Development Status February 12, 2021

The latest version (1.08) of JwContactsUD is on this web site and in the Microsoft Store. Three areas have been specially addressed:
1. Provision for an easier login. Previously a user always had to click an “Accept Responsibility” button on the opening page, then a further “Accept Responsibility” dialog, and could then login. The two initial steps can optionally be bypassed using either or both of two means:
  1. Once logged in, a “Keep Me Signed in During This Session” can be checked. Afterward the “Accept Responsibility” dialog will no longer appear during that session.
  2. In “Settings | Miscellaneous” the current user can check “Fast Login”. Afterward, if he is last previous user, on next run the first screen seen will be the Login screen.
  3. Note: For improved clarity, the “Sign In“ button on the Login screen has been renamed “Data”.
2. The Document Editor (“Compose Document” button found on many screens, now including the login screen) has additional capabilities:
  1. Previously there were just two view modes, Regular and Web-Like, with only slight differences. Regular displays text as pages, Web-Like as one long, flowing document. Changing the Zoom slider or type-in value magnifies the pages in Regular, just the text itself in Web-Like.
  2. Regular has been renamed Edit Mode and is the only display in which the text can be edited or the Editor can be closed.
  3. Web-Like has been renamed Prompt Mode and the flowing text can now be manipulated like a teleprompter, perhaps quite useful in delivering talks virtually: Home, End, the 4 arrow, and the Spacebar keys control automatic scrolling speed and direction. Zooming can still be used to greatly enlarge the text, so the effect is much like a teleprompter, controlled by simply tapping an appropriate key. To the left of the Zoom controls is a new Spacing Selector allowing lines to be spaced 1 – 8 line spaces; to the right, a new Rate Selector controlling the screen refresh rate to reduce jerkiness. (It does not change how much text is periodically scrolled.)
  4. Book Mode has been added to display text as pages in a book, with navigation keys to move about in the book. A new Font Size Selector replaces the Zoom controls. The simulated page-turning animation and shading of the paper fold enhance the book “feel”. You may find this a more pleasurable way to read long documents or present a talk from your notes. Note: If you change the font size or the window height, the book pages get re-calculated after a brief delay, causing a return to page one.
  5. PDF Mode displays the text as a PDF, allowing you to see what your document would look like in that format. A PDF File | View | Navigation Toolbar is replaces the Zoom controls.
3. If you have multiple monitors with different resolutions, you may have noticed JwcUD windows’ size were solely based on the specifications of your primary monitor. This was a defect in a third-party control, now resolved at my request. You can now resize as appropriate on any monitor.
In the Works:
1. Much work was done to allow JwcUD to read QR and Barcodes from a web cam, but results so far have not been acceptable. This ability would be useful in Territories, matching a similar one in the Jwc mobile editions. However web cams tend to work with panoramic views and distant focusing, making isolating a barcode much harder. Will occasionally work to improve, but it may be some time, if ever, if it gets implemented in a release. One control vendor does offer a web cam barcode reader, but that control is part of a rather expensive package impossible to justify.
2. JwcUD depends on Microsoft’s .Net Core 3.1 framework. A newer 5.0 .Net was released November 2020, with 6.0 .Net due this coming November. I would like to keep updating JwcUD to utilize these with their expanding set of abilities, but there is one problem: .Net Core 3.1 allows use of some of the older Windows 8 technology via a Microsoft’s Windows Community Toolkit (WCT) for that purpose. Certain functions, especially texting, require its use but, so far, WCT has not been made compatible with .Net 5.0. The WCT Roadmap indicates a new version is in the offing, but has already missed its target release date and is only 65% done. Even then the Roadmap makes no mention of .Net versions. If WCT still fails to support .Net 5 with its next release, I will start looking for workarounds,
3. .Net 6.0 will (supposedly) allow desktop programs for Windows, Mac, and Linux and mobile programs for Android and Apple to share common code bases. Some vendors are already offering preliminary, experimental controls for those targets and it should be possible come this November to begin the task of switching over. Years may be involved until enough control maturity exists to completely replace all my apps with more universal ones, but I am edging toward making a start.
4. For many of the targets in #3 the upcoming MAUI framework from Microsoft will replace today’s Xamarin Forms (XF), upon which the Jwc mobile versions are based. Accordingly the long-promised “final” version of XF (was supposed to have come out September, 2020) finally arrived a couple of weeks ago. This freeze on new XF development means I (and the control vendors) can stop re-testing XF every 6 weeks or so as major changes had been occurring.
5. This week Realm, the database software used in all versions of Jwc, released a very different newer technology version. Realm had provided notice months ago the change was coming; it is now essentially a different product. Accordingly Realm jumped their version number from 5.2 to 10.0, to match versions they already had for other purposes. A short test proved 10.0 is totally incompatible with 5.2. So now I must decide whether to freeze all development to 5.2 or start exploring how to make a painless upgrade for my users. Ouch!! I am inclined against investing such time.
6. In late 2020 one developer announced an add-in to Visual Studio running on a Mac to allow XF apps written for an iPad to “automatically” generate a Mac equivalent. He recently made the code open source and I have proven it does work for a simple test iOS app I wrote. Whether I want to invest the time to get it to work for the far more complex Jwc iOS app is an open question, especially with .Net 6.0 mere months away. I have not decided, though quite tempted.
I could use help from exemplary adult publishers having the time for it in several areas:
1. Testing. Using the fictional practice congregation on this web site, any exemplary publisher can test any available version of Jwc. A number of functions would actually be useful to any publisher and I may eventually offer versions without the specializations elders need. So their time spent testing can improve their own ministry in addition to functionally testing those specializations.
2. Translation. Currently Jwc editions are offered in four languages (English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese) but I am fluent only in English. The others are provided by a free Microsoft translation service for app developers, but all should be checked by persons fluent in those languages. Once done, I can then check whether current screen displays may require some longer expressions be abbreviated to fit, etc. I would also like to explore use of additional languages, including those that do not read left-to-right like English. Any exemplary adult publisher fluent in English and another language can help. He or she can take as long as they require; no deadline.
3. Guide document translation. This is far more arduous; the Guide is currently 194 pages, with all illustrations in English. The required prep software is rather expensive, so I would just ask a translator to prepare a Word file in the target language that shows equivalent text, with me redoing the illustrations in that language. If anyone is willing to take on such a task that would be great though hardly anticipated!
4. Coding. I do have some time-intensive prospective tasks and could really use the help. Note carefully: This requires a professional programmer with tools similar to mine and willing to cede to me all rights to whatever he does for Jwc. As I cannot sub-license purchased vendor controls or software even for another’s use in assisting in Jwc development, we would have to work out what tasks can still be addressed unless he has or is willing to acquire his own licenses. There cannot be any profit motive or expectation; Jwc will always be free. Fortunately about half of the controls I use (those open source or from Syncfusion) are free for non-commercial use. But the many Telerik ones require at least an initial $1000+, with annual renewal at lower cost. If he had to work with the internal emailer code there would be another one-time license purchase of about $400. Although I continue to use Enterprise versions of Microsoft’s Visual Studio, a helper very likely could get by with the free Community Edition or else the less costly Professional version.
5. In time, assuming control. Shortly I will be 75. I remain prayerful and hopeful I still might someday be asked to act as a remote worker for the organization. I began Jwc upon retirement 4 ½ years ago simply to fill a void until such requests were received. If this effort is to continue, at some point someone younger will have to take over. My investment in time and money has been substantial but has always been kept subservient to making sure of the more important things regarding ministry, congregation, and family. Another person would have to be willing to act similarly.

Published by DavidPressman