[squawksarah]

The new EuroBirds program is coming on, guys. I am heading toward a beta release which will work with existing data folders. I will release the beta version here when it is ready.

This Eurobirds program is really a 'testbed' project for all the nature programs. It should work with any of the nature data folders (trees, flowers, butterflies, etc, as well as the EuroBirds data.

The final data folders for any topic will have a few extra files. These will be small text files related to the 'index.txt' files and they will have the number of records in each index.txt file. So they will be tiny in size. That will be the only addition to the old WinMobile data folder so we will be able to use the WinMo data folders as they stand now (with the addition of these few extra text files).

The program now being developed has extra 'birdy' features like bird songs. I am also looking into how to scroll the large detailed image we used in the original Birds program. I may use this large image scroll idea to allow large user-added photos (of fungi, for instance) to be viewed. The overall look will be a tabbed display. Each bit of data will have its own page which can be viewed by tapping its tab. I am looking to use 'gestures' (swiping the screen) to move to the prev/next record but at present I am using buttons.

I will post some initial screen images soon.

I look forward to soon.
P.

Thats great news Sarah, really great news.

I can't wait

Pete

Any news Sarah?

Pete

[squawksarah]

Nature Explorer 1 is almost working but I am having such hassles and glitches with basic4Android and the Android platform.

There are some strange errors with B4A using the old PPC software data. One thing is the text files. While the Birds texts work fine many of the other subjects' text data won't read in properly. There seems to be an error with the Unicode-8 text format with these other data sets.

But the main problems I am having is with inexplicable errors in a most basic area of programming. While most of the nature explorer topics work fine, the Wild Flowers topic sometimes gives an error when I move through the records. This suggests an error in the data itelf, rather than the program code, as the other topics work. But this may not be completely true as Android makes automatic conversions between data types (i.e. a string of text converted to a number where the string is a number rather than a letter). So what is happening is outside my control. It shouldn't happen and I don't know why it does. I could simply error trap all these areas of problem code. This isn't an answer as it would only keep the program from stopping during use.

Another hassle is making the program display for various screen sizes and resolutions. It should do this automatically but there are some aspects of the display (buttons for example) that don't do this properly. You should be able to define how each different screen resolution looks and we need to try this out as I have only a QVGA device. (Strangely the QVGA phone chooses an HVGA format rather than the special QVGA format I have created. It is results like that which are causing me so much trouble making a working beta.)

The worst hassle is that code takes hours rather than minutes to debug. I am having to test the program out on the device itself by copying the test APK installer to the device and installing it and trying it. All the other methods that are available for debugging don't work properly for me.

So much for my bitching about Android. The program state is at this point. I can select and load any of the 7 Nature Explorer topics and view that topic's data.

For Birds I can view the illustration, the photograph, the map image, the description text and listen to the bird song.

I have the ability to add a scrolling display for the big detailed bird image that shows the bird's plumage at various stages and areas, too. (This also works for the large Fungus photographs too.) This feature works but has not been added as yet to the current beta program as I haven't decided how to get to it from the interface. This is not a coding problem but a design issue and I am hoping you will have some ideas after trying the beta.

For the other nature topics I can view the illustration, the photograph and the text (these other topics do not have audio sounds, or map images.

So the program is mostly there, but it is the glitches (in the wild flowers option) that are giving me headaches. I can see no reason why wild flowers topic should be singled out for this error but it has occurred once with Insects topic too in the past.

Maybe it is time to release a beta with a small database folder (say ten items per topic) for testing and thoughts? If I do then please consider it a 'alpha test' rather than a proper beta release.

If we find too many problems and glitches we may have to give the project up rather than release error-prone software. I released Aviasoft freeware mainly because I found designing and writing the programs relaxing and enjoyable. I have to say I hate this Basic4Android and the Android environment. It is really awful. Maybe I am not bright enough to adapt to it from the Visual Basic type programming environment and thinking.

Thanks everyone for your kind support in this project. I hope I don't let you down.

Sarah

Hi again Sarah.

What happened to the idea of going for birds only first, and only then going for the full blown nature explorer? That suggests a fair amount of bravery on your part, so please don't get despondent. When its ready, it will be ready

I'm sure once you find out the cause of your difficulties it will be good experience for any further Android projects.

Heres hoping your get to the bottom of the problem soon, and are able to take a well deserved break from it.

I'm happy to test anything you have, whenever you need it testing. Have you thought of getting assistance in the B4Android forums, there seems to be plenty of activity there between developers who are testing each others stuff.

Regards and patiently waiting,

Pete

[squawksarah]

Hi Pete

I think I will shortly release the program for topic: Birds. That topic is working pretty smoothly and the text looks fine too.

The original birds data works but with one update: The LISTS text files (i.e. index0.txt, ...) have been changed slightly and I will include a new set of index files. (But the only change in each index.txt file is a 'dummy' string of text at the very top which is the name of the group itself but can be anything as it is not actually used in the program, so if you have amended your groups you can keep the original files without hassles.)

A question... do we need to change the file extensions so that they are not catalogued by media programs? I did this for the original PocketBirds program but changed back to normal file extensions with Nature Explorer and nobody complained.

EG: mp3 became mpx, txt became txx, etc (this stopped these being catalogued by music players, photo viewers etc. As there are thousands of files it was a good idea to 'hide' these files in this way. Do we need to do this again for Android?)

Hi Sarah,
sorry I have not replied sooner but 12 hour shifts plus 2 hours of traveling don't leave much time and this is the first time I've been on for a couple of days. However I'm now off for 4 days so I guess I can't complain.

I have no idea if the file extensions will cause problems, the only thing I can suggest is you let me try and see what happens! Just let me have whatever you have now and I'll give it a try.

Just email what you have or put a link on here and lets go for it!

Regards, Pete

[squawksarah]

Nature Explorer beta 1.0 for trial and test

Here is the first attempt. It includes all birds data and limited data for other topics.

Please read the READ ME.TXT file before use.

http://www.mediafire.com/?a5b45x4b947fe97

Sarah THANK YOU!

I have a bird guide on my Android phone at last! First impressions are extremely encouraging

It is working on my device so I'll have a play and report back here. I will edit this post with whatever news I have.

Once again, thank you and WELL DONE!

Pete.

[squawksarah]

Answers to Pete's feedback...

-Portrait only, rotating the phone on its side does nothing.

THIS IS INTENTIONAL AS ALL THE IMAGES ARE PORTRAIT SHAPED. ALSO I DON'T ACTUALLY KNOW HOW TO ROTATE THE PROGRAM (AS YET).

-Forward and Back buttons cover the lower part of the images.

YOUR SCREEN SHOTS ARE VERY USEFUL (THANKS, PETE) AND THEY SHOW ME THAT THESE TWO BUTTONS ARE TOO HIGH AND NEED TO BE RIGHT AT THE BOTTOM OF THE DISPLAY.

-Can these be removed just leaving the tap area?

THE BUTTONS ARE A STARTING POINT BUT AS YOU SAY THEY BLOCK THE IMAGES AND TEXT. I WILL LOOK INTO ANOTHER WAY OF DOING THIS PREFERABLY IN THE WAY YOU SUGGEST.

- Sound files play on opening the app (first sound file) and is continuous until stopped. Waking the phone from a blank sleep screen starts the sound file again?

YUP! I HAVE TRIED TO PUT IN AN ON/OFF TOGGLE BUTTON BUT WITH NO LUCK. I HAVE NO IDEA OF HOW TO CONTROL THIS SOUND AT PRESENT. I WANT IT TO WORK BY BEING 'OFF' AS DEFAULT. THE CONTINUOUS PLAY MODE IS A CHOICE YOU CAN TOGGLE WITH THE TOGGLE BUTTON BUT THE DEFAULT FOR THIS SHOULD BE 'OFF' TOO.

- Images don't show properly and are cropped but changing the resolution to 300 wide (from 350) fixes that.

IMAGES ARE THE SAME ON MY SMALL QVGA DEVICE TOO. I ASSUMED YOUR 800X SCREEN WOULD SHOW THESE IMAGES CORRECTLY. IT IS CONFUSING THAT YOU HAVE THE SAME GRAPHICAL PROBLEM.

- Text is also "chopped off" at the right hand edge but I have no idea why that is unless its the text size? I cannot scroll either the images or the text sideways to see the hidden bits.

HMMMM... THIS DOESN'T HAPPEN FOR ME ON MY SMALL SCREEN. YOU ARE ONLY LOSING A FEW PIXELS ON THE RIGHT. I WONDER WHY?

- Screen shots below. The first 2 show original file and the same file size reduced to 300pixels.

THANKS FOR THE SHOTS, PETE. THESE TELL ME SO MUCH MORE THAN TEXT WOULD DO.

- I have rescaled the first 25 sets of jpg's and all now display better. I'm happy to adjust all images if there is not an easier option.

COULD YOU POSSIBLY EMAIL ME ONE OF YOUR RESIZED JPG IMAGES? THE ORIGINAL IMAGES WERE FOR VGA DISPLAY (PPC DEVICES) BUT SHOULD HAVE FITTED YOUR PHONE PERFECTLY, SO I AM ONCE AGAIN STYMIED AND CONFUSED WITH THIS OUTCOME.

- All in all I'm amazed it works so well as a first effort considering the differences in screen resolution from your device to mine.

I AGREE. FRANKLY, I EXPECTED MANY MORE GRAPHICAL DISPLAY PROBLEMS GOING FROM QVGA TO YOUR 800X SCREEN. SO IT IS ENCOURAGING.

- Is there a reason for naming files in the format *file1.jpg rather than file001.jpg?

THIS IS THE WAY WE DID IT FOR POCKET PC. IS THERE A REASON HAVING LEADING ZEROS IN A FILENAME WOULD BE USEFUL? IS IT BECAUSE OF THE WAY A FILE EXPLORER PROGRAM SORTS THE FILES? THERE IS NO REASON FOR DOING IT EITHER WAY, AS FAR AS I CAN RECALL. THE ONLY REASON I CAN THINK OF FOR KEEPING THE FILES WITHOUT LEADING ZEROS IS TO ALLOW PEOPLE TO USE THEIR EARLIER POCKET-PC 'NATURE EXPLORER' DATA SETS. THIS WOULD ONLY BE IMPORTANT FOR ANYONE WHO HAS CONVERTED THE DATA TEXT FILES TO A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE OR FOR THOSE WHO HAVE MADE PERSONAL EDITS TO THE DATA. THERE WOULD BE NO REASON I COULD NOT ADD AN OPTION FOR USING OLDER DATABASE FILES IF ADDING LEADING ZEROS IS IMPORTANT.

========= changes in progress ==========

- I have fixed the bug that caused the first item to display as a blank page when coming from the menu page. It now shows the chosen item's illustration.

- I am looking into how to display the many (non-bird) text files that display incorrectly. These files are found in the other topics (not birds topic). These text files display with extra blank spaces between each letter of each word.



I will post a link for a new beta apk for testing soon.

Sarah

Hello again,

I have resized all the picture files in Eurobirds to 86% of original so they are now 301 pixels wide and apart from the odd image being covered by the buttons they are showing fine on my 800x480 (HD) device.

[squawksarah]

Pete...

Please don't email the whole jpg folder. I was only interested in seeing a single example of what worked for you. But it certainly isn't important. Please forget I asked.

I have resized all graphics to compressed 300x pixels.

I have solved the problem with topics that have problematic text files and converted the full NX set of texts.

I have fixed many bugs and limitations with the last beta apk.


I will release a new beta of the full Nature Explorer 1 program (version 1.1beta) shortly.

Bugs fixed:

-birdsongs sounding on startup.
-first record not displaying.
-menu system working badly with incorrect items in spinner menu controls.
-Prev/Next buttons made much smaller and placed at bottom of page.
-text files for non-birds display correctly now.

Great Sarah,

Can't wait to try it.

Pete

[squawksarah]

Nature Explorer 1.1 BETA release

http://www.mediafire.com/?5t8x6clotksaoa8

This release fixes many bugs and display problems. There are still some issues with the menu initialisation.

The next release will be with full data folders and hopefully will not be a beta.