News: all updates for our software and apps
Welcome to the September 2017 edition of the Collectorz.com Newsletter. In this issue, an overview of the September releases and some behind-the-scenes insights into our current projects.
Released in September:
- All Mac editions: now compatible with macOS 10.13 “High Sierra”
- CLZ Games (iOS/Android): download game values from PriceCharting.com
- All Connect apps: Manage Pick Lists, edit, merge and remove pick list entries
- Movie Connect/Cloud: Improved search results, plus Search-As-You-Type suggestions
Current projects:
- Movie Collector for Windows: better support for multi-movie box-sets
- iOS apps: new “Selection Mode”, for easier batch removing/updating
- Connect: Redesigns of all detail pages and Add from Core screens
Released in September:
All Mac editions: ready for macOS 10.13 “High Sierra”
We have been testing our macOS software on beta versions of High Sierra for quite a while, to make sure we were ready for its’ release.
We found that most of the software was working as normal. Unfortunately, we found that on High Sierra the Preferences screen did not open, making it impossible to make any changes to program settings.
Of course, we fixed the problem and new builds for all 5 macOS editions have been released last week, before macOS High Sierra was released.
Long story short: if you have upgraded your Mac to High Sierra, or are planning to do so, make sure you update your Collector software to last week’s build(s).
CLZ Games (iOS/Android): download game values from PriceCharting.com
A new version of CLZ Games is available for both iOS and Android.
This new version lets you download current value information for your games from the popular game pricing site PriceCharting.com:
- When adding new games, they automatically come with game value info.
- Values are determined based on the Completeness field (Loose vs CIB vs New).
- See totals for your collection using the new Database Totals screen.
- Download up-to-date value information for your entire collection using the Update button in the Database Totals screen.
All Connect apps: Manage Pick Lists, edit, merge and remove pick list entries.
A Manage Pick Lists screen is now available in Connect!
Finally, you can easily manage your pick lists for Artists, Authors, Series, Genres, Formats, etc… To edit your sort names, merge duplicate entries or remove entries.
The new Manage Pick Lists screen can be found in the Tools menu top right (the wrench icon).
Movie Connect/Cloud: Improved search results, plus Search-As-You-Type suggestions
A nice upgrade for the web-based search engine today, for both Movie Connect and the CLZ Cloud viewer for movie collections:
We have completely replaced the search engine, making the searches much faster and giving you better, more focussed, less “fuzzy” search results. On top of that, we have now added our popular “Search-As-You-Type” mechanism to the search box for quick finding and selecting a particular movie in your database.
See the new Search-As-You-Type system in action:
BTW: Similar improvements are coming up for the search engines of the comic, book and music editions of Cloud and Connect. Next week for comics, books and music within 3 or 4 weeks.
Current projects:
Movie Collector for Windows: better support for multi-movie box-sets
A huge upgrade for the Windows edition of Movie Collector is coming up, probably next week. For this new version we improved the handling of multi-movie box sets. After many months of work by our content managers, our Core for Movies now “knows” which movies are in box sets:
- Scan a box set barcode and automatically get all contained movies added to your database, linked by an automatically created Box Set entry.
- Find box sets by title and add all contained movies one go.
- Report unrecognized box set barcodes and tell our Core which movies the box contains.
iOS apps: new “Selection Mode”, for easier batch removing/updating
When we re-designed the iOS apps in April, one screen was left out of the re-design, the Selection Mode screen. Mainly because we had not figured out where to go with it yet.
But now we have. We are currently integrating the Selection Mode into the main collection lists. Just tap and hold to start selecting entries. Then tap the floating “Batch Actions” button at the bottom right to select what do to with those entries: Update from Core or Remove.
Can you guess what other, much requested, action will be added to the available batch actions soon? Hint: it will save you lots of time 🙂
Connect: Redesigns of all detail pages and Add from Core screens
Our web-developer Sven has been busy with non-Collectorz projects for a while (if you are into watches, check out our WatchBase.com project). But we’re happy to announce that Sven is back full-time, to join Robbert and Joe on our Connect editions. Which means major updates coming up:
- Complete re-design of the detail pages (the pages where you see the full information on one movie, book, album, comic or game). The layout of the new page will be loosely based on the QuickSilver templates, but with further tweaks.
- New Add from Core screens. Of course based on the latest re-imagining of the Add screens we created for the Windows editions.
BTW: the detail page redesign will also be applied to your free CLZ Cloud viewer!