Feng Office Mobile!

[melky]

FROM "yannick-guerin"

Hello everybody,

As karlstatt said, I think first of all we need full synchronisation with other PIM applications,PDAs, smartphones, etc...

And then, on top of that, why not build native applications, with all the project, docs, management side.

That's because smartphones already have calendars,tasks management and contact management, and IMHO,  we just need this to synchronised and immediately usable in other applications or in our phones.

To achieve this, I suggest looking to ActiveSync or SyncML, or both at same time. I'm not an expert at all and rathert a newbie when it comes to sync, but with these two technologies there's a great chance to cover 90% of cases (thunderbird still doesn't support both, but phones supports at least one of them).

You can start working with two libraries that proved they work:

z-push.sourceforge.net/soswp/ that is used with Zarafa for ActiveSync

wiki.horde.org/SyncMLCustomBackend?referrer=SyncML that is developed for Horde Project, download from Horde Pear : pear.horde.org/, search for package Horde_SyncMl

This pear repository contains other libraries that can be useful when it comes to sync.

I use php at work but only works on backends (no GUI or so), if help is needed, I have some time until September.

Of course, it will be better if the solution could handle with the workspace concept. My idea is that PIM is managed on a personal basis. Then one could register to some workspace sync. Later on, when synchronising his phone for example, fengoffice looks after each registration for sync and send/recieve informations based on this workspaces. That's easy in Fengoffice -> phone way, but could be tricky in the phone -> Fengoffice way.


Could you give some news on the progress of this project?

Yannick

ps: I had some problem with inserting links (not allowed to post links said the board...) so I edited this quite a lot and then deleted it. To moderators: If there are double post, feel free to delete them

Regards,

Yannick

[melky]

FROM: yannick-guerin

Hello everybody,

As karlstatt said, I think first of all we need full synchronisation with other PIM applications,PDAs, smartphones, etc...

And then, on top of that, why not build native applications, with all the project, docs, management side.

That's because smartphones already have calendars,tasks management and contact management, and IMHO,  we just need this to synchronised and immediately usable in other applications or in our phones.

To achieve this, I suggest looking to ActiveSync or SyncML, or both at same time. I'm not an expert at all and rathert a newbie when it comes to sync, but with these two technologies there's a great chance to cover 90% of cases (thunderbird still doesn't support both, but phones supports at least one of them).

You can start working with two libraries that proved they work:

z-push.sourceforge.net/soswp/ that is used with Zarafa for ActiveSync

wiki.horde.org/SyncMLCustomBackend?referrer=SyncML that is developed for Horde Project, download from Horde Pear : pear.horde.org/, search for package Horde_SyncMl

This pear repository contains other libraries that can be useful when it comes to sync.

I use php at work but only works on backends (no GUI or so), if help is needed, I have some time until September.

Of course, it will be better if the solution could handle with the workspace concept. My idea is that PIM is managed on a personal basis. Then one could register to some workspace sync. Later on, when synchronising his phone for example, fengoffice looks after each registration for sync and send/recieve informations based on this workspaces. That's easy in Fengoffice -> phone way, but could be tricky in the phone -> Fengoffice way.


Could you give some news on the progress of this project?

Yannick

ps: I had some problem with inserting links (not allowed to post links said the board...) so I edited this quite a lot and then deleted it. To moderators: If there are double post, feel free to delete them

Regards,

Yannick

[Rendrix]

+1 for strong focus on 2-way sync of:

1. Calendar
2. Tasks (including filters similar to webapp)
3. Contacts

Yay... so happy to hear this has made it to the near-future-todo. I love feng but hey... the things we endure do to get mobile support makes any progress much appreciated (E.g. my poor mans sync described in forum post "Update local Android calendar from feng calendar feed (one way )" 

Thanks feng team for your excellent work... now go go go

P.S. I'm on Android & Feng 1.72

[fengy]

I have a dream:

native Fengoffice for iPhone and iPad + cloud sync

I know that currently only a mobile version is developed, but it would be great to have a native version of Fengoffice for iPhone and iPad!  This will enhance the user experience and will work faster than an online mobile version.
Such a solution can store task data locally and sync with the online system via the cloud, so that even if there's no internet connection, one can still use fengoffice locally and sync it later.



Greetz

[fengy]

btw I think that you shoul think about optmizing fengoffice for tablets along smartphones.

There are more and more tablets sold everyday
I've tried fengoffice on an iPad and althought it can be used, it does not provide a good user experience: you have to scroll with two fingers over the task window(because of the inner div); have to click several times on an item, etc.

You can have a a look at the omniFocus for iPad for ex. It has a nice interface(I'm not affiliate in any way with omnigroup):
youtube.com/watch?v=Q0zpYW2TX7U



Best

[cluge]

Have a way to automate connecting a workspace to an imap folder.

Lots of mobile apps have imap clients that work well. Some of the data is even stored in imap (see address book on nokia, or notes ah la apple ipad). Having the application be able to tie a folder to a workspace allows folks to use their mobile mail client and have their information show up in feng office in the correct workspaces.

Currently you can almost hack this functionality by creating several email accounts that are all the same except that each will ignore all folders but one and then that dumps to a workspace (kludge).  The big problem is that the kludge is only one direction and isn't well integrated (many folders = messy). Ideally if I assign an email to a workspace that I have associated with an imap folder, Feng needs to move the mail message to that folder on the IMAP server.

Respectfully,

[fengy]

one more thing concerning the interface of Feng Mobile:

Maybe you can reuse some of the ideas found in Springpad(springpadit.com), because It provides notes, tasks and contacts.

Hope that helps.
Best

[msuzenne]

Hi,

that would really be a must to have fengoffice on smartphone with a good user experience in mind !

aiming this, I think the KISS (keep It Simple Stupid) would go as the credo here : so, as @tomopix said here before, why not begin with no native version at all, but just with a really good ergonomic web one.
Speaking about ergonomy, the proposition written here before by @kaje is very interesting : switching workspaces by vertical glide, and switching apps (mail, tasks, docs, ... ) via lateral glide, seems to be a good approach. I think this would be really feasible in the same ways AJaX is used in the desktop flavor (wouldn't be ignacio, conrado ?).

Speaking about features now, here is what I think as a minimum :

- events (calendar), contacts, tasks, notes, mail, docs, the first four being absolutely the bare minimum for a good integrated PIM.

- all these being advertised in a (default first view/screen) "today" overview.

Just enabling this would recall the forgotten good integrated PIM of the "palmpilot" (I never saw such a good PIM on pockets since ! IPhone ? Android ? Others ? None of them was able to accomplish the simple but efficient and polish way palm done it IMHO !)

After this first goal is reached, it would be necessary to focus on syncing : import/export to popular (and standard !) format like vCard, vCalendar, at the first time (since it is already quite implemented). And then, real syncing (two-way syncing at best) using popular and standard ways again (i.e. SyncML).

Hey, guys, this night I had a dream : this was tomorrow ... I was getting on the net, on the fengoffice site ... and ... WOW ! INCREDIBLE : OpenGoo was back again as a reminiscence in the form of an application (and the associated widget) for iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Maemo, Symbian, Bada, WinMobile ! This was yet a couple of days the web version optimised for smartphones was available for download (and I needed it), and these natives ones were the final point I wished secretly ...
What a lovely dream, isn't it ? Yes the ultimate dream is peace and abondance everywere for everyone ... but that's not all bad for a start, no ? 

[velociraptor]

A small task widget would be great, in addition to the full app.

I'm currently using the Task List Android app with a small widget on my homepage showing me things I need to do that day, and I store other tasks within other tabs in the Task List app (it has tabs for different 'lists', and you can choose which lists appear in the widget) temporarily before I transfer them to Feng Office.

So it would be awesome to have a tasks widget with a filter that lets you choose what tasks to show (by due date, urgency, tag, workspace etc).

Also what would be useful - customizable phone desktop icons that allow you to skip directly to a particular set of tasks (for example, all tasks tagged 'shopping') so you don't have to navigate through the entire app when you want a quick reminder of what food you were supposed to buy.

That would be awesome, and I appreciate the Feng team going directly to users for feature requests.  Thanks guys!

[franponce87]

Thank you all for your interesting feedback and inputs!

By the way, we are still working on this. Once we are over with it, you all will be aware!

Keep it up!

Best regards,
Francisco

[keithcarl]

Feng Office Mobile.  Yeah... That would make it complete for me.  Alright, so let's get to work...

Google synchronization -  I badly want synchronization with my contacts (Google Contacts, as I use the Android OS) and Google Documents, but even more importantly I need synchronization with Google Calendar.  My needs require that I use the alarm that is always with me, in my phone, for appointments.   Currently I can’t use Feng Office for my calender because it won’t alert me to a meetings with an active alarm.  Better yet, include an alarm with the Feng Mobile app. 

Synchronization with Feng Office -  Please make Feng Mobile a stand-alone application that synchronizes with Feng Office.  Ideally, it would be a stand alone app that would “stay” synchronized with Feng Office, keeping everything live and current.  When communication with the server is broken, it should go unnoticed by the user except for maybe a pop-up announcing it.  Then, when communication returns, synchronization would take place in the background, again unnoticed by the user. 

Customization -   With such a small screen, customizing of views seems important to me.  Scrolling up and down is still the most efficient way of accessing off-screen information when viewing logical data.  Please expand up and down and not out the sides of the screen.

Landing Page -   Some landing pages are obvious to include: Overview, Email, Tasks, Calendar, or any module or combination of modules.  I would also like to see a landing page of customizable buttons that would include information and take you directly to a specific view.  Maybe the size of the buttons could be customizable as well along with the module summary information.  The header bar of each could be sectioned to offer space that would go directly to that module and a space to minimize the module.

Workspace Window (and Tags) - I would like to customize whether or not the Workspace Window is on-screen or whether it is accessible via the menu button only, or both.  Another possibility is the “faded see-thru button” on screen that would open the window. 

Module Tabs - I also want to customize the Module tabs and choose whether or not they are on-screen or accessible only through the menu button, or both.  I would also like to choose whether the Module tabs are fixed on-screen or whether they would scroll away when scrolling.

Miscellaneous -  *Include in the Notes Module a place for GPS co-ordinance.  *I would like to see Feng Mobile show up in my “Send-To” options in different applications.  It would be nice to go directly from the camera, web browser, or any other application, straight to Feng Mobile.  *I would like to see Widgets full of Module summary information, all customizable of course.  *I would also like to see single-icon-size, widgets or shortcuts that would take you directly to a specific module.   I want to be able to go directly to my calendar for contacts from my desktop.  *I would also like to see Feng Mobile include a Module for Lists, but then I'd like to see that in Feng Office, also. 

That’s all.  Is next week good for you?

By the way, I forgot to mention, I am new to Feng Office and I love what you've created.  Great work!  Thanks so much.

[franponce87]

Hi there, welcome to Feng Office Forums!

Next week sounds awesome!! Would you be able to have it done by then?


Feng Mobile is still being worked on, and some of those features would be included, and some others not.. at least not yet, but who knows in the future Thanks a lot for your input!

Best regards,
Francisco

[simonwenger]

I would very much appreciate, to have the possibility to use even when offline. I keep adding tasks while on the go... :-)
So  +1 for the sync votes above!

thanks, this sounds terrific! sw

[notifiedme]

I do agree for the synchronization. This must be useful and efficient resources.
Another think, if may request, will be good if it can be a native apps.
I really like when I have a schedule for what ever, it reminds  me with a pop-up on my phone screen.
And if there is new assign task, or updates, it could be cool if it can be pop-up to the screen.

This will be very usefull application in term of the way to be productive.

Best Regards..

[lexoyo]

Hello
I have found this thread from last year
I wanted to tell you that I have a very simple web app which displays the content of feng office
Next step is to add edit capabilities
And to release it as open source of course At least if some people are interested in it
Let me know if you want to help for some tests