Hi Sarah,
Great to see this on Android.
I'm having trouble with my HTC One (no SD card) running 4.2.2 which works somewhat on Aviasoft 4.3.2, but seems not to recognise where the Aviasoft folder is with 5.0.6.
The error is "an error has occurred in sub:main_handlesettings (java line 2915) java.io.File not found Exception:/storage/usb/Aviasoft/notopic.jpg:open failed:EACCES (permission denied) continue?"
The file does exist in storage/emulated/0/Aviasoft, as put there by 4.3.2.
Is there a way to force Android to look there?

Edit: Sorry Sarah, found out how to do it in Prefs/Database location/internal memory.
HTC One seems to emulate mnt/sdcard/ so software thinks it exists.
At each error I answered Yes until the main screen without topics came, went to Prefs/Database location and selected internal memory. Hope this helps someone.
Not put all the topics on the phone yet, but works brilliantly so far, with the niggly 4.3.2 problems all gone.

[lohtse]

T

I am seriously considering abandoning android. Android is just so glichy and weird. All seems fine on my phone (android 2.2) and tablet (android 4.1).

Android devices, with their bespoke firmware and all these different versions of the operating system make having an app reliable across the device and platform range just impossible. Somebody shoot me. Lol

I understand where you are coming from I have 4 tabs and 2 phones that are for daily use....And even though I try to have the same apps across the board I seem to have issues all the time..Were as with Winmo it rarely was a problem...

Please don't abandon the project as this is by far one of the best education apps out there...Hence is being on all devices... It so great for kids and adults a like just couldn't imagine not having it now.. And is one of the first apps to be installed on a new device or after areflash...

Keep it up as your work is appreciated very much and very valuable to us all.

Kindest regards
Lohtse

Does this Program run in german language?

Sarah,

can you offer the database in uncompressed form? Some pictures are starting to look very pixelated on larger screen sizes.

Regards, Pete

[squawksarah]

Does this Program run in german language?

No, sorry.

[squawksarah]

Sarah,

can you offer the database in uncompressed form? Some pictures are starting to look very pixelated on larger screen sizes.

Regards, Pete

Hi Pete

The images (of which there are over 10,000) are what they are. They were created when devices had reasonable sized screens but now, with these mega-sized screens on phones and tablets those limitations sadly are evident. As most of the images are not my own I do not have large megapixel versions to recreate a new database. I have noticed that the birds photos are simply too small to really do justice to bigger screens - they need replacing, but this is a HUGE undertaking.

I originally designed the app for QVGA screens, 240 by 320 pixels in size. Now some devices have screens that are over 2000 pixels tall (twice the pixel size of my laptop) all on a small display. I don't know what the solution to this is.

One possible answer might be to try to get permission from non-professional photographers of nature topics online to use their images in the program and simply replace the old photographs with new (big) pictures. The latest version of the Android app can use jpg photos of any size you like and using large images gives great zoom quality. But big images means large file sizes.

Should I reign in the topics so they only show species that are common? Maybe remove all 'painting' images and only use photographs? These ideas would keep the file sizes down and make it easier to update the program with high quality images (assuming I could get them).

Ideas anyone?

[squawksarah]

ANDROID VERSION 5.1.0 RELEASED!

This version includes a redesign of the species search feature. You can now choose (in prefs) to search all species or only the chosen category of species. The search results are now displayed in a better way. Other improvements also.

[squawksarah]

new version 5.1.2 out

a minor release to improve search.

[squawksarah]

Android Version 5.1.5 released
-----------------------------

* Fixed: bug stating 'no topics present'. If you were using a single nature topic AND you changed the StartUp topic in the PREFS area you would get this message if you tried to re-select your single topic from the main menu. Most people would not have come across this error as when using a single topic you would be unlikely to try to set it as the default topic (as by definition, it already was the default topic).

* Added: display text size setting 'Smallest' for devices that need really small text in the app. (I noticed that on my phone the smallest text size would still be quite big so I added a SMALLEST size to the display's text size option.) If anyone finds the largest text setting is not large enough for their devices (i.e. on very high resolution phones and tablets) let me know and I will include a really big text option too.)

DESKTOP VERSION: A new version of the desktop (Windows) version is now also released. It improves the program display and the database editor and has an updated user guide.

Sarah,
good to see that things are going on and something new is also available for desktop.
Have given a quick test to this (desktop), will look at Android later.

** First problem: my Butterflies data set has been overwritten by yours (I have a backup).
** Release displayed is 4.1.1 which seems to be the "old" number
** Good to see that buttons for photo and image change colour when selected; but when changing topic the display starts with "image" but the Yellow is not updated accordingly: if the previous selection was for photo , also with the new topic photo will be Yellow but display actually is "image"
** DB editor seems not starting when selected from the main menu, all ok when selected from the program list

Good the possibility to alternate from Latin to local name pressing NAMES at top left

Thanks again and keep up.
Amedeo

[squawksarah]

hi amedeo

buttefly data over writing. i have included a clearer message for users with custom butterfly data, in the read me file and the installer itself. . the desktop includes this topic as default to get new users going. .

i fixed the editor launch error and the button staying down (yellow) bugs and uploaded it as version 4.1.2.

the previous release of the windows version was 4.1.0.

i think i may have sent you a beta version '4.1.1' which might have caused confusion.

thanks for the feedback

sarah

Hi
I love this App have used it for a long time.
(Since getting a Galaxy S2 18 months ago.
I have always had a problem with it not showing all the Data Bases I have installed.
I have all the available DB unzipped in the Aviasoft folder on my Sd card in my Galaxy S3
all installed 5.1.6 this week after getting the Galaxy S3.
Birds
Butterflies
Fungi
Insects
Fossils
Wild Herbs

Are the only ones available when running the App.

Did try changing the folder names (All Capitals) to capital and lower case
but this made no difference.

Setting the default pref to Wild Herbs
then restarting
Topic Title = Birds
Category = All Herbs
And the Herbs are showing when viewed.

Odd behaviour
setting the default topic to Fossils seems to work ok.

Would like to get access to the other databases
So if anyone as solved this problem please let me know.
Granddadscott

[squawksarah]

the path name cases are important in android. make sure folders are in capital case, first letter upper case others lower case.

make sure the folder structure is sdcard/Aviasoft/TopicFolder/ where topicfolder is Birds, etc.

it is always better to uncompress topic folders on a pc. android has been known to nmess it up, sometimes placing a topic folder inside another folder of the same name.


finally make sure topics not visible have files inside their respective folders. the important file is a jpg image with the same name as the topic folder. i. e. topic Birds must have 'Birds.jpg' inside folder 'Aviasoft/Birds/' or the topic will not be visible to the app.

you may place the Aviasoft folder in internal memory if you prefer.

make sure you are using the newest apk version.

Cheers Sarah
I did unzip them on the android.
What a mess it does of them.
The databases which were missing in the app had second folders within the folder
and the Database jpg was located in the second folder.
I copied it into the first folder and deleted the second folder completely.

Example
card/aviasoft/Weather/Weather/weather.jpg
Transfered the weather.jpg to the first weather Folder and A-presto it shows up.

So thanks for the info re the jpg.
All working as it should.

[squawksarah]

brilliant!

it is strange how unzipping on android can go so wrong. android just cannot cope with a large amount of files.

sarah