Hog Bay Software

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Tue, 24 Aug 2010 09:44:00 -0400

Starting the first day of my new work schedule.

There have been two big changes around here. Grey Burkart is now helping me out with all non coding aspects of Hog Bay Software, so I have more time to code. And Jeanne, my mother in law, just moved to a new house within walking distance. She will be helping to watch the kids Wednesday through Friday along with my parents who watch on Tuesdays. The end result:

I’m back to four real work days!

My focus is on PlainText. Expected it out months ago… but still not out. Here’s what still needs to be done, and my plan for this week:

Tuesday - Finish writing unit tests for new faster sync system.
Wednesday - Incorporate new sync system code into PlainText code.
Thursday - Complete another round of UI touchups.
Friday - Polish, and submit to iTunes at 5:00 PM.

Will I hit those goals? I don’t know, but many people have been asking when it will be done. I’m not sure, but to give everyone a better idea I’ll keep you updated on my progress to this list. If it’s not done this Friday, at least you’ll know how I’m progressing.

Update Friday, Auguest 27

Still working on Wednesday’s step, incorportating the new sync engine into the existing PlainText codebase. I got a few abstractions wrong, created a mess, but now I’m back on track and things are looking good. The integration is now mostly done now, it compiles an works for simple cases. But I need at least a day more to clean things up. So here’s the plan for next week:

Tuesday - Finish incorporating new sync system into PlainText code.
Wednesday - Complete another round of UI touchups.
Thursday - Polish, and submit to iTunes at 5:00 PM.

That’s the plan anyway.

Hog Bay Software, now using the plural 'we.'

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 10:02:00 -0400

Hello world.

An introduction would probably be in order before you start seeing my replies on the support forums and elsewhere for Hog Bay Software.

I’m Grey Burkart, the new guy working with Jesse. We’ve known each other for (my) entire life, and Jesse extended the (awesome!) chance to work with him and Hog Bay Software following my recent move back to the area from all the way over in Seattle.

On the day-to-day, I’ll be helping Jesse with the support forums, bug testing, and other necessary good tasks that have had the effect of letting the code-monkey out of his cage. Remember, folks, the longer the blocks of time that Jesse has to focus on coding programs and coming up with even more cool ideas, the sooner we can get them out to you. And that’s the real fun!

The longer-term for Hog Bay Software is where my professional background comes into play. My specialization is in Emergency Management and Business Continuity, which is fancy-speak for contingency planning and applied paranoia for the greater good.

What this means for you: Jesse has added a helping hand for community and SQA, and we’re working to make sure Hog Bay Software is on solid ground, now and in the future.

While I can wrangle some code here and there, programming isn’t really my vocation — but I can certainly break software and I look forward to reproducing bug reports. I run Linux for my personal computers, and it’s tons of fun to be ‘back on the Apple.’

It’s been an eye-opener cruising through the blog and forums to see such a great — and vocal — community using Hog Bay Software’s products. I’m looking forward to working with all of you!

Rock on, Grey Burkart

PlainText iTunes copy text

Fri, 06 Aug 2010 00:21:00 -0400

Here’s a draft of the PlainText description that I’ll post to the iTunes app store. Thoughts and improvements welcome, though I’d like to keep it as short and straight forward as possible.

PlainText - Simple text editing

For editing text on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch. PlainText is a simple text editor with an uncomplicated, paper-like user interface. Unlike the default Notes app, PlainText allows you to create and organize your documents in folders and sync everything with Dropbox.com.

FOLDERS keep your documents organized.
PAPER-LIKE INTERFACE keeps the focus on your text.
DROPBOX SYNC means your documents are always synced and availible.

PlainText works exclusively with plaintext (.txt) files.

Update 2 Incorporates most suggestions, thanks for all the help!

Update Fixed paper-like hyphen. Fixed “interface focuses you” to “interface lets you focus”.

PlainText beta 5

Thu, 05 Aug 2010 23:39:31 -0400

New icon.
Hide iAd when in landscape on iPhone.
Fixed toolbar sizing on rotate on iphone.
Graphics updated for iPhone 4 retina display.
Added short welcome document for new installs
Better select title behavior for new folders and files.
Natural sort ordering for files that contain numbers.
Fixed crash on startup that was effecting some users.
Dissallow entering ‘;’ in filename, because causes problems on Dropbox.
Fixed sync while editing bug, should no longer get caught in tight sync loop if you keep editing a document as it is being synced.

Known issues include:

Needs a FAQ, or some form of basic documentation.
Linking Dropbox sync to the root of your Dropbox folder “/” will cause many sync problems.
Deleting a Folder on the iOS device doesn’t first check for more recent changes on the server. So even if someone else has made more recent edits, the folder will be deleted. Luckly Dropbox can undo delete if this ever becomes a problem.

Here’s the download link for beta 5.

I don’t have any open beta slots, but if you have an iPhone developers certificate you can self sign the beta and then run it that way. Here are some self signing instructions.

Here’s a potential PlainText icon. Good? Bad? Ideas for...

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 06:33:00 -0400

Here’s a potential PlainText icon.

Good? Bad? Ideas for better alternative?

My initial goal with PlainText was to build the entire app with just text and lines, no graphics. I didn’t quite achive that, but where possible I’m still trying to just use standard glyphs, and so I’m trying that with the app icon too.

Update I’ve added an alternate. Better? Worse?

Update Added another option. I think I prefere the very simple white options better then my standard template. I think they better fit the app, and this isn’t really one of my “standard” apps. Thoughts between 1 and 3? Or how to keep the generally very simple look of 1 or 3, but make it better?

Update No decisions yet. I might try something completely different as another alternative. In the meantime Kai (10 month old) just woke up, so I’m busy until nap time.

PlainText beta 3 is ready.

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 16:38:00 -0400

This release is more polished, and I hope should be useable for real world work. Sync has been improved so that it’s faster gives you a better indication of what is happening durring the sync process.

There are thre known issues:

On iPad if you create a new folder the current files title begins editing instead of the new folders. To finish creating the folder tap in it’s title field and type the folder’s name. If you leave it as “Untitled Folder” it will get deleted on next sync.
Deleting a Folder on the iOS device doesn’t first check for more recent changes on the server. So even if someone else has made more recent edits, the folder will be deleted. Luckly Dropbox can undo delete if this ever becomes a problem.
You can get into a sync loop if you type in a file at the same time that it is being synced. I don’t think this should cause any errors, but it isn’t very efficient and will probably slow down your typing. Sync is automatically started after 5 seconds of inactivity while typing. So if you just keep typing you shouldn’t run into the problem. If you do run into the problem just stop typing for a few seconds until the sync finishes, then you can start typing again.

Note, I don’t have any open beta slots, but if you have an iPhone developers certificate you can self sign the beta and then run it that way. Here are some self signing instructions.

PlainText update

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 14:55:00 -0400

Typing fast, Kai’s been asleep for about 20 minutes and 40 seems to be the limit.

Well it’s not done yet. My old estimations were always off by a factor of three. But that was with a full five day work week. Now I’m watching kids for about half the week, and it seems that my time estimations are even worse then normal.

I Posted the beta a while back. Generally it was well received, excluding a few scrolling bugs that were easy to fix. Then I thought I was nearly done, but it then ran into some scalibilty issues if you have a folder with many (hundreds) of notes. I thought about just ignoring it, but have since decided to work on a fix. That’s what I’m working on now… or at least tommorrow and Friday which are my big work days.

I’ll try remember to post another update late Friday describing how that work went.

Not work related

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 23:45:37 -0400

…but maybe gives an insite into the mental state of Hog Bay’s programmer. Here is an excerpt of an email that Laurel (my wife) just sent:

They went out to eat at a Japanese restaurant in our absence, and Jesse related the following story to me…

Jaeda had apple juice, and when she ran out, wanted some more. Jesse said, “OK, when the waitress comes back, I’ll ask for some more for you.” The waitress came and checked on them, Jesse forgot about asking. Jaeda said, “Dad, you didn’t ask her!” Jesse said, “Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot. When she comes back again, I’ll ask her.” Jaeda paused and then sincerely said, in her I’m-quoting-rules-I’ve-learned-from-my-parents voice, “We don’t say, ‘stupid old Dad,’ right, Dad?”

In work related news next PlainText beta comming soon.

Vacations over, will start to go through email today, also hope...

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 09:54:52 -0400

Vacations over, will start to go through email today, also hope to get a new beta of PlainText out. Here is a picture of Jaeda hiking a steep section of Tunk Mountain.

On vacation

Sat, 03 Jul 2010 10:55:03 -0400

I’ll be away for the next week and a bit.

This vacation we are staying close to home (rented cabin on pond about an hour away) so I might check in from time to time, but basically I’ll be out. I’d been pushing to get PlainText sent to app store before this, but the TaskPaper for iOS crash on launch issues put an end to that idea. I did just get a beta out though, so at least a few people will no that it’s a real app.

I’ve also just submitted a (really hope it works) fix for TaskPaper for iOS crash on launch issuse.

I know I’m going to be burried in email when I get back, and most is going to overflow onto the floor. So if you need a response from me best bet is to wait until I’m back or send a follow up.

PlainText & TaskPaper betas

Sat, 03 Jul 2010 04:01:00 -0400

I’ve just send out a beta for PlainText and for TaskPaper.

The TaskPaper beta is borning, but important. I’m hopeful that it will fix that crash on startup bug that many people are experiencing. If you’ve experienced that bug, please try the beta and see if this version fixes it.

The PlainText beta is more fun. If you can (if you are an iPhone developer I think you can self sign and run it that way) please try it out and let me know what you like/don’t like. The Dropbox sync should work well on any device 3.0-4.0. But I think that app is most appealing on iPad.

WriteRoom for iPhone status

Fri, 02 Jul 2010 09:48:41 -0400

WriteRoom for iPhone was my first real app in the app store. The first release was mostly a learning project. Subsequent releases added unique and useful features such as full screen mode and syncing.

But over the last year I’ve neglected it, and new bugs keep popping up as the iPhone OS gets updated. The end result is a mediocre app with a number of 1 star reviews. A good summary might be:

“A disappointing performance so far on all counts—especially since Jesse showed a commitment to significantly higher standards in bringing out the OS X version of WriteRoom”

I pretty much agree.

Everything good and bad about Hog Bay Software is because it’s just me. I don’t have a boss, I don’t have employee’s, I just sit and type at my computer. This leads to some pretty neat products, but also leads to many lose ends in the business. I never have enough time to do everything that I should, so in the end I’m mostly driven by what I’m most interested in at the moment.

I got hooked on TaskPaper for iPhone, and that work consumed the last year until this Feb.

Then the iPad showed up. For me that changed everything, WriteRoom is an obvious app for the iPad, and I wanted to do it right away. But it turns out that iPhone apps that are scaled up to iPad size just don’t look good (see TaskPaper for iPad as an example). TaskPaper is more about functionality, so I didn’t mind so much in that case, but WriteRoom is all about environment, I needed the iPad UI to be good.

This lead to lots of work trying to come up with a WriteRoom UI that works on both iPhone and iPad. Lots of fun, very interesting, and I’ve always “ only a few weeks away from the finish line”. So I ignore the existing WriteRoom for iPhone issues because I know something better is nearly here.

Then the Dropbox public API showed up. That changed everything again. I’ve never wanted to write and maintain my own simpletext.ws sync service, but there was no other choice. Now I can outsource all that work to Dropbox. But to do this I still need to rewrite my model layer to support Dropbox sync.

At this point (new UI new Model) I’m creating an entirely new app. It’s really fun, really interesting, and WriteRoom for iPhone is languishing as a result. I’m sorry about that, but I think the result will be worth it. I’ll be releasing (soon) an early version of this work as a new free app called PlainText. Once that’s out I’ll be adding a few more features (and taking away ads) to PlainText and will release that as the next WriteRoom for iPad. The price will go up to $9.99 (universal app), but it will be a free update to all existing WriteRoom for iPhone users.

Note A new version of WriteRoom for iPhone was just posted to the app store that should fix sync login issues, but that’s all.

PlainText update

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 10:34:29 -0400

My goal was to submit PlainText by last Friday… missed it. Remember anytime you here a date from me that it’s probably wrong. I’ve once again proved that statement correct :)

Two things slowed me up.

First sync service login issues for TaskPaper and WriteRoom for iPhone were hard to trackdown and fix. Eventually I just redid all of that code in a different way that I hope should fix the problem.

Second porting PlainText from iPad UI to iPhone UI was more problematic then I had though it would be. To get the particular look that I wanted I was doing quite a few hacks to the built in UINavigationController and UISplitViewController. But on the iPhone the hacks didn’t work in quite the same way. So I spent the early part of last week just rewriting my own versions of those tools. Now I have full control and no hacks once again.

New PlainText submit date goal is this comming Friday.

PlainText - Synced text files for iOS (Preview)

Sat, 19 Jun 2010 09:58:45 -0400

A new app for reading and writing text files on your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. PlainText is a fast, clean, synchronized text editor. Unlike Notes, PlainText works with Dropbox to instantly sync your changes to your Mac, Windows, or Linux desktop.

Clean paper-like user interface.
Organize your files with Folders.
Dropbox sync with offline and merging support.

Watch the screencast and let me know what you think in the comments.

How is it different from WriteRoom for iPhone?

PlainText will be free. (Likely add supported, maybe $0.99 in app purchase to turn off adds.)
PlainText’s mission is “Synced text files”. WriteRoom’s mission is “Distraction free writing”. Over time WriteRoom will get more features, PlainText will remain the minimum interface for synced text files.
Timing. I’m moving all of my apps to a new Dropbox sync model with a more paper like interface. PlainText is the common set of code that I’m building my apps one. Because of this PlainText will be ready sooner.

Subscribe to this blog or follow me on twitter for more updates.

New TaskPaper for iOS submitted

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 10:52:27 -0400

Added option to disable live search in document view.
Fixed scrolling problems in longer documents.
Fixed new entry type is determined by current selection.
Fixed login alert and rename alert so that they work on iOS 4
Fixed locking no longer resets current document search
Fixed typing “:” into notes no longer turns them into projects.
Fixed changing keyboard type no longer hides document view.

TaskPaper for iPhone and Bubbles for iPhone updated

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 09:39:42 -0400

A new version of TaskPaper for iPhone is now availible:

Added undo help and reinserted some lost help pages.
Fixed bug in TextExpander multiline expansion behavior.
Fixed crash in tag value searches such as @priority = 1

A new version of Bubbles for iPhone is also now availible:

Shake to pop all Bubbles at once.
Bubbles fall slower and with varriable speed.

TaskPaper for iPad is now availible

Thu, 27 May 2010 12:28:09 -0400

TaskPaper for iPad is now availible in the iTunes app store.

With this release TaskPaper becomes a universal application that runs natively on both your iPhone and iPad. This is a free update for existing TaskPaper for iPhone users.

I hope you like it, and tell your friends to get it quick. I think I’ll be raising the price soon.

WriteRoom for iPad

Tue, 18 May 2010 11:02:53 -0400

Now that TaskPaper for iPad is out I’ll be changing focus to WriteRoom for iPad. This release will be simular to the TaskPaper for iPad release. It will be a free update that turns WriteRoom into a universal app that runs natively on both iPhone and iPad. It will be a free update.

TaskPaper for iPad on the way

Tue, 18 May 2010 11:01:04 -0400

I’m now ready to release TaskPaper for iPad. Changes include:

Added native iPad support.
Added undo history of document edits.
Added default tags list to preferences.
Tag searches are now case insensitive.
Archive @done adds items to top of list.
Fixed TextExpander multi-line expansions.

Of course in the app store being ready to release isn’t enough. There’s a bit of a hold up… I’ve been working with the beta Xcode, and apparently there is now a check in place that doesn’t allow me to submit an app built with the Xcode beta. So now I’m downloading the last non-beta release… 13 hours to go.

Once that’s done, then I’ll submit, and with luck TaskPaper for iPad should be in the app store. Late this week? This new release turns TaskPaper into a universal app that will run nativly on iPad and iPhone. It’s a free update to people who’ve already bought TaskPaper for iPhone.

TaskPaper for Mac and iPhone compared

Mon, 03 May 2010 11:28:21 -0400

Nice in depth comparison and review from ATPM.