BidX Mobile Edition
Does BidX Mobile work with the new OKTA?
Yes, mostly. Auto-login is broken, and will likely not return. I'll be working on that.
The rest of it works fine, once you have logged in via the PFC Web Viewer. If it stops working, go to the Web View and hit a quick link to get it to load a new page. You'll either log in again, or it may direct to you hit a link because "A Session is already in progress". Hit that link and it should fix things. Just like before, after an hour of no use, or sometimes for no reason at all, it may log you out. You need to log back in view the Web View. I am working on code that will allow it to recognize this and take you there automatically.
The rest of it works fine, once you have logged in via the PFC Web Viewer. If it stops working, go to the Web View and hit a quick link to get it to load a new page. You'll either log in again, or it may direct to you hit a link because "A Session is already in progress". Hit that link and it should fix things. Just like before, after an hour of no use, or sometimes for no reason at all, it may log you out. You need to log back in view the Web View. I am working on code that will allow it to recognize this and take you there automatically.
General App Questions
The app crashes on startup, or just displays a white screen. What now?
- If it just displays a white screen but doesn't crash… try being patient… it might be updating it's databases (if a new update was installed).
- If it CRASHES, you probably need to delete and reinstall.
How do I delete and Reinstall BidX ME?
- Delete the App (if you don't know how, see Google or Apple documentation on how to delete apps).
- Re-install by going to the App Store App, then Purchased Tab (iPad) or Updates->Purchased (iPhone).
- The App will be in the cloud for you to download.
- After installing, go to Subscriptions, Registration and put in your info to Restore your subscription.
Calendar Questions
All the trips on my calendar are “Unknown” when I refresh my calendar.
For BidX mobile to accurately display a trip, it needs to have that trip in it’s database. You can either
- Click on each trip and refresh it’s recap, or
- Go to Bidpacks. Download the bid pack for that month. Then refresh your calendar.
I have an X-Pairing that displays as an unknown trip in my calendar. What do I do?
Click on the trip, refresh the trip’s recap, then refresh your calendar.
Syncing between devices
Can I do my bid on the iPhone and then sync it to my iPad?
Yes. The “Options” button lets you save your bid choices to your “iCloud”. You can then restore them on another device.
Can I sync between BidX Pro and BidX Mobile?
Using dropbox. iCloud syncing will come later. See the below directions for Dropbox sync.
- Make sure you connect to your dropbox via the "Dropbox" button in the BidX Mobile Settings->User Profile.
- From BidX Mobile, do "Options->Save to Dropbox". This will create the proper directory and save an initial file to the dropbox. Your BidX Mobile saves are put in Dropbox/Apps/BidX Mobile/.
- Naming convention is YEARMonthBASEAircraft_Bid.txt (e.g. 2014MayEURB757_Bid.txt or 2014JuneMEMMD11_Bid.txt)
- You can now open up the saved bid in BidX Pro by first having the bidpack for the proper month open, and then doing a "File->Import Bid Only". Select the proper file in the dropbox.
- To save a BidX Pro bid to Dropbox, do a "File->Save Bid Only". Save it in the Dropbox/Apps/BidX Mobile/ directory and name it YEARMonthBASEAircraft_Bid.txt (e.g. 2014JuneMEMA300_Bid.txt).
- In BidX Mobile, if you choose to use "Options->Load from Dropbox", it will load the file named YEARMonthBASEAircraft_Bid.txt where the fields correspond to the bidpack that is open. If there is no file found, it won't load a bid.
- Bookmarks, Filters and Sorts are not saved/loaded. Only bid order.
- There is no UNDO.
Bidding
What about “Buddy Bidding”?
In the “Filters” there is a place to enter the Employee Number of your “buddies”. Enter them in that box, and then when the Captain Awards are done, use the “Integrate Awards” button to get the Captain Awards. All Trips with a “buddy” on them should have a small dot in the upper right corner. Of course, you can also use this to find those people that you don’t like flying with too.
Why does it take so long to add a filter?
Well, most filters are pretty fast to integrate. If you change the “Preferred Days Off”, it will take a long time. This is because it has to go through each line and recompute the number of preferred days off that match days off, which is very processor intensive. Better to have a big up front cost, than to have it constantly compute it as it displays the lines, which would slow everything else down.
The first time I scroll through the lines it is slow/jerky, but then it speeds up. Why is this?
The first time you scroll through the lines I am drawing each line on the fly. After that they are buffered in memory (unless you rotate your iPad, change preferred days off filter, change headers).
Downloading Bidpacks
Why does it take so long to download a bidpack?
The download time is dependent upon your internet connection. What takes a LONG time is the parsing and storing of the trips and lines. Each and every trip/line has to be taken apart into their basic elements (legs, layovers, etc), and then put back together into a database. This is very processor intensive. The newest iPad can do it on even a large bid pack in a matter of a few minutes. An iPhone 3GS will likely take 10+ minutes on a large bid pack. Better to have this up-front cost than have to analyze each pairing and line as you are looking at them.
I never downloaded the bid pack, but it shows up in my list. Why is that?
If you refresh a recap for a trip that is in a Bidpack that you have not downloaded (refresh open time trip or a trip from your calendar), it will create a (mostly) empty bid pack for that month. You can still download the whole new one, though it will replace whatever trip you got the recap for. If you want the recap again, you’ll have to get it after the entire bid pack is downloaded.