Can't Open Documents

[Mardon]

I bought iSilo for my iPod Touch v2.2 (never jailbroken or anything like that). I purchased iSilo from the iTunes App store and downloaded it directly from there. So far I'm very dissappointed with the App. That said, I thought I'd post here before writing a negative review at the App Store. For starters, I haven't been able to successfully open any documents except the ones that installed with the App. I have read the entire manual that came with it. When I try to open pdb documents, I get meaningless characters like if I were to open an executable file in MS Word. When I try to open a pdf document, the screen is blank. The "document info" can be displayed showing the filename etc, but the document contents can not be seen. The pdb files work fine with eReader on the Touch as well as on my PC. The pdf documents open fine in Acrobat on my PC and on an old Palm PDA but not in iSilo on the Touch. If I can get these 2 problems fixed, I'll ask about some other more minor problems but without being able to open any documents yet except the iSilo ones, the App is pretty much useless. Let's hope it's something simple that I can correct and not the App itself. Any suggestions?

[iSilo]

iSilo does not have the ability to display eReader documents. You would need to use eReader for that.

The PDF support is limited to what the iPhone built-in PDF viewer has the ability to display. There is probably some complexity in the PDF that the viewer is not able to handle.

[Mardon]

iSilo does not have the ability to display eReader documents. You would need to use eReader for that. The description, and especially the screen graphic, in the iTunes App store is very decieving.

The PDF support is limited to what the iPhone built-in PDF viewer has the ability to display. There is probably some complexity in the PDF that the viewer is not able to handle.

Thanks for the quick response. That said, I'm very disappointed with iSilo for the Touch.

I bought it specifically to read .pdf files. The iSilo "Application Description" on iTunes states the following:
"Additional document file types [that iSilo can read] include: .pdf..."

If it is known that iSilo cannot read all standard PDF documents, then the iSilo description ought to state "SOME .pdf". Or better still, the App Store description ought to say what you said here, that is, "PDF support is limited to what the iPhone built-in PDF viewer has the ability to display." Had I known that, I would not have bought the App.

The files that have failed for me are very simple.pdf documents, no photos, no tags or anything like that.

The iTunes App Store iSilo description also says:
"Palm Doc... Thousands of documents, eBooks..." and it shows .pbd files in the sample screen graphic. Even the iSilo Manual for the iPhone is shown in .pdb format as is the "bonus" CIA Worldfacts book. If iSilo cannot read Palm eBooks in ".pdb" format why does the screen graphic show that it can? This is VERY misleading!

[iSilo]

Would you be able to attach one of your simple .pdf documents that do not display so that we can see what it is about it that might be causing the viewer to not display it?

The .pdb extension originated from the Palm OS world and is the extension given to files that utilize the Palm database format, which is a general format for holding chunks of data. Applications layer their own application-specific formats on top of that format for storing data. Ereader has its own format on top of the .pdb format and similarly iSilo does, as wells as thousands of other applications that originated in the Palm OS world. Ereader can not read iSilo .pdb files any more than iSilo can read eReader .pdb files.

The iSiloManual and CIA World Factbook shown in the screenshots are .pdb files in the iSilo document format.

For any given .pdb file, you need to consult the source of it to determine what application you need in order to be able to view its content. There is no such thing as a universal .pdb reader as a .pdb file may be in any of thousands of different formats.

[Mardon]

Would you be able to attach one of your simple .pdf documents that do not display so that we can see what it is about it that might be causing the viewer to not display it?...

<*snip*>

For any given .pdb file, you need to consult the source of it to determine what application you need in order to be able to view its content. There is no such thing as a universal .pdb reader as a .pdb file may be in any of thousands of different formats.

Thanks for continuing to reply to me despite the fact that some 'irritation' must surely show through in my posts. I'm still kicking myself for spending $10 on an App for my Touch that can't do what I thought it could do

The 'good news" is that thanks to your explanations provided here, I'll accept that the confusion is at least half my fault. I say "half" because the details you've explained here are not contained in the iTunes App store description of iSilo. As I'm sure you know, the Palm version of ".pdb" is widely used for eBooks. Not everyone has enough technical knowledge to know that the .pdb eBooks produced by iSilo are totally different from the .pdb eBooks sold on places like eReader.com. It would certainly avoid this kind of confusion in the future if the iSilo description on ITunes made it clear exactly what files the iSilo software can open and what files it can't open.

When it comes to .pdf files, I remain disappointed that iSilo can't read anything more than what the Touch itself can read. I think this should also be in the iTunes description. Even so, I appreciate your willingness to check the out the files that have failed for me. I've tried several of the pdf files available from the following URL. None of the files I've tried will work in iSilo but they all open in Adobe Reader or Acrobat. I've not downloaded all of the pdf files on that page to iSilo, so I can't swear that none of them work. I know the first one and at least 3 others do not work in iSilo.

Samples here:
http://www.justus.ca/writings/

[iSilo]

We went to the justus.ca site, downloaded every single .pdf file and tried them all in iSilo 1.32. They all opened without problems, including the first one named AcceptingJenna.pdf. When the .pdf file first opens, the screen is just white and there is the spinning progress indicator. But after no more than a second or two, the content of the .pdf file appears.

Did you give the document a second or two a chance to display?