FAQ Craigslist Checker



A new section where I lay down the law.

Recently I have started receiving emails from a small group of gangsta wanna be's which have not only been an insult to the English language but have also started to threaten both myself and my family members (sometimes in graphic detail). THIS WILL NOT BE TOLERATED. As of some years ago emailed threats are treated by law enforcement authorities as valid and serious and as such are regarded in the same light as if a threat had been made in person. In addition almost all Internet providers and email account providers have clauses in their EULA prohibiting this use.

Any emails I receive in the future involving threats against me or my family will result in the filing of a police report and me pressing whatever charges possible against the person/s in question.

THE EMAIL BUG: Owing to a known bug with gmail and craigslist (craigslist uses non standard mailto encryption) clicking a mailto link will result in gmail.com being added instead of craigslist.com. I have hope that Clist will fix this, or google will. In the meanwhile I am attempting to code around this.

Version Changelog

1.0.0 The initial version. Expect bugs.

1.0.3 Craigslists html resembles the scratchings of a rabid ferret. Bug fixes to account for that.

1.0.4 Bug fixes galore. Read items now show highlighted in red. List does not scroll back to the start when going back from a viewed item. Item view is now much stripped down to useful info only. Correct numbers of items now get listed. Location selection MUCH more granular.

1.0.5 Sorry Hawaii – back into the app you go. Fixed email addressing issue.

1.0.7 Bug fixes to alerts

1.0.8 More bug fixes especially to saved searches. Max number of listings now is 300 use finger slide right to left and vice versa on results tab to move to next set/back. UK Support. Lowest granularity for US supported.

1.1.0 Bug fix in Alaska locations. Added title search toggle to search screen. Added bedroom spinner when housing is the category selected. Added image indicator to listings. Added zoom functions to listing view. Removed email link for replying to a posting, emails now sent from menu (See below) This was to get around the bug with craigslist and gmail. DO NOT BITCH ABOUT THIS!!!! I have had enough goddamn bitching about either the address being wrong or the subject not showing – you want both this is the solution – suck it up! Saved listings able to be emailed. Other bug fixes and general tweaks. No-one reads this anyway so I don't know why I bother.

How to use app

Those of you familiar with Craigslist will have an advantage here. The initial screen looks like this (Shown here with the menu bar displayed), And with the filter listing shown.

From this screen you can Enter keywords etc and perform a search, save the current search parameters, change the filters by clicking on the blue highlighted text boxes below the save and clear buttons.

The next tab over is the results tab. You will be taken to this tab after a search has completed. Below you can see the three phases. The base list, clicking on an item will display screen two.

While in the second mode the page can be viewed exactly like a web page, these pages will be cached while on the results page and thus cut down on bandwidth usage when viewing entries multiple times. After tabbing away from the results the cache will be cleared to save disk space. While in this mode swiping your finger right to left or left to right along the title bar will move through the listings.

Finally upon pressing the menu button you are presented with the option to save this listing. This will put this listing into your saved listing tab for quickly navigating back to your favourite listings. You can also save listings by long pressing a list entry on screen one. Sliding your right to left across the Black listings bar will move to the next 100 listings (to a max of 300 listings). Left to right will go back to the previous 100







The next tab is the saved listings tab shown below. Again clicking the item will display the item. The same swipe action will loop through items within this list. Long pressing the list item itself will allow you the option of deleting the saved item.




The next tab is the saved searches tab. Show below. Each listing consists of several elements in order

Keywords, Min Price, Max Price, Location, Category, Sub Category, Number Of Listings (more about this next), Image Listings Only (or ALL), Auto check Status.

The first 6 should be self explanatory. Number of listings is by default 0. Clicking a search will retrieve the search and take you to the results page. In addition the Number Of Listings will be updated. This value is used in conjunction with the Auto Check Status.

Auto Check Status indicates to the app that this search should be watched on a set time basis The time period can be set in the settings available from the search tab. If active CLC will perform the search and compare the old number of listings to the current search number. If the number differs and alert (of your chosing or vibrate) will be played and a notification displayed.

Auto Check can be enabled by long pressing the item, The item can also be disabled or deleted.

Please note you can have saved searches from multiple locations.




Lastly the locations tab allows you to change your home/search location.




The section where I answer some questions about why my app doesnt have certain features.

Post Listings: The app will support postings, I just have to finish creating string arrays with several thousand items each in them. That takes time. You will be able to set credentials on location tab and will be auto logged in. Images will still have to be in the form of URLS. Dont blame me – Blame Clist for being beyond stupid in how they handle image uploads.

I live in Botswana why don't you support Craigslist Botswana? Currently only the US Craigslist is supported. Future versions will allow you to specify a country as well as a city/region.

And now the part where I ask for Money.

If you like this app (or for that matter SnapPhoto,MemoryForLemmings,DroidFtp, WootChecker or StopWatchTimer) Please consider donating (even a small amount helps). This money will go towards buying me a development g1 which will lead to faster app development and debugging. It also helps me keep the apps from expiring at a certain date or not including all features etc.

http://thecrayonbox.org/donate.html

The part where I redirect haters and whiners to /dev/null

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_sink

General Questions/Comments Answered

  1. What does your app do? It searches craigslist and lets you manipulate the returned data

  2. Your attitude stinks and I hope you are beaten senseless with a raddish. I am giving away this software for free and despite what some people think it doesn't just magically write itself – it takes hours of coding and debugging. Added to that I paid 25 bucks for the privilege of being abused by people who either don't understand what the app is for or just like to abuse people. I have been incredibly disappointed in some of the comments on the market – not just for my apps but others. It makes it hard to be bothered to code up good apps. What keeps me going is the people who send me emails etc with suggestions or comments (some of which are even nice :)). Thanks!

  3. I am a l33t h@xor and will go Neo on you. There is no spoon

  4. I have ideas that could make your app better. Please Please Please email them to peacock73@gmail.com. If they are even half way good chances are you will see them in the next release. Have an idea for a new app? Tell me, most of mine come from people requesting apps on the android boards.

  5. Why doesn't your app contain a flash player, Word processor and pleasure stimulus device. I guess I am just lazy. I have foolishly been spending every waking hour either working, coding, fixing bugs and occasionally seeing my wife and eating (sleep is for the weak). My only suggestion would be http://android.com download the SDK and get to work showing us how its done.

  6. We dont want this app we want a flash player. THEN WRITE IT YOURSELF!!!!!!. Seriously contact adobe – get them to give you the flash specs, which they never do, then get them to abandon the flash player they have already demonstrated for android, then learn java, download the SDK AND DO IT YOURSELF!!!. Failing that GO F**K YOURSELF.

  7. So what can we expect from CraigslistChecker in the future. Ability to manipulate time. Solve world energy crisis.

  8. Doesn't Work. Wow thanks for that descriptive bug report. I will get right on debugging the issue using that technical data as a starting point.

  9. Y r u such a dik. See above.

A sample of the emails I have to deal with:

TODO:

Support posting?

Support other countries.