Stake Central is no longer available...

Stake Central has been removed from the Android Play Store and is no longer available from my website. The church app, LDS Tools now provides most of the features that Stake Central provides. I created Stake Central because it was the first thing I went looking for when I purchased my first Android phone. It was a great experience.

Screen Shots

Screen Shots

Here are a few screen shots of Stake Central. I have taken down the Stake Central web site and wanted a place to preserve some history of how Stake Central worked.

Calendar View

The Calendar Tab allows you to see the upcoming events on your lds.org calendar.  You can exclude or add various calendars subscribed to on the website using the Filters button.

Calendar Event Details

Clicking on an event allows you to see the event details and add the event to your device calendar or view the event, if already present in the device calendar.

Directory View

The Directory View allows you to view the stake information or drill down into each unit to see membership information and organization leadership.

 

Search

You can search by name, phone number, address fields or nearly anything. Just start typing in the search box and the results are narrowed as you type.

Member/Family Details

From the family and member details screen, you can call the home phone or individual phone, text message the individual phone or send email. Clicking on the address allows you to get directions or navigation to the home address.  You can also add the individual to your device's contacts.

Groups

You can define custom groups to organize individuals.

Stake/Ward Central 2.17

The church released the LDS.org Calendar 2.0 on October 26th. With the calendar update, the interface used by Stake Central to download the calendar events changed and is no longer working in Stake/Ward Central 2.13 and earlier releases.

I released this weekend, Stake Central Version 2.15 to fix these problems. 2.15 is compatible with the updated church calendar and fixes several bugs.

Versions 2.16 and 2.17 have quickly followed to fix bugs in this latest version.

FAQ#7 - How can I install the Stake Central on my Kindle Fire or other device not supported by the Android Market?

Stake Central has been removed from the Android Play Store and is no longer available from my website. The church app, LDS Tools now provides most of the features that Stake Central provided.  

I have not chosen to publish the app in the Amazon Appstore. You can however download the app for free from my website and install it directly to your device. Here are the instructions.

1. Go to your device's home screen, press the menu button and click on Settings and then Application Settings. Enable the "Unknown Sources" option.  For the Amazon Kindle, click on the settings icon at the top of the screen (it looks like a gear cog). Click on More... and then on Device. Change the setting "Allow Installation of Applications from Unknown Sources" to On.
2. Open the browser on your device and browse http://stakecentral.com/Downloads/sc2download.php?key=kindlefire. This will download the app to your device.
3. From the browser's downloads page, click on the .apk link to install the app on your phone. On the Kindle Fire, access the downloads page by clicking on the menu icon at the bottom of the screen (it looks like the top of a box with three horizontal lines) and click Downloads.

FAQ#1 I am getting incomplete downloads, no membership or calendar data

Your app is likely configured to use the classic lds.org membership and calendar data. The app uses csv files on the church's classic site to provide membership and calendar data. The csv downloads have either been disabled recently or there is a problem on the classic site that is preventing everyone from downloading using the old website. There is nothing I can do about this unfortunately.

You can verify this yourself from your PC by going to the classic site, https://secure.lds.org/units/login/0,8029,779-1,00.html, and logging in. Click on Membership Directory or Ward Calendar and then the "csv" link in the upper right corner of the window. I suspect that you will see the following error: You must be a member of this ward or stake to view this page

Your only option to get the app functioning, unless the church re-enables csv downloads, is to change your app settings and enable "New LDS.org directory? and "New LDS.org calendar". Click menu, settings and check the boxes next to those options. Then try downloading again.  If you do not see these options, then you need to download the latest app from the Android Market.

FAQ#2: Why can't I download the app from the Android Market?

Stake Central has been removed from the Android Play Store and is no longer available from my website. The church app, LDS Tools now provides most of the features that Stake Central provides. 

I purchased Stake Central but it will not download from the Android Market.

Answer: Let me start by saying this is a very frustrating problem that all Android developers face. The purchase and downloading of apps is beyond my control. However, here are some suggestions that have worked for others.

First, have you set up your Google Checkout Account? Login to http://checkout.google.com with the Google Account you used to set up your phone. Be sure that a valid credit card is on file, that it has not expired and that it does not have internet restrictions.

Second, did you receive an order confirmation email from Google? This will be sent to the email address associated with your Google Account used to set up your phone. If not, double check that your Google Checkout account is setup properly (see above).

Third, be sure you have good 3G or WiFi coverage when you try it. If you tried with Wifi enabled, try disabling it.

Fourth, try canceling the order and purchasing again. (Let me know if you get charged twice and I will refund it).

Finally, and, this is a bizzare suggestion but I see it repeatedly in the Android support forums. Try opening the Google Talk app, sign in and then try downloading the app again.

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Android+Market/thread?tid=2c0fe2bff2d6c352&hl=en 
http://www.droidforums.net/forum/droid-x-tech-issues/71615-markets-issues.html

I believe that everyone who experiences this does eventually get it to work. Sometimes it just takes time. If you are fed up and just want it now, send me an email (click the link below) including your order number and I will send you a link to download the app from my website.

-->

FAQ#3: The app is unable to login to retrieve lds.org data. What is wrong?

The following steps have helped everyone who has had trouble logging in to successfully retrieve their stake/ward information.

1. From your phone's internet browser, navigate to lds.org and click on the Tools Menu and then Classic LDS.org Stake and Ward Websites (shortcut - click this link). It is important that you do this from your phone (not your PC) and that you use the Classic site (not the Directory menu item).
2. After successfully logging in, log out and then restart the app. 
3. Click the phone's menu button and then Delete all Data. Then menu again and Retrieve lds.org data. 
4. Fill in your user and password you used to login via the browser and then retry the download.

If you still have trouble, please email me (click the link below).

FAQ#4: Why is the leadership or other information not current?

First, be sure you have updated your information recently. Start Stake/Ward Central, click on your phone's menu button and then Retrieve lds.org data. Press the Download button and wait for the information to download to your phone.

If, after updating the data, the leadership is still not current, remember that the Stake and Ward Central apps download your membership including leadership information from the lds.org Stake and Ward Websites. The Stake and Ward Websites do not automatically get updated when your MLS (ward computer) is updated. The organization information must be edited on the ward website by your ward clerk or someone assigned as the website administrator. You can validate this by going to lds.org and logging into the Stake and Ward Websites using your LDS account and navigating to the leadership page.

FAQ#5: Why is my calendar empty? There are no events.

In Stake Central and Ward Central version 2.10 and later the apps default to use the calendar on the new LDS.org website. It may be that your ward and/or stake has not yet adopted and transferred your calendar events to the new site. Check the LDS.org calendar (not the classic site) to see if you have events. If not, Open the app, click the menu button and then settings. Uncheck the "Use New LDS.org for Calendar". Then back out to the main menu and download your data again.

If you have trouble downloading events from the classic site (the setting above is not enabled), try this: Open the internet browser on your phone and browse to the LDS.org site. Click on Tools and then Classic LDS.org Stake/Ward Websites. Login to the classic site, using your LDS account. Again, this process must be done from your phone.  Then logout and try the data download again.

FAQ#6: Where is my phone's menu button?

The menu button is usually a physical button on your phone. Android generally supports four physical buttons: Home, Menu, Back and Search. On the Droid/X the menu button is the one on the far left. On the Droid it is second from the left. Press this button while the app is running and you will see the Stake/Ward Central menu.

Stake/Ward Central 2.13

Version 2.13
- Fixes problem with 'Today' when using the classic calendar.

Version 2.12
- Fixes problems with all day events in the calendar being displayed on the wrong day. This fix requires you to re-download your calendar data.
- Adds more help for when no data is available in the calendar.
- Better handling for switching between old and new calendar.
- Fixes a problem displaying an individual whose name ends in a quote character.

Version 2.11
- Fix force close when calendar is empty
- Fix 'Today' in calendar view

Version 2.10
New LDS.org Calendar is now enabled.

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