Since there has been no development with the offline blog editor Zoundry Raven (Raven) since 2008, I have been fixing and customizing Raven to fit my own needs for something like 8 months now. I am no expert in the Python programming language (I only have less than 8 months experience). But luckily I find the Raven's Python source code to be quite easy to follow and understand. I have a background in computer programming, by the way.
Since the beginning of February 2014, I have been trying to package my customized version of Raven into a MS Windows .EXE executable so that it can be run like any other Windows program without the need of installing the Python compiler or any other libraries that Raven requires. After trying for something like 3 weeks, I have finally succeeded.
To anyone who is interested, I have uploaded my customized version of Raven, which I now call RavenPlus (see below for the reason why), to Google Drive and you can download the ZIP file here .
I did not create an installer. So, to install "RavenPlus", just unzip the downloaded ZIP file into a directory and click on the executable file "ravenPlus.exe" in the folder "bin" to launch.
RavenPlus was built under the Windows XP SP3 environment with py2exe. I have set the current version number to "1.0.502" and it includes all the changes that I have made, which are:
To avoid any confusion with the official release from Zoundry, I have decided to name my executable "ravenPlus.exe" (an idea that I have borrowed from Memtest86+) and to assign an icon to this executable as shown below.
This icon is visible when you create a shortcut on the Windows desktop. I have assigned this icon to "ravenPlus.exe" by setting the appropriate parameters in the py2exe configuration file "setup.py". Do take note: in this build I did not modify any other files except for the 3 listed below:
- zoundry\appframework\ui\widgets\controls\advanced\mshtml\mshtmlcontrol.py
(see Zoundry Raven: Getting Raven To Work With MS Internet Explorer 9)
- zoundry\blogapp\services\pubsystems\blog\blogpublisher.py
(see Zoundry Raven: Inserting Amazon Affiliate "iframe" Ads)
- zoundry\blogapp\version.py
(to set the version number)
I have left the other files that I have downloaded from http://code.google.com/p/zoundryraven unchanged, and this includes the picture and icon files. So do not be alarm if you were to see the name "Zoundry Raven" appearing on the title bar in the main window or the original Raven icon popping up in various places (like in the Windows Taskbar and Task Manager, for example).
I have tested running RavenPlus under 32-bit Windows XP and 32-bit Windows 7 Professional 
I have not tested RavenPlus under Windows 8 or MS Internet Explorer version 10 or even 64-bit Windows. To anybody who has, please leave a comment below as I would like to know.
Update 5th April 2014
RavenPlus Version "1.0.503" can be downloaded here. It fixes a problem that I had where my blog content was empty upon publishing - more details at this blog post.
Update 25th March 2015
For download link and details about RavenPlus Version "1.0.504", please see this blog post.
Disclaimer:
You, the user, accept the full responsibility for the usage of this application RavenPlus, excluding the developer, ie. me the owner of this blog, from any liability and any consequence that may derive. Remember to do an Anti-virus scan of the downloaded ZIP file before unzipping it into a folder. You might want to consider doing a full backup of your computer hard drive with Acronis True Image 
Firstly, thank you very much.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, I have tested this with Win 7 64 bit & IE 11 and it works. In my brief testing I haven't seen any obvious errors. Well done.
Finally, a tip for others. If you have an existing installation copying your profile folder to RavenPlus/profiles transfers all your previous work etc.
Thanks once again.
Vexillia,
DeleteThanks for the tip and on the information on Win7 64 bit & IE11. I very much appreciate it.
Hi ChuahTC.
ReplyDeleteThank You so Much for your Work.
I've now Built 3 Blogs with Zoundry and am Making Money on the internet.
And it's all thanks to people like you: talented, working ethic, sharing your competences...
Keep up the good work.
I'm glad to have found your Zoundry Version here. Now I finally can upgrade ie to ie9 :).
I've been stuck with ie8.0 for a long time because Zoundry did not work with it. Now that's solved.
I can't imagine how I would live blogging without zoundry (I can't stand login in wordpress's admin and editor etc.. tss what a joke! :)
Zoundry is much more more Faster and once again you extended the life of the software here. Thank you so much.
Please keep up the good work and keep updating this wonderful software.
There's no comparison with another alternative blogging desktop software. I've tried them all, downloaded and test driven them all, paid or free, they just don't do what RavenPlus & Raven Does. So Thank you so much for this.
My only regret is they have stopped the developpement of a such magnificent tool in 2009. (Snif!)
And I'm sure 1000s of users bloggers use this tool and dream of it to be continued again and improved. Would be such a dream.
Zoundry is the Best. RavenPlus is the best.
T.C. Chuah YOU are the best.
Thank you so much.
Thank you for the words of encouragement Lova.
DeleteFor security reasons, you might want to consider upgrading to IE11 instead of IE9. Vexillia has tested RavenPlus with IE11 and he does not seem to have any problems - see the comment above.