wiki:Archives
Last modified 15 months ago

Archives

10th February 2010 (BETA)

  • Improved Audit reporting allowing tracing of when a record was updated and which client submitted the change.
  • Ability to remove contacts and calendars from the database individually

5th February 2010 (BETA)

  • Updated Tomcat Server to 6.0.24. If you are using SSL, MySQL or PostgreSQL you will need to reconfigure your database access as described on the relevant WIKI pages.
  • Fixes to database connection handling which affected PostgreSQL users (mostly).
  • Buttons to expand the Group, Contact and Calendar panes to support longer names.
  • Database access to H2 has been changed. Use the following JDBC URL : jdbc:h2:AddressBookDB instead of jdbc:h2:../db/AddressBookDB from this release onwards.

30th January 2010 (BETA)

  • Updated persistence technology to latest versions of H2 database engine (Version 1.2.28), again. Removed disk cache form default installation as the improvements were negligible.
  • Added additional reports include Audit trial to see which client sent changes to the server.

25th January 2010 (BETA)

  • Updated persistence technology to latest versions of H2 database engine (Version 1.2.27), Hibernate and enabled in memory / disk cache (ehcache) to extra performance
  • Optimised Complete / Auto mode for optimal performance and reduced the impact on the database engine.
  • Added option to block and remove all clients
  • Added tool to remove all contacts not linked to any groups
  • Resolved problems with PostgreSQL 8.4 integration

27th December

20th December

18th December

  • Improved MySQL support with custom column mapping.
  • Updated embedded database backend including several critical updates and enhancements.
  • Support to run mulitple instances of Address Book Server on the same server.
  • Minor enhancements and bug fixes.

13th December (Preview)

  • Added new access role to control access to the reports and export features. Existing users will require the new role to be assigned to them before they are able to access the reports again after upgrading to this release.

12th December (Preview)

  • Corrected issues MySQL support as well as updated the database schema. During the installation any deleted records will be removed after a full backup of the database is taken. The invalid char file on the client has also been updated. All MySQL users should update to this release as it fixes several critical issues. Details on MySQL support will be made available in the WIKI shortly. In the interim visit the forum for details. If no major issues are reported against this release it will be moved to the stable release section.

7th December (BETA)

  • Addressed a critical problem in the H2 database engine. Previous releases did not handle large content in the notes and image field particularly well producing many temporary files in some cases filling up the entire disk. H2 has been updated to verison 1.2.125  Forum Link which addresses this issue. Minor enhancements have also been made to the web interface addressing issues with reports. BETA testers for ABCMobile should either upgrade to this, or the 20th November release to access the newly added functions from the mobile devices.

20th November (Preview)

  • Preview of the next releaese has been made available. Any users participating in the current BETA trial of ABCMobile should upgrade to this release. This release also includes fixes for some problems with some of the reports

30th October

  • Resolves NULL error during synchronisation

Some clients have reported NULL errors during synchronisation. This has been traced back to a inconsistency in the client record. Previously this caused an error condition. The problem has been resolved by handling this scenario better.

  • Updated German and Italian translations

Thanks to all those who contributed and helped with translating the web interface as well as the system preference panel.

14th October (Preview)

  • Resolved issue when only a sub-group is selected

A error was reported during synchronising when only a sub-group was selected. This has now been corrected

  • Updated H2 database engine backup

Backups taken with older versions of H2 could not be restored seamlessly due to a bug in H2. This release of H2 addressed this issue. After upgrading please verify you are on H2 1.1.119 (2009-09-26) via the database web interface.

26th August

  • Support for OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard)

Native support for 64 bit and enhancements for 10.6. The package now contains separate installer for 10.4/5 and 10.6.

  • Support for nested groups in Address Book

Previous any nested groups have been ignored. Support for nested sub groups has been added to this release

6th July

  • Remove “Overwrite client record”

Using undocumented features offered by the SyncServices API this features has now been implemented. So far testing has been largely successful.

To upgrade to this release from the current stable release (18th June and before) will require you to update both the server and the client, as well as to disable all clients before the upgrade. This is unfortunately required to refresh the new sync schema.

5th July

  • Enhanced access to calendars in web interface

The web interface allows access to tasks as well as events. Previously only events were accessible.

  • Improved editing of user details on web interface

The web interface which allows the creation and maintenance of user accounts has been improved

  • Remove “Overwrite client record”

This feature added in the previous release has been removed. Unfortunately there is no public API for this feature, and the implementation in the previous release didn’t work as expected.

30th June (BETA)

  • Support for subgroups in Address book

This must be one of the best kept secrets in Address Books but so far nobody reported that subgroups were not supported, well at least until now. This release introduces support for subgroups in Address Book. To create a subgroup simply drag one group into another. When a group containing other groups is shared via Address Book Server, all contained groups are also shared, even though they are not explicitly selected. This required changes to several critical components and is still undergoing testing

  • Overwrite client records

Even though this functionality is not directly supported by the Sync Services framework there are some work-arounds available to achieve the same. It is now possible to overwrite the local records of Address Book, iCal, iSync and MobileMe? with those held on the sever. This can be done via the Config tab in System Preferences

  • Additional bug fixes and enhancements

Several minor issues and enhancements. Preparation for the update support from ABCMobile are still ongoing.

18th June

  • Fixes issue with Calendar synchronisation

The changes made in the previous release introduces a bug which caused synchronisation to fail when calendar records were deleted or modified. This has been addressed and corrected.

10th June

  • Improved reporting and handing of deleted records

The report section now contains details about any deleted records including when they were deleted, which client the deletion originated from. You can also restore deleted records either individually or for an entire sync session.

  • Spanish Translation of the System Preferences Panel

Thanks to Pedro ( http://www.tecgroup.es) we now able to offer a Spanish translation of the System Preference client component.

  • Tiger Support

Several of the interim builds did not function correctly on Tiger. This has also been addressed.

  • Bug Fixes and Enhancements

The usual bug fixes and enhancements.

22nd May

  • New Automatic sync mode

A new Automatic sync mode is now available which performs a “Complete” Sync every 10th time and otherwise a “Changes” sync

  • Resolved minor issues on Web Interface and System Preferences

Several minor issues have been resolved on the web interface

  • Ground work in place to support updated from ABCMobile

The server side ground work has been laid down to support updates to contact details directly from ABCMobile. The updated to ABCMobile should become available over the coming weeks.

  • Updated manual and Quick Start Guide

The manual and quick start guide have been updated to cover the new features

  • Fully manual Sync mode

Users of the fully manual sync mode should reset their clients and select the “Manual on Demand” feature on the Config tab in system preferences. This setting can only be changes when the client is disabled.

1st May

  • Ability to delete calendars via the web interface

It can happen from time to time that you need to delete a calendar directly from the server. The web interface has been updated to support this feature

  • Set schedule sync interval in System Preferences

Previously the sync interval was configured via command scripts. This has not been incorporated into System Preferences, allowing you to set the number of minutes between synchronisation sessions.

  • Number of records shown in System Preferences

The number of contacts in each group on the server is shown in System Preferences on the client. Previously this was left empty.

  • Updated Manual and Quick Start Guide

Several usability issues have been identified and documented. Work-arounds are described in both the Quick Start Guide (last page) and the manual (page 10). Please have a look at the issues and implement the suggested work-arounds until the issues are addressed in future releases.

28th March

  • Minor enhancements on the Web Interface

A bug which prevented multiple users adjusting the preferences in the web interface has been addressed. The vCard report has been put pack. This build is a consolidation of the previous preview releases.

23rd March

  • Updated Client in System Preferences

The client interface now shows the direction in which records will be transferred, rather then the check boxes previously uses. The manual has been updated to reflect these changes.

Release Notes for Address Book Server 13th March Edition (Preview)

  • Updated Reports

Both the LDIF and vCard report now contain the image as well as the contact details

  • Work-a-round for public / private contacts in overlapping groups. The implemented work-a-round should address this issue, but will require extensive testing. If you are able to assist with any feedback on this issue it would help address a critical problem.

Release Notes for Address Book Server 1st March Edition (Preview)

  • Manual sync mode

It is now possible to register with iSync in manual only mode. When this option is activated, the client will only sync with the server when scheduled or manually activated. Automatic synchronisation after changes made to either Address Book or iCal will not trigger a sync.

  • New report

Each group can now be used to generate a email list via the email report.

6th February

  • Consolidation of all previous bug fixes and enhancements

This update bring the client to 6th February Build 0 and the server to 08-February-2009 18:10:24. The manual has been updated to explain the synchronisation process as well as the automated backup feature in more detail.

3rd February

  • New logo to separate Address Book Server from Apple

Upon a request from Apples legal team we changed our logo after using it for several years. I am not quite sure why they felt now, that our logo was confusion users, and might give the impression that Address Book Server had been blessed by Apple, but that’s just the way it is. Thanks to Jon for creating the new logo so quickly.

  • New report including direct links to contacts

A new report which can be used to clean up street address records in particular inconsistent State and Country details has been added. A direct link from the report to the contact is now available.

  • Updated / smaller menu bar

To reduce the minimum screen size required to use the web interface we have made the menu bar smaller.

  • German Translation of the Web Interface

Further translation of items on the web interface into German.

29th January

  • Removing deleted contacts works now again

A problem with the data model introduced a problem which caused an error during the removing of deleted records in the tools menu. This has been resolved.

  • German Translation of the Web Interface

The initial ground work has been put in place to provide translation of the web interface. So far several items have been translated into German.

28th January

  • A bug in Changes mode resulted in deletions not being distributed to any clients

Any deletions made by any of the clients were not distributed to any of the other clients, even though they were updated on the web interface. This problem has now been resolved, however previous deletions will not appear on the client. To correct the client and catch-up the client should be de-registered or disabled and then re-registered or enabled. After doing this please re-select the groups / calendars you want to share. . This leads to groups being listed twice, as one appears on the server and the other (new id) on the local client. To reconcile the groups and calendars, select both client and server side records in the shared column. After the sync you will end up with a single shared group.

25th January

  • Configurable client rejection interval

Previous version required manual intervention if a client did not synchronize with the server within 15 days. This was implemented to prevent old and stale data being merged with the current server. In this release this feature has been removed, but can be enabled and configured in setenv.sh / setenv.bat by including the following :

JAVA_OPTS="$JAVA_OPTS -Dcom.addressbookserver.EvaluateLastSyncDate=10"

  • Access to view Event and Task records in Web interface

Event and Task records can now partially be viewed in the web interface. This feature currently is only useful to diagnose sync problems as not all relevant information is presented. This is one aspect which will be improved in future.

  • Reports

The LDAP and vCard reports have been improved to present labels correctly as well as encode Umlauts “Ä, Ü, Ö” and various other characters. A new report has been added to show all contacts which are not linked to any group.

  • Error Page

The complete Java Exception can now be accessed on the error page. Previously only the exception message without the stack trace was available. This is a useful addition as when submitted with the problem description allows faster resolution of any issues.

  • Updated Translations

The English German edition has been updated.

  • Group / Calendar refresh during synchronisation.

A error message is displayed instead of the sync button when the groups and calendars are refreshed during synchronisation. To return to a "sync-able" state you need to refresh the groups and calendars by pressing the refresh button. The error message describes this solution, prompting the user to do this. Should the user close down the client any changes made to the selection will not be stored.

22nd January

  • Configuration Backup folder

Up to now the backup folder was rather difficult to access. You can specify the path to the backups folder in the setenv.sh / setenv.bat file in the bin folder.

JAVA_OPTS="$JAVA_OPTS -Dcom.addressbookserver.H2_DATABASE=../db" JAVA_OPTS="$JAVA_OPTS -Dcom.addressbookserver.H2_BACKUPS=../backups"

  • Restore and manage backup files

It is now possible to restore backups via the web interface. The restore feature will schedule the restore for the next time the server is restarted. The server can be stopped via the web interface as well, and should be restarted automatically by launchd.

  • Read-Only access to absread user

If you installing a new instance of the server a new default user with read-only rights will be created. Please access :  http://localhost:8080/admin/users.jsf to configure your current users with read as well as write permissions.

  • Reports

These reports have been available for some time however you might not be aware of this feature. ABS server can now be used to produce LDIF and vCard files for the all contacts. Individual contacts can also be exported as vCards.

  • Sort and display order

In the Config menu each user can specify the sort order and display preferences. These configurations also apply to ABCMobile on the iPhone.

  • Changes to Complete Sync Mode

There was a problem with the complete sync mode which caused deletions to be fetched from the server. In complete sync mode all active records from the server are compared against those held on the client’s iSync truth database. Any records which are in the truth database, but not received from the server are considered to have been deleted. So there is no need to fetch any previously deleted records from the server as iSync figures out the deletions itself. The effects of fetching the deletions as well, caused particular problems with iCal records and made it difficult to move items between calendars. This should not be resolved.

  • Updated Translations

The Address Book Client Preference pane has been updated to support Italian. The French and German editions have also been updated. Thanks to Michele for all her help with this.

10th January

Serveral bug fixes and enhancements were included with this release as outlined above

15th January

A bug in the server side caused problem when moving events and tasks between calendars. This has been resolved in this release. The german translation of the client has also been updated.