I just released Hamilton 1.1.2 which includes the latest value data from the US Treasury with the application itself. If you’re already running 1.1.1 and have downloaded the latest data when Hamilton prompted you to, this is a low priority update.
I’m continuing work on 1.2, albeit at a slower pace than 1.1 since some contract work, another app, and a new baby has taken priority over 1.2 development for the time being.
In case you missed the announcement of new rates for I and EE series bonds, here’s a summary and some analysis by Tom Adams of http://savings-bond-advisor.com
In other news I’m making good progress on Hamilton 1.2 so stay tuned for some screenshots and feature updates soon.
Ooops!
I just fixed a silly bug that in some cases would prevent a button from showing up in the “Demo Expiration” dialog box to let you enter in a license code once your 30 day trial has expired.
Hamilton version 1.1.1 is now available with a fix in place. If you’re using 1.1 please upgrade as soon as you can.
Sorry!
- Steve
After a brief private beta and just under a month after Hamilton 1.0 shipped, I’m happy to release Hamilton 1.1 today. Thanks to everyone who downloaded, tried out 1.0, and sent me their feedback. I wasn’t able to get everyone’s feature suggestions in for this release but will try to include as many as I can in 1.2 this summer.
Here’s what’s new in 1.1:
Here’s two more AppleScripts I use all the time with some key shortcuts using Red Sweater Software’s FastScripts.
Link as Tiny URL
Just a variation of the “Clipboard to Tiny URL” I posted recently that works with the URL of the frontmost window in Safari instead of the clipboard:
tell application "Safari" set longURL to URL of front document end tell set cmd to "curl http://tinyurl.com/api-create.php?url=" & longURL set shortURL to do shell script cmd set the clipboard to shortURL as text beep
Open Selected Yojimbo Bookmarks
I use this with Bare Bones Software’s excellent Yojimbo information organizer. What this script does is iterate through the list of selected items in Yojimbo, and open any Bookmark items in your default browser. I bookmark a lot of blog entries and articles in Yojimbo, and often want to open a few of them at once. I use FastScripts to have this run when I press Command-Shift-O.
set myURLs to {}
tell application "Yojimbo"
set selectedItems to the selection
repeat with currentItem in selectedItems
if the class of currentItem is bookmark item then
set myURLs to myURLs & the location of currentItem
end if
end repeat
end tell
repeat with currentURL in myURLs
open location currentURL
end repeat
Download: URLScripts.zip (2kb)
Tom Adams has all the details of the next I bond inflation component rate at Savings Bond Advisor in his latest Savings Bond Alert.
If you’re buying US Savings Bonds, be sure to check out Hamilton so you can keep your bonds organized and always know how much they’re worth.
Here’s a couple of quick AppleScripts I use all the time with Red Sweater Software’s excellent FastScripts to add some key shortcuts.
Clipboard to Single Line
This script takes the contents of the clipboard and converts the text to a single line. This is great for copying a street address from a webpage or document and then pasting the result into Google Maps or whatever.
Here’s the source:
set addressString to the clipboard as string set text item delimiters to return set textItems to text items of addressString set addressString to "" repeat with i in textItems set addressString to addressString & i & " " end repeat set the clipboard to addressString
Clipboard to Tiny URL
This script calls tinyurl.com using curl, and turns a long URL on your clipboard into a short one. The contents of the clipboard are replaced with the short URL.
Here’s the source:
set longURL to the clipboard set cmd to "curl http://tinyurl.com/api-create.php?url=" & longURL set shortURL to do shell script cmd set the clipboard to shortURL as text beep
Download ClipboardScripts.zip (4kb)
I’ve been working on the printing code for Hamilton 1.1 and found it easiest to use WebKit to get the job done. I initially thought it was going to be a little tricky, but it turned out to be pretty easy.
I created a little demo app to show how it’s done. The demo app simply loads a URL into a WebView instance that I setup in Interface Builder, the AppController class I wrote handles all the printing work. In Hamilton the WebView isn’t even visible, and I generate the HTML to be printed on the fly as a way to generate simple reports. You could probably even do something more interesting using XSL or by pulling content from a database.
Download the Xcode project: WebKitPrinting.zip (36kb)
A screenshot of my WebKitPrinting demo in action:
Got comments or ideas for how to improve this? Please, let me know!
Tom Adams, of Savings Bond Advisor and author of Savings Bond Advisor - Fifth Edition
If you’re looking to learn more about Savings Bonds Tom’s Book and website are invaluable resources, be sure to check them out.
First of all thanks to everyone who downloaded Hamilton 1.0 and emailed me with questions and feedback. Since the release of 1.0 I’ve been busy working on 1.1 and have an update on some new features in 1.1, which should be in beta soon. I’ll post more info here when the 1.1 beta is available.
E Bond Support
In 1.1 I’ve added support for E series Savings Bonds. E series bonds were issued between 1941 and 1980. Most of these bonds have already matured, but some of those issued in the late 70s are still earning interest.
HTML Import
The US Treasury has an online savings bond calculator that stores your savings bond inventory as an HTML file. Hamilton 1.1 can now import those files, just like with your CSV files. If you’re trying out Hamilton and have your inventory as one of these HTML files, getting all your bonds into Hamilton just got a LOT easier.
Group Names Selected for Editing after Creation
Now after you add a new Group instead of it being added as “Untitled Group” the group name is selected so you can rename it right away. Most other Mac apps behave this way so it’s a feature that was sorely lacking from 1.0.