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Charon 0.9.9b12
Changes since 0.9.9b11
This document describes changes in Charon since the previous beta release, which was version 0.9.9b11.
Well, summer is over, and the beta testing cycle for this release of Charon is drawing to a close. If all goes well, and there are not too many new bugs in this release, it looks like this will be the last beta before the public release of 0.9.9. I think I'll give it a week or two, so if you have any last-minute requests, now is the time to send me email. I won't be adding any major new features, though.
So what's new in b12?
1. New Menus!
The reorganization I mentioned in the b11 doc has been implemented. I received no negative comments about the proposal, so I went ahead and implemented it. It was a bit more complex than I had originally imagined, and took far more time than I had thought. In any case, this is likely to be the source of new bugs, if there are any (it works for me :-)) If it gets confusing, try Balloon Help. I think I've added Balloon Help to all new stuff in Charon, so that may help some.
Under the File menu, you now find the usual Mac items "New" and "Open…", "Save" and "Save as…". The "New" item roughly corresponds to the old "Add Boss Config" item, although you are not prompted to save the config after you've finished editing it. Once you've entered the data for the new config, you can dial out immediately, without having to save it first. If you try to do something that might cause you to lose the newly entered data (by quitting Charon, for instance), a dialog will pop up asking you if you want to save the config before you continue. You can of course use the "Save" and "Save as" menu options at any time to save you config.
The "Open…" option loads a config file into memory, and does nothing else. After a config has been opened, you can "Dial" out, or "Edit" it. If you choose either "Dial" or "Edit" without having a config file open, Charon will ask you whether you want to open a file first. You also have the option of automating that process ("Dial" implies "Open…", without a dialog asking about it) by clicking on the "Yes & Don't ask again" button. Once you have done that, hitting "Dial" will behave just as in previous versions of Charon if no config has been loaded.
To undo the disappearance of the dialog asking you if you want to open a config first, you can trash the preferences (file "Charon Preferences" in your "Preferences" folder), or you can edit the preferences file with ResEdit. You need to work on the "Pref" resource (there's just one); to make things easier, I have included a TMPL for Charon's preferences. Just open the TMPL file in ResEdit when you want to edit the preferences. If you think you'll be doing this often, you can also paste the TMPL resource into the preferences file itself. A third way of changing these preferences, is to use AppleScript (see below).
Under the "Special" menu, you will now find a new menu item, called "Edit Preferences…". This allows you to edit Charon's global preferences, mainly the stuff that used to be in 'STR ' resources previously. The meaning of the various settings is pretty obvious, it would seem to me, but then there's always Balloon Help to help you out. The preferences are saved automatically once you click on the "OK" button in the dialog.
The main problem with the reorganization is that you cannot if a config is loaded, or which one it is. I'm still trying to find an elegant way of doing this (suggestions are welcome).
2. More AppleScript stuff
The support for AppleScript has been expanded greatly, and the reorganization of the menu and Charon's modus operandi has made AppleScripting a lot easier. Basically, everything in Charon is now accessible through AppleScript. Recordability has been expanded, so that you now can record the process of creating or editing a new config. This could start as a good starting point if you wish to create your own configs by means of scripts.
Due to the reorganization, the "redial" event has become obsolete; it's still in there, but it is now exactly the same as the "dial" event. The reply from a dial event has been greatly expanded; it now contains the return code from the dialing, the number of files received, and a list of aliases to the files received. One note of caution here: if you use the built-in automatic decompression (e.g. ZipIt), the files that are decompressed and put into the trash are removed from the "files received" list. The reasoning here is, that if you use the automatic decompression, you won't be doing anything else with the compressed packets after they've been decompressed. For total control, don't use the automatic decompression.
To see all of Charon's new AppleScriptable gizmos, use the "Open Dictionary…" option in the Script Editor to look at what Charon has to offer. I hope my comments are lucid enough to help you figure out what's what.
The information in 'aete' resource should also be sufficient to allow you to remote control Charon through AppleEvents you create yourself, rather than having AppleSCript do it. If you want more information, feel free to contact me.
3. Bugfixes
Nothing major to report on this front, as the previous release has been magnificently stable. :-) Aside from the small ones, the only substantive bug fix is that Charon no longer crashes if you double-click a Charon document that is not a config file.
4. That's all...
Well, it looks like this is about it. As I said before, if all goes well, this will be the last beta I'll be sending to you; the next version of Charon you get will be the public release. In any case, you'll be hearing from me. :-)
(To those of you have been expecting replies to your emails, please be patient; I'll get to replying soon. I've been a bit busy lately, and have concentrated on programming).
As always, please send your bug reports and comments to me at qsi@cnh.wlink.nl.
