DerekAllard.com : CodeIgniter, ExpressionEngine, and the World of Web Design

The future of BambooInvoice 2009

December 09^th, 2009

I just wanted to take a moment to update everyone about BambooInvoice. Although a new version hasn’t been released since April, it is still very much under active development. The next version will be 0.9, and features a series of enhancements to make Bamboo more flexible, robust, and suited to a broader array of uses.

Despite earlier concerns about my choice of license, I can definitively say that for the near future, BambooInvoice will remain GPL. If I do change the license, it will be to another Open Source license.

On a technical level, I’ve put up the project at GitHub (http://github.com/derekallard/BambooInvoice) as an experiment in using Git as a code repository. This is my first time working with the system, and while the code is up there now, I’m not sure I’ll stay with Git - although it does feel nice so far, working with Git is pretty different from what I’m used to with Subversion. At the very least, major versions of the code will be put up there (ie: releases).

To the question of when, I’m honestly not sure yet. Its pretty close, but there are a few important pieces not yet in place, and I don’t feel comfortable even giving estimates or guesses. I can say development on the next release has been fast and furious as time allows, however the release of ExpressionEngine 2 has been taking up all my time in the last few months. That said, there is real progress; most notably

A full rewrite of the tax system from the ground up. Unlimited taxes, configurably applied to your invoices and items.

Additionally, here’s a sampling of the current changelog:

• Updated to CodeIgniter 1.7.1 1.7.2.
• Added an option (on by default) to display the first 50 characters (approximately) of the first item of any invoice on the invoices summary page.
• The invoice filename is now saved with the i18n version of “invoice”.
• Reports can now do any year, and not only the current year.
• A few dozen bugs that I won’t list fully in this blog entry.
• Added in a few more language keys for untranslated text.
• Optimized the login process, should be quicker now (but I doubt any human would notice… robots on the other hand, those guys are crafty).
• Added a hidden config variable to customize the filename of the database backup file.
• Moved “blind copy me on this email”, and “donate” into a language variable.
• Modified DOMPDF to make it run a bit faster by fixing a uniqid() call.
• Removed “.00” from quantity listings, so now a quantity of “5.00” will simply say “5”.
• Removed the “work description” heading before the table on invoice views. I feel it was superfluous.
• Changed the maximum length of invoices to 50 characters.
• Date formatting is now configurable via a hidden config option.
• Increased spacing in invoice item lines for added readability.
• Increased the invoice note field to 2000 characters.
• Behaviour change: prior to 0.8.9, changing the email under settings would only change the address used when sending emails, and not the login email. Changing it now also changes the login.

These changes are not currently reflected on GitHub, but I’ll add them as I have time. Additionally, there are some exciting potential developments from third parties that are currently being explored.

Its an exciting time in the life of BambooInvoice.

To those of you who have expressed support, wether it was donating to BambooInvoice, participating on the forums or writing me privately, you have my sincerest thanks.

This entry was made on December 09^th, 2009 @ 8:12 and filed into BambooInvoice.