What's new in CLZ Books? (page 4)

Version 6.0 is coming up for all five CLZ mobile apps:
CLZ Books, CLZ Music, CLZ Movies, CLZ Comics and CLZ Games (probably in that order).

For “Vee Six” we decided to finally implement THE most commonly requested feature:

Editing Multiple entries in one go! (aka: Batch Editing)

At the same time, v6 will come with completely re-designed Edit screens. Check out some sneak preview screenshot below. More information about app-specific v6 features and improvements will follow later!

Finally: Edit Multiple entries in one go!

This has been the most common feature request for many years: How can I edit (or clear) the Grade/Location/Owner/etc… for many of my database entries in one go?

And in v6, it will finally be possible:

• Just select the entries you want to edit (using tap and hold), and choose Edit from the menu.
• Then select which fields you want to edit (or clear).
• Finally, set the values you want to set and click Done.

Some screenshots:

(These screenshots have been taken from the iOS edition of CLZ Comics, but the other 9 apps will look very similar):

Edit screen re-design

Also new in v6: completely re-designed Edit screens, to make them clearer, more compact and nicer looking.
No more long lists of fields, one per row. In the new screen, fields are placed side by side where possible, with the Cover on a separate tab. Resulting in a more compact screen, requiring less scrolling. Especially on tablet devices!

Some sneak preview screenshots:

(These screenshots have been taken from the iOS editions of CLZ Books and CLZ Music, but the other 8 apps will look very similar):

Today’s version 5.5 brings two improvements to your CLZ Books app:

• A redesigned Select Folder Field screen
• A much faster Update from Core feature

Redesigned Select Folder Field screen

Through the years, the number of available folder fields has grown enormously, making the Select Folder Field screen a bit “unwieldy”. We decided to come up with a better solution.

This update includes a redesigned Select Folder Field screen, with all folder options nicely grouped under sensible headers, and the most popular options (Author, Publisher, Location) instantly accessible at the top.

Faster Update from Core

On large collections the old Update from Core feature was quite slow, as it updated your books one by one, that is doing separate requests to our server for each and every game.

So for this update, we also complete rewrote the Update from Core feature to do the updates in batches of 100 books at a time, making it much much faster!

Remember: Update From Core can be used to update your local book entries with possible extra data from our Core online book database. To use this feature, tap and hold on a book in your list to select it, tap more to select more, then tap the menu icon on the bottom right and choose Update from Core.

Today’s version 5.5 brings two improvements to your CLZ Books app:

• A redesigned Select Folder Field screen
• A much faster Update from Core feature

Redesigned Select Folder Field screen

Through the years, the number of available folder fields has grown enormously, making the Select Folder Field screen a bit “unwieldy”. We decided to come up with a better solution.

This update includes a redesigned Select Folder Field screen, with all folder options nicely grouped under sensible headers, and the most popular options (Author, Publisher, Location) instantly accessible at the top.

Faster Update from Core

On large collections the old Update from Core feature was quite slow, as it updated your books one by one, that is doing separate requests to our server for each and every game.

So for this update, we also complete rewrote the Update from Core feature to do the updates in batches of 100 books at a time, making it much much faster!

Remember: Update From Core can be used to update your local book entries with possible extra data from our Core online book database. To use this feature, tap and hold on a book in your list to select it, tap more to select more, then tap the menu icon on the bottom right and choose Update from Core.

Fixed:

• Field Defaults screen could crash
• Edit Screen: some fields would sort bad while editing them
• Add from Core: when adding a book that is already in on your wish list, it will now offer to change its status to ‘In Collection’
• When scanning barcodes the “beep” sound would only sound on the first scan
• Search on own collection could be forgotten during scrolling/browsing your collection

Fixed:

• When downloading new entries from CLZ Cloud, previously cleared fields could get filled in.
• In the Add from Core screen, when adding a book that is already in your app as ‘On Wish List’ or ‘On Order’, the app will now offer to change its status to ‘In Collection’.
• On devices with intermittent internet connection, app could revert to trial mode
• After down-syncing updated cover images, the list could still show old cover.
• Improved error messages in case of core search problems.

Faster CLZ Cloud syncing!

We have made several structural changes to the CLZ Cloud syncing, making it much much faster than before, especially when syncing large amounts of entries up to the CLZ Cloud or down from the CLZ Cloud.

To enjoy the faster syncing, you need to use the actual Sync with CLZ Cloud screen.

(The Auto-Syncing in the background is also slightly faster now, but if you need to sync many entries up or down, please use the Sync with CLZ Cloud screen.)

New design for Sync with CLZ Cloud screen

While we were at it, we decided to do a quick make-over for the Sync screen, with a new look and layout and a direct link to your CLZ Cloud page online.

Fixes:

• Author name was not saved when adding a book via the unrecognized ISBN popup

Faster CLZ Cloud syncing!

We have made several structural changes to the CLZ Cloud syncing, making it much much faster than before, especially when syncing large amounts of entries up to the CLZ Cloud or down from the CLZ Cloud.

To enjoy the faster syncing, you need to use the actual Sync with CLZ Cloud screen.

(The Auto-Syncing in the background is also slightly faster now, but if you need to sync many entries up or down, please use the Sync with CLZ Cloud screen.)

New design for Sync with CLZ Cloud screen

While we were at it, we decided to do a quick make-over for the Sync screen, with a new look and layout and a direct link to your CLZ Cloud page online.

Fixed:

• Made the touch area for scrollbars a bit bigger (useful for quick scrolling)
• Added a “Clear” button in the search box in the Add Screen

In this update we introduce a new quick-search for your folders, sorting your folders by the counters, and more stable cloud syncing through our brand-new dedicated Sync-server.

Quick-search your folders

Grouping in folders is a powerful way to browse and filter your collection. Just group by Author, or Publisher, etc… tap a folder and the list will give you all books for the selected Author or Publisher.

However, if your collection spans thousands of books, that “tap a folder” part is sometimes easier said than done. It may require lots of scrolling in the folder list.

But not anymore! This version introduces a new search box right above the folder list, that lets you instantly search/filter the folder list as you type! Just typing a few letters is often enough to bring the folder you are looking for into view:

Sort folders by count

By default, the folders are sorted alphabetically. But as of today, there is another option: sort your folders by the counter, that is by the number of books contained.

Sorting by the counters is a nice way to find the most popular Authors, Publishers, Genres, Subjects, etc..

Switch between the Alphabetical and By Count sorting using the sort toggle at the top:

Improved barcode scanning

We have improved the scan engine and gave it a larger “scan area”. This should help scan barcodes faster and easier.

Now uses our brand-new CLZ Cloud Sync-server

Previously one big server was handling the Connect website, the CLZ Cloud website AND the CLZ Cloud syncing from the desktop programs and the mobile apps.
But this week we have set up a brand-new dedicated Sync-server to handle just the CLZ Cloud syncing.

In today’s update, CLZ Books has been updated to sync through this new server, which should result in faster syncing and a more stable syncing experience during high load times (weekends).

In this update we introduce a new quick-search for your folders, sorting your folders by the counters, and more stable cloud syncing through our brand-new dedicated Sync-server.

Quick-search your folders

Grouping in folders is a powerful way to browse and filter your collection. Just group by Author, or Publisher, etc… tap a folder and the list will give you all books for the selected Author or Publisher.

However, if your collection spans thousands of books, that “tap a folder” part is sometimes easier said than done. It may require lots of scrolling in the folder list.

But not anymore! This version introduces a new search box right above the folder list, that lets you instantly search/filter the folder list as you type! Just typing a few letters is often enough to bring the folder you are looking for into view:

Sort folders by count

By default, the folders are sorted alphabetically. But as of today, there is another option: sort your folders by the counter, that is by the number of books contained.

Sorting by the counters is a nice way to find the most popular Authors, Publishers, Genres, Subjects, etc..

Switch between the Alphabetical and By Count sorting using the sort toggle at the top:

Improved barcode scanning

We have improved the scan engine and gave it a larger “scan area”. This should help scan barcodes faster and easier.

Now uses our brand-new CLZ Cloud Sync-server

Previously one big server was handling the Connect website, the CLZ Cloud website AND the CLZ Cloud syncing from the desktop programs and the mobile apps.
But this week we have set up a brand-new dedicated Sync-server to handle just the CLZ Cloud syncing.

In today’s update, CLZ Books has been updated to sync through this new server, which should result in faster syncing and a more stable syncing experience during high load times (weekends).

Fixed:

• Field Defaults: It wasn’t possible to set the rating field back to zero.
• Manage Pick Lists: Merging list items caused too many sync changes.

Fixed:

• Rare incident where timeouts occurred during CLZ Cloud sync.

Fixed:

• Rare incident where timeouts occurred during CLZ Cloud sync.

A big update for the CLZ Books app again, introducing a new Statistics screen, a cool “infographic” style screen, showing totals and statistics about your book collection.
To open it, just choose “Statistics” from the menu.

In this new screen, you can find:

• The number of books in your collection, and how many authors.
• A top 5 list of your most recent additions.
• A nice pie chart showing the distribution of your books over formats (Hardcover, Softcover, etc..).
• A bar chart of your books by author.
• A bar chart of your books by publisher.
• A bar chart of your books by genre.
• A bar chart of your books by subject.
• A pie chart showing your how many of your books are marked as read.

A big update for the CLZ Books app again, introducing a new Statistics screen, a cool “infographic” style screen, showing totals and statistics about your book collection.
To open it, just choose “Statistics” from the menu.

In this new screen, you can find:

• The number of books in your collection, and how many authors.
• A top 5 list of your most recent additions.
• A nice pie chart showing the distribution of your books over formats (Hardcover, Softcover, etc..).
• A bar chart of your books by author.
• A bar chart of your books by publisher.
• A bar chart of your books by genre.
• A bar chart of your books by subject.
• A pie chart showing your how many of your books are marked as read.

The app could crash during syncing of certain items. Shouldn’t happen anymore now!

Fixed:

• App could crash while syncing with CLZ Cloud

New:

• Group by “Purchase year”

New:

• Group by “Purchase year” and “Reading year”

Fixed:

• Details panel showed “publication date” where it should show “original publication date”
• Grouping on “publisher” didn’t always work correctly

A big step forward for the CLZ Books app today, in which we add many new editable fields:

• Illustrator
• Cover Price
• Extras
• For audiobooks:
• Narrator
• Length
• Abridged Yes/No
• About the original book:
• Original Title
• Original Subtitle
• Original Country
• Original Language
• Original Publisher
• Original Publication Date

Of course, all the new fields sync to/from the CLZ Cloud too.

A big step forward for the CLZ Books app today, in which we add many new editable fields:

• Illustrator
• Cover Price
• Extras
• For audiobooks:
• Narrator
• Length
• Abridged Yes/No
• About the original book:
• Original Title
• Original Subtitle
• Original Country
• Original Language
• Original Publisher
• Original Publication Date

Of course, all the new fields sync to/from the CLZ Cloud too.

Fixed:

• Custom images were uploaded too often

Fixed:

• Custom images were uploaded too often

Changed:

• Add by barcode: Swipe to remove a single barcode wasn’t working. To remove a single barcode now, just press and hold on it!

Fixed:

• When changing a cover, the list and images view wasn’t updated correctly
• Date pickers weren’t showing correctly
• Some colours were wrong (tabs/switches)

Instead of working on new features, we decided to take a few weeks to look at existing screens and functionality and see where things could be improved, of course all based on your feedback.

Today’s update brings you the first batch of user interface improvements that we implemented (more coming up!), plus it bring the app fully up-to-date with the new iOS 13 “sheet-style” popup screens!

Read more

Instead of working on new features, we decided to take a few weeks to look at existing screens and functionality and see where things could be improved, of course all based on your feedback.

Today’s update brings you the first user interface improvements we implemented (more coming up!):

Easier to find Edit and Remove buttons on book details screen (phone only)

Easier editing of pick list fields, especially multi-value fields

• Selected/checked values are now always at the top
• For multi-value fields (like Genre, Studio), check/uncheck multiple values in one go!
• Easier to find big button at the top for adding NEW values..

Complete Re-design of Manage Pick List screen

• Easier to find big button at the top for adding NEW values.
• Remove Unused and Merge action have now been moved to action (…) button top right.
• Easier to use Merge mode.

Add by barcode: New Clear Queue button and new “Scanning tips” popup

Fixed:

• Edit screen: the “Read it” checkbox wouldn’t always work
• Re-introduced a “sync changes pending” icon to the “Sync with CLZ Cloud” menu item

Fixed:

• Fix for a crash that some iPhone users experienced after adding/editing entries

Several small tweaks for your CLZ Books app today:

• iPhone: details page now has clearer Edit and Remove buttons at the bottom
• “Sync with CLZ Cloud” menu now indicates whether there are sync changes pending.

Fixed:

• Unrecognized ISBN pop-up was not working.
• Re-added the modify author button in the edit screen