Next Train Ireland Released!

smackyB · 01-06-2010 11:06pm #1

Hey folks, for those (long suffering!) Next Dart users, I'm pleased to announce that it has been removed and replaced by a new app called Next Train Ireland. This app uses Irish Rail's new feed to get more accurate results for every station in the country, not just Dart stations. All the major bugs from Next Dart are fixed although there may be one or two landscape layout issues but nothing major. The app also has much more detail on each train such as Scheduled & ETA time, Service type, origin and latest location information. It also includes the train's itinerary so you can see if the train will stop at the station you want.

So give it a try out, give me some feedback, rate it in the marketplace, click on an ad or even make a donation if you really like it!

Cheers

Stephen

long_b · 02-06-2010 6:51am

Great stuff out of you Stephen !
I was badly missing BART since moving to Android - yours is even better !

For intercity, any chance you could put the ETA at the final station in the listing ?
It would be handy to know when you'll arrive in Dublin ?

Would you consider differentiating between trains heading in
each direction ?

Maybe the itinerary world look
prettier if the first column didn't wrap the station name ?

Small things - what a great app, thanks very much.

smackyB · 02-06-2010 10:35am

long_b wrote: »

Great stuff out of you Stephen !
I was badly missing BART since moving to Android - yours is even better !

For intercity, any chance you could put the ETA at the final station in the listing ?
It would be handy to know when you'll arrive in Dublin ?

Would you consider differentiating between trains heading in
each direction ?

Maybe the itinerary world look
prettier if the first column didn't wrap the station name ?

Small things - what a great app, thanks very much.

Thanks for the kind words! Yep I was going to put the ETA in there on the main results instead of the scheduled time but forgot to change it. Expect it in the next update. I can only differentiate trains traveling in different directions along certain routes due to the way the Irish Rail site is. Currently they only have a north/south divider in there for trains traveling along the east coast and trains on the sligo line. It would be handy if they had a divider for dublin-bound trains on other routes.

There are some layout niggles including the one you mentioned but expect them to be ironed out in time.

long_b · 02-06-2010 4:14pm

Wow that was quick !

I had been on about the time that the train would reach it's final destination though.

Eg The ETA line for Newbridge could give ETA in Newbridge along with the estimated time of arrival in Dublin. The "time it gets you in at" if you like, if that makes sense ?

smackyB · 02-06-2010 6:04pm

long_b wrote: »

Wow that was quick !

I had been on about the time that the train would reach it's final destination though.

Eg The ETA line for Newbridge could give ETA in Newbridge along with the estimated time of arrival in Dublin. The "time it gets you in at" if you like, if that makes sense ?

Oh right, I get what you mean now. Emm, the problem there is that each train's itinerary is held on a separate webpage so for a busy station such as Connolly which, as I write this, has 24 trains going through it in the next hour, that would mean grabbing 24 separate webpages as well as the main results page which would mean a longer wait for your results. However I'll investigate and see just how much longer. Perhaps it could be a preference.

Breezer · 02-06-2010 7:03pm

Absolutely fantastic, a huge improvement on Next Dart! 5 stars from me, well done!

long_b · 02-06-2010 8:50pm

smackyB wrote: »

Oh right, I get what you mean now. Emm, the problem there is that each train's itinerary is held on a separate webpage so for a busy station such as Connolly which, as I write this, has 24 trains going through it in the next hour, that would mean grabbing 24 separate webpages as well as the main results page which would mean a longer wait for your results. However I'll investigate and see just how much longer. Perhaps it could be a preference.

Having it just on the itinerary page would be fine too - just so as it's available somewhere.
Continued thanks !

Vanbis · 03-06-2010 9:39am

Great app, thanks.

Anyone know of a bus time table available as well?

smackyB · 03-06-2010 11:03am

long_b wrote: »

Having it just on the itinerary page would be fine too - just so as it's available somewhere.
Continued thanks !

Oh right, sorry the itinerary is meant to have that in there already, whoops. It's just an issue with the regex which I'll have sorted. I might do a bus one as my next project but I'm pretty busy at the mo so it might have to wait. I think having an android client for buses will be essential once DB drag their arses into the 21st century and deploy realtime bus information

M450 · 04-06-2010 3:50pm

Wow cheers, I didnt know Irish Rail even released this real time service. Being a regular commuter on the Maynooth Line I created my own app that just uses the timetables. Now I think I might use yours

BTW, throw me a PM if you want a bus app. Jus gimme the bus routes and I might whip one up for ya haha

lord lucan · 04-06-2010 6:28pm

Only got around to downloading this now,great work OP,excellent app.

And yeah,a Dublin Bus app would be very welcome. DB need to get the finger out,they've been trialling a GPS system for a while now with a view to bringing in realtime information at stops and online.

R0ot · 04-06-2010 10:51pm

Anyone having problems with the Legend and this app?

smackyB · 04-06-2010 10:55pm

What kind of problems are you having? Please be as detailed as possible, thanks

Shzm · 04-06-2010 10:58pm

It seems to be missing Clonsilla station?

smackyB · 04-06-2010 11:04pm

Shzm wrote: »

It seems to be missing Clonsilla station?

You're quite right, sorry about that! Will have it fixed in an update over the weekend. Also, if anyone finds problems with a station not returning results when there should be some then please let me know.

R0ot · 05-06-2010 10:14am

smackyB wrote: »

What kind of problems are you having? Please be as detailed as possible, thanks

Went into I believe it was Dart/Commuter trains, searching from Leixlip Louisa Bridge station and southbound and it loads then nothing is loaded I try and press back and it force closes.

smackyB · 05-06-2010 11:31am

R0ot wrote: »

Went into I believe it was Dart/Commuter trains, searching from Leixlip Louisa Bridge station and southbound and it loads then nothing is loaded I try and press back and it force closes.

Ok found the problem, the URL for Louisa Bridge was slightly off. Will have it fixed in a release over the weekend. Thanks for reporting the bug.

R0ot · 06-06-2010 2:16pm

smackyB wrote: »

Ok found the problem, the URL for Louisa Bridge was slightly off. Will have it fixed in a release over the weekend. Thanks for reporting the bug.

Thanks for listening. Have had any other trouble with the app apart from that.

smackyB · 07-06-2010 10:33pm

v1.1 just went up there:

- adds Clonsilla station
- Fixes Louisa Bridge
- Itinerary now shows times at origin and destination station
- Ads are fixed height so the display wont suddenly jump down when one is loaded
- The DART is now on the main page, not a sub-category anymore
- Better error handling if a request times out
- Option to have just grey text and no backgrounds on the pages (Some people on the marketplace weren't a fan of the text colour and background images)
- Travel Update page layout is fixed

If you spot bugs please add them to this thread. Thanks

Mad_Mike · 08-06-2010 12:17am

Just got the new version. Love this app. Well done Stephen.
Don't have a problem with the colour/background etc, but is it possible to vary the font size, or even have a smaller font option? I know I'm getting old, but I feel ancient looking at the size of font on the Desire

LOL

Echani · 08-06-2010 2:45am

Great stuff, I used Next Dart in the morning to see how fast I'd need to run or if I should just wait for a bus, but because of all the morning forced-closes Dublin Bus has been getting most of my money. Now my Dart smart card should get a bit of mileage!

long_b · 08-06-2010 2:51am

smackyB wrote: »

v1.1 just went up there:

- adds Clonsilla station
- Fixes Louisa Bridge
- Itinerary now shows times at origin and destination station
- Ads are fixed height so the display wont suddenly jump down when one is loaded
- The DART is now on the main page, not a sub-category anymore
- Better error handling if a request times out
- Option to have just grey text and no backgrounds on the pages (Some people on the marketplace weren't a fan of the text colour and background images)
- Travel Update page layout is fixed

If you spot bugs please add them to this thread. Thanks

Hi Stephen,

Nice one on the update, just installed it there.

("Jebsus not this fella again" says you)

Is there any chance you could remove or parameterise the "next 60 minutes" condition ?

For the peeps who want to have a look at train times for the following morning ?

If resources are an issue what about an 18 or 24 hour max duration for the search ?

smackyB · 08-06-2010 2:54pm

Thanks for the kind words folks, glad to hear its useful

Mad_Mike wrote: »

Just got the new version. Love this app. Well done Stephen.
Don't have a problem with the colour/background etc, but is it possible to vary the font size, or even have a smaller font option? I know I'm getting old, but I feel ancient looking at the size of font on the Desire LOL

I might add a preference where you can specify the text size you want. I have it using large text because I figured people would use this while on the move and wanted to make it easy to select menu items.

long_b wrote: »

Hi Stephen,

Nice one on the update, just installed it there.

("Jebsus not this fella again" says you)

Is there any chance you could remove or parameterise the "next 60 minutes" condition ?

For the peeps who want to have a look at train times for the following morning ?

If resources are an issue what about an 18 or 24 hour max duration for the search ?

Unfortunately I'm limited to 60 minutes by what Irish Rail have on their realtime site. Finding times beyond the 60 minutes would involve scraping their main site which is fairly complex. It's something I'd like to do but really don't have the time for it at the mo.

Mad_Mike · 08-06-2010 4:03pm

smackyB wrote: »

I might add a preference where you can specify the text size you want. I have it using large text because I figured people would use this while on the move and wanted to make it easy to select menu items.

No problem. I totally understand where you are coming from and its not a big deal. Just a suggestion. Still loving it

Shzm · 10-06-2010 3:39pm

Any chance you can order the train information by ETA instead of direction?

Imo it would be easier to check at a glance when the next required train is than having to scroll to get to the correct direction listing first.

Atomic Pineapple · 10-06-2010 4:59pm

Updated the new version today and got a force close on opening it, seems very random.

Here's the trace:

06-10 16:56:18.858: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(4066): Uncaught handler: thread main exiting due to uncaught exception
06-10 16:56:18.878: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(4066): java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to start activity ComponentInfo{com.nextTrain/com.nextTrain.ResultScreenGeneral}: java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException
06-10 16:56:18.878: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(4066): at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2401)
06-10 16:56:18.878: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(4066): at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2417)
06-10 16:56:18.878: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(4066): at android.app.ActivityThread.access$2100(ActivityThread.java:116)
06-10 16:56:18.878: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(4066): at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1794)
06-10 16:56:18.878: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(4066): at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
06-10 16:56:18.878: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(4066): at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:123)
06-10 16:56:18.878: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(4066): at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4203)
06-10 16:56:18.878: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(4066): at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
06-10 16:56:18.878: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(4066): at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:521)
06-10 16:56:18.878: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(4066): at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:791)
06-10 16:56:18.878: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(4066): at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:549)
06-10 16:56:18.878: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(4066): at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)
06-10 16:56:18.878: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(4066): Caused by: java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException
06-10 16:56:18.878: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(4066): at com.nextTrain.ResultScreenGeneral.onCreate(ResultScreenGeneral.java:97)
06-10 16:56:18.878: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(4066): at android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnCreate(Instrumentation.java:1123)
06-10 16:56:18.878: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(4066): at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2364)
06-10 16:56:18.878: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(4066): ... 11 more

smackyB · 10-06-2010 9:23pm

Shzm wrote: »

Any chance you can order the train information by ETA instead of direction?

Imo it would be easier to check at a glance when the next required train is than having to scroll to get to the correct direction listing first.

Do you mean for stations which aren't already separated by direction? (Eg. cork) Or ones where you can choose North/South? (Eg. connolly) At the moment for north/south stations where darts and commuters mix, they're separated so you get a group of DARTS first and then a group of commuters if there are any. It would probably be more useful if they were mixed so that the trains are ordered chronologically regardless of type. What you guys think?

draffodx wrote: »

Updated the new version today and got a force close on opening it, seems very random.

Here's the trace:

That seems very random alright. You got that immediately on opening? resultScreenGeneral should never be active on starting up.. very strange.. Is it behaving itself now?

Also I found some other bugs which I'm fixing at the mo:

Detailed train info for Heuston arrivals and departures can quite often not correlate to the train you selected.
Refreshing a station chosen from favourites gets random results thrown in.

Fixing both as I type this...

long_b · 11-06-2010 7:45am

I love love love this app - very much deserving of a shekel or two

Fellow users and OP - would anyone else like to see the "View Itinerary" screen first and then the "Detailed Information" screen on a button push ?

Most of the detailed info is available on the Itinerary screen.

There might be a "double hop" - a slight performance hit maybe ?

Shzm · 11-06-2010 10:26am

smackyB wrote: »

Do you mean for stations which aren't already separated by direction? (Eg. cork) Or ones where you can choose North/South? (Eg. connolly) At the moment for north/south stations where darts and commuters mix, they're separated so you get a group of DARTS first and then a group of commuters if there are any. It would probably be more useful if they were mixed so that the trains are ordered chronologically regardless of type. What you guys think?

I've only looked at Clonsilla station, but it lists all the trains for that hour in a south direction first, then it lists them in a north direction. However most people will be wanting to know when the next train is, and if they're wanting to go north they'll have to scroll to find it. Also, as trains can have different termination points, it can actually end up looking unordered.

Very minor I know, but when I first looked at it I thought it was broken since I assumed it would order by time

smackyB · 11-06-2010 10:32am

Shzm wrote: »

I've only looked at Clonsilla station, but it lists all the trains for that hour in a south direction first, then it lists them in a north direction. However most people will be wanting to know when the next train is, and if they're wanting to go north they'll have to scroll to find it. Also, as trains can have different termination points, it can actually end up looking unordered.

Very minor I know, but when I first looked at it I thought it was broken since I assumed it would order by time

Sorry, I forgot to set a property for Clonsilla station whereby it would ask you if you wanted northbound or southbound trains. It'll be there in the next release. If you choose any station on the maynooth line except clonsilla you'll see what it will look like.

charlie_says · 11-06-2010 11:20am

Quality app. Muchos kudos.

Next Train Ireland Released!

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