[Enhancement]: always schedule timer - intuitive behavior

[danielb2]

Here is the current issue: #1429 (comment)

Describe the Feature/Enhancement

I would like the End of Chapter timer EOC (specifically) to always be on when I listen.

Currently, any time app reaches EOC, thetimer is disabled and I have to once again re-enable. This is tedious

The current behavior is unintuitive

1. I can turn it on and switch books, and it will persist.
2. any book i come to the end of chapter to will disable the current timer.
3. I can not turn it on at end of chapter for the next listen session, but have to listenf or a few seconds before i can enable it again

Why would this be helpful?

end of chapter is a normal stopping point for people when they read or listen since chapters are author intended organized stops, topic changes or whatever. it is also a good goal for any reading session

Future Implementation (Screenshot)

n/a

Audiobookshelf App Version

Android App - 0.9.77

Current Implementation (Screenshot)

No response

[nichwall]

Could you set the Sleep timer all day for End of Chapter? You can disable "shake to reset", "audio fade out" and "auto rewind" for the sleep timer.

The sleep timer was cleaned up for the next app release (will be 0.9.79-beta on Android), not sure if that will address this or if there is a different issue going on?

[danielb2]

what do you mean by set it all day? shake to reset, fade out were disabled. I'll disable rewind too. but basically as soon as the timer is triggered the timer is turned off. I also tried with the rewind now, an dit's the same issue. I'll see if it persists after this latest update

[danielb2]

it's still turning off at the end of the chapter, and I have to restart it each time.

[danielb2]

I'm going to say that there is some difference in how it's behaving now. It seems that most of the time it's working the way it's supposed to. I'm trying to figure out the conditions under which it stops. I'll update when I figure it out..

[nichwall]

In the Android 0.7.79-beta, the sleep timer should always enable if you press play during the sleep timer period. I think there might still be an issue with auto rewind and using the end of chapter, because the playback can go back by up to 30 seconds if you haven't been listening for a while, so you might need to play the book twice to continue on with the next chapter.

[danielb2]

Here is one case I found

Steps to reproduce:

1. start sleep timer with end of chapter
2. listen to end of chapter and timer will pause player
3. change to another book

desired

sleep timer should be present on the new book

actual

sleep timer needs to be activated again

[nichwall]

I just tested this case with #1464 and the end of chapter timer timer does correctly start on the second book. I believe this is fixed for the next release.

I was using the following settings:

[danielb2]

I can confirm that switching books is no longer an issue but I found another case

closing app loses timer

Steps to reproduce:

1. start sleep timer with end of chapter
2. listen a little
3. close the app (swipe up from bottom or whatever the android specific has for closing)

desired

sleep timer should be on when opening again

actual

sleep timer needs to be activated again

notes

I noticed that something I did without closing the app caused the timer to come off, but I couldn't find that one, but came across this one instead. SO there may still be one or more after this one.

perhaps the solution is to have some kind of state?

[nichwall]

I'm not able to reproduce this with 0.9.79 (current at time of writing) or with my additional changes to the Sleep timer. Can you share a video or provide more information of the sleep timer not being activated when you restart the app?

[danielb2]

I'm also using 0.9.79, and with all sleep settings disabled I don't have an auto sleep timer set.

Are you fully closing the app? Force stopping is the same. I can upload a video if you still can't, but it's really me just doing what I describe.

[nichwall]

Yes, I am fully closing the app and reopening it.

[danielb2]

[redacted]

[nichwall]

That is enabling a manual sleep timer, not using the auto sleep timer like I showed in the settings above. Manual sleep timers are not persisted across app restarts.

[danielb2]

I see the confusion. I never mentioned "sleep" in my text, and since it's under timers, I called it EOC timer. does it make more sense now?

#1429 (comment)

this one is still happening, and it's not about app restart

[nichwall]

I'm confused. Is there a reason you cannot set up the auto sleep timer as shown in my settings above to achieve the result of always having an EoC timer active?

I understand there could be some issues with it on 0.9.79, but I cleaned the sleep timer up some more for the next release so I believe that fills this use case.

[danielb2]

You're right, this is a great workaround, and it's an oversight on my part that I can use this to work, and I will use this.

Can we consider the "intuitive" part for sometime in the future? I think a new user would not find it obvious (I certainly overlooked it myself until you very explicitly stated it just now)

[nichwall]

Would having the "enable auto sleep timer" setting instead be a drop down be more intuitive? The options would be "Never" (default), "Always" (what you're wanting) and "Set Times" (how it currently is).

[danielb2]

So something like this?

I think that will be more obvious.

I was trying to figure out why the one for Smart AudioBook Player was so much simpler in its design, and it's because it's because for one implemented as part of the main player instead of hidden away in a setting, and second, it doesn't have the option to be scheduled.