Fixed!

So, I found the problem with the in app purchasing not verifying (the payload)... and it turns out that:

string1 == string2

would return false (even though they were the same string) but,

string1.equals(string2) == true

would work as expected.  Now, this is something very small and trivial and something that I potentially should have realized a lot faster.  The problem is that (for right now) I don't do java development and that's just how things work in java.  My 9-5 job is slowly (and I do mean SLOWLY) starting to move into the world of web development using angular and java script and at that point comparing two string values using .equals will become trivial, but for now the .NET developer that I am expects the == to work the same way.

As usual, when I end one of these posts, I'll mention what the future holds for Desk Clock Plus.  As usual, I'll say that I'm not sure.  It is one of those things that I want to get back to and do a proper re-write.  However, over the past two years or so, I've started working more with a non-profit museum that I've belonged to for most of my life.  I'll be starting on a fairly large project that will need to be completed by October(ish).  While that seems like a long time, remember that I'll be working on it less than an hour a day.  After that, who knows...

But the one thing I do want to do is thank everyone who has downloaded Desk Clock Plus and a big thank you to the people who threw a dollar at me for the extension.  I never though that it would ever have been downloaded over 50,000 times and still have 9-10,000 installs.

Bob

273 Days

So... last post here was (as you guessed) 273 days ago and yes, with this post comes an update to Desk Clock Plus.  However, it's pretty minor and probably doesn't affect most people other than me.  Back in January, Google deprecated version 2 of the in app purchasing API.  I was warned and I did nothing.  January came and went and in app purchase for the dock extension stopped working.  I've meant to go back and fix it, but my time has been rather limited as I've been working on other side projects during my lunch (ie the time that 95% of DCP was written).  I finished one project and before I start on something new, I decided to sit down and bang this out...

So, I've made the changes and tested as much as I can... it seems that the APK (ie program) needs to be uploaded and published for the In App Purchase stuff to work.  I've followed the coding example and I think it's good.  I've also checked the code for re-activating the extension if the data is reset.  However, I couldn't test that in a positive scenario (since I can't purchase my own extension), but I've seen the code check with the play store and see that it's not purchased.  I also can't go though the purchase process even in a debug mode.

So, I'm looking for two people to help me test.

1. Someone who wants to purchase the extension (I have a couple people who have emailed me)
2. Someone who has already purchased and is willing to clear the data for the app.  When you go back to the purchase screen, the app will check to see if you own the extension and if you do, it will activate it (after doing this you may need to clear the app from the recent apps so it restarts).

What does the future hold?  I don't know... I have a number of projects that I'm going to be working on during my lunch hour so I don't know when I'll get back to Desk Clock Plus.  I do want to get back to it, as I do miss doing the Android development and things have changed a lot since I stopped working on it.  We'll see what happens..

Long time coming...

The last post to this blog was made on April 10th and the last update to the app was probably around that time as well.  That's almost three months... and you would think that after that amount of time I would have some crazy new enhancement ready to roll out.  Sadly, I don't.  After the last update, I started into looking at a weather extension and I think I have a plan for that, but then my 9-5 job got real crazy and home life got crazy.  I also got an email from a user who couldn't configure the docks, so I started into a redesign of the save / load mechanism for the custom docks.  The problem was that I lost motivation to work on this during my lunch break, so things started moving very slowly.

That started to change a couple weeks ago... with Verizon's move from the unlimited data plans.  My wife and I replaced our 2 1/2 year old OG Droids were replaced by shiny new Samsung Nexus' (Nexi?).  That kind of got me moving again as developing on the new phone is a dream compared to the OG Droid.  Then as it seems almost always happens I got a couple emails about the dock configuration issue.  What was nice was that one of the user's said that the problem started after his Razr was updated to Ice Cream Sandwich.  Quick emails to the other users and it seems that they were all on version 3.2 or higher.    I was able to confirm the issue on my new phone as well.  Fortunately, I was about 75% done with a rewrite of the dock extension and I was able to finish it up and send out a Beta to the users who has emailed me.

I made some other minor adjustments and that brings me up to where we are now.  Version 1.0.0.28 was just pushed out the market a little while ago with a better way for me to handle saving the dock configuration (that also works for ICS) and a small tweak to how I try to get the music apps, based off this article from Android ER.

I do feel a little motivated to work on Desk Clock Plus more after diving back into get this last bug fixed, so hopefully I'll be able continue to be motivated and get going on the other extensions that I've been thinking about since I started on the Desk Clock Plus project about a year and half ago.

Thank you all for your support and patience between updates.

Latest Update*

There are two new features and one bug fix with the current update:

The fix ended up being a minor one,  I was getting the state of the ringer when the device was added to the dock, but not restoring it when the device was removed from the docked.  So, if the phone was silent when it entered the dock, I would set the ringer state to 'normal'.  Not a catastrophe, but an annoyance.

The first new feature is for all users.  The last update I put in the first feature request from Martina for a one minute background update.  Her next request was for an alternate text color as some of her images are of snow and the white text for those images were being lost.  I did a little research and came up with a way to get the average pixel color and if it's whiter than the threshold level then it will use the alternate color (black by default).    You can set a custom alternate color and this is only in effect when the backgrounds are rotating.

The second new feature is for the scrolling dock to launch an app when un-docked.  When my Moto Droid gets retired from every day use (which will hopefully be soon), its next job is going to be a WiFi remote control for my Media PC which is running XBMC.  The idea is that the phone will run Desk Clock Plus and keep charged in the dock.  When it's time to kick back and relax with some TV, grab the phone from the dock and have it jump straight into the Official XBMC Remote.  I'm sure there's other uses, but that's what I have in mind for me.

Next up... tablet dock mode...

*  I try to be cleaver with the most post titles, but my brain is on fried from work and I couldn't come up with anything.  Possibilities included:

• Steven King's Dark Tower as this is version number 19.
• Along that line make a reference to this guy.  HWTL!
• Or a reference to leap year.

I'm waiting to hear back...

The last update fixes two issues, the first I realized there was a problem yesterday and I mentioned it on the g+ page.  There were a handful of Application Not Responding reports coming in and after a quick look yesterday, I realized that I committed a programming foul.  Typically, anything that's going to take a long time or anytime you're going out of the device to get something (picture, info, etc) you want to put it in a thread.  This way the thread can do it's thing and the main part application can continue doing it's thing.  I had done this in the past in a number of places (getting the image and weather just to name two).  However, I didn't think about doing this for all the new Yahoo! PlaceFinder web service calls that I mentioned in my Round up.  Depending on the device, the connection or traffic Yahoo! is receiving the reply from the web service might take too long and the OS displays that lovely "Something took too long" do you want to Force Close, Wait or Report dialog.  Most of the time, hitting wait will be good enough.  This is one of those things as a programmer that burns me as I know better, but since I don't deal with it often (or not at all for my 9-5 job) I just didn't think about it.

The other thing in this update should hopefully resolve the any future problems that Stu experienced.  Those problems frustrated him enough to leave this review.  Long story short, I found Stu's email from the purchase order and dropped him a line.  It seems (and I'm waiting for confirmation from Stu) that after the purchase of the dock extension is made 1) there's a lag between the purchase and the acknowledgement of the purchase 2) After the acknowledgement is received I'm not forcing a reload of the dock or any of the other stuff that needs to happen.  The simple fix for him should have been a Reboot or a Force Close of the app.

I believe that in the time between the purchase and the review, the app wasn't restarted and therefore the extension was never fully 'activated'.  The code change was relatively simple and hopefully other people who purchase the extension (and future extensions) will not have the same problems that Stu experienced.  My apologies to Stu and any other users who experienced the same kinds of issues.

'Hide and Seek' or 'I'm not touching you'

I just pushed out version 1.0.0.8 to the market this afternoon.  The big new feature is for Scrolling Dock users, you can now swipe up or down on the dock area to show or hide the dock giving you a little more clear space to enjoy your background.  There are also settings for the dock to "auto-hide" after a time period which also includes immediately (well, 15 second delay).

Also as per a suggestion from a user, there is now an option to dim the dark clock immediately as well.  Once again it's really a 15 second initial delay...  I figured you needed a short delay just to show the transition from non-dimmed to dimmed.  The other thing that is new for the dark clock is that the proximity sensor is now being monitored.  Typically the proximity sensors is located by the speaker at the top of the phone.  If the clock is dimmed and you wave your hand close by the sensor, the screen will un-dim for 15 seconds.  I figured that would be good for someone who wakes up in the middle of the night and wants to check the time.  This way the screen is only lit up for a short time instead of the five minutes (or more) for when the screen is touched.

I also linked the proximity sensor the the hidden dock as well.  If the dock is hidden and you trip the proximity sensor it will open the dock for 15 seconds.  This feature is a little more of a novelty, but the code was all there for the dark clock to do it and this program is a learning tool for me, so why not put it in?

The next thing up is the much requested "static" location for the weather... now that I know how to handle this for international locations.