Appendix
D
Release
Notes
Below is a copy of the most recent release
notes included with the “web news speak”
application.
Web News Speak
V0.05
Beta
______________________________________________________________________________
0.05
- 04 April,
2000
==============================================================================
Features:
* Added the sleep function
* Added very basic automated dial-up networking
support
* Added basic user
instructions in html
format
* Expanded the set
of special characters
recognised
* Added option
to set the size of the text in generated HTML
files
* Added the ability
to allow ignoring of whole ranges of
tables
* Added the ability
to ignore sections of a page using trigger
strings
* Added escape
character detection to page file to allow commas in urls,
etc.
* Limited downloads
to three concurrent threads - winsock doesn't allow
more
* Improved log file -
fixed mutual exclusion
bugs
* Added the ability
to see comments in the original HTML when in
supervisor
mode - this
does not work very well
yet
* Added list of
nestings for each new table displayed in supervisor
mode
* Loads of bug fixes
- much more stable
now
Known
Problems:
* Automated
dial-up networking support only works in Windows
98
* No table cell ignores
- decided not to bother with
them
* Problems occur when
downloading multiple pages if the user is also using
a
web browser to
download web
pages
______________________________________________________________________________
0.04
- 09 March,
2000
==============================================================================
Features:
* Now uses multiple threads! Downloads multiple pages simultaneously -
faster
* Much improved log
file (strange ordering is due to
multi-threading)
* Added a
button to load the log file from the options
screen
* Added a download
status screen - so you can tell what it is
doing
* You can now cancel
the download at any time, by clicking on
cancel
* Re-ordered the
buttons so they are in the correct order for screen
readers
* Added a check
box to allow turning the status screen text
off
* Added cancel button
on options screen, so changes can be
ignored
Known
Problems:
* Still some
problems with a few special
characters
* Still no go
to sleep or table cell ignore
functions
* Still no user
instructions, and the contents page doesn't break down
yet
* Some problems with
certain sites crashing the program - mainly BBC
Sport
______________________________________________________________________________
0.03
- 29 February,
2000
==============================================================================
Features:
* Now saves your options and page preferences when you
exit!
* Made viewing
external links optional - pages look less cluttered
now
* Tidied up the code,
and made more things into
objects
* Added a log file
to aid in tracking down
errors
Known
Problems:
* Some problems
with displaying certain special
characters
* Go to sleep
function not implemented yet
(soon!)
* Table cell
ignore still not
implemented
* No user
instructions yet
*
Contents page still doesn't break down into
categories
* No status
screen when downloading pages, and you cannot cancel the
process
______________________________________________________________________________
0.02
- 26 February,
2000
==============================================================================
Features:
* Improved table handling - with 3 modes, Display, Announce and
Ignore
* Added subpage
filters, with more than one allowed for each main
page
* Allowed table
filters to be applied to subpages depending on subpage
filter
* Greatly improved
lexical analyser, but now runs (un-noticably)
slower
* Parser now
handles links properly - but is now limited to following 1
deep
* Fixed problems with
unusual characters in html
files
* Added supervisor
mode to allow setting up of pages within the page
file
* Page downloader now
downloads and parses any file with an extension
that
is not in it's list
of excluded file
extensions
Known
Problems:
* Options and
page preferences are still not saved on
exit
* Go to sleep
function still not
implemented
* Table cell
ignore not implemented yet
* Still no user
instructions
* The main
contents page still doesn't break down into
categories
______________________________________________________________________________
0.01
- 19 February,
2000
==============================================================================
Features:
* Builds category menus dynamically using page
file
* Can connect to
UMIST server and download newest version of page
file
* Can download the
selected pages and parse them into plain
text
* Can follow links on
pages up to a specified link follow
level
* Limits followed
links to pages on the same
domain
* Parser supports
14 main HTML tag types
*
Supports downloading pages through a proxy
server
* The page
downloader only downloads HTM, ASP, and TXT files at
present
* Proxy server
settings can be changed in the options
screen
Known
Problems:
* Options and
page preferences are not stored when the program
closes
* The go to sleep
option is not yet
implemented
* There are no
user instructions yet
*
The parser does not handle linked pages quite right
yet
* The main contents
page of the converted pages does not break down
into
categories, and is
all on one
page
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You
should have downloaded this file
from:
http://www.co.umist.ac.uk/~mcaiah2/
If
you find any major bugs that are not mentioned above, please email me
at:
adam.hatherly@stud.umist.ac.uk
Telling
me the the following:
-
What pages you were trying to download (if
appropriate)
- What
happened (e.g. the error message that you
saw)
- What system you are
using (including your windows
version)
- What version
number of the application you are
using
- How you are
connecting to the internet (e.g.
Modem)
- If possible a copy
of the log file (in the program directory) log.txt