No stock implementation of FAM?

from the CommonsWare Community archives

At May 12, 2018, 2:40pm, Shahood asked:

Hi,

I was really really expecting that the author will provide us with a concrete solution on how to create a floating action menu (animated or not) and implement it as per material guidelines. Author mentioned FAB Clans library which, firstly is not supported anymore and secondly, as per my little testing, it doesn’t allow for any co-ordination between FAB and Snackbar even with CoordinatedLayout. There are so many dandy applications of FAB and FAM shown in Material guidelines but sadly, there is not much information in Google’s guides either. So, we the readers, are pretty much left in the dark.
Now even after spending so much time reading this book, I will have to watch a whole lot of youtube videos and read SO questions on the topic and dig out the best approach for implementing a FAM. That’s ridiculous!
I’m being honest if I say that I feel cheated, first by Google and then by this book.

At May 12, 2018, 3:06pm, mmurphy replied:

I have refunded your purchase.

At May 12, 2018, 4:03pm, Shahood replied:

Wait, what…?
What made you think it was about money?
I have loved reading your book and have learned a lot from it. I have been in continuous communication with you and really have enjoyed your detailed answers.
It is just that the core chapters were so awesomely explained that I attached high expectations from the trails as well. Sadly, trails have left me with unanswered questions.
ActionBar, Search Framework, FTS and now FAB/FAM, it seems that these trails have been put together with a lesser focus. A lot has been left on the readers to explore. That’s what I didn’t expect. I expected that the author will guide us about the best practices and even if he points to any 3rd party library, he will explain it in full detail just as he explained GreenRobot, Retrofit, Picaso etc. The author may consider it his best effort but I strongly believe that he could have done a far better job in authoring the above mentioned trails.

So, don’t the readers have a right to criticize? I thought the author would be open to criticism, so I posted an honest and constructive one. The choice of words may have been poor and that may have been due to the frustration from above mentioned factors. And if that’s the case, I feel sorry for that. But, still how can a refund be your best answer here?

I didn’t ask for a refund and won’t accept that either. So, kindly take it back; I believe there are enough procedures to cancel a refund transaction. Otherwise, pl let me know how I can repay the amount and I will.

Hope u understand!

At May 12, 2018, 5:24pm, mmurphy replied:

What made you think it was about money?

You wrote: “I’m being honest if I say that I feel cheated, first by Google and then by this book.” Hence, I refunded your purchase.

Sadly, trails have left me with unanswered questions.

Android is vast. My books do not cover everything in Android itself, let alone everything in the broader Android ecosystem (e.g., everything in the support libraries, everything in third-party libraries). I apologize if somehow I gave you the impression that they did. I feel confident that I have written about more Android topics than has any other person on the planet, but I cannot write about everything.

The point of the trails is to shine the light into various corners of Android, not to document every last bit about those corners.

In particular, with respect to FAMs, Android does not have an implementation, and the Support Library does not have an implementation. Even the new Material Components for Android does not appear to have an implementation. So, while this is covered in the Material Design documentation, Google has not supplied an official Android implementation, AFAIK. I happened to mention a third-party library that did, but I did not notice that this library had been discontinued after I wrote that material, and for that I apologize. The only reason why I covered FAMs in the first place was that I had already-existing code for it, so it was a “cheap win” in terms of additional book coverage. But the book does not cover every last item from the Material Design spec, even in cases where we do have components, as I cannot write about everything.

So, don’t the readers have a right to criticize?

You certainly have a right to criticize. I have a right to refund purchases.

how can a refund be your best answer here?

Frankly, it makes me feel better.

Please understand that I have a lot of work in front of me with respect to these books. In particular, as of this week, I have little choice but to deal with:

The combination of those means that I have to revisit everything from my ~5,000 pages of material. Plus, I will still wind up writing about new universal topics (e.g., Android P, new Android Studio stuff) and new stuff that Google heavily promotes (e.g., slices), along with writing an introductory Kotlin book.

That will take a minimum of two years, probably longer. And the result will be less overall coverage, as I drop topics that I am no longer in position to cover. Media playback would be a good example, as that has gotten a lot more complicated and specialized, and so I will have some decisions to make as to how I want to deal with that. Along the way, I expect that I will wind up repackaging the material, so I can better emphasize what I do cover, and not lead you and others astray into thinking that I cover all things.

So, by refunding your purchase, I can feel better about focusing on what is best for my business and what I believe is best for my overall set of subscribers, both current ones and future ones. Plus, you now have 20 USD to invest in another book that perhaps better meets your expectations.

At May 12, 2018, 7:15pm, Shahood replied:

Well, I explained my point of view and u explained yours. Now let’s put an end to this debate.
Please cancel the refund transaction. If my statement about being cheated forced u to make this decision, I apologize for that. But the refund should be canceled, please!

Waiting for a positive response!

At May 12, 2018, 7:28pm, mmurphy replied:

Please cancel the refund transaction

Sorry, but Stripe — the credit card payment processor used for your purchase — does not offer that as a feature.

At May 12, 2018, 7:35pm, Shahood replied:

Can I make a repayment against the same login?

At May 12, 2018, 7:47pm, mmurphy replied:

If by “login” you mean your Warescription account, then yes. That is how you renew a subscription, for example.

At May 28, 2018, 2:04pm, Shahood replied:

Just made payment via the renew option.