The Android client is about 21 MB, and once it is installed it opens without a network connection, so machine parameters and articles can be looked up where the signal is poor. That size is not the result of compressing images and documents; it comes from the whole content of the site being packed into the package: the machine parameters, the technical articles and the contact details all travel with the installation file. Packing the content in instead of fetching it on every open is the central trade-off of this client.
Why the content is packed in rather than fetched
If the client requested the server on every open, the package could be very small, but the network in workshops and substations frequently does not meet the requirement, and looking up the parameters of one machine would become a matter of luck. Packing the content in costs a larger package and a new package for every update, and buys content that is always local, available the moment it opens and independent of the network. For a scenario like field maintenance, that trade-off is worth making.
There is a further benefit that comes with it: there is only one copy of the content. The machine parameters, the technical articles and the contact details in the app come from the same source as the web version, and the app is updated along with the site, so no separate set of parameters has to be maintained for the client and no separate release is needed.
What is inside the 21 MB
The content falls into several parts. The parameters of the 14 models on sale, listed by category with the flow rate, the vacuum level, the filtration accuracy, the water content and the breakdown voltage. The technical articles, covering the principle of vacuum degassing, the replacement cycle of the filter elements, the testing basis for water content and breakdown voltage, and the order of troubleshooting on site. The contact details: the service hotline, the direct line, the landline and the email address, where the dialling button calls the phone application on the device and the email button opens the system mail client. And the manuals and images that have to be downloaded, which the app hands to the system downloader so that they are kept in the download directory instead of taking up the storage of the app itself. The package itself stores no business data and has no account system; opening it brings up exactly this content.
What can be used offline and what cannot
The app embeds the content of this site, so everything that exists as static text on the site can be read offline, and anything that depends on a live answer from the server cannot be brought up to date without a connection. The flow rate in the parameter table, the testing basis and the filtration accuracy are in the first group and stay readable with the network down, while a request that has to be sent to the server is only updated when there is a connection. It is worth making this clear on site so that a result that cannot be found is not mistaken for a machine that does not have that parameter.
What a weekly update means
The package is updated once a week with the same signing key, so it is installed over the existing version and does not have to be uninstalled first. The version number is currently 1.0.0, the supported systems are Android 5.0 (API 21) and above, and phones and tablets share the same package in both portrait and landscape. That means the phones on site do not collect a pile of packages; the space taken is the one that was installed last. The upgrade on site is simple: download the package once more and install it over the top.
| Content | Can it be used offline | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Parameter table of the 14 models | Yes | Packed into the package, there when it opens |
| Technical articles and troubleshooting steps | Yes | Packed into the package, they can be called up without a network |
| Dialling and email buttons | Yes | They call the phone and mail applications already on the device |
| Downloading manuals and images | Yes | The system downloader keeps them in the download directory |
| Content that has to come from the server | No | It is only updated when there is a connection |
- The download is about 21 MB and phones and tablets share the same file; there is no separate download per screen size.
- The package is signed by us and later versions use the same key, so it installs over the top.
- The first installation needs the install permission granted once for the browser or the file manager in the system settings.
- With no network in the workshop, the app still opens the parameters and the troubleshooting steps.
Packing the whole site into the package is what stops looking up a parameter from depending on the signal at the site.
