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Apr 2006 17

Tracks 1.041

Posted by bsag

Version: 1.041
File:
Subversion URL: http://www.rousette.org.uk/svn/tracks-repos/tags/tracks-1.041
See doc/CHANGELOG for the full details of what’s new in this release, but the highlights are:
  1. Tracks now has an API, written by Luke Melia, which allows you to create new actions in a particular context remotely, using scripts. See http://www.rousette.org.uk/projects/downloads/comments/adding-next-actions-via-scripts-the-tracks-api/ for some example scripts and instructions. If anyone creates scripts for other platforms (Windows or Linux), or more fancy ones for Mac OS X, do share them!
  2. The feeds page now lists iCal links alongside each RSS and TXT feed link. Copying your chosen link and pasting it in to the text box that appears in iCal when you choose Calendar > Subscribe.. Name your calendar as you wish, but make sure that you get it to refresh periodically and that the ‘Remove Todo items’ checkbox is UNCHECKED (obviously wink ). Then your Tracks next actions should appear as todo items in iCal, with proper due dates assigned, and notes in the notes field. The todos should update periodically in iCal as you add, delete or complete items in Tracks, but the subscription is read-only from iCal’s end. However, it does allow you read access on the move if you sync iCal with your Palm or mobile phone.
  3. Setting no_completed in the user preferences to zero now removes the completed items box completely from the home page and from the individual context and project pages, if you don’t like completed items cluttering those pages up.
  4. You can set a local time zone in environment.rb if your local time zone is different from the time zone setting on the server running Tracks.
  5. ‘Add users’ link added to the navigation bar for the admin user, which is a convenient way to get to the signup page.
  6. Luke fixed the edit actions method so that changing an action’s context immediately moves it in an Ajaxy way to the new context.
  1. Updated vendor directory to Rails 1.1

Filed under: releases

16 Comments

Picture of greenygreeny
Thu, 20 Apr 2006 @ 06:54

congratulations on the new version release.

I have been eagerly waiting for this one. And I am pleasantly surprised by the huge number of new features and bug-fixes.

Can’t wait for the next major release.

Congratulations and thank you for a great product once again!! smile

Picture of Kevin A. BurtonKevin A. Burton
Wed, 26 Apr 2006 @ 23:59

Why don’t you provide a hosted version of this (ALA 37signals).  I’d totally pay $5 or something like this but I’m too lazy to configure it myself.

I mean maybe I’d do it but I’d give you $ right now if you would let me smile

Picture of bsagbsag
Sat, 29 Apr 2006 @ 15:28

Kevin A. Burton: I don’t know. There’s quite a lot to think about when providing a hosted version. If there was one, what kind of features would you be interested in?

Picture of AdrianAdrian
Mon, 8 May 2006 @ 13:10

I guess if you were going to host it, the biggest change you’d have to make is around user registrations ; you’d have to either handle these manually, or have an automated registration process. If you were going to charge people for it too, then you’d have to have the whole credit card auth thing happening.

bsag - what are your thoughts on other people setting up a hosting service using your code? It doesn’t seem exactly fair that someone might charge people to use your code…

I’m happy to think about setting up a *free* hosted service, but my conscience wouldn’t let me charge for it, and only with your authority.

Picture of FredFred
Wed, 10 May 2006 @ 01:30

My idea was to setup a fee based hosted one and give part of the fee to Bsag.  I figured around $5 per month would be a fair charge and then potentially $1-2 per month per client would be donated to the development of the software further.  Of course there would have to be some custom development to work in a hosted environment, which should not be very hard all in all.

Picture of FotofloFotoflo
Wed, 17 May 2006 @ 01:26

HI. I wanted to ask you to setup a hosted version too. it makes alot of sence, and the alternitve is, well, rather cumbersome. look at gmail, gcal. these programs dont ask the users to run their own webserver, and they are free. Trax should be free too.  Having to setup a webserver is a huge barrier to usage and to your potential growth… the more people who start using it, the more profit potential you havel. First offer trax hosted for free, and if you decided you want to pull a profit, offer premium services, like inter-office collaboration for example, or make it ad supported.

Picture of fotoflofotoflo
Wed, 17 May 2006 @ 01:36

Sorry, i had written that previous post before downloading and reading the installation guide.  LISTEN. it is absolutly imperitive that you offer a hosted version.  your setup is rediculous. I would love to use Trax. from the screen shots and users comments it seems wonderful. but imagine for a minute you are not a programmer, you dont have a dedicated webserver in your closet and you dont know what MySQL is. who in their right mind is going to install and run a webserver and a database server along with the host of other programs you require just to run a personal orginizer? especially with the warning “IF THIS CRASHES YOUR MACHINE AND LOSES YOUR DATA, IT’S NOT MY FAULT!“ at the top of the installation.htm. personally, for me, and im at the very upper end of savvy, before it crosses the line to coder, running trax is not an option with the current pre-reqs.  Anyway… please setup a hosted version which will make your software viable for your avg itunes user.

Picture of bsagbsag
Wed, 17 May 2006 @ 17:15

fotoflo: While I’d like installation to be easier, you’re massively overstating the case. Many users—from seasoned geeks to people who have never used a terminal before—have successfully installed Tracks (not Trax, by the way). Some of the non-technically experienced people did it fine on their own using the installation instructions, and some asked for a bit of help from me or others on the mailing list, which we were very happy to provide. None of them thought it ‘ridiculous’, as far as I know.

By the way, you don’t need a ‘webserver in your closet’ as you put it because WEBrick (a very lightweight and low-resource using webserver) is included in the package and all you have to do is start it with one line in a terminal. You don’t even need MySQL because you can use SQLite3, for which a database is actually included (you just need to install the libraries, which is pretty easy). Furthermore, many people run Tracks on space on a Ruby-savvy webhost, where all the requirements are already installed. There are also two ‘one-click’ installers of all of the requirements available for both Windows (Instant Rails) and MacOS X (Locomotive) which people can use if they don’t want to install Ruby and the other requirements by hand.

If you are—as you suggest—‘at the upper end of savvy’, you shouldn’t have any trouble, but I’m not holding a gun to your head to install it. I provide Tracks free (in both senses) and currently put a great deal of my very limited free time into it, along with some dedicated and similarly busy people who contribute to the project. I’m sorry, but we don’t HAVE to do anything.

By the way, in case anyone is interested Tracks 1.041 has had 1,684 downloads in the month that it has been available. Of course, only a fraction of downloads probably resulted in installations, but I still find it encouraging. Emails and other evidence indicates that there is now quite a substantial installed base for Tracks.

Picture of fotoflofotoflo
Wed, 17 May 2006 @ 23:58

Bsag.
  Hi, yeah, i saw tehre were “one click solutions” and im happy that youve got 1600 downloads… and if youre happy with 1600 downloads in a month, thats great. but if youve gotten 1600 downloads in amonth, i bet if you had a hosted version you’d have 5000 users by now, and they would be surfing your webpage daily and giving you possible ad traffic, and they would be telling their friends and expanding your userbase. and as everyone knows userbase = marketshare = success.

i dont mean to be pushy and im sorry if i came across that way… it looks like you have a great product with a huge stubling block to entry… i mean, GTD is supposed to be about eliminating clutter, is it not?

on a personal note, Ive just moved to beijing and at the moment im running a rather fragile system, (an older thinkpad with too little ram, and some hardware problems (get this, it crashed, like hardcore hardware failure, and i took it to a computer market, and they soldered a chip off the motherboard and soldered a bootleg one back on…all for $30) so i think ill wait until i get a desktop to do any installs of something that requires a webserver and a database server.

cheers
-fotoflo

Picture of bsagbsag
Wed, 24 May 2006 @ 18:13

fotoflo: I don’t charge for Tracks as you know, nor do I advertise on any of my sites (only a few Amazon referral links to products I’m talking about on my blog, which nets me approximately 1 CD per quarter!). So that’s not really an issue for me one way or another.

Picture of Dan SmithDan Smith
Mon, 26 Jun 2006 @ 21:28

The SVN link seems to be password protected - am I missing something?

Picture of Kevin RosenjackKevin Rosenjack
Tue, 27 Jun 2006 @ 02:53

I have Tracks up on my hosted server.  I will be offering some free accounts to anyone interested.  The process will ultimately be automated - but for now - if you would like an account to test or use please send me an email at brightpool_at_gmail.com (edit for spam) and indicate to me what you would like for a user name.  I will send a return email with password within a day or so.  Enjoy!

Regards,
Kevin Rosenjack

Picture of bsagbsag
Wed, 28 Jun 2006 @ 07:18

Dan Smith: Yes it is: username=guest, pass=guest. The details are on the home page of this site.

Picture of Dan SmithDan Smith
Wed, 28 Jun 2006 @ 10:15

Many Thanks, that’s great.

Picture of chrischris
Fri, 14 Jul 2006 @ 20:09

Hi!  I’m also hosting Tracks for free at http://tracks.tra.in—you can sign up and use it right away without having to email me.  I’ve also been tweaking tracks.tra.in a bit and plan to hack on some more feature/design tweaks in the future. 

Hope this helps!

Picture of Kevin RosenjackKevin Rosenjack
Fri, 21 Jul 2006 @ 18:01

My organization is hosting Tracks for free and intends to keep it that way. We are rolling out a site and some modifications but there have been a few hosts sprouting up recently and we would like to get this out to the public.  If you would like a free account please navigate to:

http://tracks.brightpool.com

The name will be changed shortly and there will be new features and supporting documentation.

If you have an existing Tracks install and would like to move to a hosted model please contact brightpool_at_gmail.com and we can help you move your data.

Regards,
Kevin Rosenjack
BrightPool LLC

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