Price Book iPhone app Forum

Hi
Some suggestions: This is my wish list

-Drop down menu for store, location, product name on website & on iphone

-ability to enter in coupon info

-ability to enter in sale price & regular price of item

-Categories for each item

-Barcode scanner that picks up info on product w/o using users feedback

Thanks for the great program.

@savemoney -

Thanks for the great feedback!

-Drop down menu for store, location, product name on website & on iphone
A - This has been asked for by another person and put on the future features list.

-ability to enter in coupon info
A - Do you mean a note field for coupons? Can you explain more?

-ability to enter in sale price & regular price of item
A - Good idea. Added to the future features list.

-Categories for each item
A - Do you mean categories in the items area? I.E. Produce, staples, fruit, etc?
Or something else?

-Barcode scanner that picks up info on product w/o using users feedback
A - This is the next feature to be added, see:

http://www.forum.pricebook.aerende.com/topics/3...

I am still trying to figure out the best way to display the online and local prices for each item obtained from the barcode scanning. if you have some ideas about how you would like this information displayed/accessed, please add your ideas to the above thread.

Thanks,

Jim

Last edited: Thu, 28 Jul 2011, 09:02am by admin

I did not post the previous list, but would like to add a comment about the categories. I like that all the items currently list alphabetically, but I find myself naming them with a 'category' first, followed by the item so that I can find them faster.
Some examples:
'Nuts: Walnuts', 'Nuts: Pecans', 'Nuts: Peanuts'
'Milk: Skim', 'Milk: Rice', etc.

After having several items, sometimes I forget if I had previously documented an item, and have found that if I have that first 'category' then it's easier to find/see what I've entered w/o having to remember how I entered everything.
The categories would need to be customizable, however, as each user may want to organize in their own way along with the fact that there would be countless categories.

The app is great - and with some improvements will be wonderful! I'm looking into a few other things - but will post any additional ideas we have at a later time. Looking forward to the next release!

Ok, I've looked through the other forum posts to be sure I'm not missing anything.
Here is our current list of improvement/enhancement/fix requests:

1. Customizable drop-down for Store names
If I'm entering several items in one shopping trip, it gets very cumbersome to have to type the store name over, and over, and over. Sometimes will use copy/paste - but then can't use that if I'm entering versions of the same item, etc.

2. Improved Syncing
A) I registered my device long ago, and still have not found that 'once I have internet, my items sync online'.
B) Why the 'internet only' syncing? I have plenty of data - and for the amount of data (minimal) that would be syncing, I don't understand why the app can't sync over 3G thus allowing it to sync immediately? If there are concerns with data, perhaps include a settings option to 'sync over 3G' on/off?
C) The scenario here is that my husband and I both have iPhones - and want to be able to add something on one phone - and see it on the other phone. We're both registered - but in our initial testing with this, we started duplicating items, etc. This would be WONDERFUL since we both like to see/have this information - but don't want to constantly be uploading/downloading/clearing duplicates, etc.

3) 2-level naming/categories...
As mentioned above, the ability to have a primary [customizable] category (Nuts, Milk, Cheese, Cereal, etc.)followed by the item name (Walnuts, Skim, Cheddar, GoLean, etc.) I like comparing apples to apples - so wouldn't put multiple kinds of 'Nuts' under one 'item', however I like having them grouped so I can easily compare/review like items.

4) Barcoding to populate data
As mentioned in other posts, the ability to barcode an item and do one of the following:
A) If the user is barcoding to add a 'New Price' (thus the item name has already been created), populate the Quantity, Units, and Brand (user must be able to manually enter the price as it would never be right if pulled from online unless synced w/ each unique stores current POS software.)
B) If the user is barcoding from 'New Item Name', the barcode could also enter the Item Name along with the Quantity, Units, Brand.
These populated fields must always be able to be manually edited, however, in the event you'd like to rename the item, the barcode data was incorrect, etc.

5) Ability to scroll within an item.
Whether entering the item or viewing it, I can't scroll through the fields. If viewing an existing item, I must tap in a field to enter Edit mode in order to get to the bottom-most field. If I'm entering a new item, I must hit enter to progress through the top fields to get to the bottom fields due to the keyboard being up. This is VERY cumbersome and NOT intuitive.

6) Keep the menus consistent.
Here is the behavior I see:
From the Home screen to the Search screen, the bottom menu bar remains (with the +, cloud up, cloud down, etc.)
From an Item to the Search screen, the bottom menu is gone and there is a top menu with Edit item name, Delete, Home.
My recommendation: Always show the bottom menu on the Search screen, and at the top, always show the Search text box - but have an icon to the right of that text box to 'edit' (like a pencil, or cog, or 'edit'). This button would then give you the native iPhone 'Delete' function, and use an arrow to the right to allow name editing, etc.

7) Ability to add a new price using an existing price.
For example, I entered the reg. price of milk at Cub 2 months ago, and it's changed and I want to enter the new price as a new price (not just edit the existing price). My thoughts - I would open the price from 2 months ago, and there would be a button at the top for 'New price'. This would copy forward the Location, Quantity, Units, Brand, & Notes values and use the current date and allow the user to edit any and all fields from there. This would also help with entering full price and a sale price as I like having them as separate prices for comparison, but currently have to enter everything twice which is a hassle and is time consuming.

Love the app though! Hope to see some of these improvements in the near future else we'll begin to look elsewhere to enter/track our pricing data.
Thank you!

@n&b -

Thank you for your post.

A. First post -

Categories have been suggested previously and they are on my list to add.

B. Second post -

1. Customizable drop-down for Store names -

Good suggestion. I've added it to my list of improvements.

2. Improved Syncing -

A) To upload an item from the device to the website when a price has been entered when there was no internet access, the following has to occur:

a) When the device has internet access, then a new price is entered. This triggers the upload software to check for internet access, and if available, then all prices that have not been uploaded to the website are uploaded.

B) The app should be able to sync over 3G. For internet access, the device just needs to be able to access the internet, in whatever manner. Could be that the device has internet access but 2)A)a) above is not fulfilled.

C) Can you explain how you were duplicating items? Were you both entering the same item on two different iPhones?

3) Yup, categories are on my list.

4) A) IF the barcode has been scanned before, the Quantity, Units and Brand should be populated when a 'New Price' is entered. I will check this and if not the case, fix it.
B) For a new Item from a barcode, unfortunately the Quantity, and Units are not available, so those have to be entered manually, the first time. I have mentioned this to the barcode scanner provider and they are looking into adding this information.
C) The next thing I will do is allow editing on the website for scanned barcodes, the Item Name, Quantity and Units information.

5) Previously there was a bug in Apple's library for scrolling in the prices page that caused random crashes, so I disabled scrolling. I have on my list to re-enable scrolling, so I will check if the bug was fixed before re-enabling scrolling.

6) These are good suggestions. I will add them to the list.

7) I can add a button to copy existing prices when creating a new price.

Thank you for your comments !

Jim

Last edited: Mon, 31 Oct 2011, 10:40am by admin