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July 24, 2000-
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-Your questions, answered: Hey everybody - long time no update!
Contrary to what many of you may have feared, the MacVision project isn't dead, but actually it's being totally restructured, and a new product will be available shortly (I'll be available at stardock.com). Lots of exiting stuff going on over here!
MacVision's bar has been rewritten from scratch, is going to be renamed, supports skinning, and is now one of the most flexible and customizable tool products available.
When it's available there will be a theme to make it look and work just like the current MacVision build, but also there will be ones that will make it work like MacOS8, 9, X, and also there will be several alternate views available too, which can be set just by loading different skins and 'menu objects'. The skins I have done so far are all very nice looking, just what you'd expect. Skins have been and will continue to be constructed using high attention to detail, and with the program's new skinning system, every tiny detail is customizable, alowing other skinners to create skins that make it look just how they want it to. The new skinning system also allows for different states, and effects that can be added with ease, such as a new 'glow' effect that can be applied to any icon/text, on demand, for any item state such as selected or mouseover, just by setting the flag 'GlowEffect = 1' in the skin.
Using a new format I have created for use in the new product, you can customize what's in the toolbar, where is should show itself, how it's items should be arranged, etc. The new bar is divided up into sections, which can be moved around & resized just as you can move around bars on explorer's taskbar, but with this *everything* is customizable, and you can add/remove any type of item that you wish. Also, you can have multiple bars, which can be optionally resizable, and display different skins, so you can have floating toolbars too. (For instance you could have one that would act as a control strip) On any of these bars, you can have items each consisting of icons, text, both, or bitmaps, each utilizing one of many built in 'actions'... and also the program will support a plugin interface that allows for addon functionality - new types of items with new functionality can easily be added to any bar.
So, this new program is not out to only look nice by providing very dynamic skinning capabilities and effects, but also the program is flexible enough where it can be more than a toy. It will be a truly useful product that you can customize to fit your needs, and to help simplify the way you work with your computer.
You may be wondering though, then where does the interface emulation and Finder file manager fit into this? Well, I haven't done any work on the file manager in a while, but once this product is finished, soon after I'll be releasing two plugins on this site.
The first plugin will be the Finder file manager, and you can load it into the program's plugins to enable it. The Finder file manager is almost completed - all that needs work before I release is: 1) Button views, 2) options dialogs 3) menus, all of which can be finished without too too much work. The plugin already supports it's own desktop, a mac iconview, and listview, and other features such as icon labeling. So this component will be out shortly after MacVision's rewrite is made available, and will be continue to be updated well into the future.
The other plugin that will be available will be MacVision's interface emulation, which I'm sorry to say however that I have no plans on updating further after it's made into a plugin. I have so much new stuff to work on that it would just seem not a good use of my time to continue work on it, especially seeing that there are already products out there that do just what it does and are more developed. Still, I'll be making a legacy copy available for you incase you do prefer it over competing products. Thank you all for helping me develop this component, but I think it's time has come. I hope you all got good use out of it, and if you choose to, continue to enjoy it.
Back to good news though, other new products! Not only have I been working on MacVision's rewrite (currently unnamed), I also have put efforts into several other projects.
One of those products is now available on Stardock's Object Desktop Network, and a webpage will be available for it with more information soon. That product is called SpringFolders, and what it does is quietly add the functionality of spring loaded folders, and more, to explorer. With the utility, when you're dragging a file, and you hover over a folder, that folder will pop up into a new window, allowing you to navigate your harddrive while dragging. Additionally, there's an option of having the new folder load up in the current window, and you can navigate back/forward/up using the corresponding arrow keys on your keyboard while dragging, so the dragging process will be kept clean, and easy. Finally, in the next release of the program which will be available on the Object Desktop network, when the drag operation is completed, you'll be able to have any new windows that were opened during the drag operation close, and any windows that were navigated to different folders revert to the folder they displayed before the drag operation started, allowing you to be even more efficient. So overall, it's a program that's not intrusive, simple to use, and does nothing but add funcionality to your computer.
One small project that I'm working on include a system tray replacement/helper, which allows you to detach the system tray, have it be more customizable, and also it gives you more control over the items in it.
There is one more project that I'm working on that I'm not really prepared to comment on yet, but I can say that it is one big project that I *know* everyone's going to love, and so it will be getting all of my attention after I get MacVision's rewrite and it's plugins finished!
Just so you know, all of these products will be available commercially though Stardock, so they won't be totally free, but they'll still be at a cheap price. I can't be sure whether or not demo/shareware versions will be available, but I'm going to see about it because I want *everyone* to see how high of quality these new products are! In addition, if you wish you can purchase a subscription to Stardock's Object Desktop Network which I mentioned above, and be able to download and use all of their products, including mine, and also download all new/updated products that are made available within a year after you subscribe, for a very low price.
Thanks for your help and support everyone - I never could've gotten to be able to make software of this caliber without you all! Your messages and concerns really mean a lot, and I really hope you all enjoy these new products when you get your hands on them!
Getting near to ready for release so I'm going to try to make more frequent updates - check back for more updates and status reports!
May 4, 2000-
-Extended build availble: Check the download page for an updated build - sorry nothing new here... just an extention.
April 3, 2000-
-Work on Finder has begun again. After a break of about 3 months, a month ago I began working on the Finder again whenever I had an opportunity, and I'm very happy to report that 95% of the essentials are now in there :) In addition, I've made the finder into a plugin for the upcoming MacVision rewrite, so you can cleanly add/remove it as you wish. Things remaining for me to work on with the Finder include menus, options, and the addition of the Button view.
-Update on other projects: The other project I've been working on have been on hold for the time I've been working on the Finder, but now that I have Windows2000 on my testing machine I'm back to work on them as well, as I can diagnose & fix the problems I was having. More news on that once I can make the products available.
-Yea it's got another month. Sorry... no new stuff. Just stuff in progress. Also as a little surprise for both of us, you've got another month to use Build 206! Put in the wrong expiration month, so you've got until May 2nd. Oh I'm praying this business stuff is finished my then so I can give you some new stuff!!! You're gunna love it!
February 19, 2000-
-Vacation!! I'm going to out on vacation to Florida until February 29th, so if you write any emails don't expect a reply back until at least then! Thanks
-New projects going well. Well it's been over a week since I've worked on anything MacVision or otherwise (cause of school and such) but as soon as I get back from my vacation I'm going to be back in gear! Sorry that I haven't been able to put much time into the MacVision project in the past month or so, but you're going to absolutely love some of the new stuff I'm working on which include some very nice explorer enchantments, another even better & more useful shell replacement, and also a rewrite of MacVision which will include improved tray support, skinning support for the FinderBar, a lot quicker speed, and more!
-Service Release Out. The new
release out today is out just because I need to get a build out that won't expire while
I'm on vacation! This new release will last until April 2nd, and it's not much different
than the last release - just a few small bug fixes here in there such as in the menus.
January 5, 2000-
-Tada! For all of you who have
been waiting patiently all day for a new release... it's out! Check out yesterday's news
below for more info on the new build, and the download page to get it now!
January 4, 2000-
-Oh my... It seems the millions I've spent on debugging MacVision for Y2K bugs haven't paid off! As CNN reported yesterday, there was in fact one program that fell victim to the y2k bug without a fix already available... MacVision! (Haha yea right) Getting back to reality, what's the problem you may ask? If you click on the time on the Finder bar, it is supposed to tell you it correct date, however it will instead report something like "1/1/100". No no it won't freak out and start ordering you to stock up on Macaroni & Cheese or anything - just that little mixup, which has been fixed in the upcoming release.
-Upcoming Release? Oh yea, I forgot to mention - I'll be putting out a new build tomorrow night, with a cool new feature in it, which I'm trying to decide whether or not to enable by default. What is this feature you may ask? Sorry, not the Finder. It is, however, skinned Popup menus throughout Windows! ;) (That is, menus that come up when you right click anything, etc.) Also in the release is a bunch of fixes, one of them being that scrollbars now work better than ever, and another being one being a higher tolerance to 16bit applications. (They shouldn't crash anymore when Interface Emulation is enabled) This 16bit fix also resolves the problem with MSDOS window problems, and I believe this may also fix the D.U.N. bluescreen of death bug as well! We'll have to see.
-No Finder? YET? What's the deal here? Well,
even though the Finder is a pretty impressive bunch of code, it's not ready to be
distributed yet, as I haven't worked on it for the past, say, month and a half. Don't hate
me! I've been productive in my time off from the Finder - I've been working on some cool
new products for a company I am very soon to be with, one of those products being a
complete rewrite of the Finder taskbar which is MUCH faster, more efficient, and also
*skinnable*! The other projects are on overall similar themes, but they are all very
different and useful. (They aren't Mac ports this time around, but don't worry - you'll
still crave them) I'll let you know more about this at a more appropriate time, as I
am not of the liberty to give out extended information about these dealings at this time.
November 5th, 1999-
-"Introducing the MacVision Finder", part one! Ohhh here's a teaser for you... a new section dedicated to the new Finder component, letting you know about it's progress and what's left to be finished, along with some nice looking screenshots with descriptions :) You can see this new section by clicking the new "Introducing..." button on the left! I think you'll like what you see.
-Bunch of fixed stuff... I'm probably going to put out another interim release in a couple of weeks regardless of my Finder progress, since I've managed to fix a bunch of bugs which would be useful for many. First off, and most importantly, running 16-bit apps with MacVision's interface emulation will no longer crash your computer!! I finally took a couple of hours out to track down the source of this bug, and I've found a way to block 16bit apps from being trapped by MacVision, so with the new release you will be able to safely use 16bit apps with interface emulation. Next, I've fixed up scrollbars a bunch, perfecting the resizing of the scrollbars when you resize one (especially vertical scrollbars, which could get lost and be sized wrong otherwise.) Also I fixed the problem with scrollbars often not showing the correct active/inactive state... but I'm unsure if this will make it into the release because I think the way I solved this problem may cause a bigger resource usage problem. Anyway, all that other good stuff is fixed, and we'll see about the activity states. Just to let all of you know, the reason I'm not pumping out releases left & right is because it takes about 3 or 4 work hours to put out a release, because of all the junk I have to go through to get a new release out! Despite, this update will have some important fixes, so I'll be sure to take some time out later this month to put it out.
October 25th, 1999-
-Ladies and gentlemen, I now present to you, the first update in 2 months! Yes yes it's been a long time. Over the past while I've been kept very busy with school, soccer, homework, life, etc... so I haven't had nearly as much time as I used to to work and make updates. Over these past months, despite the fact that my work schedule was very irregular and completely unpredictable, I've managed to get quite a bit done. I'm sorry that I didn't update at all during this time, but I didn't for two reasons. First, not updating the site meant that I would be able to actually work on the program, rather than work on updating the page and writing newsletters. I'm spending my precious time making news instead of writing it ;) Secondly, all the development is internal right now, and seeing as I won't be releasing MacVision with a finished Finder for some time, there'd be no point in letting everyone know exactly what I was working on, since it would be pointless information that would just suck up development time. Now however the fall varsity soccer season has finally ended, so I will have more time to work on MacVision, update this website, and to work on some other small projects.
-Marvel at the progress: Although you won't be able to test the Finder out yourself for a while, I'll be giving everyone a sneak peek at what I have done with a whole bunch of screenshots most likely in the coming week. Depends how involved I get in the implementation of the next set of features ;) Also, I'm proud to announce that the number of finished features in the Finder now greatly outweighs the number of unfinished segments! You'll see all the screenshots, an update on the Finder's development, and more, when MacVision Finder introduction section is put up next week.
-Interim Release out today. This new release, v0.8.204, is for the most part the old version with an extended expiration date. All that has changed in this new release is a few tweaked features in the existing MacVision Finder Taskbar that just patch up some things that really stuck out to me as annoyances while I was using it and that wouldn't take long to fix. Nothing at all major though, and it's doubtful that you'll really notice them much, except for maybe the clock's time/date switch delay. (When you click on the clock it now shows the date for several seconds instead of a split second like before). Other than that the menus system has been tweaked and sped up a bit, but again you won't notice unless either you're menus go several levels deep or you work with large menus, and you are on a somewhat old machine. This new release will expire in early January 2000, but it is likely that a new release with the Finder will be out before then!
Update - August 31st, 1999-
-WinNT Compatibility. Yesterday's
build apparently will not start on NT - I had many many reports that it just opened and
then disappeared, with an error. I worked hard to fix this bug, and with the help of some
testers I was able to nail it with just a couple of hour's worth of work :)
So, if you are an NT user who downloaded build 202, just download build 203 from the
download page now and MacVision will work for you again. Win95/98 users do not need to
download build 203 however if they already have 202, since the only difference between the
two is that 202 did not work on WinNT and 203 does. Another quick update: it's confirmed -
the Control Panels bug is gone!! If you had this feature disabled before because it
crashed on you, you can now safely enable it, as I've had reports from users on every OS
saying it now works fine.
August 30th, 1999-
-Yea! New Release! Although not a build with sweeping changes, this new build includes a whole bunch of bug fixes and tweaks, along with a new Tray Monitoring program that runs before any other application (via a registry entry) and traps all tray messages from the time you boot up your computer, so that when you start MacVision ALL tray icons will show in it! :) (When you run MacVision it will make "TrayMonitor.exe" run from startup, so the first time you run this new build you'll have to reboot to make the traymonitor feature work) Also included is a new uninstall program which will cleanly remove MacVision and its registry entries should you decide you don't want to continue using it.
-Control Panels bug... I have rewritten the Control Panels feature from scratch, fixing many bugs, speeding it up somewhat, and patching a memory hole. I haven't been able to test the re-written code with NT machines or on other platforms on which this feature crashed before, but it may be fixed, so if you're willing to take a risk, try it out. If it still doesn't work on some computers then I have a pretty good idea what's causing the problem and will be able to fix it up for the next release, as long as my assumption is correct.
-Uninstall program... I don't feel adding an install program to MacVision is worth all the time an effort at this point, although, since MacVision uses multiple registry entries now, I feel that it's necessary to add an uninstall program that will allow you to remove all of MacVision's files along with its registry entries. Just run "Uninstall.exe", which in included in MacVision's zip file on the download page. Make sure that it is in the folder where MacVision's files are located when it is ran however, since otherwise it will not delete the files you downloaded. (No matter what folder it is ran in it will still remove MacVision's registry entries.)
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©1999 Jeff Bargmann. All Rights Reserved.
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