Feature Requests Archive B

Suggestions and discussion about upcoming features in future BeerTools Pro releases.
Mashweasel
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Post by Mashweasel »

Just really started poking about with this. I find it very difficult to navigate efficiently...tab doesn't even do what I would expect.

Simple hot keys and keyboard letter controls would be wonderful. Its such a PITA to get the ingredients even. Click Ing. DB, search, right click, choose add to recipe, fill in individual boil, amounts, etc. So much work involved.

The way it would roll in my mind is that you should be able to tab into the 'ingredient' section. Hit something like ctl + A to search for ingredient. Search, tab to list, hit enter to add to recipe. Once you have all your ingredients, you should be able to arrow up/down to each one and hit enter to change the amounts and times. All the info on the ingredient becomes extraneous once you have added it. You know what it is, now all you care about is the amount, time, etc. The DB is the place to much about with the ingredient specifics, no?

This is a very sexy product but needs more quick functionality. The wife is a software testing engineer and does this kind of thing for a living. She said 90% of her clients complaints are of speed and functionality. Simple key strokes for simple commands. The less clicks the better. I can see this being bigger than either of the other two programs especially b/c of the cross platform stuff. Ok, so recap. Hot keys, keyboard functionality, simplicity.
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slothrob
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Re: Drag and Drop with right mouse button

Post by slothrob »

a_daley wrote:Be useful to be able to "right drag and drop" with the right mouse button in one movement rather than copy on the page then move that when copying recipes around under the "Recipe sub tree". Can then choose whether to move, copy or cancel easily.
I like this, "Move to...", "Copy to..." as a ctrl-click, or drag move a recipe, but a ctrl-drag copies a recipe. Either of these would make the Planned Recipes folder more useful.

Have you considered a "Made" recipes folder, too? Maybe dragging a recipe from the Planned folder to the Made folder could bring up a dialog box that asked "Do you want to deduct these ingredients from My Inventory now?" Perhaps checking to see if the deduction had already been made, first.
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slothrob
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mouse vs. keyboard

Post by slothrob »

It seems that a_daley and Mashweasel's two recent represent the two philosophies of computing. Mouse-centric vs keyboard-centric. In reality, both modes need to be accommodated. Both to encompass the most users preferred techniques and to allow efficient use once you've started a task with one or the other entry devices.

When I'm making a recipe, for instance, I like to work from the keyboard as much as possible since I'll need to type in amounts and times. That is when I'd like to be able to search and tab between fields efficiently.

When I'm doing inventory work or filing and flipping through recipes, I'd like the commands needed to be easily accomplished without leaving the mouse or needing to have more than one hand on the keyboard.
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a_daley
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Mouse vs Keyboard

Post by a_daley »

Personally I always prefer the keyboard as it is faster, but many of my clients using Microsoft products prefer all their programs to do the same actions using the mouse because they see the GUI.

Our more experienced clients always tend to use the keyboard more where as those new staff always use the mouse. Just the way people learn I suppose.

Regarding the pressing ctrl + drag versus right mouse button is that you need two hands (only say this because one arm is in a sling at the moment). And I was thinking of what current standards are currently being used on other programs so that people would find it easier to learn.

And to answer your question slothrob I do have a number of directories including Brewed, Designed, and directories under these. I do have others as well but this is really to just to let you know.
andrewqld
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Decent Recipe sheet

Post by andrewqld »

What I would really like to see is a decent recipe sheet to print off.
A one page sheet is much more user friendly than a 2 page sheet and might save the odd tree ;)

Maybe the option to select what you want to print would be helpful, I don't know many brewers who on brewday work from their computers, most people would print out their recipes so this seems like it should be a major part of the software to address.

I know this has been mentioned before but I haven't seen a response to it yet.

Cheers
Andrew
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slothrob
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Post by slothrob »

I actually meant to direct those points to the programs, but thanks for your comments.
Ctrl-clicks are a standard on the Mac, much like rt-clicks are on a Windows machine, which is why I suggested that as an option for the programers to use, as opposed to the right button techniques which are not standard Mac procedures.
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a_daley
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Misunderstanding

Post by a_daley »

Apologies Rob, jumping to fast to conclusions yet again. Sorry if I caused any offense.

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a_daley
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Backup Function

Post by a_daley »

For the casual computer user if there are going to be different DB with different info or even one file it would be helpful if they could backup their templates, DB, their settings and their recipes all in one go.
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Re: Decent Recipe sheet

Post by slothrob »

No offense taken. I'd also like to clarify. I don't mean to exclude either mouse or keyboard actions. The idea I like is to accommodate both computing styles, with special attention to where your hands are just prior to the action you want to take.

Making recipes seems like it should be easily accomplished without moving from the keyboard and organizing ingredients and recipes seems like it should be easily accomplished with the mouse, but that's because that's how I work.
andrewqld wrote: A one page sheet is much more user friendly than a 2 page sheet and might save the odd tree ;)
I really like a 1 page recipe sheet.
Last edited by slothrob on Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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jeff
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Re: Decent Recipe sheet

Post by jeff »

andrewqld wrote:What I would really like to see is a decent recipe sheet to print off.
A one page sheet is much more user friendly than a 2 page sheet and might save the odd tree ;)

Maybe the option to select what you want to print would be helpful, I don't know many brewers who on brewday work from their computers, most people would print out their recipes so this seems like it should be a major part of the software to address.

I know this has been mentioned before but I haven't seen a response to it yet.

Cheers
Andrew
I think something similar to the template config window would work for print-outs too. You know which panel I mean? Is that what you have in mind?
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Re: Backup Function

Post by jeff »

a_daley wrote:For the casual computer user if there are going to be different DB with different info or even one file it would be helpful if they could backup their templates, DB, their settings and their recipes all in one go.
Version 1.5.3 made a major step in this direction by consolidating the ingredients DB and the recipe DB. All of the data in the assets library is stored in the BeerTools Pro Library.rsd file found in the directory selected using the Preferences panel. Also found in this directory is the Recipes folder which is a mirror of the folder structure created in the BTP main window.

The only things that have yet to be pulled into this framework are templates. They will be managed in a similar way to recipes, and will be included under the common BTP folder too. With this change, archiving BTP assets will be as simple as zipping the BTP folder (the one selected in prefs). The only things that will remain outside the folder are the preferences themselves, the license file and recent items.

Thanks for the feedback :)
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andrewqld
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Re: Decent Recipe sheet

Post by andrewqld »

jeff wrote:
andrewqld wrote:What I would really like to see is a decent recipe sheet to print off.
A one page sheet is much more user friendly than a 2 page sheet and might save the odd tree ;)

Maybe the option to select what you want to print would be helpful, I don't know many brewers who on brewday work from their computers, most people would print out their recipes so this seems like it should be a major part of the software to address.

I know this has been mentioned before but I haven't seen a response to it yet.

Cheers
Andrew
I think something similar to the template config window would work for print-outs too. You know which panel I mean? Is that what you have in mind?
Hi Jeff,
Thanks for the reply, "YES" that is exactly what is needed, enabling you to select what you want on the recipe printout. I really hope this is something that can be enabled easily as I believe it will add a lot to the program.

Cheers
Andrew
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a_daley
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Recipe search function

Post by a_daley »

If I highlight "Recipe" then type in only part of the recipe name can you make it search all my "sub directories" for that recipe? Certainly helps when I can't remember the directory or the whole name of the brew...
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a_daley
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Shopping List / Inventory Report

Post by a_daley »

Can we add a field that we can call "New Stock" for future recipes yet to be designed that we can manually edit the amounts which will be added to "Remaining Purchase" field so we can remind ourselves to purchase say a total of 2 kg (4.5 lbs) of Roasted Barley for example when we go to the store.
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a_daley
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Re: Backup Function

Post by a_daley »

jeff wrote: The only things that have yet to be pulled into this framework are templates. They will be managed in a similar way to recipes, and will be included under the common BTP folder too. With this change, archiving BTP assets will be as simple as zipping the BTP folder (the one selected in prefs). The only things that will remain outside the folder are the preferences themselves, the license file and recent items.
Have considered simply adding the backup functionality into BTP so the user can back all these up as well?
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