Summary of changes (whatsnew.txt)

bigstar · 07-27-2010, 07:55 AM

FlashFXP 4.0 BETA Preview Release

OpenSight Software, LLC.

July 25th, 2010

After a long development stage and dozens of private betas, We are proud to share with you the latest improvements and features with the general public, for your appraisal and feedback.

Disclaimer:
Although we make every attempt to correct defects prior to releasing the software to public testing, it is possible that the software contains some defects, including potentially major and critical problems. As a precaution OpenSight Software does not suggest using this beta in production environments. Nor shall we be liable for any loss of data as a result. We suggest that you use the stable release in such instances.

Registered Users:
You can enter your v3.x license key and FlashFXP will request a new v4.x key for you automatically via our website.

Installation instructions:
The installer will by default install into a new folder specifically for v4.x releases. We do not recommend installing into your existing v3 program folder. FlashFXP v3 and v4 can be installed concurrently.

Start FlashFXP, On start up FlashFXP will prompt you to import your v3.x settings, if you select yes your settings will be copied over. If you select no you will not be prompted again.

At program start up you will be asked to enter a valid registration key, please insert your v3.x license key.

At this stage FlashFXP will then request access to internet to validate your license key.

FlashFXP will accept it and restart, upon restart it will inform you that a new license key is required and ask to connect to our website to retrieve the new key.

This process is completely automated, If FlashFXP is unable to connect to our website or you have inserted a invalid license key you will not be able to retrieve a new license key FlashFXP will work unrestricted for a trial period of 30 days.

Here's a breakdown of some of the changes.

1. The skip list
The skip list has been completely redone, Each skip list rule has a scope of where it can be applied. name of file, name of folder, path of file, path of folder, and any. You can define per site skip lists.

When you import your v3 data files your skiplist is converted to the new format and if you had the "skip list applies to directories" option in v3 checked then all existing skiplist entries are set with a scope of any.

That means it will match name of file, name of folder, path of file, path of folder. You can multi-select and right click to change multiple rules at once. Rules containing a open bracket [ will be escaped as \[ see below for an explanation.

Please make sure your rules are set properly.

The pattern matching system has changed in v4, We now use a subset of the regular expression rules for pattern matching.

Matches a subset of regular expressions (* ? and [])
* Matches zero or more of any character
? Matches exactly one character
[<char set>] Matches character from <char set>
[^<char set>] Matches character not in <char set>
where <char set> can include multiple ranges and escaped characters \\ matches a slash \, \[ matches a open bracket [

Only characters within <char set> need to be escaped, with the exception of the [ character, If you need to match a [ then it must always be escaped.

Example:
Pattern "[a-z0-9_]bc?*c" Filename "abcabc" Match = True

2. The task scheduler.
The task scheduler uses Windows scheduling service to run the tasks, there's email notification and lots of different options that is sure to suite your needs.

You can assign individual selective transfer rulesets to each task.

The old queue schedule is available for people who want to do one time scheduling and this is now moved to the right click queue menu.

3. Windows 7 users will see the file progress on the task bar button.

4. Improved and optimized local shell file browser.

5. Improved and optimized file transfers.

6. Improved and optimized tcp/ip buffer sizes.
You can now select larger buffers as well as the new auto mode. The auto mode may provide better results than default but not necessary better than a larger fixed size. It depends on the network conditions. You can also configure tcp/ip buffers per-site. In my tests a larger buffer size works best with LAN based servers. This build displays a debug message on connect indicating whether or not auto buffer shaping is activated.

7. Improved FTP File Search
The FTP File Search now provides an additional filter which allows you to do a sub search on the results. When the sub-search is activated the background color changes to a light blue.

The New right click options.
Open <folder/file> location, which changes to the folder in the remote browser.
Copy to Clipboard (Copy HTTP, URL, Name, Path + Name)
New File (Now you can create a file locally and when you save the changes it will upload it to the server.)

8. Improved and optimized performance and display of the ftp session window.
In addition if the FlashFXP application window is activated you'll see the lines scroll and appear more fluid like. If the window is inactive then the updates are grouped together.

9. Queue changes.
You can now change the type of transfer to/from upload, download, fxp.
You can assign a selective transfer rule set to each individual item in the queue (i.e. transfer only log files in one folder and only php files in another).
Synchronize with delete allows you to delete any files from the target that do not exist on the source.

10. Improved logging system.
You can now have multiple log files per session instead of a single merged log like in v3.x.
In addition you can configure the type of information that is logged including schedule tasks.
Session Log
File Transfers (Upload, Download, Site to Site)
As well as the transfer results (Successful, Failed, or skipped)
File Transfer Summary
For example you can configure FlashFXP to only log uploads that are successful.

11. New toolbar backgrounds.
We've included 43 different background themes to use on the tool bar, or you can use your own.
For debug purposes we've numbered them, if you have an issue with one of them please let me know.

If you'd like to design a background (width 1 pixel by height 30 pixels) to be included as one of the defaults please contact us and we'll try to get it included.

Bitmap Backgrounds can be loaded externally.

12. LiveUpdate settings have been moved into the Preferences.

13. You can now define the default character encoding in the Preferences.
Previously this setting was only per-site.

14. You can now customize the file listing font and background colors.

15. New File Transfer Rule system.
The new rule system can evaluate the file size and/or date. Use the MLSD command for directory listing is recommended for accuracy. If you add a rule that wont be evaluated because a preceding rule takes precedence then the rule will appear in red and striked out.

16. New Remote editing feature that automatically detects when the file has been changed and uploads the file.
You can disable automatic uploads per file type under File Associations for files that you need to manually upload.

17. Upgraded to the latest version of FastMM memory manager.

18. Updated SFTP engine to the latest version, this improves compatibility with certain SFTP servers.

19. Updated MadExcept to the latest version.
MadExcept is used for exception handling, the new version should improve crash reports and make life a little easier

20. Updated button images and redesigned a couple interface dialogs.

21. Many improvements and redesign to the preferences, site manager dialogues as well as adding new dialogues and preference categories to support new features.
There is more control over the options since all existing and new options are now in their correct categories, previously this was not quite the case. The intention is to improve usability and allow the user to exercise better control over their desired set up to meet the requirements of their specific network conditions.

22. New Integrated Translation Editor.
Everyone who submits a line of text that is used in the final translation will receive credit. Translation credits will be displayed on a new special tab in the about box.

Known issues:
The language translation editor is incomplete and work in progress. Specifically users will not be able to download translations that other users have updated.
Everything else is fully functional.