Sennadar Forums

Are you a Sennadar Forums Addict?
Do you keep hitting "Refresh" just waiting for the next post?
Then get Forum Monitor and never miss a new post again!

*ahem*
----

I've been fiddling around tonight.
Testing out some stuff that I've been working on at work - and, well... I made a little Post Notification tool for the forums while I was at it.

Sorry Mac & Linux users: This is Windows only.

Pre-Requisites:
Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0

Install Instructions:
1. Open Internet Explorer 6 (or above) and go to: http://sennadar.com/ForumMonitor/publish.htm

(Once installed, you do not have to use Internet Explorer. It's just required to launch the installer.)

2. Click the Install button (it'll warn you if you don't actually have .NET 2.0 installed). You'll be prompted to authorise the installation.

3. The application is now installed. Simply run it from your Start Menu.


If I deploy a newer version, you'll be prompted to install it the next time you run the application.

NOTE: ClickOnce does not work behind proxies requiring authentication - sorry.

BUGS:
There is a strange little bug which I found that causes an error message if you're not using IE as your default browser. Just simply exit your browser window, and then double-click on the ForumMonitor (RSS) Icon in your task tray.

Disclaimer:
Should this format your system or cause you to lose important information, I won't be held responsible.

As at publishing, it was virus free - but no guarantees if someone hacks the server.

Usage Instructions:

To run, Click on the ForumsMonitor icon in your start menu. (Start > All Programs > ForumsMonitor > ForumsMonitor)

- It will automaticly check for new posts every 30 seconds.

- Any new post will be displayed via a "balloon popup", and you'll receive one after the first time you run it (even if there hasn't been new posts).

To View the post - either click on the balloon popup, or right click on the icon in your task tray and click "View Most Recent Post".

To Exit - right click on the icon in your task tray, and select Exit.

To Uninstall:
- Go to the Control Panel, and open "Add/Remove Programs" (Win9x/ME/2x/XP) or "Programs and Features" (Vista).
- Select "ForumsMonitor" and click Add/Remove.


If you want it to run automatically on startup/login (not done by default) - copy the shortcut to your Startup Items.

Screenshots

Default notification


Post Preview



Change Log
Version 1.0.0.5

- added a Preview window

- altered NotifyIcon Click behaviour
--- single click = show preview window
--- double click = go to forums

- altered BalloonWindow click behaviour - clicking shows the preview window.

Those who have already installed the program simply need to exit, and re-run, it will prompt you to update.

Change Log 1.0.0.6
- Bug Fix for NotifyIcon Rendering.

Change Log 1.0.0.7
- Bug Fix for when RSS requests fail.

Change Log 1.0.0.8
- Altered number of RSS Entries it requests. (1, instead of default of 15). Should reduce size of RSS, DB load, and bandwidth consumed.

Change Log 1.0.0.9
- Altered method of fetching RSS Feed. Webclient requests Cached copy if available on Server (also adds custom Client tag, so stats package can account for it).
(No HTTP Proxy support as yet - that's Version 1.0.0.10)

Change Log 1.0.1.0
- Proxy Support (see notes below)
- Won't check for updates if the Screensaver is running, or your desktop is locked.


Proxy Support
- Supports HTTP Proxies

- Supports Authentication modes: Plaintext (Basic), NTLM, or Kerberos (automatic negotiation)

- Supports using your Windows Domain Account for Proxy Authentication.

oops, stuffed something up - Updated to version 1.0.0.4. I don't think anyone had installed it yet though

You're the man SPEC!! We should make some sort of infomercial for this awesome product!!

So, this the same as a RSS feed, except for IE, or something new i might want?

will it work with IE7?

And why, may I ask, didn't you port it to MAC???

in what language is this thing coded, and, can i see the code?

Weresmilodon wrote:So, this the same as a RSS feed, except for IE, or something new i might want?

It utilises the RSS feed - but it's for the obsessive/compulsive people who keep hitting refresh waiting for a new post. (like me)

I'll put up some screenshots tonight when I get home (it doesn't work through the work Firewall -- for the reasons I gave above)

the_scot wrote:will it work with IE7?

Yeah, it'll work with IE7 - sorry, meant to say "IE 6+". (fixed)

Fiferguy wrote:And why, may I ask, didn't you port it to MAC???

As soon as Mono (or another .NET CLR for OSX) supports the .NET 2.0 framework and Winforms properly under OS X - sure.

Otherwise - DIY.

Mistra wrote:in what language is this thing coded, and, can i see the code?

VB.NET (.NET 2.0 Framework)

Yeah, you can see the code -- I'll package it up and put it online tonight (it was nearly 1:30am when I was finished stuffing around)


PS: I may, or may not put in additional features (like seeing _your_ unread threads, for instance - and notifications of PMs) - no promises.

cool, i can do some basic coding in VB.NET, perhaps i can help you out with some of the minor stuff. Btw, the version of Visual Studio i use still works under .NET 1.0, if i can get the program working(with backwards incompatiblility and all), and you tell me how to port, perhaps i can make it work for mac and linux

Mistra wrote:cool, i can do some basic coding in VB.NET, perhaps i can help you out with some of the minor stuff. Btw, the version of Visual Studio i use still works under .NET 1.0, if i can get the program working(with backwards incompatiblility and all), and you tell me how to port, perhaps i can make it work for mac and linux

The VB.NET code itself will work under .NET 1.0 and 1.1 (once recompiled for your version of the CLR) - but you'd have to re-make the Solution and Project files - since VS.NET 2005 doesn't produce cross-version compatible files.

Also, you won't be able to publish OneClick installer packages (since that's something that was only introduced with .NET 2.0).

You can, however, use Visual Studio.NET 2005 Express from http://msdn.microsoft.com (free).

To be honest - I wouldn't bother trying to port it to Mac OS directly - just redevelop it.

It's really simple:
There's a single background thread that periodically downloads the RSS feed, and grabs the first item element (it's hard coded to certain values I know are in the feed for this forum - but using a correct selectNode expression would work fine).
If the link element is different from the previously known value - it shows a pop-up balloon.

The single-instance thing is provided by Visual Studio 2005 it's a config option on the project.

The ClickOnce magic comes directly from Visual Studio 2005 --- when I've produced a build I'm happy with I click Build -> Publish, and enter a few details. It produces the .application package and ClickOnce handles updates.

Like I said, really really simple.

Edit:
At the moment, the background thread directly handles the NotifyIcon - which is a bad idea in multithreaded applications (it works without an issue, because it's the only thing playing with the NotifyIcon).

I need to get the Background Thread to raise an event, which (through a delegate and using Invoke) shows any notifications as needed.

Source is available: http://sennadar.com/ForumMonitor/Source ... .0.0.4.zip

Example of how the notifications appear:


...it lasts a few seconds (2.5), before fading away again.

It'll do another check after 30 seconds.

Silly windoze users...

Fiferguy wrote:Silly windoze users...

Was that pity...or were you just mocking us?

Halcyon wrote:

Fiferguy wrote:Silly windoze users...

Was that pity...or were you just mocking us?

Yes?