jQuery 1.4.1 Released

jQuery 1.4.1 is now out! This is the first bug fix release on top of jQuery 1.4, fixing some outstanding bugs from the 1.4 release and touching up some gaps in the API.

New Features

A full list of the API changes can be found in the 1.4.1 category on the jQuery API site.

• .live(“focus”) and .live(“blur”) now work – mapping to .live(“focusin”) and .live(“focusout”). (Documentation, Ticket)
• .live(“hover”) now exists, mapping to .live(“mouseenter mouseleave”). (Documentation, Ticket)
• It’s now possible to bind multiple event types with live. (Documentation, Ticket)
• Calling .die() (with no arguments) removes all bound live event handlers. (Documentation, Ticket)
• .height( function ) and .width( function ) now exist. (Height Documentation, Width Documentation, Ticket)
• jQuery.parseJSON has been exposed, allowing you to parse JSON strings into JavaScript objects. (Documentation, Ticket)
• jQuery.error has been exposed, to be used by plugin developers to provide informative user feedback. (Documentation, Ticket)

Bug Fixes

Core

• window.JSON can’t take an empty string

Events

• multi event bind() causes namespacing to fail

• bind() with special events causes things to get corrupted (Ticket 1, Ticket 2)

• change event broken in IE

• Unable to preventDefault on live submit

• Select change event firing on first focus

• .live() is affecting inline scripts

• Stop live click from triggering on right click

Traversing

• prev/nextUntil needs to check for non-elements

• Make sure filter/not only does it on elements

Effects

• Make sure animations only happen if speed is truthy or 0

Ajax

• ajaxError not firing on 404 for load

• if data has length breaks param

• Make sure context is set back to original in all cases

• Don’t deep extend context

• Don’t attempt to set the readyState

• Parsererror cause lost

Offset

• Make sure .offset(coords) return a jQuery set

Manipulation

• Make sure .html() is XHTML purified

• Cloned checkbox checked aren’t cloned in WebKit

• replaceWith(fn) function scope is useless

• wrapInner(fn) is inconsistent with wrapInner(html)

• .remove() not removing generic handler

• Possible memory leak with remove()/events in IE

Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4.0 Launch Date Postponed

In a very small announcement by Developer Division’s Marketing and Communications Manager Rob Caron, Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4.0 is set to be officially launched April 12, 2010 and not March 22 as previously announced. However, the date for release to manufacturing (RTM) still remains unknown.

Historically, RTM for Visual Studio has been months ahead of the official launch. Visual Studio 2008 as an example was RTM November 19 2007, but officially launched February 27 2008, 3 months later.

Scott Guthrie reported late last year that Visual Studio 2010 is postponed because of performance issues found in Beta 2 and revealed plans for an intermediate release in February:

…we plan to make a Release Candidate build available in February that everyone will be able to download and test. It will be a public build and include a broad “go live” license that supports production deployment.

Taking into account that the official release date is now April 12 and the RC is in February, the date difference between the official release and the RTM is probably much closer than for previous releases of Visual Studio.

jQuery 1.4 released

Great news for jQuery lovers, jQuery 1.4 is released on 14-Jan-2010 and it has got amazing new features. Please click here to see 15 new features of jQuery you must know.

What’s New in jQuery 1.4?

jQuery is probably the most popular JavaScript framework on the web. Many developers insert the script by habit (yes W3C.org, I’m referring to you!), so the jQuery team needs to be extremely cautious when creating new releases.

The code base has been heavily restructured to reduce complexity and increase performance. There are some impressive bar charts on jquery14.com which highlight how good the optimizations are.

207 bugs have been fixed and the framework now passes 100% of all tests in IE6, IE7, IE8, Firefox 2, Firefox 3, Firefox 3.5, Safari 3.2, Safari 4, Opera 10.10, and Chrome.

There is a substantial number of new methods and two new events: focusin and focusout. These are equivalent to focus and blur, but they implement an event bubbling-like technique (focus and blur do not normally bubble)

What Will Break If You Upgrade?

The jQuery team has provided a list of the most likely problems. I suspect the following issues will cause the most confusion:

1. jQuery() returns an empty set
In previous versions of the library, running jQuery() (no arguments) returned jQuery(document). It now returns an empty set, although the jQuery().ready() event will still fire as expected.

2. Ajax requests must use valid JSON
If you’re passing JSON data in Ajax calls, you must ensure it’s not malformed.jQuery now use the browser’s native JSON.parser in preference to eval when possible.

3. jQuery.browser returns the engine version
If you’re sniffing for browsers, jQuery.browser now returns the rendering engine version rather than a specific browser type, e.g. “webkit” rather than “chrome”.

I mentioned how difficult user agent parsing had become in a previous post. The jQuery developers have reduced complexity and increased speed by simplifying the returned information.

Although jQuery still supports browser-like detection, I strongly recommend you avoid it and use feature/object detection instead.

Get Free Windows 7 Ultimate Signature Edition with Party Pack By Hosting Win7 Launch Party

In a new campaign to promote Windows 7, Microsoft is giving chances to Windows 7 enthusiasts around the world to be part of Windows history by hosting a house party to mark the official launch of Windows 7. The host will not only get the rare opportunity to invite friends, buddies, relatives and other guests to his or her home for a reason (Windows 7 launch), but will also get a special “Signature Edition” of Windows 7 Ultimate and Windows 7 Party Pack for free.

The Windows 7 Launch House Parties to the tune of thousands will be available globally, as Microsoft intends to select participants to host personal Windows 7 Launch Party in the following countries:

Australia
Canada
France
Germany
Hong Kong
India
Italy
Japan
Mexico
Spain
UK
USA

Windows Vista Service Pack 2 and Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 Available for Download

Service Pack 2, the latest service pack for both Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista, is now available for public download . SP2 supports new types of hardware and emerging hardware standards, includes all of the updates that have been delivered since SP1, and simplifies deployment for consumers, developers, and IT professionals. For more details, see the TechNet page for Service Pack 2 for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista.

Microsoft Bing is live, but Bing is not Live Search

Microsoft has launched new search engine last week called Bing.

Bing: Microsoft's search engine unexpectedly live, but not LiveMicrosoft has made its new search engine available ahead of schedule, and is redirecting searches from Live Search to the new site

If you fancied using Microsoft's new search engine, it's unexpectedly live at http://www.bing.com/ . (According to Microsoft, it was being opened at the SMX search marketing conference in Seattle on Wednesday.)

Or rather, Microsoft's new "Decision Engine and consumer brand" is unexpectedly live. Microsoft says:

Bing is specifically designed to build on the benefits of today's search engines but begins to move beyond this experience with a new approach to user experience and intuitive tools to help customers make better decisions, focusing initially on four key vertical areas: making a purchase decision, planning a trip, researching a health condition or finding a local business.

Bing is not Live Search, though obviously it's based on it, and the current UK beta version still has Live's front page layout, rather than a menu down the left hand side, which is the format for the US version. The UK also doesn't seem to have any image hot spots, and other features. To get the "real thing," go here.

It's too soon to say whether Bing will attract long-term users, rather than tyre-kickers. However, the reception on Twitter has been reasonably positive.

It does seem to work much better than Google for finding real product info and reviews, where Google's results are loaded with spam and price comparison rubbish. As @studentsoftware noted on Twitter: "Keyword stuffing that skews Google search results doesn't quite work in bing. Bing 1 Google 0. Over to you SEO gurus..."

Some Google commands also work -- for example, try ["psp go" site:guardian.co.uk] -- which could ease the changeover.

The Search History feature, which keeps a list of your previous searches down the left hand side, is obvious but excellent.

But in most respects, Google still rules. The fact is that Bing is an incomplete beta, and while it's not bad, it's not actually a match for Google at the moment.

Microsoft knows perfectly well that it's going to take it "years and years and years" (in Steve Ballmer's words) to get anywhere in search, if it ever does. It knows it has to overtake Yahoo first. In that sense, comparisons with Google are misguided, though we're all making them. In reality, Bing is competing with Yahoo and Ask to be the leading Google alternative, and that's how its success -- or failure -- should be evaluated.

Visual Studio 2010 Beta 1 Now Awailable

Download the Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 Beta 1

Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 and the .NET Framework 4 are the next generation of Microsoft development tools. They work together to accelerate the process of turning vision into reality for the developer. Visual Studio 2010 Professional has been engineered to support the development of applications for Windows, the Web, and Office.

As expected, on May 20, Microsoft made the Beta 1 bits of its Visual Studio 2010 release downloable by anyone interested in testing Microsoft’s forthcoming release of its developer tool suite.

Microsoft released the Beta 1 VS 2010 bits on Monday, May 18, to TechNet and MSDN subscribers. Both MSDN/TechNet subscribers and the public are able to test VS 2010 Professional, Team Suite, Team Foundation Server and the .Net Framework 4.

A list of what’s new in the 2010 release is on Microsoft’s MSDN Web site, including everything from the inclusion in the box of the new F# concurrent programming language, to parallel development techologies, to better support for Silverlight and the Windows Presentation Foundation. And a handy list of related VS 2010 resources is available here.

Company officials have not provided a target ship date for the final VS 2010 suite, but a number of company watchers (including me) think it will ship before the end of calendar 2009.