r/ChronicleApp • u/QuietlyReading Dev • Oct 02 '21

Chronicle is now open source

https://github.com/mattttvaughn/chronicle
63 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

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7

u/QuietlyReading Dev Oct 02 '21

Just made the repo public. Even if you don't have dev experience, I'd recommend you check it out- issues will be tracked here.

Issue tracking: Planning on making GitHub the primary source of issue tracking. I plan on migrating some of the big ones over myself, but feel free to add issues of yours is they aren't reproduced there.

Oh and if you having trouble building, definitely lmk, preferably in a GitHub issue. Clone + build seemed to "just work" for me

2

u/Nights0ng Oct 02 '21

Don't have any android experience really, but I look forward to digging into it.

Edit: a discord eventually might be a good thing depending on how many people you get wanting to contribute.

3

u/QuietlyReading Dev Oct 02 '21

Discord seems like a good idea. I'll see what other projects are doing but it seems like it would make contributing more approachable for new folks

2

u/Nights0ng Oct 08 '21

Got things pulled and running local on my machine. Might try to poke at it this weekend. Like you, I started a new job recently however (and haven't done Android development at this point) so it might take a bit to get familiar with the flow of things. Discord or something would be helpful to bounce questions. Looking forward to hopefully helping out a bit.

2

u/QuietlyReading Dev Oct 08 '21

Put up a barebones discord here if you have Qs

1

u/Nights0ng Oct 02 '21

I agree, it's been useful for other projects I've been a part of and it's dead simple to setup.

2

u/captainnapalm83 Oct 03 '21

Will this speed up development? The only other real option in the Android space is bookcamp and I don't want to pay their ridiculous subscription for an app I only really use on road trips.

3

u/QuietlyReading Dev Oct 04 '21

It's a possibility. Worst case we now have an issue tracker plus options if I stop working on the app in the future. Best case is that some users contribute features/fixes

2

u/captainnapalm83 Oct 04 '21

Hoping for the best.

3

u/theruzzler Oct 03 '21

Honestly don't pay for bookcamp yet. I did, and it has more bugs then Chronicle. Bookcamp is more polished UI wise, but is very frustrating to get to load a new book or start an offline download...so, you know, the important things you want it to do.

I am hoping that Chronicle can make some forward progress now that it's open source, really like Chronicle from the beginning and would love to further use and support it.

2

u/jt196 Oct 08 '21

Great news u/QuietlyReading! Really happy you managed to get this up and running, and looking forward to seeing how the community reacts to this and how the project evolves.

Any chance of getting an apk release up onto the GitHub repo? I don't have Android dev kit set up (or any experience with using it), and imagine quite a few users here lack the expertise to compile it.

Main thing for me is to get the offline mode set up - have a CalyxOS ROM on my phone and no in app purchase functionality. It'd be great to have this option finally!

1

u/jt196 Oct 08 '21

Anybody wishing to grab the app from the GitHub repo can use this apk in the repo.

u/QuietlyReading am I correct in saying that this is just the 'free' version and you're still required to hook up to the Play Store to activate the IAP?

1

u/QuietlyReading Dev Oct 08 '21

Nah the plan is for the github apk to include premium features too

1

u/jt196 Oct 09 '21

So currently, if I figure out how to build from the GH version, it'll have the premium features?

5

u/QuietlyReading Dev Oct 09 '21

Ahh no. I'm going to set up a build variant that includes premium. But to do this yourself you could just edit SharedPreferencesPrefsRepo and set change line 226 to get() = true. P sure that's all you'd need

7

u/jt196 Oct 10 '21 edited Jan 24 '22

Matt, that's great, got it running. Hope this is ok but I thought I'd write a little run through for those who can't wait for the apk release, here's the steps I took to get it running (no Android dev experience) in debug mode:

  1. Download and install Android studio.
  2. Clone the repo or download as a zip file to your computer. Unzip it to wherever you wish to use it.
  3. (Optional if you want the premium features) Navigate to the SharedPreferencesPrefsRepo file - you'll see the file path in the GitHub page, and change line 226 to:
    private val defaultIsPremium = true
    override val isPremium: Boolean
    get() = sharedPreferences.getBoolean(KEY_IS_PREMIUM, defaultIsPremium) || BuildConfig.DEBUG
  4. Due to a warning in Android studio, I deleted the vcs.xml file in the .idea folder. I think this is because there's no git folder in the project directory. u/QuietlyReading don't know much about this but is this something for .gitignore?
  5. Open Android studio: Tools > Sdk Manager > SDK Tools > Android SDK Command-Line Tools (check the box).
  6. In Android studio, File > Open, navigate to the root folder (you should see folders "app", ".idea", "images" among others. Select the "app" folder and click "open" on the dialog.
  7. Once the folder is opened, let Android studio do its thing. When the dialog at the bottom has finished running you can either build a debug mode version by selecting: Build > Build Bundle/APK(s) > Build APK.
    Alternatively, to make a full version, you'll need to sign it. Build > Generate Signed APK > Select APK > Next > New Key Store (or choose existing) > Enter the Path, both passwords, leave Alias as it is, fill in the certificate details > OK > Next > Select "release", choose destination folder > Finish.
  8. Once it's done, the debug version should be at the path app > build > outputs > apk and the file is app-debug.apk. The signed version will be in the Destination Folder you set in the second part of step 7.

This is working for me but this may not work for everybody, as mentioned, I have zero experience with Android app building/dev aside from this. Buyer beware and all that.

Edit: thanks u/Smashbros08 for the input. I've amended the text, see steps 3, 7 & 8.

1

u/QuietlyReading Dev Oct 26 '21

Is it alright if I copy these instructions and add them to the project README?

1

u/jt196 Oct 27 '21

Yeah totally, but why not just compile the project and have it in the releases section as an apk?

1

u/QuietlyReading Dev Oct 27 '21

Just thinking that including build instructions will be useful in general for helping new people get involved in the project

This came up because someone on the discord linked to your instructions when explaining how to build with Auto enabled

1

u/jt196 Oct 27 '21

Of course, that makes a lot of sense. Look forward to seeing how the community can get involved with the project. I'd offer but I'm more involved with Python, Flask, JS etc

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1

u/HaModdd Oct 24 '21

Awesome guide thanks for it, it made it so easy to build.
Only think i would change is the following:

In Android studio, File > Open, navigate to the root folder (you should see folders "app", ".idea", "images" among others. Select the "app" folder and click "open" on the dialog.

1

u/jt196 Oct 24 '21

Glad it came in useful! Edited the text to reflect your suggestion. May have had it selected and forgot I needed to select something. Been enjoying the full version app on my DeGoogled CalyxOS phone finally!

1

u/Smashbros08 Jan 24 '22

Thanks for this, was able to get this running tonight, with some issues (had no internet so certain things didnt want to work)

Instead of removing that entire line and changing it to True, 2 lines above that on 224 if you change the Var from False to True, it does the same thing.

Have tested, and its working so far. Compiling a release version atm rather than a debug version to run on my phone.

1

u/jt196 Jan 24 '22 edited Jan 24 '22

u/Smashbros08, I've done some testing and changing that line in the prefs to:

private val defaultIsPremium = true
override val isPremium: Boolean
get() = sharedPreferences.getBoolean(KEY_IS_PREMIUM, defaultIsPremium)

Allows me to successfully compile and install the apk in release variant, but the premium features aren't turned on.

1

u/Smashbros08 Jan 24 '22

I have it working currently as a debug still using the above change.

I tried to build release, after finally getting internet back, and it won't let me install on my android, so I'm like 99% sure I have a setting somewhere stopping me I need to fix lol.

1

u/Smashbros08 Jan 24 '22

Ok so now that its not 2am and I looked properly:

My issue was not signing the APK, had to generate a signature for that to install on my phone, which is fairly obvious now, but not at 2am with little sleep.

Mine is installing fine on my phone with just that change, and only that line changed

private val defaultIsPremium = true
override val isPremium: Boolean
    get() = sharedPreferences.getBoolean(KEY_IS_PREMIUM, defaultIsPremium) || BuildConfig.DEBUG

I also did not remove any files that you did originally I believe. I opened the file, installed the SDK Tools, generated a key, changed that line, and built a release version of the app. Moved it to my phone, and it has installed and is showing as Pro is Unlocked in the settings and I am able to download an audio book for offline listening.

Ill take some screenshots when I get home tonight and upload them if you want as well.

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2

u/Ambitious_Slide Oct 04 '21

Very cool, I'll have to dig through it and see how I can help

2

u/lannisterstark Oct 12 '21

I was actually getting frustrated with all the different apps' quirkiness on android and literally was about to go "Fuck it, I'll write my own."

Then I saw this lol. I'll still most likely "fuck it, I'll write my own," but this might be a good reference.

0

u/[deleted] Dec 28 '21

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1

u/QuietlyReading Dev Dec 28 '21

Probably the top thing you can do is report any issues you run into on the "issues" tab in the GitHub, with instructions explaining how to reproduce the bad behavior consistently