Recollector User’s Guide

 

Viewing your collection on an Android device

 

The Recollector App is a freely available app for Android smartphones or tablets that works in conjunction with the PC version of Recollector.  With the Recollector App you can carry your collection database with you, on an Android smartphone (or Android tablet).  Note: There is an equivalent version of the Recollector App that runs on Apple’s iPhone or iPod touch.  See the User’s Guide page on the iPhone/iPod version of the Recollector App for more information.

 

The Recollector App works as a read-only viewer for your collection data.  You do not add or edit data with the App; you continue to update your collection using the version of Recollector that runs on your PC.  But any time that you want to send a copy of your collection to your Android device, you can now do that, and take your collection data with you on the road, on a device that fits into your pocket.

 

There are three steps you need to take in order to use Recollector App:

1.      Install the Recollector App on your Android device.

2.      In the PC version of Recollector, save your collection data for export to the App.

3.      Move the download file created in the previous step to your Android device.

Once you have completed these steps, you will be ready to view your collection data on your Android smartphone.  The following sections describe these three steps in more detail.

 

Installing the Recollector App on your Android device

 

The Recollector App is available, free, in the apps section of Google Play (fomerly known as the Android Market). Search in Google Play for “Recollector”.  The Recollector App is aimed at Android Version 2.2 (also known as “Froyo”) or later, though it will also run on Version 2.1.  It will not run on earlier Android versions, so if you search for Recollector on Google Play from a smartphone that is running an earlier version of Android, you will not see Recollector App listed.  If you do see Recollector App listed on Google Play, then you can be sure that it will run on your Android device.

 

Installing the Recollector App is no different from installing any other Android app.  You just locate it at Google Play (search for “Recollector”) and click “Install”.  This step only needs to be performed once.  Even if you want to download and view multiple collections, you only need one copy of the Recollector App.  Of course, if updated and enhanced versions of the App are released, then you may re-install the App to bring it up to the latest version.

 

Once installed, you will see the Recollector icon among your applications.  If you start the Recollector App, you will see only the sample collection (a small collection of polar maps) that ships with the application. The sample collection is just intended to let you get familiar with the Recollector App before you have actually moved your own collection data down to your Android device. Read the next sections to learn how to export your collection data from Recollector, running on your PC, and move it to your Android device.  Once a collection database has been moved to the Android device, the Recollector App will find your collection and let you start viewing it.

 

Saving your collection data for export to the Recollector App

 

Choose Export for download to the Recollector App from the File menu of the collection viewer window to generate a data file for downloading.  If there is a currently active subset in effect, you will be asked whether you want to export just the records in the subset or all the records in the collection.  The export will produce a single file that contains both the text and image data for all the records in the currently open collection (or in the current subset of that collection, if you requested to limit the export to just the records in the subset).

 

You will next be prompted to specify a name and location for the download file.  By default, the file will have the same name as the collection file itself, except with _App appended to the leading part of the filename.  So, for example, if your collection file is named MapCollection.xml, the suggested name for the download file will be MapCollection_App.xml. It is recommended that you accept the suggested filename, but, if you prefer, you can change the name, as long as the filename extension remains .xml.  You can also specify the directory in which the generated download file is placed.  By default, the program suggests that it be put into the same directory as the collection file.

 

Keep a note of the name of the download file and the directory in which it was placed, since you will need to navigate to this file later on, when you are transferring it from the PC to the Android device. But note: If you connect your Android device to your PC with a USB cable (see “Approach #1” in the section, below, on moving the download file to your Android device), then you can choose a folder (such as the Recollector folder) on the device’s disk as the directory for the export operation.  This way, you will avoid having to move the file to your device as a separate step, since it will be written directly to the device’s SD card in this export step.

 

The program will also ask you to specify how images should be chosen for inclusion in the download file:

CollectroidImageDialog.jpg

When your collection is sent to the Recollector App, images are sent in thumbnail format.  Even so, particularly for collections with many images, the images can add considerable size (and, consequently, download time) to the download file.  Therefore you are given several options for the handling of images:

·         Include ALL images – This choice is appropriate the first time you download a particular collection.  Thumbnails for all of the collection’s images will be included.  Consequently, this choice creates the largest possible download file and will require the longest download time.

·         Include only one image per record – This choice may make sense if you have many images with each record, yet you don’t anticipate a need for all of that imagery when looking at your collection with the Recollector App.  The program will only include the first image found for a record and skip the other images.

·         Include only images added or updated since the last export – This choice is usually the most sensible option for second and subsequent downloads, when you just want to get your Recollector App version of the collection database in sync with your PC version.  With this choice, the program only includes images that are new or whose file modification date differs from the modification date when the image was last downloaded for export to the Recollector App.  Note: This choice will be disabled the first time a collection is exported for download to the Recollector App, since no prior download history will be available.

·         Exclude images – This choice makes sense if you are not interested in bringing images along with the data from your collection.  It also makes sense if you know that you have not added or updated any images since the last export to the Recollector App. In this case (when no images have been added or changed since the last export), you would produce the same image-free download file as you would get from the previous choice (include only images added or updated since the last export).  However, processing speed for generating the download file will be faster if you specify up front that images are to be excluded.

Notes regarding images:

·         The size of the thumbnail images created for export is initially set according to the thumbnail image size specified in the Preferences dialog (opened from the Options menu).  Depending upon the size of the screen on your Android device, you may wish to increase or decrease the thumbnail size settings before proceeding with the export operation.  The note in the dialog also shows you the current thumbnail height and width settings.  To change these settings, click the Adjust thumbnail size button and specify modified sizes on the subsequent dialog.  It should be noted that the file size for a download file increases exponentially with the thumbnail size.  A thumbnail image size of 400x400 pixels will require approximately four times as much space (and have a four-fold longer download time) as a 200x200 pixel thumbnail.

·         You also have the option of downloading images in their full resolution, as well as the thumbnails.  This, of course, may produce an extremely large download file and a very long download time.  The Recollector App will, in any case, display your images from the downloaded thumbnails.  However, the Recollector App lets you long-click on an image, in which case the image is sent to the Android Gallery (photo viewing) application.  If you downloaded full images (as well as thumbnails), then, in Android Gallery, the full resolution images are displayed, and, even on the small screen of a smart phone, you can pan and zoom, sliding the image around and viewing different sections of the image at a higher resolution.  Because of this capability, you may want to consider downloading your collection with full-size images.  However, be sure that the SD card on your Android device has adequate free space for the large download file.  You might also want to consider attaching your Android device to your PC (via a USB cable), because transferring a large file will, in general, be much quicker when transferred to a USB-mounted SD card than will downloading the same file over the internet.

·         The Recollector App gathers all images for a given collection into a single folder on the Android device.  Therefore images within a single collection are identified only by their simple filename (e.g. 123.jpg), and not by the full pathname (e.g. C:/myimages/mapcollection/123.jpg) that they had on the PC.  The PC version of Recollector allows you to include images from different directories.  Therefore, on the PC, it is possible (but not likely) that you have two data records in a collection pointing to two image files with the same simple filename but different full pathnames (e.g. C:/myimages/mapcollection/123.jpg and C:/added_images/123.jpg).  This case will not be handled properly by the Recollector App.  The download file will contain only one of the two images, and both records that pertain to the two original images will, in the Recollector App, point to the same image.  In other words, one of the two records in the Recollector App will include an inappropriate image.  This is a very unlikely event, since one would not typically have two different images, for two different records in your collection, with the same simple filename.  To make explicit a practice that you probably are already following: Use a distinct simple filename for each and every image in a given collection (regardless of what directories the images are stored in).

Note: Audio and video clips that are included in your collection are not exported to the Recollector App.  Only image files referenced in image/audio/video fields are exported.

Once you have chosen the image-inclusion strategy, the program will write out the download file.  Progress dialogs will report the records and images as they are written.

Note that the download file, like the original collection file, is an XML file (with filename extension .xml).  In fact, the original collection file can be used as the download file, though doing this would exclude all images.  Therefore, even though you could simply download your collection’s data file and use it with the Recollector App, it is strongly recommended that you export a separate download file, as described in this section, and download that exported file.

Moving the download file to your Android device

Unless you wrote out the download file directly to the SD card (mounted as a removable drive on your PC) in the previous step, the download file must be moved from the PC to the SD (flash memory) card of your Android device.  There are several ways to do this.  Three methods will be described here, though there are other approaches and tools that have been developed for downloading data to Android devices.  Whatever method you use, there is one rule that you must adhere to:

The Recollector App download file must be placed on the device’s SD (memory) card, either in the top-level (root) directory (often referred to as the /sdcard directory), or in a top-level folder on the SD card (e.g. /sdcard/downloads).  It must NOT be placed in a sub-directory deeper in the SD card file hierarchy (e.g. not in a folder with a pathname like /sdcard/shared/temp).

The very first time you run the Recollector App, it creates a sub-directory named Recollector on the SD card (i.e. /sdcard/Recollector).  This is one of the top-level folders that you can use as the target for a download operation.

Approach #1: Connect your Android phone to your PC with a USB cable.

Android devices generally come with a USB cable which can be used to connect your Android device to your PC, via a USB port.  Follow the documentation that came with your Android for specific instructions on how to use a USB cable to connect your device to a PC and mount your device's SD card as a removable disk drive on the PC.  Once mounted, you can use Windows Explorer to drag and drop your collection export file from your PC to the root directory or to one of the top-level directories on the SD card.  Alternatively, if you plug your device you’re your PC and mount the device’s SD card as an external disk prior to exporting a download file, then you can choose a top-level directory on the SD card as the target directory for the export step.  This way you completely avoid having to move the file from your PC to your device as a separate step, since it will be written there in the previous export step.

Approach #2: Use Dropbox.

Dropbox is a popular file sharing service (available for free, but with paying options for users who desire more storage space for shared files).  If you have Dropbox installed on both your PC and on your Android device, then, on your PC, you can drag the download file to your PC’s dropbox folder.  You can then open Dropbox on your Android device, and you will see the download file listed.  Long click (click-and-hold) on the file in the Dropbox list of available files and then select Export from the menu that pops up.  Select Save to SD card from the next query.  In the subsequent screen, navigate up to the top-level of the sdcard or to one of the top-level folders (choosing the Recollector folder is fine) and then click Export.  The next time you start the Recollector App, or, if the Recollector App is already running, the next time you pick Change collections from the Recollector App menu, the program will find the newly downloaded collection file.

Approach #3: Use SendSpace.

A free file uploading/downloading service named SendSpace provides a method for moving a Recollector App download file from your PC to your Android device without having to physically connect your Android device to your PC.  Go to www.sendspace.com and you will be prompted to browse your file system to locate the file you want to transfer.  If you have not previously registered at SendSpace, you should first register (creating a username and password) before choosing the file (the collection download file) that you want to transfer.  Registering will make the subsequent download to your Android device very easy.

On your Android device, go to Google Play and search for the SendSpace app.  Install the app on your device.  (Go to www.sendspace.com/download_android.html for information on the SendSpace for Android app.)  Once installed, run the SendSpace for Android app which will bring up the SendSpace for Android screen.  If you are not logged in, choose Login and enter the username and password (as specified when you registered at the www.sendspace.com site).  Next chose Download and then specify Download from Account.  The app will then show you the files that you have previously uploaded to SendSpace.  Among these you should see the collection download file, which will have whatever name you gave it when you exported it from Recollector on your PC.  Select this file and then select Download from the subsequent menu.  You will then be shown a directory browser, initially set to the top-level (root) directory of your SD card.  Either pick the root directory by clicking the Select Current Directory button, or else click on one of the folder icons to select one of the top-level directories.  For example, you could click the Recollector folder, and then click Select Current Directory to download the file to the Recollector directory.  Note that SendSpace also creates a top-level folder on the SD card, named Sendspace, and this folder is also a fine place in which to put the collection download file.

Using the Recollector App

Once you have moved your collection download file to the SD card of your Android device, the Recollector App will be able to locate the file.  For instructions on how to use the Recollector App’s features, see the Recollector App’s User’s Guide, which you can access within the Recollector App by clicking the Menu button and choosing Help.

Back to: Recollector - Home Page