What's new in CLZ Movies? (page 7)
In today’s update for the CLZ Movies app, we have made further tweaks to the Add screen, to make it clearer and (hopefully) more stable than previous versions:
- Slightly smaller font for the movie title, so that longer titles fit better.
- Color high-lighting: Movies already ‘on wish list’ now have an orange title, movies already “in collection” show up with a blue title.
- Improved scroll behaviour.
Fixes in this update:
- Full screen cover scroller on iPhone/iPod devices was not properly updating its title bar
New
- Optimized layout of main screen on 10.5 and 12.9 inch iPads
- Optimized the performance of the main screen thumbnail view
- Fresh placeholder cover images
Fixed
New:
- Redesigned Selection Mode
- Tap and hold on a movie to select it, select as many movies as you like (or select all, using the “Select All” top right).
- Then use the blue action button to perform an action on the selected movies (Remove / Update from CLZ Core).
Fixed:
- Crash when saving a cover image to the camera roll
- Odd scrolling behavior when expanding/collapsing a movie title search result in the Add Automatically screen
- Odd scrolling behavior when scanning movie barcodes in the barcode scanning screen
- Stuck keyboard after searching in main list
- Autocorrect was enabled for the main list search bar
Now live, a new design and layout for the movie detail page in both Movie Connect and the free CLZ Cloud viewer.
Some highlights of the new look:
- bigger cover image
- bigger trailer video
- more logical layout and placement of all fields
Screen shots:
All Connect apps: Manage Pick Lists, edit, merge and remove pick list entries.
A Manage Pick Lists screen is now available in Connect!
Finally, you can easily manage your pick lists for Artists, Authors, Series, Genres, Formats, etc… To edit your sort names, merge duplicate entries or remove entries.
The new Manage Pick Lists screen can be found in the Tools menu top right (the wrench icon).
A nice upgrade for the search feature today, in both Movie Connect and the free CLZ Cloud viewer for movie collections!
We have completely replaced the search engine, making the searches much faster and giving you better, more focussed, less “fuzzy” search results.
On top of that, we have now added our popular “Search-As-You-Type” mechanism to the search box for quick finding and selecting a particular movie in your database:
- In the Quick Search box, just start typing the first few letters of the title you are looking for.
- While typing, a drop-down list will appear, showing the first five matching movies, with small cover images.
(for most movies, it only takes 2 or 3 letters before it shows up.) - Once you see the one you were looking for, use the up/down keys to select it, then hit Enter.
- This will instantly take you the movie details page for that movie.
See the Search-As-You-Type system in action:
New fields for Edit Multiple
We’ve expanded the amount of fields you can edit in the Edit Multiple screen.
Improved interface
We’ve made it more clear how you can clear information from specific fields for all selected items you’re editing. Use the X button to clear a field for all selected items.
Using “Edit Multiple”
Quick reminder how to use Edit Multiple: Click the “Select” button at the top of your Connect page, select a couple of items, and click “Edit” (again, at the top).
Be advised that changes you make here affect all selected items, and can not be reverted once done!
New:
- Series Folders: You can now folder group on “Series” so your TV serie entries all go into their own respective series folders.
- Sorting on Country: We added “Country” to the list of available sort fields.
Fixed:
- After searching a movie, the edit screen wouldn’t display all available formats.
New:
- Added a new “All Movies” folder with a back button to go back to your folders
With all the sharing features we’re building we’ve now added a way for you to set a default view for your friends so they can browse your collection the way you want them to.
To set a default view for your friends:
Go to your CLZ Cloud / Connect page, login at the top right and set the columns, sorting and folder view you wish your friends see when they browse your collection.
Once you’re happy with the setup, choose Settings from the “wrench” icon menu top right. Then click the blue button “Set current view as default view” and you’re done! Anyone viewing your collection for the first time will now get the view you’ve just set for them.
You can now quickly share your entire collection or one single item in your collection with anyone using the Share button at the top of your collection. You can share your collection or single item on Facebook, Twitter, via email or just copy a direct link using the Share icon top right.
Go to your cloud page, login at the top right, and use the Share icon at the top to begin:
Share entire collection
For your entire collection, make sure you’re on your Cloud / Connect page with all your items in view and then click the Share icon top right:
Share one single item
For one single item, click the item in your collection and then click the Share button at the top:
This is a new way to show your collection list to specific people, without making it Public. Just set your Cloud Visibility to Private, hiding it from public view, then generate a secret Private Cloud Sharing link. Send this link to your friends and only they will be able to see your collection. Best of both worlds!
To change our Cloud Visibility, go to your cloud page, login at the top right, then choose Settings from the “wrench” icon menu.
Previously, the search feature in the cloud viewer took you to a separate page showing the search results.
Now, the search is fully integrated into the regular collection viewer. Which means that you can now search, then further drill down using folders and/or the alphabet bar. Super handy, especially for large collections.
New:
- Add Movies from CLZ Core: New skinned preview templates.
- After adding/editing a movie, the app will now always find and show your last added movie in your main screen.
- If you log in to your CLZ Account on a new or empty device, the app will now ask you if you wish to download your movies from CLZ Cloud.
- Added skinning to Sign up/Log in/In App Purchase screens.
Fixed:
- After each CLZ Cloud sync the “Quick Search” and “Collection Status Filter” was cleared.
- When a custom cover was downloaded via CLZ Cloud syncing, the thumbnail in the list wasn’t immediately updated.
- When a movie was removed, the list would scroll back to the top.
- Various skinning, layout and color fixes.
Another productive week here for our Connect pages! Our web developer Joe has finished work on 2 improvements for your Connect page:
New layouts in Edit Screen
We recently took a look at our Edit Screen and figured it was time to change some fields around as we thought they weren’t all logically placed. So for all 5 Connect titles we’ve now changed the layout and placements of your fields in the Edit Screen. We also consolidated all “Cover” tabs in the edit screens so they work the same in all 5 Connect titles.
New: Duplicate feature
You can now duplicate an item in your database. To do this, click on an item in your database to view its details, then at the top click on “Duplicate”.
The new duplicated item will be an exact duplicate of the previous item, but it will be unlinked. You can Link the duplicated item with the “Link” button at the top of the details page.
Add by Barcode: Now directly connect to your CLZ Barry barcode scanning app!
We’d love to see more users enjoy the fun and ease of adding items to their database by scanning barcodes with their phone or tablet. So we also decided a couple of weeks ago to make our CLZ Barry app FREE (previously US $10).
New: Directly connect to CLZ Barry from Connect
Previously you needed a special program to connect and send barcodes to your computer, but today we added a direct connection to CLZ Barry on all “Add by Barcode” pages on Connect, which means you can directly connect to any mobile device running the barcode scanning app “CLZ Barry” and scan barcodes straight into your Add by Barcode page on Connect!
Reminder: What is CLZ Barry ?
CLZ Barry is the Collectorz.com barcode scanner app. It lets you:
- Scan barcodes with your mobile device’s camera.
- Instantly send the barcodes (the 12 or 13-digit numbers) to the Add page on Connect.
How to get started with CLZ Barry
- Open the App Store or Play Store on your device,
then search for “CLZ BARRY” and download the app. - Follow the Getting Started Guide to set up and start scanning.
Getting Started for iOS / Getting Started for Android
Changed:
- Made some improvements to the barcode scanner
Fixed:
- Manual focus for barcode scanning
- Add Auto: Able to get a duplicate barcode in the barcode search queue by inputting it manually
- Crash in the add auto screen when adding a mix of new movies and movies on wish list by barcode
- Crash in the pick cover option in the edit screen
Improvements to “Selection Mode”
You can now enter selection mode and use the “Select All” button top left to select all items in a list, or use “Shift clicking” to select a bunch of items in one go (hold the Shift button on your keyboard and click a couple of items to select/deselect them).
Use these selection mode improvements to select a subset of your database and quickly export them to PDF for instance!
New “None” folder added
We added a new “None” folder to your folder group view. The “None” folder will display when the field you’re folder grouping on is empty for that item.
Example: if you folder on “Genres” but you have one item where the Genre is not filled in, that specific item will appear in your “None” folder!
Print to PDF: Field Names on every page
We added a new checkbox in the settings for Print to PDF to include the field names column header on every single page.
New statistics added
We added some more collection statistics to the statistic screen. In your Connect page, click the “wrench” icon top right and then “Statistics” to check them out!
At the moment our entire web-team, 3 developers, is working full-time on our Connect editions. And it shows: lot of improvements and small tweaks are being released in rapid succession.
An overview of last week’s updates, now live in your Connect account:
Faster editing
This is a big one, as it makes editing your entries in Connect a lot quicker (and less annoying!).
Previously, after editing an entry, the entire list refreshed which A. was slow and B. caused you to lose your place in the list.
Now, the list does not refresh anymore. After an edit action, the edited item is simply updated with the new field values. Which is super quick and leaves you right where you were before you opened the Edit screen.
NOTE: this change has one implication: If your edit action would cause the item to be sorted in a different place in the list, or even to be moved to a different folder, that will not happen immediately. A simple manual refresh is all it takes in that case.
Updated Statistics screen
We re-wrote the Statistics screen using different charting tools, which makes them look and animate nicer AND solves several browser-specific problems.
Print to PDF enhancements
The new Print to PDF feature can now be used on a selection of items. So just go to Select mode, select some items, then choose Print to PDF in the toolbar top right.
Also, we have added a Margin setting, that lets you control the width of the margins of the generated PDF output.
More column and sort fields
We are regularly receiving requests for more fields to be available as column and sort fields. If technically feasible, we are adding these as we go. Some recent additions:
- Comics: Release Date and Cover Price are now available as column fields.
- Comics: Read It is now available in the Field Defaults settings.
- Movies: Director and Format are now sortable fields.
- Movies: Title Sort is now available as an Export field.
- Games: Genre is now available as a sort field.
This update to the CLZ Movies app for Android brings user interface improvements to the Add Movies screen:
- All panels are now resizable (list, details, camera)
- When adding a movie that is already on your wish list, the app now lets you change its’ status to “In Collection”.
- Adding By Barcode:
- Camera scanner is now integrated in Add screen, not a separate screen
- Tap the keyboard icon in the camera panel to enter a barcode manually
- Barcode queue is now remembered between sessions
- Press and hold to delete a barcode from the queue
- Adding By Title:
- Expand movie edition list using “V” icons on the right
- Movie not found? Easy add it manually using the special entry in the results list
New in the CLZ Cloud viewer and Movie Connect: a Print to PDF feature!
Generate a PDF file from your movie list, ideal for printing.
New in 4.5.2:
- New Details View templates which are easier on the eye:
- Clear Light template
- Clear Dark template
Fixed:
- Covers were not updated in the main list after editing a movie.
- Main Screen: Unknown Formats now have a text label in the cell.
- Login now does a receipt check.
- “Change Template” button moved to right sidebar in the main screen.
- Better thumbnail layout in Landscape Mode.
- After closing the add movies automatically screen, it now selects the latest added movie.
- Improved “tap” area of hamburger menu so you can back out of a folder more easily.
A huge v4.5 update for the CLZ Movies app is now available.
And prepare to be shocked 🙂 (in a good way, don’t worry):
The app looks completely different now, with a cleaner brighter look and an improved user interface.
What’s new in CLZ Movies 4.5 for iOS?
- A completely new look, that is cleaner and brighter.
- The choice between two skins/themes: Light & Dark.
- No bottom toolbar means more screen space for your movie collection.
- Big floating blue ‘+’ button on bottom right for adding new movies.
- Access all other features and tools from ‘hamburger’ menu top left.
- Access all view settings from menu on top right.
- Quickly switch between All / In Collection / Wish List at the top.
How to update your CLZ Movies app to version 4.5:
- On your device, open the App Store app.
- On the bottom, switch to the Updates tab.
- Find the CLZ Movies entry and tap “UPDATE” on the right.
Do you like the new look?
Then please let the world know by posting a nice review in the App Store!
Whilst we make daily backups for you on our own servers, you can now create your own backup of your Connect database and download it to your computer!
If you ever make a big mistake and lose valuable data, you can upload a previously downloaded backup file and restore it to your current database.
Import any Text or .CSV file into your collection
You can now import any text file (.txt) or comma separated value file (.csv) into your collection on Connect using the new import page in your Connect account.
With this new import tool you are able to quickly import a list of movies from for instance an existing collection you may have in a spreadsheet or different software. All you have to do is export those movies from your other software to a text or CSV file and follow the steps on the new Import page in your Connect account.