There have been a lot of discussions recently about the Mac App Store, and how many Mac developers are abandoning it. Here's an excerpt from one example, which includes links to many others:

The Mac App Store was released in January 2011 and it marked the beginning of a great new distribution channel. Even though it lacked some bells and whistles, the developer community was hopeful the problems would be addressed in due course. Unfortunately, it has been years and there’s no evidence that the core issues would be addressed in the future, at all. When notable developers are abandoning your platform, cannot do the right thing for their customers and are delaying their MAS submission, something is very, very broken. I believe that the inaction is harmful to the whole Mac community, affecting consumers and developers alike.

— Mac App Store: The Subtle Exodus by Milen Dzhumerov

This has been a concern for me and my Dejal apps, too.

As I work on an update to my Simon app, I'm once again faced with this issue. Simon currently has two editions in the Mac App Store, Simon Express and Simon Free. Those are already cut-down editions of the full Simon app available on this website, but they also haven't been updated since Apple introduced the sandbox requirements. Simon is a large and powerful app, and really isn't able to be sandboxed without cutting out even more functionality, which I don't want to do.

So, I am forced to announce that Simon Express and Simon Free will be removed from the Mac App Store when the next update of Simon is released. I've thought about removing them immediately, but decided that it'd be better to leave them until the more natural point of the next update. I would really recommend that everyone use the full version of Simon instead of the App Store editions, though.

What about my other apps?

The current version of my free break reminder tool Time Out, 1.7.1, can not be sandboxed either, so the latest version on the Mac App Store, Time Out Free, is stuck at 1.6.5. Again, I recommend people use the version from this site instead. However, I am working on version 2 (currently in alpha testing), which is sandboxed. Supporting sandboxing has complicated the design, and added a lot of work, but I felt it was worth it for such a generally popular and widely-used app. So Time Out 2 will be available both on the Dejal site and the Mac App Store.

My snippet manager app, Caboodle, is up to version 1.5 currently, but again the Mac App Store edition, Caboodle Express, is a bit behind at version 1.4. As with Time Out, this is a widely-used app, so I want to be able to update the App Store edition. So I'm also working on an update that will support this (and may even support iCloud and Dropbox syncing). Work on this is on hold currently; I'll resume after the next updates of Simon and Time Out are done.

Finally, BlogAssist, my menubar utility to help with HTML markup (which I used extensively writing this blog post) is already fully sandboxed and up-to-date on the App Store. Both the standard edition and BlogAssist Express on the App Store are on version 2.4.

So, as you can see, I still believe in the Mac App Store and want to support it for my consumer apps. Although it has technical challenges, and definitely has many problems as others have discussed, I think it is a useful service for my customers, and a valuable way of getting my apps in front of more people.

However, for a more niche, powerful and professional app like Simon, the limitations of the App Store outweigh its benefits, so I can't justify the compromises required to support it. I do hope that changes in the future — there are lots of things Apple could do to make the App Store a better fit for such apps — but I don't think they have much interest in such changes. I'm just glad that they recognize that there are apps that don't fit the App Store, and continue to support apps outside the store via mechanisms like Developer ID.

A quick fix for a couple of issues:

• Fixed a conflict with some plug-ins that caused the Script preferences to not remember the color changes.
• Now uses the failure check interval when a timeout occurs.

Download Simon 3.6.1 now!

Announcing the general release of Simon 3.6!

This release includes new Notification Center and History plug-ins, a rewritten Twitter plug-in, several report enhancements, and other improvements:

• Added a new Notification Center notifier plug-in, that displays a notification in OS X's Notification Center, with various click action options. (Note, it is only available on OS X 10.8 and later.)
• Added a Notification Center default notifier use the new Notification Center plug-in. By default, clicking the notification will select the test in Simon.
• Added a new History filter plug-in, that keeps track of the input text that it has seen, and can set a result if the text is or isn't unique in that history.
• Added a Change Only If Unique default filter to result in a Change if the input text has never been seen before by this filter, or Unchanged if it has.
• Added a History Always Repeats default filter to result in a Failure if the input text hasn't been seen before, or Unchanged if it has. It's easy to add additional variations if you need them.
• Rewrote the Twitter notifier plug-in to work with the latest Twitter API. It now uses the Internet Accounts from System Preferences, so you don't need to enter your Twitter credentials in Simon. (Note, it is only available on OS X 10.8 and later.)
• Removed the Twitter service plug-in, since it would have taken a lot of work to rewrite, and feedback indicates that pretty much nobody uses it. If you do, please contact me.
• Added a Twitter Update default notifier that tweets using the first account alphabetically. It can be edited to specify a different account.
• When creating an E-mail notifier, now uses the displayed default Subject text if you don't edit the field (previously had an error if the field was never touched).
• Added a MySQL default service that uses the MySQL plug-in, to make it easier to use this existing feature.
• Added support for escaping braces (curly brackets) and square brackets in report templates, so they are output in the report instead of being interpreted as Simon variables or blocks.
• Added support for custom date/time formats in report templates. For example, could use NextCheck format="yyyy-MM-dd 'at' HH:mm:ss".
• Updated the Variable Test report template to include the LastChangeTextWithHTML and LastChangeTextWithoutHTML variables, and mention escaping braces and brackets.
• Fixed an issue with the Other... option for the Save Locally report kind.
• Now considers the check frequencies for successes and failures when calculating the Up Time percentages, to make them more accurate.
• Updated the help book and online help.
• Rebuilt for Mavericks using Xcode 5.
• Many changes to improve Mavericks compatibility.

Download Simon 3.6 now!

One (last?) beta of Simon 3.6, with a couple more tweaks:

• When creating an E-mail notifier, now uses the displayed default Subject text if you don't edit the field (previously had an error if the field was never touched).
• The Up Time value in the Tests table now matches the properly weighted value in the Statistics tab (the values will be recalculated when each test is next checked).

Download Simon 3.6b4 now!

Here's another beta of Simon 3.6. This has a tweak based on a recent Simon forum discussion, and updated help and localizations. This will probably be the last beta before general release.

• Now considers the check frequencies for successes and failures when calculating the Up Time percentages, to make them more accurate.
• Updated the help book and online help.

Download Simon 3.6b3 now!

Happy holidays!

Here's another beta of Simon 3.6.

This version includes:

• Added a new Notification Center notifier plug-in, that displays a notification in OS X's Notification Center, with various click action options. (Note, it is only available on OS X 10.8 and later.)
• Added a Notification Center default notifier use the new Notification Center plug-in. By default, clicking the notification will select the test in Simon.
• Added a Twitter Update default notifier that tweets using the first account alphabetically. It can be edited to specify a different account.
• Added a MySQL default service that uses the MySQL plug-in, to make it easier to use this existing feature.
• Updated the help book and online help.

Download Simon 3.6b2 now!

It's been a while, but here's a beta of the next version of Simon, my flagship Mac app to monitor websites and servers.

Version 3.6b1 includes:

• Added a new History filter plug-in, that keeps track of the input text that it has seen, and can set a result if the text is or isn't unique in that history.
• Added a Change Only If Unique default filter to result in a Change if the input text has never been seen before by this filter, or Unchanged if it has.
• Added a History Always Repeats default filter to result in a Failure if the input text hasn't been seen before, or Unchanged if it has. It's easy to add additional variations if you need them.
• Rewrote the Twitter notifier plug-in to work with the latest Twitter API. It now uses the Internet Accounts from System Preferences, so you don't need to enter your Twitter credentials in Simon.
• Removed the Twitter service plug-in, since it would have taken a lot of work to rewrite, and feedback indicates that pretty much nobody uses it. If you do, please contact me.
• Added support for escaping braces (curly brackets) and square brackets in report templates, so they are output in the report instead of being interpreted as Simon variables or blocks.
• Added support for custom date/time formats in report templates. For example, could use NextCheck format="yyyy-MM-dd 'at' HH:mm:ss".
• Updated the Variable Test report template to include the LastChangeTextWithHTML and LastChangeTextWithoutHTML variables, and mention escaping braces and brackets.
• Fixed an issue with the Other... option for the Save Locally report kind.
• Updated the help book.
• Rebuilt for Mavericks using Xcode 5.
• Many changes to improve Mavericks compatibility.

Download Simon 3.6b1 now!

Simon is now available for 25% off at MacUpdate Promo, for a limited time!

They are offering the Platinum license, which supports unlimited tests, for just $374.00!

Plus they have the Bronze license, with up to 15 active test configurations, for just $36.99, and the Silver license, with up to 40 tests, for just $74.49!

Don't miss these great prices!

(2013-05-21: Updated links and prices for the extended deals.)

Here's a quick update to Simon, to version 3.5.1.

This update fixes an issue that prevented the Apple Mail transport method of the E-mail notifier plug-in from working properly.

It also improves the reliability and debug logging of the Web (HTTP) plug-in.

Download Simon 3.5.1 now!

There's a great sense of antici...pation in the developer community, awaiting tickets for Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference to go on sale.

The problem is, in recent years the tickets have been selling out in mere hours. In 2009, the 5,000 tickets sold out within a month. In 2010, they sold out in about 10 days. In 2011, it was only 12 hours. And in 2012, it only took two hours.

How fast will they go this year? Less than an hour? Half an hour? Minutes?

So there are a number of websites that offer to notify you when WWDC is announced, so you can get your ticket as quickly as possible — some where you pay to get notified sooner.

Of course, Dejal Simon is designed for just that kind of job. If you already have Simon, you can easily add a test to get notified. If you don't, you can download the free trial and try it yourself.

It's easy to add such a test. Simply create a new test (perhaps called "WWDC"), set the frequency to whatever interval you like (e.g. 5 minutes or even 1 minute), choose the Web (HTTP) service, and enter the http://developer.apple.com/wwdc URL. (The Cookies will automatically populate.)

If you like, you could add a second test for http://developer.apple.com/wwdc/tickets, in case that is updated first.

There's no need to alter the default Change filter on the Filters page; that will detect any change on the page. Since there isn't dynamic content to ignore, that's fine.

To get notified when a change is detected for this test, add whichever notifiers you want to the Notifiers page. Why not go crazy and add email, sound, Twitter and speech... and have the page open automatically in your default browser while you're at it:

Some of those notifiers you may need to configure, if you haven't previously, e.g. set up the email and Twitter ones. You can configure them to say whatever you like:

I hope this tip helps you manage to get a ticket!

Announcing the general release of Simon version 3.5!

Firstly, please note that Simon now requires an Intel Mac, and a minimum of OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard). If you are using Simon on an older machine, you can continue using version 3.4 or earlier (there are download links on the Simon site).

Simon 3.5 includes a number of improvements and fixes for OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion) support. It also includes improvements to the Web (HTTP) Twitter, Calendar, Script, Email and Speech plug-ins.

Here are the full release notes for the details:

• Moved the main functionality of the Web (HTTP) plug-in into a helper app, so any issues with it won't affect Simon.
• The Web (HTTP) plug-in now respects the charset of the source page, so for example the source of a Japanese site will be passed to filters and notifiers correctly.
• Similarly, the Preview and Show Source windows now respect the charset of the source web pages.
• Fixed some issues with the Twitter plug-in.
• Fixed some issues with the Calendar plug-in.
• Improved split handling in the Script editors.
• The Email plug-in's helper no longer appears in the Dock.
• Updated the Speech notifier plug-in to use modern APIs, and support stopping speaking while editing the notifier.
• Fixed an exception when using the FilterIndex variable in a script.
• Fixed an off-by-one error in calculating the Statistics values (they were one second higher than the actual duration).
• Increased the wait on waking from 15 to 30 seconds, to allow time for the internet connection to be ready.
• Removed the hidden preference to use the legacy Automatic email transport, as it doesn't work when building for Mountain Lion.
• Fixed a crasher when canceling a New Test editor.
• Added a license button to the Preferences window, when unlicensed, to make it easier to buy the app.
• Fixed display of license entry date in the Licenses editor.
• Improved full-screen support.
• Fixed a bunch of memory leaks.
• Updated the UI layouts to better support localization.
• Updated the German, French and Japanese localizations.
• Rebuilt for Mountain Lion using Xcode 4.
• Many changes to improve Mountain Lion compatibility.
• The standard edition of the app is now signed with a Developer ID to support Gatekeeper on Mountain Lion.
• Simon now requires an Intel Mac and a minimum of OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard).

Download Simon 3.5 now!

One last (hopefully) beta release of Simon 3.5.

This beta release just includes updated German, French and Japanese localizations.

I want to do the general release next week, so please test this version and let me know if you experience any issues.

Download Simon 3.5b4 now!

Here's another beta of Simon 3.5. Please check that everything works as expected, and let me know ASAP if you find anything wrong. Thanks!

This update includes:

• Updated the Speech notifier plug-in to use modern APIs, and support stopping speaking while editing the notifier.
• Changed the new Web (HTTP) helper to only send back the data on completion, rather than for each block received.
• Fixed an off-by-one error in calculating the Statistics values (they were one second higher than the actual duration).
• Fixed a bug with the previous betas that prevented Reports from being uploaded to remote servers.
• Fixed a crasher when cancelling a New Test editor.
• Updated the UI layouts to better support localization.
• Updated the German localization.

Download Simon 3.5b3 now!

Here's a second beta release of Simon 3.5.

This update includes more improvements, including something I've wanted to do for a while: split up the Web (HTTP) plug-in to make it more failsafe. A small number of customers, that use this plug-in extensively, sometimes find that it starts failing after waking the computer. Hopefully this change will solve that. Plus it's better for security and future sandboxing.

There's also an improvement that Japanese people in particular will enjoy, though I'm sure others will benefit too.

Here are the details:

• Moved the main functionality of the Web (HTTP) plug-in into a helper app, so any issues with it won't affect Simon.
• The Web (HTTP) plug-in now respects the charset of the source page, so for example the source of a Japanese site will be passed to filters and notifiers correctly.
• Similarly, the Preview and Show Source windows now respect the charset of the source web pages.
• Improved split handling in the Script editors.
• Many changes to improve Mountain Lion compatibility.
• Fixed a bunch of memory leaks.
• Prepared for localization updates.

Download Simon 3.5b2 now!

Announcing the first beta release of Simon 3.5. This update doesn't add any features yet (some may be added in a later beta), but provides full Mountain Lion compatibility via moving to the latest development tools, which necessitated a number of other changes.

One of those changes is dropping PPC support. I know that this may affect some customers, since Simon often runs on an older server machine, and I apologize if this is disappointing. But the latest development tools don't support PPC anymore. Similarly, the minimum OS version has been raised to Snow Leopard (10.6).

Here are the details:

• Fixed some issues with the Twitter plugin.
• Fixed some issues with the Calendar plugin.
• Fixed an exception when using the FilterIndex variable in a script.
• The Email plugin's helper no longer appears in the Dock.
• Increased the wait on waking from 15 to 30 seconds, to allow time for the internet connection to be ready.
• Removed the hidden preference to use the legacy Automatic email transport, as it doesn't work when building for Mountain Lion.
• The license button in the Simon Monitor window now shows the Licenses window instead of going to the Dejal Store web page. (Standard edition only)
• Added a license button to the Preferences window, when unlicensed, to make it easier to buy the app. (Standard edition only)
• Fixed display of license entry date in the Licenses editor. (Standard edition only)
• Improved full-screen support.
• Rebuilt for Mountain Lion using Xcode 4.
• The standard edition of the app is now signed with a Developer ID to support Gatekeeper on Mountain Lion. (Standard edition only)
• Simon now requires an Intel Mac and a minimum of OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard).

Download Simon 3.5b1 now!

My flagship Mac app, Dejal Simon, turned 10 years old earlier this month. Simon 1.0 was released on 2002-12-06. I actually missed the anniversary, but Jean MacDonald mentioned other 10-year anniversaries on Twitter, and I realized Simon's was also recent. I do like to blog about Dejal history, so I thought I'd mark this milestone too.

Like most software, Simon has undergone many changes since its inception all those years ago. An immediately obvious difference is the icon: version 1.0 had a monochrome icon, as shown to the right. The modern icon is similar, but more colorful and attractive, I think.

As for the user interface, version 1.0 looked somewhat different, though you'll recognize a number of elements that have persisted to this day:

Check out those pinstripes! Simon 1.0 worked with Mac OS X 10.1, where the window chrome was much more in-your-face than nowadays.

Back in the initial versions, Simon's editors were displayed in sheets over the top of the list windows, instead of as separate windows as now. Here's the Alter Test editor over the (cropped) main window:

Back in 1.0, all Simon did was check websites (or FTP sites), so there's no service selection. And everything's crowded into this one sheet, which only got more busy in 2.0. It was finally split over multiple pages in 3.0, which I think is much nicer and clearer.

Similarly, here's the Alter Notifier editor, also as a sheet. The only notifiers supported initially were Sound and Speech; it's much more versatile nowadays:

Finally, here's what the Simon website looked like back then; notice the old Dejal logo, and the rather dated design:

I hope you enjoyed this brief romp down memory lane. Take a look at the modern Simon 3!

Shortest beta ever!

I must admit, I set the version number in 3.4b3 to just 3.4, for the Mac App Store release, and forgot to set it back. So the version I released this morning as 3.4b3 was actually a general release build. Since the previous version had been in beta several weeks, and there was just one change in this new build, I decided to let it remain as such.

So, here it is, officially as a general release!

This version includes a much more reliable Automatic Email transport, along with some other improvements:

• New tests now use the Change filter by default, to avoid confusion over new tests not detecting changes. (You can of course alter that to a more specific filter, or disable it.)
• Replaced the Email notifier's Automatic transport with a new one, now called Apple Mail, that sends the message via Apple's Mail app. (Standard edition only)
• The From field is now replaced by a pop-up menu of mail accounts for the new Apple Mail transport. (Standard edition only)
• The Reply-To and X-Header fields are now disabled in the Apple Mail transport, since those are not supported by the new mechanism. (Standard edition only)
• Added a hidden preference to switch back to the old Automatic transport, just in case (it will be removed in a future version). It can be enabled via defaults write com.dejal.simon EmailUseLegacyTransport YES in Terminal. (Standard edition only)
• Also updated the SMS notifer plug-in to send email via Apple Mail, and use a pop-up menu for the From address. (Standard edition only)
• The license button in the Simon Monitor window now shows the Licenses window instead of going to the Dejal Store web page. (Standard edition only)
• Fixed issue where an offline test wouldn't check again until checked manually.
• Fixed an issue that prevented the second check of a new test from detecting a change. (Note that new or edited tests don't register a change for the first check after editing, in case the configuration was altered.)
• Fixed an incompatibility with Mac OS X 10.7.3.

Download Simon 3.4 now!

A quick update of Simon, to 3.4b3.

This release fixes an issue that prevented the second check of a new test from detecting a change. Subsequent checks worked fine, but the second check not detecting a change can cause confusion.

Note that new or edited tests don't register a change for the first check after editing, in case the configuration was altered.

This will probably be the last beta before the general release. So please let me know if you find any issues.

Download Simon 3.4b3 now!

Simon 3.4b2 is all about the Email and SMS notifier plug-ins.

Ever since the Email notifier was introduced, several years ago, it has been problematic — configuring email settings can be quite difficult.

This release replaces the Automatic email mode with a new Apple Mail one, which (as the name implies) uses Apple's Mail app to send the email. It has a convenient list of accounts, just like in Mail (if you have that option enabled there), and when it notifies it launches Mail in the background (if it is not already running) and quietly sends the email.

So this makes configuring the Email notifier easier, and it should be much more reliable than the old "Automatic" mechanism. As a bonus, you'll have a record of the sent emails in your Sent mailbox in Mail (you can always use a rule to delete them if you wish).

If you don't want to use Mail, or want more control, you can still use the custom SMTP and sendmail transports.

Finally, the SMS notifier plug-in also uses the new Apple Mail mechanism, as an alternative to the Clickatell service.

Here are the release notes with more information:

• Replaced the Email notifier's Automatic transport with a new one, now called Apple Mail, that sends the message via Apple's Mail app. (Standard edition only)
• The From field is now replaced by a pop-up menu of mail accounts for the new Apple Mail transport. (Standard edition only)
• The Reply-To and X-Header fields are now disabled in the Apple Mail transport, since those are not supported by the new mechanism. (Standard edition only)
• Added a hidden preference to switch back to the old Automatic transport, just in case (it will be removed in a future version). It can be enabled via defaults write com.dejal.simon EmailUseLegacyTransport YES in Terminal. (Standard edition only)
• Also updated the SMS notifer plug-in to send email via Apple Mail, and use a pop-up menu for the From address. (Standard edition only)

Download Simon 3.4b2 now!

I've just done a small beta release of Simon, to version 3.4b1.

This has a useful change, and a couple of important fixes:

• New tests now use the Change filter by default, to avoid confusion over new tests not detecting changes. (You can of course alter that to a more specific filter, or disable it.)
• Fixed issue where an offline test wouldn't check again until checked manually.
• Fixed an incompatibility with Mac OS X 10.7.3.

I am spending most of my time on a couple of new projects (one of them for a client, the other as a prototype for Time Out 2 technology). But I plan to do small incremental beta releases of Simon 3.4 over the next few weeks, basically releasing changes as soon as I've done them, since work on it will be sporadic. It'll be an interesting experiment in release styles.

As always, if you find any issues or have any suggestions for improvements, let me know in the Simon Forum. While I'm working on a release is a great time to send in suggestions, as they're much more likely to get implemented straight away, instead of added to the feature suggestions list. (But no promises; as I said, my time on Simon is limited currently.)

Download Simon 3.4b1 now!