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Version 3.0 Is on its Way.

Greetings everyone, and Happy New Year!

I hope you were able to enjoy your holidays as I did – spending lots of time with family and friends. I love this time of year, and the way in which it draws everyone together. I hope you had a wonderful season of festivities, and drank (as I did) more than your fair share of coffee!

1/15/12 – This post was originally a request for a number of sample user databases to test with. A million thanks to everyone who reached out and sent me databases! I keep a running archive of all of my personal and development databases, but it gave me a great peace of mind to have other folks’ real-world data to test with. All of my testing went well, and the update was submitted to Apple yesterday afternoon.

So, what’s coming?

Here’s a fairly complete, even if curt, laundry list of the new features and improvements:

New Features:

  • Label Printing and/or PDF generation for Roasts, Blends, Cuppings and Beans
  • Data exchange (import and export) for Roasters, Profiles, Programs, Curves, Databases and Label Definition Files
  • Dropbox and Email Support for data exchange
  • All internal weight and volume calculations use the extremely precise decimal number format instead of float numbers
  • Database stores all weight and volumes as precise decimal numbers instead of the sometimes rounded float numbers
  • Behmor Curves
  • Custom roaster settings
  • Enhanced Profile and Program snapshots
  • Profile and Program snapshots navigation screens
  • Reusability of Profile and Program snapshots
  • Blend Snapshots
  • Blend by weight
  • Increased max curve temps from 999 to 10,000
  • Price per unit for beans
  • First and Second crack end times
  • iOS 5 compatibility and bug fixes
  • Customizable label definitions
  • More detailed reporting of curve deltas in the full screen graph
  • Facebook bug fix

Roasting console interface enhancements

 

 

  • Dedicated curve button
  • Dock-able graph selector for a larger graph view
  • Graph rescale buttons
  • Kg option in weight choosers
  • Wiper alarm marker in roasting graph
  • More intuitive measurement input in inventory and item choosers
  • Swipe to select curves

 

 

I am very excited about this update, and anxious to get it into your hands. Once it’s live, I want to shift gears and create a little forum section on the site where I can post downloadable files for beginners, and where users can share and exchange their own data. There are a number of great coffee forums on the web. I don’t want to recreate the wheel – just give everyone a place to exchange and discuss their Roastmaster profile and program data.

Also, I’ll be starting work on some tutorial videos. Admittedly, using some of the more advanced features of Roastmaster carry with them a learning curve. I’d like to create a series of videos to explain these features, as well a couple geared towards getting started for new users.

Cheers,
Danny Hall

About the Author

Danny HallHome Coffee Roaster and App DeveloperView all posts by Danny Hall »

  1. jfutral
    jfutralJan 07, 2012

    I was hoping to read “interface redesign” (although bluetooth thermocouple integration might have won me over more). The graphics are beautiful, if not a bit cartoonish. As a user interface it is a mess and confusing. But then, as a long time Apple appreciator, I am more of the philosophy of simple usability trumps feature lists. Not everyone agrees, obviously.

    Great job with all that the software does, though. It certainly does everything it needs to do, and then some, I’m sure. Probably more important for the professional roaster than the home roaster like me. You are obviously a talented programer and I have no doubt you’ll do well with this app.

    Joe

  2. Danny Hall
    Danny HallJan 08, 2012

    Hi Joe

    The only iOS compatible Bluetooth thermocouple (that I know of) just left vaporware status, and is now in a limited preorder stage. I’m in the process of getting the SDK agreement, so it’s something I’ll be working on now that there is finally an option on the market. I’m very excited about that.

    I’ve made some improvements to the roasting console, in an effort to streamline the interface in that area, and remove as much of the clutter as possible. The whole “curve wheel” design came about when I introduced curves in version 2 and didn’t want to confuse existing users who didn’t give a hoot about using curves, so I tucked that button away in the curve wheel. Now, since many users do use curves, that button is front and center, with all of the node and curve selecting being done via tapping and swiping on the roast graph itself. You can now hide the selector strip if you don’t use it often, to reclaim more screen space for the graph. The start/stop button is more isolated, there are graph scale controls – lots of little things.

    About the overall interface, had I made two distinct apps (iPhone and iPad) I would have approached the iPad interface much differently, but a lot of user interaction made it clear that people would rather have the option of a universal app, than an interface redesign that would have forced them to purchase a separate app. So I took cue and went that route. Also, Apple imposes some strict limitations on the browsing-style views (like Mail) with the items on the left and the detail on the right. You cannot use them in a tab-style interface like Roastmaster’s. That is the direction I wanted to go with the iPad version, but could not. Hopefully one day they’ll lift that restriction.

    Beyond that, it’s simply a big app in a small package. Part of the reason for the “Carmen San Diego” graphics as well. I usually opt for a more understated and elegant interface, but during development I realized that a bright color-coded scheme made it more clear where you are as you navigate the app, and that large, bold controls were more advantageous when trying to operate a manual roaster and enter data simultaneously. Some folks like it, some folks don’t – that’s about the way software goes.

    Thanks for the kind words, and also the input. I do like hearing feedback.

    Cheers
    Danny

  3. james simon
    james simonJan 13, 2012

    will donate my database if you tell me how. jim simon 304 669 3696 or email

    • Danny Hall
      Danny HallJan 15, 2012

      Hi James.

      I didn’t see your post until I was in the process of getting the final build ready and uploaded yesterday afternoon. I ended up having a number of databases to test with, and all went well.

      Thanks so much for the offer, though!

      Danny

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