Current status of development?

[KaiS]

Hello,

I was wondering, what the current status for the development of the Pedias is. The last substantial update was released over a year ago, with only a few service releases since then, with the last of them released almost six months ago. Are these still being developed?

Thanks in advance,

Kai

[Waldbaer]

I think the update cycle is quite nice. I don't need major updates every year, which often mainly means "get the actual OS or you don't get Bugfixes any longer". Until now, it seemed to me that the pedias mostly get really fast corrections as soon as a user posts them here and that's really great, I think.
So for now, I think that the development is still going on, but maybe the top dog could reply himself to break any bad rumors before they can spread.

BTW, what do you want to be developed? For me personally, it's more important to get fast and personal support if I run into a problem and that's what I get here. And checking the forums from time to time, it seems to me that all users get it.

[sitenoise]

The last substantial update was released over a year ago, with only a few service releases since then, with the last of them released almost six months ago.

That sounds like a small complaint. To me it's high praise. Apple has made big yearly updates fashionable and we know how bad that's turned out. I'll bet Conor spends a substantial portion of his coding time fixing things Apple breaks or changes for no good reason every year--as well as taking advantage of good new technologies Apple unleashes without letting devs in on the secret.

As Waldbaer points out, it's absolutely crazy how fast Conor will fix a bug for you personally if you let him know about it and he can repro it. And he'll consider any development suggestions you have. In fact I think he loves to hear from users, how they're using the programs, and what's on their wish list. Whaddaya got?

[Conor]

Thank you guys, it's nice for questions to be answered directly from the users.

The Pedias are actively developed. Being stable programs they don't require official releases constantly, for cutting edge releases the betas are always constantly updated in about a weekly cycle. There is a lot of under the hood maintenance work as mentioned by Waldbaer.

As for major UI changes and new features those are pushed into the next big version that will be OS X 10.9+ possibly 10.10+ depending on the news from WWDC in a couple of days.

If you find the Pedias missing a feature in any way do drop us a message as we love to hear feedback on what you need.

[FineWine]

I think the biggest "Next Thing" for Pedia's should be some form of the Cloud - just like Calendar & Contacts if you update in one Pedia (desktop or iDevice) then it automatically permeates to all other Pedia locations. That would be so awesome.

[Conor]

That been a possibility for a long time, been in the works with Pocketpedia for a while, but the iCloud bugs have stopped us from deploying it. But has to be looked at again now with whatever version is announced at WWDC.

[Franco]

I think the biggest "Next Thing" for Pedia's should be some form of the Cloud - just like Calendar & Contacts if you update in one Pedia (desktop or iDevice) then it automatically permeates to all other Pedia locations. That would be so awesome.

YES one new thing about 10.12 is the syncing through iCloud of Documents folder where my DVDPedia library is located. So without any work from Bruji we should now get Sync across Mac, at least.

[KaiS]

Sorry for how long it took me to respond (pretty busy at work).

First let me say, I've been a Pedia user since 2011 and I love them (I own all four of them and Pocketpedia as well). I've tried several other similar apps as well and none of them came close to the versatiliy and adaptability the Pedias provide.

The two things I'd like to see most right now would be the ability to add multiple images (back covers for books/CDs/DVDs/games, for example) and more custom fields (I've simply run out of available custom fields of the type I need, so I had to repurpose other field types and... well, it doesn't work that well).

[Conor]

Thanks for the feedback. You are a power user, we do have a few who quickly fill all the custom slots.

A tip for the repurposing of fields, you can rename the fields in the localization file DVDpedia.app/Contents/en.lproj/RealTitles.string with any text editor. It might help instead of remembering what the field was taken over for.

Also do drag and drop the back covers over the details view, so that you have them available as a link from the details view or from the toolbar links options.

[Richard]

That been a possibility for a long time, been in the works with Pocketpedia for a while, but the iCloud bugs have stopped us from deploying it. But has to be looked at again now with whatever version is announced at WWDC.

Any luck with cloud support now that gm versions of iOS 10 and macOS are out. I know it has been a problem. iCloud would be a good start though I prefer Dropbox since it is a file I share with my wife.

[Conor]

Been doing only regular testing of the app for the new GMs, have not tested the latest iCloud updates.

If you are sharing a Dropbox account you can place the data folder there to share on the Macs, you can select to load your at data from the Dropbox location.

[Waldbaer]

...only problem with dropbox: You should be careful that XXpedia is not opened on more than one machine at the same time (will give you duplicate database files).

[Richard]

I only use Dropbox to store the database files. The main program is on my computer and we both sync our Pocketpedias to that. The Dropbox support I would like is similar to another program I use. CLZ games. That one stores your file on their server and you hit a sync button and it checks for additions and subtractions. So the file is still stored on your phone and the server.

I'm not sure how they handle the file being open on their main program on a desktop. Unless it is yet another file just for that program that then syncs again with the file online. Does that make sense?

So local file for desktop program. Local file for Pocketpedia. Then a backup file stored online in Dropbox or iCloud that you can push changes to from either program without having to have a computer up to sync?