I am pleased to announce that the app is now in beta, no more in alpha!

A big thanks to all people that dared to try this unstable version, suffered from numerous bugs and helped me to squash them with reports or templates!

This beta is a big milestone. Although the app is not yet bulletproof, it is fairly robust and the new architecture is up and running, ready for new features.

I encourage everyone willing to test this new version to opt-in using this url: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/net.pierrox.lightning_launcher_extreme. If you were previously using the alpha, make sure to make a backup first, then opt-out and opt-in again.

Thanks!

Full ChangeLog: http://www.lightninglauncher.com/wordpress/change-log/

Edit: V14a11 one step forward, two steps back…

New bug fixes…

A bunch of issues related with scripts have been resolved. I am pushing this update as an alpha today, then I intend to migrate it to the beta channel if all goes well.

Now it’s the right time to report remaining bugs, even those that you consider harmless or those you already reported but I failed to fix 😉

Full ChangeLog: http://www.lightninglauncher.com/wordpress/change-log/

Yet another update 🙂

This time, in addition to bug fixes, this version adds an experimental API to configure and display the android action bar (sample script here: http://www.lightninglauncher.com/wiki/doku.php?id=script_action_bar_sample). Remember, this is experimental, but have fun anyway!

Full ChangeLog: http://www.lightninglauncher.com/wordpress/change-log/

Plenty of bug fixes! I believe this version works quite correctly now. If all goes well I’ll migrate it to beta.

Most remaining issues (but not all) are linked with scripts, in particular background scripts. Don’t hesitate to let me know if you encounter strange behaviors, my goal is to keep full compatibility with the stable version 12.9.1. (minus bugs and performance improvements…)

Full ChangeLog: http://www.lightninglauncher.com/wordpress/change-log/

Edit: and V14a6, then V14a7 🙂

Yet another round of bug fixes, but not only.

Leveraging the new architecture, this update feature several optimizations which should noticeably reduce the startup time of the app drawer, as well as the home screen. I’m curious to know how it works for you.

Full ChangeLog: http://www.lightninglauncher.com/wordpress/change-log/

Plenty of bug fixes, and even some optimizations, hurry up, get the update 🙂

Full ChangeLog: http://www.lightninglauncher.com/wordpress/change-log/

A third alpha with many bug fixes.

I think I fixed most critical bugs now. Of course many other remain, and usually these are the nasty ones, lol.

The app should have gain some noticeable stability, however I still prefer to call it alpha rather than beta.

Also please keep going the flood of bug reports, it helps a lot 🙂 If you encounter a bug and already reported it, don’t hesitate to ping me again, I may have missed it in the rush for fixing dozens of its siblings.

Full ChangeLog: http://www.lightninglauncher.com/wordpress/change-log/

Edit: V14a2 to fix some urgent bugs and crashes.

Today I’m announcing the release of the first alpha for the upcoming V14 🙂

It consists in a huge architecture overhaul. The aim is to remove some longstanding limitations and bugs, improve efficiency in some areas and allow upcoming evolutions. It took me a lot of time to release it, but I think it works reasonably well now.

In spite of the massive amount of code changes, my aim is that V14 will remain as most compatible as possible with V12.

There are some differences though 😉 Please read http://www.lightninglauncher.com/wordpress/changes-beteen-v12-9-1-and-v14/ for the exact list.

One particular change is the ability to display the same content in multiple locations. To explain this, let’s imagine there’s a complex panel you would like to see on multiple desktops. With v12 you need to copy it. Subsequent changes to this panel on one desktop will have to be repeated on all desktops. With v14 it is possible to link the content. In other words, any change made to one version will be immediately available to all other versions.

There are more uses for this feature: the content of a folder can be displayed in a panel (and vice versa), the content of the app drawer can be displayed in a panel (that is: in a desktop), it is possible to quickly switch the content of a panel, and so on.

At the moment the feature can only be accessed through script (see Folder/Panel.setContainerId) but this API has no restriction, meaning that all kind of funny/weird/insane stuff is possible. Including recursion and the aforementioned app drawer in desktop… Please use with care… Ahem, no, don’t use with care, let’s play with it, it’s fun and as with all new strange feature, I’m eager to see what you can do with it!

As this is an alpha, please be aware that it may be unstable, corrupt your setup or crash. Make sure you have a backup and that you are able to restore the stable version if needed.

Opt-in link for the APK: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/net.pierrox.lightning_launcher_extreme

Enjoy!