I have not gotten any new updates out in the last 2 months, which I am sorry for but my live has been terribly busy. Finishing university, other jobs, new apartment, broken macbook etc… I have not quit working on aftm, so do not delete it just yet. I am currenty reworking my entire website, which will finally include a decent support forum. Once this is complete I will resume working on aftm and finally push out the long promised smart list feature. So I wish everybody a happy new year and bear with me for another month so I can get everything ready.
Debugging log file
Added a setting that creates a debugging logfile on the desktop to be sent back to me if the app does not behave as it should. It only contains app relevant info and none of your personal information.
note: to enable this setting the app has to be restarted.
I made some more improvements to the UI, the scrollbars and the dropdown menus are new. I really like what Apple did with the new Itunes 9 UI so I tried to copy it as good as I could, and I am quite happy with it. But as always I am open for suggestions. The icons should also look a bit better now.
Detail view
I finally got the detail view to a level where I could release it to users. In oder to see the detailview for a task just double click the task. This used to let you edit the name of the task but I found that its a rarely used feature. Once in the detail view you can edit the tasks name by double clicking it again. In the detail view are two tabs, one for general info and tags and one for notes. The info currently includes only estimate, url, and due date since repeating tasks is the hardest of all things to implement and not yet supported. Once I figured that out it will be added.
Tags
Tags are now fully supported. In the detail view info tab there is a tag module that works online and offline. To add tags just put them in and hit the tag button. In order to remove a tag just click the little blue cross icon next to it. Pretty straight forward.
Notes
Notes are not complete yet. It is possible to edit notes in the detail view online and offline. In order to do so just double click the title or the text of a note. It is not yet possible to add or delete notes but its the next thing on my to do list. I just wanted to get this update out so people could provide first feedback and since the last update is already a few weeks back.
Future Outlook
So the next thing will be to finish notes editing. Then I want to take on smart list support. The search / filter system is still not quite ready for that though. Once smart lists are supported I finally want to go beta with the app. The last major feature that is still missing then is repeating tasks, which I am not quite sure yet how to implement but it should be possible.
I recently had the idea that the searchfield could be used for quickly adding tasks like, “add:some task” and other commands. Kind of like rtms smart add feature
Another idea that has been floating around in my head is a kind of planing mode. Currently a task has a due date and an estimate but the app and rtm do not give me any means of organizing when I want to do which task. I could of course create and event in my ical for that but that would not be very user friendly. I envision a ical like view of a given day where you can arrange the tasks that you want to accomplish and therefor get a plan when to do what. This would be very easy to do if rtm implemented a task attributed like “scheduled” . The time when to do it + plus an estimate give me all the info I need to plan the day. As I have doubts that rtm will be able to implement this very quickly will create a slimmed down version of it in the app and this may then serve as a proof of concept to rtm. What do you think about this idea?
This version introduces yet another icon. Rtm asked me to change the current icon to something else since the direct usage of their logo is not permitted by their Remember The Milk API Terms of Use. I want to point out that they asked really nicely and gave me plenty of time to make the changes, which is not always the case when companies see their rights violated. I therefore gladly comply with their request.
the icon again, again
I am kind of back to the blue square for now but it has it least gotten some cow textures. That was the only thing I could come up with right now. I will work on it.
This version only fixes a few bugs. Mainly that the version 0250 created a debugging file on the desktop. It also introduces better bugfixes for search and it now displays due times.
this version introduces many changes and improvements. I am finally moving towards completing all features I want to have built in before the app goes into beta stage. The only big thing that is still missing is the detail view for tasks that lets users edit all properties like Urls and tags.
I want to thank Mike for is great work on the UI and I want to thank Justin for for his patience in debugging the “stuck at loading tasks bug”. I really appreciate the help and the additional thoughts that improve the app.
Proof reading and typos
English is only my second language and I really really hate spelling in general which manifests itself in the docs and the changelog. So if you have time to look them over, or just found a mistake please let me know. At some point I want everything to be correct, just now the coding is way more interesting than writing the docs.
Version 0250
new UI
this version includes a major change in the UI. Credits for this go to Mike who came up with most of it. its more mac like now and looks a lot nicer in general I think.
selection of tasks
I got rid of the edit mode which was kind of useless. you can now select tasks right away and move / postpone / delete them right from the main UI.
postponing tasks
along with the new UI came a button for postponing tasks. it behaves just like the rtm website. I plan on giving more options in the future, like for 1 hour, 1 day and 1 week.
displaying tasks from just one list
the button on the very left is the view button. it lets you select the two standard views + just viewing the tasks from a single list.
the icon, again
the icon is new again, and I think this time its quite okay. the first one was admittedly crap.
the icon badge
its now the standard red mac badge. due to less space I removed the sepearte number for overdue tasks and replaced it with an exclamation mark. so if there are over due tasks there is an exlamation mark after the digit.
application size and position
the app now remebers its size and position. so if you aranged it nicely it will come up just the same way next time you launch it. note: this is not yet tested on multi screen setups! let me know!
bugfixes
the “stuck at loading tasks bug” is currently under review from the rtm server team since I could pin point the problem to be a bad response from the rtm server. Thanks a lot Justin!!! see docs for further details.
next version
I will work on finishing the new UI and then implement the detail view for editing tasks.
After a month of silence I finally managed to get out a new version of app for the milk. Along side with the new version comes my new hosting platform for all my coding projects. it is still under development but should work well enough for a test run.
you can sign up but it is also possible to post without an account.
Version 0200
advanced search:
I am almost done with implementing all advanced search methods that are also provided by the rtm website. the application now supports most search functions except for location and sharing based searching. please check the docs for details.
icon:
I came up with an icon, but I am not yet 100% happy with it. please let me know what you think and what should be improved.
Next Version:
the next step is to implement a detail view for tasks that will allow editing of notes, tags and other detailed information. the next release will also include a postpone function that has be requested several times.
I originally planed to get the application into beta before 5. of july and before I go abroad for three weeks. As so often I did not get nearly as much work done as I wanted and the beta will be delayed to the middle of august. I will not be able to check my email every day but I will spend several hours in a boring class which will give me lots of time planing out features and their implementation. When I am Back at the end of July I will release a new update alongside of my application hosting platform which has a forum for bugs and requests, documentation and FAQs, so please stay tuned.