myBrickset Android App

NickF22

I have some items on my wanted list, that aren't released yet, and don't have an image. So if I bring up my Sets | Wanted list, they have the grey-picture-frame-with-warning-triangle image.
But I can't click through to actually see the details (set number, name etc).
Is there something that stops you clicking through to sets without a main image?

RikTheVeggie

@NickF22 this may be a bug that snuck in when I changed to the latest version of a library I use - I'll check it out when I get home tonight and get back to you.

Are you on the "grid" view?  If so, switch to the "list" view and this should allow you to continue to the Set Details page (even if clicking the image on the left doesn't work, clicking the text should).  Or searching for the set by number should get you there too.

NickF22

@RikTheVeggie Yes I'm on grid view - and you're right, I can click through on list view, from the text but not the picture.
At last I can see all the sets I've decided I want, even before there are images!!

RikTheVeggie

Thanks for the confirmation @NickF22!  Didn't get chance to investigate last night unfortunately but will do ASAP and will hopefully a fix shortly.  Glad to hear you have a workaround in the meantime.

NickF22

The app no longer has anything in my Owned / Wanted list. The site still has my lists - and I've forced a sync.

SlapNuts

^Same for me

deusxanime

+1 for me as well. Noticed it yesterday when I went to add a couple sets that I had just bought and hadn't got a chance to post here yet.

It scared the crap out of me because I was afraid it would push an empty list to Brickset and wipe out my collection. Luckily it is still intact on the website and I took a CSV backup quickly, just in case.

Huw

I'm looking into this with @RikTheVeggie, although as far as I can tell from my end the API is working.

SlapNuts

Let me know if you need logs or anything.

deusxanime

Just a bit more info - I've tried forcing syncing and logging out and back in, but neither helped. I also noticed that if I left it for a while and then tried to start the app back up it would say my password has timed out or expired or something similar (sorry didn't remember to save the message). It never used to have issues keeping my login info and automatically logging me in every time.

I just tried a Force Stop under Settings > Apps > myBrickset and that seems to have fixed it for now. After I started it up again all my sets/collection reappeared. So others might want to try a Force Stop on the app or reboot their phones and that might clear it out.

SlapNuts

I've tried the force stop, delete cache & data. Neither worked for me. I did also get the login message like you.

SlapNuts

I restarted my phone after doing the above and everything came back for me.

NickF22

Force Stop ( and then - on Samsung anyway - left-soft-key for Apps, Close All, for good measure) worked for me. Phew!

RikTheVeggie

Sorry for the late response everyone but the issue should now be resolved.  Not sure what the root cause was but it seemed to fix itself sometime today. 

As far as the app was concerned everything was working as expected - the api was returning success just but didn't contain any data.  There was no 'error' I could intercept or display to say that something had gone wrong.

RikTheVeggie

The latest release is almost ready to roll-out.  As usual it includes multiple fixes and performance tweaks, but this time there are two large changes - more frequent syncs with brickset.com (changes made in the app should be sent to brickset.com immediately) and faster syncs (especially for devices with lower memory).

These changes have required some tweaks to the syncing code (which hasn't changed for several years), so I'm more cautious about doing a roll-out than usual.  I'm pretty sure everything is working correctly, and have been using these changes myself for a while now.

If you'd like to assist with testing the latest version, you can opt in at https://play.google.com/apps/testing/uk.co.otissoft.mybrickset.  Be warned that there is a chance - although very small in my opinion - that this will cause data corruption (eg, some sets not correctly syncing their data, so that brickset.com and myBrickset become out of sync).

You can opt out of testing at any time by uninstalling the beta version and installing the regular version from the play store.

If you do decide to opt in, please post here so that I know how many extra eyes I have and also let me know how you get on - especially if you encounter any issues!

Whether you opt in or not, many thanks for your continued usage of myBrickset!

juno_2023

Opting in now- thanks for all you do!

sid3windr

Opted in, thanks for your hard work!

Also thanks again for implementing the Brickwatch link, I've used it a million times already :-)

NickF22

This is only a minor thing (and maybe it's by design) - if I search for a Theme and Subtheme, then press Back, then the Subtheme option is reset to nothing. Other settings (eg "Own"/"Want" flags, Theme) are retained.

sid3windr

Also minor, especially because I do like the numeric-keypad-only entry, something I realized last week is that the myBrickset set number field is numeric, but Brickset set numbers aren't only numeric (i.e. PORG-1, Friends magazines FR*-1, etc), so you can't search for them by 'number'.

RikTheVeggie

> Subtheme option is reset to nothing
Nice catch, I'll see if I can fix that.

> Brickset set numbers aren't only numeric
Darn... you're right.  Hmm.. I'll have to think about this one, don't want to lose the numeric keypad when that's used for 99% of searches, but it would be good to support non-numerics too.

Thanks to everyone for testing.  Was planning to do a public release this w/e but it looks like that may slip a little.

sid3windr

Yeah, the numeric keypad is awesome for this, it would be quite cumbersome having to use shift for every number (at least on my keyboard layout). Just not sure what the workaround could be :-)

I didn't note any actual issues while using the app, so nice work :-)

RikTheVeggie

I've just pushed a new beta.

@NickF22 the Subtheme issue should be fixed
@sid3windr I've added the ability to switch between keyboard types when using the SetNumber field - not great but the best I can figure out atm

NickF22

Thanks @RikTheVeggie - yes the subthemes work fine now!

sid3windr

Toggle for the keyboard also works fine. Shame it's a bit.... ugly. :-) Would be nice if the Android keyboard had a button like that by itself!

RikTheVeggie

I'd expect most keyboards to be able to toggle to a numeric only input, but I can't rely on it and I can't use the api to specify that I want a mixed input keyboard but to start in a numeric only configuration.

Graphic design isn't my forte either (as you've probably noticed by using the app!) so I'm using a textual button (ie no graphics).  There are no suitable standard images for what I need, but even if I was able to source one I'd still be stuck with a button that looks out of place unless I can figure out a better solution.

sid3windr

My keyboard (standard Android/LineageOS) can't toggle to numeric only ;/ At least not the version that you get now with just numbers on it.

nwr122

@RikTheVeggie, any plans to incorporate ACM functionality into the app? Keep up the good work

RikTheVeggie

@nwr122 ACM is already there, although admittedly not very well and is read-only because of current limitations in the brickset.com api.

From the Set Details screen, click the icon (3 horizontal bars and a triangle) to the left of the overflow icon to view any available ACM data.

sid3windr

Would still be cool to have "built" and "gift" in the ACM data, server-side. And "number wanted" but I guess Brickset simply doesn't have that functionality at all :-)

nwr122

Thanks @RikTheVeggie, I didn't know that existed. It would be great if the API could be extended to allow the editing of the data from the app @Huw

sid3windr

When I get search results, I usually don't get the images for the sets. When I scroll the list and scroll back, they do appear. Only possible if you have more results than fit on one screen...

OnePlus 6T, Android 9 ... not sure if I had this issue on my Android 7 OnePlus One, too. I think I did (can check on the old one if needed - although I upgraded it to Android 8 in the meanwhile)

nwr122

RikTheVeggie said:

@nwr122 ACM is already there, although admittedly not very well and is read-only because of current limitations in the brickset.com api.

From the Set Details screen, click the icon (3 horizontal bars and a triangle) to the left of the overflow icon to view any available ACM data.

Thanks @RikTheVeggie didn't realise that was there. Any plans to make read and write or is that API dependant?

RikTheVeggie

Dependent on the API unfortunately, read-only is the best I can do currently.

nwr122

RikTheVeggie said:

Dependent on the API unfortunately, read-only is the best I can do currently.

Thanks @RikTheVeggie and your "best" is phenomenal 😁

RikTheVeggie

Just received another takedown notice via Google, why don't the lawyers ever contact me directly before going straight for the takedown? (rhetorical question).

This app is infringing our Registered Trademarks:
U.S. Registration Nos. 4903968, 4520327 and EU Registration Nos. 
EM00050450, EM00050518 for the LEGO® Minifigure figurine design.

4903968 - Minifig
4520327 - Yellow Minifig Head
00050450 - Minfig
00050518 - Minifig

My understanding is that I'm not in violation as I'm not using a yellow head or using the full minifigure shape, but giving the grief last time I think I'm just going to change the icon and hope for the best.  Google will likely require the complainant to confirm that the app is now ok but this will almost certainly not happen (as they don't get paid to do so) so the app may fall out of the play store for a while..

Any ideas for a replacement icon to use?  Bear in mind I'm a coder and not an artist!!

VorpalRyu

Maybe see if @Huw would mind if you use an icon similar to the Brickset one, same colour scheme, but say 2x2 bricks or 1x1 round plates...

RikTheVeggie

An homage to Brickset.. it can be tweaked or replaced but is a good place to start.

SumoLego

I like it - you should keep it.  

(Not that I'm a marketing guy or anything, but it coordinates better with the 'brand'.)

SumoLego

Unrelated question - how would one help compensate you for your time and energy in developing and maintaining the app?

RikTheVeggie

Thanks for the interest in compensation, but myBrickset is, always has been always will be 100% non-commercial and a labour of love rather than anything I look to profit from.  I don't ask for money or monetise the app in any way (don't sell contact lists, have affiliate links, show ads, etc).

There are several reasons for this, one of them being that it's supposed to help keep the lawyers off my back (tho' that doesn't seem to help..!).

SumoLego

Well, I'll heap on another helping of appreciation.  The app is great, and I find it indispensible for managing this hobby/collection.

sid3windr

Yep, on average I probably use it 10 times per day to look up a set, its price, its brickwatch link, whether I have it or not, etc. Totally awesome and very fast!

insmuh

hello rik. first, thanks for the great app. but i have a little problem , i used the force refresh clear cache or manual refresh things but all didnt work. i can not see my wanted sets in the app unfortunately :(

RikTheVeggie

@insmuh what do you mean by "clear cache" - the one in Android's settings for the app?  If so, all you should need to do is start the app fresh and log in again - it'll then redownload all of your information but it may take a while as it first has to rebuild the db with a fresh copy from brickset.com (the rebuild is fast on most modern devices but can take up to 10 mins on older or slower ones).

If that's not the case and your owned sets are showing fine but your wanted ones are not, then please send me your logs through the app (main screen | menu | send log file) and I'll take a look.

sid3windr

Rik, I have another suggestion for the backup functionality you added last year (probably pretty much for me?). We discussed at some point that it would be unfeasible (or unnecessary) to have support for Dropbox (or similar) to store the backups because it'd take a lot of work and require permissions etc.

I just remembered another app I use has a nice go-between that could maybe be fairly doable. I present to you "Podcast addict" and its backup system:

It saves the backup to its own storage directory, like myBrickset, but by presenting the popup with the Share button, I can immediately move the backup off the device by choosing "Add to Dropbox" (or send by e-mail or whatever). Not sure how hard it is to implement, but I like my backups to not be on the same device and less effort [on my part] is always better :]

RikTheVeggie

Hmm, interesting idea and should be reasonably straightforward (I essentially use the same approach for log files, just restricted to email only).  I'll take a look when I get some time.

RikTheVeggie

@sid3windr it was cold here tonight so I stayed in and coded rather than hitting the gym!  Needs some cleanup before I can call it official, but this should do what you're looking for:
http://otissoft.co.uk/mybrickset/bin/myBrickset-111-2.6.2.apk [4.9MB]

I haven't done all of my usual pre-release tests on this, but it should work fine - the most dangerous thing I've done since the last release is update the build tools.

sid3windr

Eyyy, that worked. My backup is on Dropbox now. This service level is absolutely unprecedented :D

I'm not sure if you should make it an optional button or just pop out the intent. For me this is great but maybe someone else doesn't know why that popup comes up?

Thanks for the super speedy implementation!

insmuh

RikTheVeggie said:

@insmuh what do you mean by "clear cache" - the one in Android's settings for the app?  If so, all you should need to do is start the app fresh and log in again - it'll then redownload all of your information but it may take a while as it first has to rebuild the db with a fresh copy from brickset.com (the rebuild is fast on most modern devices but can take up to 10 mins on older or slower ones).

If that's not the case and your owned sets are showing fine but your wanted ones are not, then please send me your logs through the app (main screen | menu | send log file) and I'll take a look.

hello rik, i uninstalled and reinstalled the app for giving you a log file but now i can not even login :)

it says "unable to login please retry"

RikTheVeggie

Hi @insmuh.

From your profile it appears you're in Turkey.  I've done some testing and that is one of the areas that brickset.com now requires a captcha for (the first time you visit brickset.com you'll need to complete an "I am not a robot" test).

This affects all API calls too, so all apps using it are affected and not just myBrickset.

I have spent many days trying to find a way around this.  Unfortunately I have not yet determined a solution that allows the user to complete the captcha and then have the API calls honour this.

What this means is that I do not currently have a way to allow users from some geographic regions to use Brickset's API, which means they cannot login - or if already logged in, they cannot sync their data or download the latest sets etc.

One workaround is to use a proxy or vpn based in a different country (eg, the UK).  Once you have logged in once myBrickset will remember your information and you won't have to sign in again, so you can reuse the app without having to connect to a proxy or vpn each time - but it won't be able to access any data stored on brickset.com until you do use a proxy or vpn again.

Sorry for the disappointing news.  If I ever figure this out or brickset.com change their captcha policies then I'll provide an update.  In the meantime I'll look at improving the app so that it reports the issue to the user, so you're not left wondering what's happening.