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Notes On iOS MMD Composer builds 46 & 47

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rwcope2

27 May, 2018 01:48 PM

Things are coming along great, thanks! All my testing this time was on an iPad Pro, latest iOS 11.

1. In Settings->Sync, I tapped "Enable Dropbox" and the process of authorizing with Dropbox worked just fine. However, I did not see the Dropbox folder appear anywhere in the list of sources. My choices remained "iCloud", "Local files" and "Open other file...". Looking in Dropbox, I could see that the "Apps->MultiMarkdown Composer" folder was created. After updating to build 47, the Dropbox item appeared as expected in the group with "iCloud" and "Local Files", however, and appears to work fine.
   
2. In general, I really like the way file access works, with the 3 MMD Composer specific locations, and then access to everything through the Files integration. It would be nice if the Files UI appeared the same way the others do, inside the split pane instead of a separate dialog, but I'm guessing there's a technical reason it doesn't, and this is a minor quibble.
   
3. I edited a file in Dropbox that I accessed through "Open other file..." Then I closed that file in MMD Composer and opened it in another editor, to check that the changes synched (they did). I made an edit in that editor, then went back to MMD Composer, and that edit appeared in there too. All great so far. Then I made many edits in MMD Composer, and those edits resulted in 19 different files named "My Test File (Rob's Conflicted Copy X.md". Subsequent attempts to reproduce this problem have not been successful, so I'm not sure what happened there.
   
4. Split screen on an iPad Pro is working great!
   
5. I turned off the preference for inserting an extra line between list items, but when I created a new list, I still got the extra space. However, if I also turn off "Duplicate current list spacing", then it works as expected.
   
6. I assume the General section of Settings is known to be empty, but I mention it here, just in case it isn't.
   
7. I enabled MathJax, then opened a file with a formula and it wasn't rendered as a formula in the preview. Later, however (sorry, not sure when), I noticed it was rendering correctly. Love MathJax by the way.
   
8. The Markdown specific items in the toolbar are fabulous. I like the way they change depending on whether you have spell checking on or off. Really nice.

Thanks,
Rob

1. Support Staff 1 Posted by Fletcher on 27 May, 2018 02:31 PM

   

   Rob,

   Thanks for ongoing feedback!

   1. Ironing out kinks in the initial link to Dropbox, but if there are issues force quit the app and restart -- that should fix it if you have issues again. But once working you should not have trouble.

   2. Apple is in charge of the files UI, and there is no way to change that. It's like the macOS sandbox -- the only way to access files outside of the sandbox is through permission granted by the user through a built-in dialog. Plus, in this case, I think it is good that there is a visual reminder that something different is going on.

   3. If you edit a file inside the Dropbox folder with another app, then dropbox sync is not running while you do it. When you come back to Composer it didn't notice the change and then you got out of sync. I'll try to plug that "backdoor" by rechecking sync status when the app returns to the foreground?

   4. I had to tweak a few things to get Composer to behave like an iPhone when its in split screen, but once I did that it should work like usual. Not something I do often, but I figured somebody would. :)

   5. Sounds like that is working as its supposed to then, right?

   6. Yes -- I'm either going to add something there or delete it. Haven't decided yet.

   7. When you toggle MathJax, you have to get the preview to refresh in order to force iOS to load any assets. MathJax comes from the web, it's not built-in. (just like macOS). Also, MathJax only renders when the preview does a full refresh, not when it does an update (while typing). You can change settings just like on macOS to balance preview update speed, MathJax accuracy, and the "visual disturbance" of having MathJax modify your document while typing. All of this should be the same as the macOS version.

   8. Still playing with that. I like not requiring a second row when spell correction is on, but don't like that it requires two taps to accomplish anything. If I could "shrink" the width of the spelling suggestions there would be enough room, but I don't think Apple lets you change that. The iPhone, OTOH, doesn't have extra space so it requires a second row of buttons. Which means, in landscape (even with my good eyes and a relatively small font I only get 2 lines of visible text (4 with the info bar turned off) if predictive spelling is turned on. I guess I could bill this as a feature by calling it "forced focus mode"?? ;)

   • Edit

2. 2 Posted by rwcope2 on 05 Jun, 2018 12:06 AM

   

   Sorry for the long absence —life...

   Thanks for all the info. Regarding my #5:

   I turned off the preference for inserting an extra line between list items, but when I created a new list, I still got the extra space. However, if I also turn off "Duplicate current list spacing", then it works as expected.

   Your reply was:

   Sounds like that is working as its supposed to then, right?

   Well, I don’t think so. If “Skip line between list items” is turned off, then I would expect the first list I create in a document to be single spaced, regardless of how “Duplicate current list spacing” is set. Instead I find that a new list is always double spaced if “Skip line between list items” is off and “Duplicate current list spacing” is on. If I turn ”Duplicate current list spacing” off, then a new list is single spaced when “Skip line between list items” is off.

   This is still true in build 51. I have other comments on 51, but I’ll start a new thread for that.

   Thanks,
   Rob

   • Edit

3. Support Staff 3 Posted by Fletcher on 05 Jun, 2018 12:36 AM

   

   > Sorry for the long absence —life...
   >

   No worries!!

   > Thanks for all the info. Regarding my #5:
   >
   > I turned off the preference for inserting an extra line between list
   > items, but when I created a new list, I still got the extra space.
   > However, if I also turn off "Duplicate current list spacing", then
   > it works as expected.
   >
   > Your reply was:
   >
   > Sounds like that is working as its supposed to then, right?
   >
   > Well, I don’t think so. If “Skip line between list items” is turned off,
   > then I would expect the first list I create in a document to be single
   > spaced, regardless of how “Duplicate current list spacing” is set.
   > Instead I find that a new list is always double spaced if “Skip line
   > between list items” is off and “Duplicate current list spacing” is on.
   > If I turn ”Duplicate current list spacing” off, then a new list is
   > single spaced when “Skip line between list items” is off.

   Do you have an empty line above the first list item? When you hit
   enter, Composer examines the line above to see whether to skip a line.

   --
   Fletcher T. Penney
   Manager, Founder
   MultiMarkdown Software, LLC
   [email blocked]

   • Edit

4. 4 Posted by rwcope2 on 05 Jun, 2018 01:25 AM

   

   Yes, that explains it. With "Duplicate current list spacing" turned on, then I get a blank line after the first line if the line before the first line is blank. If there isn't a blank line before the first line, the list does not skip lines. That isn't what I would expect to happen, but that explains it.

   Thanks,
   Rob

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5. Support Staff 5 Posted by Fletcher on 05 Jun, 2018 10:33 PM

   

   I can look at whether there's another approach that makes sense and
   works consistently.

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