2.6.1 - 08/25/99 - This version adds some bug fixes and a way to check to see if a new version of AAT is available.
New features and improvements:
•New "Apple:Check For New Version..." menu item. This menu item will open a window which will check to see if a new version of Auction Action Tracker is available. If a new version is available, you will be presented with the version number, download location, and what is new in that version.
•Bug fixed that would cause controls inside a group box to be invisible when AAT was run under Mac OS 8.1 (and probably earlier versions). This caused controls such as the Default Section Settings in the AS Win. preferences, and all of the buttons in the Items window to not be displayed.
•Bug fixed that would cause running the Update Item List function more than once to update the same items multiple times. For example, if you had 10 items in your item list, running the Update Item List would correctly update the item list for the 10 items. However, running the Update Item List function again would update each item twice and show 20 as the number of items.
•Unnecessary sorting code removed.
•Optimized socket error handling.
2.6 - 08/19/99 - This version adds some cosmetic improvements, as well as a handy new feature to add items while staying in your browser.
New features and improvements:
•New "Browser Pal" window. This is a small global floater window which will be available in all applications, not just AAT. In the window is a small text box and an "Add" button. This window is designed to allow users that are browsing eBay auctions to add items without having to switch from their browser. If a number is entered, AAT will assume this is an item number and will attempt to add this item to the item list. If there are any non-numeric characters in the text box, AAT will assume this is an eBay user ID, and will attempt to Auto Load auctions using this user ID. Please note, if the text box has the focus and all keys presses are sent to it, you can remove the focus by clicking in the white area around it, or by pressing the "Add" button.
•The buttons in the Items window have been grouped into three categories, "Addition", "Interaction", and "Management".
•A "Browser Pal" button has been added to the "Addition" section of the Items window. This button will open the new "Browser Pal" window.
•A "View:Browser Pal" menu item has been added. This menu item will open the new "Browser Pal" window.
•The "Misc." preferences section was renamed to "AS Win.", which stands for "Auction Status Windows".
•New preferences item in the "AS Win." section called "Default Section Settings". This allows you to set the default collapsed/expanded state of the four sections of the Auction Status windows.
•The Item List Update window now shows the title of the current auction it is receiving data for.
•The Item List Update window will now update auction titles, just in case the seller of an item changes the item's title.
•New "Bid (AAT)" and "Open (Browser)" buttons have been added to the "Interaction" section of the Items window. These buttons do the same as their "Auction:Bid With AAT" and "Auction:Open With Browser" counterparts.
•A bug has been fixed involving AAT preferences for new users. In some parts of AAT's code, AAT would assume that certain folders in the "Auction Action Tracker Prefs ƒ" folder would exist. This was not the case for certain users new to AAT. This problem was fixed by replacing a good portion of the file handling code with more stable and efficient code, which also shaved about 42k off of AAT's size.
•The Items window should now format entities (special characters) when it refreshes itself from the cache.
•New "Ban" button in the "Management" section of the Items window. The "Delete" button will no longer change to a "Ban" button when the option key is held down.
•The About box has been altered slightly. It will now close when a key is pressed, and it no longer uses a separate image for the URL.
•The Items window's minimum size has been raised from 233 to 272 pixels to accommodate the new button grouping.
•The "New...", "Auto Load", and "Update" buttons have been renamed to "New Item...", "Auto Load...", and "Update Item List" respectively.
•Continuous event firing timing has been altered slightly to increase efficiency.
2.5 - 08/11/99 - This version is a very major release, adding the most amount of features/improvements ever.
New features and improvements:
•New "Time" preferences section. This section gives you the power to have AAT automatically convert the eBay auction end and start times to your local time zone. After setting this option, use the Update function to update all the items to your local time. If you do not run an update, AAT may not return the correct time. If the time zone is set incorrectly, the new countdown feature will not return accurate information.
•A "Remaining (Local)" row has been added to the Auction Status windows. This row shows a countdown until the end of an auction based upon your system's clock and the settings in the new preferences section. If the Time preferences in AAT are setup incorrectly, this countdown will be inaccurate. Also, if you are going to rely on this feature, make sure your system's clock is set correctly.
•The "Remaining" row in the Auction Status windows has been renamed to "Remaining (eBay)" to more accurately reflect its function in relation to the new "Remaining (Local)" row.
•Using the technology of the new countdown feature in the Auction Status windows, the Items window will now show a countdown of the remaining time for an auction when it is clicked on. The countdown will be displayed in the lower right corner of the window. If multiple items are selected, the countdown will show the remaining time until the close of the first selected item.
•Auction Status windows now have a comments section where you can make notes about the item such as the amount you are willing to pay for it or any flaws the item may have.
•New "Edit:Clear Comments" menu item. This menu item will delete all comments left in the Comments section of the individual Auction Status windows.
•Auction Status windows now has disclosure triangles to collapse/expand the four sections of the window.
•The "View:Bidding", "View:Bidding & Time", and "View:Bidding & Time & Item" menu items have been removed. Their function has been replaced by the new disclosure triangles.
•New "Misc." preferences section with two items, "Auto Load Auction Status Windows" and "Beep on Bid Increase". "Auto Load Auction Status Windows" controls whether or not Auction Status windows will automatically retrieve current data from eBay when they are opened (sort of an online/offline mode). If you keep this setting on, you can still load items offline by holding down the option key when you are opening them (the "Open" button will turn into a "Open Offline" button). "Beep on Bid Increase" gives the ability to control whether or not AAT will play the system beep when an Auction Status window detects a bid increase (when the green arrow is displayed).
•There is now a new popup menu next to the "Auto Reload" checkbox in the Auction Status windows. This popup menu provides the ability to override the default Auto Reload Preferences with a different reload frequency.
•The labeling "Frequency:" in the Auto Reload Preferences section was renamed to "Default Frequency:" to more accurately reflect its new function in relation to the new Auto Reload popup menu.
•New "Update" preferences section with the options to automatically update the item list on startup and/or whenever the Items window is reopened (via the "View:Item List") menu item.
•New "File:Export:Tab-Delimited Text" menu item. This menu item is available when the Items window is frontmost and will export the items list to a tab-delimited text file for easy importation into a spreadsheet.
•The Item List Update window now has an Auto Reload-like option called "Run Continuously". When this is on, the update process will continuously run, allowing you to stay current on all of your auctions at once.
•Next to the new Run Continuously option in the Item List Update window is a popup menu, identical to the new popup menu in the item windows, which allows you to specify a delay between updates.
•Auction Status windows will now remember their settings. This includes the state of the new disclosure triangles, the value of the Auto Reload checkbox, the value of the customized Auto Reload Frequency popup, and the window's width and position. Note that if an Auction Status window is pushed all the way to one side and closed, if the screen size gets smaller the window will reopen with at least ten pixels of the sides showing. Basically, rather than the window opening offscreen, it will open with a little bit showing so you can drag it back.
•New "Edit:Clear Item Prefs" menu item. This menu item will delete the custom settings of the individual Auction Status windows.
•The word "Catagory" is now correctly spelled "Category" in the item windows. This was thought to be fixed in version 2.1, but was only partially fixed. In 2.1 when an item window was opened for the first time, "Category" was spelled correctly, but after it had loaded it was spelled incorrectly. This has now been fixed.
•Holding down the option key will now only change the Delete button to the Ban button and the Open button to the new Open Offline button when Auction Action Tracker is in the foreground.
•Bug fix for bidding in dutch auctions. Because of the recent eBay layout change, bidding on a dutch auction would cause AAT to not display a bid confirmation message. Bids would still be placed, but no confirmation was given.
•The "File:New", "File:Auto Load", "Edit:Preferences", and "View:Ban List" menu items now have an ellipsis ("…") at the end to comply with Apple's Human Interface Guidelines.
•A bit of code designed to help prevent crashes was removed from AAT. It seems to be responsible for not allowing some users to close the Items window or quit.
•Another bid of code designed to help prevent crashes was removed from AAT. It was designed to constantly check the amount of available RAM given to AAT, and quit AAT if it got too low. This should be fine, unless you are planning on having many Auction Status windows open at once, in which case you should give AAT more RAM. This was removed as it was incompatible with the new "Export" feature.
•The Item List Update window will now remember its width.
•Preferences data, item data, and registration data loading sequencing has been altered slightly.
2.2.1 - 07/28/99 - This version corrects for a slight eBay bidding format change.
2.2 - 07/24/99 - This version adds more customization.
New features and improvements:
•”Continuous Reload” renamed to “Auto Reload” to reflect the new preferences options.
•New Preferences window (accessed via the Edit:Preferences menu item) with “Auto Reload” and “Fonts” sections. The Auto Reload section allows you to choose between 9 point and 12 point fonts, and whether or not to make the text bold. Changes to the font settings are not reflected in currently open windows until they are reopened. The Auto Reload section allows you to set a delay between reloads.
•To accommodate the larger fonts, the Item List Update window and Auction Status windows can now be resized.
•The Item List Update window now closes when it is finished.
•The “Bid Cache ƒ” folder has been renamed to “Item Cache ƒ”. The contents of the “Bid Cache ƒ” folder are not moved to the new folder. You can remove the “Bid Cache ƒ” folder from your “Auction Action Tracker Prefs ƒ” folder in your preferences folder.
•The About Box now shows my new web site, www.winternovelty.com.
2.1 - 07/09/99 - This versions adds a few conveniences.
New features and improvements:
•New "Update" button in the Items window. This button opens up a new window called the Item List Update window. This window will contact eBay and receive current data on all auctions in your item list. It will then update the bid and high bidder columns with the new data.
•New "View:Item List Update" menu item. This does the same as the "Update" button mentioned above.
•The Items window now has a minimum size of 620x233 to accommodate the new "Update" button.
•The new item dialog box will now accept URLs. When browsing eBay auctions in a web browser, it can sometimes be easier to copy the entire URL of an auction, rather than selecting and copying the item number. This function works by taking the input, removing all non-numeric characters starting from the right, then reading all numeric characters until it encounters a non-numeric character.
•The new item dialog box now says "Enter item number or URL" to accommodate the new URL feature.
•"Catagory" in the item status windows is now correctly spelled "Category"...whoops!
2.0.4 - 07/04/99 - This version adds a requested feature and a bug fix.
New features and improvements:
•New "File:Save Item List" menu item. This menu item will save changes made to the Item List. This process is still done automatically when the Item List is closed or AAT is quit, but was implemented because in the event of a crash, changes would not be saved. This gives users the ability to save their work as they go.
•Items with no high bidder that are added with the Auto Load feature now correctly show "--" instead of nothing in the Item List.
2.0.3 - 06/09/99 - This version adds compatibility with eBay's new appearance changes.
2.0.2 - 05/24/99 - This version adds compatibility with eBay's new bidding procedure.
New feature and improvements:
•Bidding now works with eBay's bidding procedure changes.
•Bidding window now remembers your user ID and will remember your password if you check the "Save Password" checkbox. Please note that AAT does not encrypt the preference file that saves your login data, so anyone with access to your computer could get your eBay password if you use the "Save Password" option.
•AAT will now play the system beep when the number of bids has increased (when the green arrow is displayed).
•AAT should now correctly display the Euro currency character ("£") for UK auctions.
2.0.1 - 05/14/99 - This version fixes a compatibility issue with Mac OS 8.6 as well as adding some minor improvements.
New features and improvements:
•AAT 2.0.1 should now work correctly with Mac OS 8.6.
•The item list's bid and high bidder columns are now automatically updated when an auction status window detects a change. If you want to update the whole items list, just open every auction, let them load, then close them all.
•The "View:Update From Cache" menu item was removed. The item list now automatically updates itself from the cache when it is opened.
•The "Auction:Open" menu item has been renamed to "Auction:Open With Browser" to more accurately reflect its function.
•The "Auction:Bid" menu item has been renamed to "Auction:Bid With AAT" to more accurately reflect its function.
•The registration reminder will no longer open for unregistered users who choose the "View:Item List" menu item.
•Minimum RAM raised to 3MB.
2.0 - 05/13/99 - This version adds long-awaited bidding support, along with quite a few major improvements.
New features and improvements:
•New bid window accessed from the "Auction:Bid" menu item.
•"Browser" menu has been renamed to "Auction". "Auction:Open" works the same as "Browser:Open" used to. "Auction:Bid" no longer opens the item in a browser, but instead opens the new bid window allowing the user to bid from within AAT.
•Item list and ban list now have five columns: number, end date, bid, high bidder, and title. This gives the user more information and a more Finder-like feel to AAT. The bid and high bidder can be updated from the cache via the "View:Update From Cache" menu item.
•The "View:Arrange:by Item Number", "View:Arrange:by End Date", and "View:Arrange:by Title" menu items have been removed. Their function was replaced by the new column headers in the Item and Ban lists.
•All auction data is now cached, not just the number of bids. When an auction status window is opened, the information received is cached so that the next time you open it the previous state is immediately displayed while new, current data is being loaded.
•New "Auction:Reload" and "Auction:Stop" menu items. These do the same as the "Reload" and "Stop" buttons in an auction status window.
•The Auto Load feature now remembers the last user ID you used.
•The Items window can now be closed by clicking the close box or choosing the "File:Close" menu item.
•New "View:Item List" menu item to reopen the Items window once it has been closed.
•The Items window now remembers its size and position, returning itself to that size and position when it is reopened.
•Auctions can now be opened in your Internet Config-selected browser from the item list, without having to open a status window, via the "Auction:Open" menu item.
•Closing an auction status window now automatically resets the green arrow. This is to remain consistent with the new auction data caching. Users can still click the green arrow to reset it.
•The Items window now has a minimum size of 620x200. This is for compatibility with the new column headers in the item and ban lists.
•Item number sorting now works correctly when sorting 8 character and 9 character item numbers.
•Bug fixed with opening multiple auction status windows at once with item numbers of varying lengths.
•Bug with green arrow fixed. This bug would cause the green arrow to display when the number of bids had not increased, whenever the screen was redrawn (such as when AAT was hidden and then brought back to the front).
1.5 - 04/28/99 - This version adds some useful features, cosmetic and menu improvements, and bug fixes.
New features and improvements:
•New "Ban" button in the Items window. The button is not normally visible, but when the option key is held down, the delete button turns into the "Ban" button. This button adds the currently selected item(s) to the ban list, preventing them from being added to the items list. This is useful if you have bid on something, but the bidding has passed what you wish to spend and you do not want the item to be added via the Auto Load option.
•New "File:New", "File:Open", "File:Auto Load", "File:Delete", and "File:Ban" menu items. These menu items have button counterparts, and were created to give keyboard control to AAT.
•New "Alert on Bid Increase" feature. When an auction status window is opened, AAT will now show a green arrow next to the current bid if the number of bids has increased. This arrow will stay until it is clicked, which resets it.
•New "Edit:Clear Cache" menu item. This will delete the cache created by the new "Alert on Bid Increase" feature.
•New "View:Ban List" menu item. This will present the currently banned auctions, and allow the user to remove auctions from this list.
•Fixed a bug which caused the Auto Load feature to not work with users who are selling or bidding a lot. The problem occurred when the amount of HTML data Auction Action Tracker had to process was greater than 32k.
•New "About Auction Action Tracker..." about box dialog with improved graphics.
•Fixed an inconsistency in the end date formatting in the Items window.
1.2 - 04/11/99 - This version adds two requested features.
New features and improvements:
•New "View:Bidding", "View:Bidding & Time", and "View:Bidding & Time & Item" menu items. These new menu items will alter the information displayed in an auction status window, allowing the user to see only the information he/she wants.
•New "View:Remove Duplicates" menu item. This menu item, when the Items window is frontmost, will attempt to remove duplicate entries from the items list.
•Better crash error message.
1.1.1 - 04/07/99 - This version fixes a bug that could cause auctions' statistics to be parsed incorrectly.
1.1 - 04/06/99 - This version adds some very useful requested features.
New features and improvements:
•Item list now shows the auction's end times. NOTE: End dates will not be displayed for auctions already in your item list from a previous version. Only new auctioned added with the "New..." or "Auto Load" buttons will show the end date.
•New "View" menu with "View:Arrange:by End Date", "View:Arrange:by Item Number", and "View:Arrange:by Name" menu items. These new menu items allow auctions in the item list to be sorted by different values. NOTE: Older auctions in the item list from previous versions may not be able to be sorted, especially by end date.
•New "Edit:Select All" menu item. This menu item, when the Items window is frontmost, will select all auctions in the item list.
•Items window is now resizable.
1.0 - 04/03/99 - First version is complete.
1.0b3 - 04/03/99 - Getting close to the final version with some simple but important improvements.
New features and improvements:
•For reserve auctions, "(reserve met)" or "(reserve not yet met)" is now displayed next to the bid.
•Bid status is now in bold for easier viewing.
•Bid status is now color-coded with red or green text.
•When the user clicks the "New..." or "Auto Load" button, it will turn into a "Stop" button allowing the user to cancel the task.
1.0b2 - 04/02/99 - Some major improvements.
New features and improvements:
•Various bug fixes.
•New window layout uses about 26% less space.
•30 day trial period, instead of 14.
•New File:Close menu item to close currently displayed auction status window.
•Registration reminder window now links to secure ordering, as well as insecure ordering.
•Improved HTML numeric entity processing. NOTE: When a numeric entity value can't be interpreted correctly, it is replaced by a question mark.
•New browser menu with Browser:Open and Browser:Bid menu items. "Open" will open the currently displayed auction in your web browser. "Bid" is the same as "Open", but should scroll down to the bidding section of the page.
