The conflict merge went well last week, and I have a working copy of openlp.org again. I've started the code cleanup, renaming various components in the code, formatting the code to follow a certain standard (rather than 3 different ones), and rearranging a few things as well in the process. The goal behind the code cleanup is to make it easier and faster to work on openlp.org, and to make openlp.org more efficient.

What this all translates to at the end of the day is that you as the user will find openlp.org faster and more efficient, and when we need to make a change or an enhancement, it'll be faster too.

Once I've completed the code cleanup, I'm going to continue with my rewrite of the control component, which will enable us to do things like use the up and down cursor keys to change between slides.

On that note, I know a number of folks have asked me for the components so that they can make changes to openlp.org (I presume it's because development is not happening fast enough for them, and they want certain features for their church). Please chat with me and consider lending a helping hand with the development. If you want feature A, I'm sure that there are a number of other churches who also want feature A, and it would be beneficial to them if you contributed that back to the project. There are also a number of things you can and can't do with the current codebase, and unless you chat with me and ask, you won't know and you'll struggle unnecessarily (for instance, using the up and down cursor key will only be possible after a rewrite of the control component).

In short, if you contribute back to openlp.org, not only do you benefit, but others will too. You won't need to make changes to your version each time a new version of openlp.org comes out, development will happen faster, and others will benefit from your changes as well.

This evening I merged the bugfixes from openlp.org 1.0.1 into the main code. My next move will be to clean up the conflicts that arose in the merge (the version control software can't always do a perfect merge, so it lets me "resolve" some of those "conflicts"). Once I've done that, I'll be continuing with the code cleanup that is necessary to implement some of the more advanced things.

The next step, after the cleanup, will be to rewrite the control component, which will allow a large number of usability improvements (like pressing the down key to go to the next slide!). Once I've done that, I'll start migrating the songs to the new database format necessary to add more features requested (like verse ordering). These first 3 things are the biggest changes, and once they're done, we will most probably start releasing development versions of openlp.org 1.1 (which will become 1.2).

I'm looking forward to a number of the improvements being introduced, and I hope you'll bear with me while they are being worked on. Thanks to all the folks who have posted feature requests, they have been noted, and will be sorted into various categories and decided upon once I've finished the code cleanup.

If you're keen to help developing this next version of openlp.org, please drop me an e-mail. To those folks who have already sent me e-mails about the components, please just drop me yet another mail - my e-mail is in a bit of a state of flux at the moment, and I can't access your e-mails.

God bless!

After a pretty dismal and disappointing poll vote on pressing and mailing a CD, I've decided to stick with what the "masses" want, and not produce the CD. That said and done, I had already created the ISO (image) and one or two folks suggested putting the image file up so that folks can download it and burn it to CD.

So here it is. It includes some other open source and free software as well, so download and enjoy.

You can download it from the download page, as usual.

Hello everyone!

Yes, it's finally arrived, openlp.org 1.0.1: the bugfix! We're sorry it's taken so long to get here, but it's full of fixes and enhancements. Thanks to relentless testing by Jonathan Corwin and his team, we've managed to kill bugs we would have never normally found. Below is a list of the changes in openlp.org 1.0.1.

NB: Please note that the code used to display songs and bible verses has changed, so that a few bugs could be squashed. Unfortunately this means that your song and Bible verse text is going to look smaller than it used to (in most cases). The font size % is now a true percentage, whereas before it was an estimation.

• Rewrote display code to fix a number of spacing and overlapping issues.

• Updated look of all toolbars to make button states clearer.

• Blanking/unblanking issues resolved.

• Various "List index out of bounds (1)" errors fixed.

• Fixed importing of songs from Order of Service files.

• Fixed Bible import wizard "Verses File" bug.

• Fixed up various PowerPoint issues.

• Fixed up various song import and export bugs.

• Fixed up various song display bugs.

• Added blanking functionality for images.

• Fixed Order of Service saving issues (missing songs, double quotes, etc).

• Fixed selected-then-deleted theme issue.

• Added various hourglass cursors to indicate work being done.

• Ordered various drop-downs alphabetically, ignoring case.

• Fixed Cancel button on Custom Slide dialog.

• First Time Wizard never ran.

• Theme error handling updated.

• Fixed a few song-saving issues.

• Added spanish interface translation, thanks to Josué Zúñiga.

Many thanks to Derek for all his hard work, setting aside time to work on openlp.org!

Well, we're getting ready to release openlp.org 1.0.1 - the bugfix. Derek and I have had a lot of work on our plates recently, and haven't been able to devote the amount of time to openlp.org that we'd like to. However, after we both managed to clear up some time on our plates, we've fixed all the bugs on our list.

We'd like to include some themes and as many translations as possible in this release, so if you're keen on seeing your work in a release, now's the time to get busy! We already have a completed Spanish language file, and some themes, but we'd like more languages, and a wider variety of themes.

Thanks for your patience so far!

Hi All.

With V1.0.1 release coming up soon, Raoul and I were thinking of possibly bundling a few additional themes with the openlp.org distribution.  I'm sure there are many of you out there who have designed some pretty awesome themes. Well, how about sharing them with everyone?

The only limitation, will be that they have to use free fonts and free images. Please submit your fonts with your exported theme files if necessary to either derekscotney[at]openlp.org or raoulsnyman[at]openlp.org.

We look forward to seeing what you have put together.

Blessings,

Derek.

We're arranging another developer meeting in the #openlp.org IRC channel to discuss openlp.org version 2.x. We've tentatively arranged it for Monday 19th May at 20:00 GMT. Since I know that time zones have changed recently in some countries, if an alternate time would suit you, please let us know on the openlp-devel mailing list or in a private message to me on the site.

On a side note, we're fixing up the last few bugs in 1.0.1 and are hoping to release it soon. I know I've said that a few times already, but both Derek and myself have been really busy and tied up with work recently, and haven't had much of a chance to work on openlp.org. As you know, we do this all in our spare time, thanks to our very patient wives and families.

Please keep Derek in your prayers, things at his workplace are not that great, resulting in him sometimes still being at work at 9pm in the evening. I'm really impressed that he manages to get time to work on openlp.org, and I'm really amazed at his level of dedication.

It's Derek's birthday today folks, so why don't you drop him an e-mail and congratulate him?

His e-mail address is derekscotney[at]openlp.org

Hi folks,

When we released openlp.org 1.0, we hinted at a bugfix release soon after, to clear up any bugs that were still in that release, and true to our word, we've been working on openlp.org 1.0.1. We got our testing team to mercilessly attempt to break openlp.org in a bid to find as many bugs as possible. And we got them...

After a few rounds of test -> fix -> test -> fix, I think we're almost done, and I'm hoping to release openlp.org 1.0.1 in about 2 weeks time.

After 1.0.1 we're going full steam ahead on version 1.1, the development version of 1.2. As we go along, we'll have a few releases (1.1.0, 1.1.1, 1.1.2, etc) so that those who want to run a bleeding edge version of openlp.org can. For the rest of you who prefer stability and reliability, we would suggest you stick with 1.0.1 until 1.2 itself comes out.

We've also had offers from another 2 folks to help us out with 1.1, and so we're looking forward to a slightly faster development pace, although we can't make any promises.

That's all from us for the moment. In the mean time, click on the Ohloh.net button at the bottom of the left hand column of the site, and let the world know that you use openlp.org by signing up and "stacking" openlp.org!

Hi All.

Due to the fact that neither Raoul or myself have Windows ME installed, we are looking to all you eager volunteers who do have Windows ME to give us a hand.  We have a reported bug where openlp.org V1.0 doesn't install the packaged themes properly on Windows ME, and then on exiting throws some nasty errors.

If some of you kind people could verify whether this occurs on your Windows ME installation we would really appreciate the input. Whether you experience the bug or not, please include some info about your system in the mail to us, such as version of MsOffice installed or any other possibly relevent info.

Mail can be sent to either Raoul (raoul[at]openlp.org) or myself (derek[at]openlp.org).

Thanks in advance,

 Derek.