Rohan Kapoor » changelog

Custom Paper Deployment Tool Updated

Rohan Kapoor — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 04:12:48 +0000

Since my last release of my Custom Paper Deployment Tool (now hosted on Amazon’s S3 Platform), I have made a series of changes to the tool as I have been preparing for the next major release (available now). These changes include new features, cosmetic fixes, as well as major changes to the tool’s code to increase reliability and stability as well as increase performance while running the tool. I’ll go more in-depth about these changes below.

New Features

Today I am happy to announce that using the “File” –> “Open” menu options, users can manually select .afd files and deploy them using my Custom Paper Deployment Tool. Under the “Open” menu there are two options “File” and “Folder”. “File” allows users to deploy .afd files one at a time. However, if you have a directory full of files and want to install all of the .afd inside it at once, you can use the “Folder” option to select the directory with the files in it, and it will install all of them at once.
The “Tools” –> “Smartpen” –> “List Installed Packages” function has been enabled and is now functioning. This allows users to connect their smartpen and view a complete list of all installed packages on their smartpen. This includes all Livescribe packages as well as all custom packages.

Cosmetic Fixes

The bottom of the main screen now shows the current status of deployment as the tool is deploying the .afd files. Previously, it only displayed the last file deployed.
I noticed several minor visual issues with the interface of the spawned windows when a user selects an option under “Tools” –> “Smartpen” including button and text field placement. Basically, the text field continued on underneath the button which led to a problem when large amounts of text were placed in the field and the user was unable to scroll all the way down to view it. Those errors have been corrected.
I found that the check boxes required selecting the text and then selecting the check mark itself (a full two step process). This has been replaced with a single click to either the check mark or the box itself to select it, significantly decreasing the number of clicks when deploying all of the notepads.
I have replaced modified the “Tools” –> “Smartpen” –> “View Smartpen Data” screen to format the user set time in a human readable format. Previously, it simply provided the number of milliseconds that had passed since Unix Epoch Time (Midnight on 1/1/1970 UTC). This number is now formatted correctly to show both date and time in a way that human-readable text. I have also removed the RTC (Real Time Clock) displayed on the same screen. This shows the milliseconds that have elapsed from the smartpen’s creation. I removed this because it provided no useful information. As far as I know, it is only used to calculate the user set time.

Performance & Reliability Tweaks

I’ve enabled multi-threading to allow the tool to process multiple actions simultaenously which increases it’s efficiency and stability. Each window now uses it’s own thread to allow background windows to continue processing while another window is open in the foreground. This also allows the main screen to display the current status at all times, even while deploying .afd files.
My main reasoning for not enabling the “List Installed Packages” function in version 1.0.x.x was that it took an insanely long time to list the data (over 10 minutes) and was constantly polling the smartpen while doing so. I’ve reworked that code so that it pulls the data from the smartpen once and then parses it quickly, while displaying the results in the window. This function is now enabled.
Previously, Custom Paper Deployment Tool required that users connect their smartpens after starting the program though it should have found any connected smartpens as it started up. I found a bug within the initialization routine that ran that part of the program in the wrong order resulting in the bug. This has been fixed and from now on, Custom Paper Deployment Tool correctly detects smartpens that have been connected before it starts up.
If there are no boxes checked, the deploy button will disable itself to prevent crashing the program by attempting to deploy nonexistent notepads.

All in all, this is a very major release with a couple of new features, as well as many cosmetic and non-cosmetic bug fixes. It’s a rather hectic time for me so I’m thrilled that I was able to get this update out as quickly as I did. I’m looking forward to seeing your thoughts on the update!

Released bbPress Favicon

Rohan Kapoor — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 23:37:09 +0000

I just released bbPress Favicon the companion plugin to WordPress/MU Favicon. It does exactly the same thing WordPress/MU Favicon does except does it for the bbPress sitewide and the bbPress admin pages. You can see the Changelog for those that are interested!

—————————- Changelog: —————————-

1.0

First Release
Working with 1.x

Added A Page for WordPress/MU Favicon

Rohan Kapoor — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 17:21:52 +0000

After being told off by mercime for not having a page for WordPress/MU Favicon, I finally got around to pulling it’s page out of Drafts and updating it to show the latest information regarding version 1.1.

It appears that it took me long enough to pull it together, but hey, I was busy. Anways better late then never.

The homepage for WordPress/MU Favicon is here.

And for anyone interested, here is the changelog:

—————————- Changelog: —————————-

1.1

readme.txt fixed

1.0

First Release
Working with 2.8.4

New bbPress Admin Updated… Again!

Rohan Kapoor — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 16:52:02 +0000

I released version 3.0 of New bbPress Admin today! This version is mainly a bugfix release with no new functionality. You can see the changelog for more details.

—————————- Changelog: —————————-

3.0

Successfully stops the Login/Logout Problem
Successfully stops the Headers Being Sent Problem
As Far As I Can Tell, It Is A Bug Free Release
Works with WP/WPMU 2.8.x and bbPress 1.x

2.1 Beta

Attempts to solve the Login/Logout Problem
Attempst to solve the headers Being Sent Problem

2.0

Second Version of bbPress Admin. It has been adapted to have a backend interface to set the forums directory.
Looks Neater and is much easier to use.
Works with WP/WPMU 2.8.2 and bbPress 1.0.1

1.0

First Version of bbPress Admin. It is very simple and rudimentary at this point.
Working with WP/WPMU 2.8.1 and bbPress 1.0.1

You can view the plugin page here. Or download directly from the WordPress Plugin Repository here.

Currently version 3.0 is the most stable version with no bugs that I know of!

Enjoy

New bbPress Admin Updated!

Rohan Kapoor — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 02:04:28 +0000

New bbPress Admin was officially updated last week to version 2.0. This adds a lot of stability along with a few other functions. The changelog details more…

—————————- Changelog: —————————-

2.0

Second Version of bbPress Admin. It has been adapted to have a backend interface to set the forums directory.
Looks Neater and is much easier to use.
Works with WP/WPMU 2.8.2 and bbPress 1.0.1

1.0

First Version of bbPress Admin. It is very simple and rudimentary at this point.
Working with WP/WPMU 2.8.1 and bbPress 1.0.1

You can find the plugin at it’s homepage. Right now Version 2.0 is stable however there are a few small bugs that are being worked on! Version 2.1 is in BETA on SVN!

Additionally, the homepage of New bbPress Admin has been updated so that it shows the most recent information (almost identical to the information on the http://wordpress.org plugin page.

WordPress Changes Guidelines for Plugin Authors!

Rohan Kapoor — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 18:14:39 +0000

Taken from here:

We feel that all software should have a changelog that details, at a high level, what changes have been made in each version so that the user can make an informed decision about when to upgrade and how much testing they should do with their site.

In order to make this an easy and open communication channel we have added support for a Changelog section in the plugins readme.txt file. This changelog information is then displayed as a separate tab in the plugin directory and also in the back end of your WordPress blog when you view the details on a new version of a plugin.

I personally agree with this decision of the Automattic and the WordPress team because I have found some annoying plugins which don’t state why a plugin is updated. This should solve that problem rather nicely!