September 30, 2007 in News by Nick Sivridis

Jello Dashboard 3.50 beta

At last, a new version is available!
It’s in beta stage for a reason. The main change is the way settings are stored inside the settings journal entry. There is no more a full settings string separated by semicolons. This was causing many problems and I’ve decided to use the journal entry’s custom properties. So now each of the setting is a property and has its own string.

If you’re already using the dashboard you will be prompted that your settings were backed up, but just to be sure make a backup copy of your settings before running the new version. I’ve tested it in two systems and the migration was smooth and without bugs, but I would suggest to be safe than sorry since I’m getting bug reports that I still cannot reproduce.

Next good change is this: No more “Some new settings must be added” dialogs. The new settings are added transparently without resetting or bugging the user.

All other changes are mostly bug fixes:

• Changed the way settings are stored Each setting now is a custom property into the journal entry
• The prompt “Some new settings must be added” is gone Settings are added transparently and safely
• Changed Reset settings to reset without asking for keeping contexts and projects It/s just a reset to defaults
• Added simplified Chinese language file
• Added Polish language file by szuwi
• Fixed Home link with hidden sidebar now goes to the correct jello home
• Fixed Project lists not showing completed tasks without refreshing
• Fixed show only tasks on projects
• Fixed Renaming contexts and projects updates properties too
• Added Private property for projects and contexts
• Fixed Removing contexts and projects removes them from properties too
• Added Private property for contexts and projects (private contexts/projects do not show in master list)
• Added icon for private tasks
• Fixed project view now sorts by date if responding setting is on (for english outlook)
• Fixed bug when inserting semicolon ; into context/project description
• Fixed marking an item as done removes next actions tag
• Fixed sort tasks by due date is halted in localized outlook versions due to runtime errors (LanguageID<>1033)
• Fixed web links are now sorted
• Added Web links can be renamed
• Fixed multiple deletion of web links
• Fixed Manage contexts list counter
• Added Run of the install.hta for every installation/uninstallation of Jello

You can download the new version here. Or its zipped file.
Waiting for your reports!

September 1, 2007 in News by Nick Sivridis

Back to the project

I know it’s been a while since the latest update. The truth is, I’ve decided to take a long break from developing the dashboard and I did. You know, time is less for family men and many things need attention here and there, but business is business and the break is over!

I apologize to all of you who did not get a response to their queries and bug reports. My mailbox is always stuffed with new mail from you guys (and I thank you for that) and I never have enough time to check them out and reply to all of them, mostly because I let them pile. (Someone must show me what GTD means cause I’m in a mess! )
So I began by gathering up all bug reports and feature requests and created a new list. There are lots of things need to be taken care of. I’ve got about 17 bugs. Some of them I cannot reproduce (‘cause they never happen on my machine), some of them I cannot solve yet, and some of them I must change lots of things in the system to be fixed. OK I got some easy ones too which I intent to fix soon. Two new language files to add and about 40 feature requests, some of them realistic and some of them not!

The first thing to be done is a new release with some fixes.
Then some decisions have to be made. The way the settings are saved, the disallowed characters, synchronizing with another outlook installation, lists creation, sorting of items by any field possible…

Yes I’ve got a ton of those. I do not know if I will make some of them happen but at least I will try.
So, thank you for everything, your donations, bug reports, feature requests, language files and everything else.
It’s already been a year since the first release, but that’s another post’s title!