Changelog

I’m finally releasing a beta build for Android which I was working on at the end of last year. This is compatible with Merit Cards for Windows. The next goal is to release a backend to synchronize both applications.

For Merit Cards’ Windows version, one bigger task was to merge its theme with javafx-fluent-theme. I’m currently refactoring lots of internal stuff to prepare for the sync backend.

• Fixed a memory leak caused by views not being removed correctly. This mostly happened in the main window when navigating from one deck to another.
• Improved database management. Merit Cards won’t unnecessarily remove and add a new row to the database if the row can be updated (this prevents the row ID from being incremented).
• Corrected somme grammatical errors in the deck setting dialog.

This release updates how facet media is organized. Make sure to keep an additional backup of %LOCALAPPDATA%\Merit Cards!

• Facet media is now stored under Media/ in Merit Cards’ app directory.
• Fixed a bug that still showed the old name in the sidebar when renaming a deck group.

When starting a custom study session, I noticed that “Apply grading (default)” and “Only apply grading for due notes” was worded very confusingly. I changed it to “Only grade due notes (default)” and “Apply grading for all notes”, and updated how the latter option works. To summarize:

• Only grade due notes (default): If a note is not due (e.g. by unchecking Study only due notes), its stage will not increase if it was graded correctly. This is how it always works, but I hope is worded clearer now.
• Apply grading for all notes: If a note is not due but graded correctly, its stage also increases.

This release performs a database migration. Make sure to keep an additional backup of %LOCALAPPDATA%\Merit Cards\Merit Cards.db!

• Fixed a bug when adding facet images/audio to newly-created facets in the note editor.
• The sidebar’s scroll position should now be reliably restored …
• Take display scaling into account when restoring width and height of Merit Cards’ window.
• Fixed a bug around nested database transactions.
• Improved handling of edge cases when moving facet media.
• Merit Cards’ log file (if any) is now created at a platform-specific location (but on Windows, this is still in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Merit Cards anyway).
• Lots of internal refactorings around state restoration!

• Fixed a bug that always displayed Auto-play audio as disabled in preferences window
• Fixed broken facet media

Happy new year!

• Note editor now displays to which deck a note belongs at the top right
• Added a “Graded incorrectly” smart deck which contains all notes whose latest grading was incorrect
• Internal refactorings

Only a small update:

• Build with JavaFX 21.
• Fixed broken session when note limit was set to a higher number than available notes.

In related news, I published my custom-built JavaFX theme that makes Merit Cards look more like a Windows 11 application as a separate library: javafx-fluent-theme

I’m on a short vacation before starting my new job, so this September’s beta arrives a little earlier. This build is valid until October 1st, 2023.

• End-of-session statistics now correctly take into account skipped notes.
• Upgraded dependencies and build with JDK 20.

It’s been 1 year since Merit Cards’ first beta release! I finally created a custom icon. It’s supposed to be a cute owl in a fortune bag.

Apart from that, new monthly beta with updated dependencies and bug fixes that were necessary for Kotlin 1.9.20.

• Fixed drag area for header bar on screens with a display scaling other than 100%.
• Disabled adding or removing notes when multiple decks are selected in the sidebar. This is not because this is buggy (the fixes from before still apply), but I took a look at how other programs work with multiple selections, and I couldn’t make up my mind on what behavior is most familiar to users yet.

• Added a workaround for a bug with JavaFX’ TreeView when selecting multiple items. Investigation and workaround described here: https://github.com/Eroica/javafx-treeview-selection-bug
• Fixed a small bug that consumed all key events when the sidebar is focused (e.g. disabling Esc).
• Added a minor style fix for display scalings over 100%.

Beta 16 release bringing:

• Correctly prompt Windows 11’s “snapping” when dragging Merit Cards’ main window.
• Manual decks now display an M in the sidebar instead of showing a due count of 0.
• Facets now support adding audio to them! There’s also a new setting to “Automatically play audio” in the app preferences.
• Revised the layout of the sidebar to be more similar to WinUI 3, including animations.
• Fixed a restoration bug when deleting a deck while the note editor is open.
• Fixed a bug that a facet’s alignment property was ignored during a study session (introduced when facets started supporting images)
• Some internal optimizations around database watchers.
• Minor style fixes.

Unfortunately, I think I found a bug in JavaFX’ TreeView that can happen when selecting multiple items (and then deleting one). I have disabled support for selecting multiple items in the sidebar for now while I investigate this bug. Sorry about that.

I’ve been working on bringing Merit Cards closer to a public release. Notable features/bug fixes are:

• You can now add images to notes by dragging them onto a facet. Images are copied and stored in Merit Cards’ resources folder per deck (%LOCALAPPDATA%\Merit Cards). [Supported image formats]
• Fixed a bug that allowed dragging deck groups into their inner children.
• Added a customizable note limit to a study session.
• When importing notes into an existing deck, any detail screen on the right (e.g. note list or note editor) now correctly refreshes if necessary.
• Some minor style fixes.

I refactored the session screen for many small improvements:

• Got rid of an annoying jitter while transitioning between notes if display scaling was set to something higher than 100%.
• Added a non-blocking progress bar while the session is being set up.
• Removed a huge chunk of code from a now unusued library which also allowed adding better tests.
• You can exit a study session early by selecting … → End study session early. This allows you to look at this session’s statistics even if you haven’t studied all notes.

And for the note list screen:

• Now retrieves notes more efficiently and without blocking the UI.
• Searching for text is now done case-insensitive.
• When moving between different screens or re-starting Merit Cards, the last search term and scroll position is restored.