Musings from The Software Underground

A new version of MacGourmet is now available. This free update cleans up some leftovers from version 1.0, and adds a few things that didn't make it into that release. A full list of changes can be found here.

The new version of MacGourmet is available here.

"So what's next?" you may be asking. Well there is a lot of demand for both better printing and better shopping list functionality, both of which will get done eventually. I also want to add more recipe information, such as a list of categories and cuisines for better classification. On top of that, better scaling and units conversion need to be added, so the plate is definitely full, and that's not including other things I haven't listed here. In the past, I'd roll all of these changes into a 1.1 release, but that would mean a long time between updates, and I prefer not to do that. I like smaller, regular releases with incremental improvements. So I think better printing will be next. That's the "low hanging fruit" right now. The other changes are definitely more work and in some cases require database updates, which will be trickier, as least the first time they are done.

Users of SQLGrinder who have been waiting for word of a new version can take heart, work on finishing up version 2 has started again. After a hiatus of... way too long, I've completed pulling out all of the pre-Panther work I had done that was obsoleted by features included in the Panther version of Cocoa. This means that SQLGrinder will now require Mac OS X 10.3, but I don't think that's an unreasonable requirement at this point, as the user experience will be improved, and I can spend less time working on features that come for "free" and more time adding great new cool features exclusive to SQLGrinder.

So when is the next version due? Well I had expected to spend most of the summer on it, but between finishing MacGoumet and working a contract that doesn't seem to end (which is a good thing, money-wise) it keeps getting pushed back. Work HAS started again, and most new and updated features are pretty far along. Lately I've been mainly tending to a lot of code and feature clean up that remained from the port from mostly Java to mostly Cocoa, and I must say that the whole application is coming along nicely, if slowly. I can't really set a time frame. I've done that in the past and been bitten by the estimates being wrong. All I can say is that I HOPE to get it done and out sooner rather than later now, and it's risen in priority.

I'd actually like to get an alpha version out before too long, so that people can play with it and submit feedback before it's done, but I want to try and get it closer to being feature complete first. To get there I still need to add the table editor, stored procedure editor and import/export manager. That sounds like a lot but it's not so bad. I also still need to add data editing and paging to the data view of a table in the database browser (which used to be the schema browser). At least that's the plan. Also on tap are all new toolbar and application icons. I know, FINALLY.