RELEASE: New Version of Crop Planning Software: Beta1
Clayton Carter
Planning Software. This release is still just a "beta" version, which
means that's getting very close to being "stable" and "safe", but also
that it's not quite there and should still only be used for testing.
At the end of the email, you will find more
information about the program and a list of changes from the previous
version. Downloads for Mac, Windows and all other Java-supported
platforms are available from the website:
http://cropplanning.googlecode.com
At this point, the single greatest thing you can do to help improve
the software and speed along its development is to use the program and
SEND ME FEEDBACK. (Please email your thoughts to
croppl...@gmail.com) Give the software a try and tell me about:
* your general impressions and experiences using the software
* obvious software bugs and problems:
* things that don't work as expected
* things that look funny on the screen
* incorrect output
* software crashes, etc.
* things that are confusing and that need to be clarified
* features that AREN'T there that you think SHOULD be
* features that ARE there that you think SHOULDN'T be
Please remember that this is being released as totally free software
and it's SUPPOSED TO BE USEFUL; if you don't find it useful or don't
think you would ever use it, please let me know why so that I can
consider how to make it more useful to more people.
Thank you,
Clayton Carter
===[ Release Notes for Crop Planning Software version Beta1 ]===
CropPlanning Software
http://cropplanning.googlecode.com
croppl...@gmail.com
Dec 13, 2008
Release Notes for the first Beta of Version 1.0
See the last section for list of changes and improvements since last version.
===[ WARNING ]===
This software is being released in a "beta" state. This means that
the software MAY be unstable or unpredictable. Please use this version
for testing and tinkering ONLY.
Our use and testing shows that the software is stable enough to be
useful, doesn't corrupt or lose data, and performs pretty much as
promised. But there are still numerous small problems and bugs that
need to be fixed before we can give a more general stamp of approval.
Until then, this software is FOR TESTING ONLY.
===[ Installation ]===
Please follow installation instructions at:
http://code.google.com/p/cropplanning/wiki/SetupAndInstallation
Briefly: 1) Make sure Java 1.5 or greater is installed, 2) Open the
archive (which you had to do to read this), 3) Copy the enclosed files
to your hard drive, 4) double click on the program file (On Mac:
CropPlanning, on Windows: CropPlanning.exe)
===[ Using the Program ]===
There is a brief introduction to the program available at
http://code.google.com/p/cropplanning/wiki/ProgramUsageIntroduction
===[ How To Help ]===
Communicate! Send all of your ideas, suggestions, bugs, etc to
croppl...@gmail.com. Also, just take a look at our "HelpWanted"
page to see if you can help out any other way:
http://code.google.com/p/cropplanning/wiki/HelpWanted
===[ Changes and Improvements ]===
This update includes too many fixes, tweaks, corrections and
refinements to list, but here's a few of the highlights:
* It's much easier for new users to get started. They are stepped
through a couple of introductory questions and settings before the
program creates their first crop plan for them.
* For crops and varieties which can be both direct seeded (DS) and
transplanted (TP), you can now enter different information for either
case.
* Plantings (individual entries in a crop plan) are now explicitly
marked as being either DS or TP. If the crop or variety has different
information for DS vs TP (see previous point), the appropriate info is
displayed and used in calculations.
* There is a completely new, much easier to understand mechanism for
creating, selecting and deleting crop plans. Additionally, crop plans
can now have years and descriptions attached to them, making it very
easy to manage different crop plans which you might create.
* Plantings now have "actual" dates, as well as "planned" dates.
Recording the actual date on which you planted, transplanted or picked
something is better for record keeping and it allows the program to
better represent the reality of what's happening on the farm and in
the greenhouse.
* Plantings can now be marked as having been planted, transplanted
or picked ... "completed", in other words. These work even if you
don't use the "actual" date mechanism mentioned above.
* Plantings can be marked as "ignored" or skipped. They're not
deleted, but they won't show up in most of the lists or in the print
outs. This is useful for when a planting is just too late to be worth
it, or maybe something just doesn't make sense anymore.
* The program is better at remembering what you were doing the last
time you used the program; what plan you were working on, which
columns you were viewing, which -- if any -- of the predefined filters
you had in place, to name a few.
* Crops, Varieties and Plantings now track more data fields.
* Added preliminary support for importing CSV data for crop plans
and the CropDB, (Thanks to volunteer contributor: sm_zl_kimi)
* We've added a number of settings to let you better customize the program.
* Crop plans can now have spaces and punctuation in their names.
* You can now enter your own farm name, which is used in the PDF output.