New Baka-Tsuki Android App: Development

[borbmizzet]

Nope, not fixed. I've noticed it mainly happens when I'm in the middle of scrolling, and shows a little notification on the lower part of the screen that says "Connected" whenever it returns to the chapter index page after this occurs.

[Nandaka]

Most likely it is related to update service.

Can you turn off the update service by setting the update interval to never?

EDIT: 'Connected' message is shown because the Service is being restarted. Checking the log file, somehow the application just died without cause... Either this is because of low memory/heap? I'm not so sure, because it is working fine in the Emulator.
I'm also notice that a lot app also died from the log file, this might be because of unstable build of 4.2's ROM?

[borbmizzet]

The Update interval was already set to never, and I even cleared the entirety of the app's data from the android settings to make sure it wasn't somehow set behind the scenes from a previious install, as I uninstall and reinstall the app for each new version, and it still happened again. I'm getting the feeling that 4.2 has issues because the entire system feels laggier than before the update. I'll do a fresh stock 4.2 install when the next version of the Nexus 7 Toolkit comes out because I'm wondering if there was an issue during the update process, seeing as how the 4.2 that you are using to test is most likely a fresh install, and I haven't seen anyone else report in such issues on the internet, other than oogav in this topic. I'll see if it still happens then. Also, when you were testing it in the emulator, did you actually spend 15+ minutes reading a chapter? I've found that this error doesn't occur unless I'm actually in the middle of reading.

EDIT: Just found this http://code.google.com/p/android/issues ... akechanges. Seems we're not the only ones. Also looks like the OS's fault, not the app.

[oogav]

I've also set the Update Interval to never and the problem persists. I too believe that is an issue with Android 4.2 rather than the application itself.

@borbmizzet: I can't reply to PM's yet To answer your question, no, I was running stock 4.1.2 at the time and I have yet to root 4.2 either.

[Nandaka]

I've tested in emulator by opening the novel content and left it open for 20min in background, the application still running fine and scrollable.

I do find it funny, because based on your log file, there are a few application also died in the process before the reader died (even the launcher and facebook). So I'm really not sure what is the cause. Usually the application will throw an exception if Force Close.

I haven't tried to open and actively reading the novel ( no time, and most likely I'll read one chapter from kino no tabi )

[Sarvatt]

Using volume controls for scrolling (set to 3000 for a whole page) works around the 4.2 crashes here. It crashes 2-3 times per chapter otherwise because I scroll a lot.

[Nandaka]

Using volume controls for scrolling (set to 3000 for a whole page) works around the 4.2 crashes here. It crashes 2-3 times per chapter otherwise because I scroll a lot.

So it is because of the WebView *manual* scrolling action? That's funny.

[Weaknespase]

Mmm... A one question. Why not consider developing a small plugin to existent readers instead implementing full-fledged standalone app? You will have a flexible and already debugged reader interface and all you need - just add html downloader and parcer. For example - FBReader has all required api for such plugins.
I think that this is a perfect example for "keep it simple" styled applications. But "we are not seeking easy ways", huh?

[Nandaka]

Mmm... A one question. Why not consider developing a small plugin to existent readers instead implementing full-fledged standalone app? You will have a flexible and already debugged reader interface and all you need - just add html downloader and parcer. For example - FBReader has all required api for such plugins.
I think that this is a perfect example for "keep it simple" styled applications. But "we are not seeking easy ways", huh?

because nobody know about that , anyway you can make one of the plugin for that. The source code for the parser in in GitHub Do they have a service/API for checking new chapter updates?

As for me, I'm using this for learning to create an Android application (more control on deciding what to add/create).

[Weaknespase]

Ok, i got it.

Cloned git and used apk from it on my device. Mmm... Rather rough, it certainly has some improvements (like preloading full-res images, or supporting inverted color scheme), but so far it is same as original app, without any significant difference. A good alpha, maybe beta, vesion, nice work, considering it was written from scratch.

I have one thought, maybe you can use for chapter source version from 'Edit' page? I think it has some advantages over html version. There are no TOCs, it has low tag count (which can drastically reduce workload for html parcer), easily discardable includes (such as navigation bar) and less complex references definitions. At least it has all chapter's text in one, easy accessible tag.

[milki]

The app doesn't seem to handle phone locking/screen saving. If my phone decides to turn off the screen or lock due to inactivity, on resume, it will lock up for a bit and when it resumes, it always has a ton of dialogues for loading new content. Sometimes, it won't resume to the place I last read. Etc. I havent' done android programming, so I'm not sure if anything special needs to be done to handle this. Any clues as to what's happening?

[SinsI]

It would be nice if there was some way to help with editing translation mistakes that you notice while reading using this App.
The easiest to implement way is to add ability to quickly add multiple bookmarks, and to quickly go through all of them.
The harder way is to edit the text on-the-spot, with uploading it later, when you are online.

P.S. Noticed a bug - if you turn off the phone while the app is still running, current text position is not saved.

[Nandaka]

so far it is same as original app

I tried to replicate the look-and-feel from the old application.

nice work, considering it was written from scratch.

Thanks

chapter source version from 'Edit' page

You means for the chapter list? This one: http://baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php ... ction=edit for example?
While it might be lighter in size, the parsing is harder.
Currently I'm using JSoup for handling the html element.
Is there any wiki-text parser?

it will lock up for a bit and when it resumes, it always has a ton of dialogues for loading new content.

Hmm, not in my tablet. Can you give your phone details (model/android version)? Including the android version. I suspect this is because your phone kill/suspend the activity if the phone is locked, that's why the application need to reload the data from db again and you see the message dialog.

Any clues as to what's happening?

Can you get the log file (adb logcat)?

add ability to quickly add multiple bookmarks

I'll see about it . The way I save the bookmark (last position) is from the x/y of the scroll and the zoom level, which is not very accurate. I'd like to get the proper last line read/or visible in the webview, but haven't found a way to do this.

P.S. Noticed a bug - if you turn off the phone while the app is still running, current text position is not saved.

Haven't tried this, is it on proper shutdown or by taking out the battery . The last position is saved when the Novel Content Activity is being paused.
See: https://github.com/calvinaquino/LNReade ... .java#L116 and https://github.com/calvinaquino/LNReade ... .java#L357 for the method implementation.

[borbmizzet]

So after trying the app with a fresh 4.2 stock flash on the nexus 7, followed by rooted, followed by a custom 4.2 based ROM, and continually having the same problem, then flashing back to stock 4.1.2 and the app working fine again, and finally settling on a custom 4.1.2-based ROM, I can say with confidence that the problem lies with the nexus 7's 4.2 ROM itself. After searching around on Google and xda, it seems plenty of people with the nexus 7 are reporting similar problems with other apps as well as lag and a myriad of other issues after the OTA update (though it seems to be working fine for plenty of others). I guess all we can hope for is that Google pushes out a bugfix update quickly. Because I use this app more than any other except dolphin browser, I'm sticking with 4.1.2 until the next update. The constant update notifications were annoying, but I did finally find a way to make them stop.

Side question: Every time this app gets updated I uninstall it and reinstall the new version. Is there a way to update it so that the cache and settings don't get deleted?

[Nandaka]

Every time this app gets updated I uninstall it and reinstall the new version. Is there a way to update it so that the cache and settings don't get deleted?

If you download the latest version from my mediafire link, you doesn't need to uninstall the apk as they uses the same signature. You can just overwrite/update the apk.