1. Revised all Xtools templates to continue to output the content of the page from WordPress (for notes/comments/documentation links/etc).
  2. Documented known bugs in a publically accessible format (in preparation for adding more beta testers)
    1. DNB Parsing, Best Practices
    2. DNB Types [static list]
  3. Documented best practices in a publically accessible format (same as above)
  4. Continued work on ESN parser & templates

 

I just discovered this week that despite the fact that I discontinued my hosting through Verio, they continued to host my content via the IP address assigned to my old website. In fact, my old username/password still gave me access to the FTP account.

I had thought that they would wipe all of the content when I stopped paying them… but apparently not. So I went and wiped the content (it was mine after all) off the old Verio server

 

Resolved all outstanding bugs from v0.10.0 (frankly, I’m embarressed to discover how many critical bugs there were in this release… but they’re all fixed now.) and began working on implementing the new parser.  The next one will be a alternate route selection parser.  NARS/BARS/CDP etc.

All my programming time has diminished my attentiveness to building the ARS 101 tutorial that was my original SEP goal, but I think it’s a fair trade.

Finally finished building the SQL entries and rough sketching out how I wanted to fit all of the pieces of the ESN database together.  This kind of development work is really good for helping me think carefully about how Nortel must have programmed their database (certainly the execution code that utilizes the database is another story all together.)

I also discovered that in the 10+ years I’ve been working on Nortel phone systems, I’ve never once run across a Private Line appearance.  It has it’s own unique entry in a PRT DNB which I had never encountered before this last week.  Added that to the dnbParser and fixed a couple of minor bugs in the dnbParser.

I added a few improvements to the dnbPrint template, but I’m getting kind of antsy to move on to the ESN piece of the toolset so I’m going to take a break from DNB features and work on migrating the esn parsing code from ASPECT to PHP.

You can see the latest roadmap status by visiting: http://datarave.net/bt/roadmap_page.php

I’m thinking about replicating 0.11.1 to the production environment because of all of the problems with 0.10.0.  I’ll spend more time thinking about it later, after I’ve had a good nights sleep.

 

Hongkiat.com posted 30 (more) “most wanted” features for WordPress.  Some of them look like they’re already planned for Release 2.7 (upcoming) and others look interesting.

I’m especially interested in:

  • Breadcrumb navigation which is a cool way to place breadcrumb style navigation on your blog.  I like the idea of having a navigation bar that shows you the tree-branch you’re on (Home > About > TV, for instance).
  • Advanced Category Excluder provides a way to exclude pages from search results or from displaying on a page.  This isn’t exactly what I’m interested in, but I like the idea of making some content private.  This blog did originally start off as a way to keep my friends up to date on what I was doing, since we had drifted in different directions.  Now I use it mostly as a notepad, which is nice for me, but not so hot for keeping my friends informed on my personal business while not keeping the rest of the world informed.

 

Tasks completed:

  • Normal users will only have access to their own customer
    • Ability to add users to a customer record who can also access that information will be added in a subsequent revision
  • Normal users can now add a new customer, associated with their user record
  • Normal users can now add an unlimited number of sites associated only with their customer record
    • Ability to delete sites will be added in a subsequent revision
  • Normal users can now only upload batch information for their associated customer
  • Normal users can now only display batch information for their associated customer
  • Customer and Site management templates are much more modular in design than batchUpload and dnbPrint templates.  Batch and DNB templates will be updated to follow the modular design of the customer and site management templates in a subsequent revision.

Before I can make the dnbParser available on the production site, I have to finish re-writing a piece of the code that deals with file uploads (files are uploaded to a non-public space to prevent users from uploading dangerous content and then attempting to run it via a web browser) to separate the production and development directories used for file uploads (currently, the directories are hardcoded…  but I have to make them variable so that I can completely separate the production and dev content.)

 

Put up a BugTracker.  I’ll be importing the ASPECT projects that I’ve been working on over the years soon, so that if any users want to report bugs for those projects, they can.

Primarily though, this BugTracker is used to track the features/projects/ideas for my Xtools project.  I figured that while a diary is great, tracking future bugs and major progress in the project would be a little more automated if I utilized a BugTracker.  MantisBT is fairly full featured.  I have found a few bugs, and submitted them to the developer’s bug tracker.

Tasks completed:

  • Finished the basic DNB Parser
  • Finished the basic DNB Display page
    • Added simple filter and sort options
  • Finished the basic Batch Upload page

 

My reference links:

Relevant to the Xtools project.

 
  • Completed converting one parse utility from previous scripting language to PHP, currently debugging.  Parse utilities will run as cron jobs to control CPU load.
  • Began writing file upload code, reading up on how files get uploaded via PHP and how to protect the server when permitting file uploads.  I’m currently thinking that I’ll upload to a folder that is not reachable/browsable to prevent scripts/hacks/code from being uploaded.  Retard uploads to prevent non-approved extensions, and then do a file-type check prior to running a cron job against the file to weed out any attempts to upload mis-named JPGs to the parse application.  Not to mention, I need to add a bit to the parse cron job to check if the file is valid or not and ban the user/ip from accessing Xtools again if they attempt such an action.

 

The idea is to write a plugin that can be configured to automatically purge revisions older than a specific value.  Allow authors/editors to mark certain posts using meta content that are excempt from the auto-purge of revision data.

 

Note to free users

Unfortunately, after offering a free product and a free service to millions of users for more than 10 year we are no longer able to do so.  We would like to thank you for using SmartFTP and we hope to welcome you as a customer in the future. Thank you for your understanding.

Here’s my response

Note to SmartFTP Developers;

Unfortunately, after using your free product (but not your free service, whatever it may have been) for more than 8 years, I am no longer able to do so.  I would like to thank you for supplying SmartFTP and am happy to replace you with an open source FTP client for my non-commercial needs.  And, when I find myself in a position to recommend an FTP client for purchase, I will likely recommend that open source client over yours.  Thank you for your understanding.

Hello FileZilla!

(For crying out loud, I’m not using FTP for mass site updates for commercial needs.  My company’s web server which I manage is an in-house IIS installation, which does not require an FTP client to manage.  Windows Explorer 4TW.)

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