News & Views
 
[2010-07-30] Yes, Password Corral Really Isn't Vaporware!

Yes, believe it or not, Password Corral 5.0 is still in the works. My development effort on it has been slower than a dead turtle, but I've made some headway, and I have screen shots to prove it. Don't get too excited; the screen shots aren't all that impressive, as most of the work has been the grunt kind of stuff that's necessary to support the application as a whole.

First we see the login screen. Pretty familiar as it looks, for the most part, just like the current version 4.0 screen. The main difference is I've labeled the options button, instead of it just being a button with ">>" on it. Many people either forgot about that button on the login screen, or never noticed it to begin with, and considering it is very useful for pointing the program to the location of your password data, I wanted to make it more obvious.

Next is the new user screen. Again, not strikingly different than the current screen. The main new touch is the tip text for creating a decently secure password, and the notice about not forgetting your username and password. The number one support question I get asked is if there's any way to recover from a forgotten password, which of course, there isn't. And since v5.0 is using a real password database, there's no easy way to find out a forgotten username as there is in v4.0.

On to the main application screen. Told you not to expect too much. Obviously the interface is far from complete, missing menus, toolbar buttons and the like. But it's the standard interface you're used to with Password Corral, and I don't plan on changing it much since it's pretty intuitive to use. One new thing is that you can change the order that the columns are displayed in by simply dragging them left or right, and this works on a group by group basis.

Then a shot of the new database dialog box. The current version of Password Corral stores all of your data in a single file, with each user account having its own file. Version 5.0 now uses a real SQL database engine, and allows for any number of users and their data to be stored in a single set of data files. Of course, individual users will most likely only need one database with a single user account, but businesses can create multiple databases for each of their departments, or a single database with many users, and only one set of data files to backup.

Finally, here's a shot of the new group screen. You can see one new gem here in that you will have the ability to hide or display columns on a group by group basis. Every group has access to all the columns, and hiding a column for a particular group will not delete any data currently stored in it.

When's this puppy coming out, you might be asking yourself. Well, I've gotten myself into too much trouble in the past trying to keep to a release schedule that I've almost invariably never been able to meet, so all I can say for now is that I've made some good headway, and will keep trying to do so.

As to what's completed, all encryption functions and database creation code is done, as well as all code related to creating, editing and working with groups. Next up is adding all the functionality related to the actual password management. After that are the small and not-so-small details, like program options, backup functionality, etc. Plenty of stuff to do, but I'm making progress.

Well, I hope this very early preview was of some interest. I'll try to keep you more informed as time goes on. Thanks for the continued support!

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