Preparing v5.10 for Release

The ArsClip Beta is now in feature freeze. The updates for this version are almost purely bug fixes, so the current Release Candidate 1 is just a precaution. After a few days, RC1 will most likely become the official release.

ArsClip Documentation

The current changes in ArsClip aren't updates, but rather more documentation included directly in the program. My philosophy on help files is that if you need them, you've failed to create the program correctly. There's almost never a reason the information cannot be included in a utility program.

The Configuration window now has a section for explaining how the window is used. A user, long ago, sent in a suggestion to add a tips window when this window is display. Since there's only one tip needed for the window, I thought it would be best for it to just add a section for help.

The purpose of the Configuration Help section is to document things that aren't obvious or are intentionally hidden. For example, there are variables in the ArsClip.ini configuration file that are only used as advanced tweaks. This also is a good location to place information that's too verbose to be placed with the option.

The Edit Clips/History window is also getting some more information in it's Help/About tab. For example, the JavaScript feature really needed a lot more details explained. The Shared Permanent Groups feature also needed more explaining that could be done in a single settings window.

I'll be looking at feedback more closely to grow these sections organically.

Shared Permanent Groups Redux

This feature needs updating, badly.

First, the program isn't correctly showing that a group is shared on another computer (on the Share window). Clicking the "share" button on a group that is already shared causes duplicates to appear.

Second, the process is very conceptual. It needs better explaining. For example, once a group is shared, there's no indication on what happens next. While the process is automated, the program does not give any directions or visual cues to let you know that no other actions are needed. The share window needs to communicate this better.

Third, the About/Help tab can be used to go into detail on how to use ArsClip in a shared location. Once again, the process is automated, but the program doesn't have any directions or requirements listed. In reality, once the program is placed in a shared location (a Windows Share or a cloud-synced location), everything is automated. For shared groups, the program automatically keeps track of when a group is changed and each instance will update on a timed interval. Offline instances will update when first started.

Lastly, I need more feedback. I use feedback to guide my work, but there's not been very little feedback on this feature. This was a highly requested feature, but most users don't require it. The result is that it's not very likely to get any feedback, even when there are issues or improvements needed.

The Well

It's that time again, as the well has run dry for new new features. The good news is that the programs are feel feature complete. This does mean that I'm in a maintenance mode and only fixing issues.

I'm about 90 percent sure that I misfiled some user feedback for new features, so feel free to resend your requests if they've not been implemented.

The one idea I have for the future is an online library of scripts for ArsClip and Rename Master. Currently, example scripts are hardcoded into the program and require a full update to change. My idea is to have scripts that will do the job or can be used as a base to create custom scripts. The library will be fully integrated into the program

Global/Shared Permanent Clips 3

The coding is almost done for this feature and will likely be available as a Public Beta tomorrow.

The "Databases" tab has been updated to include a Shared Permanent Groups link. This will bring up a window that can be used to convert a group to be global.

When a group is converted, all clips and hotkeys of the group are copied to a single database. Each instance will create a copy of the group in it's local database. Instances will be updated either by a timer or when the program is first run. Any changes made to that group's clips will also trigger an update.

A new "shared.ini" file in the "clipdatabase" folder is used to keep track of synchronization. A setting has also been added to this file to not include importing hotkeys for each machine. By default, all machines will import both the clips and their hotkey settings.

Global/Shared Permanent Clips 2

The design phase is almost complete. I've found a method that satisfies all the goals, and this was probably the hardest part. This method requires only 3 small changes to the existing database functions and the rest of the program remains unchanged. The only exception is a change to the user interface to set a Permanent Group to "shared".

Global/Shared Permanent Clips

This feature has been the most requested: the ability to have Permanent Clips that can be shared with all instances. When run from an external drive, AC automatically uses a single database, so all computers use one set of clips. For other installs, you can import from other databases, but there is no sync mechanic to keep them all up to date.

This is the feature that is currently being researched and designed. There are a few ways to do it, and they all have drawbacks. The goal is for the method to be fast, reliable, and requires the least amount of changes to the code. The methods to detect a shared group and keep it synced needs to have little impact on performance of the Popup. The design requires a separate database for shared clips, to remove read/write conflicts. The last goal removes most of the possibilities to introduce bugs.

AC Mini

While AC Mini is not in full development, it's still getting some maintenance. The current beta fixes an intermittent crash issue for some systems. Also, the Google App changed the internal name of it's search textbox, so the program was updated to detect it.