New Calculator to try

[HotRod19579]

A few months back I started a thread about a new calculator that was available. Since that post I have received a lot of good input and have made several updates and added new features. I encourage you to download and try out the latest version. All feedback is welcome.

Download links:
Juice Calculator

A summary of its features:
Define and save ingredients

• PG/VG percentage levels
• Nicotine level (pre-mix ingredients)
• Drops/ml and grams/ml
• Cost of ingredient
• Notes associated with ingredient

Define and save recipes

• Nicotine, PG and VG level
• Selection of defined ingredients to add
• Notes associated with the recipe
• See resulting amounts to add (drops, ML’s, grams) and total cost of the recipe

Modify an existing mix
Have you ever created a mix and would like to change the nicotine level, increase or decrease a flavor percentage, change the PG/VG ratio or add additional ingredients while maintaining the same ratios of your other ingredients? The “Modify recipe” option will do this. After making your changes you will be informed how much of each ingredient to add to bring your existing mixture to the new levels.

Build a recipe by entering ingredient amounts
Have you ever mixed something up by throwing together several ingredients and wanted to create a repeatable recipe by specifying the amount of each ingredient added? The “Build recipe” option will do this. Enter the amount of each ingredient added and then save the new recipe.

Includes a calculator to “Dilute nicotine” to a different mg/ml level and dilute to obtain a different PG/VG ratio.

Export your recipe(s) and ingredients to Excel.

Import your existing recipes from other popular calculators.

Search your existing recipes to find recipes that contain one or more of the ingredients specified.

Before you start using the calculator, make sure you setup your preferences on how the calculator operates by going to the “Options” window.

 

[IDJoel]

Trying to make a "Base" from an existing recipe, but not sure how to use it and if it is giving me the correct values. Need help....Thanks in advance

I'm not sure if I am understanding your question correctly but I'll take a stab at it.

By "base" I am presuming your are referring to the option to "Create flavor base from recipe..." option found in the Edit tab. Correct?

(Note:For the benefit of anyone reading this that may not know what a flavor base is; it a recipe of all the flavor concentrates and additives WITHOUT any added PG, VG, or nicotine concentrate. Basicly it is a complex, or "super" flavor concentrate. A flavor base is most popular with DIYers who have a tried-and-true recipe that they like to make on a regular basis AND they don't wish to handle each of the separate flavor ingredients every time they mix... I DON"T recommend this for recipes that are untested or still in development. This is best saved for recipes you have perfected and don't expect to change.)

If correct; it's pretty simple:

1. Open the existing recipe in the main window that you wish to make a flavor base for. .
2. Click on Edit tab (upper left corner of main screen)
3. Click on Create flavor base from recipe... (last/bottom item of Edit list)
4. A new pop-up window will open with your new flavor base based on the percentages used in your existing recipe.

At this point, I should address the second part of your question: "and if it is giving me the correct values." The short answer is yes it IS giving you correct values. Let's look at an example to be sure. I have taken a screen shot of a simple recipe that uses whole percentages so the math is easy to see:

To check the math we want to focus on the percentages found in the far right column labeled "Total %." We see that the Nicotine, PG, and VG make up 80% (15+10+55=80). The remaining six flavors make up the other 20% (7+3+3+3+2+2=20). 80%+20%=100%. So far; so good.

Now, because we are creating a flavor base, we are only interested in the 20%. 7 parts of 20 parts total=35% of the total parts (or 7/20=.35 or 35%). 3 parts of 20 parts total=15%. 2 parts of 20 parts total=10% (or 2/20=.10 or 10%). Shall we check our math real quick? .35*20=7, .15*20=3, and .1*20=2. Yep; our math is good.

So Now we know our flavor base (no PG/VG/nic) of 6 ingredients, which needs to total 100%, should look like this 35%+15%+15%+15%+10%=10%=100%

OK so let's see how the program compares:

Perfect!

Now you can proceed. Note how this window is divided into two sections. The left half labeled "Recipe information" and the right half is labeled "New ingredient information."

First we want to save this as a new recipe (click bottom left). A new window pops open allowing us to give our flavor base a new name. Usually, if this is specific to the parent recipe I will call it the same thing with "flavor base" added to the end of the name. Click OK when your happy with the name. You will then see a conformation message saying that the recipe has been created.

If you close the Create flavor base window now you will automatically be redirected to your new flavor base recipe. It will look the same as any of your other recipes except there will be no nicotine, PG, or VG additions. Here is what mine looks like:

Note that the reason the PG ingredient is "100%" is because the flavor concentrates used are all in 100% PG base. If I had declared them as VG, or some PG/VG ratio, this would be different.

Now the last thing I will do to this new recipe is add a note that tells me what percentage I am to use this new flavor base at (in my recipe's case I would add something like "developed to be used at 20%.").

The last thing I haven't yet mentioned is the right side of the "Create flavor base" window. This is useful if the flavor base can be used as a core component for multiple recipes. Say we have a custard, or cream, or peach base that we use as a starting point for a bunch of different recipes. Some DIYers will refer to these as "stone" recipes because they are a corner stone, or starting point on which to build other, different, recipes. So it might be a custard stone or cheesecake stone.

In that case the right side of the "create flavor base" is handy because, at the same time I am creating and saving the flavor base as a recipe, I can also create a new "Flavor" ingredient listing. Then it will be handy to add to any future recipes I may want to use it in. (Note: this isn't really necessary if I am only going to be using it to make the parent recipe.)

I can give it its own name (e.g. Joel's Peach Stone), manufacture name (e.g. Joel's Flavor Bases), assign it a category (e.g. fruit, or tobacco, or others use this for a location designator), and set a default percentage (that the program will automatically set the percentage at when you click on "add ingredient" when you are compiling a new recipe). I can even adjust the drops per mL if I want/know. Click on Save ingredient and it will add it to my flavor inventory.

Anyhow, I hope that answered your question (Lord I hope I got the question right ), and didn't confuse you further.

Best wishes.

 

[IDJoel]

Thank you all for the kind words! But I am only one chipped tooth, on the much larger (and older), cog that has made up this thread. I am a late-comer that just has a little more energy, and perhaps too much time on my hands, so I have been chiming in first.

@HotRod19579 will always be our axle, and I for one, will not believe he is "done," until he says so. In the mean time, I along with all the rest of you, do what we can to keep this thread chugging along.

I offer my thanks to all of you, along with HotRod, for providing me, with the understanding I have. I am nothing but the reflection of the wisdom, and kindness, of this thread (and ECF). I do nothing but pass along the help and kindness; all of you have already given me.

All I can say is; thanks to all of you! And:

 

[HotRod19579]

Version 8.0.0.4 is available for download. Changes include:

1. An exception was being thrown when going into Tools->Options. The exception was being thrown when the calculator was asking Windows about all installed printers. I don’t know the circumstances of Windows throwing the exception but I made an update to catch and ignore the error.
   
   
2. Added the ability to right-click an ingredient in a recipe and select “Find/Replace ingredient”.
   
   
3. Allow the Tools->Options, Preset values to be set to 2 decimal places.
   
   
4. Fixed a bug with the auto increment change from 8.0.0.3. The values were being incremented when the ingredient was locked.
   
   
5. Added the ability to generate custom reports (text files) for ingredients and recipes included in your juice file. Select “Tools->Build/Generate custom reports”.

Custom reports:
Please consider this feature a beta feature and I would welcome both positive and negative feedback on how it can be made better and easier to use. I get a lot of requests to generate printouts in various formats and it would be very time consuming for me to create all requested reports. I created this feature to provide you with the ability to define your own reports.

To help you get started you will notice two sample reports when you open the window. One to generate information about your recipes and another to generate information about your ingredients. You will also notice a “How to” button; when clicked it will open a document explaining how to use the new feature.

Unlike Word and Excel documents, creating reports as a text file has a lot of limits in the formatting but I wanted to provide the ability to all users who may not have other 3rd party applications available. Although the file is a basic text file, the file is tab delimited giving you the ability to import the data into an application such as Excel.

You will also notice export and import buttons on the window. I added these so that I (and others) can generate reports and make those reports available to other users.

 

[HotRod19579]

Version 6.0.3.7 is available. It includes:

1. Internal fix; properly close the juice data file when an exception is thrown while loading it.

2. On the main recipe window changed the hot key for the inventory window from Ctrl-V to Alt-I.

3. Added new tab on the "Tools->Options" window labeled "Mouse wheel". There are several checkboxes allowing you to disable the functionality of the wheel on the mouse.

 

[IDJoel]

Bump

Thank you @Ed Sause, I hope this thread never gets closed! It deserves a sticky; but I don't get a vote.

We are approaching a year (I think?) since our fearless leader (@HotRod19579; yes! I AM calling you out... <shrinking back in my hole>) has shown his face. I hope his reemergence comes quickly after the holidays. If nothing else; to share his coding, so others can carry his torch.

Juice Calculator IS still the most versatile e-liquid calculator available! Free; or paid!! And, it deserves more than a W.W. "un-review" death.

Anyone that says EJuiceMeUp, or JuiceGrinder, is better... PROVE ME WRONG! (I'm accepting "paid" challengers too!!!!)

 

[HotRod19579]

I have a new version of the calculator available for download, V6.0.2.0. It includes:

1. I added an option (Tools->Options, Ingredient defaults tab, Display ingredient tooltips). This option will turn on/off the tooltip that shows in the ingredient dropdown list on the recipe window.

2. I added another option (Tools->Options, General tab, Check for updates when started). This option will turn on/off the auto-update feature included in this version. Thanks to a lot of help from CrazyChef the calculator now has an auto-update feature. When the calculator launches it will check a website to see if there is a new version available. If there is you will receive a message telling you the version and asking if you want to install it. If you chose to install it, the update will be downloaded and you will get a message that the installation will begin when you close the calculator. There is also a way to manually check for updates, “Help->Check for updates->Check online for updates”.

3. Another thanks to CrazyChef. The installation always defaulted to an installation folder which depended on if you were installing the portable version or the standard setup. If you selected a folder other than the default, the setup program would force you to change the directory every time you installed a new version. The installation will now default to the directory that your current version is installed in.

One more thing, after you launch the calculator for the first time after installing V6.0.2.0 you will receive a message that V6.0.2.1 is available. I created another version (no changes) so that you could immediately see the auto-update feature and how it works.

 

[HotRod19579]

Version 7.0.0.0 is available for download. If you installed the beta version you should replace with this version. Changes include:

1. When copying a recipe and creating a new recipe the "Category" value was not being copied to the new recipe. Fixed.

2. Renamed the "Category" label on the ingredient window to "Folder".

3. Added a new option in "Tools->Options", Recipe defaults tab. The new option is "Reduce inventory when printed. If this is checked, the inventory will be reduced for each ingredient in the recipe when a recipe is printed.

4. The shopping list window will be restored to its previous size when opened.

5. When ingredients are removed from the shopping list you will be prompted to see if you want to increase the inventory by the quantity value. Note that this will only occur for ingredients added to the shopping list after installing this version of the calculator.

6. Added the ability to encrypt your juice files and assign a password to the file. During the "File->Save as" you can select a "Save as type" of encrypted XML.

7. Added the ability to remove vendors. On the main recipe window select "Edit->Edit vendors" or from the shopping list window click the "Edit vendors" button.

8. Added support for regional currency settings. When money amounts are displayed they will be displayed in the format specified by your current regional settings.

 

[HotRod19579]

Version 8.0.0.3 is available for download. Changes include:

1. Added the ability to set the auto increment values individually for the “Amount to make”, “Target nicotine”, “PG %”, “VG %” and “Flavor %”. This is set on the “Auto increment” tab of Tools->Options. Disabled the ability to set the increment value on the ingredients tab.
   
2. Added a minimum and maximum value to the “Auto Increment” tab. These values are used to set the limits of when the “Preset Increment values” will be used. Click the “See explanation of values” button to see more details on how the auto increment and preset values are used.
   
   
3. When ingredient weight is calculated, also consider the weight of the nicotine contained in the ingredient. When saving the ingredient generate a warning message if the weight provided is off by more than 0.01 grams.
   
   
4. Added a new option, “Tools->Options”, Ingredient defaults tab, “Show weight warning messages”. When checked the weight checking in item 3 above will be performed.
   
   
5. Added a new option, “Tools->Options”, Backup options tab, “Auto delete backups older than X days”. When provided all backup files older than X number of days will be deleted when the calculator is closed. Note that the last/only backup will never be deleted.
   
   
6. When the ingredient window is locked added the ability to see the recipes that the ingredient is being used in.
   
   
7. Under certain circumstances deleting a flavor ingredient would change an ingredient in the recipe being viewed. Fixed.
   
   
8. The Print labels advanced window will remember the last used checkbox settings and restore them the next time the window is opened.
   

 

[jpasint]

Merry Christmas @HotRod19579. PayPal Transaction ID **J*05**PL9*544*S

Just a small token of appreciation for all that you have done and continue to do for us DIY'ers.
You're a blessing to our community and I hope you never leave brother.
I wish you and yours a healthy and prosperous new year.

Please, if you use Juice Calculator, if you can, send a small token of your appreciation to @HotRod19579 for all of his hard work and dedication to our cause of remaining ex-smokers and saving us tons of money by fanatically(well, some of us are fanatics) mixing our own ejuice. It is the best time of the year for giving back a little, even just a bit, if you can.
I know @HotRod19579 gives to our community out of his kindness and we have never seen him ask for anything from us. All the more reason to show our appreciation IMHO.
Juice Calculator has "Make a donation via PayPal" link right from within the Help menu at the top of the program.

Thanks again, Rod, for all of the hard work you put into Juice Calculator and for putting up with some of us, too.

PS.
I am not affiliated in any manner with Rod other than being a grateful user of his great, free program, Juice Calculator.

 

[HotRod19579]

Version 8.0.0.7 is available for download. Changes include:

1. On the "Build/Generate custom report" window, define column data; added the option to double click an item listed in "Field values" and have it automatically added to the "Column data" with the appropriate {}'s.
2. Made the information icon for the ingredients smaller.
3. The previous change allowing shortcuts for the date fields did not have international date format support. Fixed.
4. The Build/Generate custom report was not picking up the date the recipe was last made value and always showing blanks. Fixed.
5. Added the ability to sort the shopping list by the columns displayed. Click on the column header to sort.
6. Added the ability to display the recipes in order of last made date.
7. On occasion when clicking the "Flavor %" button an exception was being thrown. This would usually happen when adjusting the flavor percentage for a "flavor base" recipe. Fixed.

 

[IDJoel]

Okay... this is a call-out to all of the other JC users, that might still be following this thread. We have a fellow ECFer, @Punk In Drublic, who is wanting to know how to modify an existing recipe. Here is one of their more detailed posts:

How do people modify their existing mixes? Or am I just thinking way too far outside the box? Which is entirely possible

You make 20ml, vape 1.5ml of that but feel the flavoring needs to be adjusted. How do you go about performing such task with a level of accuracy? Or you just change your mind with a recipe but wish to incorporate what you already made into something new. Example: I made a Banana Cream, but after sampling a bit of it I feel it would do better as a Banana Cream Pie. I wish to maintain my percentages but add the needed flavours to create the “pie” part.

Ok….working on a Excel calculator!

Punk has JC, and asked what might work. I have a few thoughts, but I wanted more minds on this than just my sorry one. So, anyone is welcome to chime in. Thanks!

I think(?) the "Modify existing recipe" function (under the "tools" tab) will do all but change an existing ingredient to the recipe.
-- It allows for a reduced starting volume (so the user can account for e-liquid already vaped).
-- It allows adjusting (increasing) percentages; and displays the extra concentrate to be added (only the addition... it does not include the original amount), in both mL and grams.
-- It will allow the introduction of new (not previously used) ingredients.

Here is a test recipe for example:
(Note the nic is zero, and the recipe size is 10 mL)

Now, the same recipe, with the Modify window:

(click on image to enlarge)

Now, the same thing; but with the volume reduced:

Everything still looks good to me.

In this final screen shot, I have added an additional ingredient:

So, to me, this looks(?) like it is doing everything @Punk In Drublic was looking for, with the one exception of changing a preexisting ingredient to something else. And that doesn't make sense to me; only in that you can't remove an ingredient once it is mixed in. That requires a new mix. Yes?

Punk, the one other thing you might want to do, is read the Help file on this tool. Open Help, and under "Contents," open the page for "Modify recipe."

HotRod also has a second entry, also addressing the Modify Recipe function, under the heading "Modify existing mix."

I hope that gives you at least a starting point. Feel free to post any questions, or tell me that is not what you are wanting to do, and set me straight. I apologize if I misunderstood you.

Right now, I am running on fumes, so I am off to bed. I will check back once I am coherent.

 

[HotRod19579]

Version 6.0.2.2 is available. Two changes added:

1. Added the ability to edit the manufacturers from the ingredients window. A new button was added on the toolbar.

2. Added a new menu item “Edit->Adjust recipe to use all available inventory of at least one ingredient”. This is useful in two circumstances:
- You receive a warning message that there is not enough remaining inventory to create a recipe and you want to lower the amount to make to use the inventory that is available.
- You have a small amount of an ingredient remaining and you want to use all of it in the recipe that you are creating.

 

[HotRod19579]

Version 7.0.0.7 is available. The changes include:

1. When searching for recipes (Edit->Search for recipes) added a checkbox to find recipes that contain one or more of the selected ingredients. If a recipe contains an ingredient not included in the ingredients being search for the recipe will not be displayed.

2. Renaming a recipe or ingredient with the same name using different case (lower or upper) was not being allowed and being detected as a duplicate recipe name. Fixed.

3. There was a bug related to “Last made” recipe history entries. The bug was triggering erroneous “last made” entries to be created and triggering duplicate “last made” entries. The bug has been resolved and all duplicate entries will automatically be removed however; You may have recipes that have a “last made” with a date that is invalid (not made on that date). Unfortunately there is not a way for the program to know if the entry is valid or not and those erroneous entries cannot be removed.

 

[k2zs]

Hey HotRod!

First off, I want to say Thank You for the thousands upon thousands of hours of your free time that you have dedicated to this fantastic app. In the last almost 3 years, you have created something and given it away for free to the entire community. Sometimes people forget that you are just 1 person and not some software conglomerate in Silicone Valley. It's a shame that sometimes people will refer to "feature request" as an "annoyance". When I was developing, those requests always fell to the bottom of the list.

So please, accept my thanks as a totally satisfied user of your app and take some time off on me...

 

[HotRod19579]

Thank you, very much appreciated


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[HotRod19579]

Version 8.0.0.5 is available for download. Changes include:

1. Added a calculator for determining how much nicotine to stockpile and/or determine how long your nicotine will last. Tools->How much nicotine do I need.

2. Added a 2nd Manufacturer name column and folder name column. These columns are read-only and replicate the values that are showing in the original column which is a dropdown list. These columns were added to enable the ability to sort the grid by manufacturer or folder.

3. Added the ability to search all ingredients for a value in the "Edit->Ingredient editor" window.

4. Added a checkbox on the "Search for Recipes" window indicating that only recipes with enough inventory should be displayed in the results.

5. Added a checkbox on the "Search for Recipes" window indicating that only ingredients that are in inventory should be listed in the search box.

6. Window placement and sizes were not being remembered after installation of new versions. Fixed.

7. When creating a flavor base, Edit->Create flavor base from recipe, when both a flavor base recipe and a flavor base ingredient is created you will be prompted to see if you want to associate the recipe with the ingredient. When an ingredient and recipe are associated, the ingredients inventory will be increased whenever the inventory for the recipe is adjusted. Also, when the base recipe is displayed on the main window and the mouse is placed over the recipe name, the associated base ingredient name will be displayed as a tooltip.

8. Added the post made by IDJoel as a help file available on the "Create flavor base window". Click the "Show instructional notes" button.

 

[HotRod19579]

Version 8.0.0.6 is available. Updates include:

1. When installing the standard version of the calculator, don't prompt for a new installation location. The prompt was misleading and for the most part accomplished nothing since Windows would still install in the Program Files directory. The portable installation is used for installing in different locations.

2. Ingredients on the recipe window that have notes associated with them will display an information icon. When the mouse is over the icon a tooltip will be displayed showing the notes.

3. Added a shortcut for entering the purchase date on the ingredient window (also the last made date on the recipe window).
You can enter the following values and when you leave the date field the date will be populated:
T = Today's date
Y = Yesterday's date
"T-nnn" where nnn is the number of days to subtract from today's date
LW = Last week (today minus 7 days)
LM = Last month (today minus 1 month)

4. This change was made to help new users. When a new juice file is created and there are no nicotine ingredients a new user may struggle figuring out how to add a new nicotine ingredient. If you have a juice file open with no nicotine ingredients and have created or selected a recipe, the nicotine ingredient will show a button on the recipe window allowing you to click it to create your first nicotine ingredient.

5. Updated the "Show instructional notes" help file with a post from Andre in the ecigsSA forum.

6. On the label definition window changed the number of decimal places displayed from 2 to 4.

7. Made a new field available for "Ingredient" type reports in the "Tools->Build/Generate custom report" window. You can now define a column with a value of {RecipeCount}. This will display how many recipes an ingredient is used in.

 

[HotRod19579]

Version 8.0.0.8 just made available. It fixes the issue posted by Fozz71.

 

[IDJoel]

Thanks Hotrod, I looks like it worked - HERO!
Do you take donations?

HotRod probably won't answer your question. He has been pretty adamant that this whole endeavor is about the product and not intended to be a source of revenue (otherwise he would have bailed long ago). However, I have no problem sharing, that if you click on the help tab, you can make a donation via PayPal. I found the application worthy of a donation and made a contribution myself. Glad you are considering doing the same.