We have received a few (read: two) reports of JPEGCleaner / Web Photos / quickWebAlbum have some problems with images under Mac OS X 10.4.

The problem is that every so often the programs will produce a blank image. At present we are not able to reproduce the problem and even though a number of users have sent pictures that produce these blank images on their machines everything works ok on the machines here…..

If you have encountered the problem please send a copy of the image you used to image_probab@mmisoftware.co.uk. Can you please zip the image before you send it (this is not to make the file smaller (which it won’t) but to prevent loss of any meta-data (which I think may be causing the problem) during mailing).

Web Photos has been updated to version 1.3. Web Photos 1.3:

• now handles rotated images correctly under 10.4 (Tiger)
• has improved display of resized images
• improved quality of generated thumbnail and main images greatly improved
• has increased speed of site generation
• now produces slightly smaller jpeg files in the album / website
• has corrected a bug that caused pictures not to be displayed when captions or previous / next links were moved
• and was re-compiled for 10.4 (Tiger)

Web Photos is shareware ($15) and is available from MMISoftware. The program is a 112 k download.

Well, the blog is looking and feeling a little neglected of late. Several reasons for this but the main one is I have been very busy on a number of projects.

1. Work for Quartz

Quartz (http://www.qrtz.co.uk) is a company founded in the UK about a year ago. They provide highly specialised financing to industry (I won’t even beginning to explain how what they do as I don’t understand it – have a look at their website). Anyway, for the past 10 months or so (see an earlier blog entry) I have been designing and coding their website. The website has been through three or four different designs and I think they are now happy with the final version. With luck the site should go live in a week or so.

In addition, I have been doing some php work for Quartz. At this stage I can’t say what, exactly, as it is still not ready to go live. However, I can say that I have had to learn some rather interesting financial calculation methods. Some of these may appear in future MMISoftware products (see note on ‘widgets’ below).

2. MMISoftware program updates

iCalMaker: Work is still continuing on version 2 of iCalMaker. However, because of the ongoing work for Quartz and some of the work below, progress has slowed. Mind you, this has not prevented the list of suggestions and requests from users growing – thanks for the input, it should make version 2 a great release. Version 1.8 iCalMaker download.

It is anticipated that there will be one or two more releases of iCalMaker before version 2. One of the releases will address any ‘late issues’ with Tiger (see below) and add a new esellerate engine, the other will be a general maintenance release to address a couple of known, but rare, bugs I am currently working on.

Web Photos: Version 2 of Web Photos has been on hold for some time. This was mainly because of a bug/problem that could not be solved. It now looks as though I have a solution to the problem, although it may mean the program requires 10.4 or greater. Also, the addition of the esellerate sales engine still needs to be completed.

‘The new program’: There is a new program in the works. The original release date was planned for March. However, due to the work for Quartz, and impending release of Tiger, work has slowed.

3. Tiger, tiger, burning bright….

As you may be aware (!) version 10.4 of Mac OS X is due for release on 29th April 2005. At present all of MMISoftware programs (iCalMaker,Web Photos, Power on X, mailMaker, Tunes Menu, BMI Calculator, quickWebAlbum, JPEGCleaner and webSiteCleaner) function with Tiger. However, until 10.4 hits the stores, and some final testing is carried out, the new versions will not be released.

Four interesting things are in Tiger, from a developers point of view:

• Widgets – not sure what to make of these. They look useful although I haven’t spent enough time with them to be sure. MMISoftware will certainly be developing a few Widgets which will complement existing products
• ‘Core graphics/image‘ – This will have some profound effects on the development of Web Photos, JPEGCleaner and quickWebAlbum. Time will tell….
• WebKit.framework – This framework is used in a number of MMISoftware programs and basically provides ‘web browser like’ properties to the programs. The recent changes introduced by Apple, as part of the new Safari in 10.4, may have some interesting ‘knock-on’ effects for MMISoftware development. Watch this space!
• xcode version 2 – All programs produced by MMISoftware are written in cocoa using xcode. The new version of xcode in 10.4 will make life a lot easier.

General ’round-up’ of what has been happening……

Well, things have been busy….

Skiing:

Just got back from an excellent week of skiing at St Anton, Austria…. (see the picts – site generated using Web Photos). The place is amazing. The skiing was great and the ‘after ski’ partying was awesome.

Programming:

Work on iCalMaker 1.6, quickWebAlbum, webSiteCleaner and JPEGCleaner was finished last week and the programs were released. (Download – iCalMaker, quickWebAlbum, webSiteCleaner or JPEGCleaner)

Bug reports:

There is only one bug report on the books at the moment and this is to do with mailMaker. It appears that if an e-mail contains more that 900 characters that the program will not work on some machines. The source of this bug is currently unknown….. Worryingly mailMaker is the worst selling program on the site. It was always thought that this was because users were confusing it with software that may be used to produce SPAM, however, it now appears it may be due to an unreported bug (the bug did not show up in beta testing and I am currently unable to reproduce the bug)!

If you do encounter bugs in any of the the software please report it to bugs@mmisoftware.co.uk.

Other news:

The main website is currently undergoing a major redesign. The site has grown significantly over the last year and is in desperate need of a ‘make-over’. Watch this space for further news…..

The holidays over, and it is back to the programs

After a few weeks of dashing around (Christmas, New Year, and a skiing trip) it is now back to programming.

What will 2004 bring?

Well, some major updates are in the pipeline……

iCalMaker:

Currently at version 1.5.x. Since the release of 1.5 work has been continuing on updating the program. There are a number of changes/improvements planned for version 2. Some of the changes are at the request of users (thanks!), and some of the others are a result of my own needs/requirements*. There is a long list of changes (hence the jump to version 2) and these include, for example (and some of these may not make it through to the final version), expanded output of repeat events in to tab- and comma-delimited formats, improvements in the import of some types of repeating events, generation of ‘I’m free’ times and dates, increased customization via preferences (yes, the dimmed preference menu may become active!), handling of ‘to do’ events, plus many more…. Version 2 will be free-upgraded for registered users of version 1.0. However, the price for new users may be increased from $25 to $30….

Web Photos:

Version 2, has been finished for some time, however, due to other work and programming commitments, final beta testing has not started. Plus, I have now decided to move over to eSellerate for Web Photos so the ‘activation’ and ‘registration’ methods need to be overhauled. The cost of the program will stay the same, it will be a free upgrade for registered users (registered users will require a new activation code).

mailMaker:

Some minor changes are planned. The program will continue to evolve.

Power on X:

No major updates planned, other than moving the program over to eSellerate for sales so the ‘activation’ and ‘registration’ methods need to be overhauled (registered users will require a new activation code).

One trick ponies:

The one trick ponies continue to evolve, and, no doubt, some new ‘ponies’ will be added later in the year.

Changes to all:

As I now use MacPAD to update a shareware site (and I hope the other sites, i.e. Versiontracker and Macupdate, adopt the system) on program releases I am planning to incorporate a ‘version-check’ in all the programs that uses the MacPAD generated update file. The idea is that upon launch the program will automatically checks for newer versions of the program and alerts the user.

*It should be noted that all programs are used by the author, i.e. me, and this tends to drive some of the improvements.