Release 0.15.0

We are pleased to announce the release of MediaFire Express 0.15! 

Screenshot annotations now have color control!

Now you can dress-up your screenshot’s annotation with colors.  You can now set the color of all of the annotation elements (i.e., arrows, frames, text, backgrounds, etc.) from a rich selection of eye-catching colors. Set warnings in red, for example add the annotation, “Add no annotations here!” for irony.  Add color-coded arrows, and rectangles. Fill text boxes and frames with color too. Assign colors to text! Even on a letter by letter basis.

Obliterate sensitive information from screenshots with the blur tool!

Need to send a screenshot that also happened to capture some information (e.g., Social Security number, home address, embarrassing browser history or other folks’ email addresses) that you’d just rather not include?  Just use the screenshot tool’s new “blur” tool to smear these sensitive details into illegibility.  The blur tool works by convoluting pixels into an impenetrable smudge.  Now you can have the best of all worlds: the ability to screenshot the entire area of interest and the ability to obliterate whatever part of it you want to redact. 

Copy the screenshot image into the clipboard with a single click!

Previous the Screenshot tool supported (1) uploading the image to MediaFire’s cloud; (2) saving the image to the disk and (3) sending it to the printer.  Now the screenshot tool gives you a fourth option: copying the image into your clipboard!  Now you can just paste that image straight into an email or editor.  

Now Express runs on Windows 8

Initially Express didn’t get along with Windows 8.  After a minor tweak they are getting along famously. 

Now an “about us” link in the About Box opens the browser to a page showing the MediaFire team!

Now you can see the fine folks who bring you the MediaFire cloud, web-site and MediaFire Express! Yay!

Now you can change the order of pending uploads!

You can view the pending uploads by clicking the blue button on the side of the status panel (i.e., the small window near the systray that is visible when an upload is underway and has a progress bar.)  The status panel presents a list box showing pending uploads when the blue button on the side of the status panel is clicked.  Each set of uploaded files are grouped in items in this list box.  The items are uploaded in the order shown in the listbox.

Now you can change the order of uploads by dragging files in this list box to a different location. Want a particular item to upload last? Just drag it from its current location to the end of the list. Done!

Now the appearance of the drop zone is delayed by one second

Express’ drop zone fades into view when the user mouses around in the systray area.  This is fine so long as the user is dragging a file for upload.  The problem is that a user often mouses into the drop zone for many other reasons.  In this case the

Now this change log can be viewed via the About Box!

Now you can view the change log via the About Box.  Just click the About Box’s “change log” button and a popup dialog will present descriptions of the new features, changes and bug fixes delivered by Express’ various revisions. 

Bugfixes:

Now clicking the “Contact Support” link opens the default browser to the “Submit Ticket” page instead of the Knowledgebase.

Users can drag the selected area of a screenshot about the screen.  Previously dragging the screen shot area about would incorrectly move annotation elements (e.g., arrows, text boxes, etc.)  Now your carefully placed annotations will not be shifted if your resize the screenshot selection. 

Now Express doesn’t display a “Are you sure you want to Exit MediaFire Express” dialog while a Macintosh is attempting to shut down

Express will double-check when a user requests that it shut down by popping a “Exit MediaFire Express?” dialog.  This feature prevents users from inadvertently losing all of their links by accidently clicking the “Quit MediaFire Express” menu item.

Unfortunately Express was incorrectly interpreting a Macintosh attempting to shut down as a user requesting Express to shut down.  This caused Express to incorrectly nag the user with a dialog.

Now Express can tell the difference between a user explicitly commanding it to shut down and its host Operating System shutting down.

Changes under the hood

The following material discusses changes that the users will not notice because they don’t affect Express’ behavior.   The main purpose of this material is to keep MediaFire folks up to date with Express’ technical evolution. 

Now users can trigger an upload using the command line

Now Express includes a command line application, mf_upload, which can cause Express to upload a file from the command line.

We needed to add a means for automating certain kinds of test procedures.  Consistent test outcomes require a consistent test procedure.  Consequently, we needed a means whereby a tester, could write a script to automate initiating upload attempts. 

Say a tester has a test procedure that involves uploading a certain set of files in a particular order.  Using mf_upload the tester could write a script that would automate this test procedure.  Automating the test mitigates the risk that human error or fatigue would cause variations in the way a test might be conducted.