Read Thread: The updates are up!
I'll still be kicking the wheels for the next hour or so, but I don't plan to be breaking anything if there's any night-owls who want to start recording plants or finds or whatever.
Anyhow.... Here's some new things to look out for since most of the changes this time around won't be readily apparent:
- Now you can sort the boxes you've found and planted alphabetically or by date. It seems some people had been using logbooks to find a specific box to update but couldn't remember when it was planted. *shaking head* Well, now it'll be easier to do that. =)
- More types of stuff in your logbook including: Postal boxes you've signed up for but haven't yet received, events you signed up for, adopted letterboxes, and attempted finds.
- Yes, attempted finds. Now you can record attempted finds. To do so, just log it like you were logging a regular find, and there will be a checkbox or radio button to mark it as just an attempt. This is the foundation of a much bigger feature planned for the future so if you aren't excited about it yet, you will be. ;o)
- You can now record finding a box more than once for all types of boxes. Multiple finds won't actually show up in your logbook nor in your F-counts, but if you want to update the "last found" date because you recently checked up on a box--even one you'd already found in the past--you now have that option.
- Searches for letterboxes will no longer stop after the first 500 letterboxes. I figured out a way to optimize the SQL code and it can now return an unlimited amount. (Well, the amount really isn't "unlimited" per se, but it's much larger than the number of all letterboxes, so it's just not a concern anymore!)
- Since AQ now can track attempted finds, you can also hide those pesky, hard-to-find boxes from your search results. ;o)
Happy trails!
-- Ryan
Update number 6 (recording attempted finds) is great. I just hid some boxes that we've attempted, others have attempted, and feel sure are missing. Now they won't be staring at me everytime I do a search. Thanks, Ryan. It just gets better and better. Scooters Mom
love it love it love it!!!!
-CCL
Ryan....you rock! I love the new features. I had just joined as a premium member and I see every dime of my membership is well worth it. Keep up the great work!
Lock Wench
I was just posting an attempted find, and forgot to set the month back to May. The date I gave was in the future. The message it gave made me LOL. Thanks for putting your sense of humor in the small things. That's what makes this site so fun. It has a great personality.
Weyrwoman
Yeah, but I have to be careful with that message. I once got an New Zealander telling me that it WAS the future when she was trying to record a find for that day. =) So now it'll only reject the date if it's more than 24 hours in the future!
On another note, it seems none of the notifications when a found or attempted found is listed have been going out since the update. I've now fixed the problem (*I think!*), but if you'd been sending messages for the owner, they haven't gotten them. =(
-- Ryan
I just tried the attempted finds feature and discovered that the "last found" date on the box details page changed to reflect my attempt. This might lead someone to believe that the box has been recently found when it wasn't. Intentional or not?
Rob
Do'h! No, that wasn't intentional. Just one of those little details that slipped through the cracks. I'll try to get it fixed soon, though! Internally, AQ views attempted finds as a "type" of found box rather than a distinctly different category and unless I specifically tell it to distinguish between the two, it doesn't.
Thanks for pointing it out!
-- Ryan