Don’t worry iOS yours is coming tonight or in the morning! Don’t want to spoil it but do update when it comes and I think you’ll be happy!

If you’re curious and not currently using it I have plenty of slots open in UWP Beta which if you know Xamarin, is exactly identical to the other platforms.

Just another tease, there will be another feature drop in a month or so involving moves and copies that builds on this! Let’s just say I finally found the middle ground in operation of features in the app.

John

Well, I got Deepl integrated into Translate My Lingo. Now I have it set to share the translation work across all the engines (Google, Microsoft, Deepl) with Microsoft carrying a little more load since it has many more free characters than the other two for translation. But it is more equitable and should be more long-lasting now. Like I call it a BYOS or Bring Your Own Subscription app, it allows users to control their own costs and spend the way they want. The only block is that Deepl uses a different API call for its paid service than the free service. If there is a need to go paid on Deepl I’ll set that up later. It is a decent and speedy app for doing store translations for the Google and Apple Stores…for now. I got to look at all the data points that the Windows Store has (which is a lot!) to add support for it but I think in a few months I can add it on as well.

Now speaking of Google, if you get their developer emails you know that they are pushing privacy more and more and more and more. And coming in the fall are more changes to permissions and also the responsibilities of developers of Rated E apps. Which Azure SBM is a Rated E app since I donated the Windows version of it to the local high schools to give the kids getting certified in storage a tool to use and they seem to like it as I get a lot of emails from them and their teachers thanking me for the donation and updates. But I think I am going to end up having to add Cognitive Vision Scanning for Adult Content downloaded and uploaded with the app and block it to keep that rating. But the cost will be sky high to run a vision service like that. So, I may bump the age rating to get around having to pay for vision scanning but there is also a moral imperative that my app is being used in a negative way. Sure it is their content but when they use my app to move it in or out then I take responsibility there.

Right now I’m still thinking about it but I just don’t know which way to go.

John

Over the next month I will be adding support for the free 500000 characters a month version of Deepl to Translate My Lingo! I will probably narrow its focus to just a few languages to try to stay under the cap. I currently have Google constrained to around 15 languages to stay under its cap. That should take some more of the load off Microsoft’s AI service.

John

Will someone at Microsoft just call Apple and ask for the new developer portal API! It’s been over a month, just suck it up and do your damn jobs!

John

Is now in the Google Play Store! You can get the link to it on the Azure Simple Blob Manager page at the very top. Super excited to have apps in all three big stores now. Just got to get some minor things fixed up to meet Google’s new privacy directives and then it’s on to phase two additions to the apps for this fall!

Also. I am current on phase II for Translate My Lingo with adding support for direct translation setup for Apple App Store Updates and Store entries for the different languages. Should be finished in a month or so, I think.

John

Just finished up with UI tweaking for iOS and Android tablets and phones so hopefully, I’ll be able to finish testing SAS Token Generation on Azure SBM tomorrow and have both in the stores for consumption!

Has been released for iOS and iPadOS in the Apple App Store for your consumption!

John

Back when Android X was released Android said they were moving to a more privacy-style framework when it came to accessing storage. It was called Storage Access Framework or SAF for short. Well, now you can no longer submit any new apps that target SDK 30 or above that use READ or WRITE permissions for storage anymore. It is not allowed!

Well my Azure SBM uses the Xamarin.Essentials File Picker and it requires those permissions and it was a long fight to convince them that this cannot be any longer if you want to submit a NEW app. I ended up showing them in code how to do it and they said it would take a week and a half and I would be able to update and use the new version for my submission. Right now I have my own written SAF workaround but it is not as featured as theirs. Well, that was over a month and a half ago and all my messages on Github are being ignored for the last three weeks with no response. All I see are links to MAUI projects and nothing being done to put out a new XF version that resolves the issue so I can submit my app to the app store.

I mean seriously, they drove all the independent picker developers out of business when they rolled out their crap so there is no other solution. Now they want to forget XF and focus on a preview software package that is not even done or in production.

This sucks so bad to not be able to release because they don’t want to support a viable solution that has a lot more time in it left.

Here is the Github issue, if you follow through with all the little commits you’ll see the update to the bug report for XF stating no feature requests anymore. Everything goes to MAUI.

https://github.com/xamarin/Essentials/issues/1961

John

You can read my follow-up here Is .NET MAUI Ready Now?

Well, I have the iOS and Android solutions for you! It’s called Azure Simple Blob Manager and there is really nothing simple about its capabilities to automate routine tasks and perform advanced functions as well.

Here are a couple of walk-through videos on iOS and Android to show some of its automation features as well as the little things that storage needs in a mobile app.

Here is Android

Here is the iOS one

John