webinterface and wifiserver integration for shoppinglist

[Stanley F.]

Hi,

this goes especially to Bhaskar.

I think it's time to integrate webinterface and wifiserver for shoppinglist support.

A documentation of the REST interface can be found at the wiki [1].

Please give some feedback if this should be more detailed or if there is anything missing or unclear.

Cheers,

Stanley

[1] https://github.com/openintents/wifiserver/wiki/Interface

[Bhaskar Kandiyal]

Hi Stanley,

Thanks for documenting the API :)
I'll get to work on integrating them with the interface.

Cheers,
Bhaskar Kandiyal

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[Bhaskar Kandiyal]

Hi Stanley,

Can you add support for a /logout call, so that I can add a 'Logout'
option to the menu? Or maybe a call to differentiate between cloudsync
and wifi server so we can show a logout option only in cloudsync?

Also, I can't seem to get the login working even after setting a
password, is it working for you?

Cheers!

Bhaskar Kandiyal

On 08/07/2012 06:47 AM, Stanley F. wrote:

[Stanley F.]

Hi Bhaskar,

I implemented the logout call, which is simply /logout.

The login is also fixed now.

Cheers,

Stanley

2012/8/9 Bhaskar Kandiyal <bkan...@gmail.com>

[Bhaskar Kandiyal]

Great! Thanks :)

Also, the shopping list interface is done, everything I tested is
working. I've pushed the changes to github. Let me know if you find any
bugs or need some changes :)

Cheers!
Bhaskar Kandiyal

On 08/10/2012 03:31 AM, Stanley F. wrote:
> Hi Bhaskar,
>
> I implemented the logout call, which is simply /logout.
>
> The login is also fixed now.
>
> Cheers,
> Stanley
>
>

> 2012/8/9 Bhaskar Kandiyal <bkan...@gmail.com <mailto:bkan...@gmail.com>>

>
> Hi Stanley,
>
> Can you add support for a /logout call, so that I can add a 'Logout'
> option to the menu? Or maybe a call to differentiate between cloudsync
> and wifi server so we can show a logout option only in cloudsync?
>
> Also, I can't seem to get the login working even after setting a
> password, is it working for you?
>
> Cheers!
> Bhaskar Kandiyal
>
> On 08/07/2012 06:47 AM, Stanley F. wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > this goes especially to Bhaskar.
> > I think it's time to integrate webinterface and wifiserver for
> > shoppinglist support.
> >
> > A documentation of the REST interface can be found at the wiki [1].
> > Please give some feedback if this should be more detailed or if
> there is
> > anything missing or unclear.
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Stanley
> >
> > [1] https://github.com/openintents/wifiserver/wiki/Interface
> >
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[Stanley F.]

Hi Bhaskar,

I had a quick look at your work and found two bugs:

- logout does not work, becuase the link just calls "/" and not "/logout"

- the price, that is returned by the server is in cents. If the user gives 9.99 as price, the interface shows 999

Cheers,

Stanley

2012/8/10 Bhaskar Kandiyal <bkan...@gmail.com>

[Bhaskar Kandiyal]

Hi Stanley,

I fixed the logout bug.

As for the decimal values in price, I added a new item with price as
9.99 from the web interface and it shows correctly on the device but
when I checked the JSON returned by the server in Firebug it had price
as 999.

So, maybe when the server is converting the data to JSON the decimal
gets lost?

On 08/11/2012 01:51 AM, Stanley F. wrote:
> Hi Bhaskar,
>

[Stanley F.]

Hi Bhaskar,

the decimal doesn't really go lost. But the database requires the prices to be stored as cents. That's what the server returns: the plain database representation. But it would be easy to add server side conversion, so I will add this later.

Cheers,

Stanley

2012/8/11 Bhaskar Kandiyal <bkan...@gmail.com>

[Bhaskar Kandiyal]

Ah, OK now I understand. No need to add it to the server side, I'll add it to the client :)

Cheers!

Bhaskar Kandiyal

[Stanley F.]

Hi,

everything seems to work now :-)

I added the call "/apps", which returns a comma separated list of all available apps. It would be great if the interface only shows apps, which are also installed on the device.

Cheers,
Stanley

[Bhaskar Kandiyal]

Hi,

It does show only the apps installed on the device. It sends a test call to the server for both OI Notepad and OI Shopping List and if the server returns 501 Not Implemented it hides that app. A /apps call is a nice addition though :)

Cheers!

Bhaskar Kandiyal

[aap]

Sounds great... Is there a page somewhere that says how I can test it?

-- Aaron

[aap]

So... I built the wifi server app, installed it on my phone...

It definitely works. I can browse the contents of a list in a web browser on my desktop, and check an item, and when I go into OI Shopping List on my phone I can see that the item is checked. But it also needs some polishing. 

The most basic issue is that it does not seem to understand about the REMOVED_FROM_LIST status. Normally when launching OI Shopping List it shows only the WANT_TO_BUY and BOUGHT [checked] items, and you can check and uncheck to toggle between those two statuses. Then there is a button to switch to "Pick Items" mode, where all items of all statuses are shown, with a special "+" icon for the REMOVED_FROM_LIST icon, and clicking toggles the state mostly between REMOVED_FROM_LIST and WANT_TO_BUY.

The web UI seems to show REMOVED_FROM_LIST items as if they were WANT_TO_BUY. Ideally it should support both shopping mode and pick items mode similar to how they are supported in the app. (Actually the app shows "pick items" mode in a separate dialog by default, but it probably makes more sense for the web UI to show it in place, the way the app does when "pick items directly in list" is enabled in advanced settings.)

I also don't see any support for notes attached to shopping items.

On the cosmetic side, the use of space in a desktop browser is not ideal. There is a lot of space wasted next to the "Add item" button... probably it should move next to the "quick add item" input area, similar to its placement in the app. Even ignoring that, it seems like the actual list itself is using only a small fraction of the available space, perhaps half. 

The use of "git submodule" seems to be not quite ideal-- when I followed the instructions I wound up with the web UI somewhat out of date. I noticed it because in my first attempt the prices were displayed incorrectly -- and I know I had seen a patch with a fix for that. Not sure if there is a better way to handle this-- or maybe just the readme should mention the need to update the submodule.

All in all though, it's really exciting to see this starting to work.

-- Aaron

public static final class Status {

/**

* Want to buy this item.

*/

public static final long WANT_TO_BUY = 1;

/**

* Have bought this item.

*/

public static final long BOUGHT = 2;

/**

* Have removed it from the list. Won't be deleted, in oder to keep

* reference for later suggestions.

*/

public static final long REMOVED_FROM_LIST = 3;

On Wednesday, August 15, 2012 8:52:26 AM UTC-4, Stanley F. wrote:

[Bhaskar Kandiyal]

Hi,

Thanks for checking the app out and testing it :)

I fixed a few bugs that you mentioned, the interface now hides the items
with a REMOVED_FROM_LIST status. Also, I've made the shopping list items
table more responsive so it can handle large resolution devices well.

Secondly, we didn't include some of the more 'advanced' features present
in OI Shopping List, since it's such a complex application it would take
quite some time to implement all the features that we have in it. We
just wanted to cover the basics. So, that's why there's no
implementation for 'Pick Items', attached notes and a few others.

As for moving the 'Add' button to the bottom to remove the empty space,
I don't think that's a good idea since the user would have to move his
mouse all the way to the bottom to click the button. Also, since the
'Add' button is inside a button group container, once we add some more
features we can add more buttons next to the 'Add' button, like a 'Pick
Items' button or 'Cleanup Items' button and that would make the empty
space go away :)

Cheers,
Bhaskar Kandiyal

> <https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-c9SHYpTljgM/UDEy9X3WmjI/AAAAAAAAAs4/WN5JAFLS3Kc/s1600/Screenshot+from+2012-08-19+14%3A38%3A23.png>

[aap]

Hi Bhaskar,

Thanks for the quick fixes. Space usage is better.

I hadn't tested this before, but the "quick add item" seems to be causing the wifi server to crash. Actually the add/edit dialog seems to have the same effect. If you can't reproduce it I could try to send a logcat. It would be slightly easier if someone could remind me how to convince the emulator that it has wifi enabled -- but if not, I could get it from my phone.

-- Aaron

[aap]

Hi Bhaskar,

I still think the Add Item button belongs on the bottom for consistency with the Android app and for better use of space.

Regarding other commands you suggest we may add, I don't think they belong on that row where Add is now. Actually if you look at my screenshot from before you can see multiple rows of wasted space. The Home button doesn't really add much value given the existence of the sidebar. But even if we keep it, it shouldn't have a row all to itself. 

On the top row where it says "OI Web Client" you have a "more" button on the right for more commands. I think this is supposed to be similar to the Android tablet UI. Following the lead of the Android tablet UI, the most common application action buttons could be right there to the left of that "more commands" button.

Perhaps you are trying to keep the "OI Web Client" commands separate from the commands of the currently used app -- but I don't think it is worth the space. Seems the overall UI would be simpler if there was no separate title row for "OI Shopping List" or
"OI Notepad" -- instead, the top title bar, following the lead of browsers, could change to say "OI Shopping List - OI Web Client" when in shopping list mode, and the main shopping list commands could be added to the title bar, and if you really want to keep Home you could add an "OI Web Client Home" button to the overflow menu.

Just a thought. I am not saying you should drop everything to make these changes now. 

Regards,

-- Aaron

On Sunday, August 19, 2012 4:56:40 PM UTC-4, Bhaskar Kandiyal wrote:

[aap]

Hi Bhaskar,

I fully appreciate that OI Shopping List is more complicated than OI Notepad, and trying to do both in one summer project with three students depending on each other was pushing our limits. I do appreciate the extent to which you did manage to get the web client working and it's a great start.

I am also not trying to say that the goals of the GSOC project has not been met. That is between you and your mentor.

Rather, my comments come from the angle of considering whether existing users will want to actually use the wifi server. In order for OI Wifi Server with its built in web UI to actually be a worthwhile application which people will want to use, it needs to add value beyond what the user can already do with OI Notepad and OI Shopping List on their phones. Probably OI Notepad users will just be happy that they can type notes on their computer and gain the benefit of a hardware keyboard and larger screen. They might wish they could do the same for notes stored on the SD card instead of the database, but that is probably not required by the majority of OI Notepad users.

The story with OI Shopping List is different. As you noted, OI Shopping List is a more complex app. If the web UI just lets users check off their existing items... the phone UI is quite sufficient for that. Moreover, checking off items is usually done in the store, where the user's computer is not available to use with the wifi server. 

The place where the wifi server has potential to add tremendous value for OI Shopping List is in preparing the list before heading out to the store. For that value to be realized, pick items mode needs to be supported. Also, there needs to be a way to help the user avoid adding duplicate entries when using Add or Quick Add. In the Android app the auto-complete functionality is a big help in this area. Those two things will probably make the wifi server useful to most OI Shopping List users. On the other hand, users who use extra functionality such as notes and stores might still find themselves unable to benefit from the wifi server at all until the complete set of functionality they already use in Android is supported in the web UI.

One hopefully smaller usability thing -- it would help if the item names and other fields in the list could be clicked to bring the edit item dialog. The pencil icon is just too small a click target, making it harder to hit. 

Regards,

-- Aaron

On Sunday, August 19, 2012 4:56:40 PM UTC-4, Bhaskar Kandiyal wrote:

[Bhaskar Kandiyal]

Hi Aaron,

I appreciate your input and feedback on the web interface :)

I do agree the layout of the UI elements could be improved to take up less space and look better overall and adding more features to the shopping list interface are a must if we want to see more people using it.

Since we have the firm pencils down date today and I can't 'officially' work on the project under GSOC from today but I'd love to continue working on this to make it better even after GSOC, provided Al and everyone agrees to it :) We built the base in GSOC and now we have something to build and improve upon :)

I already have some cool things in my mind to implement in the interface aside from the general usability improvements :)

Also, regarding the crash on quick add, I can't seem to reproduce it, have you tried cloning the repository afresh?

Cheers,

Bhaskar Kandiyal

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