Hi, since the new update all my custom HTML files have weird characters in them...this is the Ian James Piano app v1.4 with all the song requests...would hate to have to redo all those files....thanks!!

Yikes! We've heard this a few times since the massive data migration last weekend. Without getting too technical...it's not your fault. It takes 'fixing' each screen in your control panel then re-saving. This isn't something thats practical for apps with tons of content like yours. Only some apps were affected negatively from these back end changes and we're ready to help when we hear about one that didn't get migrated successfully. Like yours. I'll look into this tonight and should be able to automate the update process so you don't have to spend hours doing it. Check this post later for an update.

Awesome. Thanks Dave !! If I have to work out all the files on my end I will...hate to keep you from finishing up v1.5 for Android...wink wink...cheers!!

Hi Dave, by the way I started learning Programming because of how inspired I am from buzztouch...maybe I will never become a top programmer like you but I enjoy being able to look at the code and have an understanding of what is going on...half way through C programming course..then gonna tackle objective C...lots to learn but gives me an even deeper appreciation for your knowledge...so thanks for opening my eyes to this other world cheers!! Ian

I love hearing this stuff!!!! Let us know when you need a job ;-)

Ha!! Well I do keep programmers hours...is that the sun coming up?

Piano-man... before I do any updating of any content in your app I want to make sure I don't screw something up. Point me to a screen in your control panel that has 'funny' characters so I can get a look at them. Didn't get to this yesterday but looking into it now.

Hi Dave, if you go the the Ian James piano App v1.4 on the main menu Songlist/lyrics tap the first song 3am...there are A' characters throughout the song as well as the others...I think it has to do with spacing? I can redo the files if that is what is needed...don't take up any more of your time if there isn't a simple solution...thanks!!

Hi Dave, let me know if i should rework all the html lyric files...cheers!! ian

We should be able to update this on our end so you dont' have too. Check this post later tonight to see if we got it done ;-)

Should be A-Oh-K. Updated EVERY piano app Text / HTML screen. Let us know if another app didn't survive the data migration from a week ago ;-)

Dude!! thanks...hope it didn't take too long.. My other apps seem to look ok.. Thanks again !!!

Magic wand ;-)

I have the same problem with my apps (v1.4 iOS). My apps are very heavy with the custom text. Can you use your magic wand on my two apps ( DI locations, Tagalog LDS)?

it looks like the character - was replaced with — and spaces were replaced with  along with some other punctuation marks being replaced with gibberish.

@ DanielH: Yes, we'll look into this... nudge this post in a few day if you don't seem them magically fixed ;-)

Any headway on fixing the text files? I know you've been very busy lately with the website...

@DanielH: Oops, give me an inch and I take a mile! Totally forgot about this. So, I've looked at the files in your apps, there are hundreds of them. There is one character I'm having trouble converting. It appears in many of your files right after text like this: (History of the Church, 3:300 It shows up in the browser, and in the database as a special character that means the database doesn't understand it. Is there a character missing after that line above? In other words, the last character in that line is 0 (zero) but the database show another character after the zero that I can't make out. Maybe a closing parenthesis? Just need to confirm that this should end with a ) before I update hundreds of files with the magic-wand.

is the (History of the Church, 3:300 example taken from the custom text entitled Bahagi 122? If not, let me know where one example is occurring (I'm trying to make sure I'm comparing with my source text) Thanks!

Not sure, funny. I have a screen built to display 'all your html' in one long list. I can't paste the URL to this, security reasons. But... I can say that lots and lots of the content ends with a reference like the one I mentioned. They all seem to start with an opening parenthesis, list a bible verse, then end with a number without the closing parenthesis. This is where they crazy character is in our database, I think it's suppossed to be the closing parenthesis but just needed to make sure.

(History of the Church, 3:300–301). Should read: (History of the Church, 3:300–301). It looks to me that the character is an “en dash” (thanks Wikipedia). It’s like a double hyphen. — = en dash - = hyphen I think that you could replace it with a hyphen, if that is easier. In my context, it is used to denote multiple verses or page numbers.

wow, it doesn't look like my en dash charactor is able to be displayed. This is what I tried to say: (History of the Church, 3:300–301). Should read: (History of the Church, 3:300-301). It looks to me that the character is an en dash (thanks Wikipedia). It's like a double hyphen. I think that you could replace it with a hyphen, if that is easier. In my context, it is used to denote multiple verses or page numbers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dash (I never knew that there were multiple dashes)

Funny. Yeah, these are the types of data-encoding gotcha's we've tried to fix when we migrated everyone to the new equipment a few weeks aga. I see a problem with this. The LAST character in the database is a funky, meaningless symbol. This means it probably does not have a unicode counterpart (the double dash thing). So, if 3:300 should be 3:300 - 301 the 'dash 301' has been replaced by the funky character. This means if I replace it with a days, the data will end up 3:300- and NOT 3:300-301 See the difference? Do all of these end with 301? If not, we'll need to come up with a new strategy.

This is a puzzling thing. Is there a way to convert everything but the weird/unknown character and then see where we're at?

Sure. Have a look at this: http://www.buzztouch.com/appdata/utf8-convert.php?oid=88193A51EAC8D3B This is a list of all your data, I figured out a way to show it to you. This is AFTER doing the magic-conversion routine. It has not been updated in the database, it's just what it will look like. Your regular browser will format it a little different than the phone but you'll see the trouble with the funky character. This URL will only be active for a few hours. If we update it, it will look just like this. I guess it just means you'll need to go back in and fix the funky character at the end of each file?

Thanks for posting the link! It really helps me understand what is going on. It looks to me like everything works fine until it gets to its first en dash, quotation mark, or apostrophe. There are other instances of these punctuation marks, but your linked file cuts off the rest of the text. Does that mean that everything after the wacky character is truncated?

It looks that way. I think you've explained it... if everything after that is truncated, only you'll know what was 'once there and is now gone' Not sure how to proceed. Sigh...

No worries. Maybe just wave the magic wand over the DI locations app. I can change the Tagalog LDS one. I might just remake the Tagalog LDS one with version 1.5. I really want to setup the offline mood. Is there a guesstimate when/if the 1.4 to 1.5 converter will be done?

Awesome. OK, just updated the DI Location apps, all looks well. Looks like you'll need to verify the content for the 'Hours' and the 'Location' screen, all others look good after the update. In the app's themsevles, users may need to use the Refresh button to get rid of the previosly downloaded ugly-ness. v1.4 > v1.5 converts. Holding my breath while saying this... shhhhh, maybe done tonight or early in the AM? For sure in the next few days. A link will magically appear in your v1.4 app control panel to 'Convert this app to v1.5' when it's done.

@David I'm very excited about the 1.4 to 1.5 conversion. Thanks for the hard work! Do you ever get any sleep?