Pi Cubed 2.0: Now for iPad

Pi Cubed icon

After an embarrassingly long time in development, version 2.0 of Pi Cubed is now on the App Store. The big new addition in this version is an iPad interface (free for paid users as part of a universal iPhone / iPad application), but this release also brings undo / redo throughout the application, a revamped user interface, and other tweaks.

Pi Cubed 2.0 brings an interface optimized for the iPad as part of a universal iPhone / iPad application. Existing customers of the full version of Pi Cubed will get this for free.

I think you'll find that the larger working area of the iPad makes it even easier to run calculations and build custom equations. While the interface is similar in many ways to that of the iPhone version, larger menu items and equations will be easier to touch on the iPad's display.

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In other ways, the interface has been changed to work better on the iPad. In particular, you no longer need to switch screens to work with your saved calculations and equation libraries. In landscape mode, you have a listing of equations on the left side of the screen for quick access or editing, and in portrait this same listing pops down from a menu item.

Being a full-fledged iPad application provides some opportunities for integrating with other applications on the system. For example, this version now lets you copy equations as PDFs (through an option you can set in the Settings application) so that you can paste them into Pages or Keynote.

I'm working on better custom equation sharing support, but if you would like to copy across your existing custom library from the iPhone to iPad, you can use iTunes file sharing for this. Your iPhone must be running iOS 4.0 for this to work. To do this, install a fresh copy of Pi Cubed on your iPad and update the version on your iPhone. Connect your iPhone to iTunes and go to the Apps tab. Scroll down to the File Sharing area and select the Pi Cubed icon. Copy the "epsilon.sql" or "epsilon-imported.sql" file to your desktop (renaming the latter to "epsilon.sql"). Connect your iPad to iTunes and use the same File Sharing area to copy this file into Pi Cubed. When you next start Pi Cubed on the iPad, it will import the old equation database into the iPad version.

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What caused this update to sit in development for more than a year is the new data model used under the hood for the entire application. I switched to using Core Data to enable undo / redo functionality everywhere in the application.

Every editing action can be undone, from the typing of a number to the deletion of an entire equation. This makes entering and editing calculations a lot more forgiving, and I think it makes using the application a lot easier.

Undo / redo can be triggered either by shaking the device (the standard gesture Apple uses for undo) or by tapping on the appropriate button or icon on the iPhone or iPad. You'll probably use the buttons most often, because shaking something like the iPad isn't the most practical.

The new data model also should reduce memory consumption and improve performance in several areas.

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I've refined the interface throughout the application, from applying more descriptive colors in the menus to using a new look in the tables. In particular, I've made it much easier to edit the names of custom equation categories by letting you edit them within the table listing itself, rather than having to switch to another screen.

I've added three new enclosure types: absolute value, floor, and ceiling. These are represented by appropriate symbols within the enclosure menu.

This new version also fully supports iOS 4.0 multitasking, as well as the Retina displays on the new iPhone 4 and 4th generation iPod touch. The equations look very sharp on the new displays.

Once again, I apologize for the extreme delay in this release. I tried to do too much at once with the data model change, which was then compounded by the release of the iPad, iOS 4.0, and iPhone 4. Ironically, teaching a class on iPhone development has also interfered with some of my actual iPhone development. Going forward, I should be able to turn out updates faster now that the application's foundation is solid.

Comments

Well, the good news is that the iPad version of Pi Cubed is great, and I love it. Many thanks for that, and for making it a free cross-grade from the iPhone version. The bad news is that Version 2 now crashes on startup on my iPhone 3GS. I've restarted the phone, and quit all of my running apps, to no avail. The interface displays for a second or two, and then quits (its icon stays in the iPhone's multitasking dock, though). Anyway, thanks again for the iPad version — you did a great job on it — and hopefully the issue with the iPhone version is a quick fix.

I'm really sorry about that. It appears that certain users have experienced repeated crashing on startup on devices where they've upgraded from the old version. This never came up in any of the testing that I did, and it appears to have something to do with a specific equation or set of equations they had in their old version.

I'm working on a fix right now.

One way that you can work around this for the time being is to connect your iPhone 3G S (assuming it is running iOS 4.0) to iTunes and go to the Apps tab. Scroll down to the File Sharing section and click on the Pi Cubed entry. Copy the "epsilon.sql or "epsilon-imported.sql" file to your desktop (renaming "epsilon-imported.sql" to "epsilon.sql"). Delete the application from your iPhone 3G S, then reinstall it using iTunes. Start it once, then go back to the File Sharing section and copy the "epsilon.sql" file back into Pi Cubed. On the next startup, it should reimport your old equation library and you should be free of the crashes.

Again, I'm sorry that I somehow missed this condition in my testing.

Thanks for the fast update to 2.0.1. That fixed the problem for me. I didn't need to do the work-around, because I had the great new iPad version to use in the mean time.

Yea, I'm having the same crashing problem on my 3g. Since installing the update, the app crashes at startup and is unusable now. I am running iOS 3.1.2 on my 3g. The previous version worked fine.

michael clarke wrote:
Well, the good news is that the iPad version of Pi Cubed is great, and I love it. Many thanks for that, and for making it a free cross-grade from the iPhone version. The bad news is that Version 2 now crashes on startup on my iPhone 3GS. I've restarted the phone, and quit all of my running apps, to no avail. The interface displays for a second or two, and then quits (its icon stays in the iPhone's multitasking dock, though). Anyway, thanks again for the iPad version — you did a great job on it — and hopefully the issue with the iPhone version is a quick fix.

I was able to identify the issue (specific calculations present in the old version on certain devices that were not being imported properly) and have submitted a bug fix version 2.01. I've requested an expedited review, so hopefully this will be on the App Store in a few days. This should resolve all of the problems you're seeing.

Thank you Brad ! I look forward to the update.

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