yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
Kameirus, thanks for letting us know. We need some more information about your situation to determine what the issue could be. Did you have any previous beta version of Recast installed? Was there an error message after install of Beta 5? Did beta 5 ever run on your device? Can you provide a log showing when and how Recast stopped working?

Feel free to PM me with answers to these questions and the log, if you can capture it. We really do want to find all the bugs and fix them prior to a final release of Recast and your help is important to do that.
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
erichbitch, thanks for the feedback. We are looking at what it would take to add 5x1 layouts, but that will have to wait for a future build of Recast.

As rgeerolf mentioned, you can go to Recast > Settings > Locations > Current Location > Location Naming and change the setting to "Show City Only" to show less of the place name in the widgets you have.

As for color sets, what color options do we have missing? I'm pretty sure I could quickly create a color set that people want if I know what that is. User modifiable color sets are something that won't make it into the RC Recast, but we're flexible to create more downloadable color options now if people want them.
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
Quiksilver78, thanks for the feedback. You can always get a single-screen, full screen forecast by turning your device on its side. Recast will redraw the forecast to fit everything on that screen. The reason we cannot do that in portrait mode is precisely the point you bring up: the number of supported devices we have to work with in the Android universe is massive and there is simply no way to force fit all the forecast details on every screen size, with every DPI, for every set of conditions.

You may not have seen this, but when switching between Google and World Weather Online there is an additional bit of data (barometric pressure) that is added. The flexibility of the layout is that it enables that data to come and go without breaking the way Recast delivers the view. If we were to do as you asked, and attempt to force fit all data in every screen size at every DPI and resolution you (and the majority of customers) would be very, very unhappy with the tiny sizes, unreadable text, and generally unpleasant look of things.

It is possible that we may offer additional full screen layouts in a future version of Recast, but for the final release the views you see are what we have to keep. Scaling from a 480x320 screen to a 1920x1200 screen with a variety of DPIs and layouts is just beyond the scope (and testing) of what we feel is practical right now. We hope this helps explain a bit of why we made Recast look and act the way it does. Let us know if you have other questions or comments.
[Android Apps and Games] sdotmouse:
Really like the update. Only had it running for a couple of hours and so far there are no problems, much like the previous version. The downloadable skins is good move - provides more scope for skins in the future. The change was painless because this is such an easy application to set the way you want it. Good job all round, I feel.

Sent from my MT15i
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
sdotmouse, thanks for the feedback. It's nice to hear that some folks had an easy time switching over to the new beta. If you know of any widget layouts or colors that are missing or could be improved, do let us know. As you have seen, we can now update them on-the-fly via the server and you can see the changes without re-downloading Recast.
[Android Apps and Games] gnwest:
I didn't see this issue, or I missed it. When clicking on the date my calendar app doesn't open. Instead I'm brought to my Google account. Running beta 5 on a Incredible 2 with stock ROM and calendar app. I'm using the 4x1 widget. I've been testing since the initial beta. Great app.
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
gnwest, thanks for the info. Do you have a working Google Calendar app on your device? Is it setup to sync with your Google/Gmail account? If not, the default behavior is to switch to a browser and go to Google.com/calendar.

Let us know if this helps or if you have other questions.
[Android Apps and Games] gnwest:
I have the stock calendar app that is sync'd to my Google calendar.
[Android Apps and Games] Kameirus:
i had b4 installed but uninstalled it,then installed b5 got it setup and did a cwm backup and when i rebooted after the backup was done i started geting that error message of recast has stopped working ..so i uninstalled b5 from data/app and pushed it to system/app and so far it has been working great .....

---------- Post added at 02:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:59 PM ----------

any chance for a transparent option on the fullscreen weather kinda like it has for the widget
[Android Apps and Games] Quiksilver78:
I never really turn my device on its side unless the phone does automatically like when playing a game or watching YouTube clips.

Here's an idea, why not force landscape mode when opening Recast? that would take care of that I think

BUT

The font size issue still remains. It is really big on a 320DPI screen like the One X. Would it be possible that inside these customization options, font size is included in pt sizes so that others can adjust that on demand and thereby perhaps satisfying all screen resolutions.

Just a suggestion, though.

The way it is now and as noted previously, ironically, on the widgets, the text is too small, almost unreadable.

But chalk me up for a license if/when it is decided that custom skinning is an option utilizing WYSIWYG interface kinda like 'Advanced Clock Widget'

I understand that open beta testing and instant feedback from the developer is a win-win for everyone, I'd be willing to pay for the app, if ultimate customization and flexibility is offered. No questions asked :)
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
Quiksilver78, thanks for that detailed feedback. I'm not sure if we'll have all the options you want for customization in the 1.0 release, but our intention is to keep opening up more options for you to tune and customize as you want. Stay tuned on that front.

Could you provide us a screenshot showing the specific areas you think are too large on your screen? We have tested the app extensively on a wide variety of devices, and the Galaxy Nexus, which has a 320-ish dpi looks fine to us. Maybe we're missing the use case you are speaking of.
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
Kameirus, I'm still not sure I understand your request. I'm groggy from a head cold, so that could be why :) What would be transparent on the full screen forecast view? That view happens inside the Recast app, so there isn't anything to turn transparent. Perhaps you were thinking that the forecast was a popup view over the launcher? That isn't how we built that feature of Recast so I'll have to talk to the team, once I have more clarity from you, to understand what could be supported.

We don't have much experience with the modded ROMs so I can't say whether or not Recast would work if the app was moved around from its system default install location. I can say that Google has made it impossible to do widgets from any app that isn't installed directly onto the primary storage of the device. So if data/app is on the SD Card that is a no-go for Recast.
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
gnwest, that's puzzling. We may need to do some further investigation on your device to determine why the calendar isn't working as expected. You wouldn't happen to know if your HTC device has replaced or renamed the stock calendar app, would you?

Thanks for the help.
[Android Apps and Games] buckhunter:
Dude slow down take a breather lmao.

Running good here so far ;)
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
buckhunter, we would love to slow down... but we are sooooo close to a final release that we'd like to grab all the feedback we can, fix the issues and clean up the look and feel as much as possible.

The sooner we can get Recast to a final version and into the various app stores, the sooner we will start working on some of the really cool stuff that we had to postpone to get the product shipping. I really, really want to get to that cool stuff, and I think you guys will want it too.

In the meantime... its onward with the product -> customer -> developer feedback loop :)
[Android Apps and Games] rockingondrums:
I keep trying to download the app from my phone but it keeps freezing and then telling me there are errors. Can someone post a link to it elsewhere?
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
rockingondrums, can you visit this page from your device browser and try the download directly? It has worked for hundreds of folks so far today so we're not sure why it shouldn't work for you, also:

http://recast.phase2i.com/help/
[Android Apps and Games] gnwest:
I'm not using the stock launcher. I'm using Holo ICS launcher. The stock calendar app has a different icon but is the same app. I'll switch to the stock launcher and try again.
[Android Apps and Games] gnwest:
Tried with the stock launcher and got the same result.
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
gnwest, thanks for that information. Do you have any 3rd party apps or widgets that DO work to get you to your native calendar app, or do other apps also have similar issues to what you see Recast doing?

And while you are at it, can you give us the Android OS version, ROM, and verify the make/model of your phone (HTC Droid Incredible 2?)
[Android Apps and Games] Kameirus:
my system default for install is in data/app which is not on the sdcard

so when i moved it to system/app its working fine now ..but it is all good now

thanks for a great weather app and for helping out

i meant have a no background option for fullscreen weather ..sorry
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
Kameirus, no problems and thanks for providing feedback. It helps us get that much closer to a release.

One last thing on the background: I mentioned before that Recast is showing the forecast page inside of the Recast app. Because of this, there must be some kind of background provided by the app, otherwise it would be a default OS solid color or gradient. In the widget preview area of Recast we show a portion of your launcher wallpaper, but that is done by fetching and displaying it directly inside of the app. We don't have a way to float over the launcher, and appear to be sitting on top of all of your icons, widgets, etc. if that is what you mean.
[Android Apps and Games] Kameirus:
ahh ok no worries then
[Android Apps and Games] Jettubby:
I found out that there was a new beta 5 after my two beta 4 widgets were suddently replaced this morning by yellow triangles with exclamation marks. I thought my OS was messed up or got corrupted. It would have been nice to have some sort of notification that there is an update as obviously the Recast phones home and disables it self if it's not valid. ;)
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
Jettubby, we're sorry to hear that the update process didn't work like you expected. All Recast betas have an expiration date cooked into them at build time. This is on purpose to help remedy a serious problem we have seen during the beta program: people won't update to the latest version. Because of these folks we spend a lot of time running around, trying to fix issues that were actually solved in newer versions of the app instead of adding new features and making the app more stable for everyone.

The expiration and update process wasn't ideal, I will give you that. But our intentions were to get everyone up-to-date and move closer to a release. We put the messaging on the download pages here at XDA and on the Recast site about the timeout date. We were hopeful that most people would understand the notice given inside the app itself, as well. Our plan is to keep people on the latest versions of the beta (and later the release) in a better way for the future, but when the first betas came out this is the only method we had available.

Hopefully you are now back up and working again on the latest beta 5 and this won't be an issue for you when we switch over to the release and future betas.
[Android Apps and Games] Marsou77:
Beta 5 installed... I will check for logcat next time

Sent 2X faster with my LG
[Android Apps and Games] flamebeats:
The best weather widget in the history of weather widgets!!!
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
flamebeats, thanks for your over-the-top praise. We certainly try our best.
[Android Apps and Games] Khy50:
very nice, thanks!
[Android Apps and Games] gnwest:
I have no third party apps nor widgets that make a call to the native calendar app.

HTC DINC 2

OS 2.3.4

ROM 2.6.35.9-FB5330c8 htc-kernel@18-2 #1

HTC Sense ver. 2.1
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
gnwest, thanks for the update. We may be asking you for some additional information once we have some time to look over the issue. If you don't already have it, could we ask you to install CatLog from the Google Play Store?

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nolanlawson.logcat

It is free and we may need some logging done on your device at some point in the near future.

Thanks!
[Android Apps and Games] gnwest:
Already have it. Had for a while. :D
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
Good to know. We'll check back with you once we have some additional questions.
[Android Apps and Games] ThemesStudio:
Great design, works perfectly on my xperia arc S and tablet plug impact (chinese sh.. ) :) I am using it every day when leave home
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
ThemesStudio, we're glad you like it. Thanks for letting us know that its running fine on your devices.
[Android Apps and Games] Jettubby:
Thanks for the explanation. I didn't realize there was an expiration. I'm sure you have it written somewhere. No excuse but hard to keep up on everyone's update everyday. I try and check at least once a week but beta 5 came out yesterday and beta 4 expired today. Guess now I know that the widget not loading means there is an update! ;) Thanks again for the great program and your attention to detail.
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
Jettubby, we're glad we could help it make sense.

Actually, that yellow triangle is a general catch-all icon whenever Recast has tried and failed to get weather data for several days or the time out period is reached. Along with a couple of other icons that tell you when you don't have network coverage (Recast can't get the weather data from the Internet) and can't find your location (your GPS or network location provider is down). So it is entirely possible, but we hope unlikely, that you could see an icon in place of your widget data when any of those conditions arise.
[Android Apps and Games] Jettubby:
Well now maybe we are getting somewhere. I was using the new app called "Backitude" and there was an update to that program this morning. After the update my location changed and this is when Recast went to the yellow triangle. I uninstalled Backitude but Recast still didn't work. It wasn't until I uninstalled Recast beta 4 and installed beta 5 did it all work again. Hmmm? :confused:
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
Jettubby, your explanation seems plausible, but my money is on Recast, since today is the 15th, and the 15th is the expiration date built-in to betas 1 through 4. I don't want to unfairly blame another developer's app for what you experienced.
[Android Apps and Games] phirewire110:
Loving this app. I'm big on weather apps and this is a good one. I'm spreading the word devs. A small request, some people would like a 4x2 time and weather. Thanks for the obvious hard work. You guys are doing great.
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
phirewire110, thanks for the feedback. I'll see what I can do to get a 4x2 time + weather layout. Is it fair to assume people would expect it to be similar to the 4x1 ?
[Android Apps and Games] swiss420:
Beta5: The added functionality greatly improves the User Experience. The Download of additional Widgets worked perfectly except for one minor issue. It is nice being able to look at all the downloadable Widgets but when entering through for example 2x2 widget and then selecting to download a 4x1 Widget it will download it and show a message accordingly but it will not switch over to that widget selection. It would probably be a little less confussing if it jumps over but on the end it is not a big deal. I hope I explained that half way understandably.

I know it is a mute point but none the less for Samsung Galaxy Notes Users with Stock Gingerbread and TouchWiz it is unfortunate that there is nothing except the 1x1 Clock that can be centered on the Homescreen since the 5x2 widget does not work and the 3x2 Widget takes 4 Spaces. Not complaining just mentioning it again.

A little word to the wise on the end. Dont try to hide the fact that you want to get Recast done so you can start making money. Be open and honest about it, after all it is part of the process. You have been very curtious and helpfull but you also been avoiding that topic quite well. ;)

How about some open and honest answears since we are getting closer to the first release. What is the price going to be and since it is becoming a commercial product what are the final permissions you will be asking for in the first final release. The less permissions needed, the more money you can ask for atleast in my opinion. With the current permissions I would not pay a dime for it to be honest. I expect this in beta and free apps but comercial apps should provide a better security model. Anyhow just my humble thoughts. Hope it can be of some sort of help to you or other public beta testers. Please dont get me wrong I find Recast to be the best weather app I found so far and you have been very helpfull in answearing our concerns.
[Android Apps and Games] phirewire110:
I shared this app with an older person and they liked the 4x2 style because the font is easier to read. Guessing everything in the 4x2 is slightly larger.
[Android Apps and Games] jesus_c:
Weather service is currently unavailable

Moscow Russia. beta 5

If I use gps service return city name in Russian Москва and no weather for it

But if city is manually entered in English then all ok
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
jesus_c, thanks for the info. We've been seeing errors for some locations with the weather data and we are trying to find out why that is. Have you tried switching to World Weather Online as the provider to see if it worked?
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
phirewire110, thanks for the clarification. I'll see what I can do to make a larger widget template with that data.
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
swiss420j, since your post is a long one and covers many topics, I'm going to break up the responses over a few posts.

On the catalog download: we were aware that allowing people to move between layout sizes could cause some confusion when we shipped the beta. Our thoughts were that, in the end, it would be better to allow customers to see everything available and possibly end the process outside of where they started than to restrict them to a single size category and have them get frustrated that they can't see all the possibilities. Given you comments we'll need to look at this decision again.

On 5x2 widgets: you are the first person to report they don't work in this build, so thanks for that data. We've done everything we can think of to force 5x2 into a working state short of buying a device. Sadly, it appears Samsung didn't bother sharing any of the modifications they made to the launcher to enable 5 columns and the documentation on how to support 5x widgets is anything but good. I'll ask again if there is anything more we can try to fix this issue but the team seemed to think we have made all the changes we can without actually having a device or real information from Samsung.
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
About Honesty

One of the statements from swiss420j was this:

I wasn't aware that there was any hiding taking place, honestly. From the very beginning of the beta process we have made it known that the final delivery of Recast would be in the form of putting it into the Google Play Store and Amazon Appstore. We've said that we want to move to a supportable, sustainable model that we can use to continue building new features and themes into Recast. We've discussed splitting the XDA forum topics in two: one for the final release, and this one for betas. We've always put up front that the betas would expire at some point, and listed that data.

What we haven't put out there is how much Recast will cost. The answer to that is "we don't know." We've had many conversations about it internally but absolutely no determination has been made on this point. We've seen where other apps are priced, and we've priced our only other app, Impel at $0.99 as an in-app upgrade. So I suppose you could say that yes, we haven't said anything about the price because we don't have that information to share. Could it be $.99, $1.99, $2.99, $3.99? We don't know. It isn't free to do this development work and we aren't some big development company that can make products for free (see our site if you think otherwise). If that's not being honest, well, that's where we are.

If I'm being super-honest, let me present a graph I made, taken with data provided today, 6/16/2012, as to the real, honest reason we insisted on timeouts being built into the beta: people are still running on very old versions and still asking for support for them. Even after the timeout, you'll see that most people still aren't on the latest version.. or even the version before that! This doesn't help us and it really doesn't help all of you who are up-to-date, as we must spend time asking people to update and explaining that yes, we fixed bug XYZ in version 123. Without the ability to force people to move up to a modern version of the app we can't ever move forward.

Hopefully this provides the clarity that swiss420j and others are looking for. We aren't trying to hide anything and we certainly don't want folks thinking that we're here just to take advantage of the XDA community then bail out and leave. It is fully part of our plan to have a beta available here for as long as we can support it in addition to a store product.
[Android Apps and Games] buckhunter:
I was wondering how long it would take someone to start sh** in this thread. Thats a major downfall of xda. Anyway if someone wants top notch apps then what is a couple bucks for an app? Get real you paid $200-700 for a phone.

Anyway keep up the good work and support guys 99.99% of the people using it are happy with it.
[Android Apps and Games] onearmedscissor:
Why are there so many permissions?
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
onearmedscissor, I didn't want to guess at the reasons so I put in a question to the team to answer that. I know that we are using, or plan to use, every option we're asking for, however.
[Android Apps and Games] Kameirus:
ok i can say now that after moving b5 to system/app i havent had any problems with it

so i will say it works on the HD2 running nandroid rom in my sig

if you would like i can test on sense 3.5 builds for the hd2 also

just let me know
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
Kameirus, thanks for the report. If you could tell us if the alarm and calendar functions work on your device that would be great! We have another person reporting problems in that area with an HTC device that we'd like some additional test coverage on.
[Android Apps and Games] jesus_c:
Cannot find this option

Plz help