Baltz, Philip
2006-05-26 14:45:01 UTC
Below is a message which was posted on 4/13/06 with some suggestions for
how BitPim should handle detection notification and taskbar operation.
I would like to second the thoughts below and expand on them a bit.
I'm using a PM-325 so all of my experiences relate to it's operation
with BitPim.
I have autosync turned on and have noticed that if I connect the phone
after BitPim is started then the autosync completes fine (after I close
the phone detection dialog box). However if I connect the phone and
then start up BitPim the phone does not autosync. It seems to me like
BitPim should autosync any time it detects a new phone including when
BitPim starts up.
Here's how I would like to use BitPim. I want to put BitPim in my
Windows startup folder so that it will start automatically when I power
my computer. Then I'd like it to minimize to the taskbar without any
intervention from me. If I plug in my phone I'd like it to autosync,
again with no intervention on my part and indicate when that is done.
What I think needs to be added to BitPim to accomplish this is the
following:
1) Ability to start minimized.
2) Ability to disable the detection notification dialog box so that I
don't have to click OK when I connect my phone, or NO if I start up with
no phone connected.
3) Status indication in the task bar. Perhaps two colored "lights"
could be used to indicate connection status and activity. Make the
connection light grey if no phone is connected, red during detection,
and green when detection is complete. Make the activity light grey when
idle, and red during activity. This way a user would be able to tell if
they can disconnect a phone without messing up a transfer.
I think these additions could help improve the usability of BitPim.
Unfortunately I'm not a Windows programmer so I can't offer solutions to
the suggestions but I hope one of the developers agrees with my proposal
and can find the time to implement it.
Thanks for all the work on BitPim.
-phil
------------------------------------------------------------------
i would like to make a suggestion for bitpim's phone detection
(failure/success) messages.
currently bitpim pops up msgbox type dialog boxes each time that the
phone
is detected and even when it is not detected.
scenario #1: bitpim is minimized to the system tray or the taskbar.
you
connect your phone. you receive a popup error dialog and you click the
no
button to avoid running settings. you walk away. 10 seconds later the
phone is detected and another popup dialog expresses the detection
success... but you aren't there to click "ok". now say you are gone
for 10
minutes. technically during this time bitpim isn't able to do anything
else
because you haven't clicked "ok"... any new calendar events will not be
sync'ed to the phone until after you click "ok". then the phone reboots
and
you could have missed your scheduled task. this happened to me
recently,
but i was only gone for a minute. i watched my phone closely... as
soon as
i clicked "ok", that is when autosync finally kicked in, eventually
rebooting my phone (as expected).
scenario #2: bitpim is running and you have disconnected/reconnected
your
phone 4 or 5 times. you will see at least 4 or 5 success messages, and
possibly 4 or 5 failure messages, all cascading over the top of each
other
forcing you to click "ok" or "no" (respectively) until all of the popups
are
finally closed.
i personally would rather not see any popups, maybe that can be an
option
for each user. i would instead prefer to see an indicator of some sort
that
shows the phone detection status, success or failure. maybe this could
be
done simply with a small green/red circle/bulb image of some sort. or
maybe
it could be spelled out in text along the bottom of the main bitpim
window
in the status bar... maybe green text for success, red for failure.
i'm not sure how you would want to handle it, i just know that as soon
as i
see an option to NOT show popup messages for phone detection messages,
i'm
checking it :)
thanks again for all of your hard work... bitpm pwns me...
-sgt
how BitPim should handle detection notification and taskbar operation.
I would like to second the thoughts below and expand on them a bit.
I'm using a PM-325 so all of my experiences relate to it's operation
with BitPim.
I have autosync turned on and have noticed that if I connect the phone
after BitPim is started then the autosync completes fine (after I close
the phone detection dialog box). However if I connect the phone and
then start up BitPim the phone does not autosync. It seems to me like
BitPim should autosync any time it detects a new phone including when
BitPim starts up.
Here's how I would like to use BitPim. I want to put BitPim in my
Windows startup folder so that it will start automatically when I power
my computer. Then I'd like it to minimize to the taskbar without any
intervention from me. If I plug in my phone I'd like it to autosync,
again with no intervention on my part and indicate when that is done.
What I think needs to be added to BitPim to accomplish this is the
following:
1) Ability to start minimized.
2) Ability to disable the detection notification dialog box so that I
don't have to click OK when I connect my phone, or NO if I start up with
no phone connected.
3) Status indication in the task bar. Perhaps two colored "lights"
could be used to indicate connection status and activity. Make the
connection light grey if no phone is connected, red during detection,
and green when detection is complete. Make the activity light grey when
idle, and red during activity. This way a user would be able to tell if
they can disconnect a phone without messing up a transfer.
I think these additions could help improve the usability of BitPim.
Unfortunately I'm not a Windows programmer so I can't offer solutions to
the suggestions but I hope one of the developers agrees with my proposal
and can find the time to implement it.
Thanks for all the work on BitPim.
-phil
------------------------------------------------------------------
i would like to make a suggestion for bitpim's phone detection
(failure/success) messages.
currently bitpim pops up msgbox type dialog boxes each time that the
phone
is detected and even when it is not detected.
scenario #1: bitpim is minimized to the system tray or the taskbar.
you
connect your phone. you receive a popup error dialog and you click the
no
button to avoid running settings. you walk away. 10 seconds later the
phone is detected and another popup dialog expresses the detection
success... but you aren't there to click "ok". now say you are gone
for 10
minutes. technically during this time bitpim isn't able to do anything
else
because you haven't clicked "ok"... any new calendar events will not be
sync'ed to the phone until after you click "ok". then the phone reboots
and
you could have missed your scheduled task. this happened to me
recently,
but i was only gone for a minute. i watched my phone closely... as
soon as
i clicked "ok", that is when autosync finally kicked in, eventually
rebooting my phone (as expected).
scenario #2: bitpim is running and you have disconnected/reconnected
your
phone 4 or 5 times. you will see at least 4 or 5 success messages, and
possibly 4 or 5 failure messages, all cascading over the top of each
other
forcing you to click "ok" or "no" (respectively) until all of the popups
are
finally closed.
i personally would rather not see any popups, maybe that can be an
option
for each user. i would instead prefer to see an indicator of some sort
that
shows the phone detection status, success or failure. maybe this could
be
done simply with a small green/red circle/bulb image of some sort. or
maybe
it could be spelled out in text along the bottom of the main bitpim
window
in the status bar... maybe green text for success, red for failure.
i'm not sure how you would want to handle it, i just know that as soon
as i
see an option to NOT show popup messages for phone detection messages,
i'm
checking it :)
thanks again for all of your hard work... bitpm pwns me...
-sgt