Ward Central 2.07

V2.07 
This is a maintenance release to fix a bug that prevented members from downloading data when serving outside of their home ward in a leadership position.


V2.06
This version requires you to re-download your membership and calendar data from lds.org.

*** If you are serving outside of your home ward ***

If you are serving outside of your ward in a bishopric or other capacity and want to use the app to view membership of the ward you are serving in rather than your home ward, you must enter your ward unit number in the Preferred Unit application setting before downloading the LDS.org data. This applies only to Ward Central. This step is not necessary in Stake Central and is not necessary unless you want to download data for a unit other than your home ward or branch.

New Features:

• Custom Groups  - define custom groups of individuals within a ward or stake. Groups are a convenient way to keep track of home teaching families and other individuals you contact regularly. 
• Email or send an SMS message to an entire group.
• Integration with new.lds.org allows access to individual (cell) phone numbers and synchronizes organization information better with the ward computer. Because of the way the new website restricts information, children under age 18 may not be visible in units outside of your own ward or branch.
• New user interface is more consistent between screens.
• Support for navigating to an address directly from the app (skipping the maps step).

Known Issues:

1. There are still some issues with the web interface pulling data from the new.lds.org site that shows old or inaccurate leadership data or missing leadership data for some people. If this is an issue for you, I suggest unchecking the app setting to pull data from the new.lds.org site. If data is downloaded from the old site, you will not have access to cell phone information and downloads may take longer.

Version 2.05

Version 2.05

Bug Fixes:

• Works around an issue with the LDS.org SSL certificate. The error message shows: hostname in certificate didn't match
  .

Version 2.04

Bug Fixes:

• Fixes a bug where all members of a family get assigned to a group when managing the member’s groups from the individual screen. From the member's individual detail screen, clicking on 'Manage Groups' would add the entire family to the group instead of the member.
• Fixes the group/organization text feature when using a non-native Android texting app like Google Voice or the HTC Sense texting app.This is only a problem on HTC phones and when using alternate texting apps like Google Voice. The standard Google messaging app is not affected.
• Addresses a problem in the membership directory search that prevented searching by a children's names and individual (cell) phone numbers.
• Force the ward missionaries into the ‘Mission’ organization instead of ‘Other Callings’ as listed on the new website. Several folks expressed frustration with the loss of the Mission organization. 
• Fix family list order when last name begins with a lower case character.

Version 2.03

Bug Fixes:

• Better handles when church's tech server is offline.
• Fix for another force close issue during download. This was seen in only one ward to my knowledge.

Version 2.02

Bug Fixes:

• Fixes an issue with a missing membership directory some experienced after downloading data using the old lds.org site. If you experienced this issue, delete your membership data through the menu and then download data again.
• Fixes a Force Close some experienced after downloading information from new.lds.org.
• Fixes an issue with leadership from outside of the ward or stake not being displayed.

Version 2.00

This version requires you to re-download your membership and calendar data from lds.org.

New Features:

• Custom Groups  - define custom groups of individuals within a ward or stake. Groups are a convenient way to keep track of home teaching families and other individuals you contact regularly. 
• Email or send an SMS message to an entire group.
• It is now possible to download information for one ward at a time. Access the Retrieve menu from the ward’s view and only data from that ward will be downloaded.
• Integration with new.lds.org allows access to individual (cell) phone numbers and synchronizes organization information better with the ward computer. Multiple stakes are supported for those serving outside of your home ward and stake. Because of the way the new website restricts information, children under age 18 may not be visible in units outside of your own ward or branch.
• New user interface is more consistent between screens.
• Support for navigating to an address directly from the app (skipping the maps step).

Known Issues:

1. The app may not download information successfully if it is not the foreground app. If you press the home screen or start another app while the download is in progress, the app may fail to download data. 
2. There are still some issues with the web interface pulling data from the new.lds.org site that shows old or inaccurate leadership data or missing leadership data for some people. If this is an issue for you, I suggest unchecking the app setting to pull data from the new.lds.org site. If data is downloaded from the old site, you will not have access to cell phone information and downloads may take longer.
3. Downloading data from a single ward does not work when downloading from the old lds.org site  This feature only works when downloading with the new.lds.org site setting enabled.

Not trusted server certificate during GET

The church very recently updated their SSL (encryption) certificate for the lds.org website. Android does not trust the organization that issued the new certificate and so the application is not able to connect to the website. I am working on a solution and will send out an update when it is available.

Version 1.82 - One more bug fix

Version 1.82 fixes one more bug.

These fixes apply to both Ward and Stake Central

• Fixes a problem downloading data when a phone number from a member in a leadership position includes a single quote character. 

Who would have thunk someone would put a quote character in a phone number field?

Version 1.81 is now available in the Android Market

Full Stake Calendar

Stake Central 1.81 allows you to see the entire stake calendar. Previously, only the stake events appearing in the ward calendar were available.

Version 1.81 fixes the following issues.

These fixes apply to both Ward and Stake Central

• Fixes a problem with multi-day events added as a single day event.
• Fixes force close when encountering a phone number including quotes.
• Event list position was always reset to today after viewing an event. The current position is now properly retained.
• 'Today' button was not working properly with all-day events.
• Addresses some problems with Android 2.2 (Froyo) viewing/adding events to the calendar and also adding members to contacts.

Version 1.80 Calendar Events

Version 1.80 is now available and supports integration with the Ward Calendar.

In addition, the following bugs were fixed:

• Issues with quotes and double quotes in member names
• Click to dial the family phone number from the family screen was broken in the previous release
• There was a problem downloading lds.org data when the Spanish Language is selected as the user's preference on lds.org
• Rare force close issues during data retrieval
• Misleading message when unit organization data is empty.

Anyone running Android 2.2 (Froyo)?

I am looking for someone with a Nexus One phone running the latest Android 2.2 OS to try out some new features. Please send me a note at info@stakecentral.com if you would be willing.

Thanks!

Signs of life: Calendar

Here is a screen shot of the new calendar feature coming soon.

Release 1.72 Bug Fixes

 Bugs fixed in Release 1.72

• Fixes a force close bug in member details when member name includes a single quote (like O'Neal)
• Postal address information was not being saved in Add to Contacts
• Splash screen was being displayed when it was disabled in settings
• Could not search for members with a name including a single quote (apostrophe) character like O'Neal

Release 1.71 Reducing confusion

There was some confusion about the contacts integration. The 'Add to Contacts' button is only available in the member details view and not in the family view. The app was unnecessarily confusing when viewing single members because it would present the family view with only one member. It was not clear that you had to click on the first name to see the member details and the 'Add to Contacts' button.

This update eliminates the family view for single members. It provided no useful function. When clicking on a single member from the 'Membership Directory', the app will now display the member details view..

Release 1.7 Integration with Phone Contacts

Release 1.7 of Stake Central is now available in the Android Market. 


This release includes the following features:

• Integration with Android Phone Contacts. The member screen includes a button to add the member's information to the contacts database. A second button to view an existing contact is available when the member's information can be found in the contacts database.
• You will be reminded to update lds.org data every two weeks. The interval can be configured in the application settings.
• Family and Member information can be copied to the clipboard. Press and hold (long press) on a data field like email address and it will be copied to the clipboard. The member screen also includes a menu item allowing you to copy all member information to the clipboard.
• Lds.org member retrieval is 30-50% faster.
• Reorganized the home screen to position your ward at the top of the list.

The following issues were resolved or improved:

• Progress dialog continues to spin after retrieval is complete.
• Information fails to download especially with large stakes. 

Version 1.6 Release

Version 1.6 adds support for Android 1.5 phones like the Samsung Moment and Motorola CLIQ. 

It fixes a force close issue in the search widget.

It also addresses some inconsistencies in the member view. Leadership positions are now displayed when navigating to the member view through the family view.  Spouse's name and link are now visibe on the member view.

Version 1.5 Released

Last night I released version 1.5 of Stake Central, Ward Central Premium and Ward Central Free


New Features:

• Bug fixes for several stability problems including a crash that occurred when changing the screen orientation during lds.org download.
• Ward Leadership information is available from the unit home screen in Premium and Stake versions
• Enabled fast scrolling through the membership lists with alphabetical headers.
• Better error reporting when data retrieval fails.
• Better contrast in the UI for easier reading.
• Improved performance of data retrieval. (Although there is more data now read so it may take longer than in the previous version).
• The Data Retrieval can be cancelled

For the CLIQ users, I made an attempt to make this available for Android 1.5. Unfortunately, I had pull that back this morning after a report of crashing on the CLIQ. 


I will be working on updating the stakecentral.com website. Until then, you can see screen shots at this link. 

New Features Comnig Soon

I am hoping to have the next release out early next week (March 30-31). Here are some screen shots of the leadership screens..

 

.

Droid Eris gets Android 2.1

I am hearing from a few folks with the Droid Eris that they have received the Android 2.1 update and still cannot see the Stake and Ward Central apps in the Market. Please let me know with a comment here or an email to info@stakecentral.com if you have an 2.1 Eris and have been successful in downloading the apps.

Android 1.5 Users: Sprint Hero, My Touch and Droid Eris

This posting is obsolete - Stake and Ward Central do support Android 1.5.


I have received several emails asking why the the Stake Central and Ward Central apps are not available in the Android Market.

Stake Central and Ward Central require Android version 1.6 or later. These phones are running v1.5. They are not visible in the Market on these phones because of the version incompatibility. I have considered backporting to 1.5 but the phone manufacturers have announced that these phones will be getting an update to 2.1 in March or April. 

Considering that almost all US Android phone manufacturers have announced updates beyond 1.5 in the near future, I hesitate to spend the time required to support version 1.5. If these reports turn out to be false, I will back port to support these phones. 

Here are a few related stories....
HTC Hereo Update Coming in April
Cliq and Hero Updates Confirmed


When your phone is updated, please search the marketplace again.

Release 1.1

Ward Central and Stake Central are Android phone applications for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. With this application you can download ward and stake directory information directly from the lds.org website to your Android device.

For a full description with screen shots, visit http://www.stakecentral.com

Stake Central was released to the Android Market on February 27, 2010.

The features of Stake Central are:

• Downloads the entire stake membership in one simple easy to use step. Enter your lds.org user id and password and at the push of a button, all of the data is loaded to your phone from the church web site over a secure SSL connection.
• Search by ward or the entire stake for members by name, address phone number or email address.
• An easy to use User Interface allowing to to quickly navigate and search for members in your ward or stake.
• Call the family phone number directly from within the application.
• Maps and directs you to the home of any member of your ward or stake.
• Send email to the your ward and stake members at the click of a button.

Additional features are on the way. The following features are planned in order of priority:

1. Download the Stake and Ward Leadership Information from lds.org and display the organization leadership on your phone. (Late March 2010)
2. With the push of a button, add member contact information to your phone's contacts. (Late March or Early April 2010)
3. Download the Stake and Ward Calendar information and allow you to add the events to your Google calendar. (April/May 2010)
4. Custom groups and favorites lists.

Suggestions are always welcome!