How to use My Ministry

New update coming

I have updated the Dropbox integration. This may result in an error when you click on the back up button. If that happens click unlink. Force close the app. Open it and re-link. Once this is done it will work as before.

Also the indicators for notes and days with activity stopped working in the latest iOS release so I needed to move them from under the number to beside them.

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Dropbox Fix Coming

Hello

I am in the middle of testing an update to the dropbox issue – they changed their authorization mechanism from a long lasted token to a short lived token.

When this update comes out, you might get an error – not a crash when you click on backup – click to unlink from dropbox, then relink and it should work OK.

Dropbox Work Around

Hello again.

I haven’t figured out the root cause for this issue yet but seem to have a work around that worked for me. Turn on airplane mode. Ensure Wi-Fi is also off.

open my ministry, click on backup. It will open the overlay with an error. There you can unlink Dropbox.

force close My Ministry.

once you unlink Dropbox, turn airplane mode off and Wi-Fi on again

start My Ministry and the relink to your Dropbox account.

that seemed to fix it for me for now.

Issue with Dropbox Backups

Seems Dropbox has changed their access and I unfortunately was not made aware of this. I have had a couple of people let me know the backup feature was crashing, which I was unable to replicate.

Today I updated to a new phone and am getting this error – I will try and determine the root cause – however at this time I am unsure when I will have the time to dig in and fix the issue.

Seems we are all busier than normal these days – since I made this app many changes have happened in the iOS ecosystem and I am having issues keeping up with them, so if I am unable to solve this issue, I may end up pulling this app from the App Store.

Not sure yet – hopefully I will get to the root of this issue and solve it.

Where did my last service year go? (Re-posted)

Some are still having issues with My Ministry when it changes to the new service year.  DON’T PANIC😁!! Your time for last year is still there and easily accessible!! ALL YOUR DATA IS STILL THERE! 😄

It just requires you to change your service year and flip to the monthly view.

By default My Ministry scrolls to the current date for quick entry. When you change service years it starts in September.

So you need to scroll to August. Scroll forward not backward since the service year goes from September to August.

Here is a quick tutorial on how to do it.

https://youtu.be/VZmPD9VqqR0

Please note:  A new release is coming with the labels to make it more intuitive.

As always, reviews are really helpful

the purring pigeon

Hello,

I have had several questions on what happened to my last service year?

The design of My Ministry is to be extremely simple, so that you are able to focus on one thing, entering your time fast and easy. Therefore it shows a single service year at a time, but all your data is still there.

To switch service years click on the Service Year view and use the navigation buttons to go back…

When you open My Ministry and navigate to that tab – it may appear that all your data is gone.

New Service Year

Select the LEFT arrow button to navigate back, and all your information from the previous service year will be present.

Previous Service Year

That’s it!  Now you can see all your data form the previous year.  If you need to report August, simply scroll to the month of August and select a date in August and you will be able…

View original post 94 more words

Issue with Third Party Keyboards

Hello,

A recent bug was reported with the new layouts that is caused by inconsistent behavior with third party keyboards such as GBoard, SwithKey.

They provide inconsistent data and firing of events, which can cause the screen to appear blank and required you to force close and reopen.  I am working on a fix for this and have it in testing, but if you encounter this issue, please use My Ministry with the standard apple keyboard until a new release is out.

Thank you.

Update…. Auto layouts are a challenge

Hello,

I am still working on the update – finding all kinds of layout issues when I support all the different layouts.  I believe I have them handled now and and wrapping up my testing.

new layouts

The challenge was with the auto layout, the controls would no longer move with the keyboard, but I think have that solved.  I am finalizing the testing.

new layout - 2

I hope to have this uploaded to the App Store in the next few days, once I complete final testing and am comfortable with it.

Thanks for your patience.

Just a note – iPad will not be supported in this new layout – I apologize to anyone using an  iPad, but I don’t have time to support that platform.

Update is coming….

Hello,

It has been a while since I provided an update.  However with iPhone X out there I needed to finally address the layout of My Ministry.  This means I will only support iOS 11 going forward, which limits the devices to the following:

  • iPhone 7 Plus
  • iPhone 7
  • iPhone 6s
  • iPhone 6s Plus
  • iPhone 6
  • iPhone 6 Plus
  • iPhone SE
  • iPhone 5s

I apologize if your model loses support, however I just can’t support more than one iOS version as it is too time consuming for me.

You will seem some minor layout tweaks – however it should all work just as it does today.

Additionally I have had several requests to have an option to start the calendar week on Monday rather than Sunday – this will also be included in this release.

This will take a little testing, but expect to see it in the next couple of weeks.

Here is a sample with the changes.

iPhone_8_Plus_-_iOS_11_1_and_iPhone_8_-_iOS_11_1_and_iPhone_7_-_iOS_11_1_and_iPhone_X_-_iOS_11_1

It’s been a while…..

Hello,

It’s been a while since my last update.  The reason is My Ministry seems to be working well, and with little issues out there.

However because of changes to the Dropbox service I have needed to update my app with new Dropbox extensions.  This required a new release of My Ministry with those changes implemented as well as a couple of upgraded iOS calls that have changed with iOS 10.  I am not supporting a lower iOS version, so only those on iOS 10 and up will get this upgrade.  If you don’t plan to upgrade to iOS 10, please note that in June 2017, Dropbox functionality will no longer work, since Dropbox will no longer support the integration the previous version uses.

As always, if you experience any issues or have any questions, please shoot me an email.

Thanks

Backup Reminder & Credit Hour Fix

Hello,

I hope that the updated version of My Ministry has been beneficial to everyone who is using it.  I am surprised that several people weren’t aware of the change in reporting field service.  However the changes made were based on the latest direction.

I have another update that I am working on.  The first fix relates to the Credit Hours field.  Seems it was missing the decimal point.  I have corrected that and made sure that the totals also reflected the decimal point.

Simulator Screen Shot Jan 24, 2016, 9.22.42 PM.pngSimulator Screen Shot Jan 15, 2016, 9.29.50 PM.png

This should help those who use the app for LDC work where they may have partial hours on a given day.

Another request I have received is to provide a reminder to backup My Ministry.  I have worked out what I think will be a simple reminder that will provide the functionality, but won’t be cumbersome.

I have added a toggle on the backup screen.  Once set, you will be reminded to backup *if* your last backup was more than a week ago.  The reminder happens when you launch the app.  If you do not backup at that point, you will be reminded again when at least one day has passed since the last reminder.

So if you regularly backup, you might never see the reminder :).

Simulator Screen Shot Jan 24, 2016, 9.22.15 PMSimulator Screen Shot Jan 24, 2016, 9.21.41 PM

I appreciate all the feedback and the reviews in the App Store.  I hope you continue to find My Ministry useful.

Note:  This app is solely for tracking time.  This is not meant to serve as a Return Visit app.  I had thought about writing one, but unfortunately I haven’t had the needed time to focus on that.