TouchDRO V3 Finally Out

My first full-time software developer job was at a company called Sunstone Circuits. I was hired to work on various home-grown scripts and programs they used to process orders and manage inventory. At some point I decided that it would be prudent to write a service to import orders from the website into the internal database, so people wouldn't need to print sales orders from the ecommerce system and hand-type them into the scheduling program. When pitching the idea to the higher ups, I told them that I will have "a working proof of concept in less than two weeks". Long story short, it took almost a year and a half, and for at least 3 more years they called me "two weeks Yuriy"...

If you've been following this blog for any amount of time, you probably guessed how this story is related to TouchDRO V3. If not, please take a look at my post from July 2021, where I said that "new version will be at least in beta testing in the fourth quarter of 2021". Boy, did I underestimate the amount of work I had in front of me.

Well, it's February of 2023, and TouchDRO V3 is finally ready. The app is now available on Google Play Store, and there is now a native Amazon Fire OS version available on Amazon App Store.

How to Get TouchDRO V3

If you have TouchDRO V2.5 installed and automatic updates turned on, you will get the update over the next few weeks (I am doing a gradual rollout in case there are any issues, etc.). Otherwise, you can install the update from the Play Store app. The update process will migrate your existing data and settings into the new format, so you won't need to do anything special.

Side note: V3 has been in active beta testing for several months. A few hundred beta testers have been actively using the app and reporting bugs, so the core functionality is very well tested and is pretty stable. That said, when going from a few hundred tech-savvy beta testers to tens of thousands of users with various setups and data can expose new bugs and glitches. If you run into any problems, please contact me at yuriy@touchdro.com and I will do my best to resolve the issue as soon as possible. Alternatively, there is a very active TouchDRO community on the Hobby Machinist forum that is always ready to help.

What's New

There are a lot of changes in the app, and I won't be able to cover all of them in one post, so let me go over the most notable ones.

New Functionality

Indicate Workspace dialog can use an electronic touch probe

The Preview Workspace screen has been replaced with a full featured Graphical View display. More on this further down…
TouchDRO now has native touch probe and tool height setter support. There are two new functions, "Indicate Workpiece" and "Set Z Height" that can use an electronic touch probe or a tool height setter to indicate a workpiece edge or a centerline, or a surface of the workpiece.
There is now a Calibration Wizard that can be used to easily and precisely calibrate each individual input to maximize the accuracy of your scales.
The tool offset function is now split into two separate functions - Cutter Radius Compensation and Tool Height Offset. This way the X/Y offset and Z offset can be managed separately.
The new "Measure" function allows a quick way to measure the distance or angle between two points.
TouchDRO application settings have been completely revamped and significantly expanded. For example, there is a way to map any two inputs to each axis readout. You can use this for summing two scale inputs into the Z output on a mill with two "z" scales, to completely remap inputs on a combo machine, or even to use a single adapter with two different machines and still have the inputs mapped to the right readouts.
The application now has a first-class concept of Configurations. A configuration is basically a container for application settings, sub-datum and tool offset memory, and any application state. In effect, each configuration acts as a separate TouchDRO installation. You can use a single tablet with multiple machines, or to have different configurations for each spindle on a combo machine.

Changes on The Main Screen

While the overall look and feel of the application is very similar to V2.5, there are many subtle tweaks to the user interface:

The right side panel can be collapsed to display more action buttons

The main screen now supports "portrait" orientation. If you have a tablet with a larger screen, you can now use the readout display and the graphical view simultaneously.
Right panel, which contains the list of saved sub-datum coordinate memory can now be collapsed, to expose two additional axis-specific function buttons.
The "Add Sub-Datum" button is moved to the right panel. Short tap adds the current coordinate to the list. Long press brings up a menu where you can create a bolt hole circle, hole grid, etc.
Function buttons next to each axis are now user-configurable, so you can tell the app which functions to show when the side panel is showing, and which functions to show when it's hidden. Buttons in the function strip are configurable as well, so you can only show the function you use most often.
The saved tool library, workspaces, configurations, and application settings are moved to a new "drawer" menu that you can bring up by tapping the TouchDRO logo, or swiping right from the left edge of the screen with your finger.

Graphical View Enhancements

The Graphical View display(formerly "Preview Workspace"), or more precisely, the ability to automatically select the sub-datum as you move the spindle towards it turned out to be "the killer feature" in TouchDRO V2.5. In V3, I've fully reworked the Graphical View display, and significantly expanded its functionality:

The updated Graphical View display has a lot of new functionality

Graphical View is now accessible with a single click (from the application toolbar), or can be shown full-time in "Portrait" mode.
Right panel in the graphical view now includes a simplified readout display and sub-datum list that provide access to most of the functionality you have on the main screen. For example, tapping an axis readout brings up the axis details dialog; long-pressing the "Add" button brings up the sub-datum menu, where you can access the Bolt Hole, Hole Grid, and other workspace-level functions.
On a milling machine, the graphical view can display the cutter size and any offsets you apply using the cutter radius compensation. Tapping the cutter circle brings up a dialog that lets you quickly change the offset position.
You can add "guide lines" to the workspace. A guide line is basically an one-dimensional sub-datum that can be used to toggle the cutter radius compensation direction or as a "zero" point for the near-zero audible warning.
Zoom and pan functionality is completely redone, based on the feedback received from the community. For example, the sub-datum graphic size doesn't change as you zoom in and out; there is a quick button that lets you re-center the view, and double tapping anywhere on the empty space will fit the whole workspace to the screen.

Other Changes

There are many more changes "under the hood". TouchDRO V3 is pretty much a completely new application. Most of the code has been either completely rewritten, or heavily refactored. While you won't see this in your day-to-day use, these changes allow me to add much more sophisticated functionality to the application, have better integration between the application and the adapter, and most importantly, publish changes to the app store much faster.