Christian programmer(s) wanted: audio verse memorization

[DoctorBri]

Happy New Years & belated Merry Christmas!

This is a request for a simple program. While cruzing the ESV blog (http://www.esv.org/blog) I noticed that they had parsed Max McLean's ESV mp3's verse-by-verse. This got me thinking. I own Max McLean's mp3's, and have used them to help me memorize scripture on my laptop, but it is a bit cumbersome and certainly not mobile.

I've been contemplating a program which allows me to play each verse so I can memorize scripture. I emailed the ESV blog webmaster about my idea and they agreed to provide both the time log (http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/share/about/audio/assets/john.times.txt) & mp3 files (http://www.gnpcb.org/assets/bibles/mm.32.john.zip) for the book of John. If I weren't in medical school, I'd try to hack it out on HB++, but alas, I haven't failed out yet. ;) Besides, there are good programmers out there who love God. Y'all can do the fancy work, I'll just do the asking. :D

So, here is what I'm looking for: a program which will play individual verses.
-User loads individual mp3's on memory card
-Built-in mp3 player or calls to PocketTunes ok (or CorePlayer if API is available)
-ESV specific (due to parse list)

I have lots of ideas/features for this program. (listed simply out of interest, NOT requirement)
-Display text of current verse or full stand-alone ESV bible
-Flashcard options
-A-B function for long verses
-Ability to incorporate Forever Grateful Music (http://www.forevergratefulmusic.com/index.htm) (I don't actually own any yet)
-This could even perhaps be built into an officially endorsed ESV bible freeware product

*ESV blog requested that this be a freeware project. Probably obvious, but needed to be said. They also said that the rest of the time logs would be released depending on what progress is made. (apparently there was some of internal debate concerning the release of these logs, so I'm grateful we have them)

If developers want to work together, that's fine. If you want to include me, don't want to include me, that's fine. (...I can't do much except provide ideas/feedback anyways) I will leave the decisions to those who actually pick up this project.

Those interested can post here, elsewhere, or email me, whatever is best.

God bless :)
Brian Sachs
doctorbri AT gmail DOT com

[Nitron]

Alternatively, that might be a good use for the VoiceIt SDK that palmgear made a big deal about awhile ago.

[I love my mom]

Pick me! I'll do it! I'll see what I can do with the resources you've provided.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me :D

By His Grace and For His Glory,
Luke

[DoctorBri]

Pick me! I'll do it! I'll see what I can do with the resources you've provided.

No need for permission (though I'm flattered :cool: ) Anyone who wants to pick this up can. Looking forward to what you come up with, Luke :D

[I love my mom]

One thing I don't know if I can do is the text, as the ESV is copyrighted.

[wellsjs]

Who better to do the Book of John than Luke? :D :)

[I love my mom]

Who better to do the Book of John than Luke? :D :)

Ooooo, he he, that was a good one :p

[DoctorBri]

One thing I don't know if I can do is the text, as the ESV is copyrighted.

I just sent them an email, but may not hear back from them for a couple of days, especially if they need to discuss it.

On a different note, I set up this webpage (http://doctorbri.googlepages.com/home) a few weeks ago when I was thinking through what I wanted this program to be (i.e. procrastinating during finals). Understand that this is a VERY simple page setup through Google pages. The pictures were done through MS Paint, and no I unfortunately don't do graphics beyond what you see. The page can be used, discarded, mocked as anyone sees fit. I am more than willing to keep it updated if developers wish.

Final notes: if I seem distant for the next few days/weeks it's because I'm packing/flying to St. Vincents for my 4th semester of school. (that's in the Caribbean, and no, it's not as glamorous as y'all might think) I won't have internet immediately, but it should be up by the middle of January. We'll see, I guess. I'll be around today & tomorrow, but after that I'm MIA until further notice :(

[I love my mom]

Good, gives whoever time to finish the app without pressure :D

Boy, you're jumping right into this little application aren't you? I'm not much of one with graphics either, but I'll see what I can't conjure up. Thanks!

[DoctorBri]

Yeah, I'm a little stoked about this program. I'm TERRIBLE at memorizing scripture, and I think this will help a lot. But please, NO PRESSURE. Beggers can't be choosers. If it looks like Palm 3.0 software, but works, I ask nothing more. Pretty graphics are simply the icing. Oh, and the pics on that website were with a full ESV bible/flashcard/mp3 program in mind. I happen to be a big fan of the new MS Ribbon. Others hate it.

Honestly, take your time, and if nothing comes of this, I'll just have to write a bunch of flashcards :p

[I love my mom]

Hi. I'm finishing up here (I hope). I'm looking for maybe one or two people to use the interface to see if it fits the needs of people.

By His Grace and For His Glory
Luke

[npbeers]

I'd love to test it!

[NX70BOY]

I would as well.

[I love my mom]

Thanks. That's enough people, I don't want this to be a widespread project.

I'll be getting out a version sometime this week, I'll let you know by email or PM.

Thanks again

[userwaldo]

Palm Bible Plus has an option to read the verses to you, maybe this would be useful to some one.

[DoctorBri]

Palm Bible Plus has an option to read the verses to you, maybe this would be useful to some one.

Hmm, that's a nice feature, hadn't noticed that before (I usually use BWY). Bible+ uses text-to-speech, while this upcoming program will use mp3's (which you may have known already). Thanks for the tip :)

[I love my mom]

And this upcoming program will not only do the Bible...you'll be able to use it for audio books and the like if you wish, even though it is made for the ESV.

[I love my mom]

I'm going to upload a demo video to show some functionality. I'm getting very close to a beta...

[DoctorBri]

getting anxious :D

[I love my mom]

I hope you're not in for a heartbreaker...

[I love my mom]

getting anxious :D

Cast all your anxiety on Him, for He cares for you :D 1 Peter 5:7

that was from memory too :p

[wellsjs]

Drum roll . . . introducing the Book of John . . . written and edited by Luke! :D

note: Just had to get some more milage out of that one, a good laugh! Reason for the delay is he's over there in the Book of 1 Peter. Get back to John, Luke! :D :p

[I love my mom]

Drum roll . . . introducing the Book of John . . . written and edited by Luke! :D

note: Just had to get some more milage out of that one, a good laugh! Reason for the delay is he's over there in the Book of 1 Peter. Get back to John, Luke! :D :p

LOL! you're on a roll! :D:D

Sorry, but the video shall not come. The quality was too bad, and you couldn't make out any of the text. I guess you'll just have to wait a couple days till I open up a beta. Of course, I'm thinking about postponing the beta about a week to get some more features in...I think that's what I'm going todo. What do you think?

[DoctorBri]

What do you think?

I think I need to stop refreshing this thread every 30 seconds! :D

Hey, whatever you think. Perhaps a screenshot or two, just to show off the general concept, maybe get some really early feedback. But if you'd still rather wait on the whole thing, I'm sure that God hath commissioned thou to teacheth me patience (...see how bad I need this ESV version?!).

Do realize, however, that the upcoming "beta-less" week will now feel like eternity :p (well, and the fact that I have 2 exams late next week sure doesn't help).

As always, your hard work is appreciated!

[I love my mom]

I'm going to wait till I get the other features in. Sorry. Maybe I'll sneak you a preview DoctorBri :D

[dpc]

March on Christian programmers! Sorry, that's the first thing that popped in my head when i saw the thread title.

[NX70BOY]

still lookin forward to this... :)

[I love my mom]

<cringes as the pressures of being a amateur programmer hit like a brick wall>

jk :D

itsacomin....

To be completely honest, I don't have much time to work on anything because of...ya. Well I also have 6 different projects I'm working on, and I'm on the srcedit development team (even though I'm neglecting my duties, I'm not helping much), and I'm planning a large release for my 1 year anniversary ;)

and today was spent at a local chess tournament, not programming, sorry

[I love my mom]

I'm still working, but I've come into a couple major snags. For one, the way you insert info into the app is the most inefficient way I've ever seen. So if I were doing it thataway, it would take several months. Which brings me to my solution, I'm making a windows app to create the db you need from a time log. You will still be able to create the database on palm if you wish, but it will take a tad longer.

Try to bear with me! :o

Luke

[DoctorBri]

And he speaks!

You're doing great, Luke. Is this insertion method because of what the ESV Blog requested, or simply how you have it laid out.

[I love my mom]

How I have laid it out. Actually, as you know, it will be possible to use this app for things other than the ESV, but this is only a side effect. Because I have to get the timelog into a pdb format somehow, I'll just keep that feature in the program and allow for user insertion.

Simply how I've laid it out (to sum all that up).

But Actually what I'm going todo to make things a bit easier, is just read the info from a comma delimited file on the VFS card. So you'll get the timelog into a CSV file, and copy it to your card, then import it with ESVp.

How's that?

[I love my mom]

Don't forget that I will be doing the entire ESV audio setup for this program, you'll need todo nothing.

[DoctorBri]

I haven't talked to ESV Blog since November, but here's what they said:

"I’m not actually sure about making something generally available to download (as opposed to just in your developer community). I think that if you created something that people could put together themselves—ie, they download the script from you and the times and the mp3s from us, then that would be OK."

From that I assume that the user would HAVE to download the time log from ESV Blog. Perhaps when you throw together a beta, I will email them, see what they think, and get their opinion on including the time log in the software or not.

Other than that concern, CSV sounds fine to me, especially if you were designing the program for a broader range of audio files.

[I love my mom]

Well, see, the timelog without the audio files is pointless really. I was going to have a database for the esv, that has the filenames and times all ready, so all you have todo is put the audio in a certain directory on the card and you're ready to go. But if that's not what they want then fine, it'll just be more work for you fellow users :o

Is that all they said? I'd like to know what they're thinking.

[DoctorBri]

Sorry, this will be a bit long. I initially tried to explain the situation, but then erased it. It's probably just better if you read the whole thing:

Hi,

I just visited esv.org for the 1st time and must say that I am very impressed. The blog is wonderful.

I read the entry on marking the Max McLean mp3's verse by verse. I was wondering if the spreadsheet(s) of the time logs are available to the public. I own the mp3's as well, and have always wanted a palm program that aids in memorizing scripture, and I think this would be a perfect match. Now admittingly, I am an absolute novice at programming, barely tried my hand at it, but I imagine that there are some that I know who would be willing to take on this project in their own time. Would it be possible to get a copy of this? Thanks for your time.

Regards,
Brian

Brian,

After some discussion, we’ve decided to make the time log for John available publicly (http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/share/about/audio/assets/john.times.txt). If you exhaust the possibilities in John and want to work on the rest of the Bible, we might be willing to release the other times to you for your personal use. But you should try to get things working in John first.

Please let me know if you have any questions. Thanks for writing.

Webmaster

Good News / Crossway

Oh, thank you so much! I will get the word out on this, see what interest there is in the palm community. If nothing happens before the end of the semester, I'll devote my Christmas break to this. I'll keep you informed of any major news.

Thanks again.
Brian

P.S. Hmm... just want to be VERY clear on permissions, here. Is it ok if I probe the palm community to see if there is interest in such a project? I am in medical school, so I obviously don't have much time on my hands. I know of quite a few Christians who write palm software, is it ok if I include them? Or would you rather this be strictly a personal endeavor?

*word of advice: when expecting your first child, do NOT devote yourself to ANYTHING else except your spouse/child. Newborns aren't very understanding of "freetime" :o live and learn, I guess

Brian,

We make mp3s of the Gospel of John available to download for free (http://www.gnpcb.org/assets/bibles/mm.32.john.zip), so you’re free to involve others in at least that part of it. The main thing you can’t do is create a product for sale.

I’m not actually sure about making something generally available to download (as opposed to just in your developer community). I think that if you created something that people could put together themselves—ie, they download the script from you and the times and the mp3s from us, then that would be OK.

Hope that clarifies things for you.

Webmaster

Good News / Crossway

Hi,

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year (belated, of course)

There are a few programmers interested in this audio scripture memorization program for Palm OS, but they are curious about copyright issues. They are wondering if it would be possible to display the ESV scripture while the particular verse is played. Does that violate ESV copyright?

If you're curious about the current development (which, as of now, isn't much ) here's the forum:

http://www.1src.com/forums/showthread.php?p=967352

Thanks,
Brian

I didn't get a reply to this last email.

I think that the issue of including the time log won't be an issue, as long as they understand the nature behind its inclusion. Perhaps you could set up an initial 'private' beta, I'll email them the app, screenshots, a mini review perhaps. I'm sure that once they see your magnificent and revolutionary software, they'll have a change of heart :D

[I love my mom]

That's very interesting, I'm surprised they were that cooperative.

I agree, I'll send you the app when it reaches a workable stage, and you can send it to them. If they agree to it, then I will release it on a slightly larger scale for beta testing.

Thank you for all that info, it really helped me get the feel of what they're doing.

I'm getting excited again. There's been alot of interest in this, people have sent me numerous emails asking me why it's taking so long.

I'm going to work on it hard today, but I've got a lot of other work ahead of me. I'm going to try to finish it early to get to work programming, but I can't promise anything.

By His Grace and For His Glory

[I love my mom]

I've made excellent progress today, but there are still quite a few crashes here and there. Mainly with VFS operations. I should be able to iron them out with another hard days work.

[DoctorBri]

Good to hear, Luke. My TX & 680 are getting antsy :D

[I love my mom]

He he, hopefully it will be worth the wait.

[I love my mom]

Working on it again today, it's looking nice. I haven't started on the CSV import yet, but the rest of the app is almost crash free.

I've still got quite a ways to go, and the CSV thing will take awhile, but it's looking good.

[I love my mom]

Just hit a setback, strangest thing I've seen in all my days. It's really quite interesting...

This is looking bad. I've got quite a large issue and I have no idea where to start.

[DoctorBri]

...sorry... any hints to what it is? (out of curiosity more than an ability to help)

[I love my mom]

Well, I couldn't explain it in a few words. I'd be lucky to explain it in a 3 page essay.

Bottom line, it's really screwed. I don't even have the slightest idea at what's wrong, so I couldn't even give you a prediction about how long it's going to be before I fix it..
I'm probably going to end up rewriting about 80% of the program to try and get it to work.

But since you're a developer, you probably understand:
I'm calling FrmCustomAlert(10024,"9",NULL,NULL); And the system displays an alert with text that I use in another part of my program. But that's just the beginning...

[I love my mom]

Well, I still don't have a beta because Pocket Tunes isn't cooperating with me, but you can see some screenshots now at programmerbygrace.com.

[DoctorBri]

I don't see the screenshots, just the ESVp title.

[I love my mom]

He he, oops, my apologies. Check back now, they're there.

[phreakonaleash]

Hi, try passing " "," " as the last two arguments. That seems to be a bug in the OS, for everyone.

[I love my mom]

Was that directed at me?

[phreakonaleash]

yeah i was. as in:


FrmCustomAlert(10024,"9"," "," ");


that will keep it from reading those bad addresses if i understand what the issue was

[I love my mom]

Oh, thanks. I'll try it.

The ESVp screenshots should reappear online today (I'm draggin on wondering if DoctorBri got to see em?)

[DoctorBri]

Oooh, nice new look. And nice url. I did see the screenshots. Didn't quite follow all of them, but look fine. Can't wait for beta :D

[I love my mom]

Ok this garnet thing is driving me crazy. The crashes with no dialogs or errors I can't handle. I think we may end up with a straight and simple app. If you have a 5.2 device you're in good shape, but garnet...

ugh

[DoctorBri]

I'm confused. Isn't garnet 5.x? Maybe you simply mean anything >5.2

[I love my mom]

It could be considered that, but no, it's not in my book. Anyway, I'm a bit more optimistic now, I've got an idea.