BattleScribe 1.14.03 Released!

Today's release is just a bunch of tweaks and bug fixes. This is to make sure everything is nicely stable in preparation for some bigger updates to come in the near future. 1.14.03 is now available on desktop and Android, and will be coming to iOS soon when it is approved by Apple.

Release Notes:

• Catalogues and Game Systems can now have a "books" field, so you can enter the publication(s) the data file is built from/for.
• When importing data from a file via Manage Data, .bsi (index) files are now accepted.
• When moving data, the source folder is not deleted if you have moved the data to a child folder of the source.
• "Page" field in catalogues is now text (so can be blank, Roman numerals etc).
• Entries and Entry Groups can now have a negative "min points" value. This allows data authors to prevent incorrect validation errors when using Entries that cost negative points.
• Data file book and revision number now shown when creating a new roster.
• Fixed "Illegal Argument Exception" error when opening catalogue to edit it.
• Fixed incorrect validation errors for min/max in roster for shared items.
• Fixed problem saving rosters if the name has a "*" in it.
• Fixed desktop version "move data" function which wasn't working in some cases.
• Fixed incorrect points calculation for modified entries in some cases.
• Fixed validation of "hidden" catalogue items: The only validation error hidden items will cause is if you have selected the item in your roster.
• Fixed "file is not a directory" error on OSX and Linux.

BattleScribe 1.14.02 Released on iOS!

Another brief update to say that 1.14.02 is now available in the iTunes App Store for your iOS device. It got a little delayed as I wanted to resolve an issue where quickly tapping buttons could lead to crashes (especially on slower devices). This should now be prevented via the use of pretty little loading spinners when you click buttons. Other than that, it's just a few minor bug fixes.

See the previous post for more details.

Enjoy!

BattleScribe 1.14.02 Released!

BattleScribe 1.14.02 has now been released on Android and desktop with some additional bug fixes and tweaks. It's been submitted to Apple and should become available within a week.

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Hi all, here we are with another update.

This one doesn't bring much in the way of shiny new features - it's all about internal changes. There are a handful of fixes and tweaks, and the Android version has had it's UI updated further, continuing from the work in 1.14.00. This mostly just tries to make it clearer which entries are part of a group.

The headline change, however, is a big performance boost when adding and removing selections from a roster. While you won't notice this a whole lot on the desktop version, on mobile devices the difference is quite pronounced.

BattleScribe has become more complex over the years, and this combined with more fully featured (and therefore larger) data files had started to show the inadequacy of a "brute force" approach for calculating points and checking for errors. This update has overhauled these systems to be much smarter and more efficient.

In some tests I found that the time taken to add or remove a selection from a roster has roughly halved, and this time does not get increasingly longer as your roster gets bigger. Big wins, and I hope it improves the experience of using the app on your phone significantly.

This update has also been submitted to Apple, and we are now awaiting approval for it to become available for your iOS device (it should take roughly a week).

Enjoy!

BattleScribe 1.14.01 Released on iOS!

Just a quick update to say that 1.14.01 has been approved by Apple and is now available for your iPhone, iPod and iPad.

Full details of the release can be found in the last post.

Enjoy :)

BattleScribe T-Shirts Available!

I've had people ask me in the past if they could get hold of a BattleScribe T-shirt, but so far there were only a handful of them in existence. Well today that changed as I went ahead and set up a Cafepress store! If you're the kind of person who wants to show off their allegiance to BattleScribe, now you can :)

You too can look as stylish an sophisticated as your friendly BattleScribe developer:

If you have any ideas for new designs you'd like to see, or if there are any other products you're interested in (stickers, mugs, keyrings etc.) then let me know.

Enjoy and see you at Salute!

BattleScribe 1.14.00 Released!

It's been a couple of months in the making, but we're finally here with version 1.14.00!

This release broadens BattleScribe's support for different game systems - in particular Spartan Games' Firestorm Armada (as well as their other systems). For data file authors, you can now set up a game systems force types and categories to be "nested". This means a force type or category can have a "child" force type or category. Selections from the child force type or category can be counted towards the limits of the parent force type or category. This should enable much better data for any game systems that work in this fashion.

The other big change is that the folder structure that your data files are stored in has changed. Each game system now has it's own folder in which the game system file and all the related catalogue files are stored together. Because of this it's important that you update to 1.14.00 on all your devices and computers. Older versions of BattleScribe will be unable to find your data files in the new folder structure. This change is to let BattleScribe play nicely with source control systems such as GitHub, making life much easier for data authors who want to use such systems to manage their files.

Finally, there's an important bug fix on Android, where a corrupted data file or roster could cause the app to hang while "preparing data". I'm very happy to finally get this fixed - it's been incredibly hard to pin down the exact cause of the problem.

These changes come along with a host of bug fixes and little user interface improvements.

All Platforms

• Greatly improved support for Firestorm Armada and other similarly structured game systems.
• Changed folder structure that data files are stored in to let BattleScribe work well with source control systems. 
• Improved naming of saved rosters (it now handles roster names with "." in them). 
• Improved handling of corrupted/broken data files and rosters. 
• Pro: Fixes to the way favourites are handled.
• Fixed crash in Catalogue Editor where modifier characteristic doesn't exist. 
• Fixed "()" being added to rule/profile names in output. 
• Fixed modifiers/conditions not working properly for collective items. 
• Fixed incorrect default selections from entry groups being added. 
• Conditions and modifiers in a catalogue can now depend on the roster points limit. 
• Many bug fixes to the way collective entries and entry groups are handled.
• Improvements to the way files are read, reducing memory usage.
• Various bug fixes to roster validation.

Android

• Added ability to choose a parent force when adding a force to new or existing roster.
• Fixed bug where a corrupt data file or roster would cause BattleScribe to hang "preparing data".
• User interface improvements.
• Fixed sorting of game systems and catalogues when creating a roster.

iOS

• Added ability to choose a parent force when adding a force to new or existing roster.
• User interface improvements for iOS 7.
• Fixed app crashing for users who use non-Latin characters (e.g. Cyrillic).
• Fixed sorting of game systems and catalogues when creating a roster.

Desktop

• New Roster / Add Force dialog changed to support nested forces.
• Fixed duplicate button allowing you to duplicate things it shouldn't. 
• Improved layout of the selection edit panel, fixed slow scrolling. 
• Improved layout of Profile panel in Catalogue Editor. Made characteristic cells multi-line. 
• Fixed wrong tree node being selected after removing something from a tree.
• Fixed sorting of tree nodes.
• Fixed copy/pasting modifiers and conditions onto links.
• Fixes to weird focussing of controls when selecting an item in the tree.
• Other tweaks to improve the UI.

Interviewed on The 11th Company Podcast

I recently did an interview with Mr Pat Higgs, which has just gone live in episode 192 of The 11th Company podcast! If you fancy listening to me blather on about the past, present and future of BattleScribe, direct your ear-holes to the link below...

BattleScribe 1.13.16 Released on iOS!

This version has some nice extra additions, bringing iOS up to date with the features on Android and desktop. One addition is the ability to customize the output when viewing and sharing a roster (allowing you to cut out the points values, rules and profiles), giving you the option to remove things before sharing your list online.

Sharing overall has been improved, and now you can share via services other than just email (Twitter and Facebook are notable examples). This is especially useful if you're using Dropbox to sync your data as you are now able to share a link to a roster file stored in Dropbox. This link can be easily be posted to social networks or forum posts and BattleScribe users just have to click it to open your roster.

Release Notes:

• Added options to customize the output when viewing a roster. For example, remove points, profiles and rules to make the output "legal" to post on a forum.
• Share or copy a link to a roster file stored in Dropbox. This is great for sharing your roster via Twitter, Facebook, on forum posts etc.
• Improved sharing of rosters (as text or Dropbox link) - you can now share straight to Facebook and Twitter.
• Speed improvements when preparing data.
• Added ability to delete all rosters from the menu in Manage Data (for emergencies!).
• Improvements to handling of file synchronization with Dropbox.
• Removed first loading screen. Again...

BattleScribe Installer For Mac Released!

For those of you with iMacs and Macbooks, there is now the option to download BattleScribe as a proper installer for OSX. This makes it much easier to install BattleScribe on your Mac, and gives you a more OSX-like user interface.

Installing BattleScribe this way allows you to easily launch it from the Dock or the Applications folder (with proper icons!), skins the UI with a better theme for OSX and integrates BattleScribe with standard OSX features like the application menu bar.

Hopefully this will make it much nicer for Mac users to install and use BattleScribe in a way that's more familiar to them.

BattleScribe 1.13.16 Released on Android!

There's a few nice bits and pieces added in this version, bringing the Android up to the same level of features that the desktop version has. Notably, this means the addition of options to customize the output when viewing your roster (I've been meaning to add this for ages...).

Also, for Dropbox users, you can now share or copy a link to a roster file stored in Dropbox. This makes sharing your roster via social networks, forum posts etc. a whole lot easier as you don't need to upload the roster file anywhere yourself - people can just click the link and open your roster file straight from Dropbox :)

Release Notes:

• Added options to customize the output when viewing a roster. For example, remove points, profiles and rules to make the output "legal" to post on a forum.
• Share or copy a link to a roster file stored in Dropbox. This is great for sharing your roster via Twitter, Facebook, on forum posts etc.
• Speed improvements when preparing data.
• Added ability to delete all rosters from the menu in Manage Data (for emergencies!).
• Improvements to data import. Imported rosters will be renamed if required (instead of replacing an existing roster).
• Improvements to handling of file synchronization with Dropbox.
• Removed first loading screen. Again...

Coming to iOS soon...