranioscopical · « **Reply #97 on:** January 24, 2015, 04:40 PM »

I can understand you don't want to create bloatware, but both feel quite natural for a productivity-type app like WhenLast
-Ath (January 24, 2015, 04:31 AM)

I agree, although my mouth is full of cake I'd still like a fresh slice on my plate.

mouser · « **Reply #98 on:** January 24, 2015, 06:17 PM »

ewemoa · « **Reply #99 on:** January 24, 2015, 09:47 PM »

So, no notion of a DUE date, just always telling you how long it's been, and the ability to ask for a reminder after a certain amount of time.
-mouser (January 24, 2015, 04:15 AM)

I like this idea.
-Deozaan (January 24, 2015, 03:26 PM)

What he said.