[DEV] XDAFBPPC facebook for winmo [BETA Madness 2nd Post]

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Please read responses before posting feedback, the less I have to read the quicker we can get to a solution
After reading a few posts about the lack of a decent facebook application I have taken up the challenge and started developing an application for windows mobile. I asked kidnamedAlbert to help me with a theme based on a screenshot of iPhone facebook app and here is what he came up with:
Look !!!! a tiny screenshot
The base facebook library is working and has been tested over the last week. Hopefully I can get a very very Alpha release that at least does what it says on the cover out by the end of the weekend
Planned Features:

• All the standard profile and friend goodies
• Newsfeeds
• Facebook chat
• Mobile SMS
• QVGA and VGA Support by taking advantage of .net docking and a really cool drawing routine (Forgot about this one )
• Photo Upload and Download (Maybe video ?) I am thinking of using HTC Album to display the downloaded Photos if possible (Why reinvent the wheel if it has nice shiny mags
  already)
• Lets see what we can add here as soon as the above works flawlessly

I will start posting a changelog in the 2nd post and begin loading some screenshots. I have a few ppl interested in beta testing, but the more the merrier. I am going to try and adopt a "release early release often" strategy because I belive this will help me get to the bottom of most bugs as quickly as possible. As opposed to building a rom, I have more control over this app and will therefor be easier to patch and fix.

Release Area

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Here it is
The following features work:

• Friend Request RETRIEVAL
• Friends, Online and All Friends
• Friend Albums, when viewing a friend tap the Profile Pic to access Albums
• Album Downloads, By default albums are downloaded to "My Documents\My Pictures\XDAPPCFB\Friend Name\Album Name" Although this not ideal it works for now
• Profile Pic update from file or camera
• Chat ... the code is there but i have not been able to fully test functionality.

Once we know it all works, I will start making it pretty. Add VGA and WVGA Support, Fix landscape support.
EXPECT BUGS This is a beta release. I cannot be sure that everything works as it should

Caught some other bugs on my own *proud* :P

FriendRequests is broken and was the cause of the crash. Has been removed for now. Also fixed a few issues regarding SIP, taking Diamond and Opal SIP's into account

0004
* Added Settings for User and Password caching
* Better error handling on the login process
Save the following code as Settings.xml in the folder where the exe is

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> 
<configuration>
	<appSettings>
		<add key="UserName" value="User" />
		<add key="Password" value="pass" />
	</appSettings>
</configuration>

0005
Fixed the settings bug

0006
Delay load implementation of the friend images. As the image finishes loading the list will automatically update.
Added Close feature to the top right corner of the app.
I am now going to sleep :P happy testing

0007
VGA and QVGA "mostly" implemented.
Own Album retrieval.
Listing Friend Requests fixed
Friends list (hopefully fixed :P )
Topbar removed, now showing WM Default taskbar
Landscape tab buttons working.
Chat messages sending seems to work. Testers seem to be afk mostly :P

0008
We have wall. Well most of it anyway.
Improved loading of friends by only calling images when needed
Tested chat with some friends. Select friend from list. Then initiate chat using the chat button inside the friends profile.

0009
Fixed wall post list. Test did not wrap.
Fixed text wrapping on friends list.
Fixed wrapping on long chat messages.
Friends list will now only load images when a user is selected and then cache the profile image.
Click on your profile image to download you album to phone.

0010
Finally found the bug with the friendslist. Thanks for all the feedback guys.
Cleaned up the code a little. When selecting a friend to view the app will immediatly retreive the image and cache it for the list, else the images are fetched one by one in making sure we dont call the server too much.
Added online friends list to the chat tab which will list online friends
Added Wall Post to friends.
Fixed the Wall bug. I cleared the list once too many lol
Made it a little prettier.
Made the lists a little bigger so text dont get garbled. Might still happen here and there but I am working on a different sizing routine

0011
Friendslist paging (20 friends at a time) I dont have 20 friends so please provide feedback
Moved live friend updates to a button on the friends list

Have fun ... report bugs, but please see if the bug HAS been reported already

Let me clear a few things up
Right now the main objective is to get this app working correctly. Once that is done, I will spend time writing new controls to make it look like the mock screen. So many things are still going to change. Just dont see the point in writing controls only to find I am not going to use them.

After having a look at all the ideas being posted I finally started working on the chat interface. Should have a screen up latest tomorrow. The following bits are working just need to be made pretty

• Retreiving Friends and Info
• Retreiving Notifications
• Retreiving Albums. (Still deciding if we should cache this locally for gprs user)
• Uploading Foto to Album

I am gonna ask you guys to have a little patience since this is my 1st attempt at a Windows Mobile application and some Desktop habits are hard to break :P
14/12/2008

Okay so I am having a little bit of an issue with the pretty controls. The bottom tab is working correctly, doesnt slide like manilla but it hilights the button when pressed and activates the appropriate tab. Currently the testing is working in qvga portrait mode, As soon as I have the landscape stuff reallining properly the 1st beta will hit the post. This should be ready later tonight or tomorrow morning. Currently I am using standard tab controls. I want to make sure everything works as expected before I start making the custom controls.

One last thing. The program caches friends profiles and does a check when connecting to check for changes. This is currently taking just a tab too long for my liking. Do we need caching ?
15/12/2008
Bleh a virus delayed the beta release
Im cleaning up a little and should then be able to upload

16/12/2008

Guys I need a bit of help please. kidnamedAlbert is a little busy at the moment and I need someone who can please just help me with the images for the bottom bar. I have very crude images for the hilighting. Looks like crap since I am not an graphics designer.

17/12/2008
MS Seem to have swallowed a retarded pill and managed to "forget" to add the rich text box control to netcf 3.5. I am going to try something with the klistcontrols used by so many finger apps for the chat part of the program. A few more tweaks and I will have the beta up in about an hour from now (13:15 SAST)

13/01/2009
Okay so turns out work took a slice .. huge chunk of my time this month. Besides LOADS of bug fixes. The following features will be in the next beta (available by this weekend)

• Inbox (Finally !!!)
• Pokes and Poke back
• View Albums and download images to Device
• Create and Upload Albums (From file or Camera)

In order for the beta to work on your device you need to give the application access to facebook using the following url http://www.facebook.com/login.php?po...b6163552f7e0ef

Wow. simply amazing. Can't wait!
No plans on a VGA though eh?

nice that would be great good luck i see your a fellow wizard user +1

wow this is really nice! i cant wait for the release!

I love the styling, It fits with both Facebook and a fresh and fast user interface for a touchscreen. I am expecting this is a fullscreen only app? (no top and bottom bars/curtains from windows mobile visable while using.)
And one big feature would be a 'poke' ability as the iPhone page does not, and only the m.facebook page has it. (did not see it on your feature list.)

In any regard, great ideas and work so far by both you and kidnamedAlbert.

This looks great. Looking forward to your release

look nice, my touch hd wil love it :)

Originally Posted by AllTheWay

This looks great. Looking forward to your release

that makes 2 million of us my man...push on!!!!