Feature Suggestions

[David]

Hello Hoy

A few feature suggestions for Formulaic:

1) Add a note field under "Equation Definition". I have several
equations that use one of 5-10 values for the input field and several
other equations that require further explanation: all units in
microns, etc.
2) Add favorites button. Quickly go to the equation you want since
there are quite a few equations in the Library.
3) Add a collapsible folder feature (ie, "+" mark next to the
Business folder expands or collapses the equations within the folder).
Leave only the folders expanded in the library that you want and
quickly go that equation.
4) If the collapsible folder option is possible then move the user
library to the library. Replace the user library button with a
favorites button.
5) Consider adding a calculator to the input field for each value.
Sometimes the user needs to do a calculation or several calculations
before the input field is entered. Access to the built-in iphone
calculator within the app would be great.
6) Allow the data field to be blank when creating a new equation
without the pop-up "New equation default is invalid, zero used
instead". Otherwise, the user must backspace any entry in the data
field over and over again.
7) Consider adding a selection wheel (for all folder names in the
libraries) when using the "Categorize Equation" feature. Otherwise the
user ends up typing the same entry over and over again.

[hoymoon]

Hello David,

Thank you for your many (and neat!) suggestions.

While we have added your suggestions to our list of new features to
consider for future releases, we'd like to share a few pointers on
what you can already do with the current version of Formulaic:

1) Re "Units": We've found that appending the unit to the variable
name is a useful convention. For example: "speed_mph =
distance_miles / time_hours". When working with unit-specific
constants (e.g. gravity in imperial versus metric calculations), this
makes equations largely self-documenting. You can carry this idea over
to equation titles, e.g. "Speed using imperial" and "Speed using
metric".

2) You can't currently re-arrange equations in the included library,
but the user library uses categorie are sorted alphabetically. You can
create a "Favorites" category in your user library, and add your
favorite equations there. With iPhone OS 3.0, you can actually copy
and paste the built-in equations into your own: In the library, select
the equation you want, inspect it (by tapping on the preview at the
bottom), and use the new "copy" function. Then go to the user library,
create a new equation, and paste.

3) on wish list

4) on wish list

5) on wish list, although you can use copy & paste for a similar
effect. We were careful to design Formulaic to allow you to resume
working where you left off. If you're on the "solve" page for a
particular equation, the next time you launch Formulaic, it will load
the same page. While you're "solving", you can thus switch to the
iPhone calculator, compute the value you want, "copy" it (by holding
on the number display field, and selecting copy), launch Formulaic,
tap in the field where you want the number, hold your finger until
"paste" appears, and tap that. Its not as smooth as we'd like, but
iPhone does currently have a restriction of allowing only a single app
(plus iPod or Phone) to run at any one time.

6) good point. We would recommend changing your settings so that your
default equation is a single zero. You'll end up with the same
starting point for typing your equation - you'll still have to delete
the single '0' - but you won't get the warning popup, which will
probably become annoying after a few times. In developing Formulaic,
we decided that it would work with "expressions" (now including
equalities). Pretty much all of Formulaic is built on the assumption
that any expression in Formulaic can be evaluated to a "real" result.
The most basic case of this is the expression "0", which evaluates to
zero. Allowing an expression of "" (i.e. nothing) would require a
major redesign.

7) on wish list

Kind regards,
Hoy Moon