GreatNews 1.0.388-ktm

[ktm]

It's been a couple of busy weeks for me, so I haven't gotten anything fancy done that'd be worth releasing. Still, there's two open bugs for 1.0.387 which have been addressed, and a (small) feature change, so here's 1.0.388.

Since I have touched nothing besides the two mentioned bugs and this menu, and no other bugs have been reported, I'll go ahead call this one a stable release. Due to how little changed, the source update is provided as a tiny GNU diff file instead of a the whole code this time. The attached archive contains the latest GreatNews.exe only, to be used as a replacement for the one included in the previous release's archive.

Changelog:

Code: Select all

Ver 1.0 (Build 388) released on 06/19/2010
=================================================
+ Fixed bug where switching the language from the GUI wouldn't work
+ Fixed bug where a "fresh" installation's database would database would be created incorrectly
+ Made "advanced" feed menu the default


[oxxi]

Hi,

I've noticed that the Feed-Validator don't work any more, because the URL is invalid (404).

Corrected version:

Code: Select all

diff --git a/GreatNews/FeedPropSheet.cpp b/GreatNews/FeedPropSheet.cpp
--- a/GreatNews/FeedPropSheet.cpp
+++ b/GreatNews/FeedPropSheet.cpp
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@
    }

    else

    {

-      CString validateURL = _T("http://www.feedvalidator.org/check?url=")+m_feed.m_url;

+      CString validateURL = _T("http://www.feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=")+m_feed.m_url;

       CGNUtil::OpenUrlExternally(validateURL, false, true);

    }


Regards
Andreas

[patrick013]

The attached archive contains the latest GreatNews.exe only, to be used as a replacement for the one included in the previous release's archive
[/code]

One question regarding 387 to 388, which this GreatNews.exe upgrade is to replace, not the 386 one, if I am reading this
right. When you tweaked the SQLite in 387...has there been a noticeable change in anything ? Speed ? Database size ?
Memory usage ? Anything remarkable about it ? Do you plan on keeping it tweaked ? The 386 one is at the default setting so I'm wondering if it is worth it to upgrade to the tweaked verison.

Thanks,

Patrick013

[ktm]

I've noticed that the Feed-Validator don't work any more, because the URL is invalid (404).

Nice catch, thank you. Massive bonus points for including a patch (even though it's a trivial one)

When you tweaked the SQLite in 387...has there been a noticeable change in anything ? Speed ? Database size ?
Memory usage ? Anything remarkable about it ? Do you plan on keeping it tweaked ? The 386 one is at the default setting so I'm wondering if it is worth it to upgrade to the tweaked verison.

The binary's (.exe's) size went down, that's the main difference. I just disabled a bunch of unused features. Memory usage went down ever so slightly too due to that, but probably not enough for anyone to really care.
Bloated programs are kind of a pet peeve of mine (right now I'm trying to get GN to use the MFC and CRT libs already present in Windows dynamically instead of statically linking against them, hopefully shrinking it to below 1MB), so I'll probably keep it that way.

[patrick013]

The binary's (.exe's) size went down, that's the main difference. I just disabled a bunch of unused features. Memory usage went down ever so slightly too due to that, but probably not enough for anyone to really care.
Bloated programs are kind of a pet peeve of mine (right now I'm trying to get GN to use the MFC and CRT libs already present in Windows dynamically instead of statically linking against them, hopefully shrinking it to below 1MB), so I'll probably keep it that way.

I understand, just unused features disabled. Great.

Is it possible to get a version with a jumbo .tmp file ? I read quite a bit offline and a bigger
.tmp file should let more pictures get thru offline when I start reading online and then finish reading offline. Some older pictures seem to get pushed out of the .tmp file at times possibly due to size and I have to reload the feed online again, of course possibly pushing other pictures out of the .tmp file. This is what seems to be happening although most of the pictures do remain in the .tmp file and I can veiw the feed and the pictures offline then. If I ever delete the .tmp file it removes all the pictures as expected. If the above is not due to the .tmp file size then the feed's images just aren't currently in there I guess.

One more question. Any LINUX version available ? I might switch my netbook to LINUX someday.

Thanks,

Patrick013

[ktm]

Image caching is done purely by the IE control that's being used to display the HTML generated by GN. GN itself has nothing to do with it and doesn't even try to preload anything. Try increasing IE's cache, and display all the items you intend to read offline once so the images get cached. Also, since GN is written using Microsoft's ATL, it's damn near impossible to port to Linux - Your best bet is to use Wine. That's actually what I'm using, and it even kinda works (with a few workarounds), but it's far from perfect. (Still, by any means, do switch - I've been using Gentoo for years, and I've never looked back.)

(Barely) hidden bonus info: I'm currently developing a cross platform GN "clone" (based on wxWidgets, meaning it'll work on Windows, Mac and Linux, and a bunch of others) - and preloading images for offline reading is amongst the features I'm definitely going to include. Still far from being done though, so don't trash your GN folder just yet...

[patrick013]

Also, since GN is written using Microsoft's ATL, it's damn near impossible to port to Linux - Your best bet is to use Wine. That's actually what I'm using, and it even kinda works (with a few workarounds), but it's far from perfect. (Still, by any means, do switch - I've been using Gentoo for years, and I've never looked back.)

hidden bonus info: I'm currently developing a cross platform GN "clone" (based on wxWidgets, meaning it'll work on Windows, Mac and Linux, and a bunch of others) - and preloading images for offline reading is amongst the features I'm definitely going to include. Still far from being done though, so don't trash your GN folder just yet...

So the IE cache needs to be increased for optimum offline use. Easier said than done.

I've tried using "Wine", couldn't even get 7Zip to stay put and work. Always gets stuck when a variety of commands are made. PCLinuxOS is my favorite. Plenty of people on the website for support, etc.. Big enough to get stuck somewhere, so I just set the graphics and let it run.

Widgets are kind of small aren't they ? Can you fit the whole program in a Widget ?
The widgets they have are little small boxes (KDE Desktop).


Thanks for the response.

Patrick013

[ktm]

Widgets are kind of small aren't they ? Can you fit the whole program in a Widget ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WxWidgets

[nuri]

Is there a way around the "Feed content exceeds 1000K. Error code [0]" error?
Is it some hard coded limit?
My other feed readers don't have any problem with large feeds.

[ktm]

Is there a way around the "Feed content exceeds 1000K. Error code [0]" error?
Is it some hard coded limit?
My other feed readers don't have any problem with large feeds.

See http://www.curiostudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3416

[nikkho]

Bloated programs are kind of a pet peeve of mine (right now I'm trying to get GN to use the MFC and CRT libs already present in Windows dynamically instead of statically linking against them, hopefully shrinking it to below 1MB), so I'll probably keep it that way.

To be honest I believe that dynamically linking will cause more problems that advantages.
Of course executable size will be reduced some hundreds of KB, but the cost will be having the exact required DLL installed on the computer. Evenmore, this approeach will only make memory usage to be a bit larger, since all the codebase of the DLL needs to be loaded, instead of only the parts used when linked in.

[ktm]

That's why you use the driver development kit and some black magic to link against the msvcrt.dll that has been part of Windows' base installation since at least Win98 or thereabouts, just like Office & co do. About the memory usage, you're using Windows and complaining about memory, wth? My main box, which has Gentoo on it, uses around 80 megs after bootup (yes, that's including GUI etc.), good luck getting Windows even close to that.

[Jack]

Personally I'd like static link much more than DLLs. There are just too many subtle compatibility issues with the different versions and different languages of DLLs.

[ktm]

Different versions - granted, but different languages? First, AFAICT the core DLLs (C runtime, kernel32 etc) aren't language specific, and second, if they were and you'd statically link them, wouldn't you force a specific language (or parts thereof, at least) on users of different regions?

Either way, in the context of GN this is mostly academic since everyone could compile it however he/she likes anyways...