Version 0.3 Download

[Josh Geenen]

First, read this thread on getting started.
This wiki page has information on new features.

I will post a new message in this topic for each new release.

Please post feedback and any bugs you may encounter.  I will also accept suggestions, but cannot guarantee they will make it into 0.3 final.

[Josh Geenen]

Version 0.3.0 Alpha 1 Pre
Old - see the end of this thread

Notes:

• First (packaged) public testing release
• If you update a contact outside of Thunderbird its postal address may be lost

[Josh Geenen]

Version 0.3.0 Alpha 1 Pre update 1
Old - see the end of this thread

Notes:

• Fixes a bug in 0.3.0a1pre causing TypeError messages in Thunderbird 2
• First (packaged) public testing release
  
• If you update a contact outside of Thunderbird its postal address may be lost

[Josh Geenen]

Version 0.3.0 Alpha 1 Pre update 2
Old - see the end of this thread

Notes:

• If you update a contact outside of Thunderbird its postal address may be lost
  
• Turns the Accounts GUI into a <dialog> rather than a <prefpane> so there is
  only one button, labeled Close, regardless of the OS.
• The AB is only reset when necessary:
        o The username was not previously blank and was not just removed
        o AND at least one of the following:
           o The username has changed.
           o The group(s) to sync has changed.
• There is a prompt before the AB is reset after saving changes.
• The Delete AB button has been commented out.
• Made the Accounts dialog less tall.
• Fixes the "Duplicate extension element" error.

[Josh Geenen]

Version 0.3.0 Alpha 1 Pre update 3
Old - see the end of this thread

Bug fixes:

• list.deleteCards is not a function bug fixed
• A bug that prevented any custom fields in the New/Edit Contact dialog from being saved has been fixed - details
• A bug with the Only contacts (no groups) option has been fixed

Notes:

• Further changes to when an address book is reset.
  
  • The username was not previously blank and was not just removed
  • The new username is NOT "None"
  • The AB was synchronized at some point
  • AND at least one of the following is true:
    
    • The username has changed.
    • The group(s) to sync has changed.
• There is now a confirmation dialog before an AB is reset
• The Accounts dialog has been modified based on some feedback
• The statusbar (where it says "Synchronizing...") now has a tooltip bug report
• The way gContactSync stores preferences for each address book has been improved (should be transparent) bug report

Thanks to all of you who reported bugs and offered suggestions!

[Josh Geenen]

Version 0.3.0 Alpha 1 Pre update 4

Old - see the end of this thread

Bug fixes

• Fixes an incompatibility with MoreFunctionsForAddressBook - https://www.mozdev.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=22298

[Josh Geenen]

Version 0.3.0 Alpha 2

Old - see the end of this thread

Note - 0.3a1 was briefly available but had a bug with Postbox

Bug fixes

• Sync error for birthdays: "Attribute &#39;when&#39; shoud be date of one of types..." fixed (seen with one-digit months or days added by MoreFunctions in TB 2)
• Fixes an error in the first login dialog

Notes

• Adds/improves support for Postbox with the following limitations:
  
  • Birthdays are not synchronized
  • Photos are not synchronized (more accurately, synchronized photos are not displayed or customizable)
  • E-mail address types are not visible from Postbox
• Photos are now synchronized both ways (in previous version they were only downloaded from Google)
• The Accounts dialog now tells you if there are unsaved changes before you close it
• All alerts/prompts/confirmation dialogs now have titles (ie gContactSync Notification)

[Josh Geenen]

Version 0.3.0 Alpha 2r1
Old - see the end of this thread

Note - 0.3a1 was briefly available but had a bug with Postbox

Bug fixes

• Fixes a bug with ABs synchronized with groups
• Fixes a problem with uploading a contact photo in TB 2

[Josh Geenen]

Version 0.3.0 Alpha 3
Old - see the end of this thread

Bug fixes

• Major bug fix for contacts added through TB
• Fix for photo file extensions
• Duplicate extended properties (Advanced tab) are ignored

Notes

• Postal/Mailing Addresses are no longer synchronized by default.  You can change this in the Preferences dialog.
• A delay has been added between synchronizing each AB.  This was done for timing issues between multiple ABs being synchronized with a single Google account

[Josh Geenen]

Version 0.3.0 Alpha 4
Old - see the end of this thread

NOTE: It is very important that you update to this version - http://www.pirules.org/blog/?p=326

This version is out prematurely (I didn't have time to test the many new features/changes) due to the reason listed in the blog post.

Bug fixes
    * Major workaround for a slight change in the API that causes a lot of problems - http://www.pirules.org/blog/?p=326
    * Several other minor fixes

Notes
    * Sync icon changed
    * You can now sync from the main Thunderbird window without opening the address book
    * Address books are now automatically backed up the first time you sync and every two weeks afterwards
    * gContactSync asks permission before deleting more than 5 (by default) contacts from Google or Thunderbird
    * Several other minor changes/improvements

[Josh Geenen]

Version 0.3.0 Alpha 5
Old, please see the end of this thread.

NOTE: It is very important that you update to this version - http://www.pirules.org/blog/?p=326

This version is out prematurely (I didn't have time to test the many new features/changes) due to the reason listed in the blog post, but works better than 0.3.0a4 for the Google Data API issue

Bug fixes
    * Better workaround for a slight change in the API that causes a lot of problems - http://www.pirules.org/blog/?p=326
    * Adding new contacts from TB works (introduced in 0.3.0a4, a mistake on my end)
    * Contacts are now added to groups as expected (introduced in 0.3.0a4, caused by the API bug)

[Josh Geenen]

Version 0.3.0 Alpha 6
Old - see the end of this thread

NOTE: It is very important that you update to this version - http://www.pirules.org/blog/?p=326

Bug fixes
    * Fixes a Group-related error caused by Google fixing the API bug mentioned in the blog post linked to above.

[Josh Geenen]

Version 0.3.0 Alpha 7
Old - see the end of this thread

Bug fixes
    * Adds a workaround for the problem with messages not appearing in mail folders after synchronizing as described here.
    * Fix for "'com' is not defined" errors
    * Fixed sending photos from TB to Google
and a few more...

New features
    * Experimental import of contacts from sources that comply with Portable Contacts or OpenSocial (so far just Plaxo and MySpace [very limited, usernames only], Facebook and others might be supported in the next release)
    * Formatted address fields are back (multiple-lined fields like Google and gContactSync 0.2 have), but still off by default.

[tanstaafl]

Hi Josh,

Please don't take offense, but shouldn't you focus on getting gContactSync rock-solid working with gmail contacts before adding major new features like syncing with external services like myspace/facebook?

I really, really, really would hate to see gContactSync die a horrible death because you tried to do too much too fast with it.

Personally, I will never, ever have a facebook or myspace account, and would *much* prefer that you simply add a native on disk file format and then provide the ability to sync with a local filesystem and/or an FTP server.

[Josh Geenen]

Hey,

Don't worry, I won't take offense from a valid point.   The import was just something I did because I had a 4 hour car trip back home then another 4 hour trip for my internship.  I just added support for importing from Facebook and now photos are imported, too, and that's about all I plan to do for 0.3.  Beta 2 will have some slight back-end improvements and possibly support importing from Yahoo.  It might keep it's EXPERIMENTAL label in 0.3 final so people know that importing contacts is not supposed to be the main feature and might be buggy or unpolished.  I am now going to stop working on new features and focus on testing and polishing 0.3 so it's ready to be released and finally reviewed on AMO.  Beta 1 should be announced very shortly.

Synchronization with other sources will be completely different and is planned for 0.4.  I worked on import first because it was easier, a good way for me to use some PHP again, and might make it easier to switch to TB for new users.  Import just required a bit of new code for gContactSync (I could condense it to < 150 lines without comments) and my website.