The second alpha version of Bible Reader available for initial testing. Quite a number of things have been updated.

Changes

• [BUG] Navigating chapters, the window returns to the top, showing verse 1
• [BUG] Last verse number also styled (was missed before)
• [NEW] Navigate to particular verse jumps display down to it, so it’s at the top of the window if possible
• [NEW] Preference style updates now update all open windows
• [VIS] : between chapter/verse boxes moved when window resized
• [NEW] translation, book, chapter in window title
• [NEW] Cmd-J puts focus back into brfBook
• [BUG] trap Escape so it doesn’t suggest spellings in the Book List
• [NEW] Tab from Book to Chapter to Verse to Book to…
• [BUG] background of preference window example now changes colour while adjusting settings
• [UPD] Preference window layout changed
• [BUG] Putting in a chapter number higher than exists was not tidy. Now correctly takes you to the last chapter and updates the fields accordingly
• [NEW] Preference to remember last translation when opening new browser windows
• [NEW] Preference to set a default translation for newly opened browser windows 
• [BUG] Changing translation popup before choosing a book/chapter/verse would bring up Genesis 1. Now it doesn’t bring up anything

What you need to know

No translations are provided with the alpha releases. If you already have Bible Reader Free 0.99 you should have a ‘books’ folder in its folder: place this application in the same folder as the 0.99 version. If you don’t have a previous version, download at least the KJV translation, and any of the other available translations.

At this stage it provides basic browsing of the books of the Bible, but much quicker than the current 0.99 version.  

Please be aware that this is unfinished software (really unfinished). It’s not meant to be a final release or a fully-useable replacement to the 0.99 version, although for basic browsing it seems to work really well.

What you might not want to bother reading

Q. Why release such an unfinished version?

•  I needed a goal to work towards in developing this software in a new programming environment (more details in the ramble below).
• I wanted to show some proof to those of you who are using the current four year-old version that I was working on something new for you! I have received emails asking me what’s going on and you deserve an upgrade. While this release certainly isn’t it, I want you to know that I am working towards it, thank you for your support and encouragement!

Q. Why did you start all over again and build in Cocoa instead of continuing development of the 0.99 version?

• Cocoa (using Xcode) is Apple’s native development environment: they use it to develop their own software. Any program written using Cocoa can benefit from all of the standard Apple controls behaviour and features.
• My version of REALBasic has become out of date and it cannot create Universal Binary format applications. You’ll discover, if you are using version 0.99 on an Intel machine that it can take some time for the application to launch the first time. I believe this is due to Mac OS X having to load up the Rosetta compatibility software to run the older PPC program. Rather than continue to update (and pay for) REALBasic, I thought I should just get with the program and use the native development tools Apple offers.

A little bit of background (ramble)

The current 0.99 version of Bible Reader Free was written using REALBasic and released in 2004 (exactly four years this month). REALBasic is a great tool and has come a long way in the last four years, but back then it did not make it easy to create truly native Mac OS X applications: text fields, in particular, acted a little differently to native Cocoa text fields. These small details irritated me.

REALBasic made it quick to build an application but by the time Bible Reader Free 0.99 was released, I had been contemplating the move to Cocoa for several months; I wanted to provide a true OS X experience. The longer-term plan for me was to be as fluent with Cocoa as I had become with REALBasic; I had plans for applications beyond Bible Reader Free. At some point I had to jump in.

With a busy life schedule and a new coding language and development environment to get to grips with, I faced a number of ‘ups’ and ‘downs’ during the early weeks. Successes came with some measure of celebration (by only myself I might add - they don’t go down so well with other family members, I usually just get blank stares) when I had been able to create a window that looked like Bible Reader, then eventually have the translations and bible books automatically load into the relevant popup menus. At times like this I couldn’t get enough of the development process. But having to take long periods of down time due to work and family commitments meant returning to Cocoa after an extended break was much tougher; I had to try to remember everything I had only learned once before.

Fast forward four years and the last few months have seen a renewed energy (and judicious shuffling of other commitments) by me to get the job done. I have really enjoyed myself and each small element added to the program has made me feel more excited for the future and more confidence with using Cocoa.

Making this very first alpha version of Bible Reader available to you is a goal that I was working towards and helped me stay focused on completing the job.

Paul