Android App: NSDroid

[Laevendell]

This is the information page for the NationStates Android app NSDroid, here in these forums.
My aim with this app is to make NationStates more accessible and easier to use on an Android device.
If you have any suggestions for improvements or new features, please let me know in this thread.

Link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.limewoodmedia.nsdroid

Currently supported functions include:
* An overview of recent events in your nation and region, as well as the last RMB message
* General information on your nation and other nations, including charts for People, Government and Economy
* See and answer issues for your nation (previous issue choices done in the app are marked)
* General information on your region and other regions, including World Factbook Entry
* Read and post to your Regional Message Board
* Information from the World Assembly and the possibility to vote on proposals
* Regional officers listed
* Embassies for each region, including invitations, requests etc.
* Move between regions
* Intra-app links for nations, regions and RMB's
* Automatic updating of your region's RMB with a message for when there are new messages (recommended setting (if on) of at least 30 minutes)
* Automatic checking of issues
* Access your dossier to keep track of other nations and regions
* Keep track of your puppets with a nations list
* Read news from nationstates.net
* Search the world for nations and regions and see the featured region of the day

Interface languages:
* English
* Spanish

MIT-license, code available at https://code.google.com/p/nsdroid/.

Some screenshots:


List of planned features:
* Nation census values
* Viewing and creating factbooks/dispatches
* Changing your nation settings
* Creating a new nation

Telegrams are currently prohibited according to the scripting rules, though I'm checking with the admins if it could be OK for this app.

[[violet]]

Wow, when it rains, it pours!

Nice work.

[Laevendell]

Wow, when it rains, it pours!

Nice work.

Thank you very much!

[Esternial]

On first sight, it seems to have a very streamlined design.

I don't know what streamlined means, though, but this app has it.

[Ruridova]

Might I ask if an Apple app is in the works?

[Laevendell]

Might I ask if an Apple app is in the works?

Sure you might!
It isn't though, I develop for Android, the web, general Java, Python and probably for the upcoming Firefox, Ubuntu and Sailfish mobile OS's, but not for Apple, sorry.

[Ruridova]

Might I ask if an Apple app is in the works?

Sure you might!
It isn't though, I develop for Android, the web, general Java, Python and probably for the upcoming Firefox, Ubuntu and Sailfish mobile OS's, but not for Apple, sorry.

Darn.

[Scoochi2]

Sure you might!
It isn't though, I develop for Android, the web, general Java, Python and probably for the upcoming Firefox, Ubuntu and Sailfish mobile OS's, but not for Apple, sorry.

Darn.

That's not to say nobody else is though, it's just that nobody has announced it.
The problem in developing iOS apps is the cost.
I looked into it a while ago. For me personally, IIRC there are three price barriers. Not sure how accurate my memory is though:

1. You can only develop on a mac (£1000?)
2. You need an iPhone/pad/pod to test properly (£400?)
3. You need a licence from Apple to develop/publish apples (£100?)

If people want to club together and donate £1500 then I might think about it
Or maybe there are existing iOS developers that don't have as many (if any) expenses and wish to create the app.

[Laevendell]

Indeed, if you've submitted yourself to learning the Objective C language Apple require, you still have lots of costs (if you're not an Apple user, at least) and submitting apps to Apple's app store is not as easy as to Google Play.

I've found some style bugs for Gingerbread (which uses a different theme than later versions) and I'm fixing them now.
Please let me know in this thread if you find any bugs (and send crash reports via Google Play if you find crashes).

[Everbeek]

Darn.

That's not to say nobody else is though, it's just that nobody has announced it.
The problem in developing iOS apps is the cost.
I looked into it a while ago. For me personally, IIRC there are three price barriers. Not sure how accurate my memory is though:

1. You can only develop on a mac (£1000?)
2. You need an iPhone/pad/pod to test properly (£400?)
3. You need a licence from Apple to develop/publish apples (£100?)

If people want to club together and donate £1500 then I might think about it
Or maybe there are existing iOS developers that don't have as many (if any) expenses and wish to create the app.

That third cost is a yearly cost, too, not a one-off thing.

[San Leggera]

I noticed the WA badge in your app screenshot says 'WORLD ASSEMBLY' rather than 'WA MEMBER'. Does the same go for the delegate badge?

[Laevendell]

I noticed the WA badge in your app screenshot says 'WORLD ASSEMBLY' rather than 'WA MEMBER'. Does the same go for the delegate badge?

You've got an eye for details!
It was actually a miss on my part, forgetting about WA Delegates, it's fixed in the latest version I'm about to upload (1.0.3), along with the Gingerbread display issues and some other minor visual oddities. In this version it says "WA Member" / "WA Delegate" or there is no badge (for non-members).

Edit: New version uploaded, should appear soon.

[Menassa]

How does this relate and flow with the only important part of NS the forums?

[Laevendell]

How does this relate and flow with the only important part of NS the forums?

No forum support currently and none planned for the foreseeable future, as I'm not sure how to do that.
There is Tapatalk if you want to access the forums on your mobile device outside of the browser. There doesn't appear to be any open source alternatives.
Or did you have something else in mind regarding forum integration?

[Esternial]

How does this relate and flow with the only important part of NS the forums?

No forum support currently and none planned for the foreseeable future, as I'm not sure how to do that.
There is Tapatalk if you want to access the forums on your mobile device outside of the browser. There doesn't appear to be any open source alternatives.
Or did you have something else in mind regarding forum integration?

You could check out another app and 'borrow' some of their coding.

Or would that be illegal.

Maybe not if they don't find out

[The Blaatschapen]

Darn.

That's not to say nobody else is though, it's just that nobody has announced it.
The problem in developing iOS apps is the cost.
I looked into it a while ago. For me personally, IIRC there are three price barriers. Not sure how accurate my memory is though:

1. You can only develop on a mac (£1000?)
2. You need an iPhone/pad/pod to test properly (£400?)
3. You need a licence from Apple to develop/publish apples (£100?)

If people want to club together and donate £1500 then I might think about it
Or maybe there are existing iOS developers that don't have as many (if any) expenses and wish to create the app.

I have access to a mac at work. I don't know about the license and if I can work under it while not being officially 'working' (unless you want the code both proprietary and me charging for it). So that leaves an iphone/pad thingy to buy to test on.

400-500 euros(pending if I need a license). And you have to find a way for me to get motivated to actually work on a mac

[Laevendell]

You could check out another app and 'borrow' some of their coding.

Or would that be illegal.

Maybe not if they don't find out

I think it would still be illegal, even if they didn't find out.
If the code is proprietary, of course. The Tapatalk app costs just $3 and it seems to be good (I haven't used it myself), so unless someone wants to create a true Open Source project for forum access in an app, I'd say that is your best bet.

I'll probably be adding embassies to regions next (so you can tour the world from region to region in the app!) and when the new telegram system is implemented here on NS, that's probably what I'll try to integrate next. When anything is done depends on when I have time. I do have other work to do as well.

[Laevendell]

I've now added an embassies list, reachable from the region view.
You'll see all current, invited, requested etc. embassies and be able to browse to the region in question.
You can also filter them by type.
I've also fixed a few bugs, like the app crashing when a region doesn't have a flag.
It should be up on Google Play soon.

[GraySoap]

Thanks for the very reasonable license and functional little app.

[Laevendell]

I've added history navigation controls to the RMB view, so you can now go back and forth in the "pages" of the RMB.
You can also jump to a specific offset (e.g. 56 pages back) by clicking on the number in between the arrows.
The new version should be available on Google Play soon.

[Laevendell]

The latest version now features optional automatic polling of the RMB, accessible in the settings. This option checks the RMB of your region at a specified interval (default is off). Remember that frequent polling drains the battery, so the recommended setting (if you intend to use it) is at least a 30 minute interval. This is an experimental feature that may change or be removed later if there are problems with it.

There will probably be a lapse in development of this app for a time now, due to low interest from users and a lack of time on my part (I should really work on other projects). When the new telegram system has settled in and rules and the API have been decided, I will probably work on including support for that in the app.

The new version should be available soon on Google Play.

[Mahaj]

I wonder if this is the first "new" feature that we've seen, that isn't just another way of looking at current NS features.

Exciting!

[McMasterdonia]

Excellent work!

[Laevendell]

I wonder if this is the first "new" feature that we've seen, that isn't just another way of looking at current NS features.

Exciting!

I'm considering what other features might be possible as well as useful, but right now the plan is to add polling for issues (just before updates) and telegrams (when you can read them in the app).

Excellent work!

Thank you!

I uploaded a new version with mostly minor quick fixes:
* The app now makes fewer calls when fetching info on your home region
* There is now support for deleted messages on the RMB

[Genovany]

I would pay money for this, how about you NSG?