Poker Timer 0.02.0 [was 0.01.0] (7/27)

[meatster]

Here is a simple poker tournament timer that allows you to edit the blind structure, define level lengths and include breaks when playing poker tournaments.

There are many more features I want to add in the future such as the ability to save and load different tournament structures, a bet countdown times and ability to set payouts and track the money pool as people re-buy and add-on.

For now, the program only handles one structure which can easily be edited for each tournament.

Poker Timer 0.01.0 7/27/2009
Initial beta.
1. Only one structure can be stored right now.



Poker Timer 0.02.0 7/27/2009
1. Added a Reset Level button to the drawer of the Tournament screen. This resets the timer on the level without advancing the level.
2. Added a button to the drawer of the Tournament screen to pause or resume the tournament timer.
3. Changed the "Toggle Timer" menu item to switch between "Pause Timer" and "Resume Timer" depending on the paused state of the tournament.


Poker Timer 0.03.0 - 08/05/2009
--------------------
1. Added the ability to have the device vibrate for levels alerts and breaks alerts in addition to audio alerts.
2. Added the ability to specify your own audio alerts for levels and breaks. Please keep the files short in duration.
3. Changed the General Settings screen to use drawers for all the level and break related controls.
4. Added a Donk Alert button to the Tournament screen. This plays a donkey bray sound:-) Poker players will know what this means.


Poker Timer 0.04.0 - 08/05/2009
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1. Added a bet timer. This is used when a player calls "clock" on another player. The bet timer can be configured in the General Settings screen and activated from the Tournament screen.


Poker Timer 0.05.0 - 08/07/2009
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1. Fixed a bug where the values of the first row of the Blinds list were not begin updated during an edit.


Poker Timer 0.06.0 - 08/18/2009
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1. Fixed a bug where adding blind levels would not post the updated values.


Please post bugs and feature requests
As I said, I do have my own planned feature list, but if anyone has any more feature requests, change requests and bugs, please post them in here. All feedback is appreciated.

Donations
If you feel like donating something for my time, who am I to object?
You can donate through paypal by clicking this link: Donate.

Licensing Conditions
This application is available for free, but cannot be redistributed, and the source code is not open source. This code is ugly folks... It needs some serious cleaning up and I need some lessons in HTML and CSS before I feel comfortable to let anyone use it as a reference. It took about a week to write and it shows. It's my first crack at a Pre app and I have neither an HTML or CSS background so bear with me as it evolves.

[sixshooterz]

This looks pretty good! I'll have to check it out and play with it! Thanks for the contribution!

[Sc000t]

This is pretty sweet.

With some really simple math you could have average stack size being calculated. All you'd need to input would be remaining players since the amount of chips in play should be constant once it starts.

I haven't used the app yet. So if it doesn't come with some standard structures, how about adding some.

HU SNG
6 person SNG
9 person SNG
18 perosn SNG
Larger MTT

And I guess lastly, I'm not sure how feasible this would be, but it might be cool to have just an input of time and players that would give you the best structure. Say if you had a group of 7 people and everyone could only play for 2 hours. You could just type in [7] players and [120] minutes. and have a way to calculate a structure that should last ~ 2 hours.

Just a thought.

[ookees]

I tried editing the blinds to get them to start lower values, but it wont save. I can add levels but that doesnt help if the lowest level is after the highest one.

I might be doing something wrong. Any ideas?

Update: never mind I can delete the other levels.

[bpdamas]

One thing I might consider is to add a refresh button that just refreshes the current level and starts the timer over. I know there are a lot of times when I'm playing that we mean to start a level after a break or for some reason and need to start the timer over for the current level. I think this could be useful. Overall great start though!

[ookees]

It would also be nice for it to save my edit levels. When I deleted the default ones, they came back after I closed the app and restarted it.

Update: Never mind, As long as you start the tournament after editing the levels they save.

[bdubbx]

Man this is awesome! I've downloadwd the timers really for this reason only, and now there's a dedicated app for that! My only suggestion is if you can have the timer stop after each level rather than goin straight to the next.

We only play real friendly games at my house, so we are pretty forgiving on this. I know I could toggle the timer (great addition btw), but it would be nice to either have this option at on the fron screen rather than hidden in the menu.

[meatster]

Originally Posted by Sc000t

This is pretty sweet.

With some really simple math you could have average stack size being calculated. All you'd need to input would be remaining players since the amount of chips in play should be constant once it starts.

This is definitely something I plan to add. I would have to adjust the chips in play and total prize pool if there are re-buys and add-ons. As long as the number of players remaining in the tourney is kept up to date, the average stack size should be accurate.

Originally Posted by Sc000t

I haven't used the app yet. So if it doesn't come with some standard structures, how about adding some.

HU SNG
6 person SNG
9 person SNG
18 perosn SNG
Larger MTT

The next "big" feature would be to add the ability to store and retrieve blind structures. Currently, I am using the Depot to store the current structure. I'd like to switch this to use a SQLite DB instead, then add support for multiple structures.

Originally Posted by Sc000t

And I guess lastly, I'm not sure how feasible this would be, but it might be cool to have just an input of time and players that would give you the best structure. Say if you had a group of 7 people and everyone could only play for 2 hours. You could just type in [7] players and [120] minutes. and have a way to calculate a structure that should last ~ 2 hours.

I did some googling and found a few websites that describe how to do this. Definitely sounds like a nice feature to have. Perhaps as a dialog off of the Blinds screen to enter the parameters and then have it populate the blinds screen with the calculated values.


Thanks for the feedback.

[meatster]

Originally Posted by ookees

I tried editing the blinds to get them to start lower values, but it wont save. I can add levels but that doesnt help if the lowest level is after the highest one.

I might be doing something wrong. Any ideas?

Update: never mind I can delete the other levels.

You can edit existing levels by taping the row. The Edit dialog box should appear. When you change the values and tap OK, they should update the Blinds list. Also, when you leave the Blinds screen, the blinds are saved to the default structure.

Originally Posted by ookees

It would also be nice for it to save my edit levels. When I deleted the default ones, they came back after I closed the app and restarted it.

Update: Never mind, As long as you start the tournament after editing the levels they save.

I have a small default set of blinds (displayed in one of the screencaps in the top post) that will be used if the blinds read from the Depot are empty or an error occurs.

The blinds should save as long as you return to the General Settings screen.

I tried this and it seems to work on my end. Can you confirm that edits to blinds cause the Blinds list to update and that the blinds are saved as long as you return to the main screen and don't exit the app from the blinds screen?


Thanks for the feedback.

[meatster]

Originally Posted by bpdamas

One thing I might consider is to add a refresh button that just refreshes the current level and starts the timer over. I know there are a lot of times when I'm playing that we mean to start a level after a break or for some reason and need to start the timer over for the current level. I think this could be useful. Overall great start though!

I added a reset level button in Tournament screen inside the drawer that opens and closes. It resets the timer for the current level or break without advancing the level.

Originally Posted by bdubbx

Man this is awesome! I've downloadwd the timers really for this reason only, and now there's a dedicated app for that! My only suggestion is if you can have the timer stop after each level rather than goin straight to the next.

We only play real friendly games at my house, so we are pretty forgiving on this. I know I could toggle the timer (great addition btw), but it would be nice to either have this option at on the front screen rather than hidden in the menu.

If more people request having the timer pause automatically, I could add a preferences screen and make this an option but I think that most people will just prefer to have the tournament run on schedule, except for an occasional pause to exchange out lower denomination chips.

An easier accessible Pause button seems like a good compromise but I didn't want to add a Pause button directly to the main Tournament screen because it would be very easy to accidentally tap it and inadvertently pause the level. I added a Pause button in the Tournament screen inside the drawer that opens and closes instead.


Thanks for the feedback.

[milominderbinder]

Update thread title to:
Poker Timer 0.02.0 [was 0.01.0] (7/27)

- Craig

[deviousrlm]

Nice, I'll have to check this one out

[deviousrlm]

Would be interesting to use your phone as the button!! Well, maybe not after a number of drinks--your phone would end up flying around the table most likely...

[meatster]

Originally Posted by deviousrlm

Would be interesting to use your phone as the button!! Well, maybe not after a number of drinks--your phone would end up flying around the table most likely...

With its high gloss finish, the Pre actually would glide around the poker table nicely as a button

Next tourney I play, I will use it as my card protector, running my tournament timer of course...

[bdubbx]

Originally Posted by meatster

I added a reset level button in Tournament screen inside the drawer that opens and closes. It resets the timer for the current level or break without advancing the level.



If more people request having the timer pause automatically, I could add a preferences screen and make this an option but I think that most people will just prefer to have the tournament run on schedule, except for an occasional pause to exchange out lower denomination chips.

An easier accessible Pause button seems like a good compromise but I didn't want to add a Pause button directly to the main Tournament screen because it would be very easy to accidentally tap it and inadvertently pause the level. I added a Pause button in the Tournament screen inside the drawer that opens and closes instead.


Thanks for the feedback.

This is great! I didn't get to dowload the update, but I used this app in a lil tourney iplayed tonight. It worked, but in my error, I toggled to turn the timer off durin a level, and forgot to turn it back on for at least 10 minutes. Because of this, the timer wasn't any good for the rest of the tourney.

Would "skipping" a level be too hard to code into this aoo if these types of user mistakes happen?

[meatster]

Originally Posted by bdubbx

This is great! I didn't get to dowload the update, but I used this app in a lil tourney iplayed tonight. It worked, but in my error, I toggled to turn the timer off durin a level, and forgot to turn it back on for at least 10 minutes. Because of this, the timer wasn't any good for the rest of the tourney.

Would "skipping" a level be too hard to code into this aoo if these types of user mistakes happen?

Actually, this feature has been there since the original version. While in the tournament screen, you can select Next Level to nudge the timer to the next tournament level. That, along with the Pause and Resume Timer buttons/menu items should help you get back in sync.

Thanks for the feedback.

[bdubbx]

Originally Posted by meatster

Actually, this feature has been there since the original version. While in the tournament screen, you can select Next Level to nudge the timer to the next tournament level. That, along with the Pause and Resume Timer buttons/menu items should help you get back in sync.

Thanks for the feedback.

Gosh...I can't believe I didn't notice that! I can't wait till the next tourney now!

[Audemars02]

Great start for the app.... have a few suggestions for you.

1. I was playing around with the "break" feature and noticed that there is no audio notification when a Level of done and the break starts... the only notification is when the next level starts. So, any chance to have a "end level" sound in addition to the "start level" sound?

2. Can you "wake up" the device at the start of the next level instead of just playing the sound?

thanks!

[meatster]

Originally Posted by Audemars02

Great start for the app.... have a few suggestions for you.

1. I was playing around with the "break" feature and noticed that there is no audio notification when a Level of done and the break starts... the only notification is when the next level starts. So, any chance to have a "end level" sound in addition to the "start level" sound?

I added the ability to play a different sound for breaks. I also added the ability to vibrate the device for starts of breaks and levels and to play mp3 files instead of the built in sounds. I'm working on adding an interface to select mp3 files for each of these alerts. I hope to have this done soon.

Originally Posted by Audemars02

Great start for the app.... have a few
2. Can you "wake up" the device at the start of the next level instead of just playing the sound?

thanks!

Supposedly, this feature will be added in the next SDK so unless anyone has an undocumented way of waking the device up, I'm gonna have to wait for the next SDK before this can be implemented.

Stay tuned for the next version and thanks for the feedback.

[bjharada]

Will your new interface include the option to pick up an mp3 from Ringtones? I have the WSOP ESPN riff that I'd like to use and it's in my ringtones, but doesn't currently come up in the list when 'SELECT'ing a custom ringtone.