Feed update failures and download failure usually have different causes but you can use the same approach to do some general diagnosis on either.
You can also see all failures by pressing on 'Event Log' in the navigation drawer (press on hamburger at the top left). This will list all of the successes and failures for feed updates and downloads. Pressing on an event will display the details of the failure.
Alternatively, you can press on the context button for a feed/episode that is failing, and then press on 'Error'.
In the details, there are two parts to pay attention to:
1 - Details - this is the error message and will usually give a good indication of what the problem is
2 - Cause - this is DoggCatcher's guess at what the error was caused by based on past errors.
Illegal character in hostname at index...
The feed or media files are stored on a server with a hostname that is not allowed by the Android networking software.
Task killers
Some users have reported that task killers are killing DC and causing updates/downloads to fail.
If you are unable to resolve the issue, please post in the support forum. Please include the RSS URL and a detailed description of what you are experiencing.
DoggCatcher will only auto-download the media for new episodes. So DoggCatcher thinks that the episode is new.
Sometimes, feed publishers change the title of the epsidoes. By default, DoggCatcher uses the identifier called GUID (which is provided by the publisher) to determine uniqueness for an episode. So if the publisher changes the GUID for an episode, DoggCatcher will remove the old episode (deleting the media) and add the new episode. In this case the media will be downloaded again.
You can tell this is happening if you have episodes that are marked as done and then after a feed update, they then re-appear new.
Most often this can be fixed by changing the 'episode identifier' feed option for the feed to one of the other values. The GUID option is the best choice to start with, but the one that works depends on the feed.
There are some things that can cause mobile traffic with this setting.
-Audio/Video streaming
-Browsing news articles in the app - DoggCatcher will load images in the news content over the mobile network.
Some feeds include invalid characters or are in an improper form. This can sometimes cause the feed parser to fail.
You can verify that your feed is in the proper form here - Feed Validator
Getting help
If you are unable to resolve the issue, please post in the support forum. Please include the RSS URL and a detailed description of what you are experiencing.
Some feeds publish items out of order. For these feeds, enabling the 'Full fetch' feed option resolves this problem.
You may also need to set the item sort order feed option to date (newest first).
Try running the feed diagnostics in the context menu for a feed. It will display a message if this type of feed is detected.
During normal usage, one would usually want to listen to older items first. DoggCatcher will download the oldest items that are flagged as 'New', up to the number configured in the 'Auto Download' feed option.
When creating new feeds, all items but the most recent are flagged as old so that the most recent will be the first available.
You can flag any items as 'Done' that you don't want to have downloaded.
On some networks, users need to authenticate from a browser on their device to allow the device to connect to the internet. If DoggCatcher tries to download a media file prior to the authentication and the authentication proxy does not return a proper response code indicating that it was unable to provide the file, DoggCatcher will save whatever the proxy responds with. In this case, there really isn't any way for DoggCatcher to easily distinguish between a real media file and a bogus HTML response.
There are some ideas in this post that we'll probably work into DoggCatcher to work around the problem.
This can be caused by ad blocker software.
See this post - http://www.doggcatcher.com/node/1067#comment-4950
New episodes may not download because the "Auto-Download" setting is set to..."example 3 or 5" and there are already 3 or 5 (New "Blue" or in-progress "Green" or "Orange") episodes downloaded.
1. Delete/flag as done episodes flagged "Grey" or complete listening/watching the particular episodes so they can be flagged as done by the app and deleted on the next scheduled feed update'
2. Increase the "Auto-Download" setting to a higher number (DC Navigation Menu>Settings>Global Feed Options)
1. If set to “None” media files will not be automatically downloaded during scheduled feed updates......Change back to “Done Episodes’
(DC Navigation Menu>Settings>Global Feed Options) with this setting media flagged as Done will be deleted during scheduled feed updates.
(See User Guide Post: Configuring media file auto delete - http://www.doggcatcher.com/node/1751) for information on other auto delete settings
(See FAQ post "Feed updates or media downloads failing?" If you experience other download fail issues http://www.doggcatcher.com/node/851)
This usually means the feed/podcast has an issue with duplicate file names,
To resolve: From the “Episode” screen of the particular feed with the problem, press the triangle ▲ icon (Top Right of the Screen)
or from the “Feeds” tab press the context button (Three Vertical Dots/Hamburger Icon Right of Feed Title)
Select "Diagnostics" if there is a issue with the feed follow the recommendations (Press "Repair Here" Cloud Icon left of the issue description)
Feed/podcast subscriptions with the duplicate file name issue:
"The Blindboy Podcast"
“Renewing Your Mind with R.C. Sproul”
“The Worst Idea of All Time”
“WeThePeople_Live feed”
"Packet Pushers Datanauts"
"The Jim Rome Show"
"Conan O'Brian Needs a Friend"
"Darkness Radio"
"Mysterious Universe"
Various feed/podcasts published by The Economist
Various feed/podcasts published by Acast
Why I'm getting "An error occurred" notification on the app's Subscribe screen tabs
There could be a network connection issue with the device you’re using
To Resolve:
A. Disable and re-enable the device’s ability to connect to a WiFi network.
B. Reboot the router
Slow media downloads could be caused by the amount of space available in the internal memory or an issue with your router with your home or office WiFi network.
A - Internal memory is full, check the "Storage" setting (Device settings) if full - To resolve: Delete previously downloaded media
B - WiFi network, reboot the router first to see if that solves the problem, on the your device try disabling WiFi for a minute or so (In the Device settings>Network connections) then re-enable. One or both of these solutions usually resolves this issue for other users of DC.
Most audio files are supported by Android, however occasionally there are factors that can cause an audio file to fail to play.
The easiest way to determine if there is a problem with the audio file is to long press on the media file and 'launch in external player'. This will load the media file and the Android music player. If it fails to play, then the audio file will not play in DoggCatcher because DoggCatcher uses an embedded Android music player for media playback.
In the past, audio failure have been caused by:
-Invalid audio encoding parameters - In this case it has been useful to contact the publisher and let them know. They will often try to correct the problem.
-Corrupt SD cards.
-Failing Android media player (or sound drivers). Rebooting the devices fixes this.
Some audio files are not encoded in a way that is compatible with variable speed. You can try disabling variable speed in the setting to determine if this is causing the problem. Note that setting the speed to 1.0x *is not* effective as testing for this problem.
Occasionally the Android media player dies in a way that can only be resolved by rebooting the device. If you get errors trying to play a variety of different audio files of which you are confident should work properly, try rebooting your device. Rebooting normally resolves this problem.
Switch to Google’s new Android experimental media player for 6.0+/7.0+ devices, it also includes a variable speed feature (DC Menu>Settings>Advanced) Enable “Experimental Marshmallow media player” the player can sometimes resume playback on an incorrect position, but the audio playback problems goes away.
Headset buttons
Android allows one application at a time to respond to headset buttons. The application that most recently requested to be the sole receiver of headset button events, will receive all headset button events.
You can see this demonstrated by following these steps:
-Start DoggCatcher and press play in the DoggCatcher UI
-Press a headset button (wired or BT) a few times, DoggCatcher will responds to the button presses
-Start a main stream audio application (like Google Play Music or Spotify) and press play in the music app UI
-Press a headset button (wired or BT) a few times, the music app will responds to the button presses
We've followed the development guidelines and reproduced the intended behavior, and also the behavior of the Android music player.
DoggCatcher will begin responding to the headset buttons when the following happens, and will continue to respond to headset button events until another app requests to be the sole received of headset button events.
-DoggCatcher is launched
-The play button in the DoggCatcher UI is pressed
Headset button developer guidelines
The coding details can be found here - http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/06/allowing-applications-to-...
Bluetooth metadata
Some devices support the display of Bluetooth meta data, like artist name, track name, etc, on the display of the Bluetooth device.
This works on most devices regardless of DoggCatcher's configuration, however some devices require that the this DoggCatcher setting be enabled:
Settings / Headset/Lockscreen / Lock screen buttons
DC relies on the Android media player (which calculates times from the media file) and the duration provided by the publisher (which is displayed on the episode) to determine the times,
This issue is usually caused by audio encoding parameters that are not compatible with the version of Android that you're using. In the past feed publishers have worked to resolve these types of things. You could contact the publisher and let them know the problem you're experiencing with the feed.
See Forum Support Posts:
Wrong times on ESPN podcasts - http://www.doggcatcher.com/node/4216
One feed (young turks) displays incorrect time, resumes improperly ('losing its place') - http://www.doggcatcher.com/node/4320
See Forum General Discussion Post:
Dropping last 30 secs of pod cast - http://www.doggcatcher.com/node/6026
The app removes episodes from the currently active playlist once they're completed, If the media files haven't been deleted yet....you can add them back to the default system playlists from the episode screen of each particular feed/podcast on the "Feeds" tab
Press the context menu icon (Hamburger Icon Top Right of Episode Screen) to flag all episodes new(Blue)/in progress(Green) or press the context menu icon of each particular episode (Hamburger Icon Right of Episode title) to flag new(Blue)/in progress(Green)
Another option is to use the Multi-Select feature to flag all or selected episodes as new/done, delete media files or add episodes to a user/dynamic playlists> to enable "Long Press" on a particular episode from the episode screen & then press on selected episodes> press on the icons on top of the screen to enable selected actions
Press the Playlist icon to add new episodes to a playlist (User/Dynamic)
Press Flag New icon
Press Flag Done icon
Press the delete icon
Press the Pinned icon to deleted pinned episodes
Currently it's not possible keep completed episodes on the current active playlist automatically
When these playback/download issues happen, check the apps “Event Log” (DC Navigation Menu>More>Event Log) If there are error notifications listed
“Error playing episode - java.io.IOException: setDataSourceFD failed.: status=0x8000000”
“java.io FileNotFoundException:/sdcard/external_sd/......podcast.mp3.PART: open failed: EROFS (Read-only file system)”
“java.io.IOException - Failed to instantiate extractor”
These error notifications are all are caused by a corrupted SD card, replacing the card (New prefered) resolves the problem
Custom ROM Playback Issue Acer, Blu, Fairphone, Kindle Fire Devices (Lollipop 5.0) & Zest Mobile Devices
Audio only plays about 1 second every 10 seconds or so, doesn’t remember the play position of media file on Acer, Blu, Elephone,Fairphone,Freetel,Gionee, Huawei, Kindle Fire Devices (Lollipop 5.0), Lenovo,Oppo, Otium,Pelephone Gini W5, RCA, Ulefone,Wiko, Xiaomi & Zest Mobile devices are running a custom ROM version of Android that is incompatible with DC’s features,particularly "Variable Speed”
Try these two workaround solutions that might resolve the playback problem you’re experiencing
1) Disable the "Variable Speed Enabled" feature (DC Navigation Menu>Settings>Audio Player)
2) Change the player for DC from “Integrated” (Internal) to “External” (DC Navigation Menu>Settings>Audio Player) Press “Audio Player” change to “External Player”
(unfortunately this workaround option doesn’t resolve the problem with remembering the play position of media file feature.)
FYI- The "Resume Hack" and "Seekbar Hack" setting options was for a bug issue with the Android media player on very old devices (3.x) and should only be needed as a workaround to resolve that issue. Those hack settings have no effect on newer devices, so the settings have been removed.
DoggCatcher displays a notification when another app has requested audio focus and Android revokes the audio focus from DoggCatcher. At this point, DoggCatcher must stop audio playback.
Audio Focus is something that is managed by Android to allow only one app to play audio at a time. When an audio app (such as DoggCatcher) plays audio, it first requests audio focus.
Audio apps should only do this when they are responding to user input, like pressing on a media button in the app. But sometimes apps do this at other times, some seeming completely random.
Unfortunately, there is no easy way to tell which app is taking audio focus away from DoggCatcher aside from closely monitoring what apps are installed or updated when this behavior starts.
This means that Android has killed DoggCatcher. Android will do this when there isn't enough available memory for DoggCatcher to continue to operate. This can be usually remedied by uninstalling applications that run in the background. Some devices running Android 5.0 can leak memory that can only be recovered by rebooting your device.
There can be different causes for this, both of which can be confirmed by viewing the DoggCatcher event log. This log can be seen in the menu opened by clicking on the hamburger at the top left.
A headset play/pause event has been received
Some car audio systems automatically send a play event to your mobile device right after connecting via bluetooth. This has been observed with Ford Sync and some other aftermarket headunuts like the Pioneer NEX-4100.
Faulty wired headset
After a wired headset device has been used for a while, it can begin to send faulty signals to the mobile device which are interpreted as play/pause events.
DoggCatcher is able to play video files in the formats that are supported by your Android version and/or device.
The first step in troubleshooting is to determine if the video can be played by your device. Try launching the video in the Android video player. You can do this by temporarily setting your video player DoggCatcher preference to external and then try to play the video again. If it still fails, then the video isn't able to be played on your device.
Feed publishers sometimes change encoding parameters that cause the video to fail to play on Android. In the past, users have contacted the publishers and they have corrected the encoding to make the videos compatible with Android.
If the video can be played in the Android player but fails to play in the DoggCatcher integrated player, please post in the support forum and I'll check it out.
Common error messages
Cannot play video - Sorry, but this video cannot be played
If you see this message, then the video you are trying to play is not supported by your version of Android and/or device.
DoggCatcher supports the video formats supported by your device and Android version, which can vary. Please consult the Android video formats for details.
There is an issue with the lite/premium version of the app and currently can't be searched in the Play Store. Please re-install your DC Lite/Premium purchase from the my app section of the Play Store URL https://play.google.com/apps or through the Play Store app on your device (Open the app>Press the Hamburger Icon “Top Left of the screen”>Press My Apps & Games>Press “ALL” tab>scroll down & locate the app>Press & install or update to the current version of DC Lite/Premium
(Play Store URL for DC Lite/Premium - https://goo.gl/4UvEWd)
The Lite/Premium version of the app currently can't be searched in the Play Store.
Reinstall/update your DC Lite/Premium purchase from the my app section of the Play Store URL https://play.google.com/apps or though the Play Store app on your device (Open the app>Press the Hamburger Icon “Top Left of the screen”>Press My Apps & Games>Press “ALL” tab>scroll down & locate the app>Press & install or update to the current version of DC Lite/Premium
(Play Store URL for DC Lite/Premium - https://goo.gl/4UvEWd)
We are going to backup your DoggCatcher Lite settings and restore them into DoggCatcher
Unfortunately developers do not have access to any billing related functions in the Amazon store. You will need to contact Amazon directly. Here is the contact information - http://www.doggcatcher.com/node/3201
Google Play Store Support
You can contact Google Play Store support at this site - http://support.google.com/androidmarket/bin/request.py?contact_type=cont...
They have feature called "Talk to a specialist" fill in the fields with your name, phone number, product (Apps) & the issue you're having with your account or app you've purchased.
Amazon customer service
You can contact Amazon customer service at this site - https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/contact-us/ref=hp_supp_forum_cu?...
Please choose a different order, select my order is not shown, then enter your receipt number, select more order issues, select phone, enter your phone number, select call me now or in 5 minutes, then explain the problem you're experiencing.
Developers don't have the ability to manage Google accounts (or move licenses from one account to another).
I would suggest placing a new order and emailing both the old and new order number indicating which one is which. I will cancel the older order.
Please include your full name and the general timeframe when the purchase was made.
Don't forget to do a backup in the DoggCatcher menu so you can restore all your feeds and configuration.
Developers don't have the ability to manage Google accounts. I would suggest contacting Google or your carrier to see if they can help. If they are unable to assist, place a new order and email both the old and new order number indicating which one is which. I will cancel the older order.
When applications ask a device for the location to the external storage (where we want to place the backup), some devices respond with the location of the internal storage. In this case, DoggCatcher will perform backups/restores from the internal storage. This is not useful when you want to migrate your configuration from one device to another.
Here are the steps to use DoggCatcher's backup/restore to migrate your configuration from one device to another using the SD card.
-In the DoggCatcher menu, press on Backup/Restore
-Press on the backup button, then press yes
-Notice the backup location displayed on the backup/restore screen.
-Use a file manager to move the Export folder from the backup location to your SD card.
-Move the SD card to the new device
-In the DoggCatcher menu, press on Backup/Restore
-Notice the backup location displayed on the backup/restore screen.
-Use a file manager to move the Export folder from your SD card to the location displayed.
-Do a restore
This is a problem that we have been unable to track down. The only known solution is to reboot your handset (not Wear device).
We have been receiving reports from multiple users about problems relating to pausing audio files.
Symptom:
Pausing an episode stops audio playback but the episode continues to play silently. DC's media player controls will update the current position as time passes even though nothing can be heard.
Then one of two things can happen:
-If the episode is resuming before the end is reached, playback resumes where the episode was paused
-If the end of the silently playing episode is reached, DC will select the next episode to play and delete the completed episode if auto-delete is configured
This isn't occurring for everyone and no one has been able to identify any repeatable steps to reliably re-create the problem. If you can, please contact support so we can try to come up with a workaround until the problem is fixed in a future release of Lollipop.
Confirmed on Nexus 5 build LRX21O
Zoho 19527
After upgrading to a new version of Android, particularly Pie…..some users of the app are experiencing issues with the app’s Notification, Widget & Lockscreen Notification players
Check your device settings
Settings>Apps>All Apps>DoggCatcher>App Notifications - Enable DC On > Allow icon Badge >Allow sound
Then check if the "On the lock screen" setting .....you may have to change to "Show all notification content" from "Hide sensitive notification content" or "Don't Show notification at all"
Change back "Keep Alive" in the app's settings (DC Navigation Menu>Settings>Advance) to "While in foreground or busy in background"
also verify if enabled (DC Navigation Menu>Settings>Headset/lockscreen) "Respond to Headset" - "Lock screen buttons" & "Pause audio"
If the above settings are enabled> turned off all the options and turned them back on again
Re" forum response to Philomorph "Galaxy S8 update to Pie - Doggcatcher stops playing after screen locks"
http://www.doggcatcher.com/comment/17341#comment-17341
and Philomorph's response http://www.doggcatcher.com/comment/17343#comment-17343
"Also if you experience playback issues with the app’s player itself on your new device or upgraded OS, please see the "Audio playback problems" post under "Playback Issues" http://www.doggcatcher.com/AudioPlaybackProblems and switch to Google’s Android experimental media player for 6.0+/7.0+/8.0 and up devices"
Some users are also experiencing the app being killed by Android while running in the background
Check your device battery settings & see if the "Power Saver" mode is enabled>
If it is..Android will kill apps running in the background to keep the battery at an optimum level>
You have 2 options...disable "Power Safer Mode"
or enable "Download -on Power" in the app's settings (DC Navigation Menu>Settings>Limit feed updates and downloads)
You will also have to change the "Update start time" to a specific time you will have the device connected to a power source.>
If all the above solutions fail…..back up the app (DC Navigation Menu>Settings>Backup /Restore /Export) then uninstalling and reinstalling the app
Regarding “Bluetooth” Issues - Please try deleting the pairing from your vehicle/headset BT device and your mobile device, then re-pair again & rebooting your device.
“SD card” Issue - Please see forum FAQ post for more information "Why am I experiencing external storage (SD Cards) problems after my device has been upgraded to Marshmallow (Android 6.0)?" - http://www.doggcatcher.com/node/6493 - This issue also applies to devices running Android 7.0 Nougat & 8.0 Oreo and up
Media files are always streamed directly from the publisher’s servers when using a Chromecast device. Once the app communicates with the Chromecast device to start playback, DC isn't involved any longer until playback completes or you hit a button in DC.
To resolve most playback issues:
1. Exit & restart the app (DC Navigation Menu>More>Exit) then press the Chromecast icon and play an episode from the podcast with the playback issue
2. Reboot the Chromecast device.
After OS update to 6.0 or 6.1 Marshmallow DC requires read/write permission to access the Android Data limited directory - If permission wasn’t authorized after the update, please enable from the device settings and then point DC to external storage again
Device Settings>Apps>DoggCatcher>Permissions
Enable Phone (If not enabled)
The permission for phone calls is to detect when calls are being made so audio or video podcasts can be paused and when calls are received.
Enable Storage
Permission to save media files to the SD card Android Data limited directory
There is FAQ article posted in the forum with a detailed list of the permissions that are required only for optional features within the application (http://www.doggcatcher.com/Permissions)
Start DC and from the "Storage Directory" screen, (DC Menu>Settings>Miscellaneous>Storage Directory)
Press on depending on device
/storage/ext_sd/Android/data
/storage/SD card1/Android/data
/storage/extSdCard/Android/Data
/storage/6562-6463/Android/data
/storage/05F3-3426/Android/data
/storage/1AF0-3306/Android/data
highlighted in orange “Limited”
Then press "Yes' on the dialog box - this will auto-fill the storage directory box down below - on the second dialog box press OK - DC will restart
The DC created storage directory should look like this from a file manager “Example”
(/storage/extSdCard/Android/Data/com.snoggdoggler.android.applications.doggcatcher.v1_0)
or (/storage/6562-6463/Android/Data/com.snoggdoggler.android.applications.doggcatcher.v1_0)
There isn't a way to recover the Cloud Sync key if it's lost
Create a log and email it to yourself (DC Navigation Menu>More>Report Problem) Press "Yes" Select your email client & change from DC support to your email address.
DoggCatcher's Backup/Restore feature will copy all the information necessary to restore from another device (or a device that has been reset) by placing a backup of the feeds database and configuration onto your SD card.
This will have no effect on your downloaded media, since it is already on the SD card.
For devices with internal storage support only or running Android 4.4.2 KitKat and up, 5.0+ Lollipop/6.0+ Marshmallow/7.0+ Nougat, the backup of the feeds database and configuration is placed in internal storage. So you will need to copy that to a PC and then manually to a new device to do a restore.
This change is because of the new restrictions on applications that limit their access to the Android Data directories only and the backup feature was added to Google's outlines, a list of features that are not compatible with installing applications to the SD card
Here is a list of the files that compose a backup:
. \DoggCatcher\Export\databases\rss
. \DoggCatcher\Export\shared_prefs\DOGG_CATCHER_PREFERENCES.XML
. \DoggCatcher\Export\shared_prefs\_preferences.xml
1. First backup DC (DC Navigation Menu>Settings>Backup/Restore/Export) press “Backup”
2. Uninstall the app from the device settings (Settings>Apps>scroll down to & press on DoggCatcher>Press “Uninstall”
3. Re-install the app from the my app section of the Play Store URL https://play.google.com/apps or though the Play Store app on your device (Open the app>Press the Hamburger Icon “Top Left of the screen”>Press My Apps>Press “ALL”>scroll down & locate the app>Press & install
4. Open DC & run “Restore” (DC Menu>Settings>Backup/Restore/Export)
As an additional backup>Run “Export Feeds in OPML Format” (This option is only your feed/podcast subscriptions)
If the backup fails to restore, you can re-subscribe to your feeds again using the “OPML Import from File” option (DC Menu>Subscribe>Swipe to “Advance”>Import from file>Press on “DoggCatcherExport.opml”> press on each feed to re-subscribe (Unfortunately the “Subscribe to all” option is currently disabled & will be fixed on future update of the app.
Devices running the Lollipop 5.0 + & Marshmallow 6.0+, the lock screen controls are no longer used like previous versions of Android, it's now a notification.
Swipe down to expand notification to display the (Rewind/Fast Forward) media controls.
The app can only display one active notification at a time and the notification currently displayed depends on which active notification has the highest priority. Playing audio is the highest, then Paused audio is a low priority, then episodes in the download queue or waiting for connection, but once the active notification is done (Example “Waiting for connection” and a network connection is made and media files are downloaded), the play/pause notification should return.
If the problem is the “Waiting for connection” notification, change the feed update interval to 12 hrs or 1 day and feed update time to a convenient time for the app to update and the device is connected to WiFi network (DC Navigation Menu>Settings>Feed Updates)
RE: The app can only display one - WayneC DC Support
http://www.doggcatcher.com/comment/16599#comment-16599
The device notification settings is probably set to hide all notifications, this will cause the app's LSC not to work if the device notification settings set to hide...verify the device settings
In DC's settings verify or enable "Respond to Headset" & "Lock screen buttons" (DC Navigation Menu>Settings>Headset/Lockscreen)
In your device security or lock screen settings in addition to (if available on your device) "secure with fingerprint" also enable "Secure with Pin"
Depending on device & OS (6.0, 7.0 & 8.0)
Settings>Notifications>Lockscreen
Lockscreen change to "Show all notifications"
if set "hide sensitive only" This will also disable the ability to swipe down to expand notification to display the (Rewind/Fast Forward) media controls.
Settings>Notifications>Apps
DoggCatcher "Allow peeking" is set to on
or (Settings>Apps>All Apps>DoggCatcher>Notifications)
"Allow peeking" is set to on or enabled
"Block all" & "Show silently" is set to off or disabled
"Hide sensitive content" is to off or disabled
"On the lock screen" change to "Show all notification content"
RE:Lockscreen controls - WayneC DC Support
http://www.doggcatcher.com/comment/16643#comment-16643
Via T Morrow DC Beta Tester
RE: Lockscreen Control on 6.0/7.0 Devices
http://www.doggcatcher.com/comment/16986#comment-16986
The Android OS Lollipop 5.0.0/5.0.1/5.0/5.1.X has a memory leak bug issue, this can issue can cause problems for the app (Example one or more apps can put your device under enough memory pressure that DC will respond slowly or killed by Android/.Freeze during during or download)
DoggCatcher can can also experience playback issues (Example ~ stuttering/Skipping ) when starting another app (Waze/Chrome/G+/Facebook) This issue also causes high battery usage/drain. This can also affect older devices with 1GB or less of memory available plus internal storage is at the capacity level (Full) specifically 16GB or less will experience more of these types of problems.
Solutions to help minimize the problem
Reboot your device when this issue happens again or on a regular basis once or twice a week power off your device for a minute or two then restart it.
Lower the amount of episodes shown in a feed in DC's global feed options ( DC Menu, Settings,Global Feed Options) select number of episodes & change to a lower number, then press OK. (Example from 10 to 5) Most of the memory the app uses is for the descriptions of the episodes
Disable power saving mode when using more than one app at a time or when battery resources are lo(Device>Settings)
Limit the number or types of apps being used at the same time as DC (Waze/Chrome/) when the power saving mode is enabled
Uninstall some of the apps running in the background that are no longer being used.
Disable the "Variable Speed Enabled" feature (DC Menu>Settings>Audio Player)
Android applications should not have the authority to cause the types of problems required to crash a device. At worst, the application can crash, but there shouldn't be any collateral damage to the operating system.
Operating system crashes can be by faulty network drivers (crash during download), audio drivers (crash during playback, or other hardware problems.
Out of memory errors usually are caused by one of the following:
1 - There are more feeds/items than can be stored in memory. The number of feeds you have and the number of items per feed in large part determines the amount of memory used by DoggCatcher. Try lowering the max items, especially if you have a large number set for the global preference for max items.
2 - A feed with a large feed thumbnail. Occasionally feed publishers will include a feed thumbnail that is larger than the amount of available memory for the application. DoggCatcher tries to protect against this, but it's not always possible.
This also varies a bit by device. The earlier Android devices made 16 MB available to each application. Newer devices made 24 MB available. I believe the Honeycomb tablets support even more.
Yes, follow these steps:
The ability to download the application from the Google Market is dependent on moving your google account from the old phone to the new phone.
Step 1 Determine the directory where you need to place a file
From the Feeds Screen, Long Press on a particular feed/podcast> press feed options>
scroll down to "Custom thumbnail filename" for the location (Example SDCard/DoggCatcher/Podcastimages/72) >press cancel
Step 2 Place a file at the location specified
Using a file manager put the jpg image named "custom.jpg" at the location
For devices DC media is stored on a external SD card
(Example SDCard1/DoggCatcher/Podcastimages/72)
or
(Example exSdCard/DoggCatcher/Podcastimages/72)
For devices DC media is stored on a internal SD card
(Example SDCard0/DoggCatcher/Podcastimages/72)
*********Sorry for the inconvenience...we are no longer accepting new beta testers*************
We are always looking for folks that are interesting in testing the latest features and actively report back to us with comments, success, or problems. If you are interested, just follow these steps:
This does require that you have purchased the application (requirement of distributing the beta through the google play store).
Step 1 - Click here to apply to the google group - please use the same google account that you use in the google market
Step 2 - Wait until you have been accepted into the group (you'll get an email)
Step 3 - Click here and then click on the button 'become a tester'
Step 4 - Click here to update DoggCatcher to the beta
Please use the google forums mentioned above for announcements about any releases and reporting problems.
Some of the permissions below are required only for optional features within the application. The Android framework does allow for conditionally requiring these permissions based on usage of features.
DoggCatcher supports ChromeCast playback with the following limitations:
Some Podcast feeds include characters that are not supported by the XML parser built into Android. We replace those characters with "?".
Install the log collector application called 'aLogCat' from the Google Market and email the log file to support at doggcatcher.com.
| Code name | Android version | DoggCatcher version |
|---|---|---|
| All more recent | Changes regularly | |
| Ice Cream Sandwich | 14+ | 4115 |
| Gingerbread MR1 | 10+ | 4078 |
| Froyo | 8+ | 4005 |
| Eclair MR1 | 7+ | 3372 |
If you landed here because of a "Storage Problem" notification in DoggCatcher, skip down to KitKat Storage Directory Configuration
You can configure DoggCatcher's storage directory to be any directory on your device that applications have write access to. In this directory, DoggCatcher will store media files, feed thumbnail images, and backups.
The setting is managed in DoggCatcher's Settings/Miscellaneous/Storage Directory.
Prior to Android 4.4 (KitKat), you could select just about any directory on your SD card or large built-in storage device if you have one. Starting with Android 4.4, on some devices, the locations that applications can write to have been restricted.
If DoggCatcher is displaying a notification labeled 'Storage Problem' and your device was recently updated to Android 4.4, it is likely that this is affecting you.
This will auto-configure DoggCatcher to use the directory that Android determines that we should store data.
If you have any feeds which have been configured with a custom storage directory, they will need to be reset to the default setting
This is optional but avoids re-downloading all of your media files.
Android 4.4 places new restrictions on applications that limit their access to only directories like this:
/[whatever your device's path is]/Android/Data/com.snoggdoggler.android.applications.doggcatcher.v1_0 - Paid version
/[whatever your device's path is]/Android/Data/com.snoggdoggler.android.applications.doggcatcher.premium - Lite/Premium version
If you had DoggCatcher configured to use your removable SD and then received an Android OS update that seems to have broken DoggCatcher's ability to download and playback media, then you are likely being affected by this change in Android. In that cause, you'll need to reconfigure DoggCatcher to use the new directory mentioned above.
DoggCatcher will attempt to detect the best locations for your storage directory but devices vary quite a bit, so if you run into problems, please let us know so we can update DoggCatcher to better support your device.
IMPORTANT WARNING
Another important change in the Android OS update is that if you use one of the storage directories that contain "Android/Data", when the application is uninstalled, all of your media files, feed thumbnails, and backups will be DELETED.
There is some very interesting reading on this topic here - http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/02/17/external-blues-google-has-brough...
Maybe not so interesting for most, but here are the tech details - http://source.android.com/devices/tech/storage/
-Confirm that all devices are sharing the same cloud key
-Confirm on all devices that on the Feeds tab, in the header, you do not see a "Partial cloud sync" message. If you see this, then some of your feeds failed to update. Cloud syncs won't occur until all of your feeds can update successfully
-Confirm that you are not expecting pinned episodes to be synced. Syncing of pinned episodes is not supported.
-Try to reproduce the problem and then send logs from both devices to support
-Please indicate whether syncing has completely stopped working OR if it only occurs sometimes, include notes about which episodes you modified when reproducing the problem.
We'll check out the logs and get back to you.
Cloud sync is currently in a limited beta.
Cloud sync allows DoggCatcher to be run on multiple devices whose feeds and episodes are synchronized. This works by generating a cloud key on one device and then linking other devices with that cloud key. Changes made on any linked device will be synced up to the cloud, and then down to all devices that share the cloud key.
As you make changes on a device that is linked, those changes are synced to the cloud within a few seconds. Other devices receive those changes on feeds updates. That includes both automatic and manual feed updates, so if you are using a device that hasn't yet synced the latest info from the cloud, you can refresh the feeds and a sync will occur.
Synchronization occurs for most aspects of your feed configurations and some of your global settings.
What IS synced:
The feeds that you are subscribed to
Global feed options
-Auto downloads
-Number of episodes/articles
-Auto delete policy
-Play order
Feed configuration
-Auto downloads
-Number of episodes/articles
-Auto delete policy
-Play order
-Username
-Password
-Episode identifier
-Pin expired
-Make filenames unique
-Full fetch
-Is Virtual
-Nickname
-Custom enclosure directory
Episode
-Play position
-Episode state (new/in progress/done)
-Play local or stream
What is NOT synced:
Categories
Virtual feed media files
Expired episodes
If you have the Lite version, it is identical to the Paid version both during the trial period and after the Premium upgrade has been purchased. After the trial period has expired (and no premium upgrade has been purchased), the following features will be disabled:
-Automatic scheduled feed updates
-Updating all feeds at once
-Adding more than 10 feeds
Both versions are nearly always released with the same functionality at the same. The exception would be if there were some bugs in the trial related functionality that we were working on.
This is useful when you switch from a device that has no internal storage to a device with external storage (or a device with a different location configured as its external storage location.
When DoggCatcher does a backup, it place a directory called Export in the DoggCatcher directory on your SD card. The Export directory has all of the backup files except for media files.
1 - Use a file manager (like Astro free) to copy the Export directory from the old location to the new location. It should be placed into an existing directory called "DoggCatcher" that DoggCatcher created when it was installed.
2 - Start DoggCatcher and do a restore (in the menu)
3 - If that did not work then your device may have a different path to its SD card. If that is the case, configure the storage directory in the DoggCatcher preferences with the path to your SD card.
No, Google outlines a list of features that are not compatible with installing applications to the SD card. DoggCatcher uses numerous features on this list (services/alarms/widgets/broadcast receivers).
Installing an app to the SD card moves only the application itself to the SD card, not the data and configuration. At the time of this post, that would save very little as DoggCatcher is about 1.5MB.
http://developer.android.com/guide/appendix/install-location.html#ShouldNot
To backup the database, please follow these steps.
1 - In the DC menu, choose backup, then press the backup button
2 - Grab these files from the SD card and email them to me at support at doggcatcher.com
\DoggCatcher\Export\databases\rss
\DoggCatcher\Export\shared_prefs\DOGG_CATCHER_PREFERENCES.XML
\DoggCatcher\Export\shared_prefs\_preferences.xml
This used to be possible but Google has discontinued support for youtube channels as feeds (as needed by applications like DoggCatcher).
Here's a related post - http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/05/youtube-shuts-down-public-rss-fee...
This FAQ is meant to address the situation where audio becomes silent for a short period of time, so you miss some of the audio. It is not intended for the case where audio pauses and resumes (no audio is missed).
I have experienced it on an LG G2X (Gingerbread only) but it could occur on other devices as well. This is an Android problem that causes the audio to temporarily drop out and is limited to bluetooth. In the case of my G2X, the problem only occurs when WIFI is enabled. Turning off the WIFI resolves the issue.
This happens on some devices. I've researched quite a few users that have experienced this and each time, it has been the case that DoggCatcher has given a command to the android media player to seek to the correct position in the audio file but the media player does not seek, but starts the audio file from the beginning.
I have also tried a few different approaches to detect when this happens and retry the seek but I haven't been able to come up with anything that reliably works around the problem.
Why does my devices crash at the end of an episode when using variable speed and cyanogen ROM?
This is a known issue in cyanogen and has reported to have been fixed in CM11 M11
Many users have reported that their Nexus 7 performance has degraded over time. In this article, there is a suggestion to boot into recovery mode and clear the cache. This solution has resolved the problem for several people.
http://forums.androidcentral.com/google-nexus-7-tablet-forum/226409-4-2-...
DoggCatcher uses an embedded Android media player for streaming audio.
When a streams fail because of a network connection problem, it will stop playing and the media player will sometimes send an erroneous message from the indicating that the audio file has completed.
Unfortunately, there isn't any way to distinguish between the 'false' completions and real completions, so DoggCatcher treats it as a completed audio file and move on to the next item in the playlist.
Create a virtual feed in the 'add feed' menu and drop all your music in the directory that DoggCatcher creates for the virtual feed. In the future DoggCatcher will allow you to point a virtual feed at an existing directory that already contains your music
Sometimes the Android media player, which DoggCatcher uses, fails when starting or during play of an audio file.
If this can only be resolved by rebooting the device, then it's very like to be a problem with the Android OS or a device driver.
There are two causes for this.
Faulty headset
When headsets start to flake out from wear, they start to send bogus signals to the device that makes it think that buttons are being pressed. If you have a headset plugged in and you are seeing audio files skip forward or backwards within the file or skipping to the next, it's possible your headset is near the end of its life. The distinguishing factor here is that the audio is still following the playlist in its natural order and it just seems like someone is pressing buttons
Faulty SD card
This one can be a little trickier to characterize but generally audio will play and seemingly jump to another audio file, then maybe back to the same audio file. The distinguishing factor is that the pattern does not follow the playlist but seems to randomly jump around to different audio files.
This is more common than you might think and I've had quite a few users that spend lots of time trying to diagnose this. A test with a backup SD card can be a big help.
Some feeds have dates for the items that are not in the proper format so they can be parsed. You can tell this is happening by pressing on the feed. You should see a date on each item. If there is no date displayed, then the date is not in the proper format required.
This can happen in the following circumstances:
Order authorization has failed
Please login to your Google checkout account and verify that the credit authorization has been accepted.
Order is in 'Customer review in progress' status
It seems that the order is getting flagged for investigation as potentially fraudulent order. Here's Google's description of this issue - Fraud protection. This document states that this is normally resolved in 4-6 hrs so I would suggest trying to re-download again after that period or contacting Google to get the order processed.
Mystery reason - lots of google posts for the following stuck positions
One user has reported this post as resolving the installing stuck position - http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Android+Market/thread?tid=47f4f0c5...
We've spent a good deal of time looking into this, as have many other app developers and all the clues are pointing at a bug in the Touchwiz launcher used on Samsung's 4.4.2 ROMs.
Here are some link of others reporting similar problems:
http://levelupstudio.com/en/blog-en/widgets-disappearing-with-samsung-4-...
http://www.3c71.com/android/?q=node/2594
http://cloud.tv/apps/hd-widgets/faq/ (search for disappear)
http://androidcommunity.com/kitkat-bug-may-be-affecting-widgets-on-your-...
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/23144968/widgets-gone-after-app-update
https://koxx3.wordpress.com/2014/07/01/widgets-disappearing-with-samsung...
Possible workaround:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/1057b1/are_your_paid_widgets_an...
We use a company that manages all current & new podcast/feeds to the app’s database, see forum post “Subject: Adding Podcast/Feeds to DoggCatcher Database” http://www.doggcatcher.com/node/6883
So we are unable to correct incorrect or broken feed/podcast URL’s when using the "Search" feature, the next option is to subscribe to the feed/podcast manually (See above forum post Subject: Adding Podcast/Feeds to DoggCatcher Database” under “Subscribe to the feed/podcast manually”)
Check the Radio France Internationale podcast website
http://www.rfi.fr/fr/podcasts/ for feed/podcast URL’s
example “Journal en français facile “
http://www.rfi.fr/fr/podcasts/journal-fran%C3%A7ais-facile/podcast
The reason the app crashed is because the device system is low on memory...this issue is caused by too many apps open at the same time and is putting your device under enough memory pressure that DC is getting killed by Android.
To Resolve:
We won’t be able to tell from generated logs from the app (DC) which app or apps is causing the problem, since the release of the Android – 4.3 Jelly Bean to the current version of the OS..logs won't let us see what's happening with other apps, the only option is to close currently running apps and uninstall apps you no longer use, then restart DoggCatcher.
Example Log Entry:
12-04 09:05:16.824 W/DoggCatcher(20986): DoggCatcherService::Detected low system memory
Since 2015 we started using a company that provides & handles the metadata for DC's Top,Network & Categories tabs, and the search engine database, previously this was done in house & so we’re currently unable to add additional feeds/podcasts to the search tab that are not listed in the database or make changes on how feeds/podcast metadata is displayed or categorized on the Top,Network & Categories tabs of the app.
Please see posted thread "New Podcast Submission Request" http://www.doggcatcher.com/node/6309
Also posted responses "We use a new company" http://www.doggcatcher.com/comment/15660#comment-1566 and "How do I get my podcast to show up in search?" http://www.doggcatcher.com/node/6548"
On the “Feeds” tab you can move your feeds/podcasts subscriptions to your desired location by pressing the context button (Vertical Dots right of the feed Title) on each feed> select/press “Move up/down”> swipe up or down and then lightly press on the feed/podcast position you would like.
The move up/down feature cannot be used during scheduled feed updates or if the the "Category Filter" feature is enabled
Move up/down feature
Wait for the update is completed or cancel it (DC Navigation Menu>Cancel Refresh)
Category Filter
Disable the "Category Filter" feature on the "Feeds" tab> Press the filter selector button on the header (“All Feeds” Top left of the feeds tab) select "Clear Filter".
The “Long Press” action was removed from the “Feeds” tab with the release of version 1.2.4135 and up...the action to access the Feed/Podcast menu for your feed subscriptions is to press the context menu icon (Hamburger Icon Right of Feed Title)
(FYI) On the “Episode Screen” of feed/podcast subscriptions and the “Audio” and “Video” tabs, the long press action is now used for “Multi-Select (Bulk Operations)” feature to flag all or selected episodes as new/done and delete media files
From the “Feeds” tab>press to open a particular feed/podcast>on the “Episode” screen of the feed, long press on each episode>press the “Trash Can” icon to delete all selected episodes, press the “Person” icon to add all selected episodes to a new or created playlist, press the “Box” icon to mark or flag all selected episodes new (Blue), press the “Check Box” icon to mark or flag all selected episodes done (Grey), press “Push Pin” to delete “Pinned Episodes” from feeds with the “Pin Expired” feature is enabled.
The same “Multi-Select (Bulk Operations)” features are also available on the “Audio” and “Video” tabs
The previous “Long Press" actions for the episode menu are accessed with “Context” button (Three Vertical Dots or Hamburger right of the Episode Title) on the “Episode” screen of all feeds and “Audio” and “Video” tabs
This also applies for "Long Press" action for the feed menus and accessed by pressing the “Context” button (Three Vertical Dots or Hamburger right of the Feed Title) on the “Feed” Tab
From the feeds tab>scroll down to the feed/podcast>press the context menu icon (Hamburger Icon Right of Feed Title)>select "Delete Feed" > the feed will be removed after that (Please be advised feeds/podcasts cannot be deleted/unsubscribed during active feed updates, please cancel a feed update or wait until the update is completed to delete feeds)
After manually moving a feed,(Using the app’s “Move up/down” feature) cloud sync re-arranges the moved episode on all scheduled feed updates...the developer has a couple bug issues regarding this on his to do list
0001795: After moving a feed, a cloud sync re-arranges the moved episode down one position
http://mantis.doggcatcher.com/view.php?id=1795
0002111: Syncing undoes a previous move operation
http://mantis.doggcatcher.com/view.php?id=2111
Until this issue is fixed, there is a workaround to temporarily resolve the problem
1 Set the feed order of your feed/podcast subscriptions the way you would like it on the “Feeds” tab.
2 Run DC’s backup feature (DC Navigation Menu>Settings>Backup/Restore/Export)
3 Disable the “Cloud Sync” & then re-enable (DC Navigation Menu>Settings>Experimental Features) uncheck “Link this device with your cloud key” then re-enable
4 Once the “Cloud Sync” has finished syncing> Run restore feature
(DC Navigation Menu>Settings>Backup/Restore/Export)
5 Press “Refresh Feeds” button (DC NavigationMenu)
Steps 4 and 5 may have to be repeated one more time.
1. Hide media buttons: Press the media menu icon (Hamburger icon “Right of the Media Control Bar” Select “Hide media buttons”
2. To unhide (Show) Media Control Bar: Press the media menu icon (Hamburger icon translucent button in the center of the bottom of the screen) Select “Show media buttons”
The problem is the database is corrupted and this is blocking the app from starting. A corrupted database sometimes after the previous update & the current update (Example 1.2.4146 to 1.2.4147), the database was corrupted...the app is trying to upgrade the database a second time (which isn’t working). sometimes Android will corrupt the database & 99% of the time DC will restore after an update without a problem.
The only way to resolve this issue is to uninstall/re-install the app, unfortunately you'll lose all your feeds database and configuration settings if a backup hasn't been done recently.
The developer recommends backing up DC on a regular basis (In the DC Navigation Menu>Settings>Backup,Restore,Export)
The app can only display one active notification at a time and the notification currently displayed depends on which active notification has the highest priority. Playing audio is the highest, then Paused audio is a low priority, then episodes in the download queue or waiting for connection, but once the active notification is done (Example “Waiting for connection” and a network connection is made and media files are downloaded), the play/pause notification should return.
If the problem is the “Waiting for connection” notification, change the feed update interval to 12 hrs or 1 day and feed update time to a convenient time for the app to update and the device is connected to WiFi network (DC Navigation Menu>Settings>Feed Updates)
RE: The app can only display one - http://www.doggcatcher.com/comment/16599#comment-16599
The DC media control bar “Media buttons - Rewind, Play, Fast Forward,Skip ”
Press the context menu icon “Hamburger Right of the Buttons” (To access the Autoplay, sleep timer and Variable speed settings, plus the ability to hide the media buttons)
The action to unhide the media buttons (Swipe up & Press the context menu icon “Grey Area Bottom Middle of the Screen)
The Progress/Seekbar can be enabled or disabled (DC Menu>Settings>Audio Player>Seekbar)
The “Car Mode or Now Playing” screen, can be enabled by pressing on the feed/podcast thumbnail icon bottom left of the media control bar, once enabled (“Top left of the screen” is Next up in the current playlist, “Top right of the screen” 3 icons Sleep timer, Autoplay, Episode information) - To exit or disable - press the back button on your device or press the X icon “Top left of the screen”
The Autoplay and Variable Speed features can be enabled or disabled in the audio player settings (DC Menu> Settings>Audio Player) also the Rewind/Fast forward increments can be changed from the audio player settings
Also See "Auto-Play " post http://www.doggcatcher.com/comment/17554#comment-17554
To access DC’s “Feed Diagnostics” feature if there is an issue with a particular feed/podcast subscription, (for example deleted episodes are continuously re-downloaded)
from the “Feeds” tab (Press the Context Menu "Hamburger Icon Right of Feed Title" & select Diagnostics) a dialog box will open,describing the problem with the feed, select "Press here to repair" and the issue will be resolved.
If the diagnostics doesn't fix the problem or doesn't list any issues that could the cause, contact support (In the DC Navigation Menu>Report Problem) list the name & URL of the feed and describe the problem.
The "Sleep Timer" feature is now located on the “Media Control Bar” context menu (3 Dot Menu Hamburger Icon Right of the control icons) and the "Car Mode" or “Now Playing” screen’
To activate it from the “Media Control Bar” press the context menu icon
To activate from the “Car Mode” or “Now Playing” screen, press on the podcast icon (Left of the control icons) and then press the “Timer” icon (Top Right of the screen)
Switch from "Tile" to "List" view and vice versa (Press the "Feed View" icon top right of Feeds screen)
Hide
On the bottom right of the screen (Media Control Bar) press the context menu (3 Vertical Dots) Select “Hide Media Buttons”
Unhide
On the bottom right of the screen, there there is a transparent context menu....press it and select "Show Media Buttons" and the media control bar will reappear
The problem could be the feed category filter is enabled on the feeds tab, for example the news feed category. Press the filter selector button on the header (“All Feeds” or this case “News feeds” if enabled (Top left of the feeds tab) select clear filter. Your feeds should be back.