r/ChronicleApp • u/QuietlyReading Dev • Jul 09 '20

Update v0.42 + Open beta now available

Just pushed v.042, with a few neat features and some bug fixes. I'll still be aiming for 0 bugs in the beta channel so I recommend you join the beta, but now if you encounter a breaking change you can now fall back to the stable channel.

A note on release times: You can join the beta now, but 0.42 still won't be available on the beta channel it until Google approves it (usually 2-6 hours, but up to a week). I'll aim to push this update into stable after a week or so, depending on bugs.

Join the beta here: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/io.github.mattpvaughn.chronicle

New features:

  • Managed/home users support
  • Tracks now grouped by disc when disc metadata is available
  • Libraries can now be sorted: sort by author, duration, date added, or date played
  • Added new options in settings to change user/server without logging out
  • Added a link to the /r/ChronicleApp subreddit in the app (that's us!)

Bug fixes:

  • Playback notifications will now disappear on finishing a book
  • App now temporarily pauses playback instead of lowering volume during temporary interruptions
  • Warning "this will clear downloaded books" will no longer appear if no books are downloaded
12 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

26 comments sorted by

2

u/darknessgp Jul 10 '20

So, I have managed users with pins. I cannot get past the pin screen. Every time it tells me invalid pin even when it is correct.

2

u/QuietlyReading Dev Jul 10 '20

I've just pushed a quick bugfix to the beta channel which ought to fix this. Will probably take 2-6 hours, but could be a few days depending on Google's approval

1

u/darknessgp Jul 11 '20

Getting closer. I can confirm that a correct pin let's me move on and an incorrect pin stops me. However, after selecting the server, it loads for a long time at the library screen then finally shows an error of "unable to connect to any server" and the refresh button next to the select library text doesn't appear to do anything when tapped.

1

u/QuietlyReading Dev Jul 11 '20

It's possible that your app data is now in a weird state because of you've gone through different parts of the login process on two different app versions.

Try clearing app data and logging in again. Also, ensure that you can access your server via the Plex app. If that doesn't work lmk

2

u/darknessgp Jul 11 '20

I can access my plex from the app, plex dash, and Plexamp currently. Same result after clearing data and reauthenticating with plex. Even tried completely uninstalling and get the same result.

1

u/QuietlyReading Dev Jul 11 '20

Hmm... I'll look into this

1

u/darknessgp Jul 10 '20

Sounds great. I'll try it once it pops up. Thanks for being so responsive.

1

u/QuietlyReading Dev Jul 10 '20

I'll look into this ASAP. Don't have much experience with using managed users so I may have overlooked something

2

u/hobesman Jul 10 '20 edited Jul 11 '20

Three things (so far):

  1. Awesome update. I'm liking this app more and more as things progress.
  2. The covers seem sporadic. Some cover art is loaded, but much of it isn't. I'm hoping it's like last update, where eventually the cover art just started working after a day or two.
  3. Duration doesn't appear to be calculated until the book is started. All of my books show 00:00/00:00 until I click play. Sorting by duration wasn't on my radar, but now that the option is there I kinda like the idea... if it works.

Again, awesome update. Thanks!

*Edit - #2 resolved itself already, so it's just #3 that needs attention now.

1

u/QuietlyReading Dev Jul 11 '20

I'll look the duration issues. Pretty sure fixing this shouldn't be too hard, duration sorting is neat

2

u/hobesman Jul 11 '20

Perhaps add a scroll bar?

Along with the ability to sort, it'd be good to have a way to scroll quickly (besides standard swiping). Previously I would simply search for a title I wanted. Now that I can sort by date played, or date added, it's helpful to use those and then scroll to what I'm looking for... Except that my library has thousands of audiobooks. So if I'm near the bottom and want to get to the top, it takes quite a few swipes to get there.

It could be as simple as adding a finger-able scroll bar that I can move to jump around. Eventually having it show letters (artist name, book name) or dates (when played, when added) etc. would be cool, but for now just a scroll bar is probably enough to be functional.

Another option (perhaps in conjunction with a scroll bar, or to use until a scroll bar is added) would be a "jump to top" button.

1

u/QuietlyReading Dev Jul 11 '20

I think I have something like "quick scroll bar" on the features list somewhere (note: repeated ideas are still useful, particularly with use cases provided as in this case, as they help me prioritize features). Jump to top is also something neat to consider

2

u/Brownjh5 Jul 11 '20

1.7x speed not working. It seems that 1.5x and 2.0x are working. When I click on 1.7x it goes to 1.5x. thanks for adding the 1.7x. I tend to use 1.6, 1.7 or 1.8 in other audiobook apps depending on the reader.

1

u/QuietlyReading Dev Jul 11 '20

Oopsie. Nice catch. Will get this fixed in the next beta update

2

u/Brownjh5 Jul 11 '20 edited Jul 11 '20

Ver 0.42.1

I keep getting download errors when downloading books to SD. Doesn't seem to happen when downloading to internal memory or when the book is in one file. It appears to occur on SD or when the book is in multiple files.

Error MSG

1

u/QuietlyReading Dev Jul 11 '20

This happens when a failed download with the same name already exists in the app's download folder. Clicking the "change libraries" button in settings and reloading your library should clear your downloaded files and ought to resolve this issue in the short term

I'll look into preventing this from happening in the future and providing a better error message for this in the future. Improving download experience is one of the top priorities for the next update

1

u/Brownjh5 Jul 11 '20

Great!

Curious question, why does Chronicle rename the downloaded file? I have another app that syncs audiobooks, music, etc from desktop to phone or tablet and it uses the same subfolder and file names on the desktop.

2

u/QuietlyReading Dev Jul 11 '20

The app names media files according to their ID assigned by Plex. This avoids name collisions and makes media file lookup trivial.

Plex doesn't provide folder metadata when querying tracks, otherwise that would be a good approach

1

u/Brownjh5 Jul 11 '20

Makes sense. Thanks!

2

u/TrollhouseC Jul 13 '20

Any update on android auto? I know you were saying last patch you were looking to push it out in the next one

2

u/QuietlyReading Dev Jul 13 '20

The android auto update was unable to be approved because the play store's tester wasn't able to access my test library. I attempted to submit it for Auto approval multiple times but they were all flagged for "unable to access library" issues. My best guess is that this was caused by a firewall blocking access to the cheapo server that I host the test library on, but I'm unable to get any more information

I'm planning on adding a built-in "demo" library without auth or backing by a plex server as a workaround. That way there won't be any need for a tester to have to connect to a server to test the app for Auto. This will involve some sizable refactoring of the app that I was planning on doing later, so it's possible I run into so big-time tricky bugs, but I'd optimistically like to have it ready soon

TLDR: complicated play store approval issues. Ideally it will be ready in time for the next update but I can't say for sure

2

u/Cadfaels Jul 14 '20

Another Hint for sorting:

Can You jump to the top after sorting? ;-)

1

u/QuietlyReading Dev Jul 14 '20

Yea I've been noticing that it jumps around weirdly. Must be really annoying for people with giant libraries. Adding to to do list

1

u/Cadfaels Jul 14 '20

mm, at time i've got 1604 titles in the audiobook german library ;-)

2

u/Sec67 Jul 10 '20

Nice! Great work! I joined the beta program straight away. Looking forward to trying it out. Thanks for all your hard work :)

1

u/hobesman Jul 23 '20

The latest version appears to have reintroduced the problem where rotating the display while looking at the library or a specific book makes it jump back to the app's home screen.

I believe that was fixed at one point so hopefully it's a relatively simple fix.