Version 0.5.002 released

The new twhirl version 0.5.002 introduces a new feature that will help you to get even more from the timeline: filtering. Besides that, the input area is not only accessible from the timeline view, but can be used from every panel. And, you can now opt-out to store your password between sessions.

Filtering the timeline

In the timeline view, you will now find a new button below the list of tweets next to the refresh button, that will open (and close) the filter pane.

To filter the tweets shown in the timeline, enter some words , separated by spaces, and press Return. twhirl will only show tweets that contain at least one of the words you entered. To clear the filter, either set it to an empty string and press Return, or click the “clear filter” button at the right.

There are some things you can use to make your searches more complex:

• requiring terms (+)
  When you prefix a search term with a plus sign (+), this word is required do be in the tweet, or it will not be shown in the timeline.
• excluding terms (-)
  If you want to exclude tweets from the timeline that contain a certain word, prefix it with a minus sign (-).
• search for tweets from a user (@)
  To add tweets (or direct messages) from a specific user, add his username prefixed with an at sign (@) to the list of terms. If you want to see only tweets from this user, you have to prefix it with an additional plus sign (+). To exclude tweets from a user, prefix with an additional minus sign (-).

Time for some examples. In the following descriptions, “tweets” always is used as “tweets and direct messages”:

foo bar

This will show all tweets containing “foo” OR “bar”.

foo +bar
+foo +bar

These are equivalent and will show all tweets containing “foo” AND “bar”.

foo bar +twhirl

This will show all tweets containing “twhirl” and at least one of “foo” or “bar”.

@foo @bar

This will show all tweets from users “foo” or “bar”.

foo bar @twhirl

This will show all tweets containing “foo” or “bar” or sent by user twhirl.

foo +@twhirl

This will show only tweets from user twhirl that contain “foo”.

-foo -bar

This will exclude all tweets containing “foo” or “bar”.

-@twhirl

This will exclude all tweets from twhirl.

Filtering remains active, even if you close the filter pane. You’ll notice a new stats display below the timeline that displays some information about the current timeline. Normally, it tells you the total number of tweets in your timeline, and how many replies, direct messages and tweets written by you it contains. If filtering is in effect, it displays “filtered: x matches” instead.

Other operators to build even more complex filters will be added in future versions.

New input panel

The new input panel is no longer tied to the timeline view, but can be accessed from all panels. Also, if you click a quick button to reply to or direct message someone, twhirl will no longer switch back to the timeline.

The height of the input area has also been increased a bit, so it should now be able to show three lines of text without scrolling (at least, when using the default font size).

If you configured your account to not auto-hide the input area after sending, you will notice it is already open now when you start twhirl.

Password storage

For users that share their computer with others, this one might be interesting: when adding an account and logging in, you can now select if you want twhirl to remember your password. It you tell it not to, you will be prompted for your password every time you start twhirl.

If you already have configured an account, but want twhirl to “forget” its password, open the accounts window (click on twhirl logo at the top left corner), select the account and click on “Forget password”. The next time you connect this account, you will be prompted for your password and can select again if you want to store it (open connections won’t be affected immediately by forgetting the password, you need to close them).

Getting twhirl

To get the latest version of twhirl, go to the homepage to download and install.