We have just posted the 2009-04-04 experimental build. This is a 0.25.0 "Alpha" build. It is available in our Downloads section. A full changelog is included. Here is what has changed since the last experimental build:

• Added $Win64$ to identify Windows x64
• Added support for exiting LiteStep by holding CTRL+SHIFT+ALT and canceling out of the Windows Shutdown dialog.
• Added multi-monitor support to AppBar implementation.
• Fixed LiteStep not running 64-Bit regkeys
• Fixed AppBar support on Windows 7
• Fixed AppBar implementation not returning tray screen edge
• Fixed reentrancy crashes in AppBar implementation
• Removed Win95 multimon compat functions
• Small crash and correctness fixes
• Fixed MinGW builds
• Huge code format update

Please report any bugs you may find.

Your friendly LiteStep Development Team is proud to announce the final release of LiteStep 0.24.8, and indeed the last planned release in the 0.24.x series. Since the 0.24.7 release, the 0.24.x source base has had +11959/-5620 lines changed.

This release comes with a manual that fully covers the use and configuration of the LiteStep core. Please see manual.txt in the download archive.

Please note that Windows Vista is NOT supported in this release. This release contains none of the Vista/Win7 compatibility changes that exist in our development code base. Vista support will be in the next release cycle. If you want Vista support right now, then skip this release and download the latest experimental binary from our website.

• New evaluation parser
  With the evaluation parser, both conditional expressions (If, ElseIf) and in-line expressions ($a + b$) now use the same syntax. The new parser adds new capabilities that were previously unavailable such as strings and built-in functions.

• Appbar support
  We have added an implementation to support AppBars. This is a feature found in the Explorer shell which some applications use to dock their window to the edge of a screen (e.g. the Explorer taskbar). Some typical applications that use this feature are IM clients and various media players.

• Icon notification tray (systray) service fixes
  The Icon Notification Tray service has been updated to fix several issues. The most visible one being where old icons and sometimes balloon (info) tips would appear during a recycle.

• Broken configurations that would recursively define variables no longer lock LiteStep up.

• Removed !gather bang command proxy for VWM modules (all current VWM modules now implement that function internally).

• Large improvements to LSAutoHideModules.

• Changed !alert and !confirm default messagebox caption to include the !bang command name.

• Added support for Windows 2003 ($win2003$ is now available and !about box information is correctly displayed)

• Improvements to !ShowModules, !HideModules and !ToggleModules. They now have apparent instant affect; no more jerky showing/hiding.

… See the release archive changes.txt for complete details.

Thanks to the LiteStep Community for all the positive feedback and support and for the endless patience.

If you upgrade to this version from 0.24.7 Final, and *anything* breaks, please let us know. We intend for 0.24.8 to be drop-in-compatible with all existing valid configurations.

Please send any suggestions or bug reports to the LSDev team contact address at: devteam <at> lsdev.org

When reporting a bug, please include:
(use the !About dialog to retrieve version information)

1. Windows OS Version and Service Pack level
2. LiteStep Core Version (including exact "Compiled on…" string as defined by $CompileDate$)
3. All currently loaded modules and their versions
4. Theme name and version (if applicable)
5. Your contact information (email address)
6. A complete description of the issue and if possible a step-by-step procedure to reproduce the bug. If we can not reproduce the bug, we will not be able to fix it! So, please do your best to help us help you. Thanks!

Happy LiteStepping,

The LiteStep Development Team
http://www.lsdev.org/

The next "nightly" build is available in our Downloads section. A full changelog is included in the zip. Changes since the last build:

• Fixed fullscreen app detection
  • Supports hiding modules only on the monitor the FS window is on
  • Added support for handling more than one fullscreen window
• Fixed !about "System Information" to show memory amounts >2GB
  • Also shows partial memory amounts
• Fixed !about not using default shell dialog font
• Fixed Unicode tooltips and balloon tips not always showing up
• Fixed picoPNG code mirroring images
• Switched from libpng to picoPNG, which is included in lsapi.dll.
  • Removes libpng13.dll and zlib1.dll dependency
• Fixed LiteStep playing a default system sound if the sound was disabled
• Tweaked module loading error boxes
  • Fixed module path getting cut off in the titles, now uses filename only
  • Changed icon from warning icon to error icon
• Fixed minor potential crash bug
• Lots of internal code structure changes and code correctness fixes
• Removed VC6 as a supported compiler/development environment
• Added lots of debug TRACEs
• Removed comctl32 V6 manifest
  • Replaced with custom activation context management
  • (Hopefully) fixes module redraw issues

Please report any issues you find with these builds.

— ilmcuts, 2009/02/10 14:41

Hot on the heels of yesterday's build, here's another experimental build. As always, a full changelog is included in the zip, but here are the changes since the last build:

• Fixed dialogs showing generic icon instead of LS icon in taskbar and ALT-TAB
  • Affects dialogs such as !about, !alert, !confirm, or module MessageBoxes
• Added question mark icon to !confirm
• Added tooltips to AboutBox to show full text if otherwise cut off
• Added full row selection to AboutBox
• Fixed Windows Home Server detection
• Fixed LiteStep quitting too early if an app blocks shutdown

— ilmcuts, 2009/01/11 11:37

There's another new nightly build in our Downloads section. Again, this is not a 0.24.8 build but experimental code.

A full changelog is included in the zip, but here is what has changed since the last build:

• Fixed LS skipping startup folders
• Added "module" column to !about bangs
• Fixed copyright date in !about license
• Removed lsapi.dll from !about revision IDs
• Added new enumeration type ELD_BANGS_V2 to EnumLSData
• Added several missing changelog entries

Please keep reporting any issues you find with these builds.

— ilmcuts, 2009/01/10 09:04