lcViewer 2.0

V2.0 was release last Sunday. It’s really an experimental release because it’s now using a dedicated server. Not quite sure this new server can handle the volume.

Now it supports Microsoft Word (.doc) now, but not the latest .docx format. I found out it does not work well for embedded Visio or mathematical formulas.

Allowed file size is increased to 10MB. Hope the server can do the job. Then I may increase the size limit further. In the mean time, if you really want to view your files bigger than 10MB, perhaps you can try some free pdf split tool, like http://www.pdfsam.org.

Why is Ads added in the latest lcViewer, lcWord, and lcPPT???

It looks like people can accept Google, Yahoo, and many other websites putting ads on either top, left or right of the web pages, but question why ads is added in lcViewer or the other two basic viewers recently released. As I mentioned before, lcViewer will not work without a reasonably powerful server serving conversion requests. Out of more than 22,000 active installs, only 4 people made donation. So it’s unlikely to get enough money (£300 ~ £400 a year) to purchase a hosting server through donation. Some people tried to sponsor theirs servers, but it did not work out due to lack of bandwidth or processing power. Serving ads is kind of my last try to keep lcViewer running in the long term. Please let me know if you got better ideas.

lcWord 0.2

Some performance enhancement and real-time appending text when it’s parsed. Should be able to handle much larger file than version 0.1.

lcPPT 0.1

very similar to lcWord, but it’s for PowerPoint files.

A basic viewer for Microsoft PowerPoint (.ppt) files. Only text is extracted and displayed. Does not support PowerPoint 2007 .pptx format.

Please open your file through a file manager, Gmail or web browser because lcPPT does not provide function to navigate file storage to keep itself minimum.

lcWord 0.1

A basic viewer for Microsoft Word (.doc) files. Only text is extracted and displayed. Does not support the new Word 2007 .docx format. May not work if file is too big.

Please open your Word file through a file manager, Gmail or web browser because lcWord does not provide function to navigate Android file storage to keep itself minimum.

lcViewer 1.7

1.7 was released. New update includes Bookmarks and Cache Manager (to remove cached results). Mobile Ads is added due to the fact that it’s unlikely to get enough donation to buy a server. You can’t remove an old bookmark right now, but it might not be a big issue, and this function will be added later on.

1.6 was out

release 1.6 was out. fixed some bugs including force close error. Now supports on screen page navigation, and accurate progress indicator when converting files.

Donation is appreciated

As more users are using lcViewer, the third-party server (I have no control) might reject lcViewer connection in the future. I’m thinking about ordering a reasonably decent server. The other benefit is to get better control of the server, so I can easily add support for other document formats, including Microsoft Word (.doc). I’m not able to do this unless I can get hold of a server. So please donate a small amount of money to fund a decent server and future development.

1.5 was out

release 1.5 was out. it fixed many annonying problems. Now it directly supports GMail app and most file managers.

Known issues and workarounds

Below is a short list of known issues and corresponding workarounds. Please add comments about the problems you encountered. I will try to reply them ASAP.

The first three have been fixed in the 1.5 release.

1. Gmail
   Currently it’s not supported for lcViewer to open an attachemnt from the standalone Gmail app. The workaround is to log into your gmail through the web browser. lcViewer works well with web browser.
2. File manager
   lcViewer works well with ASTRO file manager, but may not work with others due to the same technical reason of the Gmail issue. The workaround is to launch lcViewer directly, and then press menu ‘Open’ to choose the file you want to view.
3. Foreclose
   Actually you can cancel the conversion easily by pressing the Back button which is on the right side of the Trackball. According to G1 user manual, Back button is used to go back to the previous screen or to dismiss a dialog box or menu. I may add a cancel button on the progress window to make it more straightforward.
4. Progress window
   Initially it stays at 8% and may jump to 40% after a while depending on your file size. As long as your got reasonable network connection, just leave it running for a couple of minutes if your file is above 2MB. I’m sure it will works. Anyway, will try to make the progress bar more indicative if possible.