iDT Developer Log
The developer log has been placed online so aspiring "click" developers can see iDT's progress as it nears completion
June 11, 2007 > v0.29
Beta Version 0.29 corrects two of the reported issues in bv0.28. The first and biggest problem was an issue that occured when the user ran iDT in a resolution other than 1024x768, iDT failed to properly adjust to the new resolution and thus none of the graphics were displayed in the right locations. The second fix was to reduce iDT's CPU usage when the program was running idle and no modules were running.
June 9, 2007 > v0.28
Beta Version 0.28 is the first publicly available release for iDT. There are still a few disabled features in the product, but the majority of the framework is there and working. Upon hearing the first comments of those who have tested iDT, a number of problems have been brought to light, the most common being that all people see is a blue box (no menu graphics) that resizes itself as you press space or shift.

While the resizing part makes sense, the rest of it does not and obviously more bug testing is needed. Perhaps there is a machine specific problem but ultimately, this is a surprising development.

Beta Version 0.29 will hopefully not only correct a few of the obvious issues (such as the performance toll iDT has on the average CPU), to providing better documentation, and hopefully fixing a few of the reported bugs.
November 4, 2006 > v0.27
Beta Version 0.27 corrects a number of bugs found in bv0.26, it also introduces a "graceful" freeze feature that prevents iDT from locking into a continual loop with no apparant sign of progress.

It also introduces an improved messaging system, the previous one simply displayed the message in an active system box, which would size itself to accomodate the message, not only was this buggy at best but longer messages would be unpractical as the message box would grow to a size dispraportionate to iDT. This has been replaced with a scrolling message box designed to accomodate any sized message as well as provision for user command controls as well (such as a iDT restart yes/no option for the user when iDT is updated)

The upcoming Beta Version 0.28 will concentrate on adding the final interface features to iDT that will allow the user to have more control over how iDT runs and where, such as where on the desktop it will be locked into position on, and provide the user with a file/folder option to allow the user to organize their modules to their own liking within iDT.
September 12, 2006 > v0.26
The significant change in Beta Version 0.26 is the introduction of the new file and folder system within iDT. As development continued on iDT, the need to organize and catagorize modules became apparent, changes to the module file structure Beta Version 0.24 included the allowance for multi-leveled folders, but the version itself didn't incorporate functionality to recognize folders and sub-folders. Beta Version 0.26 adds this functionality, which is a major upgrade.

Another significant upgrade is the development of a messaging system to prompt the user of any messages that iDT provides. Modules will also have the ability to send a message to the iDT interface.
August 10, 2006 > v0.25
Beta Version 0.25 is a minor update to correct a number of glitches and bugs created by the new features introduced in Beta Version 0.24
August 8, 2006 > v0.24
Beta Version 0.24 concentrated on further improving iDT's ability to recognize compatible modules. Additionally, developer capability of customizing their module's spotlight screen within iDT has been added, this includes new features such as custom sized preview images, and the ability to display html files as help files. A number of other bugs were fixed in this version.
July 13, 2006 > v0.23
Beta version 0.23 was actually a minor update, incorporating support to allow a module's preview images to be displayed in the "Spotlight" screen, and also incorporating support for .rtf files to be used as help files. Ideally however, it is intended that eventually, a new unique to iDT manner of delivering the help system will be developed.
June 1, 2006 > v0.22
Version 0.22 was focused on incorporating a newer, more flexible module file structure which could be easily and more efficiently expanded upon. Imagine a module file as a list of different pieces of information that represents the module, such as the pixel width of the module on the screen or, the name of the module, or the author. As iDT became more developed, new items were added that were required to insure the files worked as intended, however, since iDT always looked for the "3rd" item to be the title and the "5th" item to be the width in pixels, you can imagine as new items were added, the module files became increasingly messy and disorganized. I felt that a new format should accomplish two things, one, it would be possible to add new items to the module files without making significant changes to iDT (making updating far easier), and two, rather than having hard "pointerS" to look for the information from the module files, iDT would actually use a new function called "Fetch" to search for the information it needed, allowing the iDT module files to be structured, and restructured, without changing the code.

While this may seem a bit complicated, all it really meant was that now it was a heck of a lot easier to update iDT to accomodate new features, which would hopefully make patching it easier and quicker. It would also allow for the development of another module, iDT Update, an online module designed to allow users to update existing modules, and browse online catalogues for new ones, without ever having to open up an internet browser
April 17, 2006 > v0.21
Anyone who has frequently used computers will likely know what it feels like to accidently delete something. It can be frusterating, and leave you questioning whether it's worth the effort to restart from scratch. Oddly enough, only a month later, beta version 0.21. The chance to rebuild the program also allowed the opportunity to tinker with the menu system, and build a much nicer, cleaner 'code'. This version however, also had some significant flaws, read on...

When developing software, it's usually easy to one or two features. It's as that program continues to become more complicated and diverse in its features that the real weaknesses become more apparent. One such flaw was with the module files itself. While the program that ran the modules continued to grow in its scope, the modules themselves didn't change a bit. The same inflexible format in the module files from version 0.1 was carried over to version 0.21. Why? All I can say is never say to yourself, "I'll never need that".
April 12, 2006 > v0.1 to v0.21
As you may have read on iDT's home page, beta version 0.1 of iDT was a working, but heavily flawed version of iDT. It came with a number of limitations. Such limitations included an interface that while simple, would have made using large numbers of modules a redundant chore. It was a simple setup, where all available modules were held in a hidden "list", on the module screen, was a single string representing the module currently selected. The user would use their right or left cursor buttons to select different modules. You can imagine that even though these modules were catagorized, it would be very redundant to have to select your way through a menu of even say, 10 different modules. The loss of beta version 1.0 therefore was actually a blessing in disguise. Most of the unknowns that were required to build a program like iDT had been solved in beta version 0.1, and so rebuilding what I had already developed was easy. I would however take a much more efficient approach in upcoming versions.

The interface was not the only sore spot in beta version 0.1, other areas included the actual appearance of iDT as it resized. Whenever iDT resized, you could see various "pieces" of the interface lagging behind the frame. It just didn't look all that good. Then the final nail in the coffin of iDT Beta Version 0.1, was that it was lost in an unfortuanate slip of the 'delete' key...
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