Today I released two updates to applications that get a bit less attention, but which nonetheless have passionate fans: FastScripts and Clarion. It was thanks to these fans that I discovered and was able to fix a few Leopard-specific issues that they noticed.

FastScripts had a problem with running automator routines. Like, at all. I guess that shows how often I run automator routines myself! From a developer perspective, running Automator Workflows in Leopard is a lot easier than it was in Tiger, and is officially supported by a new AMWorkflow class for Cocoa programmers. Unfortunately, while providing a new and sanctioned method for running these workflows, they simultaneously broke the old technique that I was using for Tiger. Fixed in FastScripts 2.3.6!

Another issue with FastScripts had to do with the order of presentation for the user’s “personal scripts” compared with Apple’s standard scripts (from /Library/Scripts). It’s only natural that users would prefer to see their own scripts appear higher in the menu, since those are probably the ones they’re accessing more frequently. Well, it turns out the placement of these items has just sort of magically fallen the “desired” way for the past 3 major operating system releases. In Leopard, the order of the randomness flip-flopped, and I needed to explicitly ensure that the user’s scripts take priority. Also fixed in FastScripts 2.3.6!

Clarion is an application for studying and drilling yourself on musical interval recognition. It’s a pretty niche market, but it has a pretty nifty live piano keyboard view that I’m pretty proud of. While you’re contemplating the sounds of the pitches you are being quizzed on, you can tinker around on the piano keyboard to give yourself visual and audio clues as to what the interval might be. Unfortunately, some changes in CoreAudio on Leopard revealed a bug in my code for playing these notes. The end result? On Leopard any key you pressed would keep playing the sound even after you release the key. Nightmare! Fixed in Clarion 2.0.1.

If you’re running Leopard and noticing any glitches in my products, please let me know so I can get to the bottom of them. Right now I have only one outstanding issue, which is a text-rendering problem in MarsEdit, when opening existing posts for editing. Unfortunately I can’t find anything wrong with my behavior, so I’m also sort of quietly hoping for a fix from Apple in 10.5.2.

In addition to more tangible features, both FastScripts and Clarion are now Universal - tested on a Core Duo iMac. To Apple’s credit, I spent more time getting to the iMac (I don’t own one yet - waiting impatiently for the MacBook Pro) than I did testing or fixing bugs. The only issue encountered turned out not to be an Intel issue at all, but rather a gcc 4.0 bug fix that causes a serious incompatibility with some gcc 3.3 code. Everything else “just worked.” Go Apple!

Though I don’t have my Intel MacBook Pro yet, I’m sure that once I do I’ll start resenting developers who haven’t “gone native” very quickly. Here’s to hoping I haven’t gained any Intel-owning enemies over the past few weeks! The next beta release of FlexTime will also ship as a universal binary.

Motivated in part by a desire to show off the spiffy new icon, pictured here and designed by Steven Ansell, I have finally put in the lion’s share of finishing touches on Clarion 2.0.

For those of you familiar with Clarion 1.4, the major change in 2.0 (aside from the icon) is a complete redesign of the Preferences interface and underlying structure. Prior to 2.0, Clarion offered users the ability to define and save custom “interval sets” (like a scale), but other settings such as interval direction, consonance, instrument, etc., all had to be changed by hand if you wanted to mix up your practice. In Clarion 2.0, all of these preferences are contained in a new “Configuration,” any number of which can be defined and easily switched between by the user in the main quiz window.

Clarion, like my other main product, FastScripts appeals to a niche audience. Some of you are wondering what the heck a music interval even is. Although the niche products don’t make anybody zillions of dollars, they are perhaps more appreciated than others because they connect so directly with the user’s specific interests and needs.

So if you need to learn your intervals, or you just want to brush up, give the Clarion 2.0 Beta a try. This sucker is dang-near done (he says with dangerous confidence), so if you’ve got feedback, be sure to let me know ASAP!

A special note for developers: if you have been putting off investing in a professional icon designer, wait no longer! I put it off for years, partly thinking that one day I’d just “get good at it,” or afraid that the costs would be unmanageable. Steven Ansell makes it easy and affordable to add panache to your technical creations. In addition to designing the Clarion icon for me, he also gave the FastScripts icon a modest makeover, and designed a third icon for an as yet unreleased product. Take advantage of his generously reasonable rates while the getting is good! And thanks again, Steven.

Update I accidentally posted a release of Clarion with artificially strict “trial period” controls in place. If you happened to download within the first 5 minutes of this post appearing, please download again to see the more generous side of the Clarion trial period :)