Version 2.0b3 
=============

July 7, 1994.

Several people reported crashes when trying to print to Stylewriters
or Deskwriters. I fixed an error which is very likely the cause of the
crashes. I hope 2.0b3 works better with these printers.

A few people reported that NewsWatcher did not save the full group
list properly, and it downloaded a new full group list from the server
every time you ran the program. This error was most likely due to
confusion when multiple preferences files were present in your
Preferences folder, and should be fixed in 2.0b3. Let me know if you
still have this problem with 2.0b3.

Canceling articles didn't work with some servers, because NewsWatcher
was incorrectly sending the cancel message to the "control" group
instead of to the newsgroups to which the original article was posted.
Typically, you got a server error message telling you that "Posting to
the control group is not allowed". This error is fixed.

Some FTP servers send comment lines which contain no response codes at
the beginnings of the lines. The old version treated such lines as
errors. The new version skips these kinds of lines, and works with
these servers. Note that this is a different problem than the
"continuation line" problem, which was fixed in 2.0b1.

When you select an FTP helper program in the Preferences dialog,
NewsWatcher checks to see if the version of Fetch or Anarchie you
selected is too old. If the version is too old, NewsWatcher was
misbehaving and putting up bogus dialogs on the screen. This error is
fixed.

Fixed an error which could cause crashes if a system extension opens a
DA window inside NewsWatcher behind NewsWatcher's back. Some
third-party extensions use this rude technique for posting alerts.

Option-clicking a message id didn't work right if two message ids
immediately followed each other with no white space between them.
Fixed.

If you pressed Command-right arrow to go to the end of the current
line, then pressed the delete key, the proper character was not always
deleted. Fixed.

In text, if the insertion point is in the last line of text, down
arrow now moves the insertion point to the end of the last line of
text. Similarly, if the insertion point is in the first line of text,
up arrow now moves it to the beginning of the first line.

In some circumstances, the insertion point was not properly scrolled
into view when you typed in message windows. Fixed.

Customizing NewsWatcher by copying a 'PREF' id=128 resource to the
program did not always work right. Sometimes you would get an
unexpected error when trying to open the preferences dialog. Fixed.

If you used a non-monospaced font for list windows, the spacing
between columns of information was too big. This problem is fixed.
2.0b3 now uses the same spacing as the old version 2.0d17.

The old version's restrictions on the legal characters in remote host
usernames, passwords, and file pathnames were too strong. All
printable characters are now permitted in these fields.

NewsWatcher marks incomplete threads with a "<" character in subject
windows. When the last part has arrived, earlier parts are restored,
the entire thread is displayed in the subject window, and the "<"
character is removed. In the old version, no special character was
used to mark the thread which just became complete. In the new
version, the thread is marked with a bullet to alert you to the fact
that the last part has arrived and the thread is now complete.

In a group list window, you can type the first few characters of each
part of a group name to jump to that group (e.g., type "co.sy.ma.co"
to jump to comp.sys.mac.com). This is particularly useful in the long
full group list. In the old version, some people reported this didn't
work correctly because a timing parameter was too small. In the new
version, the timing parameter is set to a constant 2 seconds. You have
to type the characters within 2 seconds of each other. If you want to
start over and type a new string from the beginning, you must wait at
least 2 seconds.

If you hold down the Option key while opening a group, NewsWatcher
prompts you for the most recent number of articles to fetch from the
server. The number you type overrides the "Maximum number of articles
to fetch" preference. In the old version, NewsWatcher only fetched the
most recent *unread* articles. In the new version, NewsWatcher fetches
the most recent *read or unread* articles. NewsWatcher changes the
group's unread list to include just the most recent number of articles
you specify, then it opens the group.

When you save or append an article to a disk file, NewsWatcher
normally saves or appends only the text of the article, not any of the
unreadable uuencode or BinHex text for attached binaries. This is
usually what you want. You use the "Save", "Save As", or "Append"
command to save the descriptive part of the article, and you use the
"Extract Binaries" command to extract the attached binaries. In some
circumstances, however, it is useful to save all of an article to a
disk file, including the raw uuencode or BinHex text. To do this, turn
on the new checkbox option named "Save encoded text" in the standard
file dialog.

I improved the heuristics for detecting BinHex and uuencode text. In
particular, in the old version, some postings with ASCII charts were
incorrectly being truncated and treated as if they contained attached
binaries. This no longer happens with these postings.

You can open a referenced article by option-clicking a message id, and
you can open all referenced articles with the "Open All References"
command in the "Special" menu. With these kinds of articles which are
opened by reference, NewsWatcher is too stupid to extract any attached
binaries, because there is no parent subject window to help
NewsWatcher locate parts. In the old version, any attached binary was
truncated, but no icon was displayed in the panel area. This was
misleading, to say the least. In the new version, the icon is
displayed, but if you try to extract binaries, NewsWatcher presents an
alert apologizing for being stupid and giving you instructions on how
to get around the problem. (This is obscure - if you don't understand
it, feel free to ignore it.)