For those of you who are using beta versions of Firefox 4, I have just put a version of Wizz RSS online that will install on 4.0b5.
The scroll bar weirdness persists, but the latest news on Bugzilla ( https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=584703 ) indicates that a fix has been landed for testing. Maybe 4.0b6 will include the fix.
You can get Wizz RSS 4.0 here
I have just updated the Wizz RSS 4.0 code so that it’ll install on Firefox 4.0b3. Apart from bumping maxVersion to 4.0b3, nothing else has changed.
The vertical scroll bar bug in the item pane (XUL listbox widget) persists. I guess a bug fix wasn’t landed in time for the release of 4.0b3. Oh well… I assume it will get fixed at some time.
If you have already installed Wizz RSS 4.0 for Firefox 4.0b2, and want to use it with Firefox 4.0b3, just reinstall it.
You can get Wizz RSS 4.0 here
Obviously those who have been testing Wizz RSS 4.0 beta haven’t been doing a very good job 
Today I picked up a bug that impacted on adding feeds using drag and drop. The constant DESCRIPTION_ANNO is now, in Firefox 4.0b2, defined as PlacesUIUitls.DESCRIPTION_ANNO
The bug would also have impacted on importing Firefox Livemarks into Wizz RSS, and possibly other parts of Wizz RSS too.
I have patched the Wizz RSS 4.0 beta release with a fix. If you have already installed Wizz RSS 4.0, please reinstall it to get the patched code.
You can get Wizz RSS 4.0 here.
I have just finished getting Wizz RSS running on Firefox 4.0b2. I have not done compressive testing, so please report any bugs or funnies you may find, so that they can get fixed!
Here is a list of some of the things that have changed in Wizz RSS 4.0: -
1. The HTML sanitization has been made a little smarter, which should, I hope, make feed reading a little faster.
2. For some weird reason (attempting to understand the workings of the Firefox core developer’s mind is usually a waste of time) the Wizz RSS context menus, on Firefox 4.0b2, suddenly got a transparent background without any border. I have hard-coded the styling of the context menus to have a white background and a 1px solid #a0a0a0 border.
3. Of course the Places code changed, AGAIN (so what’s new?), so the Wizz RSS 4.0 code has been changed to tie into these changes.
4. Prefs, that Firefox has used since the beginning of time, to indicate enabled or disabled history, and to indicate if browsing history should be deleted on shutdown, were changed in Firefox 4.0. Wizz RSS uses these prefs to display warnings that the read/unread status of feed items (when these options are disabled/enabled) will not work correctly (otherwise the brain-dead constantly report bugs with regard to Wizz RSS’ inability to correctly record the read/unread status of feed items). The Wizz RSS 4.0 code was changed to reference the new prefs.
5. The Wizz RSS Nag Page has not been disabled in the beta. Once we have finished beta testing, and are fairly confident that the code is stable, I’ll make a no-nag version available in the same way as I have done in the past.
If you’d like to test Wizz RSS 4.0 beta, you can get it here.
Please remember that this is a beta, and that I rely on YOU to report bugs!
<Edit>
Known issues: -
The scroll bar in the items pane doesn’t work properly. Even if there are items listed below the bottom of the list pane, the scroll bar indicates that there aren’t any. I assume this is a bug with Firefox 4.0b2, as I have seen the same behavior in other add-ons that use the Firefox listbox widget.
Quick fix: Scroll up and down in the item pane using the scroll wheel on your mouse - Assuming that your mouse has a scroll wheel.
</Edit>
Longtime Wizz RSS users might be aware of the fact that I wrote (Many years ago) an add-on for Firefox that can be used for encrypting bookmarks. I know that many Wizz RSS users used it, once upon a time 
Anyway, if you are interested, I have once again dusted off the code (Mainly because of a request from someone who used it) and turned it into (In my opinion) quite a nice little add-on.
If you once used the bookmark encryption add-on, or are looking for something that can hide “embarrassing bookmarks” from prying eyes, you might want to have a look at this: - Blowfish encrypted bookmarks for Firefox
A few weeks ago I received an email from someone (Sorry, I can’t remember who it was - Yeah, I’ve got a crappy memory) asking if I could modify the Watch List functionality. They asked specifically that I modify the functionality, so that it wouldn’t be necessary to click the Found Items tab to list newly found feed items.
Mainly because I know that the Wizz RSS code is a bit of a mess, I assumed that there was some obscure reason why I had done things the way I did.
Anyway, I had some time on my hands today, and, with nothing better to do, I decided to dig into the code. Surprisingly enough, this part of the code is pretty neat and nicely event driven, so the change ended up being pretty straight forward
Details of the change: -
If the Found Items tab is selected, and the Watch List finds new feed items, the new items will automatically be listed in the items pane without having to click the Found Items tab.
If the Found Items tab is NOT selected, and the Watch List finds new feed items, things will work pretty much as they always have. i.e. The Found Items tab will become bold (Along with various other things that happen), and clicking the tab will list the found items.
I have ONLY made the above-mentioned changes in Wizz RSS 3.2.0.0 for Firefox 3.6. I’m not going to maintain older versions of Wizz RSS for Firefox 3.5.
You can get the changed version of Wizz RSS 3.2.0.0 here or here.
If you have made a donation to get the “nag free” version, it has also been changed, and you can download it from the nag free download page.
Thanks to Rich, who insisted that functionality available in previous versions was now missing in 3.2.0.0, I discovered, and have fixed, a few other bugs. I have also reinstated the missing functionality. Thanks Rich!
The bugs: -
1. Element IDs were duplicated in the context menu of the item panes on the Wizz RSS tab and the Found Items tab. Obviously this problem has been lurking, unnoticed in the code for MANY years. It has now been rectified, and all elements have been given a unique ID.
2. The code was allowing the context menu to be displayed when right clicking the item pane on the Found Items tab, even when an item was not selected. This had the potential to cause all sorts of errors. This has been fixed, and the context menu will now only be displayed when an item is selected.
3. The context menu for the item pane on the Found Items tab was allowing the feed title to be opened on a new tab. This is a bit silly, especially considering that the feed title doesn’t have a URL. This option will now be grayed out when the feed title is selected.
4. The context menu for the item pane on the Found Items tab was allowing the feed title to be shared via email. This is bit silly for the same reason as 3. This option will now be grayed out when the feed title is selected.
Reinstated functionality: -
1. The functionality that is documented here in the online help http://www.wizzrss.com/helpwiki/index.php/Marking_all_items_found_in_a_specific_feed_as_read/unread, was only working on the Found Items tab. This functionality should now be working again on the Wizz RSS tab.
I have ONLY made the above-mentioned changes in Wizz RSS 3.2.0.0 for Firefox 3.6. I’m not going to maintain older versions of Wizz RSS for Firefox 3.5.
You can get the bug fixed version of Wizz RSS 3.2.0.0 here or here.
If you have made a donation to get the “nag free” version, it has also been fixed, and you can download it from the nag free download page.
A few weeks ago Mariusz reported a little bug with the Watch List. Thanks Mariusz!
A description of the bug: -
Item URLs found by the Watch List that contained an ampersand (&) were not translating the HTML entity & correctly. i.e. The & was not being translated to a single &.
For example, http://www.haxite.org/index.php3?site=newsy&nx1=newsy_view&id=5320 was not being correctly translated to http://www.haxite.org/index.php3?site=newsy&nx1=newsy_view&id=5320
This didn’t cause a major functional problem, apart from the fact that URLs were not being marked as read correctly. Firefox sees http://www.haxite.org/index.php3?site=newsy&nx1=newsy_view&id=5320 and http://www.haxite.org/index.php3?site=newsy&nx1=newsy_view&id=5320 as two different URLs. So visiting http://www.haxite.org/index.php3?site=newsy&nx1=newsy_view&id=5320 didn’t mark http://www.haxite.org/index.php3?site=newsy&nx1=newsy_view&id=5320 as read… If you understand what I mean
Anyway, I fixed the bug and emailed the fixed version to Mariusz for testing. Mariusz responded with feedback saying that the fix was working as expected… Good! I’ve heard nothing more from Mariusz, so I assume that no further problems were discovered, and that the fixed version should be made available to everyone.
I have ONLY fixed the bug in Wizz RSS 3.2.0.0 for Firefox 3.6. I’m not going to maintain older versions of Wizz RSS for Firefox 3.5.
You can get the bug fixed version of Wizz RSS 3.2.0.0 here or here.
If you have made a donation to get the “nag free” version, it has also been fixed, and you can download it from the nag free download page.
I was planning on turning off the nag page, but on second thoughts, I have decided to leave it on, hoping that it will serve as an incentive to raise a bit of money for paying for the Wizz RSS server.
And here is the incentive - If you’d like Wizz RSS to stop displaying the nag page, make a donation through PayPal (no matter how small the donation), and you’ll be able to download a nag free version of Wizz RSS.
If you are unable to make a donation, you can still deactivate the nag page by following the step-by-step instructions outlined in this blog post. The nag free version of Wizz RSS contains exactly the same change as that outlined in the blog post. This means that no one is forced to make a donation to rid themselves of the nag page.
If you don’t mind living with the nag page, there are no other changes in the nag free version. So you will not be missing out on any changes, improvements, or bug fixes.
If you have already made a PayPal donation, you should receive an email asking you to claim your nag free version of Wizz RSS.
Over the years that Wizz RSS has been around, many people made donations through ClickBank. Unfortunately I no longer have access to the old ClickBank account, and am thus unable to add those donor email address to the database. So, if you made a donation through ClickBank, please get in touch with me, and I’ll add your email address to the donor database.
I have just finished putting the weather, the save feeds to server, and the restore feeds from server functionality back online. About two months ago, when I turned this functionality off, I was so pissed off with the whole Firefox thing, that I deleted the server-side code rather than just commenting it out. Of course, putting the functionality back online has caused me to regret my hasty decision because I had to re-write all of it
Anyway, all of the following should be working again. If it isn’t working correctly, please let me know so that I can fix it: -
