There is a known conflict with AIR 1.5 (which Spaz as of 0.6 uses) and Input Mangers like (but not exclusively) SIMBL on OS X. This is often used in unofficial Safari add-ons like Safari Ad-Block. You need to uninstall the InputManagers to use Spaz.
See this post on the Spaz-Users group for more information.
On some Windows machines with a curious registry entry, external CSS files won’t load properly in AIR HTML apps. The fix requires modifying your registry to change the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.css entry. Under Content Type, the value needs to be “text\css”. If it’s set to anything else, you’ll see this problem.
A .reg file that will apply the fix for you is available in issue #135 on the Spaz Issue Tracker.
Why Spaz isn’t “signed”
We don’t sign Spaz with a code signing certificate generated by one of the 4 (as of this writing) certificate authorities Adobe accepts. This means that when you install Spaz, you get a scary “Publisher:UNVERIFIED” warning. This is why we don’t sign, from a letter I wrote when asked about it in Spring 2008:
If I sign Spaz with a paid-for Thawte cert, I am on the hook every year for a Thawte cert. I can’t change my cert signer or go back to a self-signed cert without breaking auto updating (at least as I understand it), and I’m therefore locked into a $300 expense every year. That’s not terrible for a commercial app backed by a company, but that’s a pretty significant chunk of change for a free, open-source app developed by one person as a hobby to lay out.
I’m familiar with how certs work, and how Thawte handles certification as compared to other, less expensive cert vendors. Were I convinced that Thawte did some kind of verification process/background checking on the applicant I could see the value, but at least with SSL certs, they certainly didn’t do anything more than vendors who donate free certs to EDUs
Currently (March 2009), there are 3 other CAs in addition to Thawte, and the prices range between $180 and $300 per year. Some of these CAs do seem to do a little more background checking. Still, the same arguments apply, especially the one related to cost.
Spaz doesn’t generate revenue, and relies on donated time from myself and a handful of other generous folks. Committing to a yearly expense in the hundreds of dollars seems unwise.
If this is something you would like to see change, I’d encourage you to ask Adobe to make code signing a realistic option for Free, Open-Source Software like Spaz by providing certificates free-of-charge – after a reasonable review process – to projects like ours.
Behaving normally, Spaz will not send you over limit unless you frequently force manual refreshes.
Twitter accounts can send no more than 100 requests to the Twitter API per hour – yes, that’s per account. If you’re seeing this error, that’s what happened. There are a number of possible reasons:
One suggestion that has worked for many people is to change your password. This will keep any apps you’ve forgotten about from making API calls, and sometimes seems to have “unstuck” users whose blocks weren’t going away. If you change your password and the problem persists for more than a couple hours, contact Twitter support!
This is usually a problem with the Twitter API. When requesting data from Twitter, Spaz waits 20 seconds for a reply before giving up so if the API is slow, it can appear to miss “regular” timeline entries. This should fix itself – wait for the next update or hit Refresh. If it’s still a problem, wait for a while and it should come good.
The vast majority of the time, problems with certain messages getting “dropped” are because of Twitter API issues, not Spaz. The API and Twitter web site operate somewhat independently, so it’s possible for entries to show up on the web client, but not in desktop clients. Spaz can only show what the Twitter API gives it.
If you are very convinced that this is a problem specific to Spaz – that is, it doesn’t show up in any other desktop clients – you should file a proper bug report in our issue tracker.
Only a certain number of tweets are kept and shown in your timeline. As of version 0.7.x the defaults are: 300 “regular” entries, 25 direct messages and 50 replies. Once these numbers are reached, older tweets are dropped. This is to help keep memory at reasonable levels.
Adobe AIR opens links with the default browser chosen for the .html/.htm file associations, not your default browser. If you would like to use another browser, please do the following:
Right click on a .html/.htm file and click “Get Info”. Go down to the “Open With” section and select the browser you want. Then click “Change All”
This is actually a bug in AIR, and Adobe shares a method for solving this in their release notes for AIR 1.0:
To workaround this problem, go to Start > Default Programs > Set Program Access and Computer Defaults, expand Custom, select the radio button next to the application you want to set as the system-wide default browser (for example, Mozilla Firefox) and apply the setting.
This is a known issue with AIR apps (not just Spaz) and Macs running nightly builds of Webkit. As far as we know, you need to uninstall the Webkit build. Feel free to offer other workarounds if you find them.
The AIR Linux alpha does not support the EncryptedLocalStore part of the AIR API, which is what Spaz uses to store your credentials securely. This is a known issue noted by Adobe in their release notes, and will surely be fixed in a future AIR update.
Your EncryptedLocalStore is probably broken. Try to delete ~/.appdata/Adobe/AIR/ELS/Spaz.AIR.LONGID. If it doesn’t help, delete ~/.appdata/Adobe/ altogether. If even that doesn’t help, try to delete even more, especially the configuration files of Spaz. In worst case just kill ~/.appdata/ completely.
File a new feature request on the Google Code project site for Spaz: http://code.google.com/p/spaz/issues/list. Or, download the source and contribute a patch!
Yep, file an issue on the Google Code project site for Spaz: http://code.google.com/p/spaz/issues/list
If you reeealy wants to help, turn on debug mode (located in Preferences, the last tab on the right) and restart. From then on, your Documents/My Documents directory should keep a running log of the mysterious goings-on that go on within Spaz. It’s called spaz-debug.log. If Spaz misbehaves, sending a copy of this arcane file when logging a bug in Google Code should be perty useful to the team.
Oh, and thanks.
Check the Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/spaz-users. Here, you’ll find other Spaz users, discussions on feature suggestions and helpful hints on problem resolution.
Sure! If you’re a dab hand at CSS – or even just fairly OK – you can make new Spaz themes. See this theme creation primer.
Sure. See this: http://funkatron.com/spaziki/Spaz-Sound-Sets/
Sorry! I’m aware of the association it has in the UK, but certainly did not have it in mind when I named the app. I might feel differently if it was a commercial application, but changing the name isn’t something I’m interested in doing.
If you like, you can edit your preferences.json file in a text editor and change the name reported to Twitter – that way no one will know you’re running Spaz. You can also download and modify the source code as you wish http://code.google.com/p/spaz.
If you send a tweet of exactly 140 characters, Twitter makes a certain sound. The equivalent in Spaz is the “Wilhelm!” noise – the scream. If you don’t like it you should be able to just swap in a new mp3 called “wilhelm.mp3” – but it seems AIR doesn’t let you. And down the road, it’ll be easier to swap in new sounds.
That was a feature of the old version written in REALbasic. It was a “fast user switching” feature that let you choose a user from a dropdown and quickly switch between them. It didn’t let you post once to multiple accounts, and it didn’t let you read messages received by multiple accounts in the same timeline.
It may come back in future versions of Spaz.
AIR doesn’t run on the iPhone and right now, we’re unaware of plans (rumored
or otherwise) to port AIR to the iPhone. Adobe has never mentioned AIR as a mobile platform. If that changes, we’d look at getting Spaz running on there, but don’t hold your breath.
Test versions of Spaz are frequently announced on the spaz-users group. If you want to try out new versions, subscribe to that list.
]]>Preferences change the way Spaz looks, feels and works. Once you’ve made changes to any of the settings, click “Save Preferences” to ensure the changes are remembered.
Enter your Twitter username and password. Spaz needs them so it can post and receive Twitter updates. They’re saved (securely) so you don’t have to re-enter it every time.
Spaz can post to Twitter, identi.ca, or other services with Twitter-compatible APIs. Use the drop-down box to select a preset and the API and WWW URLs are updated accordingly. If you need to, you can update the API and WWW URLs manually. (Most users don’t need to change this)
Ticking this box means that your tweets will not be posted to Twitter/Identi.ca. Use this if you only want your tweets sent through Ping.FM.
If you’d like your updates to go through Ping.FM1, register with them then fill in the items below:
If you’d like to use the Short.ie service2, register with them then fill in the items below:
Lets you override parts of the currently loaded CSS, to add to or enhance the way that theme performs. (see CSS Hacks for more information) There are two ways to attach User CSS:
Use the drop-down box to pick one of the pre-packaged themes. The theme is loaded immediately.
Affects how “see-through” Spaz is. 100% is not at all see-through, 0% is completely see-through (i.e. Spaz disappears!)
Determines whether dropshadow effects are displayed.
(This is a Mac OSX-only feature.)
Spaz can display a “number of unread items” badge in the OSX Dock, like Apple Mail.
Tick if you want to see the badge.
Lets you select the color of the badge.
Lets you select the shape of the badge.
Spaz can show display new tweets as temporary notification windows, even if Spaz is not in the foreground. These windows appear briefly then fade away.
Tick if you’d like to see notifications.
“Internal” means notifications are handled by Spaz itself. “Growl” means Spaz passes notifications to the Growl service. Note that Growl integration is not automatic. It is experimental and requires some coding to make it work.
Determines where on the screen notifications appear.
Tick if you want tweets to be parsed through Markdown3.
When ticked, minimizes Spaz to the System Tray rather than the Task Bar (when you click the Minimize button). See this Wikipedia article about the Task Bar for info about System Trays and Task Bars.
These are Windows-specific terms, although MacOS and Linux have the same concepts. What should I call them?
When ticked and you switch to another application, causes Spaz to automatically minimize to the Task Bar or System Tray (depending on the Minimize to Systray setting).
When Spaz is made active by the user, it will restore from a minimized state.
Tick if you’d like Spaz to automatically return to the top of the tweet list (the most recent ones) every time it finds new entries.
When Spaz reaches the beginning or end of the list of messages, it goes no further. Tick if you’d like it to wrap-around4.
Tick if you want Spaz to play sounds, untick if you don’t. Spaz plays sounds when:
when you send a “twoosh”, Wilhelm screams! If you want the sounds but don’t want the Wilhelm, untick this box.
Tick if you want Spaz to check for a new version of itself every time it starts. This will check only for stable versions.
Tick if you want Spaz to check for a new non-stable (experimental) version of itself every time it starts. Experimental versions are announced on the Spaz User Group along with a list of changes / fixes.
Click this button to have Spaz check for a new version right now.
Spaz checks for Twitter updates every so often; this preference controls how often it checks. The default is 3 minutes.
Click this button to have Spaz set the Refresh interval by asking Twitter how many requests per hour are allowed.
Tick if you want Spaz to automatically get the rate per hour, and set the Refresh interval, every time it starts.
If you are using a proxy that requires HTTP BASIC authentication, you may need to enable this option to enter your proxy username and password.
Tick if you want to turn on trace mode in Spaz. Trace mode dumps information about internal processing to a file called “spaz-debug.log”. The file is created in your “documents directory”. On Windows, this is the My Documents directory. On Mac OS, it is /Users/userName/Documents.
Click this button dump Spaz’s main HTML document to disk. Like the trace, this can be very useful for diagnosing problems. When you click, Spaz opens a file dialog so you can enter the name and location of the resulting file. Once it has a name, Spaz dumps the file and sends progress message boxes. It’s not done until the “close stream” message box appears.
1 Ping.FM is a service that makes updating your social networks easy. By using Ping.FM, your Twitter updates can be sent to Facebook, MySpace, Jaiku, tumblr and a host of other services.
2 Short.ie is a link shortening service with community and analytical features.
3 Markdown is a “lightweight markup scheme”, a way of putting things like bold text into a text message. You can find out more about Markdown at the official Markdown site.
4 Wraparound means, if you reach the beginning of a list and move backwards, you go to the end of the list, and vice versa.
]]>Do you have an idea for a feature you’d like to see? Request it in the Spaz Desktop issue tracker, or write it yourself and submit a patch!
]]>If you open the Prefs folder, there’s a directory named “usersounds”. Sound files (MP3s) placed in here override the default sounds. They must be named as follows (case-sensitive):
| Updates found: | Csnd.mp3 |
| Startup: | On.mp3 |
| Shutdown: | Off.mp3 |
| New tweet sent: | New.mp3 |
| Twoosh (i.e. WILHELM!): | wilhelm.mp3 |
The mappings are:
| Angel | o:) O:) 0:) 0-:) o:-) O:-) |
| Angry | :@ :-@ |
| Confused | :s :S :-s :-S |
| Cool | B) B-) |
| Cross-eyed | >_< >.< >,< |
| Cross-eyed and grinning | xD XD |
| Cross-eyed and poking out toungue | xP |
| Crying | ;'( :'( ':(' :*( ;_; ;'-( :'-( ':-(' :*-( |
| Cute | :3 |
| Cute and winking | ;3 |
| Devil | >:) >:-) |
| Eeeee! | :E |
| Evil | ):) |]:) |
| Gasp! | :O :o :0 :-O :-o :-0 |
| Greedy | :-$ |:$ |
| Grin | :D :-D ;D ;-D =D |
| Heart | <3 (L) |
| Joyful | ^^^ ^,^ ^.^ ^_^ |
| Lips are sealed | ;X :X :-X ;-X |
| Madly happy | 8D 8-D |
| Perky | 'w' *w*´ ^w^ |
| Poking out tongue | :p :P :-p :-P |
| Poking out tongue and winking | ;p ;P ;-p ;-P |
| Shocked | o.O o_O o.o o.0 o_o o_0 O.o O_o O.O 0.o O_O 0_o |
| Sick | :& |
| Smile | :) :-) =) :] :-] |
| Speechless | :| :I :l |
| Stupid | 8) 8-) |
| Tired | -_- -__- -___- -.- |
| Uncertain | :\\ :-\\ :/ :-/ |
| Unhappy | :( :-( =( :[ :-[ |
| Smile (“backwards”) | (: (-: |
| Wink | ;) ;-) |
This is the Shorten Link window. You can make it appear by:
When it appears, any URL in the clipboard is automatically shortened. Otherwise, type or paste the URL into the Link field then click the Shorten button.
Many shortening services are supported and you can choose your favourite by clicking the Service dropdown and selecting. Once a service is selected, Spaz remembers for next time.
]]>Do you have an idea for a feature you’d like to see? Request it in the Spaz Mobile issue tracker, or write it yourself and submit a patch!
]]>Spaziki is the Wiki for Spaz, an open-source Twitter client for the Adobe AIR platform.
We use Textile for formatting, plus the ExpressionEngine wiki syntax. Please feel free to add content as you see fit.