It's been a while after the last post. That is because quite a lot has changed in the last half year.

Since Januari when I've got my first Windows Phone, the Omnia 7. This was very interesting for me, a lot of new programming to learn. A new challenge. At this time I started with Microsoft Certifications, 70-532, 70-562 and 70-564. This took quite a lot of learning and time but now I am a MCPD in Web development.

Windows Phone 7 is more like webdevelopment than Windows Mobile, which actually is a bit like a normal windows application.

This made me start with a WIndows Phone 7 app. Took more time that I thought and that is why not much time is spend on PockeTwit for a while now. There are a few urgent problems with PockeTwit now which will be addressed when my WP7 app is done.

A few points on my to do list:

 - RT sometimes won't work
 - Communications errors, when tweets are received out of order.
 - Empty return messages when posting and/or posting returns error and still posts.

And various little bugfixes from http://pocketwit.uservoice.com there are quite a few now... When we find another developer we might have time to get some work done on new features.

 - Roel

The new version of PockeTwit was especially for all the startup problems one might have with previous versions. We noticed a few actions one might do in which PockeTwit would save some tweets not correctly. The biggest problem was finding the problem.

With the help of several users which reported problems with searching and some reporting searches not being updated and shortly after that, it stopped working. This was the way to try and reproduce the error. Creating a saved search and let it run for a while. It seemed ok when running, but no more new search results were retrieved from Twitter and after a restart... well PockeTwit did not start anymore. There we finally found the glitch.

It was in the way we retrieve search results. It differs from retrieving the normal timeline. Recently Twitter updated its id numbering to hold very big numbers. Not just a bit big, but really big with over 15 digits and growing. And there was some old code which just could not hold that big a number. When PockeTwit recieved such a number it wrote the number in the registry and after that it would not start anymore.

This is fixed now! Along with some other fixes.

• Today plugin numbering and starting PockeTwit.
  A new today plugin which works with the current version.
• More version info set correctly. Related to startup problems.
  Some version numbers were out of data,
• Today plugin inserted into regular installation.
  When the today plugin is running it can not be overwritten by our installer, so now there is a seperate installer for the today plugin.
• Changed avatar size, little smaller looks better and longer tweets will fit.
  Three sizes to pick from, 5 is the old style, 4 and 3 are smaller sizes. Tweets might be cut up al little though
• Fix for startup problems regarding saved searches.
  Yes, finally. New tweets with big numbers are now saved correctly.
• Cleanup corrupt data from registry and database.
  At startup any corrupt data is removed.
• Size of tweet changed in display
  Because of the changed in avatar size, there is a bit more room for the tweet.
• Changed api calls for replies to mentions.
  Some timelines were updated with deprecated api calls, now fixed.
• yFrog preview size changed from thumbnail to iphone size,

Download it here

If you find problems or have any feature requests, please post those on our UserVoice here

In the next few weeks I'll be doing some bugfixing. There are some issues with shortening and GPS location.

Because of some troubles with the latest release, version 85 is not going to have much new feature. Some work has been done to fix to mayor bugs in PockeTwit:

 - Posting updates on Non-Touch screen devices
 - Hangups during startup

There is one new feature though, a new way of authenticating for Twitter

 - Verification for Twitter through xAuth. This means no more going to a website, but just PockeTwit doing all the authentication for you.

Download it here

If you find problems or have any feature requests, please post those on our UserVoice here

Next to PockeTwit I will be starting some other projects to port PockeTwit to different devices. As a result I will be having less time for PockeTwit Windows Mobile. Still, I will continue to fix bugs and make some enhancements to current services because there is still work to be done there to make it better. The features in the previous post I will complete for sure. Adding new services like FaceBook will not happen in the near future.

It is allways a hard choice what to build and what not build, or buld later. There are lots of popular issues and enhancements but some are just to big to be build in one release. And some are just not feasible.

I've made a short list of items which I want to build or at least try to improve on.

1. Stability, the recent issues with starting PockeTwit appears to be a big problem.

2. xAuth, a different way of authenticating which is easier for the user.

3. Clicks, when you click on tweet, open a menu with actions. Open picture/video, open url, show profile and such.

Next to these I'll have a look a adapting the ping.fm support and off course some of the report issues where possible. Much to do, not that much time. If you have more ideas to work on please post them on our Uservoice 

Because I would like to get the appropriate Marketplace accounts for distributing PockeTwit I have set up a donate button below:

Release notes

In this release the biggest changes were made to uploading media and stability. There might still be little issues in this release, if you encounter a bug please report it on our Uservoice We still need your help in the translations, if you want to make a translation or if you see a spelling error please email these to pocketwitdev at gmail.com.

Download it at http://code.google.com/p/pocketwit/downloads/list 

Uploading media.

Video and file uploads now supported (Posterous, Moby and YFrog)
Internal modifications to attachment upload process which should increase reliability.
Posterous supports uploading from files generated by HTC Voice Recorder app, MP3 files etc – similar use to AudioBoo.
If an upload type is not supported by the selected media service, Posterous will be used for other types
 (e.g. using TwitPic as Picture service will select Posterous for videos and files).
Posterous uses revised error handling code which should give better feedback on upload errors.

 Timeline & Statusses

View your own send direct messages.
Avatar cache no longer scales images up – should marginally improve image quality and reduce cache size on large screens
Changes to behaviour of post update window address list, including:
 o   Username is now inserted where the cursor is, rather than at the end of the text, when selecting from drop-down list
 o   Reply to all now works consistently
 o   Usernames with digits and underscores are now supported

 Language

Spanish translation added.
Russian translation added.

 Stability

Should crash less, thanks to modified error handling – 40% of crashes should no longer occur.
More diagnostic information sent with crash reports.
Some other crashes also fixed
New version of .NET Compact Framework 3.5, which may help with connection issues –> needs to be installed manually

 Other

Today plugin should update even when PockeTwit is not running
Preparatory work for revised timeline layout on large screens.

One of the biggest concerns users have about PockeTwit – and this includes the developers, we use it too! – is uploading. “Can we please have video uploading?”, or AudioBoo, or just more reliable picture uploading when the local phone signal is a bit wonky. We have a plan to resolve this, and make PockeTwit much more powerful in the process.

As part of a series of upgrades taking place over the coming months, we will be re-visiting the upload process, introducing the concept of attachments seen in other applications.

If you are uploading a single picture/video/sound file, then your user experience will not change much. You will still have one-click access to upload files, the file will be uploaded when you post the tweet and have the tweet text attached. This was the standard behaviour before v0.82, but was removed due to complications from the change to OAuth.

Pre-uploading (the way PockeTwit currently works) will be slightly different – if you set pre-uploading as a default, you will be prompted to attach a message/caption to the file you are uploading, which will default to the current value of the Post Update box. When you have set the caption, the file will start to upload while you finish composing your tweet.

In both cases you’ll be able to add more than one file. If you don’t include links to files in your status update, they will be automatically appended by PockeTwit after uploading. You will also be able to open the “attachments” window and set or change the caption sent with each attachment, and start them uploading if you haven’t turned pre-uploading on.

Basically:

·         You’ll be able to add more than one file, including videos.

·         Uploading will be handled in a more sophisticated way, including auto-restarts in the case of connection failures.

·         PockeTwit should just “do the right thing”.

This will make more sense when it is implemented, and we can show you a video of it in action. The new features will be added slowly over coming releases, starting with some back-end changes which won’t necessarily be visible! Hold in there and keep checking for updates :-)

There is quite a lot of work being done, and still more to come.

Releasenotes

Version 83 has just been released and these are the changes:

Major changes:
- User interface changes in Post update form - dynamically configures to screen size/on-screen keyboard
- Revised theme icons
- Compact Framework version check

Small changes:
- Main application icons updated for high resolution phones
- Strange dialog behaviour should all be fixed
- Fixed potential crashes and memory problems with internet connections
- Notifications on saved searches now work again
- Reply all
- Upped maximum tweets
- Removed unused surplus code.
- streamlined OAuth a bit
- Reduced installer size

Enabled media services:
- Plixi
- YFrog
- Mobypicture
- TwitrPix
- PikChur
- TwitGoo

In addition to TwitPic and Posterous from the previous release. Next to these changes we've cleared some of the bugs in PockeTwit.

Future releases

As many people will have noticed, PockeTwit still has some issues. We're also well aware that there are always features which could make tweeting easier which are not yet in PockeTwit. We don't want your problems to get lost, and we need a clear overview about what is important to you. Because of this, we have set up uservoice.

Issues

The Issues page is a place where almost all the current problems are posted by our users. New issues are constantly made by users and by us.

Should you encounter a problem, you can go to UserVoice and start typing. Suggestions are automatically displayed to propose issues already posted by others. If your issue is already on UserVoice, you can add your comments and vote for it to be fixed.

Votes are important.

The more votes an issue gets, the more important it is. The more votes we see, the more users we know have this problem. We will try to go over each issue and review it, but sometimes we have to ask for more information. To help us fix the issues more quickly, please give us as much information as possible, including which type of phone you are using and which version of the operating system.

When we receive an error report we sometimes create the issue for you when it does not exist, so we don't lose any problems.

There are a variety of issues, both big and small, so it might take a while to get to yours... but we're trying ;-)

Enhancements

The enhancements page is a place for you to add feature requests. If you see something you like and it is not in PockeTwit, put it here.

Help us make PockeTwit better and more complete. Because users use PockeTwit in lots of different ways, there are many opinions about how it should work. For example, if you see a menu item which would be far logically placed somewhere else, go to the UserVoice Enhancement forum and type it in. If someone before you had the same idea, it will pop up and you can give votes to it. More votes make it appear more important!

There are constantly new services and Twitters features becoming available. We can't just build them all into PockeTwit. If you notice a particular service which you would like to have implemented in PockeTwit tell us on UserVoice. Whether it is Twitter-like services such as HelloTxt or Yammer, media services to post pictures (and video!?) or just another shortening service. You can tell us about it or vote for an idea that is already there.

Backlog.

There are already many issues and enhancements on UserVoice. We are going through them but it takes quite a while to read and evaluate everything. Some issues are old and might have already been fixed or implemented. On older ideas we sometimes comment with questions, to ask whether it still an issue.

Things to remember:

 * Found a problem? report it here
 * See something to improve? report it here

We can use all the input you can give us!

Firstly, welcome to PockeTwit's blog on Posterous. Our Google code site is still the place to get downloads, but the PockeTwit developers will be updating Posterous with more information about current developments and the roadmap. We haven't been giving you all the information you might need/want, so here it is.

Unless you're a very new user of PockeTwit, you will have noticed that it stopped working on 1st September, and didn't start working again until we released an upgrade on 5th September. If you are a new user, that may be because your previous Twitter client on Windows Mobile - be it HTC Peep, TouchTwit, ceTwit, TinyTwitter - stopped working.

All of this is because of the "OAuthcalypse", where Twitter changed the way third-party applications, such as PockeTwit, were able to log people in to the service. The previous method was easy - you gave us your username and password, we stored it and sent it to Twitter. It all works fine and is easy to set up, but it does mean that lots of applications have your password. Not only is this a risk for you, it also means you have to update your password everywhere when you change it.

OAuth is a safer method, but is more complicated. It involves exchanging "tokens" - you are directed to the Twitter website with a token representing PockeTwit, login there and are given a Pin number to enter. PockeTwit then contacts Twitter and turns this Pin into another token. This final token lets PockeTwit access your Twitter account, but we never need to see or store your password - you can also update your Twitter password and PockeTwit will continue to work.

The change by Twitter broke a number of Windows Mobile Twitter clients, both free and paid for, because they hadn't been updated in time. The old method stopped working, and they were all locked out. PockeTwit was among those, partly due to a lack of manpower on the project and partly due to obscure errors being generated due to ActiveSync. Work was started in advance, but time ran out. Luckily, a month before I'd started working on the project so was able to lend a hand when I got back - between 3rd and 5th September two of us spent around 40 hours coding and debugging to get PockeTwit up and running again. It would have been sooner, but I was on holiday, sorry!

Version 0.82

On the 5th September we released version 0.82, which supported OAuth. Bits of PockeTwit had been working for a couple of days at this point, but not all of it, and it crashed more frequently than we would have liked. We released a "DevBuild" - a pre-release version which is deemed unstable - on the 3rd and would like to thank everybody who tested and gave feedback so quickly.

We didn't get it quite right - PockeTwit does work, but there have been some issues.

Verifying with Twitter

Unfortunately the process of exchanging tokens can be tricky on mobile devices, as some of you have been seeing. It requires lots of small bits of information to be exchanged in a short time period. When this doesn't work correctly, either because Twitter is having problems or the mobile data connection is unreliable, it can take several attempts to get the final "token" we need. This is why it has been taking several attempts for some of you to successfully verify your account - sometimes up to 10 times!

Clearly this process needs to be better, and we're looking at the best way to do it.

Compact Framework Upgrade

The new version of PockeTwit requires version 3.5 of the .NET Compact Framework, as we will be making more use of its features in the future. Those receiving an auto-upgrade didn't know this which caused some confusion - we've left an instruction in the auto-upgrade process to go and visit the Google code home page for details.

Non-phone devices and RIL

Some people were receiving errors to do with "RIL.dll" after posting. Unfortunately this was my fault - when I started working on PockeTwit I added basic support for the geolocation API and had been using it for a couple of weeks to geotag tweets. Part of this was an experiment with location via cell towers, rather than just GPS, with required RIL.dll. Some devices do not have this available, but the error was not handled gracefully. Version 0.82a fixes this for those who have been having problems.

Things to watch out for

There are a couple of things to look out for over the coming weeks:

• There will be some more releases to re-add missing media services, such as YFrog, MobyPicture etc.
• Twitter has the ability to revoke access tokens for applications (see Ars Technica for some background reading). Should they do this, we will issue an update with new tokens, but you will have to download the update and then re-activate your account. We'll try to make this as painless as possible.
• If you want the very-latest-cutting-edge-might-not-work version, there's always the DevBuild. These don't auto-update, so you'll have to do it manually via Other | About.

We've been trying hard to get this all working and hope you enjoy the new version. Once we've overcome all of the OAuth issues, we'll go back to adding new features. Some might slip in along the way!

(For those who are interested, the last picture is pretty much what my PC has looked like for the past few days!)