Yes, it's been a long time since I posted anything here.

Things are very busy lately, with applying to college and my senior year of high school to think about, and I've realized that I can't develop OpenBoard in its current state fast enough for it to be useful. At the current rate, by the time the IPB 1.3 emulation is working, it will be nearly useless.

The solution? Change direction. OpenBoard's core is very robust and it'd be a crying shame to just throw it away, so for now I'm just going to sit on it. Eventually there will be a good use for it, but right now there just isn't.

There are still a number of core features I'd like to get working: the privileges system, the extension system, and a generic database system (i.e. not IBF13). The IBF13 skin and database systems will be left alone - I have no plans on continuing their development any farther. If anyone wants to download and hack at the souces, be my guest - I'll commit good work done on them.

I'm sorry, but this simply wasn't feasible in its current form. Things will change; it'll be back.

- Bill

I'm currently in the middle of restructuring the entire database engine system.

I realized how nasty the code was getting, and I think I can do a better job. Among the reasons for this are the fact that I need the database engine subdivided into reading and writing classes, which the previous structure did not easily allow for. Also, I realize that my naming scheme is beginning to be as inconsistent as the Invision Board databases themselves, thus negating one of the main purposes of the project, so I'm renaming everything. The other main reason for the rewrite is to make limiting the results of read/write calls simply by giving name-value pairs in an array as an argument. This will involve a significant amount of raw code, but once completed it will run fast and relieve many headaches later on.

Example of the new structure: the database engine calling method is divided into three categories: read, write, and call. Read and write are self-explanatory, and just plain callable functions are utility functions which perform no database operation, such as password hashing functions, etc.

For example, the function call:
$foo = $E->dbe->call("members",2);
would be replaced with:
$foo = $E->dbe->read("members",array("mid"=>2));

Much nicer, yes?

As I perform the rewrite, I'll be committing incomplete files to CVS, thus CVS checkouts will be broken. Sorry.

I apologize for the recent lack of CVS commits. School has been very busy and I simply haven't had time to devote to meaningful coding. In case anyone was wondering, NO, the project is not dead, it's just moving very slowly right now.
Not helping things is the fact that I have a major case of programmer's block and haven't been able to really concentrate on much of anything lately, but that will pass. However, my rather intense school schedule will get worse before it gets better, so if nothing happens for a while, don't lose hope on me!
This project will not get stuck in the mud and become a Duke Nukem Forever.

Keeping you informed,
- Bill (overworked high school junior) :P

Happy New Years!

Here's to making 2005 a great year.

Cheers!

The houses are lit, snow is sprinkling down, and for a brief moment, all is right with the world.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!