BeerSmith Android Brew Buddy

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Cant remember exactly, but if you look in the help file it says the default, should be something like this: /android/data/com.BrewBuddy/files/Recipes

Should also have something like sdcard in front od android
 
A few things....

Specifying a different folder breaks it. I can browse the folder but after i try and load a file it crashes. Even tried specifying the default folder and it would crash.

Uninstalled and reinstalled to use the default folder and it is looking for .../files/recipes/ but it only created the files folder so i had to create the recipes folder and put my file in there and it worked. Might be nice if it automatically created the recipes folder since thats where it's looking.

But i was able to get my recipe to load and it looks good so far! My recipe is a full mash with batch sparge but the sparge steps dont show. Would be nice to see those. Outside of that, i love the look and feel on my tablet. I'm pumped about your progress, great work.
 
Not sure if this is the right place to put a request for a feature, but here goes...

I know this has been asked for before but I wanted to add my voice to the chrous. Nothing is more annoying than when I go to the store to purchase my ingredients to find out they are out of something. Or maybe the hops AA don't match exactly, or they don't have exactly the right malts, or yeast. A feature to have the recipe on my phone and be able to at the store specify which ingredients they are out of, and the put a replacement and have it calculate how much of the replacement I need to keep the recipe as close to the original as possible would be fantastic. Maybe it could also suggest the closest replacements for me?

Anyway, it seems like some great progress is being made on this, and I look forward to the day it works on 2.3 as well as syncs across with BeerSmith.

Keep up the great work!
 
Thanks for the very accurate description of the problem, Ill check it out and see what is the problem im pretty sure I know it though


As for the request on the editing feature, I have it on my list, but only as a possible feature after the beersmith cloud is released. Without having access to the database of ingredients from beersmith that would be a very difficult feature to add, it is on my list to look into eventually though, but its imoortant to remember this is a brew buddy, not a recipe editor, its made for brew day use, not as an amdroid recipe creator that is what beersmith is for
 
Hey man, thanks again for doing this. I've got it running on my Galaxy Nexus, and it looks nice. I'm leaving town soon so I won't really get the chance to play with this until next week or so.
 
Thanks for the very accurate description of the problem, Ill check it out and see what is the problem im pretty sure I know it though


As for the request on the editing feature, I have it on my list, but only as a possible feature after the beersmith cloud is released. Without having access to the database of ingredients from beersmith that would be a very difficult feature to add, it is on my list to look into eventually though, but its imoortant to remember this is a brew buddy, not a recipe editor, its made for brew day use, not as an amdroid recipe creator that is what beersmith is for

Completley understand! I am just hoping that once the BeerSmith cloud version is released that it can be added so that it would be a Brew Day / Shopping buddy. Being able to figure out equivalencies for hops, yeast, malt, grain, etc... would be amazing...

Last week we went to the LHBS to get UK Goldings that had an AA of 4%. When we got there all they had were US Kent Goldings that had an AA of 6.5%. Being aple to plug that into a brew buddy on my phone into the recipe and have it tell me the change in IBU if I use the same amount, or what I need to change to keep my IBU the same would be fantastic.

But again, I understand needing access to a cloud version of the databases in BeerSmith to make this work. Can't wait to try it out on my phone, either when support for 2.3 gets added or when my phone finally gets ICS!
 
Just made an update: Fixed the local folder problem, and dropbox should work now. Dont donate anything yet, still need to test that, but it should be working
 
Yup, that portion works now too. Just need the sparge process fixed and i am a happy camper so far. I'll be giving it a test run friday night. I'll do it side by side with beersmith just in case i see anything wonky. Thanks for the hard work, i will gladly donate/pay for this.
 
Yup, that portion works now too. Just need the sparge process fixed and i am a happy camper so far. I'll be giving it a test run friday night. I'll do it side by side with beersmith just in case i see anything wonky. Thanks for the hard work, i will gladly donate/pay for this.

Trying to find how BeerSmith outputs the sparge in their software and BrewSteps, what mash profile are you using and how does it show it in beersmith
 
Single infusion, medium body, batch sparge, also using the option of draining the mash tun before sparging. Attached is a screen shot, I can also email you my beersmith file if that makes it easier for you.

bs.jpg
 
There isnt any clear data in the bsmx files for this. Im going to have to email him to see how he figures this out in order to implement. Im emailing him already to try and get involved on the beta for the cloud service so Ill include this.
 
Adeering said:
Would love if I could make a living making apps, but unfortunately im in the military as a pilot which means I have very little time

Thanks for the app, still playing with it. But more importantly thank you for your service
 
It's probably a simple formula based on grain weight, plus grain absorption. But it might involve several since there are a lot of options. So that part may be tough.
 
yeah, ive learned a lot by making this app, I do simple BIAB partials for my batches, its easier and I just replace the base grain with extract so as to keep the customization of all grain. But I didnt realize how complex all grain can get depending on technique. You should see my test recipe, I made a recipe with everytype of grain, grain addition, hop addition, misc type, yeast to try and get every scenario covered. I know I missed a few but I think I got the majority of it.

Back on topic, Im about 90% sure the donations work, waiting for my brother to get off work because I cant test them with my account (wont let me buy from myself). Have done a few modifications already, and starting work on making it 2.3 compatible
 
I'm still not able to load recipes from Dropbox - I'm able to get to the folder, but when I try to open an exported BSMX recipe, the app force closes. :(
 
I'm still not able to load recipes from Dropbox - I'm able to get to the folder, but when I try to open an exported BSMX recipe, the app force closes. :(

Huh thats weird, works fine on my device, and its not the dropbox anymore, cause that is activated now. If you could give me some more info that would be great. What device are you using, what version of android, and then report the error to android so I can see the error log that would be great.


This is the problem with android, while I love it so much more than iphone, because there are so many versions its hard to plan for everything.
 
Adeering said:
Huh thats weird, works fine on my device, and its not the dropbox anymore, cause that is activated now. If you could give me some more info that would be great. What device are you using, what version of android, and then report the error to android so I can see the error log that would be great.

This is the problem with android, while I love it so much more than iphone, because there are so many versions its hard to plan for everything.

It works for me but i had to login to dropbox and go to apps/brew buddy and then create a new folder called recipes and put it in there. After that i was able to connect and view the recipe fine.
 
Is there an iOS version in the future?

No iOS version in the future from me. I dont own nor do I like iOS so no on the that front. Now I know that BeerSmith is looking to release official versions for both, which mine might end up going into cooperation for the android version, but not sure with the iOS. They are too restrictive and expensive for me. It cost money to program an app for iphone, even if you dont plan on selling it. Plus I dont have an iphone, mac, or any of the required software (mainly a mac cause last I checked you cant program on a PC) to do it
 
Not sure if this was covered in another posting previously, but if I export my hardware, grain inventory, etc. from BeerSmith 2.x, can I import that into the Brew Buddy?? I have an Android powered Acer A500 tablet running 3.2.x which I'd really like to use with this software. I also have an Acer W500 tablet, that has BeerSmith installed on (running Windows 8)... Windows 8 is far better (in my testing so far) than Windows 7 was for tablets. But, I'd like the option of using the Android tablet, since it's a little thinner and lighter (plus better battery life)...

BTW, Adeering, I'm with you 150% on not supporting iOS and the toys that use it. :eek: I sold my last apple computer almost two years ago and don't miss it one bit. I hope to be able to unload my ipod's at some point in the near future too. I could transfer most of my music to my Droid Razr phone, for listening to tunes while away from home. But, unfortunately, the stereo system in my truck is still tied to an ipod for the music. I'm looking into changing that before the end of this year. If I could get something that would use my Droid Razr instead, I'd be very happy.
 
It works for me but i had to login to dropbox and go to apps/brew buddy and then create a new folder called recipes and put it in there. After that i was able to connect and view the recipe fine.

I did all of that, but when it goes to actually open the bsmx file it force closes.

Adeering, I've been submitting the crash reports - do you receive those?
 
I did all of that, but when it goes to actually open the bsmx file it force closes.

Adeering, I've been submitting the crash reports - do you receive those?

I do get the crash reports, sometimes it takes awhile for it to update on the site though. If you could tell me the device and android version you are running that would help some in trying to figure it out
 
@MisterPhoton- I think I found the problem and working on fixing it, Does your recipe have a yeast item in it? Make sure your recipe has at least a yeast, misc, grain, hop and then try. If that is the problem its an easy fix.
 
Just updated with newest version, inApp Billing for donations works, fixed all the initial bugs I had reported, keep reporting them. Enjoy
 
So You asked for it and Im delivering, it should work, but like the previous releases, please report any crashes and put as good a description as possible.

Newest update (and last one for the week since Ive put off a research paper long enough :rolleyes: ) includes Android 2.3.3 support. Once I figured it out and changed how I managed the settings and the inapp billing (which was a ***** by the way). Changing to support 2.3 was fairly easy with one hurdle that eclipse caused. After looking at it on my phone (which uses 2.2 and is unstable with it, has a problem with how I do some time conversions for the timers) some of the font is a little small so that will be on my list of things to adjust to make it a little easier on the eyes, but its functional so have at it.

Once again here is the link:

Brew Buddy
 
Thats weird, it might take awhile for the market to actually update, I just uploaded the new file for it. In my developer console it says both devices are acceptable. Give it a few hours, if it isnt available by tomorrow shoot me a PM and ill look further into it

Edit: Yeah the new version is 2.0 it hasnt updated yet on the market, keep checking and as soon as you see version 2.0 under description it should be good to go
 
So mine updated and looks like 2.3.7 is the required version with the current compilier, so unfortunately I cannot go any lower than that and have it function reliably. However, most phones are suppose to be at that level already
 
My phone is brand new and is NOT at 2.3.7... I actually just had it check for updates, and there are none for it.

Also, on my Acer A500 tablet, it crashes every time I open one recipe (likes others though) which is an issue since that's one coming up pretty soon.

Something else that should be worked on is not having it locked into horizontal/landscape orientation. I like to use portrait orientation for these kinds of things, especially when I want to read more of the screen. It also keeps jumping to the next entry field when I want to scroll through the 'brew steps' page. VERY annoying. Especially when it brings up the keyboard looking for entry.
 
I got the update, looking good. Running it on my HTC sensation with ICS and my galaxy tab 10.1 with Gingerbread. Donate works, ads gone!
 
@Golddiggie- Did you try to install it on your phone, it says the Razr is supported so it should work. Are you reporting the issue with that one recipe, whats different about that recipe versus others? As for landscape, its the most efficient method to display the info. If I find a way to make a layout in portrait and not have it be over crowded I will but as for now, landscape is just what is needed.
Not sure on the next entry, if you hit next/enter it will do that but if you hit the back key it exits out. Not much I can do about that, that is an android thing

Edit: Pretty sure I found the problem, anywhere I use a value for calculation I have to make sure it initializes and at least has a zero value or it returns an error. Little things like this are going to keep popping up for awhile, as I cant test every possible recipe combination to make sure it works. Thanks for the info and reporting it. Will have it fixed in next update, for now all i can say is you have a null value for either equipment boil vol or equipment boil off in your recipe or you dont have any equipment period.

@cperry - Glad you enjoy it, should only get better, just got on the beta for the cloud and going to start trying to figure out how to access the cloud recipes next. Glad the donate works like it should
 
When I find it within the google store, it says "Your device isn't compatible with this item." and I have no install option...

As for not needing portrait mode... Not true, not even close to being true. I use BeerSmith that way on brew-day with my Windows tablet so that I can see more items at one time. Being able to shift between, IMO, is a critical function. Try BeerSmith in both aspects and you'll see it can be done. Even if you make it so that people pan left/right to see everything that's being displayed.

As for the entry item, I'm not even CLOSE to the field and the cursor becomes active and the keyboard comes up (since it's an entry field)...

Do you have a 10" Android powered tablet to test with? If so, which OS version is it running? I would also suggest seeing how BeerSmith runs on a 10" tablet so that you have something to compare with.

There's nothing different about the recipe that crashes the app. I exported it the same as the others. It uses some grains that I've entered into BeerSmith, but so do other recipes. I've also entered in the yeast (1882-pc) since it wasn't in the regular listing.

I do think that you need to have a way to enter in additional ingredient items that we've entered into BeerSmith. I have added hops, grains, yeasts, and some misc items that were not in there before. I've also customized the hardware profiles to match what I have and use...
 
@Golddiggie, well Im not sure about why the edit text fields are coming up like that, it has to be something with your tablet. Im currently testing this on a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 running android 3.2. I do not have that problem at all so not entirely sure what the problem is.

As for portrait Ill look into it. For a tablet it is pretty simple and can be done, its the phone that causes problems. The problem with it is I would either need it to scroll back and forth to keep the same structure (which isnt ideal cause its not intuitive) or completely change how I structure my app. Now I might be able to make some layouts with the selection lists across the bottom. Im not saying not going to happen, just its not a priority right now. Also, I never add more than 2-3 ingredients at any given step, so dont really see needing to be able to see your entire ingredient list except to be nice. I know some people like portrait better and its just a personnel preference.

I cant install beersmith on my tablet to try that out, cant run windows apps on it so cant really see beersmith in a portrait mode really.

Custom grains, hops, yeasts, etc are supported as well as hardware profiles. The problem you are having is an empty field that I didnt take into consideration. Got it fixed and should work in the next release (which will be soon, probably next week as I need to finish my masters paper first).

If you are meaning the ability to enter new ingredients on the android device, and editing the recipe, please reference previous post on why that isnt going to happen anytime soon. The extra calculations and code needed would take months for me to work out and complicate it.

Not sure on the compatible device problem, Ill look more into it cause 2.3 should be supported, it might be as simple as changing one thing but have to make sure it doesnt cause stability issues.
 
Got it on my Razr now... One thing I've noticed, right off the bat... The OG slider, and the others, are thicker on the phone version than the tablet version. On the tablet, the sliders are lines, on the phone, it's more like bars.

As for my Acer A500 tablet, it's stock for the OS (only have approved updates and such installed, I've not done a root to it). It's running version 3.2.1, kernel version 2.6.36.3+ with build number Acer_A500_7.014.02_com_gen2...

I don't know about the Samsung tablet, but they can't be THAT different... Also, the fields are not grabbed nearly as fast on the phone, which makes me think it's something in the settings underneath (that I cannot alter) that makes it more sensitive on the larger tablet).

I still think having it so that people can use their tablet in either orientation is a worthy item. I read books in portrait orientation, I read many files that way, I even sometimes surf the web that way. The only time I'm more inclined to switch to landscape is when I'm typing on it (with the screen keyboard).

Since you're still coding this, you can make these changes, IMO. Personally, it doesn't hit enough points for me (yet) to donate any funds. I'm also not all that inclined to use it yet, especially since I do have the full version of BeerSmith running on my Windows 8 tablet (Acer W500)... Yes, I'm running the pre-release of Windows 8 on the tablet. It's much better than Windows 7 was on it (faster boot times, really FAST boot times, more responsive, and better onscreen keyboard to name just a few enhancements).
 
@Golddiggie- To each their own, its impossible to please everyone so some people might not like how I have done it. Though like I said, portrait isnt out of the question, just not high on the priorities. As for the bars, thats a phone themeing problem. I can change it and it will be eventually, it just requires extra graphic files that i dont have at the moment. The tablets have the new holo theme, which I love but the older phones look like that.

Do the new update fix you being able to open that recipe file? If not could you send me the BSMX file you are using thats causing the problem
 
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