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Author Topic: Problems getting started with Checklist DC  (Read 11673 times)

cyberdiva

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Problems getting started with Checklist DC
« on: December 22, 2018, 02:44 PM »
Hi mouser. I decided to give Checklist DC a try on my Android phone. What I'd like to do is have a shopping list that includes several stores, such as Safeway, Trader Joe's, etc., or perhaps several lists, one for each store.  For each store, I'd like to have a list of things I want to buy. I'd like these things organized into sections, such as Produce, Dairy, Meat, etc. And then under each section, I'd list the things I want. Under produce, I might list tomatoes, butternut squash, grapes, etc.

I tried to set Checklist DC up to handle this, but I got nowhere. I couldn't figure out how to add anything. I could create a category, but that was about it. I had difficulty figuring out whether produce belonged under category or vice versa (esp. since label was in a larger font than category). At no point, could I figure out how to add, say, tomatoes as an item under Produce, which I want to have as a section under Safeway.  I'm beginning to suspect that the app simply isn't designed to do this sort of thing. Then again, even more likely it's my mind that isn't designed to follow instructions.:-[  I should note that I found the instructions confusing in at least two ways: they didn't make clear the relationship between label and category (and how those related to item), and they talked about sections, without making clear how sections related to labels or categories. 

I'd be most grateful for your help.

mouser

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Re: Problems getting started with Checklist DC
« Reply #1 on: December 22, 2018, 05:31 PM »
How strange.. It's designed to be dead simple.  Hit the + button, add an item.  You can set categories which act to separate items by tabs, if you want. but it's completely optional.

I wonder if it's something related to the screen not fitting on your device..

NigelH

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Re: Problems getting started with Checklist DC
« Reply #2 on: December 22, 2018, 05:42 PM »
I use the categories as store names.

If you need sections, perhaps something like this in each category (aka store).

Dairy - milk
Dairy - butter
Fruit - apples
Fruit - grapes





mouser

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Re: Problems getting started with Checklist DC
« Reply #3 on: December 22, 2018, 05:45 PM »
The key to categories is to just think of them as TAB names.
Each category represents a tab.  You can even put items on multiple tabs if you want.

cyberdiva

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Re: Problems getting started with Checklist DC
« Reply #4 on: December 22, 2018, 07:43 PM »
Thanks very much, NigelH and Mouser, for your replies. I think NigelH may have provided a good solution to the problem I was having. I was trying to have a three-level arrangement.  The top level--the Category--would be the store (e.g., Safeway). The next level, which I suppose would have to be the Label--would be the kind of item I wanted, for example Produce. And under Produce would be individual items such as grapes, tomatoes, butternut squash, etc.  What I think NigelH has proposed combines levels two and three into a single level, the Label, which would combine a level-two designation AND a level three: produce-tomatoes, produce-butternut squash, etc. Actually, I think I like Nigel's replacing Produce with the more specific terms like "fruit" and "veggies".  And if I list my items in alphabetical order, at least I'd still have all the veggies listed together, all the fruits listed together, etc., even though the veggies wouldn't be listed near the fruits. 

Mouser, I don't think screen size was an issue here. I was able to see everything (indeed, my phone, an LG Stylo 4, is toward the larger end of the phone spectrum). My problem was partly terminology, but mostly I was trying to have a three-level arrangement, not realizing that Checklist was designed for just two levels. But NigelH's suggestion to have the Label combine two levels into one should give me what I need. My one concern is that, especially since the Label font is larger than the Category font, there may not be enough room to include, say, "veggies-butternut squash".  I wonder whether you could make possible a choice of font sizes?  Or, if not, at least make the Label font smaller than it currently is?

Again, many thanks to both of you!  :Thmbsup:

mouser

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Re: Problems getting started with Checklist DC
« Reply #5 on: December 23, 2018, 02:57 AM »
Let me chew on the idea of custom label sizes.. I'm wary of having my android apps explode in custom options like my windows apps, especially since I already have quite a lot of font options..
Yep, I get it now that your attempt use a 3-level hierarchy explains the trouble/confusion you were having.  It's exacerbated by the fact that my apps let you "edit" the categories, which makes it seem like they can be arranged into a top level hierarchy themselves, but in fact the category editor is just letting you rearrange, hide, and rename them.

It has occurred to me that a 3-level hierarchy feature might be useful.. basically letting you OPTIONALLY arrange items into a level above tabs.. call them "Books" (or files).  Unlike tabs, you would only ever be viewing one "book" at a time.  It's just an idea..

rjbull

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Re: Problems getting started with Checklist DC
« Reply #6 on: December 23, 2018, 04:33 PM »
The best shopping (and general) check list I've seen is HandyShopper for the Palm. Some Android apps are meant to be similar, e.g. rShopping List - Grocery List.

rjbull

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Re: Problems getting started with Checklist DC
« Reply #7 on: December 23, 2018, 04:51 PM »
What I'd like to do is have a shopping list that includes several stores, such as Safeway, Trader Joe's, etc., or perhaps several lists, one for each store.  For each store, I'd like to have a list of things I want to buy.

HandyShopper does this by defining a master list of items, and also a list of stores.  When you define a new item, you check which (multiple) stores it can be bought in.  Probably the key to using HandyShopper is that it has multiple views.  When you need to go shopping, you start off with the "All" view which shows the master list view combined with the "All Stores" view. As you check off each item you need it acquires a greyed-out checkbox.  When you finish your list, you change to the "Need" view.  Everything not marked disappears, and the checkboxes of the remaining "needed" items go live.  When you get to a store, you can if you wish change from "All Stores" to a view of the particular store you're in.

IainB

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Re: Problems getting started with Checklist DC
« Reply #8 on: December 23, 2018, 06:55 PM »
@rjbull:
rShopping List - Grocery List - looks very nifty. Nice find. Thanks.

IainB

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Re: Problems getting started with Checklist DC
« Reply #9 on: December 23, 2018, 08:12 PM »
...What I'd like to do is have a shopping list that includes several stores, such as Safeway, Trader Joe's, etc., or perhaps several lists, one for each store.  For each store, I'd like to have a list of things I want to buy. I'd like these things organized into sections, such as Produce, Dairy, Meat, etc. And then under each section, I'd list the things I want. Under produce, I might list tomatoes, butternut squash, grapes, etc. ...
... I'm beginning to suspect that the app simply isn't designed to do this sort of thing. ...
Out of interest, I searched "comparative shopping list" on Google/Android Play Store, and came up with a stack of apps that might fit your needs.
One in particular: Price Cruncher Shopping List, by Brainservice Apps - looked pretty useful.

cyberdiva

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Re: Problems getting started with Checklist DC
« Reply #10 on: December 24, 2018, 05:21 PM »
Thanks very much, rjbull and IainB, for your suggestions. rShopping List - Grocery List looks interesting, but two of the four stores I'd probably include don't have easily identifiable aisles (at least, I've never found them easily identifiable or findable  :o ). And the ones that do, like Safeway, would require me to go to the store and make careful notes about what is found in each aisle. That may be more work than I want to do.

As for PriceCruncher, its main feature seems to be calculating prices in varying sizes. That's a useful feature for many people, but it's not really what I'm looking for.

I also don't need to be able to list all the stores that have the items I'm looking for. I have a good sense of when I want to go to the Safeway, when to Trader Joe's, etc. I don't need an app that will tell me in which store(s) I can find apples or butter or chicken breasts.  I pretty much know that already.  What I need is a list that I can use when I go to store X or Y to remind me of what items I want to buy. I'd like that list to be organized so that all the vegetables I want will be listed together, as will all the fruit, all the poultry, all the dairy products, etc. Actually, it's somewhat more complicated than this, since the Safeway I shop in is at times rather chaotic, but I can see how I might deal with that. I suspect that thanks to NigelH's suggestion, Mouser's Checklist DC may wind up being the app that will best meet my needs.  :up:

IainB

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Re: Problems getting started with Checklist DC
« Reply #11 on: December 24, 2018, 09:14 PM »
@cyberdiva:
Now I is confuzzled:
I tried to set Checklist DC up to handle this, but I got nowhere ...
... I'm beginning to suspect that the app simply isn't designed to do this sort of thing. ...

I suspect that thanks to NigelH's suggestion, Mouser's Checklist DC may wind up being the app that will best meet my needs. 

Does that mean you've seen how to work within what might have previously looked like its constraints, to do what you wanted to do?

cyberdiva

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Re: Problems getting started with Checklist DC
« Reply #12 on: December 25, 2018, 12:11 AM »
NigelH suggested combining what I saw as two separate levels into one.  So instead of Label being, say, fruit, and then not having a way to indicate different fruit items (since the app currently has only two levels), Nigel combined Label and Item. So Label could be, say, fruit-apples, fruit-bananas, fruit-strawberries, etc. Thus, though it first seemed to me that a two-level Checklist wouldn't meet my needs, I'm now able to work around that limitation.

rjbull

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Re: Problems getting started with Checklist DC
« Reply #13 on: December 26, 2018, 05:51 AM »
rShopping List - Grocery List looks interesting, but two of the four stores I'd probably include don't have easily identifiable aisles
[...]
What I need is a list that I can use when I go to store X or Y to remind me of what items I want to buy. I'd like that list to be organized so that all the vegetables I want will be listed together, as will all the fruit, all the poultry, all the dairy products, etc.

Don't overlook that rShopping List - Grocery List has categories, which it calls labels, and you can set it to show only items that have a particular label.  See screenshots.  I don't use aisles either, I don't see the point; they vary by shop, and are occasionally moved around.  I too think it more useful to group "Fruit" together, "Canned Goods" together, etc., and being able to display one such group at at a time is potentially useful.

Actually, this thread made me go back to HandyShopper.  I hadn't realised that it too has this very feature...  :-[

Category_entry.jpgProblems getting started with Checklist DCShow_by_label.jpgProblems getting started with Checklist DC

cyberdiva

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Re: Problems getting started with Checklist DC
« Reply #14 on: December 26, 2018, 10:06 PM »
Thanks very much, rjbull, for your helpful follow-up about rShoppingList. It has a number of attractive features, but right now I feel it offers too many features that I don't need, such as comparing prices at different stores, or telling me how much I paid for an item the last time I bought it. Heck, I don't even want to have to put in the prices, not even with a bar scanner.  Having an entire page devoted to each item seems like overkill to me, at least in terms of what I want from my shopping list.  I'm looking for something quite simple, though perhaps with a few more features than mouser's Checklist DC currently has. I think I'm going to see whether I can make Checklist work for me. If it can't, I may give rShoppingList a try.

RayDar Connected

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Re: Problems getting started with Checklist DC
« Reply #15 on: December 27, 2018, 11:17 AM »
rShoppingList. It has a number of attractive features, but right now I feel it offers too many features that I don't need, such as comparing prices at different stores, or telling me how much I paid for an item the last time I bought it. Heck, I don't even want to have to put in the prices, not even with a bar scanner.  Having an entire page devoted to each item seems like overkill to me, at least in terms of what I want from my shopping list.  I'm looking for something quite simple, though perhaps with a few more features than mouser's Checklist DC currently has. I think I'm going to see whether I can make Checklist work for me. If it can't, I may give rShoppingList a try.

One of the nice things about my app (rShopping List) is that the features you don't use tend get out of the way. If you choose not to enter prices, you won't see comparisons or prices shown on your shopping list. You will only see that 'entire page devoted to each item' once when you are making a new item (to enter its name). Swipe it away and you never need see it again. There are dialogs for changing the specific attribute (like tags / labels) that you do actually use. You can even configure the 'action bar' buttons that appear at the top of the app, adding buttons you use frequently, and removing buttons you don't care about.

I hope you find what you are looking for. During your search, you might give rShopping List a try.

p.s. To use rShopping List as a simple list, select "Hide Tabs" and then select "Arrange" and choose "Needed ... Purchased". The items to buy will appear at top of the list. When you check off an item, it will fall down into the pool of non-needed items. Use the 'Search Here' button to quickly find an item when you need to again mark it as needed.

wraith808

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Re: Problems getting started with Checklist DC
« Reply #16 on: December 27, 2018, 11:31 AM »
Thanks for showing up to give a bit of insight into the app, and welcome to the site!

RayDar Connected

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Re: Problems getting started with Checklist DC
« Reply #17 on: December 27, 2018, 11:57 AM »
Thanks for showing up to give a bit of insight into the app, and welcome to the site!

Thanks for giving me an opportunity to double my post count.  :D

cyberdiva

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Re: Problems getting started with Checklist DC
« Reply #18 on: December 27, 2018, 08:54 PM »
Thanks very much, RayDar, for this added information about rShopping List. What you've said makes me sure that if I find that Checklist DC doesn't met my needs, I'll give rShopping List a try. A responsive developer is a big plus in my book.  :Thmbsup: