News from jsdevtools.com

Sencha Blog: Ext GWT 3.0 Developer Preview 5

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 16:00:00 -0000

The Ext GWT team has been hard at work on Ext GWT 3.0 and we’re happy to announce the availability of Ext GWT 3.0 PR5. This will be the last developer preview release as we move toward our 3.0 beta releases. There are a tremendous number of improvements and features added since PR4. As a result, we are closing in on being feature complete.

MooTools: MooTools Forge - Now with comments

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 22:55:47 -0000

Just a quick update to let you know we’ve added comments through Disqus to all Forge plugins. If you’re a plugin owner, you can subscribe by going to your plugin page and clicking ‘subscribe by email’ at the bottom. Remember, if you find a bug in a plugin, you should always report it in that [...]

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2011-10-18 - Deprecated Features of Uize.Template Killed

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 07:00:00 -0000

The Uize.Template.encoders and Uize.Template.decoders static properties of the Uize.Template module, that were deprecated back in April of 2010, have finally been killed.

Yahoo! User Interface Blog: YUI: Open Hours Thurs Oct 20th

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 05:22:58 -0000

Modules and Loaders inside and outside of YUI Authoring JavaScript in modules is definitely picking up steam these days, and I’m not just talking about YUI. Node.js uses CommonJS 1.1 modules, dojo and others use AMD, and the next version of JavaScript (ok, ECMAScript) will include new syntax for creating and working with modules. So [...]

Yahoo! User Interface Blog: YUIConf 2011 Preliminary Schedule Now Available

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 17:57:44 -0000

The preliminary schedule for YUIConf 2011 has now been posted! We’re still finalizing the last-minute details, so be sure to check back often for the latest info. Early-bird registration will be ending this week, so be sure to register soon to take advantage! Workshop seats are also going fast, so take this opportunity to roll [...]

qooxdoo News: The week in qooxdoo (2011-10-14)

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 15:00:07 -0000

Welcome back to another exciting weekly status update. Feed Reader: Website View The qooxdoo feed reader has traditionally been our basic demo for a rich internet application. But since qooxdoo is a universal framework for all kind of application types and not just RIAs, we keep adding alternative views to the feedreader code base. Some time ago [...]

Sencha Blog: Sencha Touch 2 Developer Preview

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:00:00 -0000

Today we're thrilled to share with you the first developer preview of Sencha Touch 2.0. Sencha Touch 1.0 launched just one year ago and has quickly become the standard by which mobile HTML5 app frameworks are judged. Today, we're delivering a preview of our next big release.

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2011-10-11 - Various Broken Examples Fixed

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 07:00:00 -0000

Various JavaScript examples on the uize.com Web site that had become victims to bit rot have been restored to their former glory.

Sencha Blog: Ext JS 4.1 Update

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 20:00:00 -0000

We’re committed to Ext JS as the best application framework for desktop applications, and we hope that you’ll be pleased with our work in Ext JS 4.1. Here's an update on our current plan for the upcoming Ext JS 4.1.

Sencha Blog: Sencha Touch Spotlight: Group Commerce

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 18:30:00 -0000

We spoke to Group Commerce about building their cross-platform mobile app for Boston.com

Yahoo! User Interface Blog: YUIConf 2011 Workshop Registrations Now Open

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 17:04:16 -0000

Workshop registrations are now open for YUIConf 2011. Tickets to each session are sold separately. Spaces are limited so please sign up early!

qooxdoo News: The week in qooxdoo (2011-10-07)

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 16:03:44 -0000

Welcome to our weekly round-up. We're still in the post-conference vibe, with so many news and impressions to integrate, and already so many new things coming up after it. Hence also the two-weeks gap since the last weekly. We had Gabriel from our Romanian office here in Karlsruhe this week, him and Tino hacking away [...]

MooTools: MooTools Core 1.4.1

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 19:01:19 -0000

Today we release MooTools Core 1.4.1 which is a small maintenance release and as such only fixes bugs that were introduced in previous releases. We have fixed the mousewheel event in Firefox, Element.fade sets the visibility CSS-property again, Event.Delegation now behaves properly if you use fireEvent and we have fixed a couple of issues with [...]

Sencha Blog: Sencha Touch Spotlight: Freescale

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 17:00:00 -0000

Pentagram is the world's largest independent design consultancy. Ponticlaro is a leading developer of websites, user interfaces and mobile apps. Together they created an engaging and easy-to-use catalog of Freescale’s diverse product line-up that could be easily updated using their pre-existing database structure. Read on to find out more about this Sencha Touch app.

Sencha Blog: Sencha Animator Released: A Revolution in Mobile Animation

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 12:00:00 -0000

Today we’re very proud to announce the first release of Sencha Animator, a desktop application for the creation of rich media animations based on web standards for modern mobile devices. Sporting an innovative technology in a familiar working environment for designers, Sencha Animator enables interactive designers to transition their skills to open web standards.

Yahoo! User Interface Blog: YUIConf 2011 Early Bird Registration Is Now Open

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 04:31:19 -0000

Early-bird registration for YUIConf 2011 is now open on Eventbrite! This year’s event will be held November 2-4 on Yahoo!’s Great America campus. We’re excited to bring you a full day of hands-on training workshops (Wed) followed by two full days of tech talks about YUI (Thu/Fri). Registration for the conference costs $75 this year, [...]

Sencha Blog: Using Sencha.io Sync

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 07:00:00 -0000

Sencha.io Sync was made available as an open beta last week, so we wanted to give a more detailed look at how to use Sync. We announced Sencha.io Sync in the early summer and have spent time honing and tuning the service based on feedback from our private beta customers, and we’re excited to invite the Sencha community to try their hands at our Sync service.

Yahoo! User Interface Blog: YUI 3.4.1 is now live

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 21:37:56 -0000

The YUI 3.4.1 short cycle release is now available on CDN and for download, more than a week early! Here are a few highlights for this release: Over 150 bug fixes for Controller, Panel, DataTable, Calendar, and a number of other modules. Bug fixes to Y.substitute() by YUI contributor Satyam. Japanese language support for Calendar [...]

Yahoo! User Interface Blog: Vote for YUI in the Open Source Awards Finals

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 04:21:05 -0000

Thanks to everyone who nominated YUI for the Packt Publishing Open Source Awards. Vote now for YUI as your favorite JavaScript library!

Sencha Blog: Ext Scheduler 2.0—Upgrading to Ext JS 4

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 16:00:00 -0000

Noted Sencha community member Mats Bryntse takes us through the work his team did to upgrade Ext Scheduler to Ext JS 4. Ext Scheduler, made by Bryntum, is a powerful JavaScript scheduling tool for task planning, project management and more.

qooxdoo News: Libraries and Namespaces

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 23:07:36 -0000

Libraries and library namespaces are a versatile tool in qooxdoo with various applications. E.g. a natural way to modularize a big qooxdoo application is to fork out libraries, especially if those libraries provide components that can later be re-used in other applications. This post is not about parts (which influence the generation of your application, [...]

Sencha Blog: IE10 Preview: HTML5 First Look

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 17:00:00 -0000

Simply put, (and with the caveat that we were running on the notably overpowered developer preview hardware) the IE10 HTML5 experience is one of the best we've seen on any platform to date. After a decade of web neglect, Microsoft is back with a vengeance.

qooxdoo News: The week in qooxdoo (2011-09-23)

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 15:17:11 -0000

Wondering what's new in qooxdoo land? Here's the weekly update. Mobile Frameworks Comparison Chart We recently found this handy Mobile Frameworks Comparison Chart made by Markus Falk. Without any doubt, qooxdoo needed to be in there too. In collaboration with Markus, we managed to add qooxdoo to this chart. JSConf.eu The European JavaScript Conference is for sure going to be [...]

Yahoo! User Interface Blog: YUI 3.4.1 PR1 Now Available On CDN

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 20:35:45 -0000

YUI 3.4.1 PR1 is now available for community testing and feedback. It is available on the Yahoo! CDN at http://yui.yahooapis.com/3.4.1pr1/build/yui/yui-min.js, and you can see the changes going into 3.4.1 from the list of tickets checked in for the release. The 3.4.1 release will be a smaller bug-fix release with a shortened development cycle, scheduled for [...]

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2011-09-22 - Buttons With Incorrect Styling in IE9 Fixed

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 07:00:00 -0000

An issue that was causing button widgets to not have the correct mouse cursor when mousing over them in IE9 has been fixed.

Sencha Blog: Introducing the Sencha Touch App Gallery

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 19:00:00 -0000

Introducing the Sencha Touch App Gallery, currently stocked with over 100 Sencha Touch mobile apps. Read on about our plans for the App Gallery, and how to submit your own Sencha Touch app.

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2011-09-21 - Broken Drag-and-drop in IE9 Fixed

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 07:00:00 -0000

An issue that was breaking the drag-and-drop functionality of the Uize.Widget.Drag class in IE9 has been fixed.

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2011-09-20 - Broken Pages in IE9 Fixed

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 07:00:00 -0000

An issue that was breaking pages of the uize.com Web site in IE9 has been fixed.

Sencha Blog: Sencha.io Sync Open Beta and App Contest Extension

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 18:00:00 -0000

Sencha.io Sync's beta is now open to the public, and we're excited to announce we've extended the SenchaCon app contest deadline by one week to let people integrate Sync to their projects.

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2011-09-19 - Cloning of Regular Expressions in Safari Fixed

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 07:00:00 -0000

A minor issue that was discovered in Safari with the Uize.clone method when cloning regular expressions (ie. instances of the RegExp object) has been fixed.

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2011-09-18 - Fixed Running of Unit Tests in Browser

Sun, 18 Sep 2011 07:00:00 -0000

A problem that was causing the UIZE Unit Tests page to fail to run the test suite for UIZE has been fixed.

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2011-09-17 - Ad Hoc Property Registration Fixed

Sat, 17 Sep 2011 07:00:00 -0000

A problem that was discovered with the set-get properties mechanism and its support for ad hoc registration of properties has been fixed.

qooxdoo News: The week in qooxdoo (2011-09-16)

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 17:27:56 -0000

Welcome back to another weekly update. Lion Scrolling Many of you have surely heard about the new scrollbars Apple introduced with OS X Lion some time ago. Unfortunately, that introduction had some side effects on qooxdoo applications, because the scrollbars can now be overlays in some situations. Vanishing scrollbars seem to be a controversial feature, at [...]

Sencha Blog: Previewing Sencha Touch 2: Native Packaging and Performance

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 14:00:00 -0000

Sencha Touch is a revolutionary HTML5 framework to help developers build mobile web applications. Today, we’re excited to give you glimpse into the next major release, Sencha Touch 2.0.

qooxdoo News: Tutorial: Automated UI Testing with the qooxdoo Simulator

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 06:42:59 -0000

Having previously covered unit testing, it's time to take a look at qooxdoo's built-in facilities for automated UI testing. Over the course of this tutorial, we'll set up the required infrastructure and develop a test case that interacts with the Twitter application from the previous tutorials. As always, the finished code is available on GitHub. Simulator: [...]

Yahoo! User Interface Blog: YUI: Open Hours Thurs Sept 15th

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 04:58:22 -0000

Satyam’s MakeNode extension If you don’t know Satyam, you must be new to YUI. He’s been a pillar of the YUI community since the early days of YUI 2. His articles on YUIBlog are some of the most read and referred to sources for “how to really use the library” style content. If you see [...]

Yahoo! User Interface Blog: Submit a Talk for YUIConf 2011

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 22:48:28 -0000

Show off code you’ve been working on or share something you’ve learned while working with YUI! Submit your proposal to yui-events (at) yahoo-inc.com by Friday, September 23, 2011. Be sure to include: Title Description Intended audience Your name A brief bio YUIConf 2011 will be held November 3rd and 4th on Yahoo!’s Santa Clara, CA [...]

Yahoo! User Interface Blog: Updated: The “MakeNode” Widget Extension

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 22:18:15 -0000

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published earlier this year. Since then, the MakeNode module has been published to the YUI Gallery and received some enhancements. Today’s article reflects all the latest changes to MakeNode. In my previous article, A Recipe for a YUI 3 Application, I showed a way to use Y.substitute as a [...]

Sencha Blog: SenchaCon 2011—Now Packed with More Goodness

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 18:00:00 -0000

SenchaCon 2011 is going to be in Austin, Texas, October 23-26, and it's set to be our biggest and best event ever. We're putting the finishing touches to the schedule right now, and we thought we'd share some of the excitement with you!

MooTools: MooTools 1.4.0

Sat, 10 Sep 2011 14:16:16 -0000

As of today a new version of MooTools is available. This includes MooTools Core and MooTools More. We’ve communicated a lot about changes for 2.0 but we also felt we had some good stuff that would benefit you directly which we wanted to add to the 1.x releases. This good stuff contains of course numerous [...]

qooxdoo News: The week in qooxdoo (2011-09-09)

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 14:52:48 -0000

Here's another brief update from the world of qx. Contrib: Updates to File Upload Manager The UploadMgr contrib, recently introduced by John Spackman at Zenesis, got some updates. This is what John had to share with the community: "There's an update to the UploadMgr contrib that adds: (1) support for multiple upload buttons; this meant the "widget" property had to [...]

qooxdoo News: The week in qooxdoo (2011-09-02)

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 14:45:04 -0000

Another week, another status update: Changes in IO Users who have already made the switch to the new IO stack may have noticed that setting request headers was a little cumbersome when not all headers could be set in one go. Also, setting request headers in XMLHttpRequest behaves unexpected, to say the least. Or would you expect [...]

Sencha Blog: Sencha on the Road: Fall 2011

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 19:00:00 -0000

The Fall 2011 conference season is warming up, and so we're out on the road again. Conferences and meetups are a great chance for us to come out and meet our community, and to show off what we've spent the summer working on. Here's where we're planning to be over the next few months.

Sencha Blog: Ext GWT 3.0 Drawing and Charting

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 20:00:00 -0000

It has always been a challenge to draw objects in GWT because SVG and VML are not supported out of the box. In Ext GWT 3.0, we solve this problem by providing a draw framework that runs everywhere, from IE6 to the latest Chrome that is developed as a pure GWT library.

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2011-08-30 - Workaround for JScript For In Issue

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 07:00:00 -0000

An issue was discovered with the way that Microsoft's JScript interpreter, which is used in Internet Explorer and Windows Script Host, iterates through arrays in for...in loops.

qooxdoo News: The week in qooxdoo (2011-08-26)

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 14:36:33 -0000

While most of the core devs are still enjoying their well-earned vacation, not all is quiet on the qooxdoo front qx.core.Environment Optimization During the last 2 weeks we re-wrote the optimization for qx.core.Environment calls. Remember that qx.core.Enviornment shields access to environment settings and feature checks. Occurrences of calls to qx.core.Environment methods can be optimized if their return value is predetermined [...]

Sencha Blog: Sencha Touch Spotlight: Emerge Interactive and TEDxPortland

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 20:00:00 -0000

Emerge Interactive had the pleasure of being creative collaborators for the inaugural TEDxPortland event -- contributing their digital expertise to enrich the event experience through an interactive networking "game."

Sencha Blog: A Fresh Approach to JavaScript Documentation—The New Ext JS 4 Documentation Center

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 17:00:00 -0000

Since the launch of Ext JS 4 we've been hard at work improving all aspects of helping you learn the framework. We've launched a new learning center, improved the way we track bugs and respond to issues on the forums and more. You've given us a tremendous amount of support as well as suggestions on how to improve via the active docs app threads on the forums. We've been listening and today I'd like to share a few of the improvements we've made with you, as well as some of what we're working on.

qooxdoo News: The week in qooxdoo (2011-08-19)

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 15:47:36 -0000

Here comes a quick status update. Generator: 'source-hybrid' promoted to 'source' Among generator jobs, "source" is the new "source-hybrid". We felt that "source-hybrid" was the better default source job, giving you the best performance while still satisfying common debugging needs. If no special concerns apply, it should be used, hence the renaming. That means if you [...]

Sencha Blog: Announcing the New Sencha Complete—Touch Charts, Designer 1.2, and a Special Promo Price!

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 17:00:00 -0000

Today, we're happy to announce an all-new Sencha Complete and a promotional price to sweeten the deal. The new Sencha Complete includes a commercial license to Sencha Touch Charts -- our data visualization add-on to Sencha Touch -- and the new Ext Designer 1.2 with support for Ext JS 4. And celebrate the expanded Sencha Complete, we've made the price even more attractive. Sencha Complete is now on sale through Sept. 30th with a starting price of $845.

Sencha Blog: Ext Designer 1.2 is Now Available

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 23:00:00 -0000

We are incredibly excited to announce Ext Designer 1.2 with Ext JS 4 support. Ext Designer 1.2 is the culmination of many months of work and we believe it's the most powerful release of Designer so far. Support for Ext JS 4, improved documentation, and a new 30-Day Trial period make this the most compelling Ext Designer yet.

Sencha Blog: What’s New in Sencha Learn?

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 20:00:00 -0000

Over the past few weeks, we've produced a host of new educational material for our new Learning Center. We thought we would give you a quick update on a few of the recent highlights.

script.aculo.us web 2.0 javascript: Online JavaScript Master Classes in August 2011, US-friendly time zones!

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 11:49:00 -0000

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This time around, we're splitting the class in two half days, for your learning pleasure. The half-days are designed to take up 9am-1pm PT, ideal if you are in the US, Canada, or South America.

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MooTools: Moving to GitHub Issues

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 00:14:38 -0000

We at the MooTools headquarters love GitHub for all its features which makes contributing and managing our code much easier than say, five years ago. GitHub is the place to be for all cool JavaScript projects which makes following your projects of interest a lot easier. When we moved to GitHub a long time ago, [...]

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2011-07-26 - Thorough Set-get Properties Unit Tests

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 07:00:00 -0000

Thorough unit tests have been created for the set-get properties feature implemented in the Uize base class.

MooTools: July 12th Dev Hour Recap/Summary

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 14:28:47 -0000

Every week the MooTools developers host an IRC OfficeDeveloper Hour where they work together to listen to your feedback, answer your questions, and develop MooTools. We do this every Tuesday at 11am EST at #mootools Freenode IRC Channel. Everyone’s welcomed to join us. This recap includes: Mentions Answers to: Where do you guys think MooTools [...]

The Dojo Toolkit Blog: DojoConf Tickets Now On Sale!

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 14:59:36 -0000

The first ever DojoConf will be a premier event for the Dojo community and JavaScript community at large. it is run by the amazing team behind JSConf and TXJS, so you can plan on amazing presentations followed up by outstanding … Continue reading →

MooTools: July 5th IRC Office Hour Recap/Summary

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 19:11:25 -0000

Every week the MooTools developers have an IRC office hour meeting where they work together to listen to your feedback, answer your questions, and develop on MooTools. We do this every Tuesday at 11am EST at #mootools Freenode IRC Channel. Everyone’s welcome so join us tomorrow. This recap includes: Compare 1.3.x and Experimental 2.y.x Code [...]

MooTools: June 28th IRC Office Hour Recap/Summary

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 01:37:34 -0000

Every week the MooTools developers have an IRC office hour meeting where they work together to listen to your feedback, answer your questions, and develop on MooTools. We do this every Tuesday at 11am EST at #mootools Freenode IRC Channel. Everyone’s welcome so join us tomorrow. Recap Last week’s office hour was dominated by the [...]

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2011-07-03 - Improved set Method in the Uize Base Class

Sun, 03 Jul 2011 07:00:00 -0000

The Uize.set static method and the set instance method, implemented in the Uize base class, have been improved to support an arbitrary number of arguments, allowing the values for multiple set-get properties to be specified as name-value pair arguments.

MooTools: June 21st Office Hour Recap/Summary

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 12:46:11 -0000

As suggested by our community, we’re going to release a recap, or summary, of the IRC Office Hour after every session. We want to encourage you to join us on Tuesday’s at 11am EST in the #mootools IRC channel, but if need be let this be your medium to discuss your perspective and your own [...]

MooTools: Reminder: Next Office Hour is Tomorrow (June 21st)!

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 17:09:59 -0000

Last week we held our first IRC office hours in the #mootools channel on irc.freenode.net. Fifteen (15) MooTools team members were in attendance and we got a lot of responses from our community. We covered: sandboxing natives, namespacing, packaging, roadmap, MVC, and that I look like Sam from the Lord of the Rings. This is [...]

The Dojo Toolkit Blog: Dojo Web Builder Source on GitHub

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 16:52:12 -0000

Last month we launched the Dojo Web Builder, an online solution to generate customised versions of The Dojo Toolkit using just your web browser. We are pleased to announce that the technology behind the Dojo Web Builder is now available … Continue reading →

MooTools: Open IRC Office Hours!

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 02:00:15 -0000

Starting next week, we’re going to be holding regular IRC office hours for MooTools developers in the #mootools channel on irc.freenode.net. Members of the MooTools team will be on hand to answer your technical questions. We’re following the footsteps of many successful office hours from other Open Source projects (Android, Mongo DB, Google App Engine, [...]

The Dojo Toolkit Blog: Dojo 1.6.1, 1.7 Beta, Tutorials, Dojo Beer, DojoConf, and more…

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 21:56:49 -0000

If you haven’t been following us on Twitter, it’s been a very busy month in our community, with many exciting announcements and upcoming events. Recent News Dojo 1.6.1 released. Many minor enhancements and fixes were made, along with official support … Continue reading →

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2011-05-31 - More Uize Base Class Unit Tests

Tue, 31 May 2011 07:00:00 -0000

To help ensure the robustness and stability of the UIZE JavaScript Framework over time, more unit tests have been created for the Uize base class.

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2011-05-22 - Improved Uize.pairUp Method

Sun, 22 May 2011 07:00:00 -0000

The Uize.pairUp method, implemented in the Uize base class, has been improved with support for two new variations.

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2011-05-21 - JSON Serialization Improvements

Sat, 21 May 2011 07:00:00 -0000

The Uize.Json module has been improved with the addition of two convenient presets for serializing JavaScript objects to strict JSON format, according to the specification at json.org.

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2011-05-11 - Improved Declarative Widget Properties

Wed, 11 May 2011 07:00:00 -0000

The declarative syntax for widget properties has been improved to cover more cases.

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2011-05-05 - SimpleDoc Now Supports Section Title Aliases

Thu, 05 May 2011 07:00:00 -0000

The SimpleDoc format, a Wikitext like document format for easily writing structured documents, has added support for section title aliases.

MooTools: MooTools Core 1.3.2 and More 1.3.2.1

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 20:23:28 -0000

Today we announce the simultaneous release of MooTools Core 1.3.2 and More 1.3.2.1. This is mostly a bugfix release and does not contain many new features. The most important fix is within our selector engine, Slick, which failed in some cases where the selectors began with an operator (ex. ~div). A new component has been [...]

Natural Docs News: Natural Docs 1.52 released

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0000

Maintenance release. If you had trouble with 1.51 freezing or giving you messages about wide characters or Unicode mappings, this will fix it.

The Dojo Toolkit Blog: Dojo 1.6.1 Release Candidate 1

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 15:20:15 -0000

Dojo 1.6.1rc1 is now available. 1.6.1rc1 contains many fixes, with a special focus on IE9 and FF4 support, browsers released just after Dojo 1.6.0 was completed. Please test 1.6.1rc1, especially against IE9 and FF4 browsers, and send us your feedback … Continue reading →

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2011-04-12 - NEW METHOD: Uize.String.split

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 07:00:00 -0000

The new Uize.String.split method, implemented in the Uize.String module, splits a string into an array of elements using the specified splitter string or regular expression, in strict accordance with the ECMA-262 language's specified behavior for the String object's split instance method.

The Dojo Toolkit Blog: Introducing the New Dojo Web Builder

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 16:09:28 -0000

Background Dojo’s build system has long been considered as one of the toolkit’s most important features. Using the build system will dramatically improve the performance of your Dojo application by optimising the JavaScript modules and CSS files. This reduces the … Continue reading →

The Dojo Toolkit Blog: This Week in Dojo: New Tutorials, Mobile Showcase and more

Mon, 04 Apr 2011 19:43:36 -0000

In the past three weeks SitePen engineers have released a flurry of new tutorials (13 and counting) including two tutorials focused on building Web Apps using Dojo Mobile! Speaking of Dojo Mobile There is now a Dojo Mobile Showcase which … Continue reading →

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2011-04-03 - NEW MODULE: Uize.Color.xCmyk

Sun, 03 Apr 2011 07:00:00 -0000

The new Uize.Color.xCmyk module extends the Uize.Color object by adding a profile for the CMYK color space, and by providing encodings for this color space.

MooTools: MooTools Gets a Little Closer to Home

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 09:54:15 -0000

A few months back we sent out a survey asking you where you’d like for the development team to focus its energies. Since then we’ve worked on demos and released a new version of the framework with new features based on that valuable feedback. Getting direct input from everyone who uses MooTools helps us as [...]

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2011-03-29 - Uize on GitHub

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 07:00:00 -0000

The UIZE JavaScript Framework is now available on GitHub, so anybody can now fork the project to their heart's content.

MooTools: Events with MooTools - Element, Class, Delegation and Pseudos

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 19:18:10 -0000

One of the most useful and common part of MooTools is its Events Type. There are two Event usages: Element and Class. Element.Events is probably the most known because that’s probably one of the first things you’ve used when you started using MooTools. Furthermore, MooTools More 1.3 Events.Pseudos has been introduced to give even more [...]

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2011-03-24 - NEW EXAMPLE - Color Format Converter

Thu, 24 Mar 2011 07:00:00 -0000

The new Color Format Converter Tool lets you easily convert color values from one format to another.

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2011-03-23 - NEW MODULE: Uize.Util.PropertyAdapter

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 07:00:00 -0000

The new Uize.Util.PropertyAdapter module implements a mechanism for connecting two set-get properties together, with optional bi-directional value adapter code.

The Dojo Toolkit Blog: Dojo 1.6 Released!

Tue, 15 Mar 2011 20:41:19 -0000

Now available, and ready for your web app! The Dojo 1.6 release was a substantial undertaking and involves efforts from the largest Dojo team ever. We’re reinventing Dojo for the present and the future, and this release is the first … Continue reading →

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2011-03-11 - Bug Fix For toString and valueOf Intrinsic Methods

Fri, 11 Mar 2011 08:00:00 -0000

An Internet Explorer specific problem with the toString intrinsic method and the valueOf intrinsic method, that are specially implemented for Uize subclasses, has been fixed.

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2011-03-10 - Improved Process for Announcing News

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 08:00:00 -0000

For developers of the UIZE JavaScript Framework, the process for adding news announcements has been improved and simplified, so that all that is required is to create a .simple file for a news item, and then the build process for the site will do the rest.

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2011-03-05 - Deprecated Features of Uize.Widget.Tree Killed

Sat, 05 Mar 2011 08:00:00 -0000

A number of instance and static methods of the Uize.Widget.Tree module that were deprecated a year ago have finally been killed.

MooTools: MooTools Core & More 1.3.1

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 20:05:33 -0000

The MooTools team is very happy to announce a simultaneous update of both Core and More repositories. The past year was amazing for us. We had a great hackathon in London, we gave you MooTools 1.3, added a lot of new people to our team and improved everything around the code. The results of the [...]

The Dojo Toolkit Blog: Upcoming Dojo Beer Events

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 13:51:26 -0000

We’re planning the following upcoming Dojo Beer events: February 26: Phoenix, Arizona March 10: London (and if you want to attend QCon, use the discount code DOJO to save £50) April 8: Chicago April 11: Las Vegas Let us know … Continue reading →

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2011-02-21 - Unit Test Improvements

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 08:00:00 -0000

Unit tests for the UIZE JavaScript Framework have been improved in a number of ways, as outlined below...

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2011-02-11 - New ajax Method in Uize.Widget

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 08:00:00 -0000

The Uize.Widget module has been improved with the addition of the new ajax instance method.

MooTools: MooTools Survey Results

Mon, 31 Jan 2011 19:32:49 -0000

Last month we held the MooTools User’s Survey and we would like to thank you all for participating and sharing your ideas. We received more than 700 submissions! Here is a summary of the results and our thoughts about them. Core Most of you think MooTools Core is fine as it is, with an obvious [...]

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2011-01-31 - Major Improvements to Module References

Mon, 31 Jan 2011 08:00:00 -0000

Reference documentation for modules of the UIZE JavaScript Framework has been substantially improved, with the addition of automatically generated documentation for features of modules for which no documentation has explicitly been written.

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2011-01-22 - FRAMEWORK CHANGE: Non-inheritable Statics

Sat, 22 Jan 2011 08:00:00 -0000

A number of static methods that are implemented in the Uize base class, and that have (up until now) been inherited by all subclasses of Uize, are now no longer inheritable.

The Dojo Toolkit Blog: Dojo 1.6 Beta 1

Sun, 16 Jan 2011 17:08:43 -0000

We’re pleased to announce the first Dojo 1.6 beta. When Dojo 1.6 final is released in February, it will be our first release that includes a number of retrofitted, backwards-compatible, significant changes towards Dojo 2.0. Because there are a number … Continue reading →

The Dojo Toolkit Blog: Dojo, Eye-Fi, and CES

Mon, 10 Jan 2011 17:35:22 -0000

Long-time Dojo user Eye-Fi was at CES in Las Vegas showing our their current wi-fi enabled SD memory card and photo sync services. Here’s a video interview where they show off the camera and application, and discuss the benefits of … Continue reading →

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2011-01-01 - Documentation System Improvements

Sat, 01 Jan 2011 08:00:00 -0000

The JavaScript Documentation System, that is used to produce all the documentation for the UIZE JavaScript Framework, has been improved in a number of ways.

script.aculo.us web 2.0 javascript: scriptaculous V1.9.0: Prototype 1.7 service release

Thu, 23 Dec 2010 22:02:00 -0000

This is a bugfix release that bumps script.aculo.us to version 1.9.0.

Most importantly, the included Prototype 1.7 provides performance and compatibility improvements with the latest browsers.

One other fix is includes, that makes the script.aculo.us loader work better if you use script tags in the BODY of your page.

Download at http://script.aculo.us/, or grab/fork the source at http://github.com/madrobby/scriptaculous.

Natural Docs News: Natural Docs 1.51 released

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0000

Maintenance release. There are a number of small bugfixes I won't go through because most of you probably aren't running into them, and the people who are were already notified that their changes were going to be in here.

The one I will point out is that Unicode support is improved. Specifically, Natural Docs supports UTF-16 files now, which some Mac IDEs apparently use. It seems I've bashed Perl's Unicode support unfairly. It exists, it's just annoyingly manual so I have to sniff out the BOM myself and set the encoding accordingly. I've also removed the -cs (--charset) option; Natural Docs always outputs UTF-8 now. That was just a hack from when I didn't really know what I was doing on that front yet.

I just looked it up and it was introduced in 1.33 almost six years ago. And 1.0 was released 7.5 years ago. Jeez.

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2010-12-19 - Various Deprecated Features Killed

Sun, 19 Dec 2010 08:00:00 -0000

A variety of features in various modules, that were deprecated over a year ago, have finally been killed.

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2010-12-18 - Introducing the DELVE Tool

Sat, 18 Dec 2010 08:00:00 -0000

The UIZE project is excited to announce the release of DELVE, a powerful new Web based tool that lets developers delve into the inner workings of pages that use the UIZE JavaScript Framework.

Prototype JavaScript framework - blog: Prototype 1.7

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 19:52:00 -0000

Last week, we tagged the first stable release of 1.7, marking the end of a far-too-long release cycle. We've made more than 50 improvements since the last stable version and are already working on 1.7.0.1.

What's new?

To learn about new features in version 1.7, refer to the blog post about the 1.7 RC1 release.

As always, this release includes an assortment of bug fixes. Consult the CHANGELOG for further details, or see the full diff between this release and RC3.

What's next?

As I said when we released RC3, I'm eager to resume work on script.aculo.us 2.0, which had its first beta release two months ago. But we've also got plenty planned for the next few versions of Prototype:

The next bugfix version (1.7.0.1) will feature a rewrite of the DOM code to be easier to read and faster at the same time. We'll be consulting the TaskSpeed benchmarks throughout to measure our progress toward speeding up common DOM tasks.
The next minor release (1.7.1) will feature better compatibility with ECMAScript5 for all the stuff we share: Function#bind, Array#map, and so on. We'll make sure these methods are up to spec so that we can implement them as proper polyfills when they don't exist in the browser — and use the native versions where they do exist.
The next major release (1.8) will feature an overhaul of the Ajax code. We'll add a bunch of new features: JSONP, timeouts, guaranteed firing of callbacks for non-guaranteed readyStates, and a lot more.

In addition, there are exciting things in the future for Evidence (the eventual replacement for our unit testing library) and Sprockets (our JavaScript concatenator and dependency manager).

Download, report bugs, and get help

Download Prototype 1.7
View the API documentation
Check out the Prototype source code on GitHub
Submit bug reports to Lighthouse
Get Prototype help on the mailing list or #prototype IRC channel
Talk to the core team on the prototype-core mailing list

Thanks to the many contributors who made this release possible!

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2010-11-19 - NEW METHOD: Uize.isFunction

Fri, 19 Nov 2010 08:00:00 -0000

The new Uize.isFunction static method of the Uize base class returns a boolean, indicating whether or not the specified value is a function.

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2010-11-04 - NEW EXPLAINER: JavaScript Bookmarklets

Thu, 04 Nov 2010 07:00:00 -0000

The new JavaScript Bookmarklets explainer provides some useful bookmarklets that should come in handy when doing development using the UIZE JavaScript Framework.

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2010-11-03 - NEW METHOD: Uize.getModuleByName

Wed, 03 Nov 2010 07:00:00 -0000

The Uize base class has been improved with the addition of the new Uize.getModuleByName static method.

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2010-11-01 - IMPROVED MODULES: Uize and Uize.Data

Mon, 01 Nov 2010 07:00:00 -0000

The Uize and Uize.Data modules have been improved with better handling of certain types of objects when cloning and comparing arbitrarily complex data structures.

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2010-10-26 - NEW MODULE: Uize.Array.Sort

Tue, 26 Oct 2010 07:00:00 -0000

The versatile new Uize.Array.Sort module provides a way to sort arrays in a performance efficient manner using a custom sort value generator.

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2010-10-24 - NEW EXPLAINER: General Constructs

Sun, 24 Oct 2010 07:00:00 -0000

The new General Constructs explainer discusses a number of general constructs that apply across the entire UIZE JavaScript Framework, and can apply in application programming more generally.

Prototype JavaScript framework - blog: Prototype 1.7 RC3: Support for IE9

Tue, 12 Oct 2010 20:49:00 -0000

Release Candidate 3 of Prototype 1.7 is now out. This long-delayed version includes full support for Internet Explorer 9.

It was five months ago that we released RC2, and it was true that we were planning to release 1.7 final soon after. Two problems intervened:

Element.getDimensions

To minimize code duplication, we had redefined Element#getDimensions (and the related methods getWidth and getHeight) to use the new and preferred Element.Layout methods for measuring dimensions. This logic, while more robust, produced slightly different results in a few cases, so we decided to revert to the previous implementation of Element#getDimensions.

If you're writing new code, we encourage you to use Element.Layout — e.g., someNode.measure('border-box-width') instead of someNode.getWidth(). You'll get more accurate results in general. But we're leaving Element#getDimensions the way it is to ensure that people don't have to rewrite existing code.

Internet Explorer 9

The far more important reason for putting the brakes on 1.7 was the impending release of Internet Explorer 9. In short, we didn't want to put out something that would break in large ways when IE9 was released. That meant waiting for a preview release of IE9 that was stable enough (and representative enough of the final product) to test against.

The IE9 beta passes all but one of our unit tests. The one minor failure is the result of an issue on Microsoft's end; we hear it will be fixed before the final release of IE9.

Other changes

To learn about new features in version 1.7, refer to the blog post about the 1.7 RC1 release.

As always, this release includes an assortment of bug fixes. Consult the CHANGELOG for further details, or see the full diff between this release and the previous release candidate (RC2 to RC3).

What now?

Now that we've got these two issues solved, we're eager to get the final release out the door. It'll free me up to lend more time to script.aculo.us 2.0 (which just saw a beta release) and its nascent UI components.

Download, report bugs, and get help

Download Prototype 1.7 RC3
View the API documentation
Check out the Prototype source code on GitHub
Submit bug reports to Lighthouse
Get Prototype help on the mailing list or #prototype IRC channel
Talk to the core team on the prototype-core mailing list

Thanks to the many contributors who made this release possible!

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2010-10-05 - NEW EXPLAINER: JavaScript Testing Framework

Tue, 05 Oct 2010 07:00:00 -0000

The new JavaScript Testing Framework explainer discusses the testing framework that is provided as part of the UIZE JavaScript Framework.

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2010-09-27 - NEW DOCUMENTATION: Uize.Test

Mon, 27 Sep 2010 07:00:00 -0000

Thorough reference documentation has been completed for the Uize.Test module, which provides the underpinnings of the UIZE JavaScript Framework's unit testing system.

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2010-09-06 - NEW METHOD: Uize.Data.emptyOut

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 07:00:00 -0000

The new Uize.Data.emptyOut static method, implemented in the Uize.Data module, lets you empty out the contents of a specified source array or object, returning a reference to that source.

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2010-08-25 - NEW MODULE: Uize.Array.Order

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 07:00:00 -0000

The new Uize.Array.Order module provides functionality for changing the order of elements in an array, with support for reversing, jumbling, inside to out, etc.

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2010-08-25 - NEW MODULE: Uize.Array

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 07:00:00 -0000

The new Uize.Array module defines a namespace for various modules that provide array specific functionality or utilities.

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2010-08-17 - IMPROVED MODULE: Uize.Widget.Collection.Dynamic

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 07:00:00 -0000

The Uize.Widget.Collection.Dynamic module has been improved with the addition of support for the touch interface of Apple's iPad.

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2010-08-06 - NEW MODULE: Uize.Node.Util

Fri, 06 Aug 2010 07:00:00 -0000

The new Uize.Node.Util module provides a home for miscellaneous node related methods that are too esoteric to belong in the base Uize.Node module.

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2010-08-03 - NEW MODULE: Uize.Node.Classes

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 07:00:00 -0000

The new Uize.Node.Classes module is a package module with static methods to facilitate manipulation of the value of the className property of DOM nodes, with support for adding classes, removing classes, toggling classes, and lots more.

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2010-07-24 - NEW EXAMPLE: 3D Rotation Viewer

Sat, 24 Jul 2010 07:00:00 -0000

The new 3D Rotation Viewer example demonstrates how to easily create a slick 3D rotation viewer in UIZE that lets users rotate the view of an object a full 360 degrees using a mouse, or finger on the Apple iPad.

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2010-07-22 - Improved Unit Tests

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 07:00:00 -0000

The unit tests suite for the UIZE JavaScript Framework, implemented in the Uize.Test.UnitTests module, has been improved with the addition of basic loadability tests for all modules for which dedicated test modules have not yet been written.

Natural Docs News: Natural Docs 1.5 released

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0000

Hey look at that, I'm not dead... again! First the features, then an update on the project.

The biggest new feature is the addition of syntax highlighting. Both prototypes and (start code) segments will be highlighted via the integration of Google Prettify. You can turn this off or extend it to >, :, and | prefixed lines with the -hl command line option.

You can also use named links instead of just raw URLs and e-mail addresses. This is done with the "at" keyword, which was chosen because it often fits right into the sentence and leaves the source readable: "Visit the <web site at http://www.naturaldocs.org>" becomes "Visit the web site" in the output.

The licensing has been changed. Natural Docs has moved from version 2 of the GPL to version 3 of the AGPL. I was planning to do this with 2.0 and leave 1.x alone, but Prettify's Apache license wouldn't be compatible otherwise so 1.x gets it too. I've also updated the license text in numerous files to make explicit what I thought was always assumed: any generated documentation you create is your own and not subject to the GPL. The JavaScript and CSS files bundled with it are still part of Natural Docs, but their licensing doesn't apply to the documentation as a whole.

A bunch of minor bugs are fixed as always, but I'm not going to go through them except for one. Natural Docs will now handle files with classic Mac line breaks, which some IDEs apparently still use. This is more of a problem with Perl sucking than Natural Docs, but I've successfully worked around it. Perl still chokes on UTF-16 files though.

So anyway, on to the project as a whole. I've actually been sidetracked with a different project for the better part of the past year so no real progress has been made in that time. Now that that's come to a close I'm ready to get back into it. I'm still going to be dedicating most of my time to the C# version because all the old reasons still apply: the engine needs an overhaul and I can't imagine doing it in Perl. However, unlike before I'm going to occasionally drop back into the Perl code instead of just letting it languish. If there's a feature that works into the existing architecture easily I'll add it, and I might backport a few from 2.0.

1.5 illustrates this well. Prettify was something that was fairly easy to tack on. A native highlighter would have been better but isn't worth the effort at this point. Named links were backported from 2.0 because they fit into the architecture easily. And Perl's inability to handle Unicode and cross-platform line breaks transparently is another example of why it's better to switch to something more modern. It wouldn't be a deal breaker on its own but I have many such examples.

So that's it for now. People occasionally ask me when 2.0's coming I don't have an answer. Time isn't as plentiful as is was years ago when I started Natural Docs and didn't have a real job yet. I've been sneaking it in where I can, and actually having some time away from the work I've already done has been good for me. While reacquainting myself with the code I got a fresh look at it and saw where it could be better. The continued evolution of Mono during that time means I can take advantage of newer language features. And the other project increased my knowledge of JavaScript considerably which bodes well for what I can do with the output in the future.

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2010-07-15 - NEW EXAMPLE: UIZE Unit Tests

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 07:00:00 -0000

The new UIZE Unit Tests example lets you select and run any of the test modules of the UIZE JavaScript Framework.

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2010-07-11 - NEW EXAMPLE: Digital Clock

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 07:00:00 -0000

The new Digital Clock example shows how the Uize.Widget.SegmentDisplay.Seven widget class can be used to easily create a digital clock that shows hours, minutes, and seconds.

UIZE JavaScript Framework | Latest News: 2010-07-07 - NEW MODULE: Uize.Widget.Log.InstanceEvents

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 07:00:00 -0000

The new Uize.Widget.Log.InstanceEvents module implements a log interface for logging the instance events of an instance of a Uize subclass.

script.aculo.us web 2.0 javascript: Online JavaScript Master Classes in July 2010, US-friendly time zones!

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 20:26:00 -0000

Dear script.aculo.us user!

We're announcing not one but two new JavaScript Master Classes, Virtual Edition on July 13/14 and July 29/30!

Here's what attendees of our first Virtual Edition JavaScript Master Class said:

“JavaScript Master Class worth every cent. Tons of docs, answers, insights, fun & encouragement. Highly recommended, super friendly.”
“Enjoyed it, learnt a lot and the online format worked very well.”
“Help & clarifications on the side [in the chat] = AWESOME team”
“Completely Impressed”

This time around, we're splitting each class in two half days, for your learning pleasure. The half-days are designed to take up 9am-1pm ET for our first class, and 9am-1pm PT for the second class, ideal if you are in the US, Canada, or South America.

See http://javascriptmasterclass.com/ for details &emdash; but don't book until you've read the bit about your discount!

Save $100 if you book now!

Since we don't have to travel, pay for a class venue, rent a projector, etc., we can pass the savings on to you! The normal ticket price is $429, and the Early Bird price is just $349.
Because you're an awesome script.aculo.us fan, you get $20 off the Early Bird price, saving $100 over the final ticket price.

Here's how to get your ticket for just $329. Go to: http://javascriptmasterclass.com/

Click the bigass pink button to book your ticket. Then enter the fancy code:
SCRIPTY2

But hurry, as the early bird pricing expires soon, on July 4 for the Class on July 13/14, and on July 19, for the Class that's on on July 29/30.

See you at the class!

script.aculo.us web 2.0 javascript: Online JavaScript Master Class on June 24, 2010

Wed, 26 May 2010 17:08:00 -0000

Dear script.aculo.us user!

Announcing the JavaScript Master Class: Virtual Edition, June 24!

We've been doing the legwork. We've learned what it takes to put on a kick-ass live, online class. (Don't call it a "webinar" -- or I'll be forced to show you the error of your ways!) The maiden voyage of the JavaScript Master Class: Virtual Edition will take place on June 24 2010, from 10am to 5pm London (GMT) time.

All you need is a reasonably snappy computer, good solid broadband, the latest version of Flash (sorry!), and your fine self. Our class schedule will include snack/pee breaks, and a lunch break. Our voices and screen presentations will come at you live! We'll take questions and solve problems. You will have a few exercises to work on, and we'll help you debug them if the need arises! And, because the online dynamic's a bit different, we'll be sending you the class materials in advance so you can peruse & prepare.

Previous attendees have described our workshops as "worth every penny" and "extremely good" and "I learned a lot and slowly started to feel my brain dribble out of my ears... in a good way." You will learn absolute gobs of stuff about JavaScript: The Language that will help you every day, no matter whether you use Prototype, jQuery, Node.js, or any other library -- or none at all.

See http://javascriptmasterclass.com/ for details &emdash; but don't book until you've read the bit about your discount!

Save 80 Euros if you book now!

Since we don't have to travel, pay for a class venue, rent a projector, etc., we can pass the savings on to you! The normal ticket price is 330€ + VAT. The Early Bird price is just 275€ + VAT.
Because you're an awesome script.aculo.us fan, you get 10% off (that's 30€ off!) the total Early Bird price including VAT.

Here's how to get your ticket for just 300€, incl. VAT. Go to: http://javascriptmasterclass.com/

Click the bigass pink button to book your ticket. Then enter the fancy code:
YAYSCRIPTY2

If you have a non-Austrian VAT ID, or you simply aren't from the EU, you will get the VAT right back from us. We will refund it by PayPal.
Include your VAT ID in the Billing Info field!

Future online classes in your time zone?
We're starting off close to home, time zone-wise, but we'd love to venture further afield.
Let us know at jsrocks@slash7.com.

Prototype JavaScript framework - blog: Prototype 1.7 RC2

Thu, 13 May 2010 00:19:00 -0000

We’ve just tagged Release Candidate 2 of Prototype 1.7, with the intent of putting out a final 1.7 release very soon.

In addition to the usual bug fixes, RC2 includes a late addition: the Element#purge method, used to dispose of an element (remove its event handlers and storage keys) before removing it from the page.

In addition, Element#update now performs a similar cleanup process on content that will be replaced via innerHTML. Both these additions should help keep memory usage down, especially for apps that create and destroy lots of DOM nodes.

Consult the CHANGELOG for further details.

Download, report bugs, and get help

Download Prototype 1.7 RC2
View the API documentation
Check out the Prototype source code on GitHub
Submit bug reports to Lighthouse
Get prototype help on the mailing list or #prototype IRC channel
Talk to the core team on the prototype-core mailing list

Thanks to the many contributors who made this release possible!

Prototype JavaScript framework - blog: Prototype 1.7 RC1: Sizzle, layout/dimensions API, event delegation, and more

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 16:42:00 -0000

We've just tagged the first release candidate of Prototype 1.7: a major new version with some major new features.

Sizzle as the selector engine (or mix in your own)

With Prototype 1.7, we've finally realized our long-held goal of moving to Sizzle, the middleware selector engine used by jQuery and others. I wrote our previous selector engine, used since 1.5.1, but nevertheless I'm excited to switch to a more robust engine that's shared between frameworks.

So Sizzle is the new default. But there's more to it than that. In moving to Sizzle, we've modularized the selector engine entirely. If you want to use Diego Perini's NWMatcher library in place of Sizzle, you can. Just check out the source code and build like so:

rake dist SELECTOR_ENGINE=nwmatcher

If you're a sentimentalist, you can use the legacy Prototype selector engine by specifying SELECTOR_ENGINE=legacy_selector. Or add your own selector engine by creating a subdirectory in vendor/ and following some simple conventions.

Element#on

Element#on is a new way to access the Prototype event API. It provides first-class support for event delegation and simplifies event handler removal.

In its simplest form, Element#on works just like Element#observe:

$("messages").on("click", function(event) {
  // ...
});

An optional second argument lets you specify a CSS selector for event delegation. This encapsulates the pattern of using Event#findElement to retrieve the first ancestor element matching a specific selector. So this Prototype 1.6 code...

$("messages").observe("click", function(event) {
  var element = event.findElement("a.comment_link");
  if (element) {
    // ...
  }
});

...can be written more concisely with Element#on as:

$("messages").on("click", "a.comment_link", function(event, element) {
  // ...
});

Element#on differs from Element#observe in one other important way: its return value is an object with a #stop method. Calling this method will remove the event handler. (Technically, this is an instance of a new class called Event.Handler.) With this pattern, there's no need to retain a reference to the handler function just so you can pass it to Element#stopObserving later.

For example, in Prototype 1.6, where you'd need to write something like...

start: function() {
  this.clickHandler = function(event) {
    // ...
  };

  $("messages").observe("click", this.clickHandler);
},

stop: function() {
  $("messages").stopObserving("click", this.clickHandler);
}

...you can now write:

start: function() {
  this.clickHandler = $("messages").on("click", function(event) {
    // ...
  });
},

stop: function() {
  this.clickHandler.stop();
}

Also note that the Event.Handler class has a corresponding #start method that lets you re-attach an observer you've removed with #stop.

So, to review, Element#on is both a new approach to event observation and an implementation of event delegation. Feel free to eschew Element#observe and use Element#on exclusively; or use Element#on just for event delegation; or keep using Element#observe the way you always have.

Element.Layout: Your digital tape measure

The second major feature in 1.7 is Element.Layout, a class for pixel-perfect measurement of element dimensions and offsets.

Now you don't have to decide between properties like offsetWidth (which return numbers, but not the numbers you want) or retrieving computed styles (which have their own set of quirks and require a call to parseInt).

The simple case

If you want a one-off measurement of an element, use the new Element#measure:

$('troz').measure('width'); //-> 150
$('troz').measure('border-top'); //-> 5

// Offsets, too:
$('troz').measure('top'); //-> 226

The argument passed to measure is one of a handful of intuitive names, most of which are derived from their CSS equivalents. So width means the width of the content box, just like in CSS — but we throw in extra properties (e.g., padding-box-width, margin-box-height) for some common measurements. This approach gives you far more granularity than common DHTML properties like offsetWidth and clientHeight.

These measurements are guaranteed to be in pixels. Even in IE. (In fact, Prototype works around a handful of IE quirks that would ordinarily result in inaccurate measurments.) It can even measure elements that are hidden, as long as their parents are visible. (Like when you want to animate an element from a hidden state and need to know how tall it will be.)

The complex case

If you need to measure several things at once, though, Element#measure is not the most efficient way to do it. Often an element will need a bit of manipulation before it reports its dimensions accurately, which means measurements can be costly.

The Element.Layout class tries to minimize that cost. It's a read-only subclass of Hash that remembers values in order to avoid re-computing.

First, use Element#getLayout to obtain an instance of Element.Layout:

var layout = $('troz').getLayout();

Now use Element.Layout#get to retrieve values, using the same property names you used for Element#measure:

layout.get('width');  //-> 150
layout.get('height'); //-> 500

layout.get('padding-left');  //-> 10
layout.get('margin-left');   //-> 25
layout.get('border-top');    //-> 5
layout.get('border-bottom'); //-> 5

layout.get('padding-box-width'); //-> 170
layout.get('border-box-height'); //-> 510

layout.get('width');  //-> 150

Here's where the remembered values (or memoization, if you prefer) come in. When I ask for width, Prototype measures the element – which, as we discussed, is a costly operation — and returns a value. A few lines later, I ask for width again, and I get the same value. But this time it didn't do any measuring. It remembered the value from last time.

There's more. When I ask for border-box-height, Prototype knows that's just height plus border-top plus border-bottom. All three of those properties are already memoized, since I asked for them earlier, so it skips the measurement phase and just gives me the sum.

How does it know when an element's dimensions change? It doesn't. Don't hang onto an instance of Element.Layout for too long; it's meant for short-term efficiency, not long-term caching. You can grab a new instance by calling Element#getLayout again.

Believe it or not, this is the short version. Read the documentation to learn more.

JSON fixes, ES5 compliance

The JSON interface slated for ECMAScript 5 is already being implemented in major browsers. It uses many of the same method names as Prototype's existing JSON implementation, but with different behavior, so we rewrote ours to be ES5-compliant and to fall back to the native JSON support where possible. A few other methods, like Object.keys, received similar treatment.

And, of course, bug fixes

Consult the CHANGELOG for further details.

Download, report bugs, and get help

Download Prototype 1.7 RC1
View the API documentation
Check out the Prototype source code on GitHub
Submit bug reports to Lighthouse
Get prototype help on the mailing list or #prototype IRC channel
Talk to the core team on the prototype-core mailing list

As always: thanks to the many contributors who made this release possible!

script.aculo.us web 2.0 javascript: scriptaculous V1.8.3: Prototype 1.6.1, service release/bug fixes

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:32:00 -0000

This is a bugfix release that bumps script.aculo.us to version 1.8.3.

Most importantly, the included Prototype 1.6.1 provides performance and compatibility improvements with the latest browsers.

Other fixes:

Effect.toggle to return effect (to be able to do Effect.toggle(element, 'appear', {sync: true});) [RStankov]
Use element.identify() for fetching element.id in Sortable.create [RStankov]
Fix deprecated usage of Position.cumulativeOffset. [#182 state:resolved] [James Wheare]
Make loader work for application/xhtml+xml served documents. Closes #95. [Pavel Sedek]
Check for Windows Media plugin and RealPlayer plugin in Firefox on Windows to allow sound playback. Closes #36, #86. [Alexander Gavazov et al.]
Remove dead code in effects.js. Closes #125. [Confusioner]

Download at http://script.aculo.us/, or grab/fork the source at http://github.com/madrobby/scriptaculous.

script.aculo.us web 2.0 javascript: script.aculo.us 2.0 alpha preview

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:30:00 -0000

scripty2 is now out in a preview alpha release, with cool demos and some of the nicest documentation any open source project has (we do know that's a bold statement!).

In this release, the focus has been on the effects engine, with the UI parts still pending a rewrite (there will be a lot of really cool stuff coming for the UI part, but more about that later).

As a bonus, the minified and gzipped version of scripty2 is a mere 5k in size. That’s a lot of animation features in a very, very small package.

Hop over to http://scripty2.com to see the demos and documentation, and learn more about the background story on Thomas' blog post.

Prototype JavaScript framework - blog: Documentation: not just new, but also improved

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 05:20:00 -0000

When we officially released 1.6.1 last week, we also published new documentation, the first official docs generated with PDoc.

Tobie, ear to the ground, brought to my attention what many of you were saying (on the blog and on Twitter): the new docs were harder to navigate and, therefore, harder to browse. Though I had eventual plans to re-do the navigation, the instant feedback showed it was a more critical issue than I’d guessed. So I spent the last week making some changes to the template we use to generate the docs.

You can see the results at api.prototypejs.org. The biggest change is obvious: a fixed, always-visible sidebar that makes it easier to move from section to section. Typing in the search box replaces the hierarchical navigation with a list of matching results. Clearing the search box (use the ESC key as a shortcut) switches back to the ordinary navigation. The sidebar will preserve state from page to page — it’ll remember your search term and the scrollbar position.

The docs aren’t perfect yet, but they’re good enough to use. I’ve tested them on Firefox 3.5, Safari 4.0, and IE 7–8. If there are glitches in these browsers or others, please open issues on the GitHub project. (If you, as a JavaScript developer, are still using IE 6; I’d like to take you out for a beer and ask you why.)

We intend for this to be default template included with PDoc, albeit without the Prototype branding. And now that we’ve accomplished the most pressing goal — getting PDoc to generate comprehensive and canonical docs for Prototype — we can focus on the big ideas we’ve got for the next version of our inline documentation tool.

Prototype JavaScript framework - blog: Core Team update: Andrew & Tobie take the reins

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:20:00 -0000

In addition to releasing Prototype 1.6.1, I’m pleased to announce that Andrew Dupont and Tobie Langel now officially head up the Prototype Core Team. They’ll be in charge of maintaining Prototype, deciding what makes the cut for new releases, and handling day-to-day operations.

This change in responsibility will let me focus on some infrastructural projects we need for the next-generation version of Prototype. It’ll also help us fix bugs faster and release new versions more frequently. And I’ll remain on the Core Team, contributing code and offering input on API design.

Andrew and Tobie have proved themselves to be worthy keepers of the code, so I’m certain Prototype is in good hands. Congratulations, guys, and thanks for all your hard work!

Prototype JavaScript framework - blog: Prototype 1.6.1 released

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:15:00 -0000

We’re pleased to announce the release of Prototype 1.6.1 today. This version features improved performance, an element metadata storage system, new mouse events, and compatibility with the latest browsers. It’s also the first release of Prototype built with Sprockets, our JavaScript packaging tool, and PDoc, our inline documentation tool.

Highlights

Full compatibility with new browsers. This version of Prototype fully supports versions 1.0 and higher of Google Chrome, and Internet Explorer 8 in both compatibility mode and super-standards mode.
Element metadata storage. Easily associate JavaScript key/value pairs with a DOM element. See the blog post that started it off.
New mouse events. Internet Explorer’s proprietary “mouseenter” and “mouseleave” events are now available in all browsers.
Improved performance and housekeeping. The frequently used Function#bind, String#escapeHTML, and Element#down methods are faster, and Prototype is better at cleaning up after itself.
Built with Sprockets. You can now include the Prototype source code repository in your application and use Sprockets for dependency management and distribution.
Inline documentation with PDoc. Our API documentation is now stored in the source code with PDoc so it’s easy to send patches or view documentation for a specific version.

See the RC2 blog post, RC3 blog post, and CHANGELOG for more details.

Download, report bugs, and get help

Download Prototype 1.6.1
View the API documentation
Check out the Prototype source code on GitHub
Submit bug reports to Lighthouse
Get Prototype help on the mailing list or #prototype IRC channel
Interact with the Core Team on the protoype-core mailing list

We hope you enjoy the new version!

UPDATE

We’re aware of the usability issues with the current PDoc-generated API documentation. We’re working hard to fix those.

In the meantime, we’ve reverted our changes and you can again access the old Prototype documentation. For those of you courageous enough, the new documentation is still available.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Prototype JavaScript framework - blog: Prototype 1.6.1 RC3: Chrome support and PDoc

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:21:00 -0000

Today we’re announcing Release Candidate 3 of Prototype 1.6.1. Among the highlights of this release are official Chrome support, improved IE8 compatibility, faster generation of API documentation with PDoc, and lots of bug fixes.

Chrome support

Since Google Chrome is a close sibling of Safari, Prototype has had excellent Chrome compatibility ever since the browser was first released. Now we’re making it official: Prototype supports Chrome 1.0 and greater.

If you have Chrome installed on your system (Windows only for now, even though early alphas exist for Mac), invoking rake test will run the unit tests in all locally-installed browsers, including Chrome. To run the unit tests in Chrome alone, try rake test BROWSERS=chrome.

Generate your own docs with PDoc

It’s been a long, strange trip for PDoc, the inline-doc tool that will soon be for Prototype and script.aculo.us what RDoc is for Rails. It started as Tobie’s brainchild over a year ago, but key contributions from James Coglan and Samuel Lebeau have helped to carry it across the finish line.

PDoc was a part of RC2, but has since been updated to make doc generation much, much faster. On my machine, a process that used to take 20 minutes now takes only 60 seconds. Furthermore, we’ve solved a couple of minor issues that made it hard to build the docs on Windows.

Ever since Prototype 1.5, we’ve kept our documentation in Mephisto, the same engine that powers the rest of the site (and this blog). It’s served us well, but it meant that updating the docs became a chore that could only be started once we’d released a particular version. PDoc will make it far easier to maintain our documentation — and far easier to keep archival copies of the docs for older versions of Prototype.

Upon final release of 1.6.1, we’ll put the generated docs on this site, just like Rails hosts its most recent stable documentation. Until then, you can generate your own local docs by checking out the full source and running rake doc from the command line.

Other improvements

There have also been a number of bugs fixed since RC2 — including a heinous bug relating to Event#observe — and a number of key optimizations. We’ve further improved IE8 compatibility, solving some edge-case issues that popped up since RC2. Credit goes to Juriy (kangax), our newest team member, for working tirelessly these last few months to make 1.6.1 faster and less reliant on browser sniffs.

Download, report bugs, and get help

Download Prototype 1.6.1 RC3
Submit bug reports to Lighthouse
Get Prototype help on the mailing list or #prototype IRC channel
Interact with the Core Team on the protoype-core mailing list

Thanks to the many contributors who made this release possible!

Prototype JavaScript framework - blog: Prototype 1.6.1 RC2: IE8 compatibility, Element storage, and bug fixes

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 23:33:00 -0000

Today we tagged the first public release candidate of Prototype 1.6.1. (What happened to RC1? Long story.) While there are more minor fixes we’d like to get into this release, we decided an interim release was necessary because of the final release of Internet Explorer 8 last week.

This is the first public release of Prototype that is fully compatible — and fully optimized for — Internet Explorer 8’s “super-standards” mode. In particular, Prototype now takes advantage of IE8’s support of the Selectors API and its ability to extend the prototypes of DOM elements.

What’s new?

Full compatibility with Internet Explorer 8. Juriy has spearheaded the effort to replace most of our IE “sniffs” into outright capability checks — making it far easier to support IE8 in both “super-standards” mode and compatibility mode.
Element storage, a feature announced previously. Safely associate complex metadata with individual elements.
mouseenter and mouseleave events — simulating the IE-proprietary events that tend to be far more useful than mouseover and mouseout.
An Element#clone method for cloning DOM nodes in a way that lets you perform “cleanup” on the new copies.

What’s been improved?

Better housekeeping on event handlers in order to prevent memory leaks.
Better performance in Function#bind, Element#down, and a number of other often-used methods.
A number of bug fixes.

Consult the CHANGELOG for more details.

In addition to the code itself, the 1.6.1 release features Prototype’s embrace of two other excellent projects we’ve been working on: Sprockets (JavaScript concatenation) and PDoc (inline documentation). Sprockets is now used to “build” Prototype into a single file for distribution. PDoc will be the way we document the framework from now on. The official API docs aren’t quite ready yet, but they’ll be ready for the final release of 1.6.1.

Download, Report Bugs, and Get Help

Download Prototype 1.6.1_rc2
Submit bug reports to Lighthouse
Get Prototype help on the rails-spinoffs mailing list or #prototype IRC channel
Interact with the Core Team on the prototype-core mailing list

Thanks to the many contributors who made this release possible!

Prototype JavaScript framework - blog: Sprockets: Beautiful and angular

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 01:59:00 -0000

Over at SvN, Sam announced the 1.0 release of Sprockets, the new dependency management and concatenation tool that makes it easy to modularize your JavaScript. Sprockets is Prototype’s new build system, but it’s also been extracted into a Ruby library so you can use it anywhere you write JavaScript.

There are many great ways to use Sprockets in your own projects. You can use it the way Prototype does — split up your JavaScript into small, maintainable files, then create “meta-files” that include the smaller files in a logical order. Prototype had previously been doing this with plain ERB; now we integrate Sprockets as a Git submodule and use it to build our distributable file.

Sprockets can also be used to write JavaScript “plugins”: bundles of files that can easily be integrated into existing code. With Sprockets, you can formally declare that foo.js depends on thud.js; when your files are concatenated into one output file, thud.js will be included first.

In addition, Sprockets lets JavaScript files provide other assets — HTML, CSS, images, and the like. At build time, those assets will be copied into the document root of your server (in a way that preserves the sub-structure of directories within). This allows the plugin to refer to those assets via absolute URLs, instead of having to ask you where they’re located.

A few facts are worth special mention.

Sprockets does not require Prototype. Sprockets directives can be inserted into any arbitrary JavaScript file. You can use Sprockets in your build system no matter which JavaScript framework you prefer.
Sprockets does not require Rails. Sam has also written an excellent sprockets-rails plugin, one which deftly applies the conventions of Rails plugins to JavaScript. But he has also written a generic CGI wrapper around Sprockets that is framework-agnostic. Or, instead, you can integrate Sprockets into your build cycle without bothering your server stack with the details. If you use Rake, you can do this with Ruby, as Prototype does; otherwise you can use the sprocketize binary from the command line.
Sprockets-enabled JavaScript files can work just fine without Sprockets. If your plugin has its own “build stage,” then the distributable JavaScript will include no Sprockets directives. On the other hand, if your plugin is small enough not to require this overhead, your distributable can be a short JS file that declares its external dependencies at the top. Because require directives are an extension of comment syntax, they won’t confuse a JS interpreter.

In short, we’re excited about what Sprockets means for the Prototype ecosystem. If you maintain a Prototype add-on library, the prototype-core mailing list would love to help you make it Sprockets-aware.

Now is the time on Sprockets when we dance.

Prototype JavaScript framework - blog: Pimp My Code #1: Element.Storage

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 08:41:00 -0000

Man, it's quiet around here. Interested in doing some pimpin'?

WAIT! COME BACK.

Code pimping. You know? The thing I'd discussed before? Forgive my earlier informality. I see now how my words could have been confusing.

The very first edition of Pimp My Code is special because the code we’ll be looking at will be included in Prototype 1.6.1. (It's a bit like if we were to Pimp [someone's] Ride™, then decide to keep the car for ourselves.) So this is more than just an academic exercise for us — the “pimped” result is now part of the Prototype source code.

The Original

The code in question, from Sébastien Grosjean (a.k.a. ZenCocoon), implements element “storage” — attaching of arbitrary data to DOM nodes in a safe and leak-free manner. Other frameworks have had this for a while; jQuery’s $.fn.data, for instance, is used heavily by jQuery plugin authors to great effect. But Seb’s is based on the similar Mootools API, which I’ve admired since it debuted in Mootools 1.2.

Here’s Seb’s code. It’s a long code block, since he’s been thoughtful enough to comment the hell out of it:

The idea is this: instead of storing arbitrary objects as properties on DOM nodes, create one custom property on the DOM node: an index to a global hashtable. The value of that key in the table will itself be a collection of custom key/value pairs. On top of avoiding nasty IE memory leaks (circular references between DOM objects and JS objects), this has the benefit of encapsulating all of an element’s custom metadata into one place.

Let’s make a first pass at this, line-by-line.

The Critique

Object.extend(Prototype, {UID: 1});

Already we’ve gotten to something I’d change. Seb is using the Prototype namespace correctly here, in that he’s storing something that’s of concern only to the framework and should feel “private.” But my own preference is to move this property into the Element.Storage namespace. I am fickle and my mind is hard to read.

Element.Storage = {
  get: function(uid) {
    return (this[uid] || (this[uid] = {}));
  },

  init: function(item) {
    return (item.uid || (item.uid = Prototype.UID++));
  }
}

OK, another change jumps out at me. The Element.Storage.init method gets called in both Element#store and Element#retrieve; it handles the case where an element doesn’t have any existing metadata. It creates our custom property on the node and increments the counter.

In other words, store and retrieve are the only two places where this method is needed, so I balk at making it public. My first instinct was to make it a private method inside a closure:

(function() {
  function _init(item) {
    return (item.uid || (item.uid = Prototype.UID++));
  }

  // ... rest of storage code
})();

I started down this path but quickly stopped. Instead, we’re going to refactor this part so that the init case is handled without the need for a separate method. Let’s move on for now.

Element.Methods.retrieve = function(element, property, dflt) {
  if (!(element = $(element))) return;
  if (element.uid == undefined) Element.Storage.init(element);
  var storage = Element.Storage.get(element.uid);
  var prop = storage[property];
  if (dflt != undefined && prop == undefined)
    prop = storage[property] = dflt;
  return prop;
};

A few things to mention here.

Variable naming is important. The ideal name for the third parameter of this function would be default, but that’s off-limits; default is a reserved word in JavaScript. Seb’s opted for dflt here, which is clear enough. I’d change it to defaultValue because I like vowels.

As an aside: my first instinct was to remove the defaultValue thing altogether, because I was surprised by the way it behaved. I didn’t find it very intuitive to give Element#retrieve the capability to store properties as well. So I took it out.

I changed my mind several minutes later, when I wrote some code that leveraged element metadata. I had assumed I wouldn’t need the “store a default value” feature often enough to warrant the surprising behavior, but I was spectacularly wrong. I put it back in. Consider that a lesson on how your API design needs to be grounded in use cases.
The idiom in the first line is used throughout Prototype and script.aculo.us (and, in fact, should be used more consistently). It runs the argument through $, but also checks the return value to ensure we got back a DOM node and not null (as would happen if you passed a non-existent ID). An empty return is equivalent to return undefined, which (IMO) is an acceptable failure case. Bonus points, Seb!
The custom property Seb’s been using is called uid. I’m going to change this to something that’s both (a) clearly private; (b) less likely to cause a naming collision. In keeping with existing Prototype convention, we’re going to call it _prototypeUID.
Here’s a nitpick: if (element.uid == undefined). The comparison operator (==) isn’t very precise, so if you’re testing for undefined, you should use the identity operator (===). You could also use Prototype’s Object.isUndefined. In fact, I will.

I have a prejudice against the == operator. Most of the time the semantics of === are closer to what you mean. But this has special significance with undefined, which one encounters often in JavaScript. As an example: when you’re trying to figure out if an optional parameter was passed into a function, you’re looking for undefined. Any other value, no matter how “falsy” it is, means the parameter was given; undefined means it was not.

(Oh, by the way: I am aware of the code screenshot on our homepage that violates the advice I just gave.)
There are other checks against undefined in this function. For consistency I’m going to change these to use Object.isUndefined as well. Also, the check for dflt != undefined is unnecessary: if that compound conditional passes, it means retrieve is going to return undefined anyway, so it doesn’t matter which of the two undefined values we return.

Man, I’m a bastard, aren’t I? Luckily, Element#store is similar enough that there’s no new feedback to be given here, so I’m done kvetching.

Before we rewrite this code to reflect the changes I’ve suggested, we’re going to make a couple design decisions.

Feature Design

While I was deciding how to replace Element.Storage.init, I had an idea: rather than use ordinary Objects to store the data, we should be using Prototype’s Hash. In other words, we’ll create a global table of Hash objects, each one representing the custom key-value pairs for a specific element.

This isn’t just a plumbing change; it’s quite useful to be able to deal with the custom properties in a group rather than just one-by-one. And since Hash mixes in Enumerable, interesting use cases emerge: e.g., looping through all properties and acting on those that begin with a certain “namespace.”

So let’s envision a new method: Element#getStorage. Given an element, it will return the Hash object associated with that element. If there isn’t one, it can “initialize” the storage on that element, thus making Element.Storage.init unnecessary.

This new method also establishes some elegant parallels: the store and retrieve methods are really just aliases for set and get on the hash itself. Actually, retrieve will be a bit more complicated because of the “default value” feature, but we’ll be able to condense store down to two lines.

The Rewrite

Enough blathering. Here’s the rewrite:

Element.Storage = {
  UID: 1
};

As promised, I’ve moved the UID counter. The Element.Storage object also acts as our global hashtable, but all its keys will be numeric, so the UID property won’t get in anyone’s way.

Element#getStorage assumes the duties of Element.Storage.get and Element.Storage.init, thereby making them obsolete. We’ve removed them.

Element.addMethods({
  getStorage: function(element) {
    if (!(element = $(element))) return;

    if (Object.isUndefined(element._prototypeUID))
      element._prototypeUID = Element.Storage.UID++;

    var uid = element._prototypeUID;

    if (!Element.Storage[uid])
      Element.Storage[uid] = $H();

    return Element.Storage[uid];
  },

The new getStorage method checks for the presence of _prototypeUID. If it’s not there, it gets defined on the node.

It then looks for the corresponding Hash object in Element.Storage, creating an empty Hash if there’s nothing there.

As I said before, Element#store is much simpler now:

  store: function(element, key, value) {
    if (!(element = $(element))) return;
    element.getStorage().set(key, value);
    return element;
  },

I thought about returning the stored value, to make it behave exactly like Hash#set, but some feedback from others suggested it was better to return the element itself for chaining purposes (as we do with many methods on Element).

And Element#retrieve is nearly as simple:

  retrieve: function(element, key, defaultValue) {
    if (!(element = $(element))) return;

    var hash = element.getStorage(), value = hash.get(key);

    if (Object.isUndefined(value)) {
      hash.set(key, defaultValue);
      value = defaultValue;
    }

    return value;
  }
});

And we’re done.

Further refinements

In fact, we’re not done. This is roughly what the code looked like when I first checked in this feature, but some further improvements have been made.

Since we’d been using a system similar to this to associate event handlers with nodes, we had to rewrite that code to use the new storage API. In doing so, we found that we needed to include window in our storage system, since it has events of its own. Rather than define a _prototypeUID property on the global object, we give window a UID of 0 and check for it specifically in Element#getStorage.

Also, based on an excellent suggestion, we changed Element#store so that it could accept an object full of key/value pairs, much like Hash#update.

In Summation

I was happy to come across Sébastien's submission. It was the perfect length for a drive-by refactoring; it made sense as a standalone piece of code, without need for an accompanying screenshot or block of HTML; and it implemented a feature we'd already had on the 1.6.1 roadmap.

You can get the bleeding-edge Prototype if you want to try out the code we wrote. Or you can grab this gist if you want to drop the new functionality in alongside 1.6.0.3.

We're further grateful to Mootools for the API we're stealing. And to Wil Shipley for the recurring blog article series we're stealing.

script.aculo.us web 2.0 javascript: JavaScript performance ebook: special discount for script.aculo.us users

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 02:30:00 -0000

Dear script.aculo.us user!

Amy Hoy and Thomas Fuchs have been busy on writing the JavaScript Rocks! Performance ebook, which is now available in beta!

The package consists of a 100+ pages ebook PDF, the DOM Monster, a tool that analyzes your websites and gives tips and hints, and free updates (including the final version, once the book is out of beta).

Topics covered in the book (applicable to all frameworks, not just Prototype and script.aculo.us):

how to know if you’ve got a problem
how to track down bottlenecks
how to create custom profiling tools
how to minimize your load & render time
how to optimize your hosting environment
how not to optimize your JavaScript files
how to write faster DOM code
how to write faster pure JavaScript
how to improve perceived performance
key performance differences between browsers
tips & tricks for JavaScripty iPhone apps

With the following discount code, you get $5 off the listed price.

Discount code: goscripty2. Either go to the JavaScript Rocks! Performance ebook page, and locate the 'have a discount code? click here' link under the big 'Buy Now!' button at the end of the page, or follow this link to enter the code directly.

Thanks for supporting our free materials and open source work on scriptaculous 2.0!

Grab your JavaScript Rocks! Performance ebook!

P.S. Once we're out of beta, this discount code will no longer work, so be sure to grab yours soon!

amok project updates - Google Code: GettingStarted (A getting started guide for new amok users.) Wiki page edited by chrisincambo

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 10:29:18 -0000

amok project updates - Google Code: GettingStarted (A getting started guide for new amok users.) Wiki page edited by chrisincambo

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 08:03:32 -0000

amok project updates - Google Code: amok-0.3.tar.gz (Added support for mocking all instances of a class) file uploaded by chrisincambo

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 08:06:46 -0000

amok project updates - Google Code: GettingStarted (A getting started guide for new amok users.) Wiki page edited by chrisincambo

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 08:04:27 -0000

amok project updates - Google Code: r27 (added mock_all_with method to allow all class instances to b...) committed by chrisincambo

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 07:57:15 -0000

added mock_all_with method to allow all class instances to be a mock

script.aculo.us web 2.0 javascript: V1.8.2: Prototype 1.6.0.3, service release/bug fixes

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:42:00 -0000

This is a bugfix release that bumps script.aculo.us to version 1.8.1.

This version is recommended for all users.

Update to Prototype 1.6.0.3
Make sure InPlaceEditor converts HTML entities to text. [Sean Kirby]
Fix that Builder.node did not return extended elements on IE. Closes #71 and #77.
Fix a bug in Sortable.destroy to make sure it's called on the referenced Sortable only, which allows for the correct intialization of nested Sortables. Closes Trac #8615. [Leon Chevalier]
Change Effect.Base#render not to use eval(), so certain JavaScript runtime environments (like Adobe AIR) that do not support eval() work. [King Maxemilian, John-David Dalton]
Fixed a calculation error in Effect.Transitions.pulse that could lead to flickering, add easing and change it to be a normal 0 to 1 transition that can be used with any effects; Effect.Pulsate now uses its own implementation. [Thomas Fuchs]
Fixed Effect.ScrollTo. Changeset 8686 had a typo, document.viewport.getScrollOffsets[0] is always undefined. Removed the max check as it is not a cross-browser way to get scroll height and breaks the effect. Depending on scrollTo to do the right thing. Closes #11306. [Nick Stakenburg]
Update version check so all Prototype versions can be required, not just x.x.x. Closes #10966. [Nick Stakenburg]
Using $$ in the loader instead of getElementsByTagName to prevent limitations. Closes #9032. [Nick Stakenburg]
Fix some missing semicolons. [jdalton]
Fix an issue with Effect.ScrollTo that caused Firefox to scroll to the wrong offset in some situations. Closes #10245. [nik.wakelin]
Fixes an issue with IE ghosting on non-absolute elements. Closes #10423. [Tanrikut, tdd]

Prototype JavaScript framework - blog: Prototype Linkedin Group

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 07:32:00 -0000

When we first launched the Linkedin Prototype Group, we weren’t necessarily expecting it to be such a success–it’s over 800 members strong and counting.

Also, at the time, there wasn’t much you could do after having joined the group. This has changed with the recent introduction of discussions.

One of the first posts spurred some thoughts about the usefulness and goals of this Linkedin group especially given the high quality of our new mailing list. (And let me take the opportunity to sincerely thank T.J. Crowder for all the effort he’s put into it.)

My initial reaction, based on an early August thread was to suggest keeping the development-orientated discussions in the mailing list, while expecting more career-orientated ones to take place in the Linkedin group.

Of course, there’s no way we can nor should be controlling this, and in the end, you will be deciding what will happen where. So I suppose the only real raison d’être of this post is to advise you of this new feature and open up the debate.

Thoughts ?

Prototype JavaScript framework - blog: Want your code "pimped"?

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 21:23:00 -0000

We decided it’s finally time to implement an idea we had long ago.

I’m an avid reader of the blog of Wil Shipley, a man in the business of writing great apps for OS X. His running code improvment series, Pimp My Code, takes submissions from readers who think their code needs refactoring. Then Shipley refactors them, explaining the whys and hows along the way. The submissions are small (never more than 75-100 lines), but in rewriting them Shipley always happens upon specific, useful programming tips. I don’t know the first thing about Objective-C, but I find the series fascinating and instructive.

So we’re going to do something similar on this blog. Do you have a piece of JavaScript you want refactored? Does it use Prototype? Do this:

Sign up for a GitHub account if you don’t have one. It’s free and quick.
Go to Gist, GitHub’s pastebin app, and paste the code you want us to refactor. Mark it as “private” if you like.
Message me on GitHub with the URL to your code snippet. If necessary, explain a bit about what the code does (or should do), but don’t write an epistle or anything.

I’ll share the submissions with the rest of the team and we’ll pick a few that we like. Then we’ll dedicate a post to each one, refactoring out loud along the way. We won’t be mean or snarky; this is not a DailyWTF-style exercise.

To pre-empt the obvious rebuttal: we do not consider this to be an act of charity, or code manna from computer heaven, or a gift from the light-bearers to the huddled masses. Whether we actually “improve” your code is not for us to say. It will, however, illustrate our coding style.

If that sounds useful to you, then step up! Give us code and ask that it be pimped!

Prototype JavaScript framework - blog: Growing the community

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:39:00 -0000

Now that 1.6.0.3 is out, let’s talk about the Prototype community.

A lot of people have been commenting on how quiet it’s been around here over the last few months. There are several reasons:

We were quite busy with behind-the-scenes stuff. Moving to GitHub and Lighthouse was quite the task. As part of that migration we went through all the bugs on the old Rails Trac and were therefore left with a large backlog of bugs that we’d waited too long to address.
We were quite busy with our day jobs. Only a couple of us are freelancers; the rest work full-time for software companies. And usually there are several people working on Prototype at any one time, but over the summer it’s rarely been more than one or two.
In an effort to “catch up” with the accumulated tickets, we tried to stuff too much into a single bugfix release. We need to keep releases small and focused; trying to change too much at once tends to disorient us and our users. Once we realized we needed to scale back this release, it took a while to figure out which changes needed to stay and which needed to be reverted.

These aren’t excuses; they’re just explanations. As a team, we agree that we’ve got to prevent such a long release gap from happening again, and to keep an eye out for warning signs like the ones listed above.

This means, among other things, that we’re planning to move away from a “when it’s ready” release schedule. Instead, we’ll move toward one in which there are several releases per year; whatever is ready in time for a given release will go in, and whatever is not will have to wait. That applies to bug fixes and features alike. Eight months between releases just won’t work.

What you can do

Community outreach was one of the major goals of Prototype Developer Day. Many people are frustrated with the state of the Prototype community and would like to see some changes made. We’re in complete agreement.

Ideally, as an open-source community grows, those who want to help out gravitate toward specific roles. Those who can grok the source code write patches; those who are good at diagnosing problems file bug reports; those who can write clearly contribute documentation; and so on. We’d love to grow that “halo” around Prototype Core so that things can get done more quickly.

To be more specific, we would love help in any of these areas:

Give support on the Prototype & scrip.aculous mailing list.
File bugs in Lighthouse when you encounter errors or surprising behavior in Prototype.
Write test cases or patches for existing bugs in Lighthouse.
Discuss the direction of the library and its future on the Prototype Core mailing list.
Propose new features and implement them.
Write documentation wherever you feel we need more; submit it to Lighthouse as an enhancement.
Suggest blog posts. (Or even write them!) Post to the Prototype Core list if you’re interested in doing this.

There are, of course, many other things one can do to help us out. But if you’re looking for a way to contribute and don’t have something specific in mind, we’d suggest doing one of these seven things.

What we can do

We know we need more help, but we also know we need to be better community curators. So here are some things we pledge to do better:

We’ll beef up the Prototype web site so that it’s easier to get started with the framework, easier to find great resources like Scripteka and Prototype UI, and easier to find answers to common questions.
We’ll give special attention to documentation tickets on Lighthouse so that our API docs don’t stay stale and thin.
We’ll release on a more consistent schedule, as explained above.
We’ll resume work on PDoc (inline documentation) and Sprockets (JS dependency management), spin-off projects that make Prototype more of a “platform.” They’ll be a boon to the Prototype ecosystem when they’re completed.

Finally: if you consider yourself to be good at planning and organizing an open-source project, then we’d love your input on how to grow our community. Our highest priority, however, is not to launch a new initiative or process; it’s to get more people doing the seven things listed above.

Prototype JavaScript framework - blog: Prototype 1.6.0.3: A long-awaited bugfix release

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:48:00 -0000

Yesterday we released Prototype 1.6.0.3, the result of some much-needed bug fixes, and a stopgap release on the road to 1.6.1.

It’s a backwards-compatible, drop-in replacement recommended for all users of Prototype 1.6. We’ve fixed 30 bugs and made 25 other improvements to our already-rock-solid library.

Developers who follow along in Git might’ve noticed that the repository has seen a lot of disruptive activity in the last few days as we reassessed many of the commits that had gone into the library since April. Rather than try to fit too many fixes into one release, we decided to scale back and release 1.6.0.3 with the set of improvements we were in complete agreement on.

Because of the way we handled this overhaul, those who try to update their Git working copies to the latest trunk will encounter conflicts, even if they hadn’t made local changes.

Here’s how we recommend bringing your working copy up to date:

First, if you’ve made any local changes, please create a new branch so that those changes aren’t lost.
On your local master branch, run:
```
git fetch origin master
git reset --hard 34ee207
```
The first line fetches the new commits without trying to apply them to your local copy. The second line resets your master branch to be in sync with the latest revision.
From there, you can cherry-pick from your branch any local commits you made (though you may have to do some manual merging).

Download, report bugs, and get help

Download Prototype 1.6.0.3
Submit bug reports to Lighthouse
Get Prototype help on the Prototype & script.aculo.us mailing list or #prototype IRC channel
Interact with the Core Team on the prototype-core mailing list

As always, thanks to the core team and the many users who contributed bug reports and well-tested patches for this release.

amok project updates - Google Code: r26 (Added ability to pass message to callback in and_callback) committed by chrisincambo

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 08:06:34 -0000

Added ability to pass message to callback in and_callback

amok project updates - Google Code: r25 (Added latest version of amok which supports mocking callback...) committed by chrisincambo

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 07:40:15 -0000

Added latest version of amok which supports mocking callbacks

amok project updates - Google Code: r24 (Added and_callback to the amok.DSL) committed by chrisincambo

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 07:38:52 -0000

Added and_callback to the amok.DSL

amok project updates - Google Code: r23 (Added and_callback method) committed by chrisincambo

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 07:28:31 -0000

Added and_callback method

amok project updates - Google Code: r22 (First commit) committed by chrisincambo

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 08:39:50 -0000

First commit

amok project updates - Google Code: r21 (First commit) committed by chrisincambo

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 08:39:17 -0000

First commit

amok project updates - Google Code: r20 (Added license block) committed by chrisincambo

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 08:30:19 -0000

Added license block

amok project updates - Google Code: r19 (Changed comment) committed by chrisincambo

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 08:07:09 -0000

Changed comment

amok project updates - Google Code: Default_DSL_documentation (Documentation for the default domain specific language (DSL)) Wiki page edited by chrisincambo

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 08:03:56 -0000

amok project updates - Google Code: Default_DSL_documentation Wiki page edited by chrisincambo

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 08:02:00 -0000

amok project updates - Google Code: Default_DSL_documentation Wiki page added by chrisincambo

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 08:00:23 -0000

amok project updates - Google Code: GettingStarted (A getting started guide for new amok users.) Wiki page edited by chrisincambo

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 06:39:52 -0000

amok project updates - Google Code: GettingStarted (A getting started guide for new amok users.) Wiki page added by chrisincambo

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 06:38:54 -0000

amok project updates - Google Code: using_amok Wiki page deleted by chrisincambo

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 06:38:01 -0000

amok project updates - Google Code: using_amok (A quick how to guide for new amok users.) Wiki page edited by chrisincambo

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 06:34:37 -0000

script.aculo.us web 2.0 javascript: script.aculo.us development setup changed to github and Lighthouse

Fri, 09 May 2008 18:15:00 -0000

script.aculo.us is from now on developed using Git (hosted at github) for source code management and revision control, and Lighthouse for bug tracking.

Why git instead of Subversion? Well, it simply rules supreme, and makes working with many distributed developers with lots of branches a snap. You can find a good intro book on Git on Peepcode.

script.aculo.us 1.xx development will focus on bug fixes only, while I’m working on the next version of scripty (post on that coming up soon!).

Bug tracker http://prototype.lighthouseapp.com/projects/8887-script-aculo-us

Repository for script.aculo.us 1.xx http://github.com/madrobby/scriptaculous

Note that if you’re just using the library, this change won’t really affect you.

If you have open bugs on the old Trac please port them over to lighthouse yourself!

I’m also working on a replacement for the documentation wiki (which, quite honestly, sucks); so stay tuned for some updates in the near future. If you want to help out with the documentation effort, please contact me. :)

Natural Docs News: Natural Docs 1.4 released

Thu, 08 May 2008 00:00:00 -0000

Natural Docs 1.4 is finally, finally here. There are no surprises if you've been following the development releases, but let's go through the big new features for those who haven't.

First we have search support. If you look at the documentation there's an inconspicuous little search entry at the bottom of the menu. If you start typing in there it will pull up results from the index as you type. What's nice about it is that it's all done in DHTML so there's no special software to install. You can just upload your output directory to a web server or open it from your hard drive and it will work. Also, you don't have to do anything at all to add it to your documentation. Just run the new version of Natural Docs and it will appear.

Next is Javadoc compatibility. If you have full language support, Natural Docs will be able to read any existing Javadoc comments you've written and incorporate them into the output. The conversion can sometimes be imperfect but it's better than rewriting them all by hand. As a bonus, you can also write Natural Docs comments without the topic line by using the Javadoc comment symbols but otherwise using Natural Docs' formatting.

We also have image support now. You can embed images in your documentation just by writing (see image.jpg) so it makes sense when you're reading it from the source code instead of looking like a HTML tag. You can tell Natural Docs where to look for images with the -img command line option.

The ActionScript parser has been updated for ActionScript 3, and the C# parser has been updated to include some of the 2.0 language features. You can now document structs in C++ as a single entry and all its members will appear in a prototype. You can still use the old method of documenting each member individually if you want.

As for minor tweaks, the Note and Notes keywords have been removed. These often caused Natural Docs to include comments that weren't meant for it in the output, so they're gone. You can add them back by editing Topics.txt if you need them. You can also add timestamps to the footer of your documentation by editing Menu.txt. There's now an -oft (--only-file-titles) command line option that tells Natural Docs not to guess at what the title of a file should be by its contents and to only use the file name. The CSS structure of the generated output has changed a bit so check the changelog if you've built your own custom style. There are too many bugs fixed to list.

The web site got a few updates as well, including a walkthrough of the documentation syntax to help new people get started and a RSS feed of the news.

For those of you who didn't see the news on the web site, this is probably the last major release using the current Perl codebase. Natural Docs has needed a big overhaul for quite some time now. I've had a number of features in the back of my mind that I just can't do under the current architecture. Ripping out the engine has always been planned but it's a big project and I wasn't always eager to work on it.

However, I'm currently working on Natural Docs 2.0 which is just that. Since I would have needed to rebuild most of it anyway I'm taking the opportunity to switch languages, and I settled on C#. Perl is great for what it is but I don't think it's up to what I had planned, and after working on it for a few months I think I made the right choice.

Natural Docs 2.0 will run with .NET on Windows and Mono on Linux and Mac OS X. It will always be cross-platform; if a feature of .NET doesn't work with Mono I won't use it. It will also incorporate SQLite which runs in all three places as well. I'm keeping things close to the vest for now but I'll start putting out code and development releases as it gets usable. I may start a developer blog talking about why I chose these things and the upcoming features if there's any interest. Let me know though, because I don't know if I'll bother if I'm just going to be talking to myself, not that that's ever stopped anyone from blogging before.

So there you go. Shiny new 1.4 now, 2.0 in the works.

Natural Docs News: Natural Docs 1.4 release candidate 3

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0000

Yet another release candidate. Mostly this fixes various language parsing issues:

Allow generics in base classes in C#.
Allow angle brackets in function names in C# to support explicitly implementing generic interfaces.
Allow * as ActionScript function return type.
Fixed enum property parsing in Languages.txt, which fixes enum handling in C#, Java, JavaScript, VB, and Ruby.
Allow $, #, and _ before "as" or "is" in PL/SQL prototypes.
Allow _ before "is" in Ada prototypes.

There's also a few minor changes such as being able to put * or _ immediately before or after links, such as *<link>*. "operator" and "operators" are now keywords for functions, and it won't stop with an error message if it can't open extensionless files, which is useful in case Natural Docs mistakenly tries to open a system file it shouldn't be looking at.

Natural Docs News: Natural Docs 1.4 release candidate 2

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0000

Another release candidate. All changes are minor except for one: I removed the Note and Notes keywords. I've actually been meaning to do this for a while because they're often the source of false positives. If someone starts a paragraph with "Note: blah blah blah" the first line will be seen as the start of a new topic, causing all kinds of problems in the output. If you actually used those keywords you can add them back into Topics.txt yourself.

Support for nullable types was added to C#. I also finally recreated the Small and Roman styles.

I went through the entire bug list in SourceForge and picked all the low hanging fruit, since 1.4 may be out for some time while 2.0 is worked on. Fixed a bug where the Perl parser could get tripped up when using anonymous functions that have prototypes. Fixed a bug where horizontal lines could be taken out of code sections. Fixed a bug in the search JavaScript that could cause an error message to show in Internet Explorer.

That's it. Hopefully this is the last release candidate.

script.aculo.us web 2.0 javascript: V1.8.1: Prototype 1.6.0.1, bug fixes

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 03:15:00 -0000

This is a bugfix release that bumps script.aculo.us to version 1.8.1.

Mainly, this release contains some important bug fixes and optimizations in Prototype, fixes cursor keys in autocompleting text fields for IE and Safari plus fixes an issue with Effect.Morph on IE.

Download at http://script.aculo.us/downloads!

Natural Docs News: Natural Docs 1.4 release candidate

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0000

I found some time to tie up the loose ends of the development releases. I now consider the latest one to be a release candidate for 1.4. It has a few bug fixes and tweaks, plus I reverted some of the more arbitrary CSS changes so the people who stuck with 1.35 won't have to update any custom styles as drastically.

C# support is much improved. Since I'm obviously using it more I keep running into the places where it was deficient, mainly because it was originally written for the 1.1 language specification. I added support for enums (why didn't I have this before?) static classes, generics, and fixed the using statement support, though it still doesn't support aliases. It's enough to get by, a more comprehensive update will have to wait.

Beat up on this one so we can finally put the development releases to bed for the people who have been patiently waiting for a stable one.

script.aculo.us web 2.0 javascript: V1.8.0: Prototype 1.6, Sound, tweaks and tricks

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 14:05:00 -0000

This is the final version of script.aculo.us 1.8, which comes with Prototype 1.6.0 final.

The included final 1.6.0 version of Prototype brings the latest and greatest awesome new features -- be sure to check it out on the Prototype site.

See the announcement for more information and a download link!

Natural Docs News: Where we stand

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0000

It's been a while so I guess I owe you an update.

For the last few months I've been taking a hiatus from Natural Docs, so if you e-mailed me or posted in the forum and didn't get a response that's why. I know that kind of sucks of me but I really needed to not think about it at all for a while. I've been getting burned out on it which is why it's been taking longer and longer to put out even small releases. I've been doing this since November 2002 after all.

I'm feeling much better now, but there are going to be changes. I'm not going to keep banging my head against the old Perl codebase anymore. The engine has needed a big overhaul for some time now — it just can't do some of the things I want it to do without a major rewrite. I'm also tired of dealing with Perl. It was great for the little thrown together version I made for myself years ago, but it's deficient in pretty fundamental areas: classes, inheritance, even function parameters. I've worked around them pretty well, but Natural Docs has grown too complex and I can't bring myself to do a major rewrite in Perl. If I'm going to be rebuilding most of it anyway, I'm taking the opportunity to switch languages.

So for the last few weeks I've been working on 2.0, and it's where I'm going to spend all my time going forward. It's being written in C# with .NET 2.0 and Mono for a lot of reasons I won't go into here. I know .NET often implies being tied to Windows but I'm designing it to be cross-platform from the very beginning. I already have it running on Linux with Mono and will be testing it there every step of the way. I'm building the back end on top of SQLite, which I also have running on both platforms already. Managing everything Natural Docs was pulling out of the code and all its cross-referencing was getting hairy with in-memory structures, and it would just get dramatically worse with the things I have planned for 2.0.

I have to say I think I made the right choice. So far this has been a lot more interesting and enjoyable for me. It's not a trudge through old code that I know I'm just going to have to rip out someday. It's fun learning a new language and framework. Natural Docs is actually being brought into this century with Unicode, multithreading, localizations, etc. Features I've had in my head for a long time can actually get built instead of being held back by assumptions I made years ago. And doing some things in a modern language is just so much damn easier than trying to approximate it in Perl. I love how cleanly some things can be done now. I now think my burnout was due to the fact that working on Natural Docs was just objectively starting to suck and it was time for a change.

At some point I'll tie up the development releases and call it 1.4, but not right away. Plans can change, but right now as far as I'm concerned that's the end of the road for the Perl codebase. I'll start posting the 2.0 code, a roadmap, and an explanation of its features when I have more to show for it. It's too early now, and it will still be a while before you have something to play with even in pre-alpha form. I also don't want to talk about specific features just yet in case some of them don't pan out. But they will be cool. Have they not been cool thus far?

I've gone through my backlog of messages and responded to anything that came in within the past two months. If you sent me something earlier than that and are still interested in a response, send it to me again. I figure most people aren't by that point. Also, if I ever take another hiatus in the future where I don't even do support I promise I'll put some sort of notice up first instead of just falling off the face of the earth.

So that's where we stand. Feel free to e-mail me if you have any thoughts or questions.

script.aculo.us web 2.0 javascript: V1.7.1 beta 3: Prototype 1.5.1, more optimizations and fixes

Fri, 25 May 2007 16:30:00 -0000

This is third beta of script.aculo.us 1.7.1, which provides Prototype 1.5.1 final compatibility and Sortable speed improvements.

The included final 1.5.1 version of Prototype brings the latest and greatest in new cool features and performance gains, so be sure not miss this one. :)

Beta warning: Things might not work as you might expect, though they really should—if you hit any problems, please use the bug tracker and give reports. The same that applies to Prototype applies for script.aculo.us too, so read the how to contribute page to see how you can help out!

See announcement for more information and a download link!

script.aculo.us web 2.0 javascript: V1.7.1 beta 1: 'Performance!'.times(3) + Sound

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 14:00:00 -0000

On the heels of the recent Prototype 1.5.1 release candidate, here’s the latest and greatest version of script.aculo.us: 1.7.1 beta 1.

The most important change is the update to Prototype 1.5.1 which yields major performance improvements, slick new JSON support and various fixes all around. Note that the version of Prototype that comes with script.aculo.us 1.7.1 beta 1 is actually a few steps ahead of the 1.5.1_rc1 release and already incorporates a few additional fixes, so please use the version that comes with the script.aculo.us download.

The other important feature is experimental sound support for those little .mp3-based sound effects, which works natively in IE, and relies on whatever mp3 plugins are available on other browsers (for Macs, this means quicktime). It’s thought as an alternative to flash-based mp3 playback for sounds effects (not music!). Kudos to Jules Gravinese for coming up with the initial implementation of this!

The effects engine has seen some performance overhaul, and together with the new Prototype performance goodnees is screaming fast. Also, a memory leak in the morph code was found and fixed on Firefox. More changes and features added include a new “failure” option to Draggables, and onDropped callback, more customization for in-place editing, and nesting single nodes in the DOM builder.

See the complete announcement for more information and a download link!

Natural Docs News: February 10th development release

Sat, 10 Feb 2007 00:00:00 -0000

So all the major features of 1.4 are done now. Image support is finally completed. You can use -img [directory] on the command line to specify where images are stored, rather than putting them in your source tree and having relative paths from the source files. If you do keep the images there, you can use -img */[directory] to specify relative paths as well, so -img */images means you can just write (see image.jpg) instead of (see images/image.jpg). You can even back up with ../ so long as it doesn't back out of the source tree specified with -i altogether.

ActionScript 3 support is done too. Custom namespaces are supported and affect scope, meaning you have to link to them with <class.namespace.function>.

There's a minor tweak in that underscores are supported in image links. They're also supported in e-mail addresses and URLs that appear without brackets.

Consider this a release candidate for all the major features. There will be one more development release (hopefully not three months from now) with some minor tweaks to other things that will serve as the proper release candidate. If no issues pop up with that it will be stamped 1.4.

script.aculo.us web 2.0 javascript: V1.7.0: Morphing effects, Prototype 1.5.0 final

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 18:30:00 -0000

You've seen the demos-- now it's prime time!


* Update to Prototype 1.5.0 final

* Change the default setting for effects to support up to 60fps, if renderable by the browser. Add performance info to effects unit test.

* Add hash and CSS className support to Effect.Morph, fixes #6674 [Tobie]
    Examples:
      $(element).morph('myClass')
      // will morph to all the properties specified
      // in .className (in your external stylesheet).
      // All properties which cannot be morphed (such as font-style)
      // will be applied AfterFinish
      $(element).morph('font-size: 10px')  // or
      $(element).morph({fontSize: '10px'}) // will morph the font-size to 10px
      
* Add Element.morph() and Element.Methods.morph() as a shortcut to Effect.Morph
    Example:
      // basic Effect.Morph
      $('error_message').morph('color:#f00;font-size:17px');
      // fade out after a while
      $('error_message').show().morph('font-size:17px').morph('opacity:0',{delay:4});

* Add Effect.Transform that generates parallel executing Effect.Morph sets
    Example:
      // set up transformation
      var transformation = new Effect.Transform([
        { 'div.morphing': 'font-size:20px;padding-left:40em' },
        { 'blah'        : 'width:480px;border-width:10px;border-right-width:20px;margin:200px;margin-bottom:-20px;font-size:30px' }
      ],{ duration: 0.5 });
      // play transformation (can be called more than once)
      transformation.play();

* Add Effect.Morph core effect that morphs to a given CSS style rule. Effect.Morph does take orginal styles given by CSS style rules or the style attribute into consideration when calculating the transforms. It works with all length and color based CSS properties, including margins, paddings, borders, opacity and text/background colors.
    Example:
      new Effect.Morph('mydiv',{
        style: 'font-size:3em;color:#f00;border-width:2em',
        duration: 2.0
      });
      
* New option keepBackgroundImage: true for Effect.Highlight, fixes #5037 [docwhat, tomg]

* Minor tweaks for issues with application/xhtml+xml documents on Firefox, fixes #6836 [sjinks]

* Fix a possible exception with Sortables, fixes #6828 [craiggwilson]
      
* Add a paramName option to the inplace editor for overriding the default parameter name of "value"

script.aculo.us web 2.0 javascript: V1.7.0 beta 2: morphing with CSS classes, Prototype update

Mon, 18 Dec 2006 22:30:00 -0000

The second beta of script.aculo.us 1.7.0 is out now, and adds a cool new CSS classnames based morphing feature, alongside Prototype updates.

Bugs in beta 1 where also addressed, especially Opera compatibility.

Head over to mir.aculo.us to learn what this is about and grab the beta version!

Note: Obviously, the beta version is not recommended for production sites, and syntax might change before it gets stable (but it's pretty much final, so don't be too afraid).

script.aculo.us web 2.0 javascript: V1.7.0 beta 1: Morphing?!

Tue, 21 Nov 2006 09:50:00 -0000

The first beta of script.aculo.us 1.7.0 is out now, and brings you (tada!) morphing!

Head over to mir.aculo.us to learn what this is about and grab the beta version!

Note: Obviously, the beta version is not recommended for production sites, and syntax might change before it gets stable (but it's pretty much final, so don't be too afraid).

Natural Docs News: November 19th development release

Sun, 19 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0000

Another development release is finally done.

Search is done. The most important thing is that it works with framed HTML now. It's also much more structurally sound behind the scenes so it doesn't fall back to completely reloading the results frame nearly as often, making it faster. I fixed the IE issue of results not expanding correctly if two of them only differ in case. There are some smaller tweaks but that's the important stuff.

In C++, struct prototypes now format nicely like function prototypes do, provided you didn't document any of the members individually. Many people were asking for that. Also, enum constants are now scoped correctly.

If you put an image reference in the middle of a paragraph instead of on its own line, it will now appear after the paragraph instead of becoming a pop-up. The file name becomes a caption and the reference in the paragraph links to it.

Fixed a bug in the development releases where links would appear with their brackets in tooltips. Fixed a bug in all releases where file names would sometimes get cut down to just their extension in the menu. If Natural Docs automatically adds a file name heading to your output file, it won't include part of the path anymore. Fixed a crash bug in Menu.pm.

That's it. We're almost done with this process so it will hopefully be tied up and stamped 1.4 soon.

script.aculo.us web 2.0 javascript: V1.6.5: Effect.Event, latest Prototype, Builder updates

Wed, 08 Nov 2006 13:34:00 -0000

I’ve just pushed script.aculo.us 1.6.5 for your download pleasure. It’s a maintenance release that adds a few tweaks here and there—read on!

Update to Prototype 1.5.0_rc1 revision [5462]

Support the HTML ‘for’ attribute in Builder by using ‘htmlFor’, fixes #6472 [gjones, tdd]

var node = Builder.node('label', { htmlFor: 'myinput' });

Add support to run a specific failing unit test by clicking on the corresponding test result, fixes #6290 [leeo]

Add modifier key support to Event.simulateMouse, fixes #6391 [savetheclocktower]

Add new ‘with-last’ queue position option to queue effects to occur in parallel with the last effect to start in the queue

Add new special core effect Effect.Event for one-shot events that follow timelines defined by effect queues

123	new Effect.Event({ afterFinish:function(){ // do some code here}, position: 'end' });

Fix an possible crash of IE on Effect.SlideUp, fixes #3192 [thx nel]

Add Builder.build() to create nodes from strings containing HTML, [DHH]

var node = Builder.build("<p>this is <b>neat!</b></p>");

Add a pulses parameter to Effect.Pulsate to control the amount of pulses, fixes #6245 [leeo]
For example, this will pulsate twice (if the option is not given, it defaults to five pulses):

Effect.Pulsate('d8', {pulses: 2});

Fix an issue with clicking on a slider span resulting in an exception, fixes #4707 [thx sergeykojin]

Fix an issue with Draggables when no options are supplied, fixes #6045 [thx tdd]

This should be the last release before Ruby on Rails 1.2 comes out—the next thing will be script.aculo.us 1.7! Lots of good and cool patches are waiting for their addition, and should make it into the 1.7 release.

As always, kudos to the community for supplying patches, bug reports and tests—keep it coming!

Natural Docs News: So what's going on?

Wed, 18 Oct 2006 00:00:00 -0000

So I start the whole development releases thing with some fanfare, and then I disappear for two and a half months. What gives?

Well, part of that time was spent experimenting with what could become Natural Docs 2.0. I don't know if it's going to pan out or not at this point — it's far too early to tell and it can honestly go either way — so I'm not going to go into the details just yet. It's going to take a while if it does so there's still plenty more life in the current code base. I'm going to be dividing my time between the two based on whichever captures my interest at the moment. I'm not paid to do this (other than donations) so that's the best way to stay motivated, to work on what I want to work on at the moment.

I'm probably going to jump back into the current code base for a while, though, to tie up the loose ends in the current development release and to try to satisfy the big donations that came in for full JavaScript and PHP support. I have to bite the bullet and push C++ back, because that always required a couple of features from the 2.0 engine and I don't want to keep delaying some of the easier languages in favor of it.

So that's it. Maybe next update I'll have something new for you to play with.

script.aculo.us web 2.0 javascript: V1.6.4: New Prototype, drag and drop updates, BDD style testing! (UPDATED)

Tue, 05 Sep 2006 11:26:00 -0000

V1.6.4 (2006-09-06): New Prototype, drag and drop updates, BDD style testing! (UPDATED)

script.aculo.us 1.6.4, which marks the inclusion of the new release candidate of Prototype 1.5, is out now.

(For those of you missing the 1.6.3 version: that version was out yesterday but had a issue with IE that is now fixed in 1.6.4)

This release comes with the brand-new Prototype V1.5.0_rc1 version, adds several new features and options to drag and drop, features a whole new (experimental) way of doing testing, and adds some other goodies here and there. Also, thanks to the contributors for identifying and squishing bugs!

So—what’s new & cool?

Update Prototype to V1.5.0_rc1 (read more on Justin Palmer’s blog)

Add experimental alternate syntax for unit tests (Behaviour Driven Development-style)

Merge assertElementsMatch and assertElementMatches from Prototype’s [4986] unittest.js [Sam Stephenson]

Add assertRespondsTo and shouldRespondTo assertions


                  // object
                  var testObj = {
                    isNice: function() { }
                  }

                  // test
                  assertRespondsTo('isNice', testObj);

Make Sortable.serialize handle DOM IDs like “some_element_1” correctly, fixes #5324

Add support for onStart, onDrag and onEnd events directly on Draggables (invoked from the Draggables.notify), fixes #4747 [thx scriptkitchen]


                  new Draggable('some_id',{
                    onStart:function(){ /* ... */ },
                    onDrag:function(){ /* ... */ },
                    onEnd:function(){ /* ... */ }
                  });

Add autoSelect option to Autocompleters to auto select an entry if only one is returned, fixes #5183 [thx cassiano dandrea]

Added delay option to Draggables and Sortables, see test/functional/dragdrop_delay_test.html for usage, implements #3325 [thx lsimon, tomg]

Add version and timestamp to indvidual library files for easier identification (the files are preprocessed by the Rake fresh_scriptaculous task), fixes #3015 [thx Tobie]

Add assertIndentical and assertNotIdentical unit test assertions, which test for equality and common type, fixes #5822 [thx glazedginger]

Add integration test for Ajax autocompleter for results with no linebreaks, #4149

Added a custom exception to all base effects when used on non- existing DOM elements, added a assertRaise method to unit tests

Add element shortcuts to Builder that can be activated by calling Builder.dump() (see the unit test), fixes #4260 [thx napalm]


                  Builder.dump();  
                  var element = DIV({id:'ghosttrain'},[
                     DIV({style:'font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold;'},[
                       H1('Ghost Train'),
                       "testtext", 2, 3, 4,
                       UL([
                         LI({onclick:'alert(\'test\')'},'click me')
                       ]),
                     ]),
                   ]);

Make Effect.Puff work correctly for floating elements, fixes #3777 [thx michael hartl]

Fix selection of correct option in SELECT element generated by InPlaceCollectionEditor for indexed option arrays, fixes #4789 [thx steve]

Fix an issue with redrawing ghosted draggables that are inside a scrolled container, fixes #3860 [thx gkupps, tsukue]

Fix autoscrolling inside scrollable containers when window is scrolled too, fixes #5200 [thx wseitz]

Fix autoscrolling when dragging an element unto a scrollable container, fixes #5017 [thx tomg]

Fix a condition where overriding the endeffect on Draggables without overriding the starteffect too leads to a Javascript error [thx Javier Martinez]

Fix a possible error with the drag/drop logic (affects the solution to #4706)

Fix various issues with IE detection and Opera, and setOpacity, fixes #3886, #5973

Remove revert cache code obsoleted by #4706, fixes #3436 (again) [thx tomg]

As always, the required 1.5.0_rc1 version of Prototype is included with the download.

Big thanks to the contributors!

script.aculo.us web 2.0 javascript: V1.6.2: Bug fix galore!

Tue, 15 Aug 2006 15:32:00 -0000

V1.6.2 (2006-08-15): Bug fix galore!

This is a "serive" release and recommended for all users. While almost no new features where added, it includes several bug fixes, ranging from important (memory leak!) to cosmetic. List of updates:

Fix a problem in the drag and drop logic if an reverting/drag ending draggable was initialized for a new drag (for example by clicking repeatedly) for all cases where the default start/revert/end-effects are used, fixes #4706 [thx tecM0]
Fix possible memory leaks with Draggables, fixes #3436 [thx aal]
Throw nicer errors when requires script.aculo.us libraries are not loaded, fixes #5339
Make slider handles work when not displayed initially by using CSS width/height, fixes #4011 [thx foysavas]
Update sortable functional test with onUpdate counter
Make more Element extensions unit tests work on Safari
Add the assertMatch unit test assertion for asserts with RegExps [thx Ian Tyndall]
Fix a problem with Effect.Move causing "jumping" elements because of very low float numbers in some situations
Fix a missing semicolon in dragdrop.js, fixes #5569 [thx mackalicious]
Fix a slight inaccuracy with Effect.Scale that could lead the scaling to be one pixel off
Be more prototypish with Effect.Transitions.linear
Make Effect.Scale recognize font sizes that use the pt unit, fixes #4136 [thx aljoscha]
Fix IE hack in Effect.Opacity, fixes #5444 [thx nicholas]
Fix IFRAME layout fix for IE and Autocompleter, fixes #5192 [thx tommy skaue]
Fix only option in onEmptyHover, fiex #5348 [thx glenn nilsson]
Fix Effect.BlindDown and SwitchOff handling of supplied callbacks, fixes #5089 [thx martinstrom]
Fix a problem with field focus on Ajax.InPlaceEditor and loading external text, fixes #4988, #5244 [thx rob]
Do not attempt to scroll if scrollspeed is 0/0, fixes #5035 [thx tomg]
Fix a problem with Sortable Tree serialization, fixes #4939, #4688, #4767 [thx Sammi Williams]
Fix an endless loop with sliders, fixes #3226, #4051, #4765 [thx jeff]
Make autocompleter work with update DIVs that have scrollbars, fixes #4782 [thx Tommy Skaue]
Corrected options parsing on switchoff effect, fixes #4710 [thx haldini]

The required 1.5.0_rc0 final version of Prototype is included with the download.

Natural Docs News: July 30th development release: ActionScript 3

Sun, 30 Jul 2006 00:00:00 -0000

Got another development release for you. The big change in this one is the ActionScript parser has been upgraded to support version 3. It has support for regular expressions, XML literals, constants, and other goodies as described on the development page. It even supports .mxml files in addition to .as files, so you can use Natural Docs in <mx:Script> blocks or even in plain XML comments.

The other features are pretty minor. There's an -oft (--only-file-titles) command line option that lets you force the source file name to always be the page and menu title. The search results will try to dynamically update rather than reloading the page every time. The search box was tested and tweaked for IE 6 and 7, Firefox 1.5, Opera 9, 8.5, and 8, and Konqueror 3.5. You can now use braces and parenthesis in your file names without killing the menu.

script.aculo.us web 2.0 javascript: V1.6.1: Sortable Trees, Prototype 1.5.0_rc0 (fixes IE mem leaks)!

Thu, 06 Apr 2006 21:27:00 -0000

V1.6.1 (2006-04-06): Sortable Trees, Prototype 1.5.0_rc0 (fixes IE mem leaks)!

New features in V1.6.1 and V1.6.0:

Update to Prototype 1.5.0_rc0
Sortable trees [thx Sammi Williams, sammi@oriontransfer.co.nz]
See the functional test (test/functional/sortable_tree_test.html) and the CHANGELOG for more information!
Add Draggable object as third parameter to snap, fixes #4074 [thx mdaines]
Add parsing/setting of any currently set opacity CSS rule to default opacity effect on draggables, fixes #3682 [thx Mike A. Owens]
Added benchmark method to unittest.js; some cleaning up of unit tests
Major speedup for sortable with handles initialization [thx Jamis Buck]
Add passing through of scroll options from Sortable to Draggable [thx Gregory Hill]
Make it possible to scroll window on dragging, #3921 [thx rdmiller]
added visualEffect method for the Element Mixin, fixed so you can chain multiple calls. [Rick Olson]

Bug fixes:

Fix an IE flicker with SlideUp/SlideDown, fixes #3774, [thx sbbowers]
Fix a problem with window scrolling on draggables [thx Gregory Hill]
Fix a problem with id-based handle names and draggables
Fix shift-tab for autocompleter in Safari, fixes #4423 [thx matt]
Make Element.forceRerendering give up on any exception (this fixes various problems with IE)
Fix only option on Sortable.create to accept multiple class names, fixes #3427 [thx glenn nilsson]
Added workaround for a rendering bug in Safari when using floating elements with Effect.Appear

The required 1.5.0_rc0 final version of Prototype is included with the download.

script.aculo.us web 2.0 javascript: script.aculo.us training in Austria: "Ajax richtig verwenden"

Fri, 24 Feb 2006 18:45:00 -0000

Ajax training for a german speaking audience – here is the german press release:

In diesem eintägigen Seminar zeigt Ihnen Thomas Fuchs wie Sie die Benutzerfreundlichkeit und Interaktivität ihrer Websites verbessern. Das Seminar bietet einen Überblick über verbreitete Ajax-Entwicklungswerkzeuge und fokusiert auf die Verwendung der Prototype-Bibliothek und script.aculo.us. Weiters werden die Möglichkeiten der integrierten Ajax-Funktionalität von Ruby on Rails demonstriert.

Also, nichts wie anmelden, nur 20 Plätze verfügbar!

script.aculo.us web 2.0 javascript: Version 1.5.3: Ajax.InPlaceCollectionEditor, Sortable.setSequence, bug fixes!

Wed, 22 Feb 2006 09:57:00 -0000

V1.5.3 (2005-02-22): Ajax.InPlaceCollectionEditor, Sortable.setSequence, bug fixes!

New in V1.5.3:

Added Ajax.InPlaceCollectionEditor which uses a SELECT element instead of a text field (see test/functional/ajax_inplacecollectioneditor_test.html for usage), #3491 [thx anna]
Added Sortable.setSequence to programmatically reorder a Sortable, #3711 [thx Mike A. Owens]
Enable in place editor to use RJS (implements a new evalScripts option for the in place editor), #3490 [thx Richard Livsey]
Make name option on Sortable.serialize work again, fixes #3873
Make dragging cancel only on ESC key, not on any key, fixes #3817
Fix span positioning for sliders with ranges not starting at 0, fixes #3731 [thx michal]
Remove unneeded height restoring in Effect.BlindDown as that is handled internally by the restoreAfterFinish option to Effect.Scale, fixes #3667 [thx Ross Lawley]
Added unit test for #3732 (currently fails due to Prototype #3877) [thx michal]

script.aculo.us web 2.0 javascript: Version 1.6.0: Switch to Prototype 1.5, draggable window scrolling, bug and performance fixes!

Wed, 22 Feb 2006 09:57:00 -0000

V1.6.0 (2006-03-28): Switch to Prototype 1.5, draggable window scrolling, bug and performance fixes!

New in V1.6.0:

Major speedup for sortable with handles initialization [thx Jamis Buck]
Update to latest Prototype 1.5.0_pre1 trunk
Fix shift-tab for autocompleter in Safari, fixes #4423 [thx matt]
Refactor effects.js to use the new Prototype 1.5 Element Methods syntax
Add passing through of scroll options from Sortable to Draggable [thx Gregory Hill]
Make it possible to scroll window on dragging, #3921 [thx rdmiller]
Make Element.forceRerendering give up on any exception (this fixes various problems with IE)
added visualEffect method for the Element Mixin, fixed so you can chain multiple calls. [Rick Olson]
Fix only option on Sortable.create to accept multiple class names, fixes #3427 [thx glenn nilsson]
Added workaround for a rendering bug in Safari when using floating elements with Effect.Appear

Note: The required 1.5.0_pre1 final version of Prototype is included with the download.

script.aculo.us web 2.0 javascript: Version 1.5.2: Auto-scrolling option for Draggables and Sortables, Limit option for effect queues, Sortable.sequence, bug fixes!

Tue, 14 Feb 2006 10:20:00 -0000

V1.5.2 (2005-02-14): Auto-scrolling option for Draggables and Sortables, Limit option for effect queues, Sortable.sequence, bug fixes!

New in V1.5.2:

Added auto-scroll option to Draggables and Sortables, activate with scroll: 'id_of_scroll_container_element'. See test/functional/dragdrop3_test.html for usage/demo
Add limit option to effect queues to limit the maximum number of effects in a queue, new unit tests for scoped effect queues, fixes #3498 [thx Abdur-Rahman Advany]
Add Sortable.sequence method to extract the current sequence of a Sortable as an array, fixes #3675 [thx sphivo]
Added activate method to Autocompleter that allows you to trigger the suggestions through other means than user input [DHH]
Add assertEnumEqual for unit testing (from Prototype SVN trunk) [Sam Stephenson]
Element.collectTextNodesIgnoreClass to correctly filter child nodes, fixes #3380 [thx lam]
Fix a condition where OPTION elements could cause unwanted dragging on Draggables, fixes #3441 [thx tom]
Fix a crash because of an IE bug in Effect.SlideDown, fixes #3192 [thx Rob Mayhew]
Fix a wrong parameter in dragdrop.js, fixes #3555
Fix two typos in effects.js, fixes #3481 [thx jtolds]

script.aculo.us web 2.0 javascript: script.aculo.us wiki relaunched, now hosted by Stikipad

Sun, 15 Jan 2006 17:00:00 -0000

The script.aculo.us documentation wiki is now hosted by the nice guys over at Stikipad, a hosted wiki solution currently in beta (and yes, it’s a Rails app, naturally).

That being said, we’re going to be launching soon and you’ll be able to try out us out free of charge – who knows, we might even throw in a perk for being a script.aculo.us fan!

Thanks for giving the script.aculo.us wiki a new home, guys!

script.aculo.us web 2.0 javascript: Version 1.5.1: Effect.toggle, local effect queues, Effect.Move, bug fixes!

Tue, 27 Dec 2005 19:00:00 -0000

V1.5.1 (2005-12-27): Effect.toggle, local effect queues, Effect.Move, bug fixes!

New in V1.5.1:

Add select option to Autocompleter to optionally use textnodes from elements with a specific CSS class (see test/functional/ajax_autocompleter_test.html for usage)
In-place editor: add ok/cancel visibility options and onblur() submission, fixes #3233 [thx pulsation] (Note: currently, blur form submission breaks the cancel link functionality, if enabled)
Added Effect.toggle for slide, blind and appear/fade effects, fixes #2704 [thx Azad]
Added selective component loading to scriptaculous.js, see test/unit/loading_test.html for usage [thx David Zülke]
Added local/scoped effect queues [thx David Zülke]
New core effect Effect.Move that can do absolute/relative movement [thx David Zülke]
Make default effects options modifyable globally by setting Effect.DefaultOptions
Make Draggables recognize top/left CSS properties defined in an external stylesheet, fixes #3205 [thx ansonparker]
Fixed draggables starting to drag even if mouse button was released with no movement, [thx topfunky]

script.aculo.us web 2.0 javascript: Version 1.5.0 final!

Tue, 13 Dec 2005 18:46:00 -0000

V1.5.0 final Release: Celebrating Ruby on Rails 1.0!

After much hard work, script.aculo.us 1.5.0 is finally here!

A big thank you to all the contributors out there!

script.aculo.us 1.5.0 final is also a part of the Ruby on Rails 1.0 release, and comes with Prototype 1.4.0 final on board!