--- /dev/null
++++
+categories = ["News"]
+tags = ["News"]
+title = "BookStack Project Update for March 2023"
+image = "/images/blog-cover-images/flowers-tim-gouw.jpg"
+author = "Dan Brown"
+slug = "project-update-march-23"
+draft = false
+date = 2023-03-31T08:00:00Z
++++
+
+There's no new feature release for BookStack this month, due to various distractions
+and the type of work done in this release cycle, so I thought it'd be good to instead provide
+a general project update to highlight what has happened in the last month or so.
+
+{{<toc>}}
+
+### Patch Release
+
+Within the last week I published [BookStack v23.02.2](https://github.com/BookStackApp/BookStack/releases/tag/v23.02.2).
+Since we're still a little far from a feature release, I thought it'd be worthwhile to package up a patch release
+just to address a couple of user-management bugs and to merge in the latest translations.
+
+### New Hacks
+
+A bunch of new hacks have been added to the site.
+If you're unfamiliar with this part of the site you can find out more [in my blogpost here](/blog/hacks-on-the-site/).
+The newly added hacks are as follows:
+
+- [Render TeX/LaTeX Mathematics with MathJax](/hacks/mathjax-tex/) - *Provided by @codemicro.*
+- [IFrame Specific Tweaks](/hacks/iframe-specific-tweaks/) - *Provided by @vincent.*
+- [Custom WYSIWYG Editor Buttons](/hacks/wysiwyg-custom-buttons/)
+- [Page Export Contents List](/hacks/page-export-contents/)
+
+### New API Script
+
+While assisting a user on Discord, with using PowerShell to call the BookStack API, I ended up
+creating a new REST API example script in the repo:
+
+[PowerShell - Create BookStack Pages from HTML Files](https://github.com/BookStackApp/api-scripts/tree/main/powershell-files-to-pages)
+
+I don't really know PowerShell, and I've never gotten on with Microsoft's documentation, but this was my first case
+of finding ChatGPT very useful to at least provide tailored examples to work from until I got something working.
+
+### Noted Interview
+
+This month I did something a bit different & outside my comfort zone, by being interviewed
+by Jeremy at Noted about BookStack.
+
+[You can find the full interview here](https://noted.lol/dev-debrief-bookstack/).
+
+The interview delves into the origin of the BookStack while also touching on the challenges
+experienced maintaining the platform over the last 7 or so years.
+
+### Development & CodeMirror 6
+
+For the next release, so far my focus has primarily been on filling in gaps within the API as planned,
+with code now in the main branch to add image and content-permissions API endpoints.
+
+I've also continued to chip away at updating [CodeMirror](https://codemirror.net/) from CodeMirror 5 to CodeMirror 6.
+CodeMirror is used for a lot of views within BookStack including code-blocks within content and the markdown editor input.
+The jump in version is quite a significant change, and something [I started back in August](https://github.com/BookStackApp/BookStack/pull/3617)
+but came across blockers with. During this month, I've looked to address the lack of default support in CodeMirror 6 for a couple of
+languages we currently support. I've published my resultant work as external stand-alone open source NPM packages
+in the event they're useful to other projects that require the same:
+
+- [@ssddanbrown/codemirror-lang-smarty](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@ssddanbrown/codemirror-lang-smarty)
+- [@ssddanbrown/codemirror-lang-twig](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@ssddanbrown/codemirror-lang-twig)
+
+### First Repeat Support Subscriber
+
+It's now been a full year since I set-up & [launched the BookStack support services](/blog/bookstack-support-services/).
+Since these are annual-subscription-based we're now coming across the first renewals,
+and I'm pleased to say we've seen our first successful renewal! This may seem minor but it's
+quite significant to me in the interest of these support services "building up momentum"
+across years to help cover my living costs to become sustainable.
+
+If you're interested in how these have helped finances so far, I provided
+a fair bit of information within the ["BookStack in 2022" post](/blog/bookstack-in-2022/#project-funding--support-services).
+
+### Video: Installing BookStack on OpenBSD Assisted by ChatGPT
+
+I've been wanting to expand my knowledge in the world of BSD operating systems
+so, as a fun introduction, I decided I'd try to install BookStack on OpenBSD and
+record the process. In addition, I thought it'd be fun to only have ChatGPT as my
+external reference during the process:
+
+{{<yt Qs2c20DpgbI>}}
+
+Although this ended up with having almost 2 hours of video to edit down, I quite
+enjoyed the process of discovery in addition to further learning the benefits and
+weaknesses in using a tool like ChatGPT, especially in more niche subject areas.
+
+---
+
+<span style="font-size: 0.8em;opacity:0.8;">Header Image Credits: <span>Photo by <a href="https://www.pexels.com/@punttim/">Tim Gouw</a></span></span>
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