What's new in Lucane Groupware 0.7.4-beta ?
Here are the major changes for Lucane Groupware 0.7.4-beta. As usual, there are lots of improvements, and a few new applications. We also added a brand new component : WebConnector.
Improved applications
Calendar
This application is the one that has changed the most since the last release. It could even deserve a release by itself :)
One of the new things is the support of various event types. It was already implemented before, but no type was shipped with, so it was almost useless. We added support for translations and icons for these types, which allowed us to populate the database with some default types : meeting, vacation, presentation, ...
Another new feature was the ability to select & remove multiple attendees at the same time. To achieve this, we added a way to select a whole group in the user selection dialog. We also added a way to remove all selected attendees.
Due to a strong user demand, it is now possible to have "editable" events. This allow every attendee to edit the event date, not only the organizer.
Warning: Since we needed to add a field in database, this application isn't backward compatible. We'll have to write a migration tool before 0.7.4 stable.
Free/Busy dialog
This one is a big step ahead. It is now possible to compare all attendees calendars to check for the best date. You can browse days in this dialog, and select where to set your meeting.
It also handles your working hours and colors, which can be set in the calendar preferences application.
We also fixed a few bugs :
- Multiday events weren't handled correctly. There was an error in a bound check that made it look wrong in the month view and the pdf export.
- Events that occured in the first morning of a month weren't displayed if the current hour was after noon : Calendar.HOUR was used instead of Calendar.HOUR_OF_DAY
Todolist
Jonathan added a very useful feature : it is now possible to view all your todo's at the same time, without having to check every list.
He also added real/estimated start/end dates to todolist items. That lets you handle your deadlines.
Warning: This application is not compatible with your old database, we'll have to write a migration tool too.
Forum
We added a way to delete a message from the forum. Only moderators can remove messages. It is possible to undelete them.
Warning: Guessed it ? Right, this one isn't compatible with 0.7.3 and a tool has to be written.
A small correction was made in ForumService, so that it can work with Postgresql.
A web interface was also added, but we'll see that more in detail later in this document.
QuickMessage
A simple history was added. It isn't stored on your hard disk, but it makes the conversation a bit more easier to follow.
Other apps
Too many changes to list them all, but in short :
MainInterface
The window menu (hide/show) has a better behaviour. There were a few glitches before if you used QuickLaunch's one and this one concurrently.
It isn't possible to open more than one maininterface at the same time.
A web interface was added, see below
Whiteboard
The shape selection tool isn't activated after drawing a shape anymore. feature request #297
QuickLaunch
A flag was added in localconfig to avoid repeating the 'Lucane is ready to work' dialog. I saw that it appeared as a modal dialog box with windows 9x... sorry :)
SQLNavigator
This tool doesn't throw an EOFException on the client anymore when the query isn't a select.
JMail
There was a small bug with the splash screen. If you had a problem with your imap connection (error, or bad credential, whatever), it stayed open.
New applications
Slideshow
This new application lets a user invite a few connected people to see an online presentation. It works well with exports from PowerPoint or OpenOffice slideshows.
The organizer changes the image to display from a list, and this one is broadcasted to the other connected users.
WebAmin
This one is only useful if you plan to use WebConnector (which you'll probably do)
It's used to enable/disable webconnector, change port, realm, ...
General changes
Application menu
In order to have a better designed menu (avoid submenus with one items and an overcrowded 'Misc' menu for example) we reorganized application categories. Here is how it's like :
The full list is available here. It shouldn't take you too much time to find where your apps are ;)
Server
In 0.7.3, there was a bug that prevented the server to shutdown gracefully for non-ssl use. It is now history.
A new authenticator named DemoAuthenticator was added. When someone tries to log in with a non-existing user, the user is created with the submitted password and added to the AllUsers group. It can be useful for demos or trainings, as you don't have to create the test users from the admin tool.
Client
A shutdown hook was added to disconnect the client when the jvm is closed. This is useful to update the user list if you log off your operating system without closing Lucane explicitely.
A way to select a whole group was added in the userselector. It's used in the calendar, but can also be used to invite a whole group to a slideshow, for example.
API
A small improvement in ManagedWindow : a managedWidget(..) method was added. It can be used to save & restore widgets automatically in the windowmanager instead of doing it manually.
A scrollToBottom() method was added in HTMLEditor.
TableCreator (our tool to create database tables from a xml descriptor) is now supporting indexes.
RPM package
Starting with this release, we will now provide a rpm package for Lucane. It has only be tested on my computer with Fedora Core 2, so I'm interested in any feedback here.
Almost a revolution : WebConnector
It wasn't supposed to be released that soon, but since it's already working, there is no reason to delay it anymore.
What is webconnector ?
In a nutshell, it is a way to use Lucane from a simple web browser.
Long answer : it is the Jetty http server, integrated into a Lucane service. Since it is Lucane's server's context, it can access to every known classes and instances. We had to write a few components to allow users to log in using basic http authentication, to access the various services, share images and translations, ... but overall it is simpler than having a "standard" webapp sharing the same database as are using the same services, so we only have to develop the pages.
How to enable it ?
If you log to Lucane as an admin, using Lucane's client, you should have a WebConnector application in the Administration menu. Here you can choose the port to use, change the realm name, and enable the service. You'll have to restart the server to apply these changes.
Once the server has restarted, you should be able to log in by pointing your browser to http://yourserver:8080/
How to add a web view to a Lucane application ?
There is a doc here. It's in French only at the moment, but you can always take a look to code samples.
New web applications
Of course, it will take some time to add a web view to every application. The ones that have already been implemented are :
- Forum
- ForumAdmin
Here are a few screenshots :
Application list
Forum
Forum admin
Sample error message
