Communication Helper v1.00.00 released!

Woo, finally!  I've been working on this for the last month and finally got it published.  I've opined several times on this blog already about my daughter's autism and the lack of good mobile software for Android to help us communication with her.  That said, I'm very excited about this release.  What it does is allow her to quickly navigate through a very large list of words to tell us what she wants or needs or to just strike up a conversation!  The app is here on the Android Market.  I'm really hoping to help those on the autism spectrum, with Aspergers syndrome or verbal aphasia.

This is the main screen.  At the top is the current phrase that's being built.  The heart of the screen are the nodes that can be used to communicate.  Each node can lead to other nodes and also have a speech component.

Here the user has selected "Feelings" from the main screen and chosen "Happy."  Because the "Happy" node has a speech component it adds itself to the current phrase being built at the top of the screen.

Starting back from the main screen, the user has selected "Me" then "I am."  The "I am" node holds other nodes but it also has a speech component so it too adds itself to the phrase creator.  Then the user hits "Happy" and has now built a complete phrase!

Now the user has selected "Save Phrase" from the options menu on most any screen.  A dialog box pops up prefilled with the name of the phrase built from the current nodes ("I am Happy") and then allows you to save.  On the main screen you can hit the "Phrases" node and be brought to here.  Now you can much more easily reuse the same phrase!

This is a look at the "Other Words" screen, where most of the miscellaneous words live.

Add Node screen.  Here you can add your own nodes with custom pictures.  Please note:  If the user deletes the picture from his phone it will not show up in the node anymore!

Node Maintenance screen.  Here you can delete/hide nodes in the system on any screen.  Please note: Users cannot delete the nodes prefilled in the system, but you can hide them.  You can only delete nodes added by the user.

This is the settings screen.  Its sparse for now, but I have added one neat feature.  In order to add or maintain nodes, or delete phrases, one has to turn on "Edit Mode."  By default edit mode is on.  The reason this is there is to try to help prevent the user from accidently deleting, hiding, or adding nodes when they shouldn't.  For instance, my daughter is an evil genius and given time would fill the entire app full of nonsense nodes.  :)  A warning displays on every screen when edit mode is on to help remind you to turn it off if necessary.  However, the warning can be ignored also.

I want to also stress the flexibility I have with my apps.  If a feature is missing (or if there's a bug) please email me and we can discuss it!  I take great pride in my apps so the fewer bugs the better.  It's also very disappointing when someone purchases an app, sees a feature they expected missing, rates the app 1 star, and then cancels the purchase.  I've written whole apps on user suggestions so please just let me know how I can help!

Couple small updates

Changed the "Percent Complete" input in Stitcher's Helper to accept and save decimal values.

The matron of Yarn Inventory mentioned a feature her friend would like to have:  A length/weight calculator.  Input the original weight/length of a ball of yarn, then input the current weight and it approximates the current length.

This works exceptionally well with the templates, as I can pre-fill the original weight and length.
Update: If you have an eagle eye you may have spotted the bug in the above screenshots. I fixed it! :)

Update Omnibus!

Big changes! Let me show you them!

Stitcher's Helper 1.3.00

1. Added a percent complete field to the project.  If the user changes the state to "Completed" this will automatically be set to "100."  If the percent entered is greater than zero, it shows on the project list screen.
2. Added the ability to import data exported from Bead Checklist, Floss Checklist, and Yarn Inventory!  Hit the menu button on your phone on a project screen, then select import.  This will show you a list of files to import from.  The file names correspond to the apps that exported them (All Yarns, Miyuki Beads, etc).  After selecting a file, another dialog will appear displaying every item in the file. Here you can select which items to include in your project.  This is a pretty exciting feature!  Please let me know if you have any problems/suggestions!
3. Made the project item edit screen look a bit nicer by removing the clunky input labels.
4. Minor change: on the project item edit screen, no longer display "0.0" by default for quantity and price.

Floss Checklist 1.9.00

1. Export your floss into Stitcher's Helper!  Hit the menu button on the vendor or checklist screen to export then follow the steps above to import.

Bead Checklist 1.1.00

1. Export your beads into Stitcher's Helper!  Hit the menu button on the vendor or checklist screen to export then follow the steps above to import.

Yarn Inventory 1.2.00

1. Export your yarns into Stitcher's Helper!  Hit the menu button on the main screen and bring up the "Import/Export" screen.  From here you can import/export your yarn.  This also acts as a backup system.

As always, let me know if anything is broken!  Also never hesitate to email me a suggestion or feature request!  This entire import/export was a feature request from a user (Thanks Amanda!)

Version 1.2 uploaded!

Features added in this update:

• One can now add generic shopping list items without having to tie them to a project.  Do this via the shopping list screen, menu.  Fields include: description, quantity, unit, price, store, notes.
• Long pressing a generic shopping list item deletes it.
• Added store and notes fields to project items.
• Project deletion added (with confirmation message).
• Added Equilateral Triangle calculator
• Added Mitered Border calculator
• Added Squared Border calculator

Coming soon:

• More calculators!
• More tutorials!
• Feature requests?  Guess I'd have to get some before I can add them :)

2 Tutorials Added!

On the right portion of this blog I put a box where I'm adding the tutorials I've made for Stitcher's Helper.  Hope they help. :)

Version 1.1 uploaded!

I should probably not have made it version 1.* since it's still in beta, but...

Anyway, 2 people have bought it! 1 is my mom, though. :)

New in version 1.1:

• If the project screen can't find an image associated with a project, a placeholder will show up in the gallery.
• Added a cancel button to the calculator add to project dialog.
• Shopping list implemented!
  
  • For a project item to show up in the shopping list, the following must be true:
  • The project is exists on must be set to "In Progress"
  • The project item must be set to "Include on Shopping List"
  • Long touching an item on the shopping list will remove it from the list by setting it's include checkbox to false.

Also, if you have calculator suggestions send them to me! I'd be happy to add them. :)

Released!

Just released Stitcher's Helper beta! Very excited about it:

Stitcher's Helper - Android Market link

Features include:

• Calculators for various types of common activities
• Project creation and tracking
• Add images to projects
• Add calculators to projects which can be edited later
• Add generic project items to projects

Coming soon:

• Shopping list page that will pull from the project items
• Add generic item to the shopping list
• Sketch images on the phone and add them to projects
• More calculators!
  

Development news!

Development on Sticher's Helper is going very well. Would like to thank my wife for her great suggestions and encouragement through the process. Maybe just a few more weeks until we release!