Codebook for iOS 4.5.18 is now available in TestFlight for beta testers. This update addresses a crash that occurs on iPads running iOS/iPadOS 17 when attempting to use Codebook in split-screen modes.
In order to address this particular problem we decided that the best approach would be to change how we present Codebook’s interface in “compact” screen sizes (i.e. split-screen and pop-over modes).
Prior to this version, when Codebook transitioned into a compact size, we would update the entire structure of the interface to present the same UI we provide on iPhone, which is with tab bar navigation at the bottom of the screen. This was fairly tricky, as we had to do quite a bit of fancy footwork to preserve the state of the UI at transition and ensure that the currently viewed navigation stacks and any edits were maintained and not lost.
Normally, in full-screen mode on iPad, Codebook uses a split-view interface with a sidebar for navigation, like so, with the selection in the sidebar controlling what appears in the main detail view to the right of it:
This is what the interface looked like in compact mode, after transitioning to split-screen mode:
This isn’t entirely ideal, and in iOS 17 it runs afoul of some changes that are causing the current crashes iPad users are seeing.
In the latest beta, this is what the main window looks like when launching Codebook in split-screen:
The side bar becomes the main or highest level of navigation, and instead of controlling a detail view, drilling down into any of the views or categories now provides a back button in the navigation bar to get back to the “top” of the view hierarchy.
Here is the Favorites view selected, which now presents a back button, < Codebook allowing you to get back to the previous (in this case the top) view.
Tapping on one of the Entries in Favorites then pushes it onto the navigation stack, and the back button now reads “Favorites”:
This is a pretty major change for a point release, but it simplifies a lot of the code, brings Codebook in line with behavior more typical of current iPad applications, and should make it much easier for us to maintain the UI going forward. Also, it fixes up the current crashes when transitioning to split-screen mode!
Thus, we would really appreciate it if you could give the application a good shakedown on your iPads, and let us know if you see anything weird, other crashes, or failures to update the UI correctly after making edits (for instance: the count of Entries on a Category row at the top-level view should change if you add or remove an Entry).