LottaNZB

It’s been half a year since our last release, so it’s time for LottaNZB 0.4! Below, you can find the full changelog, but here are some of the features. Most of the front-end code has been rewritten to make this the most stable version of LottaNZB we have released so far. We have also improved the categorization feature. This means that you can now add custom categories and it is now possible to automatically move your downloads to a corresponding directory. So if previously downloads were saved in Software–Mandriva 2009, the downloads will now be saved in Software/Mandriva 2009. This will help you to clean up your download directory.

Please let us know if you happen to find any bugs or if you have any questions on our Launchpad page. Since LottaNZB 0.4 does not contain all full translations we will probably release 0.4.1, which will include all translations, soon. We would really appreciate it if you would like to help us to translate LottaNZB to your native language. This can be done easily through our Launchpad translation page.

LottaNZB 0.4 can be found here! If you’re using the source package please make sure that you have the new dependency package (Kiwi). Have fun!

Changelog

• This is the first version of LottaNZB which is based on the Kiwi framework. Kiwi simplifies the development of graphical applications by providing an extensive set of high-level tools, which now replace our self-baked ones. Kiwi enabled us to significantly reduce the amount of code required to do certain things and paves the way for a faster implementation of new features, since we can concentrate on the things that matter.
• Beside the graphical parts of the application, also the other parts have undergone a major rewrite. This did not only improve the reliability and maintainability of the code but also fixed a bunch of bugs.
• The categorization feature has been improved notably. Users that don’t want to categorize their downloads are allowed to disable the feature completely in the preferences dialog. The others are rewarded with the possibility of creating a custom set of categories and – even more exciting – with a function that automatically moves a completed download to a directory named like its category.
• The algorithm collecting HellaNZB’s log messages has become way more intelligent (LP: #245670).
• Thanks to this, we laid the groundwork for a mechanism that analyzes all incoming HellaNZB log messages and extracts the interesting information. HellaNZB’s current interface for external application doesn’t provide us with much information. In future version of LottaNZB, you can expect more information to be displayed about the state of your downloads and LottaNZB will also know more about potential problems.
• The way how LottaNZB manages its configuration has completely changed. Instead of an XML file an INI-style configuration file format is used. Internally, LottaNZB uses a decentralised configuration system with support for nested configuration sections, which makes LottaNZB more modular end extensible. There are plans for a plugin system which will make use of it. Any existing, old-fashioned XML configuration file is automatically converted to the new format.
• Scrolling should now be possible in both the download list and the message log window and the lists won’t flicker anymore when updated.
• Reordering the download queue using drag & drop has been made more predictable and hence sleeker to use. Dropping a download won’t unselect it anymore.
• LottaNZB won’t crash anymore if the Usenet server configuration contains an optional property such as ‘fillserver’, ‘enabled’, ‘skipGroupCmd’ and ‘bindTo’. (LP: #251798, #280302)
• Support for non-ASCII characters in HellaNZB configuration files, which makes it possible to choose a download directory with a name like “Vidéos”. (LP: #305248)
• It’s possible to enable or disable the automatic extraction of completed downloads.
• Users are informed when something goes wrong downloading an NZB file from Newzbin.
• LottaNZB 0.4 speaks several new languages. Thanks to the work of numerous people, translations to Hebrew, Indonesian, Italian, Norwegian Bokmal, Polish and Portuguese have been added. Upgrading to a new LottaNZB version has become much easier for those who use the source package. The ‘install’ command will look for existing installations and prevent annoying version conflicts.
• This list is far from complete. There are numerous other minor and major improvements not mentioned here. Give LottaNZB 0.4 a try and see yourself!