Category: Goldenseal news

A new user suggested that Goldenseal fill in a cost category automatically for each vendor: for example, have all plumber invoices start out in Plumbing.

It seemed reasonable and it was easy to program in, so this new feature will be in the 4.91 update.

BTW we get most of our ideas for new features from users, and we’d be happy to hear of other ideas for improvements!

A couple of annoying  bugs have turned up in the version 4.9 update.

Specifically:

1. The quantities for labor hours are incorrect, for some line items in estimate reports.  All dollar costs are still fine.
2. The match field in reports doesn’t work.  As a work-around, use the Find command first, then make the report for Found Items.

We’ve fixed them, and plan to release a minor version 4.91 update before the end of the month.

Dennis Kolva
Programming Director

We decided to combine our two Kickstarter campaigns into one.   That way, we can give full attention to the Mac update, and get it out more quickly.

Windows users are still welcome to back the Macintosh campaign, and rewards can be applied to the Windows version upon request.

Our KickStarter campaign for Goldenseal Pro for Macintosh  is almost 25% backed.  Thanks to all the early backers!

The campaign for Goldenseal Pro for Windows is now live.

They both end August 31.  34 days to go!

Our KickStarter campaign for the major Mac upgrade is now live!  The one for Windows is still awaiting approval.

A user newsletter will be going out soon, with more details.

 

We released Goldenseal 1.0 back in 2000, so the software is now  about 140 years old (in software years)!  During that time we made approximately 45 updates. We hit every decimal from 2.0 to 4.9, with a few extras in between.

Our previous MacNail program went into retirement at this same age, and we are now making plans to move on from Goldenseal as well. Time to begin our next generation!

The good news is, most of our accounting and estimating code has become polished and mature, and we can continue to use it with minimal rewriting. Most likely, we can keep the same file format, or at least provide an easy conversion for existing Goldenseal data.

The bad news is, our business code sits on top of a basic framework that needs a major rewrite, so we can keep moving forward.

• On the Macintosh, it means a transition from PowerPlant and Carbon to Cocoa, and removal of old code left over from OS 9 and Power-PC days.
• On Windows, it means converting the current QuickTime-based code to Windows-native libraries, for better appearance and performance.

This is a big enough overhaul to deserve a new product name.  We are tentatively calling the next generation Goldenseal Pro, but may switch to something different before it is completed.

The framework change will greatly improve the screen appearance, allow us to take better advantage of modern OS features, and insure compatibility with future OS updates.  It will also let us start integrating with mobile apps, so it’s easier to run one’s business from anywhere.

More discussion to follow!

Dennis Kolva
Programming Director

We have completed all the app files for version 4.9, and will upload them as soon as we get our local Internet connection back! Unfortunately there was a lightning strike Wednesday night that disabled a local relay tower. Right now we do not have any info on when it will be back online.

EDIT– everything is now uploaded.

Dennis Kolva
Programming Director
Turtle Creek Software

As of Thurs July 3, we have successfully built version 4.9 on all Mac platforms (OS9, PPC, Intel).  There have been enough major code changes that it may take a few more days before the Windows version builds properly.

Some technical details: over the past month we have been moving gradually to newer versions of Xcode (the program that converts our C++ code to a working application) and the Mac SDK (base code libraries that make things run on Macs).

Version 4.81 was built with Xcode 2.0 and SDK 10.3, but one part of that code breaks with Mavericks, and probably more things will break with the next Mac OS release this Fall.  We’re now up to Xcode 3.2 and SDK 10.6, which probably will be enough to run in the next couple of OS updates.  Along the way, we’ve had to remove or rewrite a lot of older code that is no longer supported.  Most is in other people’s code, so it can be challenging!