Well I had a little bit of extra time this week, so I made some updates again! The problem with this app is that it is essentially unlimited in scope! That means there is no shortage of things for me to work on. I work best by request though, and that's where this update comes from. Another new module has been added that includes an easier to read Time and Date display which can be seen easier from a distance, a Timer (basically a simple Stopwatch) and the often requested Auto Destruct, which serves as a countdown timer and includes audio warnings from the computer! I thought of including an alarm clock as well, but due to the way Windows 8 runs apps, the app has to be in focus for audio to be played. I'm looking into find a way to make this happen, but so far it's not very straightforward to make Windows 8 let your app run forever in the background waiting for a certain time. I don't want to be responsible for anyone being late to work by the alarm not going off properly, so I'm holding off on this part for now until I find a better solution!
There are also quite a few other smaller changes in this update, many of them being visual tweaks and minor bug fixes. I also snuck in the performance update to the Media Player that I mentioned before which should decrease app startup time as well as transition more smoothly between Standard and Full Screen modes.
Read past the break, or see the Version History page for the full list of changes and an update on what's coming in future updates.
LCARS Interface Release 14 Changes:
Added Clock module with Clock, Timer (stopwatch), and Auto Destruct functionality.
Performance enhancements to Media Player, including improved Media Player when switching between normal and full screen modes.
Fixed bug with multimedia keyboard controls.
Fixed full screen media controls to have proper shape.
Fixed Fahrenheit temperature calculation in Weather module.
Changed font and size of text in Log Editor for better readability.
Added new ship images to Tactical Simulator for Damage Status and Shield controls.
In progress updates, release time TBD:
- More functionality for Calculator
- More functionality for Text Editor
- Difficulty settings for Tactical Simulator
As always, each new version brings cool new stuff and this update does not disappoint. The new clock/timer is a great edition to the app. I noticed that using self destruct has a few issues. First, if you engage and then disengage it, the voices talk over each other. Secondly, after self destructing, the counter stays red from red alert unless you cancel the mode.
ReplyDeleteGlad you are enjoying the new feature! I know about the sounds thing. That's an issue with the "fire and forget" nature of DirectX sounds. They all play independently since they typically do in games and right now I can't tell if a sound is already playing. However, since you said something about it, I'm now challenged to figure out a way to avoid that! The red alert thing was on purpose, as I figured it made more sense to have it stay red alert until you reset it (by hitting the cancel destruct button) than to just go back to normal. Maybe I'm wrong on how that should work, though! It will also go back to normal if you start adjusting the timer again.
DeleteHi
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure where to report bugs, but this might work. Your weather interface is broken. If you enter a 4 digit post code, the app crashes. There are a lot of places that don't have 5 digit post codes, so you might want to see how you are handling the post code when trying to look up weather.
You can report them here, or e-mail me directly at davstarapps@gmail.com.
DeleteThank you for reporting this issue. I will fix the app to not crash when this happens, but it appears the weather service I am using does not support some postal codes. If I use "V8P" which is in Canada, it does work. This app is limited to what World Weather Online provides information for. If your postal code is not supported, try searching by City instead. Let me know if this does not work for you.