ICON issue

[StephenG1CMZ]

(04-21-2016 07:01 PM)Tim Wessman Wrote:  

(04-21-2016 06:36 PM)debrouxl Wrote:  BTW, critor's initial tests of mViewer GX Creator with the latest firmware version are very disappointing. The results are worse than in the previous versions: not only the calculator is still very easily running out of memory (despite the memory leak fixes),

1. ICON was meant for bitmap data that should remain in memory constantly. Thus every time you send it to the device, it is parsed and *will remain in memory* until a complete boot. Thus the complaints about "bugs that HP hasn't fixed for years" when you run out of memory after sending MB worth of bitmaps over that will remain in memory.... it is working as designed. You may not like the design, but it is behaving in an expected manner.

The process works like this:

1. Message arrives over the USB.
2. It is decompressed.
3. Data is copied to disk files.
4. If program or app, it is parsed and objects are created.
5. Since ICON is in use, you've now stored a bitmap in RAM that will remain there until a fresh boot.

Is it any wonder you run out of memory with this? It is not leaking memory at all! You are asking the system to save that RAM with each ICON keyword.

I've tried explaining this now at least 4-5 times and nobody seems to listen.

Additionally, it is highly likely we will get rid of ICON either in the next release or the one after because we'll probably be switching to 888 color vs the 565 in use now, and it is *not* a portable format.

2. You have full support for PNG and JPG files with direct save and load. Can't get much more standard then that. Or memory efficient.

3. Make an .hpappdir folder. Stick in all your jpg/png. Stick in an empty .hpapp file of any kind. Stick your app program in there. Should be pretty easy to script no matter what the system.


If critor believes there are problems, have him send me his test files and I will look at it. All the files we had from your tool and tested with as part of our test plans worked just fine and never exhibited any of this behavior.

Re. Dropping ICON because you have full PNG/JPG support.
Don't forget that Android users cannot see PNG/JPG from the HP Prime App - without rooting it or adding 3rd-party file managers - I hope that capability will be coming before ICON is dropped.

Re: upgrading graphics to standard 888 format - great.
I don't expect an answer, but just to let you know... - I for one am hoping this might also be accompanied by a switch to standard VGA resolution screens.