Asaph Development Roadmap

This is a rough roadmap for the development of Asaph, listing the major milestones and the features planned for each. This information is for planning purposes and is subject to change at any time. I also for the most part omit projected release dates because I'm developing this in my widely fluctuating spare time, and as such, release dates are pretty much impossible to predict.

The roadmap is designed to get the essential features and architecture in place for version 1.0, but otherwise to get 1.0 out as fast as possible. Hence, some planned features that would make Asaph "really cool" are being put off until after 1.0.

Version 0.1 alpha
Released 3 October 2002

Initial alpha-quality demo release. XML-based song database backends complete. Basic song viewer complete, with printing. Temporary song editor using XML. Model APIs and Plugin architecture 75% complete. Main GUI 75% complete and demoable.

Version 0.2 alpha
Released 31 March 2003

Second alpha-quality demo release, focusing on the song editor. Minimal graphical song editor complete and demoable, but not feature-complete. Model APIs 90% complete, including search and filter APIs. General main GUI improvements.

Version 0.3 alpha
Released 1 May 2003

Third alpha-quality demo release, focusing on the song editor. Graphical song editor feature complete, including clipboard support. Plugin rearchitecture, supporting inter-plugin interfaces.

Additional 0.3.x interim releases will be done for bug fixes and early access to 0.4 features under development.

Version 0.4 alpha
Released 18 August 2003

The theme of this prerelease is GUI usability and feature-completeness. All main GUI features implemented, including searching, song copying, database configuration, preferences and possibly online help. Localization support. General GUI cleanup. Standard model refactor complete.

Additional 0.4.x interim releases will be done for bug fixes and early access to 0.5 features under development.

Version 0.5 alpha
Released 22 February 2004

The theme of this prerelease is a standards freeze, and it is intended as the first "supported" usable prerelease with backward compatibility support. File format lockdown. Internal API lockdown. Model and Plugin APIs 100% complete.

Additional 0.5.x bug fix releases may be made available as necessary.

Version 0.9 beta
(not yet released, expected spring 2004)

Public beta release for general testing and early-access use. All distribution materials complete, including examples and user's guide.

Additional 0.9.x betas may be released as necessary.

Version 1.0 final
(not yet released, no ETA)

Final production release.

Post 1.0 features
These are potential features planned for after version 1.0. They are not yet prioritized or scheduled into specific post-1.0 versions.

• Song import from plain text lead sheets, ChordPro, and other formats.
• JDBCModelPlugin: a plugin providing a SQL backend.
• Presentation mode, useful for group worship.
• Song lists, referencing songs from potentially multiple databases, with various configuration options for printing and presentation.
• Advanced printing architecture supporting print-to-PDF and other features.
• Advanced layout architecture providing more sophisticated control over layout, printing multiple songs on a page, and other features.
• Generation of song table of contents or index.
• Statistics and report generation.
• Integration with third-party tools such as SongBase.
• API updates to match Java 1.5.

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Last updated on February 23, 2004