Windows 8.1 update?

I've been using Gospel Library on my Windows 8 tablet for the last few months. When can we expect an update that will include the sync functionality that is available for IOS and Android?

I 2nd this question. I use the new app and it is beautiful and nice. But is there any word on continued progress? This info sounds good: http://tech.lds.org/wiki/Gospel_Library_for_Windows_8

but is there any way we can see what's going on?

Thanks,
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Doug

BTW, if I go to the visualstudio.com URL for the ldswin project, it says 401 not authorized. So.... how can one even get involved if there is desire to participate, as well as actually be aware of the progress/activity?

Thanks,
-
Doug

No project on the project list to join either. Happy something looks to be going on, to bad there is no clear way to join.

I'm wondering if the same developer is the lone developer that also does the app on WP8? If so, we may not see much progress...

The project is now public. If you would like to join in, you might want to check out https://tech.lds.org/wiki/Gospel_Librar ... ers_Corner

As a thankful new Surface 2 user with 8.1 Gospel Lib, I have been anxious to have better search capability. Two simple examples that provide zero output are searches for "difficulty" and "ripening," just as single terms without any additional words in a phrase, I've been spoiled by using Gospel Lib on my iPhone for years. Hopefully enhancements will be forthcoming. Quince Hansen.

Hi guys! I am one of several developers on the W8.1 GL team. I can tell you that we do have a MAJOR update in the works. We are working very hard to make sure that it has a solid foundation to support future updates. Once the next version is out, updates should happen more quickly.

We are working as hard and as fast as we can. Once the new version is out, I'm sure everyone will be very pleased with the work that has been put in.

Is there a projected timeline for this? I do realize that it is an all volunteer project, and that timelines can slip, but for a rom are we looking at days, weeks, or months for the update? Thanks again for the hard work.

Adam

I hope weeks. But because of where the majority of the changes are occuring, I can't say for sure. I specifically work on the backend portions (SQLite dbs, HTTP connections, etc.) The UI/UX has been completely change. Even the rendering engine has changed (we went from parsing HTML into XAML to rendering the raw HTML in the app) On top of that, the actually content has changed. There were several very big changes that hit us all at the same time, which is one reason for the delay (and also for why this next release is going to be HUGE)

I really think that once the UI/UX is stable, we will be ready to push an update. They are working really hard. In fact, just to give you an idea about how much they are currently doing, I just checked the code repository and the UX team has pushed 11 commits in the past 2 days. I will try and update this thread when we get close!

Joe_coolish: Thanks for the update!

I saw at Build 2014 that Microsoft will be allowing the same code to work with both Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1. Will that be something that will help with a quick transition from the desktop app to a smartphone?

Joe,

Thanks for the update. I look forward to seeing the efforts of your hard work. Perhaps one of these days I can get my coding skills up to the task to help in programs like this. Right now, I am just doing C for microcontrollers and only really at a high level hobbiest at that.

joshlarmore wrote:I saw at Build 2014 that Microsoft will be allowing the same code to work with both Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1. Will that be something that will help with a quick transition from the desktop app to a smartphone?

What you saw was the Universal App project template. This template includes 3 projects: A "Portable Library" project, a Windows Store App project, and a Windows Phone App project. The "Portable Library" is the key project that creates functionality that can be used in both the tablet and phone applications. This is that "90% code reuse" line when they talk about cross platform apps. The other 2 projects hold View and platform specific code.

The piece that I've been working on is all done in one of these portable libraries. We want the work that we're doing to flow across the desktop and phone. Essencially the new Universal App template doesn't bring much to the table that we aren't already doing.

I'm checking this thread every day now to see if there's any news. I don't know if I'm more excited about the Library update for my Surface RT or the eventual updates for my Windows Phone 8.1.

joshlarmore wrote:I'm checking this thread every day now to see if there's any news. I don't know if I'm more excited about the Library update for my Surface RT or the eventual updates for my Windows Phone 8.1.

It's great that you're so excited that you check the thread every day, but note that you can click the "Subscribe topic" link down at the bottom of the page and then you'll get notified by email whenever anyone posts to this topic (thread).

I have a Surface Pro which runs Windows 8.1. I'd heard a few months ago that a completely new update of the Gospel Library was coming complete with new and improved functionality, including highlighting and bookmarks. The thinking was that it would be released around April 2014 General Conference. I've been checking regularly both right before conference and after and haven't seen or heard anything. Does anyone know the status of these upgrades? Also, will there be a release of LDS Tools for Windows 8.1?

jsg1981 wrote:Does anyone know the status of these upgrades?

I moved your post into the existing discussion; if you'll read the other posts in this topic, you'll discover the current status and how to keep up to dates on new information posted here.

It's great to hear about the work going on! Thanks in advance and I can't wait to check it out.

Quick update: I'm glad everyone is still excited. We did a dump from the new platform to the older platform, so the phone and the old app should receive the latest content.

As for the new App, it's still coming along great! I can't wait for you all to see it! If you want to become a beta tester, join the project and you will get a link to the current release. We meet every Saturday at 8:00 AM MST to talk about where we're at.

If you can contribute (help code) we'd love to have you! If you want to work with partial builds and give feedback, we'd love to have you as well!

Joe I've signed up to the project and would like to become a beta tester but I can't seem to find the link to the current release?

If I could get access to the pre-release client, too, I'd be more than happy to beta test for bugs/quirks.

I've not read the thread completely through, but I have four windows 8 devices, two desktops, a laptop, and a Dell Tablet I use this app from so I'd be willing to provide a wide variety of testing for any betas. Thanks.

I am getting the sense that we may be close to seeing a workable Windows 8.1 Gospel Library App. That would be more than great.

I thank those who have been working on this update (rewrite) project.

Is there a way to submit requirements or suggestions?

For example, in using most applications -- Office, IE, LDS Scriptures, the Ensign, Conference talks, etc. -- I can send a selection to OneNote. I find that feature to be incredibly valuable. Maybe this capability will automatically be in the App with the new architecture.

Jay

Hi, EJLindsay,

The current version of the LDS Gospel Library rewrite has selection capabilities but not yet a share text to OneNote. My assumption is that this feature is coming when the annotations (which are being worked on) get baked in, but I will pass your feedback onto the team.

The OneNote feature is a great idea. Do we have any indication on when this new version will be released? I appreciate the many efforts going into this new version. The feature set is exactly what is needed.

K26brewer,

Unfortunately, we do not currently have an ETA for the release of this new version. It is, out of necessity, a complete re-write of the app that is currently available on the Windows Store. We understand the desire many have to have a new, feature-rich version of the app as soon as possible and we are actively working to make that a reality. At this point, we can only ask that you remain patient for a little while longer and, if you have any programming experience (especially with C#, XAML, and SQL, amongst others) or are willing to help alpha/beta test the unfinished app, that you join the Gospel Library Windows project here on LDS Tech.

Good news however, the GL for Windows Phone is in beta with a tentitive release date of a couple of weeks! The Windows 8 app is also following close behind!

Oh my goodness! That's fanatic news. I've been using the web app for months now. To finally have a fully fledged windows phone 8 version of the app thrills me. Thank you faithful brothers and sisters for working so hard.

- Josh

Not to spoil the excitement Josh, but the Windows Phone update is not the same HUGE rewrite that the Windows version is going through... yet. This update is mostly bug fixes and support for additional languages. Our team is tiny, so we hope to leverage a lot of the work the Windows app team is doing. I'm going to start looking at the Windows changes soon.

Update: 6-28-14

We just published a Beta to our tester group! We are gathering feedback and we hopefully will have something in the store soon!

If you'd like to get access to the sideload beta, join the team and we'll send you the link!

Thanks for all your patience!

Woo Hoo! It feels good to finally reach such an epic milestone. It has been a lot of hard work, but I think the app is really beginning to shape up nicely.

Grab the Beta and start testing!

joe_coolish wrote:Update: 6-28-14

We just published a Beta to our tester group! We are gathering feedback and we hopefully will have something in the store soon!

If you'd like to get access to the sideload beta, join the team and we'll send you the link!

Thanks for all your patience!

Awesome news Joe! How would one go about joining this beta?

At the top of this website, click "projects" and search for "Gospel Library Windows" -- click on it, and then click "Join". Once you've joined the project, one of our members will send you a questionnaire. You should be sent an email with access to the beta and information concerning it shortly thereafter.

This is wonderful that we are getting very close. Thanks for all the hard work.

Is there a quick summary of the features included and not included in this version. This would be very helpful in giving feedback.

Jay

I just received this email:

We are excited that we have released the new Beta version of Gospel Library to the public. The link is:

http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/app/g ... eeec2a95b2

Please let all of your friends and relatives know so that they can test it. Feel free to use social media to get the word out. Anyone can find beta version by doing a simple search in the store for 'Gospel Library'.

...

More information about the release can be found on the GLW Wiki page.
https://tech.lds.org/wiki/GLW

We are looking forward to a broad exposure of the program prior to our version release. We appreciate the help from you and everyone you know in testing this version.

Come see the hard work we've been putting in! I think you'll like the app. It has come a really long way since the previous version.

Also feel free to post feedback on the forums. I know there are a few of us that regularly check back here.

Thanks!

Sweet. Thanks so much for getting the beta update out. It is much improved over the initial version. I'm seeing some buggy behavior sometimes with the general conference multimedia. But I'm just glad to have synchronization w/ my LDS account study notebook finally here. Please keep up the great work!!

The multimedia features of Gospel Library for Windows, including simple audio playback of content, is hidden intentionally by the "Preview Features" toggle in the beta version of the application. So that you are aware, features that have been hidden behind the "Preview Features" toggle in the application are just that: previews. These features are not yet complete and are, in many cases, merely place holders or early, incomplete versions of the feature still under development. Because of their unfinished and rapidly changing nature, we are taking neither feedback nor bug reports on these items at this time. We hope to move all of the features currently hidden by this toggle out as full, polished features as quickly as possible.

Do continue to give us feedback! We read all of it and take it into consideration as we proceed with the application's development. It lets us know (reminds us, really) that our efforts are appreciated.

I posted this in another thread before i realized this is where it belongs. I'm getting the following when trying to run the new beta app - it just spins, never loads, and eventually closes (suspends, windows closes it, and reopens, then repeats the cycle). If I check the event viewer, it says

The program GospelLibrary.UI.exe version 1.0.0.0 stopped interacting with Windows and was closed. To see if more information about the problem is available, check the problem history in the Action Center control panel.

I have uninstalled / reinstalled a few times...rebooted...nothing has worked. Running this on Windows 8.1 udpate 1 - x64.

Thank you for your feedback.

The bugs surrounding this issue have been identified and will be fixed in an upcoming update to the beta version of the application. We don't have a precise ETA for the update, but we hope to have it out very soon.

An updated version of Gospel Library Beta is out. This bug is hoped to be fixed in this version. Let us know if it still is not. (It should auto update but you can hurry it up by telling the store to check for updates and installing right away.)

I very much appreciate the work that is being done. The beta looks good so far. The only issues that I have had have already been identified by others. Thank you

I have a surface pro 3 and I can't download the gospel library at all. I was able to download the tools. Will the fix enable me to download gospel library?

This fix mentioned in this thread refers to a crash that occurred on start back in early beta. This thread is nearly six months old--and so is the fix mentioned. Gospel Library is downloaded from the Windows Store. If you're unable to download the app via one of the links below, you'll need to contact Microsoft at answers.microsoft.com to get your Windows Store sorted out.

Beta: http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/app/g ... eeec2a95b2
Non-beta: http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/app/g ... 969358064f