Did someone say iPhone app?

[dmolton]

Hey guys just got myself a reef angel and waiting for it to get here. How is the iPhone app coming on.

Not much to report. Kind of put it on the backburner for a bit to work on some other stuff. Need to get back in gear and finish up so I can get the code released

[Chris]

That's cool. Can't wait to get it. Should be here early next week.
I have no idea when it comes to programming it so all help will be cool.
Maybe if I tell you guys what I want to to do you can help me do it?

[astralmind]

hmmm how easy/hard would it be to make a mobile version of the current web interface ? Some websites did really good jobs at making their interface easy to browse on small touch screen. This would indeed be universal and I'm assuming easier to accomplish ? That being said we'd be limited to controlling the controller, no graphing or alert options etc.. which is where an App actually becomes very useful and needed.

[Chris]

just thought id bump this to the top to see how we are going with it, im sure im not the only one waiting.

[Xender]

me too !

[wolfador]

I just ordered my Reef Angel kit but I am a registered iOS developer so I can publish the app if you would like for free. If you need any assistance let me know.

[Xender]

That would be great !
Let me know please !

[Chris]

Can't wait.

[Francois]

The same here

[wolfador]

Just need the Source from the OP and I can compile and publish. If not I will work on my own once I get my RA configured.

[dmolton]

I just ordered my Reef Angel kit but I am a registered iOS developer so I can publish the app if you would like for free. If you need any assistance let me know.

Wolfador, thanks for the offer. I think I'll take you up on that. The app still isn't 100% and will need a bit of work still. I'll post the the source code to github for you to fork off of so you can make whatever changes you need. I'm sure you'll find places in the app that could use help. Prior to this, I had 0 experience working with obj c and mobile development so any help with it would be great.

Give me a day or two clean it up a bit and get git installed and running on the mac and I'll let you know when it's ready to pull from.

-Dave

[wolfador]

Wolfador, thanks for the offer. I think I'll take you up on that. The app still isn't 100% and will need a bit of work still. I'll post the the source code to github for you to fork off of so you can make whatever changes you need. I'm sure you'll find places in the app that could use help. Prior to this, I had 0 experience working with obj c and mobile development so any help with it would be great.

Give me a day or two clean it up a bit and get git installed and running on the mac and I'll let you know when it's ready to pull from.

-Dave

Once I get it compiled I can add everyone as "beta" testers so you can all test it and let us know where you want it improved before I submit it to the app store.

[binder]

You will probably be in contact with me more to get information on all the commands that are in use. I would suggest that you look at the ReefAngel_Wifi.h & .cpp files to familiarize yourself with the command. Plus take a look at the full version of the ReefAngel_Features.h file that has all the comments about some of the commands. Lastly, you may want to grab the source for my Status app and see how I handle some of the other calls too (or you may not, up to you).

curt

[wolfador]

My RA should be on my doorstep however I am waiting on the wifi modules to get back in stock.

But I will still check the code for any leaks / bugs and publish a "beta" version for everyone to play with in the mean time.

[Xender]

I'd like to be a beta tester if you want.
I can also translate the app in French

[Rey]

i can test it too on my ipad.

[dmolton]

I just pushed the iOS project to my github account. Wolfador, or anyone else who is interested, feel free to fork off of the project and make any changes as you see fit. There is still a random crash every once in awhile. Also the "settings" portion needs to be hooked up properly where users can enter their URL's and Relay Labels. The expansion box support needs to be added - which works exactly the same as the base relay box, except for in the response XML if <R1><R1ON><R1OFF> elements are present, they need to be parsed and displayed as well. It's just one more check in the response and then you can pass the expansion element values through the same procedures to to display on/off values.

Here's the project:
https://github.com/davemolton/RAiOSapp

If we could keep the github project up to date with any changes that are made, that would be great. I'm interested to see and learn about the changes that need to be made for a successful iOS application.

-Dave

[wolfador]

I just pushed the iOS project to my github account. Wolfador, or anyone else who is interested, feel free to fork off of the project and make any changes as you see fit. There is still a random crash every once in awhile. Also the "settings" portion needs to be hooked up properly where users can enter their URL's and Relay Labels. The expansion box support needs to be added - which works exactly the same as the base relay box, except for in the response XML if <R1><R1ON><R1OFF> elements are present, they need to be parsed and displayed as well. It's just one more check in the response and then you can pass the expansion element values through the same procedures to to display on/off values.

Here's the project:
https://github.com/davemolton/RAiOSapp

If we could keep the github project up to date with any changes that are made, that would be great. I'm interested to see and learn about the changes that need to be made for a successful iOS application.

-Dave

Tried to build it is missing the XMLParser.h / .m

[wolfador]

Tried to build it is missing the XMLParser.h / .m

Added in the WonderXML files and it builds okay now. Will start working on it tomorrow.

[dmolton]

Tried to build it is missing the XMLParser.h / .m

Added in the WonderXML files and it builds okay now. Will start working on it tomorrow.

Very cool. Sorry for the missing libs, I was pretty sure I was I going to miss something :/

Looking forward to see what you come up with.

-Dave

[wolfador]

I forked the project to my github

https://github.com/wolfador

Went through and fixed some leaks and changed a few things. I need to get the wifi module so I can really start working on it. Any idea of I can run the same webserver on my pc that the module uses to "fake" it?

[binder]

Cant fake it but hopefully in the next day or 2, i will have a controller online specifically for development and testing. I will post more info when it's up and running.

curt

[wolfador]

Cant fake it but hopefully in the next day or 2, i will have a controller online specifically for development and testing. I will post more info when it's up and running.

curt

Awesome

[dmolton]

I forked the project to my github

https://github.com/wolfador

Went through and fixed some leaks and changed a few things. I need to get the wifi module so I can really start working on it. Any idea of I can run the same webserver on my pc that the module uses to "fake" it?

Thanks for your efforts so far. Glad the project has an experienced ios developer behind it. During half time I'll do a fetch and upload to see what happens.

-Dave

[binder]

Cant fake it but hopefully in the next day or 2, i will have a controller online specifically for development and testing. I will post more info when it's up and running.

curt

Awesome

Ok, I've got the controller online. I will ask that you try to "be gentle" with it and try not to overload it.

http://forum.reefangel.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=289

curt

[wolfador]

I will be using TestFlight for the betas so if you want to try it out sign up at:

http://tflig.ht/mZuYUi

Once everyone is signed up I will upload a build and everyone can start playing / commenting. I can have up to 91 devices during the beta test.

[Xender]

registered !

[wolfador]

to those who signed up for the testing make sure to also register your device, you just need to click on the email they sent you on your device. This will be how you get your beta builds.

[dmolton]

Hey Wolfador. Haven't signed up for the beta yet with TestFlight, but I did just download your latest push to github and uploaded to my phone for some testing. Nice job on the app so far, it's coming together nicely. I have some initial feedback for you.

• The splash screen a nice touch when first launching the app for the synchronous call to get the latest data
• The refresh button does not update the green timestamp on the main page when the request is finished. It only updates when switching from "Settings page" to "My Tank page". I'm also not sure if you want to do a request when switching from those two pages every time. Not that you're likely to constantly be switching between the two often, but it adds a jarring unresponsive effect when switching between two pages. Also masking a relay on/off/auto will respond with the latest data for the controller. It looks like the temp/ph values update but the time should also update at this point as well.
• A date/time format option in the settings screen would be nice. Something like "h:mm:ss tt" would be useful for some of the stateside users who are accustomed to seeing this format. I personally like the 24hr format, myself.
• An asynchronous request to the controller, if possible, would be ideal for the overall feel for the app. The request from the refresh button, and switching pages causes the application to become unresponsive for a brief couple seconds while it does the round trip. I realize it's a remnant of the apps behavior I left for you when uploading it, and I always hated that synchronous frozen app feeling. Sorry for that :/
• When the relay expansion is enabled and I try to mask relay 1 of the expansion box off, the app masks relay 1 of the original box off instead. This is true for all the states(auto/on/off) and relays for the expansion box. You just need to identify that an expansion relay is the target and increment the box id to 1.

The way masking relay expansions works is if you don't explicitly identify a box the two digits always correspond to base box. If you do identify a box, then the box id is zero based and the two following digits reflect the relay# and state.

For example:

/r42 = Base box (0) implied, relay 4, state 2 (auto)

alternatively, this command does the same thing to the same box:
/r042 = Base box (0), relay 4, state 2

for expansion box 1, just increment 0 to 1:
/r142 = Expansion box 1, relay 4, state 2

Hope this helps, and keep up the good work! It's nice to be on the testing/suggesting side of these apps finally

edit: I also managed an app crash inside the simulator once. I think I clicked on the feedback button, cancelled out of the input dialog there which lead me to the settings screen and then I quickly clicked on the My Tank button. I *think* those were the steps, at least.. I'll keep messing around and see what happens..

[wolfador]

[*]The splash screen a nice touch when first launching the app for the synchronous call to get the latest data

Did you get the Reef Angel Loading..... screen? If there any ideas for a better one feel free to put it on github or let me know. If we decide to stay with that one we would at least need a higher resolution one, especially for the iPhone 4.

[*]The refresh button does not update the green timestamp on the main page when the request is finished. It only updates when switching from "Settings page" to "My Tank page". I'm also not sure if you want to do a request when switching from those two pages every time. Not that you're likely to constantly be switching between the two often, but it adds a jarring unresponsive effect when switching between two pages. Also masking a relay on/off/auto will respond with the latest data for the controller. It looks like the temp/ph values update but the time should also update at this point as well.

Noticed that earlier when playing with it on my lunch break and forgot to write it down. haha. Should be fixed now.

[*]A date/time format option in the settings screen would be nice. Something like "h:mm:ss tt" would be useful for some of the stateside users who are accustomed to seeing this format. I personally like the 24hr format, myself.

Can probably have it pull the "regional" time settings from the system defaults and apply that. Will add that to the "ToDo list"

edit: should be fixed now. If you set it to the standard AM/PM iOS will automatically update the formatter if the device is using 24 hour time. Could still make a switch if someone wants the iPhone to be Am/PM but the app to be 24hour.

[*]An asynchronous request to the controller, if possible, would be ideal for the overall feel for the app. The request from the refresh button, and switching pages causes the application to become unresponsive for a brief couple seconds while it does the round trip. I realize it's a remnant of the apps behavior I left for you when uploading it, and I always hated that synchronous frozen app feeling. Sorry for that :/

Yea I haven't touched that too much, I made it a bit better for first startup so it won't connect unless the url is entered. That is definitely on the todo list.

[*]When the relay expansion is enabled and I try to mask relay 1 of the expansion box off, the app masks relay 1 of the original box off instead. This is true for all the states(auto/on/off) and relays for the expansion box. You just need to identify that an expansion relay is the target and increment the box id to 1.

Should be fixed now, just updated the switch tags to 11,12,13 etc. I checked the /r99 on curts page and it looked like it was updating.

edit: I also managed an app crash inside the simulator once. I think I clicked on the feedback button, cancelled out of the input dialog there which lead me to the settings screen and then I quickly clicked on the My Tank button. I *think* those were the steps, at least.. I'll keep messing around and see what happens..

That is an issue with the TestFlight SDK, they are working on it. That will all be removed before submission to the App Store since it is only for testing.