Man Skirt Brewtimer. Testers, plz?

I'm a Beersmith user, and find it odd that there is no built-in timer. So I thought I'd write one as a way to practice my C# and ASP.NET skillz. Turns out I learned a bunch of Javacscript, too.

What it does is loads in an exported BeerXML file and lets you pick your recipe. You then get a timer that shows you what ingredients to add when. In Beersmith you click on File->Export As...



So I need you guys to bang on this a bit and let me know how it works, and if you think it's useful. If so, I'll keep developing it into something cool. Obviously right now things are just tossed up on the page to get stuff to work. It may also work with BeerXML exported from other programs. Please let me know if you try it.

If you break it, please let me know what you did and as much detail as you can - full recipe, browser, etc.

Here is the link.



Thanks!

-Joe

i think you need to try running it from another computer. it's not exactly working quite like designed, i'd think.

lumpher said:

i think you need to try running it from another computer. it's not exactly working quite like designed, i'd think.

Click to expand...

Thanks, but I have no idea what that means. Is it doing something weird? Is the timer not counting down? Is it displaying funny? Is the text unreadable? Setting your monitor on fire? Molesting your cat?

I've tried it on at least 3 computers, and it does what I expect it to, so you'll have to help me out a little.

Thank you,

-Joe

Oops just noticed it displays the next addition 59 seconds early. I guess that's what you meant, lumpher?

I didn't see it in my testing because I was using seconds so I wouldn't have to sit around and wait full minutes. Hooray for finding bugs

-Joe

Just tried to see if I could break it and I did it.

I had some candi sugar that I checked to add after the boil and I got this error.

Just ran down the timer for a chocolate stout I'm getting ready to brew. T was playing with Stop / Start thinking maybe it could use a reset button but then I thought no you just load the file again but when I did I got
Unable to load file
System.Xml.XmlException: Root element is missing. at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.Throw(Exception e) at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.ThrowWithoutLineInfo(String res) at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.ParseDocumentContent() at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.Read() at System.Xml.XmlLoader.Load(XmlDocument doc, XmlReader reader, Boolean preserveWhitespace) at System.Xml.XmlDocument.Load(XmlReader reader) at System.Xml.XmlDocument.Load(Stream inStream) at _Default.UploadFile(Object sender, EventArgs e)

Wasn't paying attention. I clicked Load File button without choosing a file. That's what causes the error. Looks like reset can be done by simply choosing a different recipe then re-selecting the original recipe.

Ed: it should just ignore "after boil" things. The crash is weird. Any chance you could email me that XML file? manskirtbrew at gmail.

Bithead: yes, that's exactly the expected behavior. I haven't implemented a real reset yet.

Thanks for breaking things guys

-Joe

What do you guys think of the concept? Does it seem like a good idea?

I'm going to optionally have pop-ups and sounds for the various additions. Possibly store the recipes in a cookie so you don't have to reload them every time.

I'd like to hook it directly into Beersmith, but I don't know the format of their files.

-Joe

it's a good idea, for sure.

I have found and used something similar that I found on the web. But, it did not read in beer XML files.

Coincidentally, I have a friend who is trying to write this same sort of app for the iPhone and has nothing nice at all to say about beer XML. The "standard" is not well defined and has been the biggest problem for him with the program.

Yep, great idea. I like the ability to use the existing recipe rather than load the additions manually into my timer.

Posted an update. You now get a popup window with the next addition when it's time. You can also have an alarm sound play to wake you from your beer stupor.

-Joe

Appears to be some shenanigans in Internet Explorer (such a surprise). Working on it...

-Joe

Using Chrome, the pop up window pops up behind the main browser window.

Thanks Bithead. I've seen that happen randomly on other browsers as well. Unfortunately, I have no control over that from the code.

I do seem to have the IE issue licked. Stupid IE. I'll try to upload it tonight or tomorrow morning.

-Joe

Posted the new version. I'm now testing in IE, Firefox and Chrome on Windows. I don't have a Linux box or Mac to test with.

Changes:
- Fixed the IE error issues.
- Cleaned up the display a bit

To be added:
- Add reset button
- Move the timer parts to the side pane
- Make it pop-outable
- Suggestions?

-Joe

I downloaded an XML from a Beersmith file and it worked perfectly. To bad I can't save my BTP files as XML and use the program - tried but failed. Worked on a Mac with Firefox!

Cool, thanks for the update. If you could, please send me that BTP XML file to [email protected].

Thanks!

-Joe

Thanks for sending me that, samc. I got it working with that XML file, at least on my systems. Let me know if you try it again.

Some other small improvements. Turns out the reason the pop-up window goes under the main window has to do with the alarm. If you turn it off, it should stay in front. I'm too tired to fix it tonight

-Joe

nostalgia said:

Thanks for sending me that, samc. I got it working with that XML file, at least on my systems. Let me know if you try it again.

Some other small improvements. Turns out the reason the pop-up window goes under the main window has to do with the alarm. If you turn it off, it should stay in front. I'm too tired to fix it tonight

-Joe

Click to expand...

Worked fine this time. Did you change something or was it just a gremlin in my system?

It was a quirk in the XML format. Beersmith uses DISPLAY_AMOUNT to show the amount of hops in ounces (or whatever). BTP does not.

However, they both have an AMOUNT field, which contains the amount in Kilograms. So I just had to do a little extra work and convert.

-Joe

I like it. Definitely need the 'loop sound' option. I need lots of prompting to put down my beer and go do something.

Some expansion ideas:

A radio button to switch between mash timing and boil timing. Mash timer could list off all the grains like the boil timer lists hops

Add calculated boil starting and finishing sg for reference
Maybe add a countdown 'current gravity'? That would help with any additions to hit the final gravity.

nostalgia said:

It was a quirk in the XML format. Beersmith uses DISPLAY_AMOUNT to show the amount of hops in ounces (or whatever). BTP does not.

However, they both have an AMOUNT field, which contains the amount in Kilograms. So I just had to do a little extra work and convert.

-Joe

Click to expand...

Which is a stupid stupid field that shouldn't even been in the BeerXML spec. They only have it for hops, not fermentables and the XML should hold just data not display information anyway.

But to continue my rant (I'm the one Walker was talking about above) BTP doesn't bother to export your mash schedule.

BTP also will export ingredients that are shown in the recipe creation tool but you have unchecked. In BTP this means that BTP doesn't use that ingredient for any calculations and therefore isn't really a part of the recipe. But there isn't any way in BeerXML to indicate "not really a part of the recipe" so BTP really shouldn't export those ingredients at all.

Joe, when we're both closer to being done (I have maybe a weeks worth or work tops left) want to compare notes and see if we can't present a united front to BeerXML and the app designers?

idahoDal said:

BTP also will export ingredients that are shown in the recipe creation tool but you have unchecked. In BTP this means that BTP doesn't use that ingredient for any calculations and therefore isn't really a part of the recipe. But there isn't any way in BeerXML to indicate "not really a part of the recipe" so BTP really shouldn't export those ingredients at all.

Click to expand...

Yeah that is a pain, you have to go and delete the unused ingredients first.

I use Linux, but I don't use Beersmith. I'd be glad to test it in Linux if someone would like to send me some BeerXML files, or direct me to where I could obtain some.

Sure Dal, that sounds good. I didn't even know there was a BeerXML spec I was just going by the content and hoping for the best so far

-Joe

If you need Mac testers let me know, I think I can export in XML from Beer Alchemy.

Tim

BeerXML spec and some examples are located here: http://www.beerxml.com/

For testing my app I've been using the following XML. Its slightly tweaked in that I took out some, but not all of the, stuff that I didn't care about. You'll notice that the mash and boil times are really close together, makes testing way faster that way.

http://bonemopbrewing.com/BigWillyIPA.xml