Welcome to the metaApps, the home of metaBlog and other useful apps.

RSS 2.0
After spending a couple of minutes looking through the specs for RSS 2.0, I've updated metaBlog so that it now generates RSS 2.0 XML documents - and valid ones at that!

The decision to go with 2.0 over 1.0 was based primarily on the similarities between pre 1.0 versions and 2.0. I also used this as an opportunity to use the XMLTextWriter in .NET. It is very nice. Much better than building up an XML document by concantenating strings or even the stringbuilder.

Posted by Bryan @ 9:54 PM | Filed Under metaBlog News | Comments (0) | # | TrackBack (0)

Updates
I've been working on some performance tweaks to the admin area. Now, when you create or edit an entry, the building of the RSS XML file runs in its own thread. Next, I will be placing the call out to weblogs.com in it's own thread too.

In other areas, I am working on the feed reader so that it only updates feeds when they've been modified.

These updates have not been moved into production, but they will be there soon.

Posted by Bryan @ 9:32 AM | Filed Under metaBlog News | Comments (1) | # | TrackBack (0)

Admin Area Redesign Update
Just a quick update on the metaApp Admin area redesign...

It is coming along slowly but surely. The new UI is so much better than what currently exists (take my word on this).

As I am going through and doing the redesign, I am finally getting around to finishing things that had been left undone. I am also adding a new feature, that is a newsletter module. It can be used for sending out mail merge emails. You simply create a store procedure that for getting your mailing list and any data that you want to use, then create a new mailing list, specifying the newly created sproc, and you are good to go. When you go to send out a newsletter, you'll select the mailing list you want to send to, then you'll get a form for entering your newsletter. Any column being returned from your sproc is available for the mail merge.

It's like it. Anyway, all of this and more - coming soon.

Posted by Bryan @ 1:35 AM | Filed Under metaBlog News | Comments (0) | # | TrackBack (0)