TimeSnapper version 3.4 went live a few days ago!

It can now run from a USB key, and is prettier in a few ways.

But the main feature is the new plugin model which lets you extend TimeSnapper with your own features.

The plugin model has been there for quite some time, but we've never publicised it before, or released any plugins that use it.

We've now released our first official plugin. A simple plugin that lets you create animated gifs from your snapshots. I've written a guide to help anyone who is interested in writing plugins of their own and provided a sample in VB, and a sample in C#. I can provide lots more examples, and information for anyone who is interested.

The animated gif plugin owes a debt of gratitude to Jon Galloway -- we reuse the Gif.Components.dll that he put together for his cropper plugin.

We're hoping to host plugins from other people -- we'll provide a nice page where people can download them. We'll help out with development, debugging and so on, wherever needed. If there's sufficient interest we'll spawn a separate forum for plugin development. (For now, the regular forum is the best place to ask questions).

APIs are funny things -- and I received a hell of a lot of criticism while writing this API. The criticism came from a particular nasty and vocal user who never seems to be happy with any of the work I provide. That user is (of course) (in case you haven't yet guessed it) -- me.

So, if you're looking at the plugin model and you see something you don't like about it. Well, I understand. Constructive critcism and suggestions on how to improve the API are very welcome.

As always there are full details in the release notes, and there are lots more goodies on the way.