DLect / News: Recent posts

In the past couple of weeks quite a few people have put me on the spot with some fantastic edge case bugs. I must say it's really fun to try and figure out which of the thousands of cases the application is having trouble with. Luckily in the end we solved the problems, and then I pushed a new update; and then a new round of bugs line themselves up to be purged from the system.

So I just wanted to thank everyone who has taken the time to sit down and help me solve this bug for everyone. Without your help I could not make DLect better, or even work at times :D.... read more

Web Service

Whilst enjoying my pizza and stressing over mid-sems I came up with a cunning plan. It reads:

Convert the entire 'backend' or DLect to be a web service so that all tasks are performed in a single request to an external server. This request will:

• Log the user in;
• Retrieve the subjects(optional: only requested ones);
• Retrieve the lectures for each subject.
• Then bundle it all in a computer readable format(xml or json) and transmit it.

This will allow for the further development of DLect into other universities by making it easier to develop an extension. This will also allow for the development of native applications without having to port code between multiple languages.... read more

Hello. Let's get started with some big news: My Development PC died. It is currently in intensive care getting it's RAM and motherboard checked. So basically it is unlikely that I will be releasing an update until after exam block.

Lucky for me, I have my old(really old) computer that serves as a reliable backup, so you may see some DLect adverts around UQ. I'm trying to get a few more users(not that I need them) in preperation for exam block.... read more

Dear all,

I have make the decision to pause development of DLect. This is a difficult decision, however University is catching up with me and I need to devote much of my time into passing my subjects. I will continue to develop this application after exam block so don't think that I am deserting the project.

I would like to take this oportunity to thank every single on the 63 people who have liked the page on Facebook. It has given me a real boost. I would also like to thank the over 600 people who have downloaded.... read more

So, today I met with ITS(Information Technology Support). They were incredibly helpful and I look forward to working with them more.

I would like to first apologise to all those who have supported me. My releases in the recent history have been buggy(at best). I am learning, but not fast enough.

So my problems:

• Maven, Maven, Maven, Maven. Over the past couple of versions, I migrated from Ant to Maven. This caused many problems that are only comming to light now. The most prominent and problematic is that the updater just won't run for older version(<2.0.3-2).
• Proguard. In my attempts to save file size(why I don't know) I used Proguard to compact my releases. It removes unused classes. However in the more recent releases It has removed vital parts of the program, like the GUI!!
• Me. I have introduced bugs that I did not notice, nor did I test them.... read more

So, This week I got a bit bogged down with assignments, colds, exams and general stress. But just doing small commits helped.

This Week in DLect

• I began writing some tests to improve the application stability
• I separated the worker and the GUI. This should allow me to write different front ends, such as a Command Line Interface or a Background Utility(Like Dropbox).... read more

For all those who will read this here is what I've got for V2.0!!!!:

The GUI has changed completely, for those who want to preview it, it is in the MockDLect project(I think). There are also screenshots up on Facebook. (Note the GUI is not complete and is buggy like anything).

The back end got another redesign in this version and will support many other universities from the outset. It emulates Blackboard Mobile for any University that supports it(Quite a few). This gives the application a significant speed boost; Currently it takes about 10 seconds to find all the lectures for all the courses. And for those Universities that don't support Blackboard Mobile, then it will fall back on the old way used in V1.5 pre-releases(of loading the website).... read more