Program: Groups (version 0.08) Short: Usenet newsgroups selection Files: groups008.spk Spark'd archive of the program groups008.txt A copy of this message Please could you put these in /pub/archimedes/utils and delete the existing files "/pub/developers/groups007.*". Sorry that I'm uploading a new version so soon, but it is now so much faster than version 0.07beta. Description ----------- Groups is an application to make it easier to add and remove Usenet newsgroups from your news feed. Requirements ------------ * RISC OS 3.10 or greater * Newsbase version 0.541dev or greater * A transport system (e.g. ka9q or uucp) The latest public version of Newsbase can be found in: ftp://ftp.demon.co.uk/pub/archimedes/developers/ Features -------- * Display of a full newsgroups file. * Display of new groups created since you last checked. * Newsgroup beginning-of-name and wildcard searches. * Easy to add groups from any source, simply drag it across. Changes from 0.03beta (first public release) to 0.05beta -------------------------------------------------------- Bugs fixed: * Problems with top-bit-set characters in filenames fixed. * No longer displays blank pages when changing source type. Features added: * "Help" menu option added. * !Groups can now ask for confirmation before adding and/or removing groups from your feed, see the Configure window. * Can now drag groups to other applications to insert them at the caret. Also, you can drag to a filer window; the file will be saved as "Newsgroup" * If you hold down CTRL while dropping the group, it will be inserted in URL format (i.e. news://group/), if WWW browsers want to support this. * Stops multiple copies loading. Features improved: * Hourglasses added where needed (e.g. wildcard searching) * Config file saving doesn't necessarily force a re-load of the groups list. * The width of the three source and one feed windows are now automatically the same as the longest entry. Changes from 0.05beta to 0.07beta --------------------------------- Features added: * Assembler routines written by me to count lines in a file, also to produce an indexed list of them. It takes 3 seconds to count lines in file (currently this is done in a file, so when it moves to memory it will speed up enormously) and just 0.13 seconds to index a 10,000 line file on my A5000. Known problems: * The wildcard routine will be very slow, if it works at all. This is as I'm passing pointers between two machine code routines via an intermediate BASIC variable. Will be fixed soon. * Start-of-string searching is also very slow, although it will be faster after the first character is entered due to techniques added in version 0.02alpha. I'll write some new code for this soon. Changes from 0.07beta (last public release) to 0.08 --------------------------------------------------- Bugs fixed: * Problems with large numbers of new groups and/or feed groups fixed. Features improved: * Uses Dynamite module for memory management. * Loading is faster still! * Assembler routine for start-of-string searching. * Wildcard searching is _much_ faster. Future improvements ------------------- * Automatic merging of new groups and full list re-sorting. * Grabbing a newsgroup list from a NNTP server using Freenet or Acorn TCP/IP. Soon I will release version 0.09 which will fix any problems with this version and include any suggestions anyone makes. This will be the last version for a while, so please send your suggestions to me soon. I believe I have now included everything I was asked to include. If I've forgotten something, please tell me asap. Installation ------------ I suggest you keep !Groups inside !Newsbase.AutoBoot, unless you are likely to want to run it on its own, in which case you can put it in your main Internet directory. Newsbase will automatically run Groups when you choose the "New Groups..." option from its main menu, provided it has been seen before by the filer. Copyright notice ---------------- The !Groups application and its contents are Copyright 1995 by David Croft, whose address may be found at the bottom of this file. You may copy this program freely, so long as: * You do not charge for it in any way. * You distribute it intact, with all files present and unmodified. * You understand that the copyright remains with the author. This program comes with no guarantee, implied or stated. No responsibility can be accepted by the author for any kind of loss. The Dynamite module is used for memory management, and is © 1994 Straylight. Permission is granted to Dr. Alan Hassey to include this software in his Internet Starter Pack. |> /+\ \| | |> -- David Croft. david@runge1.demon.co.uk Reigate, Surrey. Charterhouse School, Godalming, Surrey.