Hi everyone,

As Cassie noted, we've reached consensus and closure on the items wrapped
into the next version 0.8 OpenSocial spec! This is a great milestone, and
something we should all be proud of accomplishing together. To find the
detailed list of additions, please look at the "approved changes" tab in
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pigtmOB55Aw_YJHz040u0Kg&gid=0

In my view, the next step to making OpenSocial v0.8 "real" is to get the
full spec and JS files ready so we can look at a complete draft. There are
some folks working on doing just that, and we're planning to have a draft to
share in the latter half of this week. With that full draft, it seems
reasonable to let it bake for a bit more than a week, so we can hammer out
any nits before making it "golden."

For now, I'd love input on the below (first iteration of the) release notes.

What important things are missing? How can the wording be improved for
clarity?

For reference, past release notes (for 0.6 and 0.7) are captured at:
http://code.google.com/apis/opensocial/docs/releasenotes.html

OpenSocial v0.8

   - A specification for a RESTful API was adopted to allow non-JavaScript
   data access (e.g. for mobile applications, server sync, etc)

opensocial.* JavaScript changes

   - Developers now have more control over the auto escaping of data. First
   of all, all data in the datastore is no longer treated as a String, but as
   JSON. This will allow containers to do more intelligent auto escaping. And
   second, now both the fetch data method and all of the getField methods take
   in an escapeType flag which allows developers to turn off escaping
   altogether. Certainly, to ensure app security, developers need to be
   cautious about using unescaped data.

   - A new function, newRemovePersonAppDataRequest(), was introduced that
   developers can use to remove data from the datastore (e.g. to free up
   quota).

   - The person object has added additional fields and filters: a more
   structured lookingFor field, a new hasApp field, and a new networkPresence
   field. An ability to filter people by the new top friends filter or the
   isFriendsWithFilter was introduced. Developers can use the latter to query
   for all people who are friends of the owner and viewer.

   - The message object now has titleId and bodyId fields so that messages
   can use templates just like activities.

   - A new limitExceeded error code was added to the response items to
   indicate when some quota has been exceeded.

   - Constructing navigation URLs no longer requires synchronous JavaScript
   calls. A container is now able to specify a template for an app's URL, so a
   developer is able to construct URLs ahead of time using
   opensocial.getContainerUrlTemplate (e.g. a URL might have the form
   http://apps.container.com/${name}#${path}?${params}<http://apps.container.com/$%7Bname%7D#$%7Bpath%7D?$%7Bparams%7D>
   ).

   - The requestShareApp method now lets the developer set some navigation
   context that the user will see when they accept an invite as well as set
   what the user will see after sharing the app.

gadgets.* JavaScript changes

   - The specification for gadgets.io.makeRequest has been further clarified
   in numerous ways: the OAuth authorization type has been explained, and a
   common set of signed request parameters has been adopted.

   - Developers have greater control over their app's user experience: added
   the ability to specify the refresh interval on gadgets.io.getProxyUrl, and
   an optional owner id has been added to gadgets.views.requestNavigateTo.

   - A new function, gadgets.util.sanitizeHtml(), was added to allow
   developers to get HTML in a presentation-ready format.

   - The view types have been modified to reflect the most well-known set of
   views (e.g. home, profile, canvas, preview)

   - A new feature, pubsub, was introduced to allow developers to send
   strings between multiple gadgets.

gadgets XML changes

   - Message bundles can now be inlined into the gadget xml, and no longer
   have to be in a separate file.

   - The Preload element now accepts an authz param to specify that
   preloaded data should be fetched with signed requests.

   - There is a new Link tag that can be used within the ModulePrefs section
   to will allow containers to use new links types like gadgetsHelp and
   gadgetsSupport.

   - To improve localization support, substitutions are now supported for
   all hangman variables that get displayed to users (e.g. all
   Module.ModulePrefs attributes, UserPref@display_name).

   - The ModulePrefs section can now be used to specify URLs for usage of
   OAuth.

   - Gadgets now support lifecycles events. A developer can place link tags
   in their gadget xml which specify URLs the container should hit when a type
   of event occurs. This way a gadget can be notified of all app installs or
   uninstalls.

   - Each Content section can now be specified with a preferredHeight or
   preferredWidth tag. This means that gadgets with multiple views can have
   different default heights.