Life Balance 4.1b1 and 3.5b1 public beta
[This news item has been superseded by the release of 4.1b2 and 3.5b2. Please see the new item to download the latest beta.]
As foolishness or luck would have it, we're posting a (semi) public beta of Life Balance for Mac v4.1 on 4/1!
And, there are also builds here for Life Balance for Palm 3.5b1, and Life Balance for Windows 3.5b1.
You'll need to be a web site member with an account and to be logged in to download these builds.
Be sure to read the full article, by clicking on the "Read More" link below for all the details before downloading these BETA builds.
For Mac and Windows, we've added new Move Up/Down/Left/Right menu items to the Task menu that can be used to rearrange your Outline. On Mac, the keyboard shortcuts for these commands are Control-Command arrow key. On Windows, the shortcuts are Control-Alt arrow key.
For Palm, we've also added "Catch Up," "Skip," and "Defer Until" commands to the Task menu in the To Do List view. These work just like the same commands on Mac and Windows, so check out one of the desktop manuals if you need to know how those commands work.
The intention is to have members of our community check these builds out quickly prior to posting them as official releases to everyone, other sites and vendor partners. So, if you are one of our betas, or you feel brave... you can install the latest, AS IS, prior to the final release of these builds, which we expect to be within a week or so if all goes well.
We still waiting for the last of the poll results before deciding how to handle iCal syncing of the location field to places. If you haven't given us your opinion yet on that, please hurry! We'll be following up with the folks who are voting "yes" to find out what they are using those fields for.
Note that these builds include extra testing code compared to our release builds, so they may be a little larger and slower than you're used to. As always with a beta, we recommend that you make a copy of your Life Balance data file, and if you're on a Mac, your iCal data before installing the beta.
These beta builds are set to expire on 9/1/2008, although we expect to have posted the final builds long before then. Just be sure you come back to get the release builds!
If you find a problem with these builds, we want to know about it right away. If everything is running okay for you, we will want to know that too! :-)
Comments
Can't download the PRC file
When I click on the link for the .prc file, I get a page full of gobbledygook. I tried right-clicking and choosing "Save target as..." but the resulting dialog box tells me that is going to download an HTML file.
If I click on the link for the .exe file or the .dmg file, the file starts to download (I stopped the process, because I only have LB on the Palm).
How do I get the .prc beta file?
Thanks, we will look into that...
Hi there,
Thanks for the report. It seems to be working from the link on the home page, so if you need to do the download this evening, use that. We will look into why the download link isn't working from the "read more" full article page tomorrow morning.
New web site software, still figuring it all out! :-)
Thanks again,
--Catherine--*
I think the PRC is fixed now
I think I've fixed the problem where the PRC file wasn't being served up with the correct MIME type. That should fix the problem where your web browser was trying to display the file rather than saving it.
There is still a problem downloading any of the attachments from the article page. The downloads are working, though, from the front page, so please download from there until I'm able to look into the problem some more.
the attachments on article page is now working too
And thanks to the valiant efforts of our ever noble Stuart, the attachments from this article page are also working just fine now.
It turned out to be a minor conflict between web site modules.
Best wishes,
--Catherine--*
If your Windows screen flips or rotates...
...you probably have an Intel graphics controller.
Apparently some some Intel graphics controllers set up the Ctrl+Alt+Arrow keys as hotkeys for rotating the display. This article explains the gory details. The bottom line is to get the Ctrl+Alt+Arrow keys working in Life Balance 3.b5, you may need to go to Start >> Control Panel >> Display >> Settings >> Advanced and find the tab for your graphics controller to turn off the hotkeys.
Scott
Suggestions for alternate shortcuts?
I'm open to suggestions on changing the new Windows shortcuts. Would something else be better?
Issues on Palm
Experience w/ 3.5b1 on a palm m500
a/ Long start-up time. About 25 sec. in comparision to 3.4.1. only in 1 sec.
b/ fatal error when 'postpone until...' of a task which is set by datebook
Jens
long start up time is normal
Hi Jens,
The long start up time is normal though, and we mentioned that. This is a BETA build, (slow and large) and it is not a release build, (fast and small).
Thanks for the note on the fatal error, we will want to look into that right away in more detail. Can you tell us more about the settings for the "by datebook" entry that you postponed so that we can try to reproduce that issue here?
Best wishes,
--Catherine--*
Looks like we've got this one!
Hi there Jens,
With a little fiddling, we managed to reproduce what we think is your issue with the Palm build and "postpone until..."
And it is now fixed. We will post a b2 just to confirm that. Be on the lookout for it to be posted later today.
Best wishes, and thanks again,
--Catherine--*
For large values of today...
Yup, there was a minor hitch in the proceedings.
I forgot (how is that possible) that we had navigation class last night. The build was done before we left, but there wasn't time to run all the tests and post before we left for class.
The tests later turned up with a problem on Tiger. Not expecting that to be a big deal, but we need to rerun all the tests cleanly before we post.
More soon,
--Catherine--*
Little status update...
Hello there friends of Llamas,
I mentioned earlier an issue on Tiger with the latest build. At this point we're are certain that the issue is not in the build of Life Balance itself on Tiger. The tests actually do run fine, as expected, once the initial setup is truly empty.
For the intensely curious, the issue we're fussing over is how best to safely and reliably convince Tiger that we REALLY do want to wipe out every scrap of the sync services history before the tests run. Some of the techniques we were using on Tiger to get back to a blank state were not quite reliable enough.
More soon,
--Catherine--*
So far, pretty good
So far, things seem to be running along pretty smoothly. I certainly haven't seen anything 'blow up' anyway or act oddly.
This is the first I've spent much time playing with the Catch Up and Skip features. They're helpful, though I'll admit once or twice I've run into situations (usually on the Windows desktop version) where these options have not been available. I'm sure it's my own misunderstanding of when the feature is available however, and not a problem with the code.
Today, I tried to use Skip on the Palm and was informed that this feature can only be used on a task that has a future date scheduled. The fact that it is a task scheduled for Once instead of a date or any kind of recurrence is probably why the Skip option is grayed out on the desktop. Anyway, although it's a design choice and not a coding defect and there is not time to address this matter at this point anyway, I will note the following -
I have a number of tasks that are scheduled as Once because they are part of a recurring task that will come around again later anyway. Since it is the group of tasks that I want to see again _as_ a group, I make the higher level task recurring. There are still times when I want to Skip a lower level task, however. Currently I just run the effort down to zero, check off the task, then run it back up to a more normal level. Although it works, it's tedious and I'd love to be able to Skip the task instead. If there was some way of 'noticing' that a task scheduled for Once is actually a child of a recurring task, that'd make the Skip feature that much more useful.
Thank you for the opportunity to check out the beta code!
Kimm Viebrock, ACC
Coaching & Consulting for the Technology Sector
Expanding perspectives. Creating possibilities
Thanks Kimm!
I've noticed that too, with some of my tasks...
Been meaning to mention that to Stuart and for us to have a more detailed discussion of whether or not we can refine that behavior a bit more for inherited schedules.
No promises for this round, but you never know... stranger things have happened. :-)
Best wishes,
--Catherine--*
Assertion Failure, Wishrecord.cpp Line 75, LlamaMutex.h, line 54
Hello everyone,
Thanks for posting the betas. This message refers to the Mac desktop beta. I have iCal syncing turned on, and I sync using Missing Sync to a Palm TX also running the beta.
I received the error message above this morning. I was copying a task in from my mail client using an Automator action I created. However, I've noticed another debug error message as well. This one seems to occur while using Sync Services.
Assertion failure: LlamaMutex.h, line 54.
From the logs (hope this isn't too detailed for a message board post):
4/7/08 11:08:41 AM [0x0-0x89089].com.Llamagraphics.LifeBalance[941] ICalSyncManager::Thread::operator () (14170337545569648533) {
4/7/08 11:08:41 AM [0x0-0x89089].com.Llamagraphics.LifeBalance[941] ICalCalendarDB::SyncWithICal {
4/7/08 11:08:41 AM [0x0-0x89089].com.Llamagraphics.LifeBalance[941] SyncSession::PerformSync(2280) {
4/7/08 11:08:41 AM [0x0-0x89089].com.Llamagraphics.LifeBalance[941] ICalCalendarDB::AddRecord(6A79D44B-30FB-4C66-97F1-16C7E21DD26F, {type = immutable, count = 5, capacity = 6, pairs = (
4/7/08 11:08:41 AM [0x0-0x89089].com.Llamagraphics.LifeBalance[941] 0 : {contents = "start date"} = 2008-04-07 15:00:00 -0700
4/7/08 11:08:41 AM [0x0-0x89089].com.Llamagraphics.LifeBalance[941] 4 : {contents = "summary"} = {contents = "Livelink Chapter 2"}
4/7/08 11:08:41 AM [0x0-0x89089].com.Llamagraphics.LifeBalance[941] 5 : {contents = "end date"} = 2008-04-07 17:45:00 -0700
4/7/08 11:08:41 AM [0x0-0x89089].com.Llamagraphics.LifeBalance[941] 6 : {contents = "com.apple.syncservices.RecordEntityName"} = {contents = "com.apple.calendars.Event"}
4/7/08 11:08:41 AM [0x0-0x89089].com.Llamagraphics.LifeBalance[941] 7 : {contents = "calendar"} = {type = mutable-small, count = 1, values = (
4/7/08 11:08:41 AM [0x0-0x89089].com.Llamagraphics.LifeBalance[941] 0 : {contents = "BF1E3EB1-A667-4904-B1CA-BB3BC4148845"}
4/7/08 11:08:41 AM [0x0-0x89089].com.Llamagraphics.LifeBalance[941] )}
4/7/08 11:08:41 AM [0x0-0x89089].com.Llamagraphics.LifeBalance[941] )}) {
4/7/08 11:08:41 AM [0x0-0x89089].com.Llamagraphics.LifeBalance[941] ICalCalendarSynchronizer::UpdateEvent {
4/7/08 11:08:41 AM [0x0-0x89089].com.Llamagraphics.LifeBalance[941] bool Llamagraphics::LifeBalance::IncludedPlaceFilter::IncludesPlace(PlaceID) const {
4/7/08 11:08:41 AM [0x0-0x89089].com.Llamagraphics.LifeBalance[941] Assertion failure, LlamaMutex.h, line 54
4/7/08 11:08:41 AM [0x0-0x89089].com.Llamagraphics.LifeBalance[941] }
4/7/08 11:08:41 AM [0x0-0x89089].com.Llamagraphics.LifeBalance[941] bool Llamagraphics::LifeBalance::IncludedPlaceFilter::IncludesPlace(PlaceID) const {
4/7/08 11:08:41 AM [0x0-0x89089].com.Llamagraphics.LifeBalance[941] Assertion failure, LlamaMutex.h, line 54
4/7/08 11:08:41 AM [0x0-0x89089].com.Llamagraphics.LifeBalance[941] }
4/7/08 11:08:41 AM [0x0-0x89089].com.Llamagraphics.LifeBalance[941] }
4/7/08 11:08:41 AM [0x0-0x89089].com.Llamagraphics.LifeBalance[941] }
4/7/08 11:08:41 AM [0x0-0x89089].com.Llamagraphics.LifeBalance[941] ICalCalendarDB::AddRecord(4103C555-45F1-4EB3-86F7-F28C9B4C5F88, {type = immutable, count = 5, capacity = 6, pairs = (
4/7/08 11:08:41 AM [0x0-0x89089].com.Llamagraphics.LifeBalance[941] 0 : {contents = "start date"} = 2008-04-07 19:30:00 -0700
4/7/08 11:08:41 AM [0x0-0x89089].com.Llamagraphics.LifeBalance[941] 4 : {contents = "summary"} = {contents = "Livelink Chapter 2"}
4/7/08 11:08:41 AM [0x0-0x89089].com.Llamagraphics.LifeBalance[941] 5 : {contents = "end date"} = 2008-04-07 23:30:00 -0700
4/7/08 11:08:41 AM [0x0-0x89089].com.Llamagraphics.LifeBalance[941] 6 : {contents = "com.apple.syncservices.RecordEntityName"} = {contents = "com.apple.calendars.Event"}
4/7/08 11:08:41 AM [0x0-0x89089].com.Llamagraphics.LifeBalance[941] 7 : {contents = "calendar"} = {type = mutable-small, count = 1, values = (
4/7/08 11:08:41 AM [0x0-0x89089].com.Llamagraphics.LifeBalance[941] 0 : {contents = "BF1E3EB1-A667-4904-B1CA-BB3BC4148845"}
4/7/08 11:08:41 AM [0x0-0x89089].com.Llamagraphics.LifeBalance[941] )}
4/7/08 11:08:41 AM [0x0-0x89089].com.Llamagraphics.LifeBalance[941] )}) {
4/7/08 11:08:41 AM [0x0-0x89089].com.Llamagraphics.LifeBalance[941] ICalCalendarSynchronizer::UpdateEvent {
4/7/08 11:08:41 AM [0x0-0x89089].com.Llamagraphics.LifeBalance[941] bool Llamagraphics::LifeBalance::IncludedPlaceFilter::IncludesPlace(PlaceID) const {
4/7/08 11:08:41 AM [0x0-0x89089].com.Llamagraphics.LifeBalance[941] Assertion failure, LlamaMutex.h, line 54
4/7/08 11:08:41 AM [0x0-0x89089].com.Llamagraphics.LifeBalance[941] }
4/7/08 11:08:41 AM [0x0-0x89089].com.Llamagraphics.LifeBalance[941] bool Llamagraphics::LifeBalance::IncludedPlaceFilter::IncludesPlace(PlaceID) const {
4/7/08 11:08:41 AM [0x0-0x89089].com.Llamagraphics.LifeBalance[941] Assertion failure, LlamaMutex.h, line 54
Thanks for the log...
Hi there,
Thanks for the log and the report.
Hope you don't mind, I clarified your subject line, so we can see both assert messages at a glance.
:-)
Best wishes,
--Catherine--*
Look for b2!
Quick follow up...We just posted b2. So please go look for that.
Among other things, we added in some extra information to the log to help us narrow down whatever is going on with your LlamaMutex report.
Best wishes,
--Catherine--*
Zoom function in the Outline view
Hi,
Any chance we can have a zoom function to the outline view? This will enable the user to just work on the current parent or child outline without seeing the others. How about having an option for smaller fonts as well so we can view more of the data in the outline?
Regards,
Mark
Scope is Skip
We understand that there are still lots (thousands?) of pending feature suggestions. Our friends out there in the member community have lots of opinions on what they would like us to work on next. Even your sturdy little llamas can't carry that heavy a load all at once. It will take many trips up and down the mountain path. :-)
The scope of this release is limited. The primary intention for this release is to get the feature request for "skip" that we put into Life Balance 4 release for Macintosh extended out promptly to the other platforms.
Best wishes,
--Catherine--*