Author Topic: StockAgent - New Android App (Read 68785 times)

pixel-nest · « **on:** September 12, 2014, 08:43 »

Hi everybody,

I have started microstock photography about 2 years ago and for about that time I read in this forum. This is my first post today.

My second passion is programming and since I changed from iOS to Android 2 month ago, I started to code a microstock contributor app. It is called StockAgent and allows the user to check more than 60 for new sales.

On www.pixel-nest.com you get more details.

Here you find news and version history.

Update v4.0:
*** new: Supporting 6 languages (English, German, Turkish, French, Spanish, Russian)
*** new: Dark UI theme (in addition to Light theme)
*** new: Supporting Android 7
*** new: Supporting UK Pound

Thanks,
Volker

Tror · « **Reply #1 on:** September 12, 2014, 10:26 »

If you have a app like that for Mac OS X or Linux let me know...

GoncaloF · « **Reply #2 on:** September 12, 2014, 11:18 »

whats the main difference between the free version and the premium version ?
can i buy the premium version form the free?

pixel-nest · « **Reply #3 on:** September 12, 2014, 13:46 »

It is not possible to buy the premium version from the free. You should backup your data from the free with "Backup and Restore" from the app and restore it in the premium when you bought it. So there is no need to enter all logins again and you don't loose your income data from this month.

Features
- A Badge Mode showing the sales on the App icon after a configurable interval.
- Notifications of new sales (with special cash sound).
- Edit sales values.
- Microstock agencies:
- Adobe Stock
- Getty ESP
- Aboutpixel
- Zoonar
- Crestock
- Fotolia
- Mostphotos
- Photodune
- Bigstockphoto
~~- Photaki~~
- Yaymicro
- Cutcaster
- Photocase
- Shotshop
- Bildunion
- Pitopia
- Shutterstock
- Alamy
- Dreamstime
- IStockPhoto
- Stockfresh
- 123RF
~~- Veer~~
- Depositphotos
- Canstock
- Pond5
- Graphicleftovers
- Colourbox
- Kozzi
- Pixta
- Whitelife
~~- Photokore~~
- FeaturePics
- Clipdealer
- Audiomicro
- Panthermedia
- Vectorstock
- 500px
- Photospin
- Zazzle
- Stockphotomedia
- FineArtsAmerica
- Fineartprint
- Foap
~~- BeatOrchard~~
- Luckstock
~~- Revostock~~
- Catooh
- Canva
- Picsastock
- Indivstock
- Videoblocks/Storyblocks
- Solidstockart
- Picfair
- Swoozo
- Lightstock
- Creative Market
- Snapwire
- Smugmug
- Deviantart
- Redbubble
- Spreadshirt
- Shirtcity
- Eyeem
- Cafepress
- Freedigitalphotos
~~- MotionElements~~
- Lifeographies

No ads!

GoncaloF · « **Reply #4 on:** September 12, 2014, 20:37 »

im trying the free version, but i have to be honest with you, for an android app the premium version is a little expensive

and now a suggestion , you should create s statistical area, where we can see average sales, a pie charter with all agencies etc etc

pixel-nest · « **Reply #5 on:** September 13, 2014, 04:18 »

Thanks for sharing your opinion.

What would be a fair price for you?
As I said, it is my first app project. I think I have to learn a lot. In my opinion, ads are not the way to go.
Btw, here in my country the price for the app is much lower than a beer on the Oktoberfest.

Yes, statistics are planned for future releases.

GoncaloF · « **Reply #6 on:** September 13, 2014, 06:46 »

Quote from: pixel-nest on September 13, 2014, 04:18

Thanks for sharing your opinion.

What would be a fair price for you?
As I said, it is my first app project. I think I have to learn a lot. In my opinion, ads are not the way to go.
Btw, here in my country the price for the app is much lower than a beer on the Oktoberfest.

Yes, statistics are planned for future releases.

im also a developer, unfortunly i didn't work with mobile, but the fair price for android users is maybe 1dollar ( 0,89 € i think ) and for iOS(hybrid app) probably 2 dollars (1,60 € i think ) with all agencies included, android users don't spend a lots of money on apps

think with me, its better sell 100 apps at 1dollar ( 0,89 € i think ) rather 20 at your price ( 4 dollars i think) and the lower price apps sells lots more and you have lots of competition of free apps

pixel-nest · « **Reply #7 on:** October 04, 2014, 17:30 »

We just released a new version. The most important new feature is the detailed and interactive daily, monthly and yearly statistics. Print and save as PDF on Kitkat and above.

Other changes...
- Pond5, Canstock, Deposit fixed
- Backup / Restore Simplified (please make new backup!)
- Shutterstock: Implemented view for recently sold images.
- And many bug fixes and improvements ...

(Maybe the Play Store needs some hours to be up to date)

pixel-nest · « **Reply #8 on:** October 22, 2014, 19:25 »

Added 8 new (optional!) agencies to the Premium version of StockAgent:

Colourbox, Kozzi, Pixta, Whitelife, Photokore, featurePics, Clipdealer, Audiomicro

The new version 2.2.0 should be available on Google Play in the next hours.

[Edit Oct 25]
Panthermedia is added in 2.2.1

MichaelJayFoto · « **Reply #9 on:** October 25, 2014, 05:24 »

Given that the app is for a special purpose and not a mass market game, I believe the price is justified and I had no problems paying for it. However, I don't like the idea of paying for an app and then have new features (in this case agencies) added which I have to pay for again...

The other thing I notice is that when setting up the app I don't get any of these nice graphs you are showing because apparently it doesn't actually check my daily sales but only compares the amounts I have in my account. So basically I now have one giant bar on the day I started to use the app and the following days will all look tiny...

pixel-nest · « **Reply #10 on:** October 25, 2014, 19:55 »

Thank you for buying StockAgent!

Quote from: MichaelJayFoto on October 25, 2014, 05:24

However, I don't like the idea of paying for an app and then have new features (in this case agencies) added which I have to pay for again...

I think, "paying again" would be the correct description for a subscription pricing model. That's where you have to pay every year for the same old features. In my opinion, this is unfair, right?

Paying for new features as an option does not hurt anybody who does not need them.
I implemented the new agencies on customer demand. So it is just a little compensation for the extra work.

Quote from: MichaelJayFoto on October 25, 2014, 05:24

The other thing ... So basically I now have one giant bar on the day I started to use the app and the following days will all look tiny...

That's a problem of the first month when you start using the app. Next month will look much better for you.

To be honest, I have no idea how to overcome this. There could be two other ways to handle it ...
- Move the income from the first run to the month before
- Or skip the first run completely.

What do you think?

Best regards,
Volker

MichaelJayFoto · « **Reply #11 on:** October 26, 2014, 04:18 »

Quote from: pixel-nest on October 25, 2014, 19:55

Thank you for buying StockAgent!

Quote from: MichaelJayFoto on October 25, 2014, 05:24
However, I don't like the idea of paying for an app and then have new features (in this case agencies) added which I have to pay for again...

I think, "paying again" would be the correct description for a subscription pricing model. That's where you have to pay every year for the same old features. In my opinion, this is unfair, right?

Paying for new features as an option does not hurt anybody who does not need them.
I implemented the new agencies on customer demand. So it is just a little compensation for the extra work.

Quote from: MichaelJayFoto on October 25, 2014, 05:24
The other thing ... So basically I now have one giant bar on the day I started to use the app and the following days will all look tiny...

That's a problem of the first month when you start using the app. Next month will look much better for you.
To be honest, I have no idea how to overcome this. There could be two other ways to handle it ...
- Move the income from the first run to the month before
- Or skip the first run completely.

What do you think?

Best regards,
Volker

I'd think the easiest implementation would be to just use the first run as a starting point and not show them in the graph. The point in my case is that I happen to have a larger amount of royalties sitting in my accounts than I would typically make in a month. So even if I wait month, the November bar will still look small compared to what I see for October right now. And the distribution pie chart will only start to show realistic values in 2015 if I understand the calculations correctly.

So for me the value of the app is limited to quickly check how much I made today which is quite okay because that's the main purpose for me. But if you have nice charts in there, I'd love them to show realistic values.

pixel-nest · « **Reply #12 on:** October 26, 2014, 07:20 »

Quote from: MichaelJayFoto on October 26, 2014, 04:18

I'd think the easiest implementation would be to just use the first run as a starting point and not show them in the graph. The point in my case is that I happen to have a larger amount of royalties sitting in my accounts than I would typically make in a month. So even if I wait month, the November bar will still look small compared to what I see for October right now. And the distribution pie chart will only start to show realistic values in 2015 if I understand the calculations correctly.

There is a workaround for this problem. We can use the Backup/Restore functionality to export the current values, edit them and restore the file with the new values. The file format is ASCII CSV aka Excel data.

Step by Step:
- In StockAgent go to Backup/Restore menu and press Backup. The files are written to the path under Location.
- Connect your device via USB to a PC. Open an explorer window and navigate to device\[Location].
- Copy the file [date]_StockAgent.SAbak.1 to your PC's harddisk.
- Open the file in an ASCII text editor. Should look like this:

Code: [Select]

"stock_amount"
"_id","agency_id","daily_amount","agency_unit","daily_date"
"1","3","89.75","","2014-09-23"
"2","4","30.50","","2014-09-23"
"3","2","0","","2014-09-23"
"4","1","12.9","","2014-09-23"
"5","7","0","","2014-09-23"
"6","8","40.25","","2014-09-23"
"7","12","100.78","","2014-09-23"
...
"26","2","0","","2014-09-24"
"27","3","0","","2014-09-24"

Here in this case "2014-09-23" is the first run date. So you should set the values in the 3rd column to the income you want. But be careful: The format has to be like "0" or "1.23".

- Save the file and copy it back to your device. Replace the original ...SAbak.1 file.
- In StockAgent press Restore and select the backup.

Let me know if it helps.

Volker

pixel-nest · « **Reply #13 on:** October 28, 2014, 09:09 »

Added 3 new (optional!) agencies to the Premium version of StockAgent:

Vectorstock, 500px, Photospin

The new version 2.2.2 should be available on Google Play in the next hours.

pixel-nest · « **Reply #14 on:** October 29, 2014, 19:16 »

Added 4 new (optional!) agencies to the Premium version of StockAgent:

Zazzle, Stockphotomedia, FineArtsAmerica, Fineartprint

The new version 2.2.3 should be available on Google Play in the next hours.

fotorob · « **Reply #15 on:** October 30, 2014, 09:48 »

If you would sopport iOS, I would try it out.

aeonf · « **Reply #16 on:** October 30, 2014, 11:10 »

Stocksy and IOS support would be nice. Very nice.
What does "optional" mean? extra cost?

pixel-nest · « **Reply #17 on:** October 30, 2014, 18:28 »

Quote from: aeonf on October 30, 2014, 11:10

Stocksy and IOS support would be nice. Very nice.
What does "optional" mean? extra cost?

Porting to iOS currently fails due to lack of hardware. I sold my iphone and I don't have access to a Mac for development. Sorry...
Stocksy seems to be a closed community at the moment. It is impossible to create a new account.
Yes, optional means 0,89€.

Btw. version 2.2.4 is uploaded to Google Play with bugfixes for zazzle, photospin and colourbox.

MichaelJayFoto · « **Reply #18 on:** October 31, 2014, 09:05 »

Sorry to say but I'm not warming up to the app yet...

Now I have an issue because 123RF apparently had a bug this week, so for a day or so the app read my balance as $0. The next day, 123RF was up again, my balance was $31. The app apparently considers the $31 as new income because of the 0 value the day before. So as a result 123RF is being reported with $60 this month, $29 from the time before the bug appeared plus $31 from the day after.

I think that is a general flaw if you only check the account balance in comparison to the data stored for the day before. I didn't try this yet but what if I'm traveling for a day or two and don't have the app update its data? I guess the day I come back all data will then be reported as new income on a single day as well, right?

The app is still a nice toy for those who want to check if they had new downloads during the day. So the average hobbyist will probably be fine with this. But I think the stats part needs to be worked on, otherwise it will just be wrong numbers in nice colors.

pixel-nest · « **Reply #19 on:** October 31, 2014, 09:31 »

Quote from: MichaelJayFoto on October 31, 2014, 09:05

Now I have an issue because 123RF apparently had a bug this week, so for a day or so the app read my balance as $0. The next day, 123RF was up again, my balance was $31. The app apparently considers the $31 as new income because of the 0 value the day before. So as a result 123RF is being reported with $60 this month, $29 from the time before the bug appeared plus $31 from the day after.

That's why the "Edit" feature is implemented. Nobody can guarantee the availability of the web servers of every agency.
So what should happen if they deliver $0? In some cases it was a payment in other cases it is a failure.
With the Edit feature you fix this by yourself and manually set the value you want.

Quote from: MichaelJayFoto on October 31, 2014, 09:05

I think that is a general flaw if you only check the account balance in comparison to the data stored for the day before. I didn't try this yet but what if I'm traveling for a day or two and don't have the app update its data? I guess the day I come back all data will then be reported as new income on a single day as well, right?

Right, works as designed. Many agencies do not deliver daily statistics. That is the only way to have them checked.

Quote from: MichaelJayFoto on October 31, 2014, 09:05

But I think the stats part needs to be worked on, otherwise it will just be wrong numbers in nice colors.

Did you try the solution I gave you some posts before?
I think it won't take longer than 2 minutes editing the CSV file and restore it in the app.

pixel-nest · « **Reply #20 on:** November 11, 2014, 18:39 »

Added a new (optional!) agency to the Premium version of StockAgent:

Foap

The new version 2.2.8 should be available on Google Play in the next hours.

pixel-nest · « **Reply #21 on:** January 12, 2015, 10:35 »

Version 2.3.1 enhances the usage of the statistics.

- Via settings the user can set a start date for average calculation. For example, if you started using the app this month you will get the current amount for all your agencies. As these values are not only your income from this month the average income calculation for this year would be wrong. Setting the start date to the next month will fix it and shows the correct average from that month on.

- There is a new option in the settings which lets the user define a threshold for payments. Bigger amounts are not shown in the statistics. Usually monthly payouts could be suppressed in the graphs this way.

pixel-nest · « **Reply #22 on:** January 30, 2015, 06:19 »

Added 4 new (optional!) agencies to the Premium version of StockAgent:

Catooh, Revostock, Luckstock, BeatOrchard

The new version 2.3.3 should be available on Google Play in the next hours.

pixel-nest · « **Reply #23 on:** March 11, 2015, 05:38 »

Added one new (optional!) agency to the Premium version of StockAgent:

Canva

Thanks to Snowblood for your support!

sturmwarnung · « **Reply #24 on:** March 24, 2015, 14:25 »

I bought the premium version, found some issues:

- Login Problem with 123rf - I checked and rechecked Login and Password, still get a "failed" when trying to add the agency. (I also tried the email instead of the username because of the bigstock issue below - no luck)

- You ask for email for the Bigstock, but it works only with the username.

- Tried to add 500px from the "optional" agencies, but I get the message "error - you need to be logged in to google play" - which I am, or my play store would not work (I think). What can I do?

Finally, a little thing for presentation: There is a huge whitespace between the graph and the explanation - makes it hard to see the graph and the agencies at the same time in meaningful resolution. (I attached a screenshot - using a Galaxy Note 2, if that makes any difference)

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Author Topic: StockAgent - New Android App (Read 68785 times)

pixel-nest

Tror

GoncaloF

pixel-nest

GoncaloF

pixel-nest

GoncaloF

pixel-nest

pixel-nest

MichaelJayFoto

pixel-nest

MichaelJayFoto

pixel-nest

pixel-nest

pixel-nest

fotorob

aeonf

pixel-nest

MichaelJayFoto

pixel-nest

pixel-nest

pixel-nest

pixel-nest

pixel-nest

sturmwarnung

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