Hellmansoft/Blog

Late last week Planbook became available for sale on the new Mac App Store.  The App Store is a bit like the wild west right now, but I’m excited about the ability to get Planbook in front of more teachers who might be helped by the app.  That said, I do want to address a few common questions I’ve been answering about Planbook’s future.

Do I need to repurchase from the Mac App Store if I’m already a customer?

No.  I will continue to provide updates to the Planbook application that you purchased directly from me.

Can I get the Mac App Store version of Planbook if I’ve already purchased Planbook from you?

Unfortunately, I can’t provide codes to all the Planbook users to get free copies of the Mac App Store version of Planbook.  If you want to use Apple’s App Store update system, you’ll need to repurchase Planbook in the store.

What are the differences in the Mac App Store and Direct versions?

The only feature difference between the two applications is that the Mac App Store version cannot currently publish directly to MobileMe.  You can still publish locally and copy to your iDisk.

Why should I purchase on the Mac App Store rather than Direct from you?

The Mac App Store provides an easy way for you to get Planbook on up to 5 computers using only your iTunes ID.  It’s an easier process than keeping track of (and entering) serial numbers.

The App Store will help make sure you’ve got the latest update of the software (though the Direct version does this too, using Sparkle).

It lets you write nice reviews in the App Store, which helps other users find the app.  I’m kidding about this one.  Sort of.

Why should I purchase Direct rather than from the Mac App Store?

Purchasing direct means you can install on any Mac using 10.4 or later.  The Mac App Store version is restricted to OS 10.6.6 and newer.

Purchasing direct is the only way to get site license pricing.

If you’ve got other questions please leave them in the comments and I’ll get back to you.

Apple recently made changes to the MobileMe calendaring system. While there are many positive changes (the interface is great), breaking Planbook’s (and many other applications) syncing to iCal (and eventually MobileMe) was not one of them. There’s no good way to enable syncing to MobileMe using the new interface, but here’s a way that will work.

1. Go into iCal.
2. Delete the calendars in iCal that were previously created by Planbook. Make note of the exact names of your calendars.
3. Use the File–>New menu item to create a new calendar (in your mobile me account) with the exact name of your courses as well as the default Planbook calendars. You should have saved these prior to deleting the old calendars
4. Open Planbook and do a full sync to iCal

Remember, you do not need to do any of this if you just want Planbook to show up in your local iCal. These changes must be made if you want to have your lesson plans show up in your MobileMe account.

Bug reports have been filed with Apple regarding this and I hope the issue will be resolved in a future OS X update.

Many of you may have noticed already, but Planbook Touch is now available on the Apple App Store. Planbook Touch brings many of the features of the desktop version of the software to the iPad. In no particular order, you can:

• Create a schedule that matches how you teach- rotating, A/B days and traditional schedules are all supported
• Enter Lesson information using six customizable fields
• Add assignments with due dates
• Bump and Pull Back Lessons. Make Non School Days
• Much more

Planbook Touch is also file-compatible with the Mac version of Planbook. You can sync files using the built in Dropbox support or by utilizing Apple’s iTunes File Sharing. Planbook Touch does not interoperate with the Windows version of Planbook

I’m tremendously excited by the opportunity that the iPad’s touch interface offers for Planbook. 1.0 is only a beginning. Updates (free) are really going to exploit the intuitive nature of the iPad and help make your teaching day a little easier.

Updates will be coming reasonably quickly to add features (in fact, an update is already pending as of this post to allow editing your schedule after creating your file).

Just a quick note to introduce the Planbook Family Pack. This new license allows any teachers (or other Planbook users) living under the same roof to use planbook for a lower cost than buying multiple licenses. Only $40 and available now at my secure store

I am happy to announce the release of Planbook 2.5 for Windows. You can grab it here. Please back up any data files before upgrading. Planbook 2.5 will open your old files, but files saved with 2.5 are unreadable in 1.3.

Besides a number of bug fixes, I have added lots of new features in Planbook 2.5

• Ability to add times to lessons.
• Ability to create custom days that don’t match the typical days in your schedule.
• Ability to create assignments with an assigned and due date rather than just free form homework
• Ability to sync your plans and attachments (for free) to PlanbookConnect for online access.
• Support for 15 classes per day, 25 classes total
• Ability to add and track standards. Standards can be entered manually or imported from a .csv file following these instructions.
• Ability to migrate your plans from one year to another
• Ability to change the names of the standard text fields
• Much More, including greatly improved performance with respect to saving files.

As always, let me know what you think

Just a quick break from some long hours writing code to open up the opportunity to beta test the Planbook for iPad application. Drop me an email at jeff@hellmansoft.com and I’ll add you to the list of testers.

In order to test Planbook for iPad you (obviously) must have an iPad. While the app can be used without the accompanying desktop application, I’m hoping that at least some of the testers will use both versions of the program. So, if you have a Dropbox account as well as the desktop (Mac only) version of Planbook that would be a big help. The beta testing process for iPad applications is more involved than a regular application simply because of the requirement that your iPad be “provisioned” to run the program before it is available in the App Store. This doesn’t require “jailbreaking” or anything like that. If you are approved as a tester, I’ll send you a provisioning file. You’ll install that onto your iPad so that you are able to install the pre-release version of Planbook on your iPad.

I hope to have versions suitable for testing this weekend. Thanks for any help you can provide.

I have finally made a beta release of Planbook 2.5 available for download. You can access the Beta by downloading it here.  Planbook 2.5 will open files created by earlier versions of Planbook, but once saved in the new version they cannot be reopened in the old version.

The beta release includes a number of new features, including:

• Sync to PlanbookConnect and make plans available online for your use as well as others (free account required).
• Track standards using the full screen editing mode
• Assign times to your lessons
• Create custom days
• Greatly improved saving
• Tagging lessons
• Lots of bug fixes

There are still a couple of features left to implement in 2.5 (including a standards report, the ability to quickly change the times for the lessons on a single day and some beautification), but for the most part, the 2.5 release is ready to go.

That said, Planbook 2.5 for Windows is currently Beta.  Please backup all data files appropriately.

Please send any and all feedback directly to jeff@hellmansoft.com

When I first wrote Planbook for Windows, there was a complicated system for using nested keywords to keep track of anything you wanted in regards to your lessons. This never worked as well as I’d like, and certainly wasn’t particularly useful when tracking standards. The small space available simply wasn’t up to the challenge.

In Planbook 2.5, I’ve added a dedicated standards tracking mode which is accessible by double clicking any lesson. You can manage your available standards, and apply them to your lessons from one easy to use screen. You can, if you’d like, even discuss how the lesson met the standard you applied. Lessons can, of course, have as many standards as you’d like applied. Standards can be nested to create a smooth organizational system.

Planbook 2.5 also has a new report focused solely on standards. You choose a class and a standard (or folder of standards) and Planbook will show you a printable report with all the lessons with that standard applied.

That said, I think there’s still a reason to have a simpler tagging system to keep organized. Planbook 2.5 will also give you the ability to “tag” lessons with any word or phrase you like. Tags can be applied to any lesson and you can, of course, print out all the lessons with a tag in a few mouse clicks.

All in all, these two improvements (and many others) should really help Planbook for Windows become an even more effective planning tool.

Keep your eyes out for a beta later this month- if you’d like to be notified when the beta testing period opens, please join the Planbook for Windows Google Group

Like many, I’m anxiously awaiting my iPad to arrive- partially to play around but mainly to see if I can use it to create some useful software for teachers. While I know that Apple isn’t likely to let me get mine early, it’s tough to keep my hopes in check when it’s so close. If it really does make it to Eugene early tomorrow, maybe UPS could be kind enough to drop one of at my house?

And, yes, as of writing this UPS seems to be displaying tracking information about dates in the future. I haven’t ever seen that before so I’d guess something’s a bit wonky (hence the shipping exception) with the iPad delivery system.

Last week was spring break here in Oregon and after taking a few days off to start, I spent the remainder of the time working hard on polishing up Planbook and PlanbookConnect. Late in the week, Planbook 2.5 went final for Mac. This update includes the long awaited PlanbookConnect syncing and the introduction of assignments as a way to track work given out during class.

You can grab the 2.5 update using your built in auto-updater or directly here.

There’s a whole laundry list of new features and bug fixes which you can check out in the release notes.

As always, your feedback is much appreciated and vital to Planbook’s continued improvement.