Black Out updated for BlackBerry 10

IMG_20140624_104529Black Out has been updated to version 1.4.1 in BlackBerry World in order to ensure compatibility with devices running OS 10.3.1 (which will be released later this year). The PlayBook and Nook versions of the app do not require this update, and Android versions of the app have already been updated earlier this year.

How to Play

The goal to Black Out is to tap the tiles, so that they all get ‘blacked out’. This is complicated because whenever you tap to flip a tile, it also flips all of the tiles surrounding it. As such it requires a well laid out strategy.

In order to accommodate different difficulties, the game supports board sizes from 3×3 all the way up to a 10×10 grid. Furthermore, there is also a hint button in case you find yourself in need of help.

Links & Information

An intro to the Amazon Appstore

As BlackBerry prepares to have the Amazon appstore preinstalled on their phones, I have already had my apps in the Amazon store for two years now.

First of all the best place to have your apps is in BlackBerry AppWorld. If you are writing a native Cascades app, there is no choice except to sell your apps through the BlackBerry store. If you are selling an app based on a cross platform framework such as Cordova or Unity you are better off compiling that code natively to a .bar file as it will run much better then packaging the same code as an Android app. If you have a native Android app, then you are still better off compiling to a .bar file and submitting the app to BlackBerry World. Taking this extra step makes the app easier for users to update and also gives developers the possibility of removing the back bar from apps.

However, simply having the ability to sell to Amazon’s own tablets and phones is enough reason reason to submit your apps into the store.

amazon

For the most part the Amazon store is pretty similar to what all other platforms offer with developers getting a 70% cut of all sales. Payments are made out to developers via direct deposit to a bank account. All apps are submitted as .apk files and like Android apps on BlackBerry, they must not be dependent upon any Google Play services. All apps submitted to the Amazon Appstore require a minimum of three screenshots (at one of a few specific resolutions), and are subjected to a rather comprehensive review policy. App reviews typically take around five days, with rejections usually a case of including a reference to the Google Play store (including something as simple as a link to your other Android apps).

The high praise that BlackBerry has given the Amazon store is mostly marketing fluff. The truth of the matter is that nobody cares about Amazon coins, and this store really isn’t all that different than all of the others…

Oswego Canal app released

IMG_20140617_132302Adding to the set of New York State canal apps, an app for helping to navigate the Oswego Canal has been released to BlackBerry World and Google Play.

Similar to the apps for the Erie Canal, and Cayuga-Seneca Canal that have been released earlier this year, this is an app that gives you the ability to see the locations of all locks and boat launches along the canal. Additionally the app also contains a map view to give a visual representation to where everything is.

Links & Information

114

Stuff I Need now on Android

nexusScropThe Stuff I Need app is now available on Android through the Google Play store. This app gives you a simple checklist in order to mark of the stuff you need to buy or the stuff that you need to do.

About Stuff I Need

Originally conceived as a grocery list app, this minimalistic checklist app can be used to keep track of the stuff you need to get, or the stuff that you need to do. New items can be added to list with the ‘Add’ button on the bottom of the screen. Items on the list can be edited (or deleted) by giving them a long press. Lists can be switched by pulling down on the tab at the top of the screen. This will expose a spinner that shows all of your current lists. New lists can be added by using the “+” button on the right side of the expanded tab. Making use of three or more lists requires the use on a one time in-app purchase. Lists are automatically deleted if you delete all items in a list and restart the app.

Links & Information

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BlackBerry 10 Statistics

The month of May saw rather modest gains in the uptake of newer OS versions on BlackBerry 10.

2014May-Pixelated-BB10OSVersions

2014May-StuffINeed-BB10OSVersions

There was very little change among users of the Stuff I Need app, while there was a small increase in the percentage of Pixelated users on the newest OS version. Meanwhile relativity few users are running OS 10.3, with the newest leak being far less popular then 10.2 was half a year ago.

This data was collected by BlackBerry World for downloads of the free strategy game Pixelated and the free checklist app Stuff I Need. Data shown on the chart is from the beginning of May 2013 through the end of May 2014.

OS7 exceeds 50% of BBOS marketshare

For the first month ever, March showed a majority of classic BBOS users running OS 7 on their phones. While the majority of BlackBerry 10 users have usually updated in the first month after the release of a new operating system, OS 7 has now been out for 34 months…

StatsMay2014

The most popular BBOS device in the month of May was the Curve 9320.

This data was collected by BlackBerry World for downloads of the free BlackBerry strategy game Pixelated. Data shown on the chart is from the beginning of May 2013 through the end of May 2014, and does not include BlackBerry 10 or PlayBook devices.

Mileage Tracker app updated

IMG_20140531_150152The Mileage Tracker app has been updated to version 1.7 in BlackBerry World. This update makes it easier to switch between a large number of categories, and ensure that the app will continue to work well once OS 10.3 is released later this year. The app has also received a 16.7% reduction in file size. Additionally, for users of OS 10.3 or higher Mileage Tracker has extended it’s custom color scheme through all of the native controls in the app.

About Mileage Tracker

Mileage tracker is a free app designed to help you track the miles you drive on each trip, so that you can use this information for tax deductions, accounting, or employee reimbursements. Instead of keeping this information charted on your computer, it makes much more sense to be able to track this directly on your phone, which you normally would have with you in the car already.

Trips can be grouped into categories, and edited (or deleted) at a later date. Following a one time in-app payment, you can also export your data into an Excel compatible .csv format and a pretty (and sortable) .html format.

Links & Information

Adding Cascades highlight colors (without losing the ability to theme 10.2)

PinkWith the release of BlackBerry 10.3 later this year Cascades apps will have the ability to set a custom highlight color. While this is typically defined in the bar-descriptor.xml file, doing so will prevent any theme from being applied when the app is run on phones running an older operating system. Fortunately there is a workaround. (Thanks to Derek Konigsberg for pointing out how to do this).

In short you can override the CASCADES_THEME environmental variable in the brief window between the app being launched, and the creation of the app’s UI. The following code sets a dark theme with pink highlights when run on OS 10.3 and sets a simplier dark theme for older OS versions.

Q_DECL_EXPORT int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
    bb::platform::PlatformInfo p_info;
    QString ver = p_info.osVersion();

    if(ver.startsWith("10.0") || ver.startsWith("10.1") || ver.startsWith("10.2"))
    {
        qputenv("CASCADES_THEME", "dark");
    }
    else
    {
        qputenv("CASCADES_THEME",
            "dark?primaryColor=0xF04FFF");
    }

    Application app(argc, argv);
    MileageTrackerApp mainApp(&app);
    return Application::exec();
}

The recently updated Mileage Tracker app (pictured above) is an example of an app that is using this technique.

New app for the Cayuga-Seneca Canal

IMG_20140529_152107A new app has been published to BlackBerry World, Google Play, and the Amazon App Store in order to help users navigate down the Cayuga-Seneca Canal.

Similar to the Erie Canal app that was released in April, this new app gives you the ability to see the locations of all locks and boat launches along the canal. With an additional map view to give a visual representation to where everything is.

Links & Information

114

Cascades code change in BlackBerry 10.3

There is a slight change in Cascades 10.3 dealing with conditional variables based off of the length of the hint text of a field. For example the following code (designed to only show the TextField when the hint text is not an empty string) would work on BlackBerry 10.2 but fails when run on BlackBerry 10.3

Container
{
    property alias hint:newTextField.hintText
    property alias text:lbl.text
    Label
    {
        id:lbl
        multiline:true
    }
    TextField
    {
        id:newTextField
        visible:
	{
            if(hint.length>0)
            {
                true
            }
            else
            {
                false
            }
        }
    }
}

Fortunately the work around for this is extremely simple. You just need to create (and set) an additional alias for the visibility of the field. This is shown below…

Container
{
    property alias hint:newTextField.hintText
    property alias text:lbl.text
    property alias showTextField:newTextField.visible
    Label
    {
        id:lbl
        multiline:true
    }
    TextField
    {
        id:newTextField
    }
}