Development progress – Database modification

Hi all,

I’ve had some time this week, partially feeling very exciting about the Mango update.

So far, I’ve managed to implement:

  • Pinning of databases to the start page. It works well on the emulator (target: Mango).
  • Made use of backtrack modification provided in Mango to improve the “Back to Root” & “Back to Databases” navigation.
    This change also allowed me to use transitions for some eye candy (target: Mango).
  • Improved the web navigation for the Detected Links page when you download database from a web server.
Last but not least: database modification.
The database could be quite big for a phone to handle, so I tried to avoid loading the whole database file in memory to make modifications. That, however, proved too complicated to do. Making modifications using forward only XML navigation is really painful.
So, in the end, I think it’s acceptable to be a little bit slow when saving changes to the database. This allowed much simpler code and allow much more flexible data processing.
With my current code (pushed to GitHub), I was able to make changes to the entries and groups (change details, move, create new – not all exposed via UI) and save this changes to a file.
I’ll still need to make sure the same progress is safe, meaning backing up the original database, write the new database and then recover if there’s something wrong during the writing.
Next will be implementing DropBox uploading and WebDAV uploading.
Regarding copy/paste support, as soon as I don’t have to make textboxes read only, copy/paste is simple. The whole textbox will be selected when you tap on it, so that you can either copy the content, or paste your clipboard on it. I’ve tried selecting the whole textbox when it’s readonly, but that caused some nasty bugs that I found no workaround. So please excuse me for not keeping the promise of adding copy/paste support when the OS does.
On a side note, I’ve managed to perform some FTP support, which looks good so far, but since Mango will not be released to consumers yet in the short term, this task is having lower priority.
Until next update, Van.

Get Satisfaction

This blog has long shown that it’s not very suitable for supporting 7Pass users. There are repeated questions, then the answers are sometimes directly in the comments (in reply to the question), or a separate blog post.

This proves hard to follow up for myself, and certainly frustrating for the user when he has any issue with 7Pass.

Therefore, I’ve explored the option of using another service for the customer support.

After looking around for services, I decided to use Get Satisfaction, which will allow you to:

  • Ask questions, which will be answered by me, or other helpful users.
  • Suggest/share your ideas and rate others’.
  • Report problems you have with 7Pass.
  • Receive updates.
  • Express your support for 7Pass.
You can quickly access Get Satisfaction page for 7Pass using the button on the right of this blog:
This blog will still be used for updates, so subscribers can rest assured that they’ll be updated.
I hope this service will allow me to better develop 7Pass for all of us.
Thank you all again for the very positive MarketPlace ratings.

Database open error

I’ve received repeated issues with 7Pass not able to open the database.

The error descriptions:

  • System.IO.IsolatedStorage.IsolatedStorageException
    Operation not permitted on IsolatedStorageFileStream.
  • System.ArgumentNullException
    Value can not be null.
    Parameter name: entry
(You can see this description with more details if you allow 7Pass to prepare an email, which you can send to me or just to take a look).
I was not able to reproduce this issue, and have added safe guards for this errors through out updates of 7Pass. The problem is, I don’t really know what caused these issues. I certainly cannot ask the user for the database. Trying with a new database works, so I’m not sure why.
I’d love to find out this issue, so please leave a comment if you have these errors:
  1. Does it occurs consistently with your database, meaning you simply cannot open your database at all? Or it only occur once in a while?
  2. Did you interrupt 7Pass while it’s processing your database?
    Ex: You taped on open, and then while 7Pass is processing, you tap home/back.
  3. Did you set any customization of the encryption/compression of the database?
    Some users reported that he uses a 1 second delay key transformation, which produces a number of key transformation rounds that takes the phone much longer to perform compared to your PC.
  4. Can you open the same database with KeePass on Windows? Please make sure it’s the same file, by downloading from the same source and open it. I guess database corruption is very rare, but I just want to be sure.
  5. Can you please try to create a new database with dummy entries, with the same settings as your database. Please then try to open that database with 7Pass. If the error occurs with this new database, please send it to me (the dummy database, not your database) including the password. This will be very helpful as it will potentially allow me to reproduce the issue.

7Pass 2.4 published to the MarketPlace

7Pass 2.4 has finally appeared on the MarketPlace. The free version should follow soon.

This version mainly addresses the issues with KeePass 2.15 database.

I’m sorry about the delays, caused by 7Pass failing tests, twice. Microsoft has stepped up its testing and communication, giving me a good impression.

There’re also news about the next update later this year. The development software for this new update will be available this May, featuring sockets (FTP anyone?) and multitasking. Hopefully, Clipboard access and SkyDrive integration will also be available.

7Pass 2.4: update for KeePass 2.15 compatibility

I’ve completed the changes needed to make 7Pass compatible with KeePass 2.15. The changes in database structure did not affect 7Pass at all since it doesn’t handle attached files. The change was simple and should be available for all MarketPlace within the coming week (18-22 April).

There’ll be some tiny surprise(s) in this update, so please leave comment here when you notice anything new in 7Pass 2.4.

Update: 7Pass failed a test case, therefore, I had to submit the 2.4 update again. Since tomorrow will be Good Friday, I afraid the update will only be available next week. Sorry for this delay and thank you all for your support.