6

It's done, compiled and packaged but before publishing i'll have some more testing went live!
And yes, it's about synchronizing stuff and no it's not about google docs.
There's one small issue, but not critical so the public testing can start.  Fixed

What to expect? After migrating to the new phone, settings, practices and their counts automatically restore from nagas knows where.

Let's say if no complaints will show up till 28th of January - I'll publish what I currently have.

Important. Online sync works on devices with Android 2.2 and later. If you're lucky owner of 1.6, the tracker will work but no sync. Sorry.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/137361/MeditationTracker.apk

But. It's not going to be an easy testing.
0. Write down your counters on paper. Hopefully this is the last time. But this is testing and it's 2012.

0.5 If your android version is lower than 2.2 the test is simple. Backup. Install. Run. It works. Done.

I'm using two scenarios after installing the new tracker:
1. First scenario: you've got only one android device
1.0 Common step. Make sure you're on wifi. Data set is not big but android will backup sooner when on wifi. Go to Settings-Accounts and Sync. Make sure you've got "Background data" and "Auto-sync" on.

1.1 Common step. Go to tracker options, change something (not really necessary but still) go back (this is when magic happens). Adding practice is also a good test (magic happens there too).

1.2 Common step. If you're lucky owner of adb you can do "adb shell bmgr backup com.meditationtracker" and then to make sure "adb shell bmgr run"

1.3 Common step. Normally you don't have adb so. Wait for the sync icon in notification panel above to appear and disappear.
1.4 Scary part. Go to Settings-Applications-Manage Applications. Find there Meditation Tracker. Go inside. Click "Erase data". That is the scary step - all your meditation tracker data is gone now. Now click "Uninstall". And let the tracker go.
1.5 Install new tracker again.
1.6 Open it and rejoice. Your practices have been restored.
1.7 Optional step. Complain of something going wrong.

2. Second scenario. Multiple devices with same google account. 
2.1 Read scenario 1.
2.2 If you have or had meditation tracker on your second device (not important one) do there step 1.4. It should be absolutely clean from tracker.
2.3 Do steps 1.0 to 1.3 on your main device.
2.4 Install new tracker on to the other device. Wait for synchronization to complete. Start tracker there. Rejoice seeing practices and counts from main device.
2.5 Optional step 1.7

I've done some UI clean-ups so normal "have a look if everything still works" test is also important.

Fun! Fun! Fun!

g+ page

I set up the Mediation Tracker page on google plus. Let's see which one of the three survives

https://plus.google.com/108254980995273600166

1021

We've got almost the round 1024 users of Mediation Tracker. Apart from personal pride it's a great sign that people do practice. Emaho!

IV - II

So the actual fourth version of the Meditation Tracker is finally in works. And surprisingly it's not yet about cloud/google docs synchronization. It's about attracting your attention ;)

The features in development:
- Some UI simplification
- New tactile feedback for people using mala size of 1 (it's at least me ;)
- Dim session screens at night
- A hopefully bug fix for crashes in Nexus phones during schedule editing (I lack details on how to reproduce the issue...)
- No more missing practices (they were just hiding, don't be afraid)
- Post install welcome message, about info in app.

The last thing sounds non critical but actually one of the reasons this release will not have google docs yet. The thing is that I'd like to have some real world beta testing prior to official market release and I need to tell people about that. But noone reads this blog. So next release will contain welcome message asking people to read this entry and volunteer to beta testing.

I sound like a villain planning world takeover. Muhaha!

So see you here soon! (and at Karma Guen at the summer course)

PS. If you have a spare mac mini (or one of your iPhone friends complains about not perfect meditracker and has spare one) - I'd accepted that gift in exchange of development ;)

PPS. When leaving comment here - make sure I can reach you electronically (if you expect me to). Just Blogger account isn't enough. Or simply write me an email to durilka at gmail.

third version

Previous version wasn't really 1.0.1 but simply "2 / Tsetchu"; the next one, "3 / Lama" has been packed and is now being tranquilo tested.

UPDATE 7.2.2011 After some field testing and one serious bug the Meditation Tracker 3 aka Lama is published into android market.

Feedback especially on German translation is welcome.

Here's the link to the latest test version if you want to have a try or install without market

Changelist:
- Improved session screen: big add button makes it simpler to use without looking at the screen; timer buttons are moved into menu
- Fixed crash after photo's taken (that was the last known issue so far)
- Settings are somewhat chattier
- Custom mala size. now you can have for instance 28 for the refuge and 108 for the rest
- First translations into Russian and German languages. Klingon to come
- Misc tiny bugfixes and facelifts.

1.0.1 aka Tsechu

So it's done. Smoke test's green and first update to Mediation tracker is alive. Let's see how will it work.

it's coming

The second release of the meditation tracker is near. It's not a major one, even really minor, but nevertheless important.

The thing that's about to change is visual appearance. Thanks to the friends, Metitation tracker has now more unified look. Other important point is that it's our first upgrade. I've done it so far on two devices and all went smooth. But it makes sence to have your data not only in the phone anyway, so before upgrading, record somewhere states of your practices.

108

Meditation tracker 1.0.1 & 1.1

 So. There were no crash reports so far, we have about hundred real users and I'm waiting for the final images to pack into current version and re-release it as not-beta-testing-anymore.

As for the next version (1.1), here's what I have in mind about changes (updated as mind fills up):

1. Move start/stop timer buttons in menu in practice window
2. Custom mala size per practice
3. Auto-silent mode during practice and corresponding setting 
4. Proper calculation of the no-scroll-list's height
5. Display values of dialog-based settings (i.e. mala size: 108, timer duraion 20min etc)

Nice to haves (not in 1.1):

1. Gallery with standard images
2. Cloud storage/sync for at least current state for backup

Comments?

some statistics

"top ten per cent applications in iTunes get about 75,000 downloads, the next ten per cent only 9,000 and the vast majority fewer than 1,000"

OK, I know it's not fair, but we've got 135 downloads already with almost no publicity and no complaints/bug reports (wow? I guess wow!)

That means that in next couple of weeks (a month tops) there will be proper 1.1 release with adequate graphics, polished interface and I guess at least one translation into Russian. I don't feel like mixing bug-fix and new-feature releases so next one will have no new functionality.

Meditation tracker technical post

In this post I'll try to keep current state of development of the aforementioned¹ application.

Here's what I've got so far:

<sup>1. All screens layouts:
    a. main - done
    b. add - done
    c. practice - done
    d. preferences - done
    e. schedule - done

2. add/edit form
    1. resize/crop image - done
    2. save big and thumb in private storage - done
    2.5 add/edit db action - done
    3. handle edit params  - done
    4. insert/update persistence - done/done
    5. little icon/ big icon issue - done
    6. edit currentCount bug - done

3. main form
    1. smart id/url image display - done
    2. practice long-press context menu with
        a. open, - done
        b. edit, - done
        c. delete - done
    3. show statistic sub-text - done

4. practice form
    1. start practice - done/temp
    2. schedule - done
    3. edit - done
    4. update scheduled date sql - done
    5. big picture's not loading - done
    6. properly format dates - done

5. schedule form
    update date picker - done

6. icon - done

7. session form
    1. layout - done
    2. timer/clock action ? test in real dev - done
    3. handle mala count - done
    4. handle date change - done

BUGS:
    major:
        current count reset after schedule edit - done
        crash on save new - done
        last practice date is one month ahead - done
        crash after taking picture on NEXUS
        custom picture's thumb not showing in main list - done
        scheduled date is one day behind - done
        handle screen rotation for session - done

    minor:
        no-scroll list unjust height calculation
        prevent screen from lock during session - done

FEATURES
    custom mala size
    remove temp image from sd after shot</sup>

---

¹ using this word is absolutely irresistible. I just envy the bureaucrats.

And here we go

Somewhat unexpectedly for me the first application I've published on android market is my the most recent side project. So, three weeks of relaxed development, some testing and here we go.

Meditation Tracker for Android phones

Meditation Tracker helps you keep track of progress of your practices.
It comes with predefined preliminary practices group (can be switched off in settings). You can create your own practices and create practice schedule based on date you aim to compete practice or number of daily repetitions. It also contains a session timer - simply set timer to required length and you'll be notified when that time has passed. You can be notified by sound or vibration. Each session data (time, repetitions) is stored in database.¹

My primary aim was to create visual and functional copy of the same application created for iPhones.

The big idea is to have several coordinated teams bringing same experience to users of different platforms. These applications are in no way ports of each other, they share look, functionality and hopefully feel.

So the Meditation Tracker.

Not much to say at this moment. As I said already this is test-release. In order to help testing - ... well use it and when it crashes, please post somewhere here a bug report including how to reproduce the issue and also the log file is found on the very root of your SD-card of the device (called meditracker.crash.log) - please attach it.

So far there's one known issue: on Nexus One there's an error after taking a photo so I'm really looking forward for error report on that.

Also have a look here. This should be the centralized place for both applications, at least I've talked to them and they find it a good idea.

¹ This description is shamelessly copied from the iPhone's application. But intentions are good. I think it's not a bad excuse.