Reflections and Projections

OpenLP 2.4.2 Released

OpenLP 2.4 has still proven to be been surprisingly bug-free. Apart from some known issues with video, we've had very few actual bug reports. But that doesn't mean there haven't been any bug reports, or any bugs to be fixed. So, without much further ado, here's OpenLP 2.4.2, the second of the bugfix releases of OpenLP 2.4.

The translations have been updated to the latest versions.

Bugs fixed in 2.4.2:

  • #1579648 BibleStudyTools import broken

  • #1588369 Projector Won't Connect in OpenLP

  • #1582152 SongPro import fails with traceback

  • #1585489 Traceback during songshowplus import

  • #1589815 OpenSong files with non-numeric CCLI cause an exception

  • #1593882 Projector authenticated connection generates exception

  • #1593883 Projector not connecting with authentication

  • #1594945 VideoPsalm import with control chars or escaped quotes causes traceback

    So let's not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone-especially to those in the family of faith.

    Galatians 6:9-10 NLT

[ Image Credit: Harvest by Phil Dolby ]

New 2.4 Series Release Next Weekend

We'd like to release another bug fix version of OpenLP next Sunday, the 26th of June. This should hopefully fix a few annoying bugs that were uncovered after the last round of bug fixes.

If you are a translator, now is your last chance to get your translation up to date. We are going to be pulling the translations from Transifex (you'll need to log in to see this link) on the morning of Thursday the 23rd. This means that your last day for translating is Wednesday the 22nd.

[ Image Credit: #construction by Bernardo Aldana ]

Bugs, Translations, and Another Release

As we continue to work towards a shorter release cycle, we have started releasing bug fixes and translation updates on a more frequent basis.

With this in mind, we'd like to release version 2.4.2 in about 3 weeks time. This version will have all the latest bug fixes, but we would also like to release updated translations. If you're a translator, now is your opportunity to get your translation up to date.

We'll be sending out updates via our developer mailing list, so make sure you sign up and keep your ear to the ground.

[ Image Credit: Atypical welcome by Quinn Dombrowski ]

Official OpenLP Remote for iOS Released

Since we released the Android app we've had dozens of folks asking if there is a version for iOS, and our answer has always been, "No, we don't have any developers who have iOS devices and can write iOS apps. Then, a few months ago we were approached by Daniel Borges Ferreira da Silva, who is an OpenLP user and develops iOS apps, who offered to develop an iOS remote just like our Android remote.

Daniel worked hard on planning the app, wrote out workflows, mocked up screens, designed logos, and eventually had an app to show for it all. After that he started a beta programme to make sure he hadn't created any devastating bugs.

After a very successful beta programme, I am proud to announce the public release of the OpenLP Remote for iOS. We've aimed for feature parity between the iOS and Android apps, so if you find a feature on one and not the other, please let us know so that we can fix that.

At the moment, the OpenLP Remote for iOS is not adapted for iPad, but this is currently in development.

We would like to extend a huge thank you to Daniel for stepping up and volunteering to take on the task of developing this app. Daniel spent time and money designing and creating a smooth user experience. His passion, expertise and attention to detail shine through this fantastic app.

Download the app from the App Store

Screenshots

[ Image Credit: iPhone 6 by Olle Eriksson ]

OpenLP 2.4.1 Released

Despite the extremely fast cycle from version 2.2 to version 2.4, OpenLP 2.4 has been surprisingly bug-free. Apart from some known issues with video, we've had very few actual bug reports. But that doesn't mean there haven't been any bug reports, or any bugs to be fixed.

So, without much further ado, here's OpenLP 2.4.1, the first of the bugfix releases of OpenLP 2.4.

Bugs fixed in 2.4.1

Here are the bugs we've fixed in 2.4.1:

  • #1552501 Problem deleting songs

  • #1547234 Missing Verses in EasyWorship 2009 Import

  • #1549549 import OpenSong songs with problem

  • #1552563 Performance regression: Search by songbook very slow

  • #1553863 If searching apocrypha book name while 2nd bible does not have it = Traceback

  • #1553922 EasyWorship import throws exception on unknown character

  • #1554428 The bug-report window produces traceback when pressing "Send email"

  • #1554748 Slide Order Changes in Custom Slides

  • #1557514 Error when importing OLP Song Database

  • #1559336 Traceback error when attached media (to song) not found

  • #1547307 Print Service no longer works in 2.4

Updating Translations

We've realised that we haven't always kept the translations up-to-date. With this in mind we plan to release one or two more "bugfix" releases with updated translations. So don't forget to head over to Transifex and keep your language updated!

[ Image Credit: Beetle by Magnus Hagdorn ]

3000 Fans on Facebook!

While we don't place a lot of emphasis on numbers here at OpenLP, it's always nice to see a milestone or two, just to give us an idea of how many people are using OpenLP, and how popular it is.

Just the other day, the number of fans on the OpenLP page on Facebook ticked over 3000.

Now, this doesn't compare to some of the commercial applications out there, nor does it give us a real indication of how many people are using OpenLP, but it's still helps us understand how much of an impact we're having on the body of Christ, which is what our goal is anyway.

If you are on Facebook, and you aren't a fan of our page yet, please pop along to the OpenLP page and click the Like button. And don't forget to share it among your friends. OpenLP has blessed a number of churches, and it's with your help that we can bless more!

[ Image credit: Facebook by Christopher ]

iOS Beta Testers Needed

We are happy to announce that our official OpenLP Remote app for iOS is almost here, after about six months of planning, design and development. We are busy with the last few steps before we finally release the first version of the iOS app, but before we do that we need your help!

If you are an iPhone user you can help us by participating in some internal testing using the TestFlight app. This will allow you to install unreleased versions of iOS apps on your phone from the App Store. Once TestFlight is installed and your e-mail address has been activated against OpenLP, you will be able to download and install the OpenLP Remote.

Once the OpenLP Remote is installed, you will be able to test it out and give us feedback on how to improve the app. Please send all feedback to our support e-mail address.

If you are interested in becoming a beta tester please fill out this application form and we will add you to our list of beta testers, while we still have space. Further instructions will for the beta tester process will be available once you have completed the form.

Once we've gathered all the feedback and fixed up any bugs that have arisen, we will release the OpenLP Remote for iOS to everyone.

Thank you for the interest.

[ Image Credit: iPhone 6+ Curved Glass by Omar Jordan Fawahl ]

OpenLP 2.4 Released

After an extremely short release cycle, we're proud to present OpenLP 2.4.

Some folks might be wondering why we're releasing a new version after such a short amount of time. Others might be looking at the new features, and wondering why there's almost nothing there. The reality is that we were forced to upgrade some of the libraries we use sooner than we had anticipated.

Some of the Linux distributions removed one of the components of the GUI library we are using (Qt), and in order to continue using that component we had to upgrade the GUI library. When the component was removed from those Linux distributions, OpenLP was also removed. So in order to make sure OpenLP is in the next version of Ubuntu, we had to move fast.

Known issues

Moving so quickly also meant that some of the issues we discovered while upgrading to the latest Qt version could not be solved within the limited timeframe. These issues are only seen on Windows and Mac OS X and relate to the use of transparent themes, and cause the presentation display not to update correctly. We have also spotted some issues with the webkit player, which is used for live backgrounds, and again is only seen on Windows and Mac OS X. If you need to use these features, we recommend skipping OpenLP 2.4 and waiting for OpenLP 2.6.

As with any upgrade, make sure you backup your data before upgrading to OpenLP 2.4. This way you can always revert to the previous version of OpenLP without losing your data should you be negatively affected by these issues. You can follow the instructions in our manual on how to backup your data.

Bugs we've fixed in OpenLP 2.4

  • #1544263: Tools -> Song Usage Tracking -> Toggle Tracking doesn't work

  • #1531319: The presentation display isn't updated on windows

  • #1404669: KDE Plasma 5 is breaking the look of OpenLP

  • #1532169: Expanding or Collapsing a Song in ServiceManager raises an Exception

  • #1532938: Presenting with PowerPoint or Impress triggers traceback

  • #1533081: Importing Song DB fails

  • #1534306: Empty song-titles causes tracebacks on update from 2.0 to 2.2

  • #1535332: Startup display on second monitor hides items send live

  • #1536411: Verse order textbox jumps to end

  • #1490508: Powerpoint / object has no attribute 'slidenumber'

  • #1533280: Songs with linked audio cause traceback

  • #1537212: Song book number input box - not clearing and unexpected 'Enter' action

  • #1066323: Add song to multiple song books

  • #1533246: No Shortcuts work in 2.3.2

  • #1490184: '?' help buttons not working

  • #1510572: Double verses at end of song shows as 1 on stageview

  • #1531872: Fix projector test temp db file

  • #1530340: Ctrl-F should select all text in the search field

  • #1530354: Allow entering verse order in lowercase

  • #1420276: Remove old upgrade code

  • #1507385: VLC not available after upgrade to 2.2

  • #913508: cannot delete a theme if it is assigned to a song

  • #1516171: Alert with line break from remote makes desktop report a bug

  • #1168778: Search as you type setting in wrong settings tab

  • #1281100: Unable to distinguish between songs with the same title

  • #1413217: optparse deprecated

  • #1439304: Print service change font size

  • #1487014: Image disappearing from images list

  • #1390699: Better wording for "Plugin List"

  • #1390706: Improve File menu

New features we've added in OpenLP 2.4

  • #1509550: Support song import from VideoPsalm

  • #1512674: Customise styles for remote interface

All over the world

With every release, we hear of more and more people from all over the world who are using OpenLP in their churches. We love hearing from you, so please drop us a line (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, e-mail, or just comment below) and tell us where you're from and how OpenLP is helping your church worship the Lord better.

But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.

Romans 10:18 KJV

[ Image Credit: The world by Dave C ]

OpenLP 2.4 Release Candidate (version 2.3.3)

We're getting closer and closer to a release. Today we're excited to bring you our release candidate of OpenLP 2.4. If there are no major issues with version 2.3.3, we will release version 2.4 in a week or two.

OpenLP 2.4 is a short release with the main goal being upgrading OpenLP to use Qt 5. Up until now, we've been using version 4 of the GUI toolkit called Qt ("cute"). The GUI toolkit is how we display our interface.

Bugs we've fixed in this release

  • #1531319: Update the presentation display as it isn't updated on Windows when verses change

  • #1404669: KDE Plasma 5 is breaking the look of OpenLP for the Media Library

  • #1532169: Expanding or Collapsing a Song in ServiceManager raises an Exception

  • #1532938: Presenting with PowerPoint or Impress triggers traceback

  • #1533081: Importing Song DB fails

  • #1534306: Empty song-titles causes tracebacks on update from 2.0 to 2.2

  • #1535332: Startup display on second monitor hides items send live

  • #1536411: Verse order textbox jumps to end

  • #1533280: Songs with linked audio cause traceback

  • #1537212: Song book number input box - not clearing and unexpected 'Enter' action

  • #1533246: No Shortcuts work in 2.3.2 post 2.3.1 install

Known issues

  • On Windows when using transparent themes, the display will not update correctly.

Translations

The latest translations have been included so these are close to being the final version for 2.4. More help is always needed to improve the scope of our translations.

Download

To download and test out OpenLP 2.3.3, go to the downloads page of our development website.

I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:14

[ Image Credit: Finish Line by jayneandd ]

New Beta Release: OpenLP 2.3.2

We're really happy to announce our first beta release of the upcoming OpenLP 2.4.

You might think this is really soon after the last release, and it is true. We are having to accelerate our release to move to PyQt5 due to a packaging problem on Debian, Ubuntu, Mint and other Linux distributions. As of today, OpenLP is no longer in the Debian repository because a package it relies on has been removed.

We're long overdue moving to Qt5 as it is, so this just means we're moving to Qt5 a little sooner than we had anticipated.

A number of features have been added, and some bugs fixed, in this release:

  • Removed unnecessary ‘?’ help buttons, and fixed the remaining ones

  • Double verses at end of song now show correctly on stageview

  • Ctrl-F selects all text in the search field

  • Verse order can now be either upper or lower case (e.g. "v1 v2 v3" or "V1 V2 V3")

  • Songbooks now support multiple songbook entries

  • Fixed various issues with song importers

While version 2.3.1, the first alpha, was release, we didn't blog about it. The following updates were released in 2.3.1:

  • Upgrade to PyQt5 from PyQt4

  • Add proper shortcuts for Mac OS X

  • Don't hide the dock and menu bar on Mac OS X when using only a single screen

  • Allow the display to drop below the main window when using only a single screen on Mac OS X

  • VLC not available after upgrade to 2.2

  • Improve the notificaions of deletion of themes when used by Plugins

  • All the implementation of custom stage.css ouside core code

  • Fix Alert with line break from remote so it does not fail from Remote Interface

  • Amend Search as you type settings as configured to use wrong Settings Tab

  • Unable to distinguish between songs with the same title in Remote Interface

  • Allow Print service change font size by allowing configurable style sheets

  • Fix images disappearing from images list

  • Better Labeling on Menus and Labels.

  • Add support for song import from VideoPsalm

Downloads

You can download OpenLP 2.3.2 from our developer site. The download button below will take you to the downloads page.

Download OpenLP 2.3.2

[ Image Credit: Re-worked Old'un - 4 by Barry Lewis ]