General thoughts

[searchm]

Hey guys,

Maybe I don’t make myself very popular with the following

but it’s on my mind since a couple of weeks and I want to share these thoughts with you.

I really lose a lot of time with things that should be or were promised to be a time saver.

I’m a pro subscriber ( second round already ) so I see some reasons to talk about this.

Frankly, some of the new widgets are not really any better then the old ones. To be more

specific, the newScrollView and especially the newTableView widgets are buggy and don’t

behave like native widgets. ( I already sent you some bug reports but I don’t always have time for that.)

The same for the newtext method. Speaking of alignment problems that were so well known

for such a long time now plus the lack of basic features.

Or the native.newtextfield: I had to use a quite complex workaround to make it work more or

least the same on android and iOS ( text alignment, touch area, etc… )

The list goes on…

There are numerous things that are like 85 percent done, but the rest is such an important part

and just got forgotten, it seems. I’m not satisfied with it and I try to fix it myself.

You know I think I am a quite patient person and got a great sense of understanding.

New features are great and very important, but what I’m really trying to say is:

I’m worried about the future of Corona when things that are so basic and ( I guess ) easily fixable

are left behind half way. I also totally understand how it feels to sit on a thing for a long time, it’s

not very motivating to carry on and it always feels much better to carry on to another thing.

But I can not state often enough how important it is to make this SDK as reliable as possible.

Take care of these young babys gosh!

Why should I be looking forward to new features when there are so many basic features that are

not reliable?

If I had a wish right now I would be wishing for someone to really TAKE CARE of these things.

Roman

[walter]

We hear you. We are indeed addressing issues (e.g. iAds/AdMob that started behaving funny on iOS 7). Of course, everyone has their own preference on what they’d like to be the priority

What are the bug numbers for your specific issues? I’ll see what can be done. In the meantime, the widget library is open source (https://github.com/coronalabs/framework-widgets).

[ksan]

Roman, very well said. Exactly my sentiments. 

Walter, take a look at the widgets sub-forum. Its not just one or two bugs… Literally each component in the Widget library is bug ridden and cause difficulties of varying degrees.

And to say “In the meantime, the widget library is open source” is adding insult to the injury…

As David Range nicely reminded us in another thread recently, Corona SDK has a pay-per-service pricing model. We are paying for a service that is supposed to work. We are paying for a fixed duration. If the promised service is not completely available during this time then we should be given a discount while waiting for the service to be restored.

So to say, it is now open source, you go fix it if you like is a little sad and arrogant. I hope you can see this from the position of your paying customers. 

Thank you very much!

[searchm]

Hi Walter,

Thanks for your response.

Of course everyone has their priorities but I’m consciously adressing the basic features.

I would also rather put pressure on other features but they are not as important.

I think ksan pointed it quite right, this is not about specific bug reports, it is about the whole

reliabilty, handling and perfection.

Here is my bug list:

Scrollview:

• Move the content out of boundaries, touch it immediately and the content will NOT fall back into it’s position

• The scrollbar in iOS compresses it’s height when you move the content out of the boundaries. This is not the case with your widget. I don’t want people to think that my app is somehow different in it’s quality or behaviour.

• people need to have the option for the scrollbar to be always visible.

These things need to be fixed for both horizontal and vertical scrolling, of course.

Tableview:

• If you have content which is smaller then the tableview’s height and you add a new row, then you are suddenly able to scroll out of the boundaries. I just described that bug here:

http://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/40910-newtableview-insertrow-scrollheight-bug/

• imagine you have a lot of rows so that you are able to scroll. you scroll to the bottom and delete a row. the tableview is supposed to move a bit upwards in order to close the gap. Also it should make the scrollbar a bit smaller. But your widget only closes when you scroll to the top and back again.

• the scrollbar is somehow buggy. Especially if you dynamically add and delete a lot of rows, the scrollbar’s height doesn’t change. Somehow it moves out of the boundaries ( if the height or the width is restricted ) it also behaves different then the scrollbar in the scrollView widget.

• swipeLeft and swipeRight is build in. But it doesn’t make sense because it only occurs when you release your finger. Swipe gestures need to be detected WHILE you move your finger. Think of iOS when you are checking your mails, you press your finger on a mail and WHILE you swipe left the options appear / fadeIn.

• isLocked property doesn’t do anything when applied to the tableView after it was created.

• Maybe you should give us the mouse x and startX events also in the rows-listener, to make it more flexible.

• people need to have the option for the scrollbar to be always visible.

newText

• the positioning and also the alignment ( as we all know ) is very different on the simulator, on xcodes simulator, on iOS devices and on android devices. Corona’s staff mentioned that it’s a padding issue. I can imagine that it’s not easy to fix. Maybe one way is to calculate the real pixel-width or height and create an offset. Literally everyone would benefit from that. I think this is the most important thing and the biggest drawback in your SDK.

• give it letter spacing and vertical line spacing options. This is a must have for everyone who is working with text.

native.newTextField

• the text size can be VERY different on devices.

I think if you do enough practical testing you’ll understand what I mean.

Best regards,

Roman

[walter]

Thanks Roman, this was very helpful. I really appreciate you taking the time to provide a rundown. The specifics are especially helpful so that we understand your issues very precisely. I’ll follow up with team on these.

One quick question: am I correct in guessing that you are primarily focused on business apps?

[searchm]

I’m glad I could help. It’s even better to hear that you will go through the list, thank you.

yes, I’m currently focused on business apps but also on one game.

I would have liked to provide you with some samples / bug reports but unfortunately I just can’t send the application I’m currently working on to you. One last thing:

I think if you create a new project with a tableView or scrollView, don’t use masks at first and make it smaller then the screen, then you will probably get the best testing results.

[walter]

We hear you. We are indeed addressing issues (e.g. iAds/AdMob that started behaving funny on iOS 7). Of course, everyone has their own preference on what they’d like to be the priority

What are the bug numbers for your specific issues? I’ll see what can be done. In the meantime, the widget library is open source (https://github.com/coronalabs/framework-widgets).

[ksan]

Roman, very well said. Exactly my sentiments. 

Walter, take a look at the widgets sub-forum. Its not just one or two bugs… Literally each component in the Widget library is bug ridden and cause difficulties of varying degrees.

And to say “In the meantime, the widget library is open source” is adding insult to the injury…

As David Range nicely reminded us in another thread recently, Corona SDK has a pay-per-service pricing model. We are paying for a service that is supposed to work. We are paying for a fixed duration. If the promised service is not completely available during this time then we should be given a discount while waiting for the service to be restored.

So to say, it is now open source, you go fix it if you like is a little sad and arrogant. I hope you can see this from the position of your paying customers. 

Thank you very much!

[searchm]

Hi Walter,

Thanks for your response.

Of course everyone has their priorities but I’m consciously adressing the basic features.

I would also rather put pressure on other features but they are not as important.

I think ksan pointed it quite right, this is not about specific bug reports, it is about the whole

reliabilty, handling and perfection.

Here is my bug list:

Scrollview:

• Move the content out of boundaries, touch it immediately and the content will NOT fall back into it’s position

• The scrollbar in iOS compresses it’s height when you move the content out of the boundaries. This is not the case with your widget. I don’t want people to think that my app is somehow different in it’s quality or behaviour.

• people need to have the option for the scrollbar to be always visible.

These things need to be fixed for both horizontal and vertical scrolling, of course.

Tableview:

• If you have content which is smaller then the tableview’s height and you add a new row, then you are suddenly able to scroll out of the boundaries. I just described that bug here:

http://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/40910-newtableview-insertrow-scrollheight-bug/

• imagine you have a lot of rows so that you are able to scroll. you scroll to the bottom and delete a row. the tableview is supposed to move a bit upwards in order to close the gap. Also it should make the scrollbar a bit smaller. But your widget only closes when you scroll to the top and back again.

• the scrollbar is somehow buggy. Especially if you dynamically add and delete a lot of rows, the scrollbar’s height doesn’t change. Somehow it moves out of the boundaries ( if the height or the width is restricted ) it also behaves different then the scrollbar in the scrollView widget.

• swipeLeft and swipeRight is build in. But it doesn’t make sense because it only occurs when you release your finger. Swipe gestures need to be detected WHILE you move your finger. Think of iOS when you are checking your mails, you press your finger on a mail and WHILE you swipe left the options appear / fadeIn.

• isLocked property doesn’t do anything when applied to the tableView after it was created.

• Maybe you should give us the mouse x and startX events also in the rows-listener, to make it more flexible.

• people need to have the option for the scrollbar to be always visible.

newText

• the positioning and also the alignment ( as we all know ) is very different on the simulator, on xcodes simulator, on iOS devices and on android devices. Corona’s staff mentioned that it’s a padding issue. I can imagine that it’s not easy to fix. Maybe one way is to calculate the real pixel-width or height and create an offset. Literally everyone would benefit from that. I think this is the most important thing and the biggest drawback in your SDK.

• give it letter spacing and vertical line spacing options. This is a must have for everyone who is working with text.

native.newTextField

• the text size can be VERY different on devices.

I think if you do enough practical testing you’ll understand what I mean.

Best regards,

Roman

[walter]

Thanks Roman, this was very helpful. I really appreciate you taking the time to provide a rundown. The specifics are especially helpful so that we understand your issues very precisely. I’ll follow up with team on these.

One quick question: am I correct in guessing that you are primarily focused on business apps?

[searchm]

I’m glad I could help. It’s even better to hear that you will go through the list, thank you.

yes, I’m currently focused on business apps but also on one game.

I would have liked to provide you with some samples / bug reports but unfortunately I just can’t send the application I’m currently working on to you. One last thing:

I think if you create a new project with a tableView or scrollView, don’t use masks at first and make it smaller then the screen, then you will probably get the best testing results.

[ksan]

@searchm

• isLocked property doesn’t do anything when applied to the tableView after it was created.

You can use the following in the interim : 

    tableView._view._isVerticalScrollingDisabled = false    

It is an undocumented internal call apparently but it works for the time being. Hope the isLocked is properly exposed in due course as this was discussed and promised. 

[alexf]

Hey guys,

for both scrollView and tableView you now have object:setIsLocked( isLocked ) where isLocked is a boolean value. It is available starting with 2013.2109.

Thanks,

alex

[ksan]

@searchm

• isLocked property doesn’t do anything when applied to the tableView after it was created.

You can use the following in the interim : 

    tableView._view._isVerticalScrollingDisabled = false    

It is an undocumented internal call apparently but it works for the time being. Hope the isLocked is properly exposed in due course as this was discussed and promised. 

[alexf]

Hey guys,

for both scrollView and tableView you now have object:setIsLocked( isLocked ) where isLocked is a boolean value. It is available starting with 2013.2109.

Thanks,

alex