Just Journal Developer Blog

I'm in the process of chaning over to the new site template on all jsp pages.  I've got the bugs worked out on most pages now.  I'll need to go to bed for class in the morning.

I've also switched to a simple entry form for IE/Firefox users.  I had complaints about the other one since several features were never implemented, etc.  I still need to test things like spell check with it. 

Many open source projects post roadmaps to let users and developers know the goals of the project over the next few releases.  Up to this point, Just Journal has been considered at best alpha quality software.  The site was not designed from the begging with open source or even serious code reuse in mind. There are many longstanding bugs and several design decisions I made that negatively effect the site's functionality.

My focus has been to compete with LiveJournal since this site's inception.  I thought that I wanted to duplicate LiveJournal but without many of the annoying problems that LJ had.  In some ways I've been successful.  Overal, this site does not have the community feel I always wanted it to have.

I've decided to take a different path.  I want the software to run on any site, and provide features people want.  I want the software to be customizable which means a change in template design and other features.  I'll outline the release targets for the next few versions of the webserver software.  This roadmap does not cover client development aside from possible impact changes from the server code changing.

1.0 Alpha 2: Many of the site templates (xml/xslt) content will be converted back to jsp pages.  The reason behind this move is that more people are familar with jsp than xslt and many of the outstanding bugs are the result of limitations or complexity in fixing them.  Someday I may solve these problems, but for now I want everyone to be able to use the code.  I'm also going to specifically look at the bug list and try to knock out as many as I can.  The new Settings class needs to be integrated and a later version will use it for URL mappings which will solve the massive URL dependancies on the justjournal.com domain and / path.

1.0 Alpha 3: Fix any new bugs introduced by alpha 2, continue to generalize the templates and servlet output for general use.  Clean up the remaining CSS documents and formally define the file system structure for just journal. 

1.0 Beta 1:  Setup an ant build instead of my custom shell scripts and try to get just journal to deploy as a war file in Tomcat.  Possibly test in Sun's application server or webserver software. 

1.0 Beta 2: Finish up any features that are half done, etc.  Clean up any new bugs introduced and verify sql create scripts are up to date and well documented.  Determine and remove any un-needed dependancies (jar files, etc).

1.0 Beta 3: Verify just journal works on another domain, clean up bug fixes, prepare for release.

1.0 Release: Release a directory structure or war file sutable for deployment with install instructions that  are thorough enough for end users to get it running.  Also do a source release at that point.  Sync the windows client and assist with changes to the java client for this release. 

Beyond 1.0 release:
Add Photo Gallery feature.
Add module customization to many of the journal viewer features (/users servlet) both for individuals and admins to control.
Add file based storage for thumbnails, images, avatars, and other parts of the site as an optional feature. (rss feeds?) 
Design a more complex templating system for journals were admins or users can control the html output?
Add forum/message board feature.  (communities?)
Add chatbox feature
Add private messaging feature.
...

I'm in the process of upgrading the just journal source. There are several bugs present in the new version that i'm trying to fix.  Please be patient during this process.

I just posted source and binary distributions on source forge.  http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=140095&package_id=171855

I'm happy to annouce the new JJ Windows client, version 1.41.  The 32 bit and 64 bit versions have been uploaded to the website.  Most users will need the 32 bit version which works with Windows XP, Windows 2000 and any other version of Windows where the .NET framework 2 will work.  It runs on all pentium class processors or compatibles (including AMD Athlon, Athlon XP, Sempron, etc). 

The 64 bit version is for the lucky people who have AMD 64 or Intel's EMT64 based processors and Windows XP 64 bit edition.  I can not test this version as I don't have a 64 bit processor yet.  It does have some win32 api calls, but I believe it will work fine until Windows Vista ships in November and January. 

For technical people, I've just commited the source code to the CVS repository on source forge. 

Known Issues:

• New toolbar does not save the location you re-arrange the toolbars too.  (office 2003 style, but without the save) 
  
• The new alert box is a bit hard to read on some systems do to the color scheme.  I'll try to make a new background and change the fonts for the next release.  It does alert you when a post has been made to the server without error.  (looks like an MSN Messenger alert box)
• The client does not handle loss of conectivity well yet.  I want to add a save feature for journal entries so that they are not loss in the event of a failure, etc.  Hopefully this will be done for the next release.
• RTF to HTML conversion is still a bit buggy.  I'm testing other libraries to do the conversion, but had nothing ready in time for this release.
• Win32 calls are made in several places in the program.  I'd like to remove them for the 64bit edition and replace with equivalent calls.  iTunes and Office integration may not work in the 64bit edition.  Music detection may not work.  If you have trouble, disable these features.

New:

• New icons give it a more appealing look and might look more familiar to Word processor users.
• Toolbars similar to microsoft office and the new HTML based editor on the website.
• Bug fixes with music detection.  The box is now grayed out if it is disabled. 
  
• This release is distributed in RAR or ZIP format. 
  
• Version numbers in the about box have changed.  The build number is now included.  The installer will continue to use the old number scheme (1.41, etc)  The next release will now be 1.5, 1.6, etc. 
  

I upgraded tomcat today.  Tomcat is the server software that runs just journal.  The site was up and down for about 15-20 minutes during the upgrade.  I setup a new way to deploy new versions of just journal which should minimize downtime.  Previously, I had to stop tomcat and start it everytime i needed to install a new version.

I've been focusing my attention on making Just Journal a full open source project. Many bugs have been fixed and I'm want the code to be reusable.

The add links feature is almost complete. I've been testing it on a few accounts and it will be released soon.

RSS feeds are now more standards compliant. I'm also investigating some new code that may allow me to offer RSS1 and RSS 2 feeds along with better support for the feed reader (syndication) feature.

I now have a donation button on the first page. All donations will go to making improvements in just journal, paying server and ssl certificate costs and hopefully buying a new server for just journal. Accounts are still free, but if you want to donate its now an option.

I've started planning a photo gallery feature. There are some issues including the java image libraries tend to only work on linux, solaris or windows. (see donation paragraph above) My plan is to buy a sun server someday. In the mean time, I can still allow image uploads but can not generate thumbnails, etc.

I've talked with a few users and the most notible feature request was a photo gallery and the ability to embed content to specific journal entries. Also requested were better input, search and ease of use improvements.

Finally, i've made great progress toward making the email comment notification code to work. It works for my email addresses now and i figure some changes on the mail server should finish that.

I've been working on a new Just Journal theme for the site. (new design) Interesting enough, the site did not render in ie6 or ie7 beta 2 for a few days. The cause was a simple bug with the javascript. If the script tag does not contain anything, IE won't active the javascript and it gives no warning. The w3 validator will declare it a valid document however. Further, br clear="all" tags are required to get floating items in a div tag to render in ie 6, but not ie7, firefox or safari.

I'll keep working on the site theme and hopefully get it finished by next week some time.

Well, the port to .NET will have to be delayed. The shared hosting account I had was too limiting. I could not even do backups on the database in a reasonable way. Screw that until i can get a Windows server.

Just Journal is back running on the old code. Only 1 journal entry was lost in the transition back (mine).

I'll work on this version for a time. The Windows client and SSL certificates should be working fine. I just effectively turned it back on :)

I've decided to port Just Journal to windows/.net. The site will be down a bit during the process and features will be gradually added. So for a few weeks it will really suck and then get good again. (Perhaps better)

All users will be required to upgrade the windows client (if they use it) after the switch. I'll provide a new version on .NET 2 soon.

I can move journal entries over to the new site, although there may be an issue with migrating passwords.

The last windows client might be my last release on the .NET 1.1 framework. I ordered visual studio 2005 today and plan on upgrading to the new .NET framework version. It will allow me to support Windows Vista later this year. I can also add word 2003 style toolbars.

I posted the windows client on source forge and on this website.

http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=140095&package_id=171855&release_id=384186

It includes one new feature from the last release and a few bug fixes. Outlook 2003 (or xp) integration. You can have the outlook journal store copies of any posts you make with this client in it. There are also options to enable or disable iTunes integration. If the integration is off, iTunes won't start with the post form.

I just released a new windows client. This version is based on the recent beta. It includes iTunes support, more integration options with winamp 3 and 5, an access link to users profile, and a slightly refined interface for posts.

You can now press f7 to do a spell check. You can turn on and off iTunes support and winamp features.

The new beta version includes support for Apple's iTunes software (music detection). The catch is that it will automatically open iTunes if you have it installed on your computer whenever you open the post form. I'm trying to work around the problem.

I have not been able to test it on a machiine without iTunes yet either.

There are no new changes in the software aside from the iTunes feature from the last 12/20 (1.1) release.

I upgraded the code on the site today. The mysql library was updated and i renamed and improved the html output on several pages. Subscriptions is now called RSS Reader on a journal page.

I changed the friends add and delete code and that will require more testing.

I found a bug while testing the new version with the users servlet. It seems skipping more than 20 gives you over 20 entries on 1 page. Its very odd. I filled a bug on sourceforge and i have a possible fix in cvs that i'll test later.

I performed a database backup today. All journal entries and so forth are now backed up.

I just commited the source code to the source forge repository for the last windows client release. Anyone interested in how the new word spell checker integration works should take a look.

This month, Just Journal has seen several improvements.

Two windows client versions were released this month. Background color and spell check were added.

Code was added to email comments. It is not completely functional, but only once piece is missing now.

RSS feeds were upgraded to the RSS 2.0 specification.

Several html rendering bugs were fixed and html code was replaced with css in several places.

Avatars were added to the site. You can now create a "user picture" in for your journal. It will be displayed on your journal page and your friends avatars will appear on your friends page. Initial code limited the size to 5kb, but I've increased the limit to 15kb. JPEG, GIF and PNG images are supported. You should resize your image prior to uploading to around 100 x 100 pixels or less. You can do this in the preferences for your journal.

Versions of the windows client were posted to source forge. (not the latest, but one version back)

A link link was added on journal entries. It provides a direct link to the entry for use on other sites.

A mini calendar was added with the current months journal entry counts for each day.

I'm working on a links list feature to add links to your journal on the side. Its about half way done.

Favorites can be added now and viewed. This feature is still under development, but is functional. The view of the favorites will change eventually to be more useful.

Several text only white screens were replaced with nice html messages. I'm working on this to make the site more usable.

Caryn is still hard at work on the java client.

Just Journal for Windows 1.1 was released today.

This version increased in size quite a bit and now is about 750kb. It offers Microsoft Word spell check integration. There were a few minor bug fixes as well.

Users running a version older than 1.0.4 are strongly encouraged to upgrade.

Source code for this release is not available online yet. I will post it soon.

Just Journal is still in alpha for two reasons.

1. Lack of easy installation procedure
2. HTML is still embedded in several key servlets.

I am working on a solution to the second problem currently. The users servlet is by far the most difficult to fix and maintain in the JJ codebase right now.

The first problem I hope to help with soon. I'm going to describe basics to creating a JJ instance now.

1. Install a JDK (1.4.x or higher)

2. Install apache tomcat or another servlet container. I've managed to get tomcat 5.0 and 5.5 to work with JJ and Sun's webserver 6.1 as well. I use tomcat 5.5.x for testing and deployment currently.

3. Install Mysql 5.0. You must use mysql 5.0 as new parts of the code rely on stored procedures now. I will update the database info in cvs soon. The big changes have been with favorites and 1 additional query.

4. Download maverick, mysql jdbc driver, jdom, commons-fileupload, sun's java mail api, commons-beanutils, commons-email, commons-logging, domify, jazzy-core, log4j 1.2.11, and opt domify for maverick. I'm currently working on lowering the dependencies. There are several more in my current testing directory that i believe i've eliminated.

5. Compile and jar up the jj code into /WEB-INF/lib. Include the other libraries as well.

6. Install a maverick config file and web.xml into /WEB-INF.

7. Configure tomcat to allow the proper JDBC auth info and database info.

8. Start it up.

Compared to other open source projects, this is not very good. I'm working on creating a war deployment to ease install for others and aid in development.

JJ does not currently use ant. i have a custom build script created on my test system.

My goals for a 1.0 beta 1 release are war deployment, full mysql table specs and stored procedures, completed templates and seperation of presentation from the servlets.