Category: Blog

The new Files screen is shown above. The help text has gone, and instead there are Settings and Help buttons in the app bar.

The help is in html format:

The settings are specific:

The Google Drive API is proving to be a worthy opponent. I did not even understand the first diagram.

This gives an idea of what the new Files module will look like. Only the Google Drive code remains.

I have finished removing the redundant features from the Android app, and eliminated the use of external storage. But it needs Google Drive to be viable, so it will be included in version 7.0.0.

I will be adding Drive support to the SD Card module, and changing the name to Files. The menu will be as follows:

• Database
  • Save
  • Upload
  • Download
  • Restore
• Images
  • Download
  • Create Thumbnails

The functions in italics are new.

It turns out that my Fire 7 tablet is ideal for my workflow, so it will be my main test device going forward.

I tried to test my new app on a Pixel XL emulator, running on a PC with fairly modest specs. But it was so slow that it was unusable. It was also illegible, but I did not really get that far.

I was not going to order my new phone until my birthday, but the Amazon website jumped the gun last night. I am glad it did. I also have a Fire 7 tablet that I could use at a pinch, but I think I will wait.

The iOS client needs updating on similar lines to the Android client, viz:

• Some features need to be withdrawn
• Other features need to be added
• Ideally I also need to replace my iPhone 5S.

Going forward, there are other issues:

• It needs a navigation drawer
• It is written in Objective-C

Swift is now the preferred development language for iOS, and Objective-C is effectively deprecated. That limits future developments. Any navigation drawer would have to be hand coded.

I am reluctantly retiring my 8 year old Nexus 4, and will soon be the proud owner of a Moto G9 Play. This will allow me to test the forthcoming Android releases.

I am also hoping that by eliminating external storage, version 7.1.0 will fully support Chromebooks. This would be great because:

• I am a huge fan of Chromebooks
• They always run the latest version of Android
• They are great for running the Sales Manager

Version 7.0.0 will be a clean up release, which removes a number of features that looked nice, but which turned out to be not so good in practice. These include:

• Barcode scanning using the camera on a mobile phone.
• Printing invoices directly to a wi-fi printer.
• Maps and location services.

Version 7.1.0 will add the following features:

• Replacing external storage with Google Drive.
• Supporting additional email providers Outlook and Yahoo.