[jmcallister]

i worked most of the weekend on it. I have the core ui done and have a game plan in place for the logic. I have attached some screenshots for those interested. Further details and up to date updates can be found on my dev forum at idevnetwork.net. More to come soon

[armadillo]

I think it's great that you are developing this, but I'm not too happy with the proposed implementation. It looks too complicated and too many tapps to get the info. Wouldn't it be easier to have the user enter a value, say 5 inches and then present all conversions possible in one fell swoop?

[miketbone20]

Couldn't you just use the desktop widget app and download the desktop widget on the phone. Wouldn't that work?

[jmcallister]

The possible combinations on conversion types would make the list lik 300 items long so a single selection system is ineffective. I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out the most effective way that would not drive people nuts. I personally would hate to drga my finger for a minute to find the one i was looking for. Ideas?

[armadillo]

I don't understand why there would be 300. Say you have length: that would be like 8 conversions (depending on what units you would like to provide). Now if you want to have micro, decimeters, centi, and kilo, then yes there would be quite a few. But that isn't necessary, since you could an additional conversion for any metric unit that would convert meters into centi, deci, etc. Just enable that conversion whenever a unit is metric.

Alternatively, if you really want all of those available and do a single conversion, then I would suggest you use the scroll wheels that Apple uses e.g. in the data/clock settings so the user can dial in the "From" unit and in the second wheel the "To" unit. But the long lists you are proposing don't seem to be very easy to use.

[jmcallister]

So let me example it for you lets say you want to convert distances:

Inches to Centemeters
Inches to Meters
Inches to Yards
Inches to Feet

Feet to inches
Feet to yards
Feet to Meters
Feet to Centimeters

Centimeters to Inches
Centimeters to Feet
Centimeters to meters
Centimeters to Yards


This is just an example of one set. Imagine How long this list would get if you wanted to convert distance, weight, computer terms etc.... the combinations of the various unit conversions would be huge. This needs to be broken down into easy to access groups.

[armadillo]

I think you misunderstood. If I want to convert inches to something else. I would enter two things:

1. the number and
2. inches

The app would then calculate all values for the other units. But it would only provide the metric unit of meter. If you then selected the value for meter, it would provide all fractions and multiples (i.e. Angstroms, micrometers, centi, deci, etc.)

[Katronix]

I would love to see a celcius <> fahrenheit converter as a native app -- it could be as simple as this :

http://www.stabb.com/tools/convert.html

[Billy30]

JM, thanks for your time!

I currently use an application on my laptop for converting units (Convert it! Pro 3.0b). It is an .exe file @ 240kB.
It currently has 35 different types of measurements for conversion, then in ea. one there is a lot of units to convert from/to.
The measurements that I normally use are:

1. temperature
2. distance
3. volume
4. mass
5. power
6. pressure
7. force
8. density
9. velocity
10. torque

There are a few more, but they can wait for the second release (at least for me).
Let me know if you will need screenshots or the application itself to get more ideas. I also can provide the formulas if required.
I use this tool almost every day, I really will like to have it in my iPhone.
Thanks!

[vladimirk]

I've started to develop a Unit Conversion application for myself. Take a look at http://iphone-converter.googlecode.com and let me know what you think
I hope to add more measures/features (only if I would get a spare time...)

[Eurisko]

I find http://meatarian.co.uk/iphone/iconvert/ to be the most helpful. For for you Jiggy people out there, it's all javascript. Should be easy enough to make it native.

[grado33]

Vladimirk,

Thanks for your converter, I have test and it is brilliant
I wait for more units.

Thanks again.

[Uko]

Hey guys administrators, how about adding this to MMI source?

[vladimirk]

I've just added Installer.app repository:
http://iphone.vladimirkofman.com (Add it to your Installer.app sources; you'll find Converter under "Vladimir Kofman's Applications" or smth like that)
Please let me know if it works for you

[alias_neo]

I have written a unit converter that covers most of these conversions this for the PSP, in C of course, it has never been released into the public domain and I use it for my university course and give it to some of my "colleagues". As I have no experience in programming with Objective C or for the iPhone at all I have no plans to port it because I simply don't know how.

However, I will have a look at the standard of any that do get released and if I think I can do better I might port this (Learning Objective C first)or find a competent developer to give me a hand. This is assuming that I am able to find the time, which I have very little of these days.

It's possible though I may be able to work it through as a coursework submission for Uni, if so I can dedicate some of my academic time to it.

Don't hold your breath though because it may not happen.


I look forward to seeing what pops up in the meantime and I for one would find it extremely useful to have this on my iPhone, I'd rather they thought I was on my phone in lectures than Playing PSP games. (Because I normally am playing games, and I only get caught when I'm not, at which point I find it hard to explain I'm running "Homebrew)



EDIT: I didn't see the one by vladimir. It looks pretty decent so I guess I need not bother. Nice work vladimir.