So the topic of how SMS stores timestamps came up as I was working away at the first 2.5 beta. Currently, we use the SQL datetime code that provides a timestamp in the form of YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS. That’s all well and good, but the problem is that it creates a situation where we have to actually build any conversions right into the SQL queries throughout the system. Again, that’s not a huge issue, but I’m always looking to see where we can make SMS easier and more efficient. Truth is, if I want to format a timestamp, I have to open another page because I can never remember the syntax for it. For a developer, that’s frustrating. If I have problems with that, then I can only imagine what other people think of it.

The alternative to this is using the UNIX timestamp instead of the SQL datetime. A UNIX timestamp actually counts the seconds from 12/31/1969 (or something like that). Nice thing about the UNIX way is that PHP provides a really easy way to convert those timestamps into just about anything with the date() function. Things could even be simplied further by creating a function where a developer would set parameters that would be acted on. In theory, the function could look a little something like:

printDate( "D M d, Y" ) would print out => Thur Mar. 29, 2007

It’s a nice alternative to what we’re doing now.  Of course, there’s a problem.  (Isn’t there always?)  A lot of the pages that draw heavily on the date functions are coded for the SQL timestamps.  That means that essentially every page that uses a date of any kind will have to be recoded.  For the most part it wouldn’t be a complete recode, just a few changes here and there.  However, there are a few pages that would almost have to be rewritten.  And, as luck would have it, those pages are the ones that gave me the most trouble initially.  Isn’t like grand?

There’s also a possibility that change could get pushed as far back as 3.0 just to simplify things in the short term.  I haven’t made up my mind yet.  This change certainly wouldn’t come by beta 1.  Depending on when I decide, it could be an 11th hour addition to beta 2, but that’s a ways down the road still.  Oh the decisions…

So for the last 7 months, SMS 2 has had the same skins packaged with it. Considering how large of a release 2.5 will be, I thought it might be cool to redo all the skins. I’ve mentioned several times before that we’re reducing the number of skins packaged with SMS to reduce the size of the zip archive. Right now, SMS ships with 5 skins. 2.5 will ship with 3 skins. The default one is still being worked on, but there are two others that have recently had some face time on the forums. The first is an evolution of the SMS Classic skins that currently ship with SMS, though the new one will be a bit brighter. There will be variants available on the SMS Extras site when the time comes.

Also, I’ve been working on an LCARS skin that will ship with 2.5. So far, it’s come out pretty cool, but there’s a lot left to do. There’s never really been a good LCARS skin released for SMS. A few people have tried their hand, but they haven’t really caught it right, at least in my opinion. The big difference between the 2.5 LCARS skin and previous attempts is that some of the attempts required frames. Won’t need that this time around. The forum has screenshots of both, so make sure you check them out and leave some feedback!

After my last post about the little changes coming to SMS 2.5, I looked back and realized that I’d actually not covered several of the major little features that have found their way into SMS in the last few weeks. I thought I’d take a few minutes to talk about more of the little things that are being added to SMS.

Every once in a while, something happens and a post doesn’t go in to the database right, or a user decides they want to add something after the fact. What happens with that though? We ended up adding the Add Post feature a few releases back which lets an admin add a post from another player. It was a cool thing to add, but as I started using it on my own sim, I noticed a few things that I wanted to change. Sometimes the email will get sent out with the post, but for some reason, the entry won’t make it to the database. Whether it’s a server hiccup or something else, it’s never good to be filling up players’ inboxes with double posts. For 2.5, now an admin can decide whether or not they want to send an email or not. In addition, you can set the mission that the post you’re adding goes in to. By deafult it’ll be the current mission, but every once in a while you want to add a post to another mission for whatever reason. Now you can.

It’s been mentioned once or twice on the forums, but it bears repeating. The SMS zip archive has slowly gotten larger over the last few months, but not everyone has a cable connection. To combat the growing size of the archive, we’ll be reducing the number of skins and rank sets that come with SMS. Currently, there are 5 skins and 3 rank sets that come packaged with SMS 2.4. In the next major release, we’ll be sending out 3 skins and 2 rank sets. This should lower the size of the archive by almost a full megabyte. At the same time, we’ll be expanding the SMS Extras offerings to make sure that SMS users aren’t without great rank sets or skins. In addition to the skins that are out there now, we’ll also be releasing ship-specific skins along with SMS 2.5 so you’ll be able to fly the flag of your sim’s ship class proudly. Finally, on top of that, the 3 packaged skins are being completely redesigned to give SMS a whole new look and feel. Don’t worry, the SMS 2 “classic” style will still be available on the Extras site.

Sometimes you need to get to the mission notes without actually going to the post pages.  Truth be told, that was an oversight on my part, but I’ve gone back and remedied that by providing a mission notes page where users can see the current mission notes.

Tabs were a hot topic in the other post, and as an update to that, we’ve expanded the tabs idea into some new areas.  Reading mission summaries now utilizes tabs.  By default, when you go to the mission summariese page, you’ll see the current mission’s summary with a tab available for the completed missions.  Editing mission summaries works in much the same way.

I’m sure I’ll notice yet more things, but this post and the other post give you an idea of the scope of what’s being changed in SMS.  Lots of changes, but it’ll make SMS that much better in the end!

For anyone who’s used SMS, when someone uses the acronym SMS, they know exactly what it means: SIMM Management System.  But to someone who hasn’t used SMS or doesn’t know what it is, it stands for something completely different: text messaging.  You might think that it’s a leap to think someone might get those confused, but several people have emailed us asking why their host is talking about text messaging servers when they ask if the host will run SMS.  To someone who doesn’t know, that’s an easy thing to confuse.  To avoid some of this confusion in the future, SMS 3 will actually carry a product name.  For instance, Windows Vista was actually known as Longhorn for the longest time.  In the same way, SMS 3 is now the codename for the next major version of the SIMM Management System.

After thinking long and hard about it, it made a lot of sense to use a product name.  SMS 3 will usher in a whole new era for Anodyne.  Instead of just using it for Star Trek sims, now there will be major support for several other genres.  This will signifcantly increase the SMS user base, and for some people, will signal the first time that they’ve used SMS for their sim.  As development on SMS 2.x winds down, we’ll release more information about SMS 3 and as we get closer to release, will actually unveil the final name of the product (which will be a “1.0 product” when it’s released).  Stay tuned … lots of cool things on the horizon!

A lot of focus has been put on the major changes coming to SMS 2.5 in the coming months, but relatively little has been made of those little things that get changed from release to release that make life a bit easier or add that small bit of functionality that helps make a feature that much better.  While the majority of work going in to 2.5 right now is for the user access control update and the big bug fix dealing with Windows’ handling of UNIX line breaks, there are little things that have been added or fixed that I wanted to take some time to talk about.

Back when I ran my own MODed version of SMS 1.2, I had a listing on the manifest with the top 5 open positions I was looking to fill.  It was a good way for prospective players to jump right in and see what I was looking for and apply if they wanted to.  That little bit helped.  SMS 2 doesn’t have that, and while I could easily go in and MOD my files again, I prefer the “out of box” method where I don’t actually have to do anything special once I install it.  That’s where this idea came from.  SMS 2.5 includes the option for a CO to use the front page (where the current mission and latest posts are) to display a list of the top open positions they’d like to fill, complete with links to the join page.  The positions displayed are controlled through the Site Globals page now with a list of the positions that have 1 or more open slots and that you’ve elected to display.  All you have to do is pick the positions and update the page.  Easy as that.  On top of that, I’ve allowed a bit more customization with the front page than before.  Previously, you could only set it to display or not display.  Now, you can choose to show the current mission, the latest posts, or the open positions … or if you want, none of them, or even a combination of them.

Ranks and skins aren’t exactly intuitive to manage in SMS right now.  In 2.5, I’ve added catalogues that give you more control over what users see and don’t see.  This is great too because it allows for some more advanced actions when you remove and deactivate a skin.  Currently, if you remove a skin from the list, the next time a user logs in who had that skin, they’re out of luck and won’t see much of anything.  Now, that user’s profile will be updated.  In addition, the catalogues allow you to actually set what skin and rank set are the default for new users.  No more having to use the skin/rank set default, now you can set it.

Being a CO is very much about keeping records.  SMS helps with that a little, but it can do more.  I recently ran in to an issue myself where I sent a rejection letter out, but the person didn’t get it.  Of course, I didn’t have a copy of that letter any more, so I had to, from memory, tell the player why I had rejected them.  After that was over, I turned around and immediately added it so that the CO of the ship will always get a copy of the acceptance/rejection letters.  It’s a little thing, but it’ll help in the long run.

There are still a few bugs out there for SMS that people have learned to live with, but they shouldn’t have to.  There are some formatting irregularities that exist that shouldn’t.  Several of those have been fixed.  You’ll notice that when you edit a single post, the form buttons are on one side, but if you edit a single log, they’re on the other.  Fixed now.  (Might have been a small issue, but I’m all about consistency.)  The text boxes for posting have been widened and made larger, because the way they were just wasn’t enough.  The disappearing mission title bug has been found and fixed so it won’t plague anyone after 2.5.  I’ve added a page that gives the mission notes without having to go to the post pages.  (Again, minor.)  There are plenty more, but admittedly they’ve gotten lost in all the code changes.

Different browsers render form buttons differently.  My browser of choice, Camino, uses the OS X native Aqua widgets while Firefox does something different and IE does something different too.  Let’s face it, if you’re trying to make a skin that is all your skin, you need to control that stuff.  Well now you can.  HTML provides a nice little tag for changing submit buttons to use images instead of the native widgets.  Every button used throughout the system will now look the same by using images.  This means that with a few new button images, you can have a very unique skin with your own buttons.

Tabs are all the rage these days, so why not have them in SMS?  Exactly what I was thinking.  Throughout the system you’ll find tabs all over the place to compact the information we’re displaying.  The Site Globals page got tabs and just in my testing so far, I’ve fallen in love with it.  The main control panel has gotten them for the latest entries.  Again, fallen in love with them so far.  There are other places I’m planning to put them that’ll make life more convenient, too.

All in all, this is a very exciting release for me as we’re making a lot of strides to give you guys as much power as we possibly can.  On top of that, there are tons of changes coming in future releases too that’ll make SMS the must-have system for anyone running a Star Trek RPG.  Stay tuned, ’cause it’s about to get good!