New beta build of SD2 and SDK available

[George Ionita]

Hi everyone,

We have been busy at Seesmic in the past few months building the new
version of our Seesmic Desktop 2 client. We think that the amazing
plugins you've built on the platform is the key to its success, and
that's why we want to make sure that the new version that we're going
to push very soon will still run all the existing plugins without any
problem. Therefore, at this stage we want to take the opportunity and
launch a beta version of the application and give you the chance to
try it out and check that the plugins that you've built will be
properly supported.

Please consider that this version will install separately on the
machine but it will use the same data folders as the public one. Once
you install the beta and the new versions of the plugins will be
deployed over the old ones, the previous version will not be able to
load them. Also, this version will not be able to update itself once
we push the final release and you will have to do a clean install.

In the SDK, we are introducing a new programming model based on
abstract classes rather than interfaces to allow easier addition of
new features without breaking contracts. We have not migrated the
whole API yet, but this is what we intend to do on the long term. In
order to run the existing plugins without any modifications (or even
re-compilation), we created a transparent adapter layer that connects
the old api to the new one. We did our best to ensure backward
compatibility, but we think the best way to test it is to give it to
you to test that your plugin still works correctly in every aspect.

Also, feel free to use the new API's available in the SDK and let us
know your feedback.

A detailed list of the new features in the application and SDK will
follow at the end of this message.

Known issue: Facebook account syncronization with Seesmic Profile is
disabled at the moment. As a consequence, scheduling posts for these
accounts will not work. Other types of accounts should still work
normally.

The application can be installed from here:

http://d.seesmic.com/sdp/beta/install.html?config=beta

The SDK can be found here:

http://d.seesmic.com/sdp/beta/sdk/Seesmic.Sdp.Extensibility.dll
http://d.seesmic.com/sdp/beta/sdk/Seesmic.Sdp.Extensibility.xml
http://d.seesmic.com/sdp/beta/sdk/Seesmic.Sdp.Utils.dll
http://d.seesmic.com/sdp/beta/sdk/Seesmic.Sdp.Utils.xml

And the documentation (which is still work in progress):

http://d.seesmic.com/sdp/beta/sdk/SD2.chm


Thanks,
George

SD2 v1.2 Release Notes

Shell Release Notes

Spell checking in the composer
Scheduled posts
Synchronization with Seesmic Profile
Revamped notification configuration screen
Performance improvements
See.sc url shortening service is available when connected to the
Seesmic Profile
The composer will change it’s color when the user is approaching the
character limit for the selected services
The timelines can be cleared from the header menu
Timeline items can be marked as read/unread
The sidebar can be hidden
Keyboard navigation is available for highlighting items throughout the
timelines
Plugins Release Notes

Here are the changes that we made to the individual plugins:

Twitter

One can define searcheable threads allowing to associate search terms
with an username
Added conversation view for related tweets in the profile panel
Hashtags are carried over when replying to a tweet (based on
configuration)
Reply or DM available directly from the profile panel
Activities column supports most of the item actions
Facebook

Post as a page
Write message on another user’s wall
The notifications timeline will jump to the notification source when
an item is clicked
Support for link preview when posting urls
BitLy

View link statistics
SDK Release Notes

Transitioning from an interface based API to abstract classes for
greater flexibility in providing SDK updates
Accounts infrastructure rebuilt using abstract classes
Support for plugins to synchronize their accounts with the Seesmic
Profile
Support for the new notification administration
Reusable timeline control for displaying timelines
Here is an ApiChange report comparing the current version (v1.2) with
v1.1:

Seesmic.Sdp.Extensibility.dll has 25 changes
Added 13 public type/s
+ public class Seesmic.Sdp.Extensibility.TimelineItemsProvider
+ public class Seesmic.Sdp.Extensibility.DataProvider
+ public class Seesmic.Sdp.Extensibility.AccountProvider
+ public class Seesmic.Sdp.Extensibility.ShortUrlProvider
+ public class Seesmic.Sdp.Extensibility.PostingProvider
+ public class Seesmic.Sdp.Extensibility.ServerAccount
+ public class Seesmic.Sdp.Extensibility.Profile
+ public class Seesmic.Sdp.Extensibility.PostingProcessor
+ public class Seesmic.Sdp.Extensibility.Session
+ public enum Seesmic.Sdp.Extensibility.NotificationProviderCategory
+ public class Seesmic.Sdp.Extensibility.Plugin
+ public class Seesmic.Sdp.Extensibility.Account
+ public class Seesmic.Sdp.Extensibility.NotificationProvider
public interface Seesmic.Sdp.Extensibility.IShellService
+ public void ShowProfile(Profile profile)
+ public void ShowPluginSettings(Guid pluginId)
public interface Seesmic.Sdp.Extensibility.ISessionService
+ public void RegisterTimelineItemsProvider(TimelineItemsProvider
timelineItemsProvider)
+ public void UnregisterTimelineItemsProvider(TimelineItemsProvider
timelineItemsProvider)
public class Seesmic.Sdp.Extensibility.PostContainer
+ public void RemoveMetadata(String key)
public interface Seesmic.Sdp.Extensibility.INotificationService
+ public void
RegisterNotificationProvider(NotificationProviderCategory
category,NotificationProvider notificationProvider)
+ public void
UnregisterNotificationProvider(NotificationProviderCategory
category,NotificationProvider notificationProvider)
public interface Seesmic.Sdp.Extensibility.IPostingService
+ public void RegisterPostingProvider(PostingProvider postingProvider)
+ public void UnregisterPostingProvider(PostingProvider
postingProvider)
+ public void SetPostingContainer(PostContainer
postContainer,PostingProvider[] parameters)
+ public void SelectPostingProviders(PostingProvider[]
postingProviders)
public class Seesmic.Sdp.Extensibility.TimelineItemContainer
+ public virtual int GetHashCode()
From 1 assemblies were 0 types removed and 6 changed.

[Zhaph]

Great news (not sure how I missed this) last week.

Is this a good place to raise bugs/issues? I've just installed this
over the top of the previous (official) release, and the "Options"
button doesn't work on either the main application or the toast.

The Log file can be found here if it helps:
http://www.doodle.co.uk/userfiles/log-errors.txt

Thanks,

Ben

> http://d.seesmic.com/sdp/beta/sdk/Seesmic.Sdp.Extensibility.dllhttp://d.seesmic.com/sdp/beta/sdk/Seesmic.Sdp.Extensibility.xmlhttp://d.seesmic.com/sdp/beta/sdk/Seesmic.Sdp.Utils.dllhttp://d.seesmic.com/sdp/beta/sdk/Seesmic.Sdp.Utils.xml

[George Ionita]

Hi Ben,

 

Yes, this is the ideal place for reporting issues.

 

I looked into the log. What are your localization settings on your machine?

 

Thanks,

George

[Zhaph]

Hi George,

This was taken from a Windows XP machine, running with English (United
Kingdom).

I hope that helps,

Ben

[Zhaph]

Seems to be working OK on my Windows7 machine running with English
(United Kingdom), could be an XP issue.

I'll try uninstalling and re-installing.

Ben

[Zhaph]

Re-installing doesn't seem to have made any difference sadly :(

[George Ionita]

Thanks for reporting.

 

We've identified the issue and it will be addressed with the next release.

[Zhaph]

Great news, glad to have helped (!).