Home of the Dusk iPhone App for EVE Online

It’s been a while since I last posted one of these, but better late than never.  Version 1.2.4 of Dusk has been submitted to Apple for approval, expect it on the AppStore in the next couple of days with any luck.  Coming in this version:

New Features:
· Support for EVE Notifications as well as EVE Mails
· Can now view information about any pilot or corp who you receive an EVE Mail from
· Skill plan can now be shared via email and with other apps such as DropBox
· Added a new screen to restore donations if app is installed on a new device
· Skill tree now shows total skill points

Bug fixes:
· Now correctly downloads EVE Mail messages
· Fix for skill points being incorrect for skills ranked x7 and x14
· Fix for queue ETA calculation when changing time zone
· All API cache files now live in the iOS cache folder
· Lots of UI tweaks and optimisations

As always thanks for all your tireless support.

As some of you know unfortunately version 1.2.2 introduced a crash on startup for some users.  With the help of a number of people I tracked down the problem and fixed the issue.

Version 1.2.3 with the fix has been submitted to Apple for approval.  I’ll request an expedited review however Apple don’t hand those out lightly so in reality expect to see the new version on the AppStore in around 5-6 days.

As always thanks for your support.

I’m pleased to announce that version 1.2.2 has been submitted to the AppStore for approval.  Unfortunately I’ve had to release this version a little earlier than I’d hoped due to a bug introduced in the recent EVE Crucible expansion.  I’ll come to that in a minute, but first the good stuff.

Version 1.2.2 will introduce the ability to check up on your EVEMails while on the move.  The App adds support for threaded mails, and provides a clean interface for browsing your mails.  I hope this new feature will prove very useful for EVE players old and new.

Now onto that bug, some of you will experience the bug and some not.  Unfortunately when the bug appears it will wipe any skill plans you have saved on the device so make sure you backup your skill plan to EVEMon soon. When it happens the bug will cause many skills to appear as “Unknown Skill” rather than their actual name.

In case you’re interested the Crucible expansion introduced a slight but important change to the format of the skill database when downloaded through the API.  This change triggered a bug in Dusk which causes it to forget about a number of skills in the database.  The reason it will only happen to some people is because Dusk will only download a new skill database once per month, so if you’re unlucky your app will refresh at just the wrong time and you’ll loose some data.

As always thanks for your patience and support.

There is an issue with iOS 5 and copying API details into the clipboard. I have got a fix and am submitting to Apple straight away but it will take a few days for that to come through.

In the mean time if you enter your details through manual entry it should work ok (you can copy the VCode from the website and paste it into the manual entry text box, but you’ll have to enter the Key ID manually).

Apologies I’m working as fast as I can to get the new version uploaded – it’s now 03:52 AM!

Update:

Version 1.2.1 with a fix for this broken copying behaviour has now been submitted to the App Store and an expidited review has been requested.  With any luck this should be available in the next day or so.  Again apologies for any inconvenience caused.

With the pending approval of version 1.2 of Dusk, I thought I’d share a bit about how I’ve implemented importing and exporting of Skill Plans into and out of EVEMon.

I’ve actually chosen a bit of a novel method but I think it will work well with EVEMon.  Basically I figured seeing as whenever you’re using EVEMon you’re going to be sat at a PC the easiest way of getting the .emp files on and off the iPhone is through your trusty web browser.

• First of all make sure you’re iPhone is connected to your Wi-Fi
• Then load up Dusk and navigate to the Skill Plan of the Character you wish to import or export
• Then click the new “EVEMon” button at the bottom of the Skill Plan
• From the screen which appears (below) you’ll be given an website address, on your PC load up your favourite Web Browser (I’ve tested with the latest versions of IE, Firefox and Safari) and type in the address given in Dusk
• Enter the username and password given to you in Dusk
• Let your importing and exporting begin

Dusk EVEMon Screen

Dusk EVEMon Web Interface

Exporting is pretty self-explanatory but once you’ve imported your EVEMon Plan, Dusk will ask you what you wish to do with the newly imported plan.  As you can see from the screenshot below your options are:

• Replace – Delete the plan currently stored in Dusk for this character and replace it with the one you just uploaded to the app
• Merge – Combine the existing plan stored in Dusk with the uploaded one.
• Cancel – Ignore the uploaded plan and stick with what’s already stored in Dusk.

Skill Plan Import Options

I hope this has given you a flavour of the feature.  As always I welcome any feedback, if you think of improvements let me know, if you just think it’s awesome again let me know.

Will

Well there we have it version 1.2 uploaded to the AppStore.  With any luck it should be available to download in the next 7 days.  I keep saying it but thanks again for all your support and feedback.

New features:

• Support for Customizable API keys
• Importing and exporting of Skill Plans to and from EVEMon

I’ve pleased to announce that I’ve just uploaded version 1.1 of Dusk to the AppStore.  It should be available to download in the next few days.  See below for a list of changes and fixes.  Finally thanks again for all your support and feedback.  Keep it coming.

New features:

• Ability to reorder skills in skill plans
• Button to browse skill tree added to skill plan screen
• Higher resolution Pilot portraits (touch your portrait on the Pilot Summary Screen to update it)

Fixes in this version:

• Crash on startup on iOS 4.0 and 4.1 fixed
• Incorrect ISK balance on non-English locales fixed
• Failure to load pilot details on some locales fixed
• Display of Pilot names with accented characters fixed

It’s recently come to my attention that there is a bug in Dusk which will cause the app to crash on startup if run on iOS 4.0 or 4.1 only. All other iOS versions are fine. I’ve got a fix ready to go for this issue so you should see it on the AppStore in the next few weeks.

In the meantime if you can’t wait then upgrade to iOS 4.2 or above and it should be fine.

That’s right Dusk is now LIVE!  Go download it…!  I got the email from Apple this morning saying it had passed certification and not long later sure enough it was there on the App Store.  I’m so proud <wells-up/>

So if you enjoy Dusk as much as I enjoyed making it then please find the time to submit a review on the App Store.

Well it has been a bumpy road but today I’m pleased to tell the world about Dusk!

Dusk is a free iPhone app for tracking and monitoring your EVE Online characters.  It allows you to keep up to date with your EVE characters while away from the game. It combines retina graphics with slick easy to use features including:

· Skill queue monitoring
· Skill training plan
· Skill queue notifications
· Partial skill lists
· ISK balance
· Full skill tree browsing
· Detailed personalised statistics on every skill

Dusk was written with a strong emphasis on usability. You will never find yourself waiting for information to download without YOU requesting it. The stats about your character are there when you want it and will only update when you want it too.  Check out the screenshots page for a taster.

Seasoned EVE players may recognise the UI in Dusk, that is because it is very much based off the now defunct but still brilliant Capsuleer app (thank you Roc and Sam!).  I made the decision to create Dusk when I read about CCPs plans to change the login system their API uses.  It was while reading this that I suddenly realised that this would mean the end of my beloved Capsuleer.  It was at that point I decided to take matters into my own hands and create Dusk.

So with that in mind all that is left to do is to upload the app to the Apple app store.  Hopefully I’ll be doing that later this week once the last couple of bugs have been ironed out.  I’ll be sure to post updates on progress.