Yes! It’s time for another round of beta releases of SharpMT. First off, this will be a much slower and long beta cycle. Why? I have less to do on the application this time around! Also, I’m stalling while Microsoft continues to stall me, on their $29 upgrade to Visual Studio.NET 2003. I have a trial version that I might install to get some other upgrades going, but Microsoft has told all of us that have ordered the upgrade that “it’s on backorder” and we should get it soon. So what’s new in the first beta of SharpMT 1.1?
Remember to backup your XML files! Just a precautionary measure, but given that I find it to be really time consuming to write my drafts, I wouldn’t want any of you to lose yours! The truth is that this new release is strictly UI changes, but better safe than sorry when it comes to protecting data.
Another third party control has been integrated. For the 1.0 release of SharpMT I used a toolbar and menu control from Lutz Roeder. Since that control was so easy to integrate, I decided to take it a step further and nicked a copy of the Magic UI classes. Using this class library, I’ve made a fairly significant UI change to #MT. The Drafts, Blog Links, and Advanced “optional windows” now act like dock-able and float-able panels. They can be assembled in the same configuration as the original SharpMT, but I think having them “auto-hide” is a great way to save space.
As with the original version, these windows default to being hidden. The toolbar and menu options are still used to show and hide these windows but while they’re visible they act differently. Some my own experiences with these windows – mostly from Visual Studio.NET – have taught me that they can be tricky to move and they can have a mind of their own while being moved! Once they are positioned the way you want them, they cause no problems at all, but while moving these types of windows I’ve seen them dock unexpectedly or worse, block out other docked windows on their own. Sadly, I have little control over how these window act during these procedures, but they behave just like all of the other docking windows I’ve seen. What’s more, there’s a fail safe that I’ve added to the FAQ that sets the panels back to their default state: close #MT, delete the mgcState.xml file, and restart #MT. This will return all three panels to their “auto-hidden” state, on the original three window edges the next time #MT is launched.
One other thing about these new classes. Because a new DLL in the SharpMT directory is used and might have to be initialized for first time users, there’s now a splash screen that is part of the #MT launch. I try to show the splash screen as quickly as possible, but in some cases, even that window takes some time to load. If you launch SharpMT and don’t see anything, give it a couple of extra seconds, especially if it’s the first time you’ve run it after an installation. Each launch after that should be pretty quick and if you blink during the launch, you might miss the splash screen altogether.
- And now to the rest of the possible 1.1 features:
- HTML/WYSIWYG – I need Visual Studio.NET 2003 for this! Steve has it done but I can’t use it without the freakin’ compiler that is backordered!
- Spell Checking – Have to wait to make sure that the control that you see in the screen shots can be used with Steve’s HTML control. Besides, there’s still not enough donations for me to justify this. As you can see in the screen shots, I’ve got it; you don’t! I’m not asking for money to make money – I’m only asking that I don’t lose money. If #MT gets popular enough, this should become a moot point. Besides, if the checker doesn’t like Steve’s HTML control, I’ll have to search for a new method of Spell Checking!
- Third Party Integration – an RSS reader has recently sent me a C# based Interface so that #MT could be integrated with their application. I plan to put this into upcoming beta releases, but I wanted to get Beta 1 one done first.
- ????? – Those are the planned major features right now. As more come up, they will be posted on the site!
Some screenshots of the new UI:
That’s about it, for now. Download SharpMT 1.1 Beta 1 from here.
I love the tabs!!
Have you solved the XML-RPC bug with categories not being assigned when posted, by chance?
Its an MT XML problem reelated to the fact that MT has to have an Entry ID befre a Category can be assigned, but the ID isn’t assigned till you post so the category is dropped.
Hi Doc – I wasn’t aware that there was still a problem with the release…? The way #MT posts something is: 1) the draft is posted and the post ID is returned, 2) the category(ies) is assigned, 3) the blog is rebuilt, 4) the most recent post is pulled from the server and added to the Blog Links list. If you watch the trace window during a posting, this is what you should see. Like I said, though, I wasn’t aware that there was still a problem with #MT 1.0.8 or MT 2.63.
Yea, it happens from time to time when I post through MT. Maybe theres not enough pause between the ID creation and the actual text submittal?
I posted this problem (as I thought it was an MT problem) and that was the answer I received. I don’t know enough about the XML-RPC or the inner working of MT to verify it.
I’ll run the trace next post and let you know.
I meant post through #MT. You outta create a button..;)
My graphics talent suck :)
Anyway, yeah. If you can email the trace I’d love to see it. The communication for the links wouldn’t start until the other communication ends… even though it’s all threaded, it goes in sequence. I’m more concerned if you are running Apache and the “single” Link read is getting munged or something…
It hasn’t repeated since I upgraded to the 1.1 beta. Maybe it was my server acting up because I did get a *Fatal exception: Server closed connection* the other night that kept my site from rebuilding after the post.
Maybe I was getting that occasionally, but instead of kicking out a dialog, it was just keeping quiet?
I am keeping a trace log so if it happens again, I’ll have it for you.
@Doc – It might have kept it quiet, but not likely… it always shows the dialog provided that the server return an error message… if the server craps out without an error message then I’m not sure what #MT would do… probably just blissfully go about it’s business!
LOL, well The issue hasn’t returned. I am ready to sign off as one of those “mysterious” computer things, especially since you didn’t have that problem.
You might wanna check you code relating to ” and ‘ though. When I transmitted an article today all the ” and ‘ in the article were transformed into ? as if the program were trying to parse them or something.
Sorry to keep adding to the list.. :)
Looking Good, Randy. Good enough that I’m getting rid of my “other” off-line blogging tool.
:)
Keep it up, Man!
@Doc – Hm. I used a lot of “‘s and some ”s… the only time I’ve seen them transformed is when they are the “word-esque” reversing “‘s and the stylized ”s and even then, I don’t transform those – the XML Parser does… FYI – this is exactly why I hated writing in Word and posting in MT’s posting pages: the changes Word does to make text more “pleasing” but it sucks for HTML.
And cool that the other issue has disappeared :)
@Jake – thanks a lot! Glad it’s working out for ya!