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Calculon - my new calculator widget

I just downloaded this because I'm in a widget downloading mood and am very impressed!! As someone on a 12" display I'm getting frustrated with the amount of widgets that are huge (Apple calculator being one). So this is fantastic. It shall be staying on my dashboard!
 
Cool widget and I love the name! Is it all done in JavaScript or did you use Objective-C for it? I wouldn't mind trying some widgets if it's easy to write them in Objective-C, but I have little interest in (or time for) learning JavaScript.
 
I have used this for a day now--more than you may think I would! I've used it to balance my checkbook and pay bills and such. But I have some suggestions.

I am used to hitting the backspace key to delete one number that I mistyped. However on yours it deletes everything. At first I hated that, then got used to it. Then wished I could have a "delete one character" button. I figured maybe you did that. I could not find anything. I think that you should make the left arrow a delete one character key. At least then if I type 4535.87-+ and I need to delete the + then I can. It seems small, but it's all about keystrokes. :)

Otherwise, so far I love it! But you know what else would rock--if this is possible. When the widget is inactive (as for me it sits on my desktop not my dash) then it goes to like 30% transparent.
 
To the Creator. This Widget Rocks. Thanks!!

As stated a post above me, I feel the same way with the "Being able to delete 1 character" seems like it would help alot.

But thanks again!
 
HiRez said:
Cool widget and I love the name! Is it all done in JavaScript or did you use Objective-C for it? I wouldn't mind trying some widgets if it's easy to write them in Objective-C, but I have little interest in (or time for) learning JavaScript.
Click to expand...

It's all done in Javascript, CSS and HTML. As far as learning javascript, it's not all that much different than basic C - so if you know Objective C, then you're already well on your way to knowing Javascript. (except for the parts that control CSS elements, but it's really not too difficult)
 
jessica. said:
I am used to hitting the backspace key to delete one number that I mistyped. However on yours it deletes everything. At first I hated that, then got used to it. Then wished I could have a "delete one character" button. I figured maybe you did that. I could not find anything. I think that you should make the left arrow a delete one character key. At least then if I type 4535.87-+ and I need to delete the + then I can. It seems small, but it's all about keystrokes. :)
Click to expand...

This is a good suggestion, it would be nice to be able to delete one character. The main reason I made the delete key delete everything, is that on my Powerbook there is no dedicated "clear" key (you have to press and hold "fn - 6"). So, using delete was easier.

Keeping it that way, and using the left arrow to delete one character might be a good compromise.

Or maybe use delete to delete one character, and the left arrow to reset the calc? I'll have to think about it more. ;)

jessica. said:
Otherwise, so far I love it! But you know what else would rock--if this is possible. When the widget is inactive (as for me it sits on my desktop not my dash) then it goes to like 30% transparent.
Click to expand...

While cool, that feature wouldn't follow Apple's widget design guidelines... I'll give it some consideration though. :eek:
 
gekko513 said:
Nice widget, but you need to support ',' as a decimal separator for us international users.

The original Calculator widget doesn't support ',' either, but we fixed it in the Here's a skin to improve that hideous Dashboard calculator thread
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's been the most requested feature so far - so is top on my list of things to do for Calculon. Hopefully I can find some time to get that done in the next week or two.
 
I released a new version today which adds the much requested ability to delete characters one at a time, along with some other features/bug fixes. If you're using a previous version, I highly recommend replacing it with this new one.

If you're still waiting on support for international number formats, well... I haven't gotten around to that just yet. :eek:


Here's the full list of updates:

  • added the ability to delete the last character by pressing the "delete" key or left arrow key
  • added the ability to paste from the clipboard
  • pressing the "c" or capital "C" key now resets the calculator (in addition to the "clear" key) - mainly added this for PowerBook users, since there's no dedicated "clear" key like on full size keyboards
  • fixed a bug that was causing characters to be entered twice for PowerBook users using the "fn" key and the pseudo-number pad (keys M,J,K,L,U,I,O, etc.)
  • added some checks to prevent users from entering "=" more than once
  • typing a number after a calculation has been made now resets the calculator and starts a new calculation (previously, it had a bug where the number would be appended to the end of the old answer)
 
As for international format support I'm not so concerned about the display format. I just need the ',' key to do the exact same thing as the '.' key because the decimal separator key on my number keyboard is the ',' key.
 
gekko513 said:
As for international format support I'm not so concerned about the display format. I just need the ',' key to do the exact same thing as the '.' key because the decimal separator key on my number keyboard is the ',' key.
Click to expand...

That should be fairly easy for me to add... and sounds like a good temporary fix for it until I can add full international number support. I'll see if I can do that in the next day or two and put out a version 1.21 release.
 
mkrishnan said:
Nice work, James! I really like Calculon. The latest improvements definitely add a lot to it. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks mkrishnan. This is my first "Application", so it's nice getting some positive feedback... I've been thinking off and on of becoming a Mac application developer - and getting away from web design. So, this feels like a small step towards that. :)

I just hope the mods don't mind me posting about my own widget on here... I didn't see any rules against it, and I'm keeping it to one thread, so hopefully it's okay.
 
I've been using it for a few days now, much nicer than the standard calc. I guess I'll have to install the update now.

Thanks.
 
atari1356 said:
I just hope the mods don't mind me posting about my own widget on here... I didn't see any rules against it, and I'm keeping it to one thread, so hopefully it's okay.
Click to expand...

I believe that, considering your widget is free, and you are an amateur developer, we all really appreciate your presence. I know a handful of other amateur Mac developers (and I mean that in the good way -- people who are developing for love of Macs :) ) are here at least occasionally, and their presence has been greatly appreciated. :)

I'm not a mod -- that's just my vote. :D
 
gekko513 said:
As for international format support I'm not so concerned about the display format. I just need the ',' key to do the exact same thing as the '.' key because the decimal separator key on my number keyboard is the ',' key.
Click to expand...

I've added this feature, and there's now a 1.21 release you can download. Thanks Gekko513 for the suggestion. :)
 
Excellent. Bye, bye to the Apple calculator widget.

On a different note. My iMac woke from sleep at 05:03 this morning for no apparent reason. I was still in bed. I checked the Console utility and Activity monitor to try and figure out why it woke up. Acitivity monitor didn't show any strange processes. The logs indicated that USB triggered it, so it could be my optical mouse or printer?? that did it.

Anyway, I also discovered a utility called Grapher. I tried it out and it is amazing. Powerful and intuitive. I guess it's the rumored Graphulator, but I never heard of it after Tiger has been released.
 
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