Awasu 2.3.4.alpha1

IMPORTANT: This is an alpha release (what's this?). Some features may not be complete and there will probably be bugs!

You must be already running 2.3.3.

To install:

• Read the release notes below first!
• Backup your Awasu installation directory and keep it, even if the alpha appears to work correctly.
• Unpack one (!) of the following zips on top of your existing installation:
  • Personal Edition
  • Advanced Edition
  • Professional Edition
• Run admin.exe to upgrade your database (this will be quick).

Channel reports

This release introduces a lot of new features and enhancements for channel reports.

• Channel reports can now be generated from the channels in a folder (see screenshot).
  Reports are typically created from channels in a folder and this feature means that you no longer have to create a channel filter for the sole purpose of generating a report.
• Channel reports can now be configured to automatically mark items as read and/or remove them from workpads.
  Being able to automatically mark items as read is useful if you're using a report to aggregate several channels together. And if you're using a workpad as a holding area for items to send elsewhere, automatically removing them when the report is generated and sent means you get a clean slate, ready for the next batch of items.

• Reports can now be emailed as well as FTP'ed or saved to a file (see screenshot).
• Workpad reports can now be configured to be re-generated whenever the underlying workpad is changed.
• Channel reports can now group feed items together by channel (the old behavior) or combine them into a single "River Of News".
  If feed items are being grouped by channel, the channels are now presented in alphabetical order.
  
  This enhancement introduced a new {%REPEAT% Channels-IfGroupingItems} statement to the report templates which inserts the template code once for each channel if feed items are being grouped by channel, but only once if they are not. The old {%REPEAT% Channels} will still continue to work but you will get odd results if you try to use it when not grouping feed items by channel. Check DefaultChannelReport.template to see the new statements in action.

Other new features

• Added a Create now button to the Channel Wizard.
• Added an item to the system tray menu to suspend/resume notification balloons.
• Added a way to automatically set an expiry date for new channels and/or put them in a specific folder.
• Added the ability to attach more than one XSLT to a channel.
• Individual feed items can now be manually downloaded for offline reading.
• New channel reports, filters and workpads can now be created as a copy of an existing one.
• Channel reports and filters can now be quickly created by right-clicking on a folder in the My Channels window (see screenshot).
• Added a Preview button to the auto-discovery dialog.
• {%ITEM-METADATA% description} now recognizes the min/maxExcerptWords= and format= arguments.
  The format= argument can be one of the following: "full", "excerpt", "plain" or "none".

Minor changes and bug fixes

• The Synchronization|Import from dialog now accepts UNC paths.
• The Pro Edition can now generate reports once every 5 minutes.
• The Organize channel favorites menu item is disabled until all channels have been loaded.
• Optimized the process of updating the channel summary page when marking items as read/unread.
• Fixed a crash if Mozilla is configured as the embedded browser but the ActiveX control is not installed.
• Fixed a problem that was stopping LAUNCH.EXE (used by the awasu: protocol) from working if Awasu was running in another session.
• Check if the maximum number of user tools will be exceeded before letting the user create a new one.
• Changed the way Awasu opens up local server ports.
  This means that features like the IE context menu and offline feed items/images will work correctly, even if another copy of Awasu is running in another session.
• The browser pane URL bar no longer displays awasu:// links.
• ADMIN.EXE no longer needs to be run from an administrator account and will degrade gracefully if it is not.
• Awasu now periodically reminds the user to optimize the database.
  Awasu used to do this many moons ago but now uses a less-intrusive balloom that eventually goes away by itself.
• The SendEmail channel hook now allows the FROM field to be blank (and will use the SMTP account name).
• Upgraded the GZIP decompression library to the latest version.
• Fixed a bug that was stopping new channels from updating correctly after they had been created if they have a SOAP/XSLT attached.
• Made the IE context menu more responsive even if Awasu is under load.
• The Check all function in the auto-discovery dialog now updates the feed list with the feed titles.
• Fixed a problem that was stopping items from being opened correctly from the system tray menu or workpads.
• Awasu now uses the current save directory and auto-delete interval when downloading/auto-deleting enclosures.
• Directories are automatically created as necessary when downloading enclosures.
• Enclosures are no longer deleted when their associated feed items get purged.
• Fixed a rare problem that could cause new channels to be lost if they have similar feed URL's and are created in rapid succession.

Known issues

• Clicking on Check all in the auto-discovery dialog causes problems (Preview will crash, Subscribe will not load the feed URL into the Channel Wizard).
• Odd things can happen if you click on Create now in the Channel Wizard and the URL is a web page (instead of a feed) that contains an auto-discoverable feed URL.
• Items that have been manually downloaded for offline reading do not show the icon in the channel summary pages. They are also only available in the current session.