CongressClique

Maetion Software

Overview

CongressClique is an application for Android devices that organizes and presents information about the activities in the U.S. Congress.  For a detailed explanation, screen shots, and instructional videos, go to Google Play and search for "CongressClique".

The purpose of this web site is to provide support information for users.  The plan is for it to evolve into whatever the user base needs.

Here is a link to the latest version of the 'Help' panel.

patrickH 

Support@ImaginationProcessing.com

History

113th U. S. Congress [2013 - 2014]

  • 3/28/14 - updated with the latest (67) votes
  • 2/1/14 - Scheduled Release

My current plans are to update again in July, just before the elections, and again after the close of the 113th session.

If there is enough interest I will crank out 114th Congress.

Updating and Maintaining SIGs

The definitions of Special Interest Groups (SIGs) are maintained as XML files on your device.  The pathname on your device is:

CongressClique/SpecialInterestGroups/SIGs.xml

When CongressClique starts, if this file does not exist it will be created.

New Application Releases

When a new release of CongressClique is published the new rollcall votes are NOT automatically added/classified in your existing SIGs.  You need to do one of the following:

  • If you have not added any SIG definitions of your own, then just delete the SIGs.xml file on your device.  The latest revision of the application will recreate a new one that does comprehend the latest rollcall votes.

  • If you have added SIG definitions, then you will need to edit/merge the SIGs directly; see below

Editing/Merging SIG File

First, my apologies for this messiness.  If the application becomes popular I will improve this process.

  • Copy the existing SIGs.xml file from your device to your PC. 

  • Delete the file from your device.

  • Install and start the new version of CongressClique.

  • Copy the new SIGs file to your PC.

  • Open both versions of the file in a separate WordPad.

  • Copy your custom SIG definitions into the new SIGs file.

  • Save the new SIGs.xml file

  • Copy/Replace the new-edited SIGs.xml file to the device.

That should work.  Start the application.  If it does not come up correctly then there was an error in the editing process.  Inspect the edits that you made and make sure the "<...>" are balanced.

After this is working, there is one more thing you will want to do.  Some of the new rollcall votes may be applicable to your custom SIG definitions.  You will need to go through the bills and look at the dates on the rollcall votes.  If they are "new", then consider if they should be added to one of your custom SIGs.  If so, then just use the standard application commands.