Thursday, September 4, 2008
Downtime
BibleShared.com will be unavailable today between the hours of 8am and 7pm. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Database Server Updates
Hello,
If you experience any errors on the page today it's because the database server is being updated. This will increase security and performance in the long run. Everything should be back to normal by this afternoon.
Thanks for your understanding!
- Nick
If you experience any errors on the page today it's because the database server is being updated. This will increase security and performance in the long run. Everything should be back to normal by this afternoon.
Thanks for your understanding!
- Nick
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Timeout Issues
Well, I finally got to the bottom of the Timeout issues. BibleShared uses SQL Server on the backend to store the bible data, user data, and notes data. Unfortunately, in my haste to get the site up and running, I forgot to properly configure the way it handles logging. This miscalculation finally caught up with me. The log file has been growing at a rate of ~100 MB / day to the point that 10 minutes ago it reached 24 GB.
The server its running on happens to run a set of hard disk drives that backup the data as its being written. When trying to back-up large sets of data there is a noticable delay in writing. The large file size combined with this delay was too much for the web site to handle. It took the delayed response as meaning the database server was down, and it gave up.
Fortunatley, all that was needed was a simple configuration change. It should be up and running smoothly now.
This article provides an excellent technical overview of the problem and the solution:
http://www.nigelrivett.net/TransactionLogFileGrows_1.html
The server its running on happens to run a set of hard disk drives that backup the data as its being written. When trying to back-up large sets of data there is a noticable delay in writing. The large file size combined with this delay was too much for the web site to handle. It took the delayed response as meaning the database server was down, and it gave up.
Fortunatley, all that was needed was a simple configuration change. It should be up and running smoothly now.
This article provides an excellent technical overview of the problem and the solution:
http://www.nigelrivett.net/TransactionLogFileGrows_1.html
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Login Process Timeouts
Hello all,
I've noticed an increase in error reports indicating that there have been timeouts while logging on. I'm not really sure why this is an issue right now, but I'll try to get to the bottom of it.
I've noticed an increase in error reports indicating that there have been timeouts while logging on. I'm not really sure why this is an issue right now, but I'll try to get to the bottom of it.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
BibleShared.com API
Hello all,
I've been hard at work on BibleShared.com this last week, and am excited about some of the new things in store. This might not interest much of the general public, but for software developers and web designers, this might generate some excitement.
I'm working on developing an open API for BibleShared.com that will allow programmers to create software and web sites that use the features of BibleShared.com. Imagine being able to access your notes using a program on your cell phone, or searching the scriptures by sending a text message. These kinds of thing, and more will be possible.
It will be implemented as a SOAP web service which should have .NET programmers especially excited. An API Key will be required for applications to be able to call its methods, but that will be provided for free to those who request it. To access any information for or about a user, direct authorization must be granted by that user through an interface already implemented on BibleShared.com.
Currently the following methods are planned to be supported:
I've been hard at work on BibleShared.com this last week, and am excited about some of the new things in store. This might not interest much of the general public, but for software developers and web designers, this might generate some excitement.
I'm working on developing an open API for BibleShared.com that will allow programmers to create software and web sites that use the features of BibleShared.com. Imagine being able to access your notes using a program on your cell phone, or searching the scriptures by sending a text message. These kinds of thing, and more will be possible.
It will be implemented as a SOAP web service which should have .NET programmers especially excited. An API Key will be required for applications to be able to call its methods, but that will be provided for free to those who request it. To access any information for or about a user, direct authorization must be granted by that user through an interface already implemented on BibleShared.com.
Currently the following methods are planned to be supported:
- AddNote
- AddNoteComments
- CreateSubGroup
- GetAuthCodeStatus
- GetChapterAddress
- GetNewAuthCode [Done]
- GetNote
- GetNoteComments
- GetPassageText
- GetPassageURL [Done]
- GetProgress
- GetRecentNotes
- MarkAsRead
- SearchBible [Done]
- SearchNotes
If you are a developer and would have interest in programming against this API, let me know in the comments, and suggest any methods you would like to see. No destructive methods will be supported (i.e. there will be no "delete" operations offered through the API).
On an unrelated side note, the Verse of the Day widget is still planned, we just need more verses to feature. Please leave comments with your favorite verses. Thanks!
About the Author: Nick is the creator of BibleShared.com -- a web application that allows you to read the Bible, write notes in the margin, share these notes with others, and track your Bible reading progress.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Global Notes Complete
Well, the Global Notes functionality of BibleShared.com is now live and available for exploration.
I went ahead and marked all of my own Shared Notes as Global Notes so that they will be available across all of the groups of which I am a member. This adds around 8 pages of notes to each and every one of these groups -- I hope the groups' administrators do not mind the flood.
This brings me to an interesting tidbit about Global Notes. If you are a group administrator or a moderator, you can prevent specific Global Notes from appearing in your group by simply deleting them as you might do with any other especially offensive note. This will not actually delete the note, but instead add it to a blacklist for your group. Though the note is not entirely lost, this process cannot be reversed, so don't delete notes casually.
Enjoy the new feature! I'm going to bed.
About the Author: Nick is the creator of BibleShared.com -- a web application that allows you to read the Bible, write notes in the margin, share these notes with others, and track your Bible reading progress.
I went ahead and marked all of my own Shared Notes as Global Notes so that they will be available across all of the groups of which I am a member. This adds around 8 pages of notes to each and every one of these groups -- I hope the groups' administrators do not mind the flood.
This brings me to an interesting tidbit about Global Notes. If you are a group administrator or a moderator, you can prevent specific Global Notes from appearing in your group by simply deleting them as you might do with any other especially offensive note. This will not actually delete the note, but instead add it to a blacklist for your group. Though the note is not entirely lost, this process cannot be reversed, so don't delete notes casually.
Enjoy the new feature! I'm going to bed.
About the Author: Nick is the creator of BibleShared.com -- a web application that allows you to read the Bible, write notes in the margin, share these notes with others, and track your Bible reading progress.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Coming Soon
Let the screenshot to the right be a teaser of what is to come.
If you look carefully at the icon, and the extra piece of information included under the text of the note you just might be able to figure it out. Otherwise, I'll just say it. Global Notes.
Have you ever posted a note in one group, and wished that you could see it in another group? Have you been a member of a group for a long time, and want to join another group, but don't want to lose your notes? Well soon you will be able to set certain notes as available everywhere, and as long as you are a member of a group, these notes will appear there.
This should provide a better experience for members of groups, as well as group administrators that are just starting out, as they can migrate all their existing notes without having to change anything at all.
Currently, on the "Recent Notes" list, you see notes that are either "Shared" notes, or "Private" notes which you have direct permissions for. Global Notes makes this a little more complicated. Now you will see a note if any of the following is true:
- The note is global and the creator is in your group
- The note is shared and it was created in your group
- The note is private, not written by you, you have permission, and it was created in your group
- The note is private, written by you, and was created in your group
- The note is completely private (i.e. "Only I can view" was selected), and written by you in any group.
Let me know your feedback on this feature that is in development by posting a comment.
About the Author: Nick is the creator of BibleShared.com -- a web application that allows you to read the Bible, write notes in the margin, share these notes with others, and track your Bible reading progress.
If you look carefully at the icon, and the extra piece of information included under the text of the note you just might be able to figure it out. Otherwise, I'll just say it. Global Notes.Have you ever posted a note in one group, and wished that you could see it in another group? Have you been a member of a group for a long time, and want to join another group, but don't want to lose your notes? Well soon you will be able to set certain notes as available everywhere, and as long as you are a member of a group, these notes will appear there.
This should provide a better experience for members of groups, as well as group administrators that are just starting out, as they can migrate all their existing notes without having to change anything at all.
Currently, on the "Recent Notes" list, you see notes that are either "Shared" notes, or "Private" notes which you have direct permissions for. Global Notes makes this a little more complicated. Now you will see a note if any of the following is true:
- The note is global and the creator is in your group
- The note is shared and it was created in your group
- The note is private, not written by you, you have permission, and it was created in your group
- The note is private, written by you, and was created in your group
- The note is completely private (i.e. "Only I can view" was selected), and written by you in any group.
Let me know your feedback on this feature that is in development by posting a comment.
About the Author: Nick is the creator of BibleShared.com -- a web application that allows you to read the Bible, write notes in the margin, share these notes with others, and track your Bible reading progress.
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