Feed Updates

Update Process

A feed update involves the following

  • Download the RSS feed
  • Add any new Items that do not already exist
  • Delete any Items that falls off the old end of the Item list - the Item's media files are deleted at this point
  • Make room for more media by deleting Media for Items that are flagged as Done
  • Add media files to the download queue for Items flagged as New (up to the configured max)

Update Types

There are two different types of update and they vary slightly.

  • Automatic - triggered by the scheduler and will occur at the interval configured in the preferences. In order to minimize data usage, this does not download the Feed if it has not changed since the last update.
  • Update - triggered by pressing on Update in the feed context menu. This will update the feed even if it hasn't changed since the last update.

Update Errors

If there are any errors that occur as a result of an update, a message will be displayed on the Feeds screen and a message will be added to the Android notification pane.

  • CommErr - communication error - occurs when the phone's internet connection is not able to service the request
  • Error - other errors - occurs when some other unexpected error occurs, usually a result of an RSS feed that DoggCatcher cannot parse.

Sleepy Phone

Android normally puts the phone to sleep a couple minutes after the screen turns dark.

If an update is scheduled to occur when the phone is sleeping, DoggCatcher will wake the phone, do the update, and then let the phone go back to sleep when all the work (including downloads) has completed.

Important - When configuring the update interval preference, use a value as high as possible. Waking a phone has an impact on battery consumption and it's more than you might guess.