Pocket AMC Reader for Android 2.3.2 available [29.9.2020]
On and off when I have had the time I have been trying to get this application to work on my android phone & now that I also have a tablet I've been looking at it again. To this end I created a new smaller file that only has 5 pictures in it. This works correctly on the PC.
I still haven't gotten it working correctly but I'm getting closer. I can now see the descriptions of films that I looked up on the net. I can also see the thumbnails for these pictures as well. The problems are displaying in the Gallery & they aren't incorporated with the description. All of the data was transferred to the SD card & not any internal memory.
What did I do wrong? I can move data to internal memory if necessary but I doubt that this is the problem. Should each thumbnail be in separate folders along with the description?
Thanks in advance
Any other ideas?
I still haven't gotten it working correctly but I'm getting closer. I can now see the descriptions of films that I looked up on the net. I can also see the thumbnails for these pictures as well. The problems are displaying in the Gallery & they aren't incorporated with the description. All of the data was transferred to the SD card & not any internal memory.
What did I do wrong? I can move data to internal memory if necessary but I doubt that this is the problem. Should each thumbnail be in separate folders along with the description?
Thanks in advance
Any other ideas?
Hi,
when exporting to XML, be sure to check "Images - Copy with exported file". Images will be placed into the same directory as XML file and you need to copy them to your SD card exactly like that - catalog and images together in one folder.
BTW in desktop application you can use XML catalog just like AMC catalog. If you do that it will save you time exporting catalog. Just be sure check "Copy picture to catalog folder, and link it it to catalog" and "Make relative path if possible".
when exporting to XML, be sure to check "Images - Copy with exported file". Images will be placed into the same directory as XML file and you need to copy them to your SD card exactly like that - catalog and images together in one folder.
BTW in desktop application you can use XML catalog just like AMC catalog. If you do that it will save you time exporting catalog. Just be sure check "Copy picture to catalog folder, and link it it to catalog" and "Make relative path if possible".
Thanks for that information. Once I have the XML file on the desktop for I than just drag the file in Windows to my phone or tablet once the devise is displaying in windows. Should It be put onto the external SD card or does it matter. I suppose that I should delete any AMC data before I do this.
Once this app is up and running each additional piece of data added to your DataBase will require exporting of the entire file or just the changes?
Once this app is up and running each additional piece of data added to your DataBase will require exporting of the entire file or just the changes?
Hi,
yes, one you have XML on your computer, just copy it to your phone. It has to be put on SD card. Don't forget to copy your pictures as well. If you previously had any AMC data on your phone, you can delete it.
If you make any changes to your catalog, you will have to export entire catalog as Android app deletes all data before import. However you can keep existing images a only copy new/changed ones.
To save the hassle I recommend using XML catalog also on PC. Then there would be no need to constantly export catalog and you would simply copy existing XML a new images.
yes, one you have XML on your computer, just copy it to your phone. It has to be put on SD card. Don't forget to copy your pictures as well. If you previously had any AMC data on your phone, you can delete it.
If you make any changes to your catalog, you will have to export entire catalog as Android app deletes all data before import. However you can keep existing images a only copy new/changed ones.
To save the hassle I recommend using XML catalog also on PC. Then there would be no need to constantly export catalog and you would simply copy existing XML a new images.
Well I finally have the test file on my tablet. I did have a problem mainly because even when I uninstalled & re installed the Pocket AMC app it still picked up the old data & would not allow be to set a new route to the new catalog.
I had a lot of confusion in locating the data on my tablet to delete because I find that the android apps don't seem to give you much help in finding where things are stored. You end up looking at locations like SD card & then find external SD card. Is the main storage on a second SD card? The location is also preceded by mnt, but only sometimes.
Thanks again for help
I had a lot of confusion in locating the data on my tablet to delete because I find that the android apps don't seem to give you much help in finding where things are stored. You end up looking at locations like SD card & then find external SD card. Is the main storage on a second SD card? The location is also preceded by mnt, but only sometimes.
Thanks again for help
Hmm.. that is weird. If you uninstall the app, all data should be erased as well. My app uses 2 places to store data. First is on main phone memory. That one contains database and app settings and you can't delete it since regular user don't have access to it. Second storage is located at SD card at "/mnt/sdcard/Android/data/com.holdingscythe.pocketamcreader/". This one contains thumbnails.
Maybe you have turned on app settings backup with Android? It's located in Settings / Privacy / Backup my settings. Try to turn it off and then uninstall the app.
Also app always allows to change path to your catalog. Just go to settings. XML file picker should always point to root of your SD card and that is /mnt/sdcard/. On some devices also /sdcard/ exists, but that is only link to /mnt/sdcard/ and shows same files as /mnt/sdcard/. If you connect your tablet to PC and make a folder in root named AMC, then it should be accessible in device as /mnt/sdcard/AMC/ .
Thou some devices don't have SD card and I really have no idea how my app works on those devices
Maybe you have turned on app settings backup with Android? It's located in Settings / Privacy / Backup my settings. Try to turn it off and then uninstall the app.
Also app always allows to change path to your catalog. Just go to settings. XML file picker should always point to root of your SD card and that is /mnt/sdcard/. On some devices also /sdcard/ exists, but that is only link to /mnt/sdcard/ and shows same files as /mnt/sdcard/. If you connect your tablet to PC and make a folder in root named AMC, then it should be accessible in device as /mnt/sdcard/AMC/ .
Thou some devices don't have SD card and I really have no idea how my app works on those devices
I think that the problem is from android itself since it comes in different versions that can work differently.
I have read on the net that you can have files listed as being on an SD card & also on an external SD card. The SD card listing is actually just the phones internal memory.
The devises also work in different ways. On the phone to go back one screen you press the bottom right on the tablet its the bottom left.
I have read on the net that you can have files listed as being on an SD card & also on an external SD card. The SD card listing is actually just the phones internal memory.
The devises also work in different ways. On the phone to go back one screen you press the bottom right on the tablet its the bottom left.
Yes, that is true. For instance my phone HTC One X has internal storage and phone storage. No real SD card, however phone storage is mapped to /mnt/sdcard/ so I can access it as I would regular SD card.
Anyway, did you make it work? If not, you can download older version of Pocket AMC Reader which doesn't have XML picker but plain input field where you can type any path you like. File Manager was added in 1.8, so you should download 1.7.1.
Anyway, did you make it work? If not, you can download older version of Pocket AMC Reader which doesn't have XML picker but plain input field where you can type any path you like. File Manager was added in 1.8, so you should download 1.7.1.
Yes I have it working - sort off. I originally moved about 5 files to the tablet.
I finally got to see both text & photo's on tablet.
I added about 20 more to PC file & this worked on the PC. I saved these into the same file. I then tried to replace the old file on Tablet with the new file which contained more entries. I could see that the new data had been added as well as the old. This resulted in having 20 viewable on the tablet in the APP but if I then went to the Gallery I could see the original entries were listed twice. I deleted the 5 duplicate's picture & as expected the 20 continued to display correctly on the Tablets app.
If I can't work out what happened I might take your suggestion & install the earlier version of this app.
I finally got to see both text & photo's on tablet.
I added about 20 more to PC file & this worked on the PC. I saved these into the same file. I then tried to replace the old file on Tablet with the new file which contained more entries. I could see that the new data had been added as well as the old. This resulted in having 20 viewable on the tablet in the APP but if I then went to the Gallery I could see the original entries were listed twice. I deleted the 5 duplicate's picture & as expected the 20 continued to display correctly on the Tablets app.
If I can't work out what happened I might take your suggestion & install the earlier version of this app.
If you made it work as far as you say, then there is no need to use older version. If app updated new movies correctly, then everything is OK with catalog. I suspect that export on PC app might have duplicated images. E.g. with first export it exported Movie.jpg and with second export it might have exported Movie(1).jpg or something like that. That would be I guess correct handling of existing files since you can have duplicate movie ids in your database.
If this is the case, I would really recommend to use XML catalog also on PC. You won't loose any of the functionality plus you wouldn't need to export files every time thus image names wouldn't change and you could easily spot new pictures.
If this is the case, I would really recommend to use XML catalog also on PC. You won't loose any of the functionality plus you wouldn't need to export files every time thus image names wouldn't change and you could easily spot new pictures.
I think that the message is something about the files having some unacceptable text character in it. I have seen another post which says to open the XML text in Firefox & it will tell be what the offending character is. I did this & had the problem text displayed but I don't know how to correct it.
I have also been sent an email suggesting that I download an earlier version of the program & this contains a link to a dead link to the page.
I have also been sent an email suggesting that I download an earlier version of the program & this contains a link to a dead link to the page.
Have you tried RemoveBadChars script? That one should be able to help you with, well, bad chars
Anyway, those bad chars are usually found within description or comments. I had some too and they were always at the end of a paragraph and they were not printable, e.g. you don't see them. What I did was I placed cursor at the beginning of a paragraph a then pressed backspace until I hit the end of previous paragraph. Then I just pressed enter twice to restore paragraph.
Firefox will tell you what movie you should be looking at. Just keep repeating until there is no problem in Firefox.
Anyway, those bad chars are usually found within description or comments. I had some too and they were always at the end of a paragraph and they were not printable, e.g. you don't see them. What I did was I placed cursor at the beginning of a paragraph a then pressed backspace until I hit the end of previous paragraph. Then I just pressed enter twice to restore paragraph.
Firefox will tell you what movie you should be looking at. Just keep repeating until there is no problem in Firefox.
I tied the link to the script to fix the problem but it appears to be dead.
I open the XML file & Firefox & it says 'XML Parsing Error: syntax error
Location: file:///C:/Users/Paul/Desktop/My%20Movie%20Catalog/My%20Movie%20Catalog.xml
Line Number 1, Column 2: AMC_4.1 Ant Movie Catalog 4.1.x antp/soulsnake www.antp.be '
What do I do with this?
I open the XML file & Firefox & it says 'XML Parsing Error: syntax error
Location: file:///C:/Users/Paul/Desktop/My%20Movie%20Catalog/My%20Movie%20Catalog.xml
Line Number 1, Column 2: AMC_4.1 Ant Movie Catalog 4.1.x antp/soulsnake www.antp.be '
What do I do with this?
I saw the Firefox message that the problem was in Line 1 Column 2.
I can get the XML file to open by right clicking & telling the file to open in Notepad. The problem is that I don't know what is supposed to be the offending character. Is it the first line of the data that I had entered or is something to do with the other information in this file about ANT catalog or something else again?
I can get the XML file to open by right clicking & telling the file to open in Notepad. The problem is that I don't know what is supposed to be the offending character. Is it the first line of the data that I had entered or is something to do with the other information in this file about ANT catalog or something else again?
AMC can read two catalog formats: .amc (binary) and .xml (xml/text).
Firefox or Pocket AMC Reader can only read .xml catalogs !
Your catalog is a .amc format even if you rename it to .xml...
So the problem comes from your catalog format and not from "Line Number 1, Column 2" !
Solution: Open your .amc catalog with AMC and save it to XML format (change type as xml in save as...) to have a readable catalog for Firefox or Pocket AMC Reader
.
Soulsnake.
Firefox or Pocket AMC Reader can only read .xml catalogs !
Your catalog is a .amc format even if you rename it to .xml...
So the problem comes from your catalog format and not from "Line Number 1, Column 2" !
Solution: Open your .amc catalog with AMC and save it to XML format (change type as xml in save as...) to have a readable catalog for Firefox or Pocket AMC Reader
.Soulsnake.
Hello,
I've been using Pocket AMC for a while and it's one of the best apps of it's kind, but only on a phone. If you start Pocket AMC on tablet with higher screen and resolution, the waste of space gets just ridiculous.
Are you planning some HD version with layout optimized for them? Because in landscape mode, for example fields like category, director, producer (who the hell uses that field anyway?) are in most of cases 90-95% empty! Can't they float next to image for example?
In general, I can think of layout with larger picture, bigger fonts for important fields (name, director, year, rating) which can easily fit onto standard tablet resolution without having to scroll at all.
Please don't take it in wrong way, I am grateful that you are developing this app for free, I just think it can be a lot better
I've been using Pocket AMC for a while and it's one of the best apps of it's kind, but only on a phone. If you start Pocket AMC on tablet with higher screen and resolution, the waste of space gets just ridiculous.
Are you planning some HD version with layout optimized for them? Because in landscape mode, for example fields like category, director, producer (who the hell uses that field anyway?) are in most of cases 90-95% empty! Can't they float next to image for example?
In general, I can think of layout with larger picture, bigger fonts for important fields (name, director, year, rating) which can easily fit onto standard tablet resolution without having to scroll at all.
Please don't take it in wrong way, I am grateful that you are developing this app for free, I just think it can be a lot better