I have updated version 1.1.17 with a few fixes to solve the various background thread crashes on OS 5.0.

I think that tiggit mail is now 5.0 safe. I have posted a new build of 1.1.17 (now 1.1.17.1) on tiggit.com for those that need a 5.0 compatible version.

[For information here is what appears to cause most of the problems on RIM OS 5.0. UI Applications on the BlackBerry have the concept of a 'despatch thread' that deals with user interactions (button presses, clicks etc) and typically this despatch thread will start other background threads to conduct the necessary processing. Tiggit mail makes extensive use of these background threads to do things like decoding messages and displaying them.

It would appear that when a background thread sets a parameter on a field that has not been added to a manager this causes a null pointer exception as the OS attempts to render the field within the context of a manager that does not exist. In my mind this is a defect in the OS, but nevertheless everyone will need to review and update their application as a result.

Note: this is not the same as making sure that the background thread owns the Ui Application Event Lock.]

Like a great many applications, tiggit mail has been broken by RIM OS 5.0. I have been running it on the simulator and have fixed every crash that I have found, and have a candidate build that a few users have reported works OK on RIM OS 5.0

Please contact me directly if you need this build because you have upgraded to 5.0 and found that tiggit mail does not work.

I have just uploaded another build of 1.1.17 preview. This build fixes some minor bugs in the add mailbox wizard that result in the settings menu having multiple entries for the same mailbox.

This build also adds a mark read feature for inbox viewers allowing you to select multiple messages and mark them as read, without opening them. When tiggit next does a send and receive the update to the \Seen flag is applied to the server. This is what it looks like

Registered users can download version 1.1.17, by clicking here and entering the email address that was originally used to register for tiggit mail. Exisiting license tokens will continue to work with this version. Users are advised to take appropriate precautions when upgrading to this version as all messages on the handheld may be lost.

Preview 2 contains a fix for errors in the calculation of daylight saving hours within the timezone for outgoing messages.

This version also adds a cache for images downloaded within html messages, this means that once you have viewed a message and it has downloaded any embedded images, these images will not be downloaded again. As the images are held in memory up to the maximum size indicated in the setting HTMLCacheSize. Once this size is reached images are dropped from the cache to make room for new downloads. You can set this value to zero to turn off the caching functionality.

If useSDCard is selected then the cached data is stored on the the SD card in the tiggitWorkspace/cache folder. There is no limit to the space that will be taken for data cached on the SD Card.

To clear the HTML cache, from the mailbox list key ALT-C then ALT-C.

Hopefully the cache will improve performance and reduce data costs for downloading html emails with hosted images.

Here is a re-cap on the settings that can be used with HTML emails

• renderHTML – option to turn on/off display of HTML content within tiggit mail.
• loadHTMLimages – option to turn on/off loading of embedded images within HTML emails.
• showHTMLfirst – typically HTML emails have a plain text message before the HTML to make the message more readable for those that do not have HTML capable email tools. This setting makes tiggit mail always display HTML attachments first.
• HTMLCacheSize – as described above, defines the maximum size of the HTML image cache in memory.

Sadly there is no real way to show a graphic of the cache in action, but note that the status line does report when an image is loaded from cache rather than from the network. You can also observe the absence of flashing arrows showing no network activity whilst the HTML mail is being populated.

Registered users can download version 1.1.17, by clicking here and entering the email address that was originally used to register for tiggit mail. Exisiting license tokens will continue to work with this version. Users are advised to take appropriate precautions when upgrading to this version as all messages on the handheld may be lost.

It has been a while since I have released a new version of tiggit mail, and in recent weeks I have been receiving a number of requests for additional minor features and enhancements. This release attempts to provide those as well as delivering on some promises from a while ago.

Possibly the most visual change is the option to have alternately shaded rows in the inbox, and the option to set the colour of the shading. Perhaps the most requested change is the ability to edit messages when they are in the outbox. This version should also improve efficiency in filing messages into other folders with the introduction of fast keys and nicknames.

Here is the full list of changes:

• Option for alternative send format – you can now chose between ISO-8859-1(default), UTF-16BE, US-ASCII and UTF-8.
• The text of the signature is now placed in the message composer allowing you to edit/customise it for particular messages
• Fast keys to move around the folder list in the move dialog – press the first letter of the folder name you want to move to.
• Folder nick-names
• Ability to edit messages once they have been placed in the outbox, using send later
• Option to start in the background when the phone boots
• Option to delete the BlackBerry log on start up to improve performance
• Changed the sub-folders checkbox on the folder properties to not be selected by default
• Option to immediately hide moving and deleted messages
• Fixes irritations in the operation of the delete key
• Support for forwarded flags on messages
• Added exit option to the mailbox list menu
• Removes mailboxes immediately rather than waiting for restart
• Fixes defects in counting un-read messages. Deleted messages are not counted as un-read
• Ability to back-up settings – press ALT-E to export settings to a file and ALT-I to import.
• Added reply indicator to a single line view
• Fixes problems with copying messages to a sent folder via the tunnel
• Pressing enter now opens a message on inbox viewer
• Option to not download images in HTML mails
• Fixes defect where multiple inboxes are shown from time to time
• Fixes problem where changes to the signature were not detected by save prompt
• Added send attempt count to stop enternal message send attempts
• Added shading alternate rows
• Added AOL wizard

There are still a few features to be added to 1.1.17, but I am releasing a preview of this now for confirmation that these features meet the needs of the many users that have requested them.

Registered users can download version 1.1.17, by clicking here and entering the email address that was originally used to register for tiggit mail. Exisiting license tokens will continue to work with this version. Users are advised to take appropriate precautions when upgrading to this version as all messages on the handheld may be lost.

A number of users have emailed reporting that they are unable to find certain G-Mail special folders, such as starred, spam, trash etc. These folders are downloaded and accessible to tiggit mail, but not so easy to find.

Here is my G-Mail folder list as it appears when first downloaded

To see the Google special folders, highlight [Google Mail], and then press space. This will expand the [Google Mail] part of the folder tree and allow you to access the Google special folders

Another build on version 1.1.16 is now available to download. This build fixes one bug that many people have reported, resulting in poor behavior when messages have been marked for deleted on the server but not expunged. The impact of this can be that the all messages in an inbox can be wiped-out, this is now fixed.

With this build you should not get “Mail Exception Server returned incorrect status array size” any longer.

Version 1.1.16.p4 can be downloaded in the normal way, using the link below.

I have now posted an update to the version 1.1.16 Preview, which includes all of the fixes and enhancements intended for this release. This can now be downloaded in the usual way. This is still a preview release, so it is important to remove the earlier version prior to installing this version.

As well as the features listed in the post below, 1.1.16 has the following fixes and new features:

• changed the deletion behavior when deleting on server. tiggit mail will no longer display messages that are marked for deletion. If you would like to continue to see “will delete on server” then select showDeleted on the general settings panel.
• fixes problem with large folder lists not being downloaded, and improves user feedback whilst downloading and processing folder lists.
• adds SD card Audit to start up sequence. On startup tiggit mail checks each file in the tiggit workspace to ensure that it has a corresponding message within a folder
• adds don’t ask again option on exit dialogue

I have also checked out integration with BlackBerry alerting. To enable this you should edit your profile and assign vibrate and tone settings for tiggit mail. You can test your profile configuration by keying ALT-R from the mailbox list.

Registered users can download version 1.1.16, by clicking here and entering the email address that was originally used to register for tiggit mail. Exisiting license tokens will continue to work with this version. Users are advised to take appropriate precautions when upgrading to this version as all messages on the handheld may be lost.

Yesterday was a great day in The Dales, not too hot and sunny. We had a great ride up Arkengarthdale, all the way to Tan Hill before turning back down Swaledale to return home. Today was rainy, so I made some progress on version 1.1.16, which is can now be downloaded in the usual way.

Version 1.1.16 is focussed on fixing a number of bugs and customer irritations. Most importantly this fixes the problem where an inbox gets wiped out as a result of a short response from a mail server.

• improves user feedback on the progress of the add mailbox wizard
• corrects false positives in the test phase of the add mailbox wizard, and sending using singlePost
• changes entry fields to use email and numeric fields as appropriate in add mailbox wizard
• fixes problems associated with downloading from Yahoo!, and post-download sorting.
• fixes problems in the useWiFi logic – the WiFi & Cellular option should now work.
• fixes bug in quoted printable decoder that resulted in spurious spaces and new lines in quoted printable encoded messages
• fixes problem where delete preference was not being stored/respected
• inserts [no subject] when no subject is specified in an outgoing mail
• adds menu option to move a message whilst it is displayed, along with fast key V to move message from message display and inbox viewer
• improves first time experience
• only sets singlePost to be true if tunnel is selected
• resolves problem where large attachments are corrupted on non-MDS connections
• adds new mailbox wizard for us.army.mil
• changes wifi network string to interface=wifi
• fixes problem resulting in inbox wipeouts

This is the first pre-release of 1.1.16, and does not yet include all of the features intended for this release.

Registered users can download version 1.1.15, by clicking here and entering the email address that was originally used to register for tiggit mail. Exisiting license tokens will continue to work with this version. Users are advised to take appropriate precautions when upgrading to this version as all messages on the handheld may be lost. Users are advised to fully remove the previous version of tiggit mail prior to upgrading to ensure a trouble-free installation.

A number of users have contacted me about making tiggit mail work with the US Army Mail Service. It would appear that the use of BlackBerry has been outlawed as the BIS/BES infrastructure is not considered sufficiently secure.

I don’t know whether tiggit mail will meet the requirements of the US DOD, but nevertheless I thought it worthwhile to write some notes on how to use tiggit mail with the us.army.mil mail service. Users should of course take appropriate steps to ensure that they are complying with all of the conditions of use of the mail server to which they are connecting.

You can see the details here. I guess it might help others who are having difficulties getting tiggit mail to work. Another document that might also be helpful to understand the features of tiggit mail is the user guide, which can be found here.