New Release Schedule?

TimothyDMS · Joined: 23 Apr 2007 Posts: 2

Hi, I was wondering about the release schedule of Thyme, when the last version was release, and when the next version might be expected. I read in another post that the licence will include an upgrade to v. 2.x, but I haven't seen anything about its developement or features.

Could anyone help with some information?

Thanks!

-Timothy

esoft_ian · Joined: 12 Sep 2005 Posts: 5268

Hi,

Any time a release date is posted, it is not met. So I'm not going to venture to guess a release date for 2.0. Months away.

Features include, but are not limited to:

Custom fields, filtering on any custom field, creating calendar views that filter on any field (e.g. a view called California that only contains events in California), new templating system to make theming easier, mailing to groups (e.g. GroupName@Thyme), more access levels to choose from in a calendar, the entire thing is basically rewritten, multi-day repeating events, events that repeat on dates chosen rather than on a pattern, better iCalendar integration, conflicting events resolution, required fields, .. more I'm sure that I'm forgetting.

niskypto · Joined: 17 Mar 2007 Posts: 127 Location: New York

Ian,
This is the type of post that snowballs quickly! Everyone is interested in "what's next". Maybe set-up a wishlist forum or poll to gauge what the user community thinks. I'm sure there are a multitude of opinions, but maybe there's consensus on some key points...

esoft_ian · Joined: 12 Sep 2005 Posts: 5268

Everyone suggests without a wishlist forum Smile

.. I copy all questions or requests regarding functionality. These have become 2.0's TODO list. As of now, I'd say the major features are frozen. There is quite a bit to complete. Here is the most complete list I have:

Custom fields built into the interface. You can add new fields by pointing-and clicking. This also allows a per-access-level field display. E.g. you may add a field that only Admins may change and or view.

Filter on ANY custom (or existing for that matter) field. This will also allow for filters like "Within X miles of zip code Y"

RSS import into a calendar.

Remote calendars.

Calendar groups - Where each sub calendar will contain events in the "Master Calendar" of that calendar group. When viewing the Master Calendar of that group, it combines it's events plus the events of each of it's sub-calendars.

Category filter in Views.

New calendar access level - Moderator. Like admin can edit / add events as well as accept event requests, but can not "admin" the calendar (add / remove / members, change categories etc..)

View Filters. You could say .. create a view called "Special events" that only contained flagged events. .. This can filter on any field really. Custom fields as well.

Private events - Events that are only visible by the person who added them.

Property sheets - This is really hard to explain without going through it .. or having screen shots. You could .. let's say.. create an "Instructor" property sheet. This would have entries that contain information about each instructor. Schedule. Bio, Specialty... anything really. You can then tie this sheet to an event. When editing an event you can have Instructor: [drop down list] .. then you may edit the event view to include the instructor's Bio for instance. You may also filter on this field when viewing calendars.

-- This really comes into play with filtering. You could, for example, create a filter called Specialty. This would contain all options for Specialty in the Instructors property sheet. If a visitor wanted to see all classes who's instructor specializes in .. Diving for example, they would choose Diving from the Instructor Specialty drop down list and the calendar view would filter on that field. That would be Event -> assigned Instructor -> Specialty. I'm not sure if that particular example would be helpful for you, but you get the point.

Multi-day, repeating events.

You can add specific dates to an event. So that it does not have to have a repeating rule (weekly, monthly, etc..). You can just add any arbitrary date.

Emails (Reminders, subscriptions) may be sent to an entire Thyme group. E.g. Instructors@Thyme would send reminders to everyone in Thyme's Instructors group.

Calendars can point to other calendars for their categories. So when editing a calendar's categories, you can just say "Use the same categories as 'Some other Calendar'." This helps people who have many calendars with the same categories. They will only have to enter them once.

Almost every link / box you see is a module that may be added or removed.

You can very easily customize the event view, event form, event notes popups .. more things that I am forgetting. The event list.

New Theme engine that makes it easier to change colors / look.

Events do not have to have an end-time.

Install modules / packages from Thyme's interface rather than uploading to it's modules folder.

Configure external authentication (LDAP, Joomla!, phpBB2, etc..) from Thyme's admin panel rather than editing a file.

New templating system using Smarty. Most people will not care that it uses Smarty. End users will only notice that it is much easier to change how Thyme looks. They will edit actual template files containing mostly HTML rather than PHP files containing mostly PHP code.

Module editor. This allows you to create a module with custom content to be added to Thyme's side bar. It will also allow you to add things like upcoming events, newly added events, etc..

The Month view now has options like; If a day has more than X events, only display the first 4, with a link to the day or week view.

In contact options you can specify a format. Plain text vrs HTML for phones / pagers.

Views have a checkbox color legend where you may add / remove calendars to be viewed on the fly.

There are much more little things here and there, but I think that covers the big ones. Not all of these are complete.

niskypto · Joined: 17 Mar 2007 Posts: 127 Location: New York

RSS import into a calendar
Would this be dynamic? In other words, not a one-time import? More of a sync, for example if you wanted to include Google or iCal events automagically?

Emails (Reminders, subscriptions) may be sent to an entire Thyme group. E.g. Instructors@Thyme would send reminders to everyone in Thyme's Instructors group.
And to add my pet request, mentioned in other posts: More options (1,2 weeks, day/time to send) and better email format for subscriptions (no css, just html or a clean list with clear categorizes or calendars).

esoft_ian · Joined: 12 Sep 2005 Posts: 5268

RSS imports would be either dynamic (as part of Remote Calendars) or one-off imports. Both / either. So you could create a remote calendar that uses an RSS feed or iCalendar URL.

niskypto · Joined: 17 Mar 2007 Posts: 127 Location: New York

That's very cool, Ian. Would one be able to pull-in multiple rss or ical feeds (remote calendars) into one Thyme calendar? And for each feed, have it color coded by category?

TimothyDMS · Joined: 23 Apr 2007 Posts: 2

Wow, that's quite an extensive list! I'm very impressed with what you've done already, and I'm looking forward to what's next.

Thanks again!

-Timothy

Bookewla · Joined: 30 May 2007 Posts: 3

Hi Ian
I'm very impressed so far, but need event registration. Is this coming up soon? I'd certainly be prepared to purchase this as an add-on module.

Sandy