Rainfrog Inc.

Author: Danny Hall

  • The Big Roast

    The Big Roast

    Tonight’s roast is Java Kopi Sunda from the fine folks at Sweet Maria’s. It’s fairly exciting because it’s a new bean for me. I’m anxious to pull a couple of shots tomorrow! But, the excitement doesn’t end there… tonight’s roast is a bit more special – it’s my first roast with the dev version of Roastmaster on the iPad! Now – I know a lot of you are waiting very patiently – it’s not completed yet, but I’m hopeful that a large chunk of the hard work to out of the way.

    I have to say, I doubt I’ll ever go back to the iPhone for roasting. If you’re used to Roastmaster on the iPhone or iPod Touch, the best way to describe using it on the iPad is liberating. Liberating and liquid. Navigating the app is incredibly fluid. The extra screen real estate affords a less cluttered interface – and the ability to hone in on the details you are looking for much more easily than the iPhone version. And, pairing it with a bluetooth keyboard… well – it’s heaven for me!

    Take a look at the screenshots. I will undoubtedly make a few tweaks – a couple of things are bugging me at the moment, but I’m comfortable enough with them at the moment to share them. The first thing you’ll probably notice is the landscape orientation. This is long overdue, and for the iPad – in my opinion, it’s a necessity. Another difference I was able to work into the iPad version is static headers. Headers are nice – they’re a functional and efficient way to present important information for browsing through records, but on the iPhone it was imperative to get them out of the way via scrolling when it came time to enter data. Not so on the iPad! I played around with a couple of designs – one with scrolling headers like the iPhone, and the version that won hands down – static headers. I’m sure you’ll agree – it’s a great way to have a succinct summary to reference – even when entering data on static screens like beans, blends and cuppings. And for roasts, to be able to have the roasting console front and center while you browse the roast data, well… again, I’m in heaven.

    Thanks to all who’ve offered to beta-test. This is new territory for me – I’ve never dealt with public beta-testing for iOS. All of the initial Roastmaster testing was done with devices I had direct access to. I’ll be in touch soon to get the process started. I’ll also post if I end up needing more beta-testers in case anyone is interested. I doubt it at this point – many people have already been in touch, but things can always change.

    ‘Til then, know that I’ll be working very hard to get the universal version finished up as quickly as possible.

    Cheers,
    Danny

  • Version 2.1

    Version 2.1

    I’m sitting at the kitchen counter, roasting some Sulawesi Toraja AA, thinking it’s a really good time to introduce version 2.1. Yes – you heard correctly – finally! I’ve been in contact with many of you about things you’d like to see, many of you have been very, very patiently waiting. Thank you for your patience – I believe you will be vary happy with this update. I’ve uploaded it to iTunes – hopefully will be less than a week for the approval process.

    So what’s new? Well, most probably most importantly is an official “Reading” mode for curves. Each curve can now be set to function as a “Control” or “Reading” curve. If in reading mode, you can choose between Celsius or Fahrenheit systems. Reading curves graph as traditional point-to-point graphs (diagonal lines, connect-the-dot style). They are also excluded from past roast matching.

    The second most requested feature is a larger graph. Well, hold onto your britches – this update has a full-screen graph. It responds to device orientation, displaying either landscape or portrait, and can be pinch-zoomed, scrolled, panned, etc. You can even increase or decrease the resolution of the x-axis to show more detail. It is interactive – you can tap individual nodes to select them and change their value (assuming they do not belong to a past roast, or master profile or program), or enter a new value with a curve selected to record a new time-stamped node. At the moment there are no roasting controls in the full screen graph window. I will be adding those, but for now this is a great start. Any type of control I add will be in the form of a pop-up console. I don’t want to devote any screen real estate to extraneous buttons. I want to keep it all for the graph.

    I fixed a few bugs with data entry that cropped up in iOS 4.x, after Apple changed some things internally related to the slot-machine style picker views, and added support for larger inventory amounts in the database.

    Oh yes, this one’s fairly cool… You can now publish a roast to your Facebook wall. That’s one of those things I’ve been wanting to get done for a while now. I you like this, please let me know and I’ll extend it to Blends and Cuppings as well.

    I’ve done a little behind-the-scenes work to prepare for a port to iPad. As I’ve told some of you, I really doubt that it will be possible to create a universal app (1 app for both iPad and iPhone/iPod). Roastmaster is a very complex app, and having only one codebase that conditionally perform and allows different functions, controls and layouts for each view, would be horrendous and error-prone. I’ll have to decide once I get started, which will be the easiest path. I’ll keep you updated on the progress, and be in touch with those of you that have said you’d like to beta-test.

    Well, that’s it for now. Be on the lookout for the update.

    Happy roasting!

    Cheers,
    Danny

  • Expanded Curves

    Expanded Curves

    Figured a take a minute and let everyone know what I’m working on at the moment. I’m wrapping up work on expanding the concept of curves to include temperature data collection.

    Turns out there are a lot more people using thermocouples than I thought. For them, the concept of roasting curves is a little lacking. Curves were designed to provide a way to record the settings you adjust throughout a roast – i.e. roaster controls. I had always planned on implementing temperature reading curves in addition to control curves, it was just a little further down on the list (along with a full screen graph – more on that in a moment). I’ve received a lot of email feedback on the subject, and happy to report that temperature curves are now my main focus.

    So… thanks to everyone for the email feedback – and suggestions. The next update is close to being done. Unfortunately, Apple is closing the iTunes Connect portal that developers submit to on Thursday, and it won’t reopen until the 28th. I should be able to submit the update after that. Then we’ll just have to wait through the usual approval process – probably a week.

    So, what’s new? Temperature reading curves, mainly. They can operate in either Celsius or Farehnheit, and are the same entities as the existing control curves. They can be assigned to profiles, programs or a roast. They only two main differences beyond the existing control curves are: they are exempted from past roast matching (since they are readings and not controls) and they graph as a standard line graph (connect-the-dot style as opposed to stair-stepped style). If you’ve been entering your temperature readings in curves as you roast – all you’ll have to do is tap a toggle switch on each of these curves to convert them to the new temperature reading style.

    If you’re left wondering how you’ll fit all those readings on the minimal screen real estate of the graph, don’t worry. Help is on the way. This is going to have to be accomplished over the course of a couple of updates. The upcoming update will introduce a preference setting for the default graph time. This is an interim solution for those anxious to start collecting temp data. You can set the graph to display any interval from 1 to 30 – and should go a long way to eliminate node-congestion on the graph for shorter roast times.

    After this update, I want to turn my attention to creating a full screen graph. A zoomable and pan-able graph that will take over the screen whenever the device is rotated to the horizontal orientation. I think this will be a fast and intuitive way to clear the screen of the details of a roast and let you concentrate on the data. This has been in the plans for Roastmaster since the beginning – it’s exciting for me to finally be to the point of making it happen.

    Here are a few screenshots from the upcoming update.

    As always – let me know your thoughts on Roastmaster.

    Danny

  • Version 2.0

    Version 2.0

    Hi all!

    Most of you have already updated to version 2.0. Hopefully you’ve had to a chance to explore some of the new features, and find them easy to use. I was very happy with the way curves fleshed out in the long run, even if it took a bit of back-tracking in my design approach. I wanted them to be intuitive and flexible, and above all – easy to use. Sorry for the wait!

    Here’s a punch list of the new features/changes in Roastmaster 2.0…

    • Roasting Curves
    • Expanded Profiles and Programs
    • Profile and Program Snapshots
    • Benchmark Past Roast Matching Mode
    • iTunes File Sharing
    • Editable Cupping Dates
    • Post-Roast Weight Field
    • Alarm Dispatch to OS in iOS4 (so you will be notified if the phone is put to sleep)
    • Improved Roasting Graph
    • Setpoint Alerts for Active Curves
    • Bug Fixes

    A few words about iTunes files sharing… I realized after release, that this is completely undocumented, so here’s how it works. If you’re running iOS 4 and the latest iTunes, while your iPhone or iPod touch is connected, navigate to the “Apps” tab of the device in iTunes. At the bottom, in the File Sharing section, you should see Roastmaster. Select it, and you will be able to copy either the Databases or Backup Databases folder to your desktop. Inside this copied folder, you will find your Roastmaster SQLite database(s).

    If you ever have the need to copy a database back to Roastmaster, simply drag one or more database files (not the folder itself) into the root level of “Roastmaster Documents” in the iTunes window. They should end up listed with the other folders. Roastmaster will find it the next time you launch the app (it must be a fresh launch – not an awakening from background), and will import it as a live database.

    This probably goes without saying, but for those of you familiar with SQL databases, or anyone for that matter, do not modify the database outside of Roastmaster and attempt to use that copy with Roastmaster again. This feature is only intended for backing up databases for safe keeping, sharing databases, and for those that wish to broadcast or export their data to other sources.

    I plan on posting again in a few days about the immediate future plans for Roastmaster, so drop back by soon. And please let me know how the new features are working for you. I’m anxious to hear!

    Cheers

    Danny

  • Database backups

    Database backups

    Probably the second-most requested feature is the ability to export a Roastmaster database for either safekeeping or to use for other purposes. Taking a small break from roasting curves, I finished the coding for this feature tonight.

    In addition to its own internal backups, and the backups that are created when syncing with iTunes, Roastmaster now supports file sharing via iTunes. You can copy your Databases or Backup Databases directories from you iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad to your computer via iTunes. Inside these copied folders, you’ll find the sqlite database files. Should you need to reimport them later, just copy them back to the shared folder and Roastmaster will import them at the next launch.

    This feature will be available in the next update.

    Cheers!