[Zubersoft]

The new annotation design will be included in a normal update - version 3.0.0. So your friend can purchase now without any worries.

Mike

[aleksiandrej]

Hi Mike,

Some feedback on the new annotations:

The layer function:
When making a new layer - could that layer be the active layer for all pages?
For example when I make a second layer on my first page (Student 2) if I move to the next page I'm back to layer 1 (Student 1). 
It would be useful (for me atleast) when creating a layer, that that layer remains active through all pages until changed/selected to go back to layer 1. 
I assume that the layer function is created for such a reason, to have several sets of annotations for 1 sheet. 

Moving to the next page:
I like that you can move around pages when you're in annotations mode. But the button to do so is quite small.
Since we can't swipe through pages when in annotation mode I'd prefer to have a bigger button maybe on the bottom so that I can still move around easily while playing at the same time.

Thanks for taking a look at the feedback. Certainly the active layer function would be a big plus if it can be somehow employed in the app.

[Zubersoft]

When creating a new layer, you will see a checkbox that says, "Create layer on all pages of current song". If you check that, it will create the same layer for all pages and will make that layer the active layer. If you create a single layer, it's not going to try to select that layer for all pages, as there is no guarantee that layer even exists for other pages (they can all be named different things). If you want me to add a feature where it keeps the active layer synchronized across all pages (i.e. if you switch to layer 2 on the first page, it switches to the second layer on all other pages), I can do that, but I'll probably set it up to be name-based, not index-based, so that the same named layer will be active for all pages regardless of what position it is on that page. If a page doesn't have a layer with the same name, then the active layer for that page will not be changed.

As far as page switching, I purposely made things as unobstrusive as possible to avoid hiding content while users are annotating. You can use the command bar to switch pages as well, and if you show the command bar, it hides the bar at the bottom left (as there is no point in showing both at the same time). If the existing UI buttons are too small, do you want me to just to enlarge the buttons at the bottom left? Or are you wanting a completely different UI design where I do something like add Left/Right arrows either at the bottom-right corners or on the sides? Or perhaps at the bottom middle offset from center a little, similar to how it is in the cropping editor? Also don't forget that you can still use a bluetooth pedal to turn pages while in the annotations editor. If you use the vertical scrolling display mode, you can still scroll pages while in the annotation mode. If you have a smart stylus, that means you can just scroll the pages with your finger. If you don't, you can enable panning mode and then scroll the pages. So this is another option instead of just using the buttons. 

Thanks,
Mike

UPDATE:
Looking over the radial menu, I see that the "More" section has two open slots. I could add previous page/next page slices to that section. Those would be easy to click and would eliminate the need to add larger buttons at the bottom which I'm worried may be too obtrusive for some users (especially those that turn pages with a pedal and would have no need for those buttons). You can collapse the radial menu when not using it or leave it in a corner. Thoughts?

[aleksiandrej]

If you want me to add a feature where it keeps the active layer synchronized across all pages (i.e. if you switch to layer 2 on the first page, it switches to the second layer on all other pages), I can do that, but I'll probably set it up to be name-based, not index-based, so that the same named layer will be active for all pages regardless of what position it is on that page. If a page doesn't have a layer with the same name, then the active layer for that page will not be changed.

UPDATE:
Looking over the radial menu, I see that the "More" section has two open slots. I could add previous page/next page slices to that section. Those would be easy to click and would eliminate the need to add larger buttons at the bottom which I'm worried may be too obtrusive for some users (especially those that turn pages with a pedal and would have no need for those buttons). You can collapse the radial menu when not using it or leave it in a corner. Thoughts?

Sounds perfect. Both additions would be very beneficial to my workflow with students.
Thank you!

[Zubersoft]

The Windows 10 beta version is finally ready. I've sent messages to the users who have expressed interest in helping test it. Significantly more work was required than I anticipated due to switching to Win2D for rendering everything. The end results is wonderful though, as this brings the following improvements:

1) MobileSheets now uses the GPU for storing rendered images, and the overall memory usage of the app is lower. Things should also run smoother in general.
2) The ability to render highlights behind page content is now supported in the Windows 10 version (it was previously only available on Android)
3) Annotations should match up perfectly between Android and Windows 10 now. In the old implementation, text annotations in particular could look different in each version.
4) The two codebases are now much more similar when it comes to how pages, link points and annotations are drawn, which will speed up future development and lower the chance of bugs that only show up in one version

I've also pushed up a new version of the Android beta. In both the Windows 10 and Android version, I've fixed a lot of various bugs (especially in regards to exporting and printing songs), and I also made some significant changes to how smart buttons are positioned. You can now just drag them to where you want them to be positioned. This makes it much easier to align buttons. You can also drag buttons between pages if needed. I also added a new icon to the layer popup window in the annotations editor that will keep annotation layers in sync across all pages that are currently loaded in the annotations editor. I will be making adjustments to this though, because I now realize that it really should sync layers across all pages in the same song only.

aleksiandrej - is it sufficient when you tap a layer to switch the active layer that it just selects the matching layer for each page in the song? Or would you want it to synchronize across all pages in all songs that are part of the currently loaded setlist?

I also added the next/prev page buttons to the radial menu. This should make it easier to turn pages if the icons at the bottom left are too small.

Thanks everyone for your help with testing and your patience while I worked through all the changes.

Mike

[BRX]

Nice. But it seems I didn't get an email.

[Cmart]

Thanks for the beta. I love the new annotation rework. However I get a lot of random crashes when entering annotation mode. Also when trying to open bookmarks in files from old database it crashes.

Are you getting crash reports? Are there any logfiles or debugging option?


I will try it out some more and see if I can find out why it crashes.

[MartinH]

I got the email for the Windows 10 beta, so I'll start looking at it soon. A couple of questions before that:

- Where would you like us to report issues? In this thread, or create new threads for each issue in the Beta Testing forum?
- How should we manage the installation so we can keep using our existing version? You mentioned that this installation doesn't replace the Windows Store version, which is good, but what about the library? If we install the beta and it upgrades the library, what happens to the other installation? Can we redirect each version to a different library?

[Zubersoft]

UPDATE: If you haven't done so, please go to Settings->About and enable crash reporting. It is disabled for certain countries by default so that the user has to opt in to it. At some point I'm going to prompt the user to make this decision when the app is first installed.

I just sent you an email BRX - sorry about that.

Cmart - I'm supposed to get crash reports (so long as you have an active internet connection while the crashes are happening), but I'm not seeing any crash reports show up for version 2.9.7 yet, so I'm not sure why that it is. Let me know if you can provide any additional information about the bookmark crashes. If there is a specific song that you know crashes, you can long press it, tap Share->Export as .msf and send that file to mike@zubersoft.com. I can then test it out.

MartinH - For small issues, I think just mentioning them in this thread is sufficient. If there is a larger problem that needs discussion, or requests for design changes, then those should probably be in a separate thread. As far as the installation goes, you will have to transfer your library from one version to the other. Using the backup/restore feature is the best way to do that. The files/libraries are kept completely separate in each version so long as you don't use the same storage location in each. Even if you do use the same storage location, the databases will always be kept separate in each version, so you don't have to worry about that side of it.

Mike

[Zubersoft]

I've located an issue that may be causing the crashes not to be transmitted from the beta version. I'm working on building a new installer now. It would be great if users can install that new version once it's available so that I can investigate these crashes. I'll post an update once the build is completed.

Thanks,
Mike

[Zubersoft]

A new build is available at the same location as before. Please download the latest build and reproduce any crashes you've experienced. For future builds, you will receive an update when one is available with an option to install directly in the app.

Thanks,
Mike

[DonC]

Hi Mike,
You can add me to your Win10 beta tester list.
Don

[Cmart]

I downloaded the new build and reinstalled. It still is 2.9.7 right?

Are you getting any crash reports?

Regarding the bookmarks, program crashes also when I try to add a bookmark to a song with no previous bookmarks.

[Zubersoft]

Yes, I'm getting the crash reports. I know exactly what is wrong with the bookmarks window - it's something I had reminded myself to test but then forgot about. I'll get that fixed for the next build. I'm also seeing a crash that indicates that something is invalid with a rendered page, but that one will be more difficult to track down unless I have a copy of the file that is causing the error. I'll just put some additional error handling in place to at least make the issue easier to understand.

Thanks,
Mike

[Zubersoft]

Don - I just sent you an email with instructions for installing the beta version. Thanks for your offer to help test.

Mike