Layout mess

[pheldal]

Layouts get rather confusing to people at times. The list of layouts available for editing is endless on an account with 10 users who each have at least 2 devices of different makes/models. I see the value of shared layouts when most people have the same tablet or phone, but in the real world things are different. Song-databases that I'm using use custom fields that are specific to each user, and each user thus need to customise his/her layouts to achieve their optimal view of the data. Less computer savvy users who open the layout menu tend to just give up. "What the ¤#&%# is a SM-T588? What is the codename of my device?". This is not user friendly.

I do understand the initial approach to sharing and it is not my intention to bash, nor do I have all the answers, but I think it is appropriate to have a community-discussion about how to make things more practical.

My current take is that I would prefer layouts to primarily be local to the device with sharing options. Local layouts could then also be reused for other accounts without having to copy them into the shared database for those accounts, although the use of custom fields are an issue that needs a solution for that to work seamlessly.

An other approach is to only expose users to layouts specific to the actual device, unless they explicitly choose to examine layouts for other devices from the layouts-menu.

Other thoughts?

[arlo]

When you install BandHelper on a new device, it creates a default set of layouts sized for that device. Those layouts are supposed to be assigned only to the current user, but they are actually assigned to all users. I'm planning to fix that in the next release.

Also, BandHelper currently doesn't create the default layouts if the current user has already created layouts on a different device of the same size ... but this doesn't include layouts that are assigned to all users. So fixing the previous item will cut down on a lot of extra layouts that are generated. I'm also planning to change this to check for layouts that are assigned to all users, so if someone else created a layout with the same screen size and shared it with you, your device won't create a new layout.

On the Repertoire > Layouts page, all layouts for all users are shown by default (layouts that don't match the current screen size are below the divider line). This is consistent with all the other edit lists in BandHelper. But you can click the search button at the top of the list and select your username to show only layouts that are assigned to you. Also, when you select a set list to view, the list of layouts shown there is always filtered by user and screen size. I expect that you'll interact with that filtered page more often.

If you want to make this more user friendly for your bandmates, you can delete any layouts created from their devices that match the sizes of the layouts you created, then make sure your layouts are shared with them. This will get you to the place that the updates above will get people to in the future. Basically, you can set up all the layouts and delete any that aren't needed and your bandmates will never even have to look at the Repertoire > Layouts page.

BTW, I don't know of any way to get a "friendly" name of an Android device. On iOS, I can access the user's custom name, like "Arlo's iPad," but on Android, the best identifier I've found is the model number.

[pheldal]

BTW, I don't know of any way to get a "friendly" name of an Android device. On iOS, I can access the user's custom name, like "Arlo's iPad," but on Android, the best identifier I've found is the model number.

I believe it is possible to get the bluetooth name for the unit which is the name manually set in "settings -> about the tablet/phone".

Settings.Secure.getString(getContentResolver(), "bluetooth_name");

Note that changes to this name require a reboot before the above returns the correct string (possibly fixed in more recent android releases). Use of this name would be nice. Maybe not so much for the issue in this thread, but it is crucial for device naming on the network (remote control etc) when there are many identical models on the same network.

[arlo]

None of my devices have an editable name on the About Tablet page.

[JerryK]

BH UserId + AndroidDeviceName ?

[pheldal]

BH UserId + AndroidDeviceName ?

That's also an alternative. Anything to make it easier for ordinary users to identify each other when using shared resources or linking devices.