Using MySword Bible Widget 4.0

1. The Widget on the Home Screen
2. Basic Settings
3. Advanced Settings
4. Use Cases

The Widget on the Home Screen

The following describes each:

1. Open in MySword
   • Tapping the upper left icon will show the verse (or Journal/Book/Dictionary entry, see Advanced Settings) in MySword app. You can then see the entire chapter of the verse or its context and even switch to Full MySword app.
   • Note that when you switch to Full MySword app, the normal MySword app that is running will not be affected as this is a separate instance. You can even switch between them using the Android app switch button.
2. Topic info
   • Displays the information about the topic/category as well as the current verse's or entry's position and the total number of entries. Tapping the Previous and Next will automatically adjust the numbers.
3. Menu
   • Shows the menu. You can use this to display the following menu actions:
     • About - shows information about the MySword Bible Widget.
     • Copy - copies the verse or content into the clipboard.
     • Edit - edit the current MySword journal entry. For Module Journal and Module Topic Default, the currently displayed topic can now be directly edited via this menu action using MySword Journal Entry Editor (requires MySword 8.0 or higher), and upon exit the content is automatically refreshed. In the old version, you have to tap the upper left Icon (Open in MySword) then go to Full MySword, Edit the Journal Entry, press Back button to exit MySword, then manually refresh the content by going to the next entry then back.
     • Share text - opens Android Share that allows you to share the verse or content via email, SMS and other apps that can handle text actions.
     • Share MySword link - similar to Share text but it only shares a MySword link. This link requires MySword to be installed in the recipient's Android device.
     • Share text with link - similar to Share MySword link but it also shares the text with a MySword link at the bottom. This link requires MySword to be installed in the recipient's Android device.
     • Settings - used to adjust the user preferences (see Basic Settings and Advanced Settings).
     • Settings (this widget) - use this to make a separate setting for this widget so that you can have a different topic, size, color, etc for this widget. You have to use this if the widget already use separate setting.
     • Help - shows this content
     • What's New - shows what's new in the latest version of MySword Bible Widget
     • Check for updates - checks to see if there is a newer version of the widget
4. Previous
   • Tapping causes the previous content to be displayed adjusting the numbers in the Topic info.
5. Next
   • Tapping any part of the content area where the verse or content is displayed will show the next content adjusting the numbers in the Topic info.
6. Show in popup
   • For long verse or content, you can use this for fast display of a scrollable popup. You can also use the Open in MySword button on the upper left corner.

Go to top

Basic Settings

The following are the Basic or General settings:

1. Topic
   • Allows you to choose from more than a dozen of built-in topics like Encouragement, Faith, God, Healing, Joy, etc. You can also include all topics by selecting Any.
   • Please note that this is overriden by the Advanced setting Module and Module Topic (see Advanced Settings).
2. Randomize
   • When checked, the verses in the selected Topic are randomized, otherwise they are sorted by Bible book, chapter then verse.
   • Please note that this is not used by the Advanced setting: Module set to a specific Journal, Book or Dictionary, and Module Topic set to Default (see Advanced Settings).
3. Text size in pixels
   • Allows you to change the size of the verse or content text from 10 to 28 pixels in increments of 2. The pixel unit is not in physical pixel size but logical (in Android term it is called scaleable pixel, so that a low resolution device and high resolution device will show almost the same size).
4. Background
   • Allows you to choose from 8 built-in dark gradient backgrounds. You can also choose Custom solid background color but that will not be in gradient form. However, you can also change the alpha or opacity/transparency of the color.
   • As it is now possible to have a light background color (built-in backgrounds are all dark), the color of the Previous and Show in popup buttons will automatically turn dark gray if the Text color selected is dark.
5. Text color
   • Allows you to change the color of the verse or content text. You can also change the alpha or opacity/transparency of the color.
6. Refresh rate
   • Allows you to set the interval for automatically updating the content. The default is every 12 hours. Note that lower values causing frequent updates like less than an hour can cause battery drain.
   • The timer is always reset whenever you exit the Settings screen but it will not reset whenever you use Previous or Next actions.

Go to top

Advanced Settings

The following are the Advanced settings:

1. Preferred Bible
   • Allows you to change the translation used for the Bible verse. Note that you can only select from the available downloaded/installed MySword Bibles. Third party Bible modules which are properly placed into MySword's modules path can also be used.
2. Module
   • Allows you to select the source of the Bible verses or topic to display. There are two modes:
     1. Extract Bible verses mode
        • You can choose any MySword Module like Dictionary, Journal or Book on Module setting, then choose the specific Dictionary word or Journal/Book topic/entry to extract verses from.
        • You will need to select Preferred Bible for this mode.
     2. Display Topic mode
        • You can choose any MySword Module like Commentary, Dictionary, Personal Notes, Journal or Book on Module setting, then choose Default for Module Topic below to display whole Commentary or Personal Notes entry for a random verse, Dictionary entry for random word, or Journal or Book entry for either a random or sequence of topics (affected by the Randomize Basic Setting [new in version 3.0]).
3. Module Topic (may require Preferred Bible)
   • This is used in conjunction with Module setting above to select from either of the modes describe above.
   • Please see also the Use Cases below.

Please note that Preferred Bible, Module and Module Topic require an active MySword app running because the Bible text or topic is provided by the MySword app. The MySword app can be evicted from memory by the Android OS when you run a memory hog application like games or the browser or when you had run several applications and you had not returned to MySword. So if you do not see anymore the Bible text or topic content in the Widget content area, just run MySword again, go back to home, then tap the content area (and possibly the Previous to return back).

Go to top

Use Cases

The following are some of the possible use cases when Advanced Settings are used:

1. Other Topics
   • You can use Topical Bible modules like Nave's or Torrey's (dictionary modules in MySword) that simply list lots of verses to be a source of your Bible verses. You can choose that module under Module setting, then select the desired topic like Love under Module Topic.
2. My Own List of Verses / Memory verse
   • Create a Journal entry on any of your Journal (or create a new Journal for that). Type all the Bible verse references in that entry then tap Menu then Detect verses to convert them to links. You can also use the Search function to harvest your desired verses and insert just the links (the Bible text is not required); or use the Split pane. In MySword Widget setting, select that journal module under Module setting, then select the journal entry you had created under Module Topic.
3. TODO / Reminder
   • Create new Journal in MySword with only one journal entry, Your own TODO or Reminder list (use numeric list for better rendering). In MySword Widget settings, choose that journal for Module, then choose the single topic/entry in Module Topic. Since there is only one entry or topic, tapping the main text area will just reload the same content.
   • To edit the contents, just tap the Menu, tap Edit, edit the contents, then tap Save/Exit.
   • You can also choose to have several TODO / Reminder groups by creating a separate journal entry for each. Then you can tap the main text area to move between entries. However, note that this could be random or not depending on the Randomize Basic Setting.

Go to top