Replaced the Email button on the set list share page with a Download button.

[timtrace]

"Replaced the Email button on the set list share page with a Download button. This downloads a PDF file that matches the files generated by the mobile apps. You can then share this file via email or other methods."

Please, why was this change necessary? I used to email a setlist link to my bandmates, which was great because they'd see my edits straight away. Now I have to send a PDF which becomes obsolete the first time I edit the setlist. It's a major blow to convenience for this long-time BH user and his bandmates.

[arlo]

The disadvantage of the old function is that if you changed your display settings, then someone viewing the link would see the new settings. So you couldn't share a set list with different display settings (e.g., the included fields) for different people.

When sharing a set list with your bandmates, I wouldn't use the share function. Instead, I would use the Send Update checkbox on the set list edit page to notify them that a set list is available, and then let them view the set list in BandHelper, where they can use their own preferred settings to view or print it. The share function is more useful when sending to someone who isn't in your band, like a substitute player or a client.

[timtrace]

I never change or customize my set list display for different people. It's very basic. One line to a song, with song name, artist, and key. Here's an example: http://www.bandhelper.com/set_lists/jaQXN9/2161

"Guys, pop this open in your browser, there's "Saturday's" set list, that's what you need to practice before the gig. Heads up - the order of songs, or some of the songs themselves, may change before Saturday, so check back once or twice this week. I'll have a printed final copy for you at the gig."

Since you've made this change, I now have to send PDFs to those bandmates who won't use the app, and also to any subs, clients, fans. When I make an edit, I have to send another PDF. It seems somehow less professional to me.

If I could just acquire the link from the browser address bar, that would be something. Unfortunately, the new links require login to view. I can't share them with subs, clients, fans. Example: https://www.bandhelper.com/repertoire/set_list_view.html?ID=3Xr1n9&event=

This change was not good for my workflow. Please help.

[arlo]

I'm not sure what else to tell you. I feel like if you update your set list, sending the updated list is actually more professional than saying, "Here's a link, check it a few times in case it changes."

[timtrace]

Arlo, I've been a SLM user and a BH customer for a good while, yes?

To this day I still use BH primarily as a show-prep tool, to build and print set lists in one layout only. Performance use is limited to myself and my iPad Mini for lyric crib sheets, because my guys are too busy juggling personal kit and monitor mixes on their devices to be troubled with task-switching to a set list and back again during every pause.

This probably makes me and the boys some of BH's more basic use cases. In fact I'd wager we're luddites compared to many other subscribers.

I wonder if my basic needs seem ludicrous to you. Please understand that I do not intend insult when I say that I need only one cylinder of this fantastic V8-powered music machine that you've built. BH has features and depth like no other band management app, and I appreciate that it offers multiple ways to do things....

....yet you've removed from the app the feature that I enjoyed the most.

Well, there is another thing that makes me smile. The BH app makes it enjoyable to wade into the audience on break and use individuals as sounding boards for the next set (when I haven't knocked it out in advance of the gig). For decades before BH came along, I used paper and Sharpies ---- however BH makes me look good. But I digress.

Excel can be a very powerful filtering tool. I can print my setlists in Word, save them in PDF for emailing, or publish them directly to my band website in HTML for browser-based viewing. My NAS takes nightly snapshots of my data, and syncs it to the cloud. All of this might require a few more mouse-clicks when compared to BH, but not many. My point is - I have other means of getting through my workflow and safeguarding my data.

With web-sharing removed from BH, I'll have to consider the value of the rest of the application to me when my subscription comes up for renewal in mid-September. It would be a melancholy feeling to part ways after having used SLM and BH for so many years, but I can buy a lot of paper and Sharpies for $25 per annum.

Again, I hope you're neither insulted nor put-off by what I've written here. And it almost goes without saying that I hope you'll put the web-sharing bits back into the app.

Thanks for a great app over the years, and thanks for listening.

Sincerely,

Tim ==

[arlo]

I'd suggest trying the new PDF download function for a while. Maybe you'll like it. It does solve other problems for other users, so it's unlikely that I'll change it back to the way it worked before. I feel pretty sure that this is a better way to do it.

I'm thinking about adding a set list display website widget, similar to the calendar widget, but I don't know at this point exactly how that would work or if it would suit your situation. I suspect that downloading and emailing PDFs would still be easier.

I like the "wade into the audience" idea. 

[timtrace]

Arlo, I've decided that I'll renew my subscription for the coming year because the set-list construction features of the iOS app are exactly what I need.

I followed your suggestion and tried it for a few weeks. I disagree, there's no way that this is a more efficient workflow. Before, I could send out a durable link to an HTML setlist which would track in real time with changes being made in the website and the iOS app. After the change, I have to send out v1, v2, v3, v4, vWhatever of a PDF and it's driving me crazy.

It would be great if you re-implemented the whole feature. I can't be the only subscriber who's disappointed by its removal.

The copy-to-text feature is a little less painful, but it only includes the title. Prior to the change, my HTML setlist included the title, artist, and key fields. The net result is that the copy-to-text feature is almost useless to me.

However ----- if I could get a hyperlink that would hit the DB and produce a page load that looked like the "copy-to-text" function, that would be enough for my needs. The HTML version doesn't need to be "pretty," it just needs to be "there." Even better if it could somehow include the artist and key fields.

[timtrace]

Arlo - I was just able to use the "Send Update" function to email a link back to a set list, rather than sharing/saving/attaching/sending a PDF.

The link looked like this: http://www.bandhelper.com/repertoire/set_list_view.html?ID=qnwQNQ   It required login to the website, but that's not a big deal.

I swapped a few songs around, and reloaded the "send update" link, and the changes were there. It wasn't a custom layout, but to me it's still better than a PDF.

Then I took it even further. I transposed the set list ID into an old URL and copied it into an Chrome incognito window. It loaded PERFECTLY. An HTML page was displayed without prompting for a login. As before, it wasn't a custom layout -- but it's better than not having an HTML version at all.

http://www.bandhelper.com/set_lists/qnwQNQ/2161

This is exactly what I need.

Now after all that, I have two questions:

1> Will that setlist ID remain static until the set list is deleted? This has the potential to affect the supported send update method and my unsupported hack.
2> Are you OK with me using the transposed hack until such time as it becomes unreliable or gets pruned from the code?

[arlo]

This only works to provide backwards compatibility for links generated before the functionality changed. So you can keep using it, but it could stop working at any time.

[timtrace]

I'm cool with that. It buys me time to get used to the "send update" function.

[arlo]

Yesterday's release adds a set list widget that you can use to embed one or more set lists or smart lists into your website. Details are in the second section on this page:

http://www.bandhelper.com/tutorials/sharing_set_lists.html

All yesterday's changes are listed here:

http://www.bandhelper.com/support/release_notes.html