Resources

Resources can change at any time. Changes will be announced on the mailing list.

endResources

Changed (2009-02-26)

The new build is 5.0d69.

Changed (2008-12-17)

The new build is 5.0d68.

Changed (2008-12-01)

The new build is 5.0d67.

Changed (2008-11-27)

The new build is 5.0d66.

This build addresses a serious regression in the 5.0d65 build.

Changed (2008-11-26)

The new build is 5.0d65.

This build integrates several editor and debugging improvements from the Script Debugger 4.5 GM release.

Changed (2008-11-08)

The new build is 5.0d64.

This build integrates several editor and debugging improvements from the Script Debugger 4.5b29 release.

Changed (2008-10-25)

The new build is 5.0d63.

This build integrates several editor and debugging improvements from the Script Debugger 4.5b26 release.

Changed (2008-10-10)

The new build is 5.0d62.

This build integrates several editor and debugging improvements from the Script Debugger 4.5b22 release.

Changed (2008-09-30)

The new build is 5.0d61.

This build integrates several editor and debugging improvements from the Script Debugger 4.5b18 release.

Changed (2008-09-20)

The new build is 5.0d60.

This build integrates several editor and debugging improvements from the Script Debugger 4.5b17 release.

Changed (2008-08-05)

The new build is 5.0d59.

This build integrates several editor and debugging improvements from the Script Debugger 4.5b12 release.

Changed (2008-07-03)

The new build is 5.0d58.

This build integrates several editor and debugging improvements from the Script Debugger 4.5b8 release.

Changed (2008-06-26)

The new build is 5.0d57.

This build integrates several editor and debugging improvements from the Script Debugger 4.5b7 release.

Changed (2008-06-18)

The new build is 5.0d56.

This build integrates several editor and debugging improvements from the Script Debugger 4.5b4 release.

Changed (2008-06-12)

The new build is 5.0d55.

Changed (2008-06-12)

The new build is 5.0d54.

Changed (2008-06-03)

The new build is 5.0d53.

Changed (2008-05-27)

The new build is 5.0d52.

Changed (2008-05-24)

The new build is 5.0d51.

Changed (2008-05-22)

The new build is 5.0d50.

Changed (2008-05-16)

The new build is 5.0d49.

Fixes the behavior of the dock count style property, corrects a number of misbehaviors with the display alert command, and cures some compilation and dictionary-opening crashes.

end516

Changed (2008-05-11)

The new build is 5.0d48.

New feature: Text completion when you’re typing in a code editor. Type something partial and hit the Esc key to see it in action. This is also inherited by Script Debugger 4.5, of course.

The Applet and Droplet templates and behavior have been changed; please see the Alpha Doc for documentation. If you have already written an applet or droplet, you’re going to have to alter it.

Some big crashers have been fixed, and the problem with adjusting the design window height has been fixed at last.

Changed (2008-05-02)

The new build is 5.0d47.

The big improvement here, I think, is the debugging interface. The three crucial options, Break on Breakpoints, Break on Events, and Break on Breakpoints, can now be viewed and toggled in the toolbars that appear above the code in the main window and the debugging windows while debugging. You can also make them appear in the main toolbars at the top of the main window and the debugger window, and elsewhere — I say “make them appear” because for that you will need to customize the toolbar. The icons, of course, are just joke placeholders, but you’ll find that the red/green color toggling makes it extremely clear to your subconscious mind what the current option settings are, and the toolbars are just a much more convenient place than a menu to perform these settings. You should find that the whole debugging experience is now becoming very smooth.

When using do shell script, you should, as elsewhere (e.g. Script Editor), make no assumptions about the PATH environment variable. We are hard-coding behind the scenes to /usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin, but your best approach is to use full paths for shell commands.

Other changes in this build are all actually changes in what you might call the “Script Debugger core” of FaceSpan (meaning that they will also be inherited by SD 4.5):

endthatchanged

Changed (2008-03-12)

The new build is 5.0d46.

The big news is that the Script Debugger debugger has now been incorporated into FaceSpan. Please watch this movie to learn how to use it. This is a work in progress but it is very functional and very cool and we wanted to get it into your hands as soon as possible.

There is a known debugger issue on PowerPC machines where if you hit a breakpoint and fall into the project, you can’t get the Debugger window to open. The workaround is to open the Debugger window before you run the project, and just leave it open.

Some other changes:

endChanged9

Changed (2008-02-20)

The new build is 5.0d45.

Now, before going on, I need to raise some issues introduced by the fact that we now run on two platforms. The ground of being here is that we think of ourselves as Leopard-primary — we run mainly on Leopard and produce mainly Leopard apps. However, we do still run on Tiger and produce Tiger apps as well. Therefore, two kinds of question remain:

The following are new Leopard-only features, because they were introduced by Apple as part of Cocoa on Leopard (on Tiger they are unavailable and do nothing):

The following are changes to the Leopard/Tiger status of things:

The following is an improvement in the editor:

The following are new miscellaneous language / dictionary changes:

endChanged8

Changed (2007-12-12)

The new build is 5.0d44.

There is effectively no new application-building functionality, but there are some miscellaneous internal runtime changes to cope with Leopard; these should not be noticeable except that without them, FaceSpan apps can’t run on Leopard, so this release is strongly recommended for all users! The main visible changes have to do with the FaceSpan IDE interface.

endChanged7

Changed (2007-08-24)

The new build is 5.0d43.

There is no new application-building functionality. The main change here is within the interface of FaceSpan itself:

endchanges6

Changed (2007-08-11)

The new build is 5.0d42.

endChanges5

Changes (2007-07-31)

The new build is 5.0d41.

endChanges3

Changes (2007-07-15)

The new build is 5.0d39.

endChanges2

Changes (2007-05-11)

The new build is 5.0d38.

endChanges1

Welcome (2007-04-13)

The time draws near for the first alpha release of FaceSpan 5. Welcome, and thank you for being willing to brave these waters. We think you’ll find FaceSpan 5 exciting and promising, even at this early stage.

And it is an early stage. About half of FaceSpan 5 is completely missing. Menus are not working at all, and the repertory of widgets and dictionary entries is probably about half the size it will be at final release time. Still, FaceSpan is clearly becoming useful, as you’ll see.

The hardest part of being an alpha tester is knowing when something is a bug, when something is a completely missing feature, and when something is in the category of “yeah, yeah, we know”. To help you, we’ve tried to stick to a policy where, if something is broken, we’ve temporarily withdrawn it. So most of what you can see is mostly working. Nevertheless, there are things that work in code but not in the IDE, things that work in the IDE but not in code, and things that are just not working.

Now, in the face of all this, if you start to feel doubtful or inhibited, you’re not going to report bugs, make feature suggestions, etc.; and that’s bad. So the best policy is: Comment! Ask! Suggest! Try stuff! Communicate on the mailing list. We’ll field questions. We’ll note bug reports and feature requests. We’ll copy important information to the Alpha Doc or the FAQ. We’ll fix things in the FaceSpanKit Dictionary to make it more accurate and more instructive. Let’s all learn together and help FaceSpan 5 grow.

endWelcome