Writing Test in Flashcards?

Alexis

状元
I remember in Windows Mobile that there was a flashcard testing option to have the definition display on the top part of the screen, and the middle part of the screen was a "scratchpad" which I used to write characters, and the bottom had the scoring section. Is there anyway to replicate this in the Android version?

I know about the 'pen' icon on the top right, but that doesn't seem to allow you to view both what you have written and the revealed character at the same time.
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
Alexis said:
I remember in Windows Mobile that there was a flashcard testing option to have the definition display on the top part of the screen, and the middle part of the screen was a "scratchpad" which I used to write characters, and the bottom had the scoring section. Is there anyway to replicate this in the Android version?

I know about the 'pen' icon on the top right, but that doesn't seem to allow you to view both what you have written and the revealed character at the same time.

It actually should overlay what you're drawing with the revealed character still visible underneath - is it not doing that for you? What does the background of the drawing pad look like on your device? (and what model/OS version is it again?) Having a separate drawing area in one portion of the screen doesn't really make sense on devices with finger-driven touchscreens since it's not really enough space to draw a character properly.
 

Alexis

状元
Embarrassing.... there transparent overlap must have been there all along, I just didn't notice it. It is great.

If it were possible to have a small row of buttons on the bottom to reveal & mark correct/incorrect, that would be really smooth (and save a lot of switching back and forth).

Thanks for the pointer!
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
Alexis said:
If it were possible to have a small row of buttons on the bottom to reveal & mark correct/incorrect, that would be really smooth (and save a lot of switching back and forth).

That would actually be tricky because the box isn't really transparent - there's no good way to have a transparent writing surface on Android; instead, we take an image of whatever's currently showing in the definition area and make that the background of the box. So updating the definition after your reveal / advance to the next card would involve some very tricky coding to check whether the new definition text had finished rendering yet (sadly not something that Android makes it easy for one to hook into / get notified about) and fetch the new background once it has. So a good feature to add eventually, but it'll take us a few releases to get it working smoothly.
 

Seb R

Member
I second this, it's quite tedious having to press the pen button several times each time you practice writing a character, especially if you're going through them quickly. Anki has got Pleco beat on this point I think. I would buy the flashcard upgrade for Pleco so I could automatically create flashcards from the dictionary, but it's too frustrating! Any sign of this being brought into a future version? Thanks
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
Seb R said:
I second this, it's quite tedious having to press the pen button several times each time you practice writing a character, especially if you're going through them quickly. Anki has got Pleco beat on this point I think. I would buy the flashcard upgrade for Pleco so I could automatically create flashcards from the dictionary, but it's too frustrating! Any sign of this being brought into a future version? Thanks

Very good chance, yes - I think we'll probably just add an option that limits the box to the definition area, that's the easiest one to code and would ensure compatibility with any button configuration (even, say, separate 1-6 score buttons).
 

HW60

状元
I am also missing a flashcard option I used with windows mobile before: listen to audio and write characters (fill in the blanks): after I hear the audio once, there is no button to repeat audio. I can go back (with the Android left arrow) and can repeat audio the allowed number of times with the audio button, but there is no place to write the characters now, only the check answer field which does not respond. The only thing remaining after listening 3 times is to go back and skip the card. The fill-in-the-blanks part of the manual does not provide information for "listen to audio and write characters" (or I did not find it). (HTC One X)
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
HW60 said:
I am also missing a flashcard option I used with windows mobile before: listen to audio and write characters (fill in the blanks): after I hear the audio once, there is no button to repeat audio. I can go back (with the Android left arrow) and can repeat audio the allowed number of times with the audio button, but there is no place to write the characters now, only the check answer field which does not respond. The only thing remaining after listening 3 times is to go back and skip the card. The fill-in-the-blanks part of the manual does not provide information for "listen to audio and write characters" (or I did not find it). (HTC One X)

That option is currently only available with the screen in landscape orientation or with the writing box closed (tap the Done) button, though we're working on a tweak to the layout to support it in portrait orientation with the box visible too.
 

HW60

状元
With every turn of the phone from normal to landscape mode and back I can listen again without any button - even more than the actually allowed three times.
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
HW60 said:
Landscape mode is OK - only hard to find in the manual ...

That particular fact isn't in the manual, just an oversight when we designed the UI :)

HW60 said:
With every turn of the phone from normal to landscape mode and back I can listen again without any button - even more than the actually allowed three times.

Yeah, this is a known bug that's proven rather a lot harder to fix than we would like - should be dealt with soon, though.
 

ckatt

状元
thought i'd chime in here rather start a new thread, i think this was mentioned but i just wanted to add my enthusiasm for the feature of a scratch pad. on the palm os version i was letting it play the audio, then i would write the character. i can do that on android but to reveal what the answer is i must hide the character that i wrote, making side by side comparison impossible, not a big deal for some characters but it would be great for the complex ones.
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
ckatt said:
thought i'd chime in here rather start a new thread, i think this was mentioned but i just wanted to add my enthusiasm for the feature of a scratch pad. on the palm os version i was letting it play the audio, then i would write the character. i can do that on android but to reveal what the answer is i must hide the character that i wrote, making side by side comparison impossible, not a big deal for some characters but it would be great for the complex ones.

Unfortunately, as I've mentioned in a few other places that's really hard to get working correctly on Android because the system we use for smooth handwriting capture doesn't support transparency; on iOS we simply make the handwriting pad transparent and the definition takes care of itself, but on Android we have to detect every time that the definition is finished updating (not just when we update it, but after the updated text has finished rendering on the screen, which there's no way to automatically be notified about) and then essentially take a screenshot of that new definition, fade it to gray and stick it in the background of the handwriting box. So it's doable but it's not easy.
 

ckatt

状元
I see what your saying but couldn't it be done without transparency? On the palm version there was just a box under the definition. I'm using it on a 10" asus pad so there's lots of extra space on the screen
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
ckatt said:
I see what your saying but couldn't it be done without transparency? On the palm version there was just a box under the definition. I'm using it on a 10" asus pad so there's lots of extra space on the screen

We could certainly do that on tablets, yes - just a matter of finding the time amidst all of the other stuff we're working on.
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
We finally managed to fix this by switching to an older, simpler way of drawing pen strokes that allows for transparency quite happily. So while the fill-in-the-blanks test will continue to use the same layout/interface that it does now, in in the next release the regular drawing box will use a much simpler system that leaves the buttons at the bottom of the screen tappable.
 
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