OpenCPN for Android Beta test 4.1.718

[bcn]

Dave..

exactly the way - I have now Display Hide at 30min to be sure that hiber is the reason for the crash (or better the trigger).
And it crashes every time.

GPS might be a parameter: had coverage the days before but today I'm observing that the device does not get a fix.

Hubert

[citlab]

Dave ,

My comment referred to the <---> lines that show where a channel goes.

Antti

[bdbcat]

Antii...

OK, thanks, I see that.

Dave

[bcn]

Well, GPS is not the parameter:
went outside and had to power cycle the tablet to get GPS getting a fix.
Crash after Display Hide still the same..

[ejs]

Hey Dave,

I've been off of the internet for a few weeks and there are loads of improvements! Thanks. I still am not able to get into a full screen mode, however. There is an area twice as high as the android menu that is black and the android menu is still there. The problem with it is that it wastes precious screen area and the Android menu doesn't go into night mode for passages and it is very bright when your eyes are dark adapted. I've tried two different full screen apps (Fullscreen and Hide System Bar) and the O screen data still stops 1/2 inch above the bottom of the screen and it is only bright when you activate the menu. I have attached a screenshot with Fullscreeen enabled.

I will continue to use it as my cockpit nav system in the daytime and will let you know if I have any other glitches.

Maybe I am out of luck unless I upgrade the Android version I'm on 4.1.2 on a Moto Xoom.

Best, Eric

[HappySeagull]

Thanks for improvements to Advanced Toolbox gui!

Couple of oddities noted:

1) invoking "object query" on cm93 charts is a crash every time... "Standard" or "All" no diff.

2) when tracking toggled ON no track is seen UNTIL I toggle tracking OFF- then the track appears.
A corollary effect is that unless the usr has Advanced Mode invoked (and therefore the Toolbar onscreen that includes the tracking button), there is no way to know if tracking is on or off...

on an acerZ220 4" screen with Android 5.0

added: dropping a mark is also causing crashes now. I will perform as fresh an install as I can, as this was starting to happen with the last version too.

There: that helped . I have obj query again and can drop marks...

[bdbcat]

ejs...

Welcome back.

The Fullscreen apps available on the Store may not really understand the OCPN/wx/QT/OpenGL environment, for which I can hardly blame them...

Leaving aside the Fullscreen apps, how does OCPN fill the screen in standard operation? We have seen some trouble with Moto Xoom 4.1.2 before, although it works fine in the standard Android SDK emulators.

Thanks
Dave

[bdbcat]

Happy...

Will you test your user icons? I seem to remember some flakiness there...

Thanks
Dave

[ejs]

Dave,

It still uses the same screen area as with the "fullscreen" wasting about 1/2 inch and showing the very bright icons top and bottom in night mode.

Screenshots of day and night mode attached

Eric

[RSkillings]

Brilliant app, love its intent and focus on providing core functionality quickly and reliably.

My initial desire is to use OA at the helm on club or rented sailboats to display 3 basic items; GPS position over nav charts, the boats intended route, and AIS data.

With this scenario in mind as my user story, the ability to easily use OA features at the helm is a high priority.

With that said, following are my observations about 'daily drivability' and icon usage;

Full screen mode
Can OA use the entire display? My tablet uses 0.25 inch at bottom to display the Back, Home, etc buttons.
Feature Request; Can OA use this real estate? (Looking at previous posts, I need to research others' proposed solutions).

Toolbar buttons
Love the ability to turn on / off these buttons.
Feature Request; Could we add an option to make them transparent like the desktop version?

Alternatively, could we have an option to set which icons are displayed at top of screen? Currently, the MOB, own ship, Route Manager and toggle tracking icons are displayed there. When tablet is landscape, there is plenty of space to display 10-12 current sized icons. If we can't use the full screen, this would optimize what space we do have.

'Piano key' icon to display toolbar is a good size, but the icon to close the toolbar is difficult to hit reliably.
Feature Request; Perhaps make it a full size icon like others in toolbar?

Icon Size
With icons at 100% on user interface scale factor, the icons are still a bit too small to use reliably on a moving boat. Feature Request; Perhaps we could increase size to 150% of current option so icon can be made slightly larger than a typical finger.

Zoom in / out
Works well, my tablet may be underpowered as transition takes a few seconds. I noticed the icon changes to a smaller size when selected, then toolbar is deselected, then selected again.

Scale in / out chart icon
Works well, delay more noticeable.

Create Route icon
Love this, worked well underway.

Auto Follow icon
Works well.

Wrench (options) icon
Text on resulting forms is too small to use reliably underway. Perhaps expectation is most of these options be set ashore during planning (?).

ENC Text
Not tested

AIS target
Not tested

Currents
Not tested

Printer
Not tested

Route & Track Manager
Controls on form are too small to use reliably while underway. Feature Request; can we add ability to create a waypoint and then activate 'Go to this' item ?

Toggle Tracking
Excellent, easy to use.

Day / Night Mode and Tablet Brightness
Easy to activate.
New Feature Request; If OA can't use real estate at bottom of display, can OA dim the brightness of the tablet toolbar when night mode is toggled. As is, OA dims, but white background of toolbar stays bright white ruining night vision.

Help About
No problems

MOB Icon
Easy to activate, but pressing did not activate pop up with bearing and XTE. I tried testing this at home so current position and MOB was the same.


Features available while displaying charts;

Pop up menu after long press
Menu items are too small to press reliably when using OA on a moving boat.
Feature Request; Can the size of text be controlled similar to the user interface factor?

Vertical scroll bar to the right is too small to be used. Is it intended as informational?
Feature Request; can we make the scroll bar darker to contrast better with rest of form?

Measure feature
Works okay, but crashed occasionally when I crossed maps of different scale. Maps used were those for So. Calif down to Ensenada, MX.

Scale in / out
Works well

Drop Mark feature
No problems defining mark.
When long press on mark however, the menu items are different than desktop version. Of note is 'navigate to this' feature. Was this omitted intentionally ?
Feature Request; add 'Navigate to this' feature allowing user to quickly define and activate a new route while underway, ie drop a mark, long press then activate navigate to the mark from current position.

Note: when I simulated this using Toggle & Route Manager, the pop up with XTE and Bearing overlaps OK button after activation and in Landscape mode. Pop up also overlaps the GPS indicator.
Feature Request; allow XTE pop up be moved, resized vertically and horizontally.

GPS Indicator
Able to toggle North up / Course up okay, icon is nice and large.
New Feature Request; when long pressing the active GPS indicator, display pop up with GPS Accuracy info.



Thanks for providing this opportunity to have input into this great app, I hope you find some usefulness in my observations.

With OA coming along quite nicely, and installations to Raspberry Pis becoming more prevalent, I see an entirely new set of sailors becoming more interested in using OpenCPN.

[Ptizef]

Hi Dave

Thanks for all the GUI improvements

I noticed :
1) Export
Select an object and export it in RM. I get file selection dialogue
I have a button "new" on which I can press to enter a name
in this case OK export works fine
but
Select a route and export.
There is no button to export the proposed name (which is the object name) as is PC O version.
I can click anywhere in a free space of the file selection dialogue
I get systematically a "Overwrite existing file?" message even if no file of this name exists. clicking OK and no file is created.
May I link this with the new PC version behaviour in 705/718 :
I can't export any object! : Systematically I get the "overwriting" message neither with the proposed name or if I type a new one and when clicking "OK" no file is created
Tested on W8.1 compiled VS2010 an wx3.0.2 and Kubuntu 14.04 compiled GCC an wx3.0.2
2) Route properties dialogue
There is a scroll bar for the entire dialogue but no specific scroll bar for the RP lines
thus it's very difficult, even impossible to scroll these lines
3) Tracks properties dialogue
I can't see any track point lines (see shot attached)
I suppose the problem described above would be the same

thanks
Jean Pierre

[seandepagnier]

Originally Posted by RSkillings

Toolbar buttons
Love the ability to turn on / off these buttons.
Feature Request; Could we add an option to make them transparent like the desktop version?

The option is the same, however it is disabled in opengl mode, and android only uses opengl mode. Recently I added an exception to allow transparent toolbar in opengl mode for the xfce4 window manager in linux which works fine for me. It definitely works with other window managers, but I have no idea which ones. It possibly already works in android (would be trivial to test). If not, eventually we can ensure this feature for all systems by rendering the toolbar using opengl which would not be difficult.

[nohal]

Someone on Facebook:
I'm having the same issue as reported elsewhere (app is crashed when I unlock the screen).

Other issues: (a) For waypoints, the list of icons begins with 'Triangle', i.e. there's no 'Square', 'Anchorage', etc; (b) When a drop down is open, the dialog can be closed and the drop down remains on screen; (c) There are problems with line styles of routes; (d) Drawing of light sectors looks very ugly - may need anti-aliasing/smoothing?

Suggestions: (a) show numeric values on sliders in the expert settings; (b) make the expert settings dialog accessible through the android menu; (c) After Create New Route, the yellow route button should do 'End Route' - similar with measure; (d) How to increase the text size of (chart) pop-ups? (e) switch to google maps satellite view (no excuse for not having an API now!)

[bdbcat]

ejs...

Still stumped by Moto Xoom 4.1.2.

1.How do you get the time, battery state, Wifi status, etc on the bottom toolbar area? Looks not normal, this is usually at the top...

2. Is there a 1/4" strip at the top which is blank also?

None of this happens on Android SDK emulator...

Thanks
Dave

[Wrong]

Originally Posted by RSkillings

Brilliant app, love its intent and focus on providing core functionality quickly and reliably.

My initial desire is to use OA at the helm on club or rented sailboats to display 3 basic items; GPS position over nav charts, the boats intended route, and AIS data.

With this scenario in mind as my user story, the ability to easily use OA features at the helm is a high priority.

With that said, following are my observations about 'daily drivability' and icon usage;

Full screen mode
Can OA use the entire display? My tablet uses 0.25 inch at bottom to display the Back, Home, etc buttons.
Feature Request; Can OA use this real estate? (Looking at previous posts, I need to research others' proposed solutions).

Toolbar buttons
Love the ability to turn on / off these buttons.
Feature Request; Could we add an option to make them transparent like the desktop version?

Alternatively, could we have an option to set which icons are displayed at top of screen? Currently, the MOB, own ship, Route Manager and toggle tracking icons are displayed there. When tablet is landscape, there is plenty of space to display 10-12 current sized icons. If we can't use the full screen, this would optimize what space we do have.

'Piano key' icon to display toolbar is a good size, but the icon to close the toolbar is difficult to hit reliably.
Feature Request; Perhaps make it a full size icon like others in toolbar?

Icon Size
With icons at 100% on user interface scale factor, the icons are still a bit too small to use reliably on a moving boat. Feature Request; Perhaps we could increase size to 150% of current option so icon can be made slightly larger than a typical finger.

Zoom in / out
Works well, my tablet may be underpowered as transition takes a few seconds. I noticed the icon changes to a smaller size when selected, then toolbar is deselected, then selected again.

Scale in / out chart icon
Works well, delay more noticeable.

Create Route icon
Love this, worked well underway.

Auto Follow icon
Works well.

Wrench (options) icon
Text on resulting forms is too small to use reliably underway. Perhaps expectation is most of these options be set ashore during planning (?).

ENC Text
Not tested

AIS target
Not tested

Currents
Not tested

Printer
Not tested

Route & Track Manager
Controls on form are too small to use reliably while underway. Feature Request; can we add ability to create a waypoint and then activate 'Go to this' item ?

Toggle Tracking
Excellent, easy to use.

Day / Night Mode and Tablet Brightness
Easy to activate.
New Feature Request; If OA can't use real estate at bottom of display, can OA dim the brightness of the tablet toolbar when night mode is toggled. As is, OA dims, but white background of toolbar stays bright white ruining night vision.

Help About
No problems

MOB Icon
Easy to activate, but pressing did not activate pop up with bearing and XTE. I tried testing this at home so current position and MOB was the same.


Features available while displaying charts;

Pop up menu after long press
Menu items are too small to press reliably when using OA on a moving boat.
Feature Request; Can the size of text be controlled similar to the user interface factor?

Vertical scroll bar to the right is too small to be used. Is it intended as informational?
Feature Request; can we make the scroll bar darker to contrast better with rest of form?

Measure feature
Works okay, but crashed occasionally when I crossed maps of different scale. Maps used were those for So. Calif down to Ensenada, MX.

Scale in / out
Works well

Drop Mark feature
No problems defining mark.
When long press on mark however, the menu items are different than desktop version. Of note is 'navigate to this' feature. Was this omitted intentionally ?
Feature Request; add 'Navigate to this' feature allowing user to quickly define and activate a new route while underway, ie drop a mark, long press then activate navigate to the mark from current position.

Note: when I simulated this using Toggle & Route Manager, the pop up with XTE and Bearing overlaps OK button after activation and in Landscape mode. Pop up also overlaps the GPS indicator.
Feature Request; allow XTE pop up be moved, resized vertically and horizontally.

GPS Indicator
Able to toggle North up / Course up okay, icon is nice and large.
New Feature Request; when long pressing the active GPS indicator, display pop up with GPS Accuracy info.



Thanks for providing this opportunity to have input into this great app, I hope you find some usefulness in my observations.

With OA coming along quite nicely, and installations to Raspberry Pis becoming more prevalent, I see an entirely new set of sailors becoming more interested in using OpenCPN.

Increasing text size in menus may not play well on smaller screens. Using the pinch and zoom feature to quickly enlarge the focus of the menu option one wishes to select works very well. Reduces the chance of losing your work by inadvertantly tapping on the wrong option too.