layout issue with Android phone

[kruzty]

Hi, I'm new here (and to the app, which I really like). After this current update, I'm having some issues with the mobile app. Is this the kind of place we can post bugs, or do you prefer them directly in the ticketing system?

What I'm seeing after this update is that when I go to a set list (any mode, but lets say Performance) half the screen is part of the set list and half is the lyrics view (both cut off). Once it gets in that state, if I go back any number of times the entire screen below the header is blank. If I rotate the phone to landscape, the app crashes.

OS: Android 5.1
Phone: Motorola Droid Turbo

[arlo]

Submitting a help ticket would be better, so I can see your app settings:

http://helpdesk.arlomedia.com/arlomedia/add.html

[pheldal]

Tickets are well and ok, but is there a way for users to browse tickets to see what issues that already has been reported? If not I suggest that people put a comment in this thread too as I suspect there may be quite a few issues.

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When I open a setlist or smartlist I'm offered a menu with available layouts and ability to edit/share the content,  not the content of the list with the previously selected layout as was normal in the old application. Is this the intended behaviour?

None of the old layouts look as they used to. Size and position of UI-elements are off, some partially off the edges of the screen. I wonder if old layouts are at all compatible with the new software.

Selection of a custom layout leads to crash.

None of the standard layouts look like they used too, but I don't know if these are old incompatible layouts carried across from the previous version or if there are new standard-layouts installed with the new version. The readme doesn't mention anything about actions such as deleting old layouts being required for an upgrade.

The readme lists a lot of interesting new features, but I feel that this upgrade first should have been offered as a public beta to work out issues with how the app is working on a variety of tablets and phablets. I'm counting myself lucky for not having any gigs in the next few weeks.

[RR]

See the "Other Help/ crashing on all devices" thread. They came to the same conclusion as me:
Layouts including a custom field in the main page won´t work. They will crash the app immediately.
Custom fields in the bottom row (blue font) are OK. Any other field I tried anywhere is also OK.
The app crashes when editing a layout with those custom fields or when displaying a setlist with a layout containing custom fields.
I couldn´t get the crash when title+1 says end again.
So if your old layouts contain custom fields you will have to make a new layout from scratch and put custom fields only into the bottom row.
This worked for me.

[arlo]

It's not going to help to make one big thread with all the issues you can think of. It's very difficult to track and prioritize issues if they are all lumped together. If you submit a help ticket, I can gather more info as needed and quickly notify you when a resolution is ready.

There is no good way to offer a public beta. I had a team of about 20 beta testers looking at the app for the last month, but some problems are inevitable. That's why I offer these recommendations:

http://forum.arlomedia.com/index.php/topic,475.0.html

[pheldal]

It's not going to help to make one big thread with all the issues you can think of. It's very difficult to track and prioritize issues if they are all lumped together. If you submit a help ticket, I can gather more info as needed and quickly notify you when a resolution is ready.

My point is rather that a discussion forum is no bug-tracker. I'd much prefer a searchable bug-tracker with public access like the ones used by a myriad of open-source projects over a forum. That is my view both as a user and as a developer. It isn't much fun being a developer when your tracker is drenched with duplicates because users have no way of knowing which issues are already reported. It is often useful to link to a bug-tracker from messages in a forum, but bugs and feature-requests should primarily be tracked elsewhere. If there is a searchable public tracker available I find that I as a user rarely have to register new tickets. In most cases my issues are already known and if anything I just add a comment whenever I have additional relevant information.

There is no good way to offer a public beta. I had a team of about 20 beta testers looking at the app for the last month, but some problems are inevitable.

https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/3131213?hl=en
This works quite well for both developers and users. I don't know if Apple's app-store offer similar functionality. I do however acknowledge that  both multi-platform support and the support for closed user-groups sharing data will complicate things when changes to an app require changes to the back-end data-model and/or communications protocols. For Bandhelper this would require that all users attached to a band-account organise and agree to join or leave the alpha/beta programme simultaneously.