Recently in XForms Category

Since Firefox 2.0rc1 is online now, I thought I’d check whether XForms Buddy still works there. It does :-)

Starting it,it occurred to me that somebody should integrate the XPath evaluator of Extension Developers Extension into Buddy. I will probably not get around to it soon, I just thought it would be a very good tool.

Finaly, after a lot of delays, version 0.6 of the Mozilla XForms extension is available!

As usual, a lot of improvements and fixes. The executive summary is:

• repeat and select optimization
• changed value changed sequence so it behaves like deferred updates (and catch event loops)
• more XUL controls
• even better schema support
• new permission manager

Release Notes - Download it here - Full announcement message

Go download it right away! :-)

I was a bit quick to say that all was well. Aparently Windows and Mac versions fail to download from http://addons.mozilla.org with an Invalid file hash error message :( bug 344949 is tracking that, and hopefully it will be fixed soon, so we can officially release version 0.6 officially.

I’m pretty much out of the XForms loop these days, but version 0.6 is (finally) on the way. Possibly without a Mac version though :(

There are some “challenges” in using addons.mozilla.org, so right now Linux users will get this message: “Mozilla XForms is not available for Linux”. That’s not true, and version 0.5 can still be downloaded for Linux and Mac.

Soon 0.6 should be available for Linux too, and we’ll post an official announcement, etc.

Updated: Due to quick action from #amo (thanks!), the above was only true or a short while, and there’s both a Linux and Windows version available from there. Announcement to follow soon.

Better late than never:

Tomorrow, I’ll give a talk about Firefox and XForms at I Jornada de Tecnologias Web y Software Libre in La Coruña, Spain. And no, my Spanish has still not improved enough to do the talk in Spanish, so it will be in English :-)

Entrance is free, so feel free to show up. I’m not sure whether inscription is necessary though.

We are having some problem with the nightly builds for the XForms extension for Mac. bug 339198 fixed the trunk builds. So we are now producing nightly builds for Minefield again.

bug 339568 is tracking 1.8.0 and 1.8.

I think it is time for a little status update on “where I am heading” :)

Past

After Novell closing the lab. in Copenhagen (and me aparently getting laid :-) ), I moved to Gijón on the northern coast of Spain. I’ve worked as an XForms consultant for Fundación CTIC, which also allowed me to keep working on the Mozilla XForms Extension.

It has been some very good four months here! I have liked the workplace, the people, the food, the countryside, the general ambience, etc. It has been an enriching experience, to again live for an extended period in another country here in Europe (I’ve also lived in France for a year, many years ago). So I feel rather sad about leaving. But it will probably not be the last time I will be in Spain :-)

Present

For now, I am still in Spain though — putting the final touches on the 0.6 version of the XForms extension, which will be available in a week or two. We’ve taken yet another big step towards XForms 1.0 compliance and reaching a stable product. Another good effort by the entire team!

I’m also trying to finish unfinished samples, put the final touches on my XForms test harness/suite, etc, etc. So much to do, so little time, as I only have one week left to do it all in. Because …

Future

When I finish the contract down here, my original plan was to retract to good old Denmark. I will leave Spain around June 11th, and then go on two weeks of vacation: Driving (slowly) from Gijón to Copenhagen (around 2500 km). Or rather, Copenhagen was the original plan. Still the same vacation, but I’ll stop a few kilometers before that: in Leiden, The Netherlands. Because that’s where my new job is. So much for returning to Denmark, but I am getting closer :-)

I cannot really reveal much about the new job, as it is all very hush hush at this point. But I’ll stay connected to both Mozilla and XForms. To what degree, and how “public”, my involvement will be in these, is a bit unknown for now. I will also keep hanging out in the W3C XForms working group though.

I cannot keep my current level of involvement in the Mozilla XForms Extension though. At least for the first many months, I suspect I will be very little involved. I’ll still hang out on IRC, and try to do a review now and then though.

But now the workday is ending. It’s Friday. The sun is shining. I am in Spain. Beach time maybe? :-) Have a nice weekend!

Just so you know, we’ve changed the default XForms bug owner in Bugzilla to be xforms@core.bugs. That means that if you are interested in following bug activity for XForms, that’s the email adress to watch.

That means if you go to your “Email Preferences” in Bugzilla you can add xforms@core.bugs to your User Watching list and receive emails when a new XForms bug are created. If you want to watch continued activity, you probably also want to watch spride@gmail.com which is the QA contact.