Monday, February 7, 2022

Please help me beta test the new version of the Android app

The MyFlightbook Android app is written in the programming language Java, which was the only option 10 years ago when I first wrote it.  But over the past few years, Google has been officially pushing people to use the newer Kotlin language instead.

If none of that makes sense to you, I can just summarize it this way: I need to future-proof the app, and that means translating it into a new programming language.

Fortunately, Google has provided some excellent conversion tools that do a remarkably good job at converting from one language to another.  I spent a bunch of time over the past weekend using these tools to convert the code, and testing/tweaking to make sure that it all works.

I think it's working (indeed, I found and fixed a couple of minor bugs that exist in the current Java-based version), but here's where I need your help: before I unleash this new version to replace the old, can you help me find any remaining issues?

If you're willing, please join the Beta program for the app and send me any feedback, bug reports, etc.  Instructions for how to do so can be found here under the heading "Get beta versions of apps".   It takes a few minutes to add your account to the beta, but when it happens...well, try it out!  

You shouldn't really notice any difference (I don't want to be adding features during a transition like this), but you can tell that you're running the Kotlin version by going to the Profile tab and scrolling down to the very bottom; it should say "(Kotlin)" next to the copyright information.

This uses your same data, same credentials, and everything, so you can use it in place of the production version.  And if you run into any issue that makes it not work for you then you can go back to the production version by leaving the beta program (but hopefully after sending me the steps that led to the problem!!)

Thank-you in advance!

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