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; } }})
• In the absence of process.on('uncaughtException') in your app code, uncaught exceptions are now sent to the console and will no longer kill the server. This 'safety net' is automatically activated when you call ss.packAssets() as you typically would in production
• Any errors encountered serving the HTML view are now sent to the console, not the browser
• Added new 'Best Practices' doc section and new doc file: Hosting in Production

Other

• Updated to work on Node 0.8
• 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