Tech quickies: How to restore PowerPC support in Xcode 3.2.6

Starting from Xcode 3.2.6 Apple dropped support for PPC architecture. What is even worse there's a big chance that you won't event notice it - I didn't and it caused releasing Que 1.3 build without PPC architecture.

Fortunately there is still easy way to restore PowerPC builds in Xcode. To do that you just need to change settings for your build target (right click on target and choose "Get Info"). Your current settings (without PPC) should look like:

Click on current architecture (the one marked with red rectangle), popup menu will appear - choose "Other..." option, following sheet should appear:

Now you need to edit architecture list, Que app supports i386 and PPC so for my case I deleted $(ARCHS_STANDARD_32_64_BIT) and added two other architectures:

Click OK and you should be set up.

You can easily test if it works for you - make a new build and check if output binary contains selected architecture - to do that just use file program (Unix command line tool for determining type of FILEs):

mymachine:~ wojtek$ file ~/que/trunk/build/Release/Que.app/Contents/MacOS/Que 
/Users/wojtek/que/trunk/build/Release/Que.app/Contents/MacOS/Que: Mach-O universal binary with 2 architectures
/Users/wojtek/que/trunk/build/Release/Que.app/Contents/MacOS/Que (for architecture ppc7400): Mach-O executable ppc
/Users/wojtek/que/trunk/build/Release/Que.app/Contents/MacOS/Que (for architecture i386): Mach-O executable i386

As you can see everything worked fine and Que binary has 2 architectures. That's it.

Que 1.3.1 is out.

This release is mainly quick fix for missing PowerPC architecture - Apple dropped official support for this architecture in Xcode starting from version 3.2.6 - I didn't event notice that 1.3 build wasn't prepared PowerPC.

Fortunately there is easy way to make universal build in Xcode 3.2.6, which I will write about in Tech Quickies soon.

Update: There is new blog entry on restoring PowerPC architecture in Xcode 3.2.6.

Download Que 1.3.1 here.

Que 1.3 and Online dictionaries released!

New version of Que goes live. This long lasting phase of development and testing brings brand new category of features called Online dictionaries. Its main purpose is to provide possibility to share dictionaries via internet. Here's what you can do with it:

• browse list of dictionaries
• download dictionary you are interested in
• upload your dictionary

All features are build in application and are extremally easy to use. Here's example window with dictionary list:



Online dictionaries is all about community. It means that it's content is provided by and for users. It's free and to use key features you'll need to follow simple registration process (only nickname, e-mail address and password is required). Once you confirm your e-mail address you are all set up to use all new exciting features.

As usual, new version of Que also brings some usability improvements which hopefully will make your Que experience even better.

Are you already Que user? Do you have some dictionaries filled in? Contribute to Que project and upload your dictionaries.

Requirements

• Mac OS X 10.5 or Mac OS X 10.6
• Intel or PowerPC processor

Feedback

As usual comments, ideas, suggestions are welcome. Contact me at wojtek.janiszewski@gmail.com.

Download

Download Que 1.3 here

Project home page

Visit que.foomatik.com

Tech quickies: bulk mail, decent hyperlink matters!

Sending e-mails from your application can be tricky. Todays spam filters are doing really great job sorting out junk e-mails, but they also can be a problem for legit web creators. There are some resources on the internet about creating proper newsletters, the first thing you want to read is probably Bulk Senders Guidelines by Google.

Recently I bumped into problem registration e-mails were classified as spam, even with signed DKIM and all other juicy stuff. Long story short, the registration e-mail had registration confirmation hyperlink in it and obviously it was too long, ie:

http://host.tld/registration/confirmRegistration.do?id=123&confirmationCode=FJK947MNHL89BHGFJHMMNG

The solution was to cut link to shorter form, as ie:

http://host.tld/cr.do?id=123&cc=FJK947MNHL89BHGFJHMMNG

Happy 1st birthday Que!

I'm proud to announce that exactly one year ago first version of Que was released. This is my first such long term, non profit and personal project. Hope it will last for many years!

This is great occasion to show some numbers!

• over 1 year of development
• 2 different hosting providers used
• $3 donation received (thanks!)
• 5 versions released (1.0, 1.1, 1.1.1, 1.2, 1.2.1)
• almost 6 language versions (French in progress)
• 11 hours spent on website recovery after first provider server crash
• $54 spent on hosting providers, domain
• 119 returning users (10 and more application launches)
• 127 SVN commits
• 5754 que.foomatik.com visits
• 9523 lines of Objective-C code (without header files)
• 9823 downloads (+ downloads hosted outside foomatik.com)
• 13489 registered application launches (+ launches without internet access or without application update check)
• infinite amount of fun!

Thanks for staying with me!

Russian and Ukrainian translations for Que, 1.2.1 release is out.

Que 1.2.1 version is out! It's just quick release which brings Russian and Ukrainian translations (thanks to Alexander Zhurovich and Illarion Khapersky). Currently I'm actively involved in development of stunning features, scheduled for 1.3 release, stay tuned for details.

Download Que 1.2.1 here

Que 1.2 is out!

Que 1.2 is ready for downloads!

This release brings, in general, usability improvements. Now you can use word inspector to show and edit word properties, as well as see it's usages in files. Furthermore I've added new word property - comments - which will be useful in various cases, ie. commenting on word prononciation.

Some of you will be pleased with possibility to hide unused dictionary columns (if you don't need "date added" for example). From now on you can also easily see which words doesn't belong to any file (helpful for missing entries), just use menu "Dictionary" on the left side.

There are also some more minor usability enhancements, just check them out by yourself!

What are the plans for now? Little break from coding and focus on planning new, exciting features which I hope will bring Que to the new level! I also didn't miss Apple releasing Mac App Store, which I'm thinking of too. Stay tuned.

Requirements

• Mac OS X 10.5 or Mac OS X 10.6
• Intel or PowerPC processor

Feedback

As usual comments, ideas, suggestions are welcome. Contact me at wojtek.janiszewski@gmail.com.

Download

Download Que 1.2 here

Project home page

Visit que.foomatik.com