Hi All

The new correction release on the 1.2.x line is available. The main changes are:

• Fix for OOS changes not being saved in certain circumstances

• Fix for Message dialog sometimes opening on the wrong monitor

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR WINDOWS USERS

Please note, if you're using Windows, you need to uninstall the previous version of OpenLP. We upgraded some of the components used in OpenLP and there seems to be a conflict on Windows, as reported by some users.

Yes folks, we've done it again! Here is another pre-release release of OpenLP 2.0. We're very excited to bring you OpenLP 1.9.4 Alpha 4, codename "Jumping Jonah".

PLEASE REMEMBER TO READ THE FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS BEFORE USING AN ALPHA RELEASE

Some of the new features in this release are...

• New search box for songs

• Song re-indexing tool

• SongBeamer import

• Importing songs from the service file

• openlp.org 1.x Bibles added to Bible import wizard

• An additional web download Bible source

• Auto-completion of Bible book names in the Quick Search

• Brand new theme wizard

• Resizing of preview panes as per openlp.org 1.x

• A new shortcuts dialog, though it is not yet functional

• Bug report dialog now hooks into your e-mail client

PLEASE RUN THE NEW SEARCH RE-INDEX TOOL AFTER UPGRADING

Not only do we have all these new features, but a couple of our testers have started writing a reference manual for OpenLP 2, which can be seen on our new manual site. They are continuously working on it, and as they update it we update the new manual site with their latest work.

We also tried to put a lot of polish into this release, cleaning up bugs, making OpenLP work better behind the scenes, tweaking the GUI, etc. Our list of open bugs has grown since Alpha 3, but then so has our list of fixed bugs.

As part of the "polish" exercise, our Mac OS X packager has done a lot of work to fix up the errors in the OS X build. If you're an OS X user, please check our list of bugs, and let us know if you are experiencing any of them.

Head on over to the download page to get it now!

Here's a list of bugs fixed in Alpha 4:

• 684901: Editing solid theme

• 684905: Saving a theme name

• 688647: Bible Import code requires SQLITE package to be avaliable

• 691952: To create a songs fails

• 694148: importing theme produces errors

• 598356: Slide Controller preview screen does not resize when screen size changes.

• 643506: Updating song in media manager doesn't update song in service manager

• 651076: Preview/Live issues with saved Song/Bible/Custom items loaded into Service Manager

• 652380: OpenLP1.x database fails to import in 1.9.3 with character issues

• 656177: saved ppt file to order of service

• 660448: Activating a presentation while "blank" causes presentation to go live

• 661965: Preview/Going Live of video fails in build 1093

• 685331: Service Manager fails after 1 instance

• 686103: Labels in theme wizard out of alignment on Windows

• 690335: The slides of a customs item cannot be reduced to one

• 696979: Open Service dialog shows no files

• 697271: Songs maintain the list of songs topics authors

• 594909: Editing theme name creates a theme

• 599146: Theme changes not getting saved

• 647931: OSIS Bible importer imports "1Sam.x.yy" as "1 Samual" (misspelling)

• 649999: Extra line is being added to end of Verses and Choruses

• 655102: CCLI song importer brings in some text not needed

• 657465: Media Types and File Types detection not complete

• 657712: image slides slow to open or mixed up

• 668630: Error when previewing a media file in the media manager

• 686126: OpenLP 2 song import crashes with "alternate_title" attribute error.

• 692684: Theme Wizard not updating

• 693694: Web interface does not always send all necessary data

• 696313: "Open Last Service" incorrectly opens the most recent service

• 598393: After adding a new image to a selected (image) item in the service manager it is not selected anymore

• 626070: GStreamer backend for Phonon has issues

• 636835: songs.sqlite will not be downsized when deleting songs

• 641661: Web Bible Import doesn't handle network problems

• 693150: Custom Slide Display footer option

• 697405: Theme editor looses settings

• 656958: 'Blank to Theme' is not working for image backgrounds

• 661867: Invalid author added in song dialog

• 667837: Revision 1102 broke themes

• 668789: Bible wont display any verses when clicking search

• 674023: When adding media to the media plugin the file window does not show all supported video/audio file types.

• 693202: delete theme

• 696362: Songbook number left from previously opened song edit dialog

Here is the latest installment of the 1.2.x line sporting the following corrections:

• Correction for loading of OOS where the name of a song in the OOS existed multiple times in the song DB

• Correction for corruption of OOS when no theme selected for storing in the OOS

• Correction for handling of embedded items in a PowerPoint slide in Office 2007 and above

Enjoy :)

From all of us OpenLP folks, we would like to wish everyone a blessed Christmas. We pray that your day is (or has been) filled with joy, happiness, and reflection on His birth and His message. Let's not get carried away by the presents and the food and the celebrations, but take time to think about the "reason for the season".

About that time Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken throughout the Empire. This was the first census when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone had to travel to his own ancestral hometown to be accounted for. So Joseph went from the Galilean town of Nazareth up to Bethlehem in Judah, David's town, for the census. As a descendant of David, he had to go there. He went with Mary, his fiancée, who was pregnant.

While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. She gave birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in a manger, because there was no room in the hostel.

There were sheepherders camping in the neighborhood. They had set night watches over their sheep. Suddenly, God's angel stood among them and God's glory blazed around them. They were terrified. The angel said, "Don't be afraid. I'm here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: A Savior has just been born in David's town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master. This is what you're to look for: a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger."

At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God's praises:

Glory to God in the heavenly heights, Peace to all men and women on earth who please him.

As the angel choir withdrew into heaven, the sheepherders talked it over. "Let's get over to Bethlehem as fast as we can and see for ourselves what God has revealed to us." They left, running, and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. Seeing was believing. They told everyone they met what the angels had said about this child. All who heard the sheepherders were impressed.

Mary kept all these things to herself, holding them dear, deep within herself. The sheepherders returned and let loose, glorifying and praising God for everything they had heard and seen. It turned out exactly the way they'd been told!

Luke 1:1-20 (The Message)

We have decided to delay the release of OpenLP 1.9.4 (aka 2.0 Alpha 4) for two weeks, till the 9th of January. Due to some unforseen technical difficulties (namely my Internet connection at home giving up the ghost), we have been unable to fully prepare for the release.

By delaying the release for 2 weeks, we hope to give the translators a chance to get their translations up to speed, and give the testers and developers a chance to iron out most of the remaining bugs. This will hopefully ensure that we have a well-rounded release.

Are you eager to help out with OpenLP but aren't a developer?

We need folks to help write the manual for OpenLP 2.0. You don't need to be a developer, but a good working knowledge of how to do things like set up dual monitors is essential. Experience with markup systems like BBcode, Markdown or even HTML is an advantage, but not necessary.

So what does it entail?

Basically, you'll be writing up documentation in something called reStructuredText, which is plain text with a little bit of markup. It might sound pretty intimidating, but it isn't that complicated. You will also need to work a little with Bazaar, the version control system we use, but that's not that complicated either. And don't worry, we will help you every step along the way.

Interested?

Send an e-mail to info [at] openlp.org with a subject line of "Help with Manual" and your name, e-mail address, and username on the site.

Version 1.2.7 is a correction release enabling the correct functioning of PowerPoint 2010 presentations.

OpenLP is now available in the Arch User Repository (AUR). If you are an Arch user I'm sure you are familiar with the AUR, but just in case check out the wiki on the AUR. If you are using Yaourt to install from the AUR a simple 'yaourt -S openlp' will install OpenLP 1.9.3 (Alpha 3). I have used OpenLP some on Arch Linux and I am extremely impressed even using a fairly heavey desktop like KDE, Arch and OpenLP fly.

We would like to think "floft" for making this happen for OpenLP. floft, we would love for you to contact us so we could give you more formal recognition for this great contribution to the OpenLP community.

I've just finished setting up a new support tracker so that those folks who want to send e-mails to "support (at) openlp.org" can do so. Unfortunately I noticed as I was setting it up, that people have been sending mail to that address, but due to our old support tracking software falling over, we didn't see those e-mails. Hopefully now this should be fixed.

Please remember, however, that the fastest and easiest way to get support is via the Live IRC Chat page.

I'm really excited to let everyone know that recently I was interviewed by Mark Shropshire of the Geeks and God podcast for their October podcast! If you want to hear my funny voice and weird accent, go right along to Episode 135 and listen the interview.