A1. At this point, there's no way to export data from Checkbook Genius to any kind of external storage, and that's because MIcrosoft's Windows Phone platform does not allow it. I looked at this before releasing the software and was miffed to discover that while the phone has internal storage for its apps, it doesn't allow developers or users clear access to those folders and files. Microsoft even states such in a special document it released to Android platform developers learning to write for Windows Phone: Why Windows Phone 7 Does Not Use External Storage You can save files to a shared external storage in an Android compatible device. The shared external storage can also include the internal non-removable storage. Android allows you to access and modify the files that are saved to the external storage by connecting to a computer. In this type of connection, the files might get deleted or corrupted if the connection gets disconnected during the data transfer. You cannot make the file system calls outside the WP7 application’s own external space. This provides the application with a safe-sandbox, and prevents the other applications from inadvertently affecting the application's data.
The entire document can be reviewed here, with the cited quote above on page 80. While this affords a measure of added security for users, it's a major inconvenience for anyone wanting to export data, or to backup data for the situations you mentioned. Small Screen Software is watching to see if Microsoft changes their policy in the upcoming release of Windows Phone (code-named "Mango"), due to come out this fall, or if a workaround can be devised that will not compromise the security of the app's checkbook data. In the meantime, regrettably, all you and other users can do is to watch those phones! And you might consider writing Microsoft to complain that you want developers to have access to your phone's SD cards or other external storage. If they hear from enough annoyed users, maybe they'll relent. Tweet about it on Twitter, blog about it, write Microsoft directly on their Support page: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsphone/en-us/howto/support.aspx or hit them up on Twitter: or just write Redmond directly: Microsoft Corporation By the way...if you haven't downloaded your PDF user's guide for Checkbook Genius for Windows Phone, please be sure to stop by this page on a laptop or desktop computer, and click the "download manual here" link; the manual has other information you may find helpful: http://www.smallscreensoftware.com/cgeniuswp.html Rest assured, I am trying to find a way around this limitation but with Microsoft's construction it's not going to be quick or easy. If you're on Twitter, you can watch my tweets at @smallscreensw to see if there's been an update to the app, or just watch the Windows Marketplace for an update. Q2. Is there any way to use Checkbook Genius with joint accounts - so me and my spouse can see our transactions and balances at the same time? A2. Quite a few people have written about having linked Checkbook Genius systems - that is having, effectively, a joint account system. Here's the problem with trying to implement a joint system: there's no simple way of having two Windows Phone devices and databases "talk" to each other. Were the two parties to get the application, each of the Windows Phones' Checkbook Genius apps would have their own individual databases. Because of the security model and scheme behind the Windows Phone platform, each of those individual databases would be more or less isolated. Having one phone link to and sync with the other would require some kind of Internet and/or network knowledge that is beyond the technical scope of the developer. In addition, it's always been the goal to keep the design of Checkbook Genius
simple - simple for users to use, and simple for the developer to maintain. Having two
such apps communicate via network would increase the complexity considerably
(particularly in testing for reliability), and there could be potential
security issues as well, which the developer is not equipped to be able to handle. Small
Screen Software is not a huge enterprise with teams of programmers and Since that's a technical capability that can't be provided If any users are needing that sort of interconnectedness, they should consider online banking as provided by just about all the major banking institutions right now. Almost all of them have some kind of web interface where account information is instantly available; give them a call and ask about it (or visit their corporate web site). Users and their spouses or partners could share a common password and be able to monitor their account's actual balance together. Checkbook Genius was never intended to take the place of any bank's account system - it's just a more elegant alternative to scribbling numbers in one of those antiquated paper checkbook registers one gets when opening a new account. That's probably not the answer many of you were hoping for, but it's good that the question was raised.
|
