Blogs

Debra Roby has written an informative article on crafting apps on the BlogHer site which mentions KnitMinder and StitchMinder.

I was just notified that KnitMinder and KnitMinder Lite 1.5 are both ready for sale, so they should show up in the App Store within 24 hours. This has got to be a new speed record for approval!

I just submitted the latest update of KnitMinder and KnitMinder Lite to Apple for approval. According to the developer support web site, 96% of updates are being approved within a week, so I'm hopeful that the new version speeds right through the approval process. New features in version 1.5 include:

• Import/Export: see the previous blog entry for details
• Added a count field for needles
• You can switch to UK needle sizes in the Settings app
• The "double-tap to frog" action in the counters has been replaced by a "frog" button
• Miscellaneous bug fixes

I'll post a detailed tutorial on how to use import and export to transfer data between the lite and full versions soon. This also means that it's full speed ahead on version 2.0!

How many people are actually using KnitMinder? According to the download statistics from Apple for the past twelve months,

• KnitMinder Lite has been downloaded over 11,000 times
• KnitMinder has been downloaded over 2,300 times
• StitchMinder has been downloaded over 13,000 times

I think it's great and a little humbling that so many knitters were willing to put down money for my application, and it makes me want to work harder to improve the app going forward!

I've been at home sick for the past couple of days. It has been icky, but it did give me a chance to work on KnitMinder and finish up the main coding for the next update. I sent off the first build of 1.5 to the beta testers this afternoon, and if all goes well and we don't find any major bugs, I plan on submitting it to Apple in a couple of weeks.

The big new feature in 1.5 is import and export. I get about one email a week from knitters who are using KnitMinder Lite asking about transferring data from the lite to the full version. On the iPhone and iPod touch, apps have very limited means of talking to each other, and none of the methods that are available allow the transfer of large amounts of information like the KnitMinder database and associated photos. Apple set up the iPhone operating system this way to make sure that apps stay in their own little areas (called "sandboxes") and don't mess with other apps without permission. The most common way around the data transfer restriction is to have the source application send its data to a server on the Internet and have the destination application download that data. This is exactly what I have done with import/export in version 1.5.

When you export your KnitMinder data, the application asks for your email address and a password. The email address is used to identify your export on the server, and the password serves to protect the exported data from unauthorized access. Neither your email or password will ever be disclosed -- in fact, the server never sees your unencrypted password. Once a valid email and password have been entered, the application uploads your database and all of your photos to the storage server. I'm using a commercial internet storage service hosted by Amazon.com, so your data are safe and secure, not just hanging out on a computer sitting in someone's closet. Each export is tagged with the current time and date and will remain on the server a minimum of 90 days.

To import the data, you launch KnitMinder on the device where you want your data to be restored and enter the same email and password you used to create the export. KnitMinder downloads the most-recently exported files to your device and adds them to your local database. If you already have data in your KnitMinder database, the exported items will be added alongside the existing data. This could result in copies of yarns, needles, patterns, and projects if you are bringing in an export that was created on the same device. I considered wiping the destination database clean before importing to ensure that you don't get duplicates, but it seemed better to not mess with any existing data and just have you remove any duplicate records that may occur.

You might have noticed that I've deliberately been referring to this feature as export and import instead of backups. The big difference between an export and a true backup is that a backup should be available forever while an export has a limited lifespan. The Amazon storage service charges me monthly based on the number of gigabytes stored and the amount of data transferred. It isn't terribly expensive, but I ran the numbers on keeping backups forever and the costs quickly added up to more than I am making on KnitMinder sales (remember, KnitMinder Lite can also export, and I don't make anything off that program). I'm also pretty sure that my sales are going to take a nosedive once the Ravelry iPhone application is published, so I have to be a bit conservative on what I promise for this feature.

Even with those caveats, I think it's going to be great for people to be able to move their KnitMinder data from lite to full and between devices! This feature is also going to be required for moving data to KnitMinder 2, which is starting to come together (more about that in a future blog post). Let me know what you think of import and export or if you have any questions about the upcoming release!

This is a little off-topic, but I would like to encourage everyone to make a donation to one of the organizations that are helping the people of Haiti in the aftermath of this week's earthquake. I've donated to the Clinton Foundation (Bill Clinton is the UN Special Envoy to Haiti), but you can also give to The Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, Yelé Haiti, and many more. Cash donations are best because they can get aid to the people who need it quickly, but also consider donating blood if you are able.

I've made the donation for the fourth quarter of 2009 to The Rabbit Haven, a nonprofit house rabbit rescue group based in our area. Heather and I have worked closely with the Haven for several years now and have adopted one of our house rabbits from them, so the group is special to us. They also really need the funds this time of year to help with medical and housing expenses for the bunnies.

Q4 Donation: The Rabbit Haven

Just for fun, here's a photo of Socrates, a shelter bunny that we're fostering right now:

Socrates in his house

If you have a favorite animal-related charity that you would like us to donate to, please let me know using the contact form on the site. Happy holidays and the best of luck in the new year!

Apple tells me that the latest version of KnitMinder and KnitMinder Lite are ready for sale and should be hitting the App Store today. This update fixes a few issues, most notably the crash on launch when running on OS version 2.2.1 and the problem with selecting the Acrylic fiber type for yarns. Memory usage is also greatly reduced, so those folks with many yarn and project photos should no longer encounter out of memory errors.

In 1.4.2, there is a bug where you aren't able to select the Acrylic fiber type for yarns. This is fixed in 1.4.3, which is under review right now, but in the meantime, here's a workaround:

1. Create or edit a yarn and scroll down to the Fibers section.
2. If there aren't any selected fibers, add a fiber to the yarn; it doesn't matter which.
3. Once the fiber is there, tap that fiber name to bring up the Fiber % popup, then hit Ok to close it.
4. Add another fiber. Acrylic should not be selected, so you can add it to your yarn.
5. Delete the first fiber if necessary.

I submitted 1.4.3 on the 23rd, but with the Thanksgiving holiday, it might take a little longer than usual for Apple to approve it. I'll post here when it's available for download.

Apple just approved KnitMinder 1.4.2 last night, so it should be available everywhere for download now. This release contains changes that should improve the stability of the application, especially when working with photos. All of my beta testers reported that this version of KnitMinder crashed less frequently, though there are still some lingering memory issues if you have a large number of photos which could cause crashes. If you do encounter a crash, please let me know.

The crashing issues that started with OS 3.1 have taken up all of the time I would normally use to add features and fix bugs. Since I started designing and writing KnitMinder over a year ago, Apple has made many improvements to the programming environment and the operating system that make it easier to write faster, more stable applications. In addition to my current focus on eliminating the crashes in KnitMinder, I've started a rewrite of the application from the ground up using these new tools (and, incidentally, all of the experience that I've gained in writing iPhone apps over the last year). This new version won't be ready for several months, but I already see huge improvements in performance and stability as well as opportunities to address many of the long-standing feature requests that are in the issue tracker. I'll be writing more about KnitMinder 2 as it comes closer to being ready, but I want to mention a couple of very important features now: you will absolutely be able to move your data from the current version of KnitMinder to the new app, and you will not have to pay for the new app if you currently own the paid version of KnitMinder. I'm really excited about the possibilities!