md blog Matts Development blog http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php Sun, 10 Aug 2008 16:15:05 +0000 2 Webcam recorder updates http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php?showtopic=3256
- Webcam recorder can now record in DivX and XviD codecs (or any other codec)
- Webcam recorder now has better error messages if it fails
- Webcam recorder can now be paused and unpaused
- Webcam recorder will now label recorded files by contact email address ("contact@live.com recording #1.avi")]]> Sun, 10 Aug 2008 16:15:05 +0000 http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php?showtopic=3256 New 1.6 Stuff... http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php?showtopic=3121
Alerts will no longer display if you are in full-screen mode

New feature search in Settings window
- Key-by-key search results
- Click to display that setting



New alert skin manager
- You can delete skins
- Powerful real-time ini editor



Tray Icon now displays whether or not MessengerDiscovery is active
- Tray Icon tool tip now displays what Email address is signed in



MessengerDiscovery can now restart Windows Live Messenger when a setting is changed that requires WLM to be restarted



Commands are now translatable

New !stealdp command to steal contact display picture

New 'smart' !im command
- Type !im Matt and MessengerDiscovery will find the best match with the name or email address "Matt" and open a conversation

New "Delete Contact" icon in IM windows



So that's it! Back to work B)]]> Fri, 01 Aug 2008 13:59:07 +0000 http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php?showtopic=3121 Alerts Animation http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php?showtopic=3082
Alerts can now show animations of Alpha-transparent PNG's, which means you can create some pretty cool and good looking animations.

Click here to take a look at the video of the animations I have created so far :). You must watch this video in Windows Media Player.

There are animations for every alert, sign out/sign in/music change/personal message change/any status change/conversation open/conversation close.

They are super easy to configure in the ini file as well :).]]> Sun, 27 Jul 2008 15:43:46 +0000 http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php?showtopic=3082 1.6 Alert Skins http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php?showtopic=3063
Alert skins are now fully customizable. With their own sounds, cursors and the new ability to X/Y position things on alerts (you can't so this easily in 1.5).

Also, alert skins can now have previous events shown in them, with the ability to show up to three previous events. Take a look at the screenshot to see an exact replica of MessengerDiscovery 1.4 alerts made with the 1.6 alert skin engine :) .

I have also attached the Skin.ini of this alert so you can see how easy it is to now modify the alert skins in 1.6 :) . Note: this won't work in 1.5, so don't bother installing it :P.

]]> Sat, 26 Jul 2008 06:27:18 +0000 http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php?showtopic=3063 Progress Report on 1.6 http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php?showtopic=3023
I haven't spent as much time on MDL recently as I would have liked. I worked so long and so hard on 1.5 that I burnt myself out for a while, but I'm back in action and working hard on 1.6. We can expect it to go into beta in two weeks, once I've finished the new C++ contact manager and begun to add cool new features.

Here are two new features that I have spent the last week researching and implementing:

]]> Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:34:05 +0000 http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php?showtopic=3023 New Contact Manager: 20% done http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php?showtopic=2905
As stated before, I am writing it fully in C++. This means it's going to be super stable and display Unicode characters. Which means no more weird characters and it will be translatable into ANY language.

Attached is a screenshot of the progress so far. There are arrows pointing to some Unicode characters that would otherwise mess up the VB6 side of MDL.

]]> Tue, 15 Jul 2008 08:46:42 +0000 http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php?showtopic=2905 New Contact Manager Mock-up http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php?showtopic=2880
So here's the mock-up for what the new contact manager will look like:



Opinions and suggestions are very welcome :) .]]> Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:52:59 +0000 http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php?showtopic=2880 Moving on to 2.0... http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php?showtopic=2854
What's the road map for 1.6?
1.6 will have new features, but most importantly I am going to start focusing on converting current features over to C++ using the MessengerDiscovery 2 engine. This means better stability and much stronger features. They will also be able to be translated to any language (Arabic, Chinese etc). 1.5 already has half of the engine so far (didn't even notice did you :P ), which has been more than stable.

What happened to MessengerDiscovery 2?
MessengerDiscovery 2 was my best work, but it also took forever to do anything simple. 2.0 is infinitely complex and I find it difficult to manage. The VB6 engine in every version so far is very simple to add to and to bug trace/fix. But it's time to move on. Which leaves me with a problem, it would take me over a year to re-code everything in C++. So I have abandoned 2.0 and am instead working on slowly converting 1.X to 2.0.

1.6, 1.7, 1.8 and 1.9
These versions will be part of the transition. Introducing new and exciting features along the way but introducing under-the-hood changes. You can expect 1.6 in August, 1.7 in October, 1.8 in December and 1.9 in February 2009.

The transition to 2.0 will be barely noticeable to average users in any way.

MessengerDiscovery is evolving and in an exciting way, changes that are beginning now will open doors to limitless possibilities of features (but not the impossible of course :P ). We are set to become the best WLM addon and wont stop there.]]> Sun, 13 Jul 2008 05:34:34 +0000 http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php?showtopic=2854 Sign in issues... http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php?showtopic=2757 .

The issue was that MDL was closing connections before it should, therefore breaking the connection to the WLM server and stopping sign in. Also, MD was not assigning IP addresses properly to connect to the server.

Long story short - if you're having sign in issues with 1.5 then I am willing to bet that they will be solved with the bug fix release due Saturday :).]]> Wed, 09 Jul 2008 13:29:15 +0000 http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php?showtopic=2757 Beta Testing Progress http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php?showtopic=2447 .
But the good news: MessengerDiscovery Live 1.5 is going to be by-far the most stable and bug-free version ever. I am taking my time with this release so that I have time to get everything working perfectly.

Anyway, back to bug fixing :P.]]> Sun, 22 Jun 2008 08:53:34 +0000 http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php?showtopic=2447 Beta Testing 1.5 Begins Tomorrow http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php?showtopic=2328
1.5 has an entirely new settings interface which is probably the best settings interface in any software. It looks great, and is laid out in the optimal way. After 6 years of designing and making settings interfaces that are used by millions of people I'm certain that this is my best work yet. I have paid a LOT of attention to detail.

So, if you haven't made 50 posts to become a beta tester you should get involved in the great MDL community right away.

As for a public release date of 1.5, I am aiming for the end of the month to push myself. But realistically, after proper beta testing, translation and new website pages to document 1.5's great new features we're looking at early next month.]]> Tue, 17 Jun 2008 09:31:15 +0000 http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php?showtopic=2328 <![CDATA[I'm Back On Monday]]> http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php?showtopic=2312
I did say I'll be back in less than a week but due to the crappy phone company my internet won't be connected until Monday. Sorry for the delay but it's out of my control. But on the plus side, MD will be into beta testing by end of the month and hopefully will be ready for public release early July.

I've done as much work on MD as I can without the internet, but I need it now to actually test my code - and there's a lot to test.

So anyway, enjoy your weekend and I'll talk to you all on Monday :).]]> Sat, 14 Jun 2008 03:52:29 +0000 http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php?showtopic=2312 <![CDATA[Updates in < 1 week]]> http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php?showtopic=2207
You may be wondering where I've been, even I've been wondering where I've been... Well I have been moving house which meant no desk or internet to work on MessengerDiscovery :o!

I will be all set up and ready to continue working full time on MD in less than a week :). A week after that MD 1.5 will be ready for beta testing!

This short break has given me time to think about what I'm going to do with MessengerDiscovery 1.5 and 1.6, and now I have a fairly good plan which I will reveal later.

Also, great news! According to Alexa, MessengerDiscovery (msgdiscovery.com) is now in the top 10,000 websites on the internet! That doesn't sound like much but it's a rather huge achievement and great motivation to keep working on MD to make it better than ever. MessengerDiscovery is getting over 15,000 new users each day which is almost half a million new users every month! That's a HUGE number of people :P.

Anyway, I must get going and buy a fridge (I'm not kidding :lol: ).
See you all with a new beta in a week :P.]]> Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:45:41 +0000 http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php?showtopic=2207 My 2nd Alert Skin http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php?showtopic=2162
Anyway, I've been making some cool alert skins myself so that I know what customizations skin makers would like. You can pretty much make an alert skin look like however you want, you can change the text color, remove shadow and customize the position and size of everything.

I'd like to show you my favorite custom alert skin (I call it 'Candy Blue') :).

]]> Tue, 27 May 2008 09:40:36 +0000 http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php?showtopic=2162 New Settings Interface Part 3 http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php?showtopic=2127
We've established MessengerDiscovery Live 1.5 has a brilliant/easy to use Settings UI. But I want to show you all my favorite part of the new settings GUI:

Posted Image

Getting rid of checkboxes and text is my new hobby and it's turning out quite successful :).]]> Tue, 20 May 2008 19:16:21 +0000 http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php?showtopic=2127 Translatable Menus http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php?showtopic=2109 .

I thought I'd just show off a new major (but minor) improvement for 1.5.

In MessengerDiscovery 1.5 the Menus in Windows Live Messenger will now be translatable. They were previously only available in English because the C++ half of MD couldn't load translation files, now it can!

See the screenshot for an example (I can't speak any other language than English so I made up my own language :P ):

Posted Image]]> Sun, 18 May 2008 18:31:12 +0000 http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php?showtopic=2109 Alert Skins http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php?showtopic=2106
Here's an introduction of what skinning MessenerDiscovery 1.5 alerts will be like.

Skins will be listed by name in the "Alert Skins" directory in MessengerDiscovery Live's resources directory:
Posted Image

You can create your own skins by copying the "Default" directory and renaming it as you would like you name your skin.

In this case, I've made an alert skin called "Windows Live Messenger", a Windows Live Messenger alert replica:
Posted Image

You then edit the images, and modify Skin.ini to adjust appearance (every single detail is editable):
Posted Image

You delete images if you do not skin them, MD will load the default images.

Then, you zip up the folder containing the skin files and rename it to "Skin name.mdas" (mdas = MessengerDiscovery Alert Skin).:
Posted Image

You can then give it to your contacts and they simply open the file and the alert skin is installed:
Posted Image

Here's what my WLM replica looks like:
Posted Image

And best of all, it took about 3 minutes to make :) .

Note: to all you beta testers out there I've uploaded a 1.5 preview in the beta testing section. You will be able to test your skinning skilz with this preview beta.]]> Sun, 18 May 2008 15:08:51 +0000 http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php?showtopic=2106 Things That Need Attention http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php?showtopic=2099 .

1.5 is a feature release.
Lots of new features and lots of improvements.

1.6 will be a refinement release.
I will spend a lot of time making sure crashes don't happen and sign in is 101% (even though it is for 99.99% of people). I will re-write old code improving it to be faster, more efficient and smaller.

So, what are your favorite MDL features? Do you think these features need more options or more refinement/improvement. What annoys you and what is stupid/pointless?

Your input will be very valuable in determining what will go into 1.6 to make it better for the wide world to use :) .

Now is your chance to critique MessengerDiscovery as harshly as you like without making me cry :P .

Ideas so far:
- Proper (clickable) !commands list in IM window
- Remove useless/annoying 'revolving nick name' feature
- Choose install dir]]> Sat, 17 May 2008 17:04:00 +0000 http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php?showtopic=2099 Webcam Recording - Full Tour http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php?showtopic=2090
Please forgive my uglymug/pose for ruining the screenshots, the feature is good - I promise :P.

1. You're viewing a contacts webcam, click the "Record Contact Webcam" icon (there is a tooltip too).

Posted Image

2. MessengerDiscovery pops up asking you to select the region of the window that webcam recording is in.

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3. MessengerDiscovery will ask you what compression codec you want to record in (all compression codecs on your computer will be listed).

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4. MessengerDiscovery will record your contacts webcam.

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5. Click 'stop' or close the conversation window and you will be presented with some nice information:

Posted Image

6. Here's the settings window pane for Webcam Recording so far:

Posted Image]]> Fri, 16 May 2008 16:00:47 +0000 http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php?showtopic=2090 WLM 9.0 Support: 50% http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php?showtopic=2079
So, I've started making MD 1.5 support Windows Live Messenger 9.0.

I'm about 50% done. I've got menu hooks, resource hooking and protocol hooking done. Now I need to add protocol parsing and update resource hooks to support the WLM 9.0 interface.

Ugh what a job -_- .

Update
I just noticed MS made PSM URLs clickable, it seems they are watching MD closely :|. (this was a MD2 feature)

]]> Thu, 15 May 2008 17:51:19 +0000 http://forums.msgdiscovery.com/index.php?showtopic=2079