HI Doug, Makes sense, but, it's hard to convince GW to put a lot of effort into something which isn't even being used right now; and we really can't say that it's not being used because ratings don't work as we think they should.
If I had to guess why it's not being used, it's a combination of user don't know to do it, then they can't when they do know because they need an account they don't have and they don't know how to get the account and/or just don't want to bother. If they had to have the account in order to even download apps, then things would be fine, but I don't think that's going to happen. So, the only way I see this getting better is if we help some of them get the account (and remind them that they need one to do this; they may think those ratings come from someone else), and also remind them that they aren't paying for the apps they use, so they could at least offer thanks in terms of ratings and comments and useful error reports (when needed). So, feel free to change the message a bit in my example code if you'd like to remind them of this. Chip -----Original Message----- From: Doug Lee [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Saturday, February 22, 2014 5:52 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Meaningless app ratings Might not be easy to do, but I observe that apps in the Apple store manage ratings by version, where you can see either one version's ratings or all version's ratings. That might help with the issue discussed here of a rating being applied to one version but then being assumed by readers to apply to a newer one. On Sat, Feb 22, 2014 at 03:21:14PM -0500, Chip Orange wrote: Thank you Aaron. David, I removed my two comments which no longer apply. Rod, you asked a question about which version the rating applied to, and whether we needed to track that. I just wanted to point out that anyone can go back and change their rating later, so if a problem is fixed with a later version, you can change your rating. David, I mentioned an idea for code to remind the user to give a rating and comments after X number of uses. It's not hard at all to do, so here's one suggestion as a code example below. In the function I try "calculating" the .ini file name, but it would be better if it had just been a parameter to the function: To use it, just add the line: Queue "rateApp", 5 To the end of your main procedure (if 5 times seems like enough experience to you). If you want, you could improve it by providing them a dialog with a link to where they would go to create an App Central account. Hth, Chip Function RateApp(AfterNTimesRun) ' returns true if this run of the app causes the reminder message for a rating/comments to be displayed. ' This function should only be called once at the start of the app's running. Dim iniFileName Dim iniFileObj Dim iniKeyName, iniSectionName Dim RunCount, i RateApp = False ' determine the ini file and section/key to be used ' add .ini to script name i = InStr(clientInformation.ScriptFileName, ".") iniFileName = clientInformation.ScriptPath & "\" & Left(clientInformation.ScriptFileName, i - 1) & ".ini" iniKeyName = "run_count" iniSectionName = "tracking" Set iniFileObj = INIFile(iniFileName) ' now get the key value for the number of times this app has been run previously RunCount = iniFileObj.Number(iniSectionName, iniKeyName, 0) RunCount = RunCount + 1 ' save the new key value after being incremented iniFileObj.Number(iniSectionName, iniKeyName) = RunCount ' now see if it's time to display the reminder message If RunCount = AfterNTimesRun Then MsgBox "Please remember to give " & clientInformation.ScriptName & " (" & clientInformation.ScriptVersion & ") a rating and some comments." & vbCr & "You can do this using the GW Micro App Central web page, or their AppGet app (note that this does require you to create an account on App Central)." & vbCr & vbCr & "This is the only time you will see this reminder message (for this app).", vbOKOnly + vbInformation + vbMsgBoxSetForeground, "Reminder for " & clientInformation.ScriptName RateApp = True End If End Function -----Original Message----- From: Aaron Smith [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, February 19, 2014 8:00 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Meaningless app ratings On 2/19/2014 7:39 AM, Chip Orange wrote: > I had one of my own apps receive a down rating from a user who got an error, > because word had an error on his pc, and it caused an error on my app. He > couldn't reproduce it, but he wrote me that he down rated the app. Welcome to the world of product support. :) > I've been asking GW for over a year now to allow us to remove comments, Sorry it took over a year, but you can now do this. Under My Comments, each comment now has a delete link. Thanks, Aaron -- Aaron Smith Web Development * App Development * Product Support Specialist GW Micro, Inc. * 725 Airport North Office Park, Fort Wayne, IN 46825 260-489-3671 * gwmicro.com To insure that you receive proper support, please include all past correspondence (where applicable), and any relevant information pertinent to your situation when submitting a problem report to the GW Micro Technical Support Team. -- Doug Lee, Senior Accessibility Programmer SSB BART Group - Accessibility-on-Demand mailto:[email protected] http://www.ssbbartgroup.com "While they were saying among themselves it cannot be done, it was done." --Helen Keller
