FckGoogleMaps is dead. Long live FCKMaps

It might take still a while to have everything finished, but I've started to code the changes necessary to be able to use not only the Google Maps, but also the MS Virtual Earth is starting to work at the moment, and probably I will add also support for Yahoo Maps.

I'm a little disappointed, specially the quality of Yahoo maps outside USA seems quite poor, Virtual Earth also lacks somehow in the quality of the images, although the Bird's eye view is very good.

Anyway, I'll keep on coding at least the MS version and then I'll see the outcome and if I'm still willing to continue with the Yahoo maps.

Next version of the GoogleMaps plugin

Lately I've worked to do some improvements in the Google Maps plugin, you can already check the current status in the live demo.

One of the new features is that now the map remembers the type of map that has been selected, and now it's possible to select also the Terrain view. I guess that this isn't anything special, some might even wonder why I didn't add it earlier, but there are so many things to do that I just can't afford them all.

A more interesting change (mainly due to the opportunities that it can offer) is the usage of the Static maps. When you add a map you'll no longer see the white area with the Google logo, instead it will show a preview of the map. I haven't added the markers of polyline to the static map, and that's because I'm not fully satisfied with the current status.

First, it isn't possible to select the type of map, so the user will think that I'm gonna generate a wrong map because they see the map view instead of satellite as they have selected.

And the second problem is that the generated images can't be any larger than 512x512, so if I try to request a preview for a map of 600x400 Google sends an error message. In the end I've checked the dimensions of the map and restricted them in the static preview to those 512x512, so the image will be shown distorted, but at least the user won't see a X.

If those problems are solved (I think that only Google can provide a fix, I don't foresee any workaround), I have some other nice ideas (mainly one: load just a image and then the rest of the JS API on demand), but I don't see any reason to start coding them if people will complain that they won't work correctly.

The last important change for the FCKeditor plugin (besides some bug fixes related to the comments in the markers) is an idea from Enrico Danilo Visciola, allowing to have 2 different API Keys, and even asking to the user in the moment what's the key that they want to use. Based on this change I think that it will be possible to include the plugin inside the Write Area extension and as long as the web where you are using it doesn't filter out javascript you'll be able to include GoogleMaps with a few clicks.

Of course, there are many other things waiting to be done, if you want to sponsor some development just contact me, or if you want to cooperate with some code I will be grateful for your contribution.

WriteArea 0.7 and GeckoSpellChecker extension

Finally, now that the RC1 for Firefox 3 has been released I've uploaded a new version of WriteArea updated to the current nightly and have requested its approval so it's no longer necessary to be registered in order to install it.

With this release I've updated from the 2.5 series to the new FCKeditor 2.6, meaning that the dialogs are now inline, but when they are used inside chrome they show a Firefox 2 bug, meaning that the content isn't blocked while the dialog is active, but everything works fine in Firefox 3.

Now there's another incentive to install this version of the extension, and it's a plugin that I have mentioned previously: the GeckoSpellChecker that integrates the spelling into the normal context menu.

You can see how it's shown in this screenshot:

but I would really encourage you to install the WriteArea 0.7 and then check it live in the playground.

ServerPreview plugin for FCKeditor 2.5+

Yes, a little too late, but better late than never.

Finally, here is the updated version of the ServerPreview plugin.

As mentioned in the original release, this is a very simple plugin, and the new version is even simpler. I've removed the need to add a new button and the plugin just replaces the original preview command, so the only thing that you need to make it work is:

1. Extract the plugin to your plugins folder
2. Like the rest of plugins, add it to your instance: FCKConfig.Plugins.Add( 'serverPreview' ) ;
3. Set the url of the page that will receive the data: FCKConfig.ServerPreviewPath

Then you just put all the server code that you want in that page, and read the data that is sent in the 'htmlData' field. You can change the plugin to add more fields if you need to. It could be possible to write a generic code to send all the current fields to the server, but I've never found enough time to write it (it just took me 6 months to write this post)

You can see a demo at the Google maps demo (due to the use of document.write the normal preview fails, so this plugin is really useful for that situation)

I haven't write a specific demo page for this plugin or other detailed installation instructions, so just go to SourceForge and get it.

Update of easyUpload for FCKeditor 2.6

A while back I was contacted by Graham Glass, as he needed some simplified versions of the link and image dialogs in order to use FCKeditor in his Edu2.0 project.

It was an interesting task, mainly because it made me realize about the need to be able to do custom changes to the dialogs without changing the core files. Having an event system that allows to change the interface just when it's being created seems like a good option, let's hope that something like that is available for V3.

But let's back to the topic. Due to some changes about how the links are created internally in the call to FCK.CreateLink, now the return object is an array instead of a link so the old code no longer worked and it gave errors.

So I've updated the plugin and created a demo page of easyUpload to check how it works.

The plugin does include three options:

Image upload.

Images are uploaded in just two steps. First select the image and press Continue

Then adjust its parameters, and press OK

File upload

Just select the file that you want to add and add a text that will be shown as a tooltip. When you press OK the file is uploaded and a link is created with the name of the file

Simplified link dialog

The only option is to write the URL that you want to link. It's almost impossible to do it wrong.

 

WriteArea 0.6 now with Spellchecker

I've uploaded to the Sandbox the version 0.6 of Write Area. This version (besides the bump to support FF3b4) does add the ability to use the spellchecker from inside the editor.

Thanks to the chrome privileges it's possible to access directly to the internal data about the spellcheck and that way I can add it to the context menu, just as easy as in any other textarea, there's no need to choose between the FCKeditor context menus to manipulate the content or the Firefox default menus to use the spellcheck.

I'm gonna leave it a few days and if everything is fine then I'll review a few details and then I'll ask to make the extension public, so I would ask that anyone that it's reading this, please, go to the Firefox extensions site, if you don't have an account, then apply for one, it takes no time at all, when you are registered then login and install the Write Area extension.

Now go to a site where you can use HTML in a textarea, (for example this Blogger site, Slashdot or any other of the thousands of sites available), open the context menu and select "Edit with Write Area", and you'll see the editor. Play with it, give it a go and when you are done, then go back to the Write Area page and write a review (if it's nice I'll be happier, but any review is good as long as it's done with good will)

Enjoy it.

CKFinder 1.2, now in your own language

Yesterday was released the new version of CKFinder, with one of the most important changes for 1.2 being the ability to show the interface in the language of each user.

Besides some fixes and improvements, another important addition is the ability to filter files and folders on the server, so by default all .* files are hidden, and it's possible to customize the filters so that it matches your needs.

With regards to the localization, in 1.2 there are four languages included (besides English): German, Italian, Polish and Spanish, but if you need to add another language you just have to follow the localization guide for CKFinder.

Of course, if you create any such translation the recommended procedure is to send it back so it can be added for the rest of the people and you don't have to worry about how to update it with any new version.

I hope that all of you enjoy this version.