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Bible Analyzer 3.8 Ideas

Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 1:46 am
by Tim
Here are some of the new features and updates we have in mind for version 3.8.

Library (Book) Viewer

Placing the Library Viewer under a tab in the Results Panel (next to ScripturePad) with the option of still opening the texts in a standalone window. The titles and chapters of the books will be in a new tab in the Master Control Panel.

Changing the format of the texts to SQLite like the other modules. (This will also allow conversion of e-sword Topic modules to Bible Analyzer modules).

Library Search will also search Book texts like commentaries and dictionaries.

Audio

A new audio tab in MCP primarily for playing midi hymns during use. It will show all the audio files in a new Audio folder under Modules and play multiple selections. Also has a volume control. (It will also play .mp3 and .wav files.) Around 75 quality midi hymns will be included.

Text to Speech

We have been expeirmenting with Microsoft's SAPI5 text to speech engine and believe we can integrate it into Bible Analyzer. The idea is for the computer to read any selected or displayed text. Tests have been promising. The quality of the "voice" makes a big difference. The default voice for XP is "Microsoft Bob." He is the voice of "Narrator" and sounds robotic. "Microsoft Mike" and "Mary" are available for XP and sound better. Vista has "Anna" which may be a little better. There are much better voices available but they must be purchased. However, I found a free one by Scansoft ("Emily") which is a British female voice that does very good. Much better than Microsoft's. Each user will have to get their own voices other than the default ones already installed.

There are other minor changes in the works as well, but these are the major ones so far. Lord willing we will have a beta available in a few weeks.

Re: Bible Analyzer 3.8 Ideas

Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 1:34 pm
by Atlas
Tim,

I really like the Library Book Viewer idea. I think that is a wonderful idea. the Library Search will also be very helpful. I think these changes will make BA even better. Thanks for al of your hard work on BA. There is no better value in Bible software than BA. It just keeps getting better and better.



Atlas

Re: Bible Analyzer 3.8 Ideas

Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 8:08 pm
by nymusicman
I really like the ideas you have so far. One request I would like to make is possibly incorporating a prayer list into the software.


With audio take a look at integration with festival on linux. Should be fairly easy to incorporate from what I've seen other software do. The voices aren't the greatest but that is users choice and us linux folk are pretty used to what we get. :)

P.S. If you need any help with the prayer list idea or even festival incorporation, check out what xiphos is doing with there software. It's open source so you have access to the entire source code if your interested.
[url]http:www.xiphos.org[/url]

Re: Bible Analyzer 3.8 Ideas

Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 8:35 pm
by Tim
What do you have in mind with the Prayer List? One can use ScripturePad or the Notes Editor to make lists that can be saved. Were you wanting a separate window or the option for it to show at startup in ScripturePad?

I have not yet even attempted the text to speech with Linux yet. My developement method is to get everything working in Windows and then try to get Linux to do it. Some things just won't work. I will look at festival when I get to that point. I tried it on Windows and it was a little buggy. And the voices are pretty robot like. Windows voices are not great either. There are good ones for sale, but they are expensive and huge in size.

Version 3.8 will also have drag and drop from Bibles, Dictionaries, Commentaries, etc. to ScripturePad and the Notes Editor. The tts will read either selected text or a whole page. It will have the option to read a custom greeting ate startup, as well.

Thanks,

Re: Bible Analyzer 3.8 Ideas

Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 10:14 am
by nymusicman
Tim wrote:What do you have in mind with the Prayer List? One can use ScripturePad or the Notes Editor to make lists that can be saved. Were you wanting a separate window or the option for it to show at startup in ScripturePad?

I have not yet even attempted the text to speech with Linux yet. My developement method is to get everything working in Windows and then try to get Linux to do it. Some things just won't work. I will look at festival when I get to that point. I tried it on Windows and it was a little buggy. And the voices are pretty robot like. Windows voices are not great either. There are good ones for sale, but they are expensive and huge in size.

Version 3.8 will also have drag and drop from Bibles, Dictionaries, Commentaries, etc. to ScripturePad and the Notes Editor. The tts will read either selected text or a whole page. It will have the option to read a custom greeting ate startup, as well.

Thanks,
I'm actually looking for more of a prayer tracking tool. Kind of something where we can keep track of prayer requests praise reports, etc... I'm not sure where to put it. I guess either a pop-up window or tab in the scripture-pad section would be best.

Re: Bible Analyzer 3.8 Ideas

Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2009 9:08 am
by Atlas
Tim,


Is there any way you could make the users manual you are working on part of BA 8 and in a PDF? Just wondering.



Atlas

Re: Bible Analyzer 3.8 Ideas

Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2009 12:21 pm
by Tim
Access to the PDF will probably be by a link in the Bible Analyzer app and the webpage. This is because of setup file size constraints. I try to keep the free and update version setup file size as small as possible. The PDF may be a couple megs in size.

Re: Bible Analyzer 3.8 Ideas

Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2009 2:09 pm
by Atlas
Tim,
Access to the PDF will probably be by a link in the Bible Analyzer app and the webpage. This is because of setup file size constraints. I try to keep the free and update version setup file size as small as possible. The PDF may be a couple megs in size.

That is cool I understand that my friend. I understand you have to keep as much space on BA open as you can.

I was talking to my pastor about BA. He is an older man and not on the net. Can I loan him my copy of BA? If he like it I'll buy him a copy.



Atlas

Re: Bible Analyzer 3.8 Ideas

Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2009 4:29 pm
by Tim
Sure. Let him see if he likes it.

Re: Bible Analyzer 3.8 Ideas

Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 9:17 pm
by Atlas
Tim,


He likes it but he told me he would just not use it ofter. Sorry some of these older folks just do not use their PC for much. I deleted BA from his PC.



Atlas