Pocket Informant Now at Version 5.5

[Jonathon Watkins]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pocketinformant.com/whatsnew.php?type=pocketinformant&version=550' target='_blank'>http://www.pocketinformant.com/what...ant&version=550</a><br /><br /></div>Yes, it's that time of the month/week again. The epic Pocket Informant has had another upgrade. This time it's a fairly major point revision to 5.5. On the info page I count 72 changes, including items like a brand new Category filter and filtering user interface, better support for all day appointments in different time zones , WAV alarms (set an alarm to any WAV sound file and even have new sounds automatically alarmed), icons are now VGA quality and there is a faster start-up due to architectural changes. Remember all point upgrades are free to owners of PI version 5.x, so get downloading guys.

[ctmagnus]

:clap:

I :ppclove: Pocket Informant!

[OSUKid7]

Remember all point upgrades are free to owners of PI version 5.x, so get downloading guys.Did you say FREE?! :D Is that true even with the iPaq hx4700 series PI?

edit: ah, saw this:
The HP hx470x Series iPaqs ship with Pocket Informant 5.04 in ROM. These units are licensed only to the version provided in ROM and any future ROM upgrades as HP sees fit to provide. All support for the in-ROM version is through HP. Any upgrades to the most current retail version of Pocket Informant will be at at the cost of $14.98 and will entitle the user to support from our technicians as well as all the standard entitlements provided by the retail release. We are waiting on HP to get us a better method to allow upgrades, but until then we ask that you enter a support request with your iPaq 4700x serial number and we will send you back a link to purchase the software at half price.

[pivaska]

Downloaded it, installed it, backed it up, usin' it.....perfect!

[Jonathon Watkins]

I really like PI myself. :mrgreen:

It just gets better and better.

[rmasinag]

I heart Pocket Informant!


Me too me too! :D Plus, it doesn't cause me pain like presidential elctions.

I agree, when I first plunged in PI 4.xx It was slow on my 2210 no matter what people said/I tried, but 5 restored my faith in PI. Plus it's uber kewl Agenda view still draws oohs and aahs from n00b PPC owners (me played devils advocate). And the constant updates, can't beat that.

Now I have to renew my subscription to PPCT so I can get version 6 cheap :mrgreen:

[JoshB]

The web installer isn't pulling down the new files through my corporate proxy, and the network/full installer isn't available to download. *sigh* Guess I'll have to wait a bit before I can try out the new 5.5 goodness.

[alex_kac]

Network installer should be up...has been since yesterday:

http://download.pocketinformant.com/5/Pocket_Informant_Pro_Network_Installer.exe

Bah, humbug - the stupid link didn't save on the graphic:) Will fix now. But it is in the text to the left of the graphic.

[JoshB]

Network installer should be up...has been since yesterday:

http://download.pocketinformant.com/5/Pocket_Informant_Pro_Network_Installer.exe

Bah, humbug - the stupid link didn't save on the graphic:) Will fix now. But it is in the text to the left of the graphic.Thanks, Alex! Downloading now...

[PR.]

Just installed it on my 4700 and its screwed up :(

The install completed but after a reset the boot screen frooze after another soft reset I get a "Access is denied" error that keeps popping up along with "The System cannot find the specified file" and another about process cannot be somethinged because it is in use :(

/edit its completely deleted any volatile files in the root of windows folder theres nothing but PI files and things in ROM

Installing PI on the 4700 has been nothing but a pain everytime I've updated :evil:

[PR.]

And now I have restored from a backup the /Windows and registry 20mb of RAM has disapeared. :roll:

Wish I hadn't bothered.

[seaflipper]

And now I have restored from a backup the /Windows and registry 20mb of RAM has disapeared. :roll:

Wish I hadn't bothered.

Where did you install PI? I assume you bought the upgrade for your hx4700. Did you then install that in the main memory or iPaq file store?

[PR.]

I installed it to main ram. I know it went to the windows directory as it was shown on the install progress...

[Philip Colmer]

The upgrade hasn't gone too smoothly for me, I'm afraid. First attempt to install finished with a request for a soft reset, after which nothing PI related worked.

Installed again - no request for a soft reset this time (I guess 'cos nothing was running) - and PI starts but I've got no calendar entries being display. I know they are still there because they are being displayed on the Today screen but apart from anniversaries & birthdays, I can't get the calendar option in PI to display any details.

If I rotate the filter status through busy, out of office and tentative, I get displayed items but when I change it back to All, I get nothing!

Notes & contacts seem OK.

Hmmm ...

--Philip

[Philip Colmer]

OK - another soft reset fixed the calendar problem.

Phew!

--Philip

[alex_kac]

The upgrade hasn't gone too smoothly for me, I'm afraid. First attempt to install finished with a request for a soft reset, after which nothing PI related worked.

Installed again - no request for a soft reset this time (I guess 'cos nothing was running) - and PI starts but I've got no calendar entries being display. I know they are still there because they are being displayed on the Today screen but apart from anniversaries & birthdays, I can't get the calendar option in PI to display any details.

If I rotate the filter status through busy, out of office and tentative, I get displayed items but when I change it back to All, I get nothing!

Notes & contacts seem OK.

Hmmm ...

--Philip

Yes, on the 4700 you may have to soft reset to do the upgrade properly. Our installer lets you know about that obviously. When that happens you MAY have to run the installer twice. There is nothing on our end that we can do beyond what we've done. The issue simply happens when you install PI when parts of it are still in RAM on a 4700 due to how ROM files run in RAM.

As for the calendar thing - that's a known issue since 5.0. Its just that it happens so rarely that we have never been able to find its source. I believe its a timing issue internally, but again its very very rare.

[alex_kac]

Just installed it on my 4700 and its screwed up :(

The install completed but after a reset the boot screen frooze after another soft reset I get a "Access is denied" error that keeps popping up along with "The System cannot find the specified file" and another about process cannot be somethinged because it is in use :(

/edit its completely deleted any volatile files in the root of windows folder theres nothing but PI files and things in ROM

Installing PI on the 4700 has been nothing but a pain everytime I've updated :evil:

As I've posted on Brighthand - I'm afraid you're blaming PI for something else.

NOTHING in the PI does anything to the system except for its own files. If PI has constantly been a pain for you to upgrade then you've got a faulty 4700 or other software causing issues.

1) Nothing within PI CAN possibly cause an "Access Denied" error message. That has NOTHING to do with PI.
2) Ditto for "The system cannot find the specified file".
3) And triple ditto for hanging your boot process.

The PI install may be aggravating a pre-existing issue with your device or other software, but its guaranteed not to be cause an issue with your device otherwise.

I have had PI 5.5 installed about 100 times (literally, not figuratively) on about 7 4700s without any issues. I use a 4700 daily. I install PI daily on that device (new builds). So do a handful of my QA group. So I am very confident in the software for the 4700.

The ONLY issue for 4700 installs is that if the PI ROM file is loaded during install, the install will fail (you'll be asked to soft reset during install) and you may have to reinstall PI one more time after soft reset.

[mmidgley]

As for the calendar thing - that's a known issue since 5.0. Its just that it happens so rarely that we have never been able to find its source. I believe its a timing issue internally, but again its very very rare.

The calendar issue occured (the first time I've ever seen it) after the 5.5 installation on my iPAQ 5555. I installed using the CAB file download, installing over 5.21. I wasn't sure if a soft-reset was needed (the installer didn't ask or direct me to) because everything worked fine except the calendar views. I used the search tab and found all my calendar items were present.

Its working now, after a soft-reset. I can't remember if it started working directly after the soft-reset or not (as if I did something else that avoided the rare timing situation).

Another bug I've noticed is the category picker (when editing a contact) did not display correctly on the two-column mode. There was a big block of blank space covering the category names on the upper right of the display. I was able to set categories after changing to the one-column mode.

I notice 5.5 seems to respond faster when changing from calendar, contacts, notes, etc. :D

m.

[alex_kac]

I've just heard from some that it happens only if you Launch PI from the install final screen, but after a soft reset doesn't happen again. I've seen it myself twice since 5.0, but never could reproduce to debug it.

As for the category screen in two column mode - we had two reports of that in beta a few weeks ago, but then it went away for both of those users and returned once a week later and hasn't again since then. I expect we'll fix that one sooner rather than later, but it obviously doesn't happen much. I myself use the category picker only in 2 column mode.

[ntractv]

I have a registered copy of PI 5.2, but, it is telling me I can upgrade to 5.5 for 14.98. I never did receive an e-mail offering the upgrade.

[mmidgley]

I've just heard from some that it happens only if you Launch PI from the install final screen

I did not launch from the install program final screen, yet I did experience the blank calendar issue. The month view had numbers, etc, but the week view was nothing but box-outlines (no dates or data). I have never seen PI fail in such a fundamental way! (yet the other major views like contacts worked just fine)

I expect we'll fix that one sooner rather than later, but it obviously doesn't happen much. I myself use the category picker only in 2 column mode.

I would prefer to use the two-column mode exclusively also, since two columns eliminates scrolling for my number of categories. Two-column mode worked fine in previous version(s).

m.

[alex_kac]

We don't send emails the day of release.

In any case if you have 5.21 registered - 5.5 is a free upgrade.

[Jacob]

I would prefer to use the two-column mode exclusively also, since two columns eliminates scrolling for my number of categories. Two-column mode worked fine in previous version(s).

m.

I'm running into the same problem, but it only happens with tasks/appts that are under a specific category. A task/appt under any other category or even multiple categories does not seem to exhibit this problem for me.

I did post this on the PI forums just now and then I just read all that you had this problem too.

[alex_kac]

So you're saying that it happens ONLY on certain items that have specific categories assigned, but not otherwise? So if you uncheck those and come back - its fine. But if you check them and come back - its messed up?

[Jacob]

Exactly - except it's just one category that's exhibiting the problem.

I just posted back on your forums at WebIS.

It is only a problem with the last category as you mentioned there. I added a category that would appear after the one I was having a problem with and it fixed it for that category and the new category exhibits the problem.

The workaround would be just to have an unused category say "ZZZZ" and you'll never see this.

[alex_kac]

Awesome. We'll make a fix and put it into 5.51. You know even with public betas with thousands of downloads, a QA group of about 80 people, and my own daily use - things like this slip through. Its annoying and frustrating for all involved. But once we can find a way to reproduce it, we can fix it too. And in this case, we had planned 5.51 to be a couple weeks after 5.5 so it won't be long.

[Jacob]

Don't worry about it. I'm glad to help you out with this one.

I work in QA myself so I get irritated when issues slip by that we just couldn't narrow down in time.

[alex_kac]

I've just heard from some that it happens only if you Launch PI from the install final screen

I did not launch from the install program final screen, yet I did experience the blank calendar issue. The month view had numbers, etc, but the week view was nothing but box-outlines (no dates or data). I have never seen PI fail in such a fundamental way! (yet the other major views like contacts worked just fine)

I expect we'll fix that one sooner rather than later, but it obviously doesn't happen much. I myself use the category picker only in 2 column mode.

I would prefer to use the two-column mode exclusively also, since two columns eliminates scrolling for my number of categories. Two-column mode worked fine in previous version(s).

m.

Yes, but you may notice the category filter/picker is a completely rewrite. So nothing of the old remains in the new. We have found the issue in the category picker and our current tests show that it happens when the last item in the list was checked. So we will fix that soon.

Second, the calendar blank issue has been around for almost a year now. It seems to occur mostly right after an upgrade, but never resurfaces for almost everyone. For two people I know of it happens more often.

Because of the rarity and intermittence of this issue, we just plain have not found a fix. But its nothing new. The issue is simply that the data thread would not launch on startup for CAV. Nothing more or less. Its a very very basic simple issue. But as of yet without being able to reproduce it (its happened to me TWICE in the last 9 months to give an idea of how often it happens) I cannot say when it will be fixed.

[mmidgley]

We have found the issue in the category picker and our current tests show that it happens when the last item in the list was checked. So we will fix that soon.
...
Second, the calendar blank issue has been around for almost a year now. It seems to occur mostly right after an upgrade, but never resurfaces for almost everyone. For two people I know of it happens more often.

Because of the rarity and intermittence of this issue, we just plain have not found a fix. But its nothing new.

Alex, thanks for your quick responses. I look forward to 5.51 and beyond. 8)

m.