HISTORY.md

0.3.0 / 2012-XX-XX

Not yet released. These are the changes so far...

Improvements for Production Hosting

• IMPORTANT: ss.client.packAssets() now tries to use existing pre-packed assets if present
• If no assets are found, or you pass the env var SS_PACK=1, assets will always be (re)packed
• Static assets now have a cache expiry header of 30 days by default. Configurable with ss.client.set({static: {maxAge: newValue}}) as before
• NEW: CDN paths can now be functions. E.g. ss.client.packAssets({cdn: {js: function(file){ return "http://mycdn.com" + file.path; } }})

Other

• Updated to work on Node 0.8 Discuss any issues here
• Live Reload now uses chokidar for better performance on Windows and when creating new files. Big thanks to CyberWalrus
• Updated many package dependencies
• Added documentation in Korean (thanks EngForDev)
• Enable proper handling of question marks and params when routing HTTP requests (thanks matthiasg)
• In newly generated projects ss.define.client() now lists client libs explicitly to avoid confusion over load order
• Updated bundled jQuery to 1.7.2

0.3 RC2 / 2012-05-04

• New: Multiple Websocket Transports now fully supported. Switch between Socket.IO (bundled by default) and SockJS (first alpha release) without changing any of your application code
• New: Socket.IO client library can now be configured (see updated example in README)
• Live Reload: Working on fixing issues whilst renaming files in VIM (see #227, thanks madscoaducom), fixed issue saving CSS + normal files together
• Errors in formatting templates (e.g. bad .jade) now caught properly
• Any missing sessions are now automatically recreated (useful when developing without using Redis)
• New project example code now uses Nib instead of custom Stylus helpers
• Minor refactoring
• Updated README with video link

0.3 RC1 / 2012-04-22

New Request Responder API!

• This powerful low-level API will allow SocketStream to support models, reactive templates, user presence, custom low-level gaming protocols and much more!
• Create own Request Responder by reading the documentation and downloading the example module
• Publish your Request Responder module on NPM. The best modules will be featured on www.socketstream.org
• Include any third-party responder in your app.js with ss.responders.add(require('mod-name'));

Other

• IMPORTANT: Removed console.log compatibility wrapper for older browsers. See #192 for full explanation
• New experimental server-side testing API. See docs
• CSS is now minified using css-clean when you call ss.client.packAssets(). Thanks plievone!
• RPC error stack traces are now only sent to the browser if the request was made from localhost
• Improved and updated ss-console to 0.1.2. Slight API change: add it to your project with require('ss-console')(ss);
• Upgraded Socket.IO to 0.9.6
• Changed a lot of exports.init to module.exports in line with Node best practice
• Removed code to check for previous versions of 0.3
• Updated package.json with names of significant/regular contributors. Thanks guys!

0.3 beta2 / 2012-04-10

Improved New App Creation

• Now creates plain HTML, CSS and Javascript files by default
• Pass -j for Jade and -c for CoffeeScript if preferred
• Pass -m for Minimal Install (no chat demo)
• Pass -r to include Console Server / REPL
• Plain CSS/Stylus/Less options coming soon
• package.json and app.js now dynamically created based upon the modules you choose

Template Engine improvements

• Breaking change to Template Engine module format
• Template Engine external modules can now deliver client-side code
• Hence the Hogan client-side library has been removed from the core and now included within ss-hogan 0.1.3
• ss-coffeekup and ss-clientjade have also be updated. Please sudo npm update to get the latest module
• Template Engine API documentation updated and unlikely to change again

Other

• The names of all client-side dirs can now be optionally changed to improve compatibility with 3rd party frameworks. E.g. ss.client.set({dirs: {code: '/client/code', static: '/public'}})
• Added support for hosting packaged assets files on a CDN. To use: ss.client.packAssets({cdn: {js: "http://my.cdn.com/my.js", css: "http://my.cdn.com/my.css"}})
• Internal Request Middleware now loads even if there is no /server/middleware directory present
• Bit of internal refactoring. Be sure to update ss-console to 0.1.1
• Upgraded Socket.IO to 0.9.5

Note: Several minor tweaks and improvements will be pushed to master before 0.3.0 is released and published to NPM later this month

0.3 beta1 / 2012-03-26

Major improvements to Client Asset Manager

• Massive amount of refactoring to improve code
• Live Reload: CSS changes now only refresh the CSS, not the entire page (thanks cjm!)
• All client code is now properly minified in production
• HTML views (one per client) and ss.load.code output is now cached in RAM in production
• /client/code/libs and system directories can now contain sub-dirs which are treated the same way
• Added connect.favicon to the Connect middleware stack
• New internal API for adding client code. Will be documented for use by 3rd party modules in the future
• Static assets are now cached for 30 seconds by default (no caching before). Change with ss.client.set({static: {maxAge: newValue}})
• ss.load commands no longer allow access to files outside of the correct asset dir
• Better warning message if you put the wrong file in the wrong dir (e.g. a png in /client/css)
• Due to the large amount of code changed, please check existing projects carefully and report any errors

New Feature: Web Workers

• Please see new documentation: Web Workers
• Implemented with minimal code. Leverages existing modules

API Changes

• ss.http.router.on has been shortened to ss.http.route. Old API will continue to work
• Optional new short form if you're only serving one client per URL: ss.http.route('/').serveClient('main')

ss-hogan Module

• Breaking Change No more global variables (e.g. HT) for templates
• Access all templates from 'ss.tmpl' instead of HT, assuming you require('socketstream') as ss
• Tip: Alias 'ss.tmpl' with 'window.HT = ss.tmpl;' in your entry.js file if you don't want to change your code

Also: Documentation updates to Client Side Templating & Pub Sub Events

0.3 alpha5 / 2012-03-11

Major improvements to Client-side Code

Please read new documentation on Client-side Code then create a new project to see the updated file structure. Also see the alpha5 announcement on Google Groups if you want a step-by-step migration guide.

Key changes from previous releases:

• All client code files not in a directory called 'libs` are now modules by default
• You can now require() modules in the browser in exactly the same way as on the server (thanks to code from Browserify)
• Where you currently called require('mymod') you will now need to add a leading slash: require('/mymod')
• You can now use relative paths such as require('../../mymod') as you would on the server
• ss.loadAsync() is now ss.load.code() but essentially works the same way. See new On Demand Loading doc
• No more mandatory SocketStream and ss global variables...
• SocketStream is now a system module - make it any global you want or type var ss = require('socketstream') at the top of each file if you prefer
• SocketStream.event.on is now ss.server.on. Event names have not changed
• The SocketStream global is no longer needed and has been removed
• An /entry.js (or .coffee) module is now created by default and must always be present in your app as this is the new single point of entry
• The ss.client.wrapCode() command and code wrappers concept are now redundant and the code has been removed

Note: The next release will see further improvements to client-side code and a lot of internal refactoring / cleaning up. At this stage no more breaking changes to your client or server-side code are anticipated.

New project installer

• Now creates example code in JavaScript by default
• Install example code in CoffeeScript by passing the -c option
• Further enhancements planned here

New documentation

• Client-side Code
• Defining multiple Single-Page Clients
• Loading Assets On Demand

Other changes

• We are no longer bundling ss-console in new apps by default
• You can now disable Live Reload altogether with ss.client.set({liveReload: false}) in your app.js file
• Upgraded deps: Socket.IO 0.9 and Connect 2.0.2

0.3 alpha4 / 2012-02-23

This release sees the return of two much-loved features from SocketStream 0.2, redesigned and reimplemented to be better than ever.

The Console is back!

• Implemented as an optional module, ss-console, to keep the core bloat-free
• Installed by default for now when you create a new project as part of our recommended stack (minimal install option coming soon)
• Works by connecting to a running server, rather than starting a new instance of your app
• Invoke any ss.rpc() method via the console with exactly the same syntax as in the browser, errors shown in red
• Publish an event over the console with the normal API - e.g. ss.publish.all('newMessage', 'Hello from the console!')
• Creates a new session when you start it up, so you can use it with req.use('session') middleware
• If you have a console.js file in your project it will be deleted as no longer required
• Huge thanks to mindeavor for contributing code and ideas

Live Reload is back!

• Automatically detects changes to HTML, CSS and JS files in /client
• Sends an event to all connected browsers instructing them to reload the page
• Recognises new files and deleted files - much improved from SocketStream 0.2
• Enabled by default unless you call ss.client.packAssets() (i.e. turned off in production)

Others

• Rearchitected Websocket Responders/Middleware so they are now called Request Responders/Middleware
• Request Responders now expose multiple interfaces - more work to do here until I'm happy with the API
• Changed /serveDev URLs to make it easier to identify which files have errors in the browser (#123)
• Refactored and improved template code. Added tests (mindeavor)
• CoffeeKup templates can now end in .coffee (mindeavor)
• Time taken to process each ss.rpc() call now shown in ms. Still need to sort out logging options
• Creates a .nodemonignore file in new projects so changes to .coffee files in server cause the server to restart as expected
• Jade templates are now supported in the browser using sveisvei's ss-clientjade module
• When processing incoming HTTP requests res.serve is now res.serveClient as it's more descriptive. res.serve will remain as an alias for the foreseeable future
• server/middleware directory is now optional
• Improved RPC error message handling (work towards #138)
• HTTP Client headers now include length to prevent chunked encoding (#139)
• Re-written 'Introduction' in README
• Added Travis CI integration and build status badge

0.3 alpha3 / 2012-02-09

New Connect-based Session Store and improvements

• Allows seamless sharing of user sessions between HTTP and Websocket requests
• Easily share sessions with other libraries which use Connect such as Express.js
• Integrates with Everyauth so you can easily add Facebook Connect or Twitter OAuth authentication to your app
• Implemented getting/setting custom session variables. Set using req.session.myVar = 1 then call req.session.save()
• Continues to use in-memory store by default for easy development. req.session API unchanged
• 'connect-redis' now bundled by default in place of our custom redis session store
• Activate with ss.session.store.use('redis') as before, or pass an instance of another Connect session store
• Sessions now expire in 30 days by default (2592000000 ms). Configure with ss.session.options.maxAge = <valueInMs>
• connect.session middleware now sets session cookie over HTTP instead of via websocket
• Many thanks to nponeccop for providing the initial code and ideas around this major enhancement

BREAKING CHANGE: Changed and improved Websocket Middleware

• Moved /server/rpc/middleware to /server/middleware so middleware can be used by all websocket responders (including forthcoming models)
• Moved contents of /server/rpc/actions to /server/rpc. Projects in the old format will be detected and you will be helped to upgrade
• No longer uses exports.before in /server/rpc. Instead call req.use() inside the exports.actions function (same API as Connect)
• m.loadSession() now becomes req.use('session') - see new doc page for full details
• Declaring middleware now feels cleaner plus middleware can now be programmatically added to the chain

Other Changes

• BREAKING CHANGE: Any Redis config passed to ss.session.store.use('redis') and ss.publish.transport.use('redis') should no longer be prefixed with {redis: {}}
• Fixed bug preventing assets loading when running in production mode for the first time
• Started writing new documentation in /doc/guide/en with help from mindeavor
• New syntax for appending/prepending Connect Middleware to the stack - see new new doc page
• Fixed bug in event-based router (nponeccop)
• Now detects session cookie from Socket.IO handshake data instead of sending over WS (closes #133)
• Implemented passing config object in ss.publish.transport.use() command (closes #132)
• Improved the way internal modules are detected and loaded (closes #134)

0.3 alpha2 / 2012-02-01

New modular client-side Template Engines

• Supports server-side compiled Hogan templates using the optional ss-hogan npm module
• Supports server-side compiled CoffeeKup templates using the optional ss-coffeekup npm module
• Supports Ember.js 'reactive' templates - a perfect compliment to SocketStream
• Easily create an template engine module for your preferred template language and share it on npm
• Best feature: Mix and match different types of templates in your project - perfect for experimenting or converting from one to another
• Now bundling server-side Hogan template solution as the default (when creating a new project). Demo updated to demonstrate use of Hogan templates. Note socketstream new will create a 'bare-bones' project in the future whereas socketstream new -r will install our recommended stack + chat demo
• In the absence of proper docs for templating so far, please look at the Alpha 2 announcement on our Google Group

Other Changes

• Tidied up and improved README
• Better resolving of nested routes (with dots in) to single-page clients by caching names of static dirs upon startup
• Warns if you try to define a single-page client which conflicts with the name of a file or folder in /clients/static
• New projects are bundled with reset.css (http://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/css/reset/) as in 0.2 instead of bootstrap.css
• Experimenting with new loadAsync() command to load in additional client-side modules. See post in Google Group
• Any old files in /client/static/assets are now deleted by default. Override with {keepOldFiles: true}
• Backwards slashes () replaced with forward slashes (/) in file paths for Windows compatibility (David Rosen)
• Updated INSTALL.md

0.3 alpha1 / 2012-01-14

Huge changes to pretty much everything since 0.2.7. See README for full details.

All archived history in the 0.2 branch: https://github.com/socketstream/socketstream/blob/0.2/HISTORY.md