Changelog for ARRIS++ Version  8.0   (Spin #239, Rel. 01):

The following lists describe the changes that have been made to the ARRIS++ Enhanced Menus since the previous release (version 8.0, spin #219, rel. 01), on December 18, 2002. Note that there are links in the following material pointing to more detailed information contained in the main documentation.

This changelog is divided into the following sections:



• Documentation Enhancements
  
  
• Menu Modifications
  
  
• Existing Sigmac Bug Fixes
  
  
• Existing Sigmac Enhancements
  
  
• New ARRIS++ Sigmacs

Documentation Enhancements:

The following table lists general modifications and enhancements that have been made to the ARRIS++ menu system documentation.

All of the documentation in this Changelog has been integrated into the full ARRIS++ Manual at the appropriate locations.

The documentation for the Repeated Item Attributes which was a part of the previous Changelog, was inadvertently not included in the full ARRIS++ manual. This omission has been corrected.

The on-line help for the CATALOG SELECT, MANUAL NOTE and COPY NOTE buttons on the NOTES menu was revised to discuss the repetitive (i.e., looping) action available if the command is initiated using a right-click.

The on-line help for the INSERT POINT button on the PATTERNS menu was revised to describe the new functionality provided with this release and discussed below.

The new ARRIS++ OPTIONS menu allows the default toolbar type to be easily specified from within ARRIS. This eliminates the need for the old cj_ikonmenu.tx file stored in the config.dir directory. All references to the use of this file have been removed from the documentation and users are encouraged to delete this file from their USR: (and possibly STD:) directory.

Menu Modifications:

The following table lists changes and additions made to the ARRIS++ menu system.

CUSTOMIZE:	ARRIS++ Options  ARRIS++ OPTIONS Menu On the CUSTOMIZATION pull-down menu a new ARRIS++ button has been added. When selected, the ARRIS++ OPTIONS pop-up menu is displayed which provides a graphical interface for selecting various options in the ARRIS++ application module. Currently, the following options are supported: NUMBER OF TOOLBAR MENU BOXES: This option determines the default toolbar style to be loaded each time ARRIS is started. Clicking on the box to the right toggles through the choices: 20, 40 or 80. If no explicit selection is made, this defaults to the 40-button toolbar style. Note that if a new toolbar style is selected during a running ARRIS session, that toolbar will be immediately loaded when the ARRIS++ OPTIONS menu is dismissed. LOAD ARRIS++ OPTIONAL SIGMAC LIBRARY: ARRIS++ ships with an optional sigmac library named cj_mnopt.sm. This library contains a set of aliases - short mnemonic sigmac names that are much more convenient to enter from the keyboard. These commands offer no new functionality; they simply provide a convenient interface to other ARRIS++ sigmacs. By default, this library is not loaded when ARRIS++ starts. Clicking on the box to the right toggles between YES and NO to determine whether this library should be automatically loaded when ARRIS++ is initialized. Note that changing the value during a running ARRIS session will immediately load or unload this library when the ARRIS++ OPTIONS menu is dismissed. NOTE BUTTON LEFT-CLICK COMMAND: If the optional ARRISplus module is installed, then there are two keynote options available; The standard ARRIS NOTES menu or the ARRISplus KEYNOTE SPEC menu. This option determines which menu is displayed when the NOTES button is selected. Clicking on the box to the right toggles between the following options: ARRIS NOTES ARRISplus KEYNOTE SPEC If no explicit selection is made, this defaults to the standard ARRIS NOTES menu to maintain the previous behavior. NOTE BUTTON RIGHT-CLICK COMMAND: If the optional ARRISplus module is installed, then there are three options available; The standard ARRIS NOTES menu, the NOTES main flyout menu or the ARRISplus KEYNOTE SPEC menu. This option determines which menu is displayed when the NOTES button is selected using a right-click. Clicking on the box to the right toggles between the following options: ARRIS NOTES ARRIS NOTES FLYOUT ARRISplus KEYNOTE SPEC If no explicit selection is made, this defaults to the standard NOTES flyout menu to maintain the previous behavior. RECENT DOCUMENTS LEFT-CLICK COMMAND: There are now four different menus available for accessing and managing Recent Documents. The new tools are discussed below under the RECENT DOCS heading. This option determines which of the recent documents menus is to be displayed when the small down-arrow ikon on the DESKTOP menu is selected using a left-click. Clicking on the box to the right toggles through the following four options: ARRIS STD. RECENT DOCS. ARRIS++ USER DOCS. ESTES FAVORITE DOCS. ESTES RECENT DOCS. If no explicit selection is made, then this defaults to the standard ARRIS RECENT DOCUMENTS menu, maintaining the previous behavior. RECENT DOCUMENTS RIGHT-CLICK COMMAND: This option determines which of the recent documents menus is to be displayed when the small down-arrow ikon on the DESKTOP menu is selected using a right-click. The choices are the same as described above allowing either the same or a different tool to be launched. If no explicit selection is made, then this defaults to the new ARRIS++ USER DOCUMENTS menu. In all cases, right-clicking on the option boxes will toggle in the reverse direction through the option lists. The RELOAD button may be selected at any time to discard all unsaved changes and reset the current option configuration by rereading the disk file. The label of the SAVE button will display in yellow whenever any unsaved modifications have been made to the current options configuration. Select this button to save the current settings to disk, overwriting any previously saved values. An office-wide version of the options file may be saved to the STANDARDS directory. If this file exists it will set the ARRIS++ options for all users who do not set their own personal options configuration. This file may be created by any user having write permission to the std:config.dir directory. This is done by right-clicking on the SAVE button. An error message will be displayed for anyone not possessing the proper permissions. Select the EXIT button (or click on the menu's titlebar) to dismiss the menu. It is perfectly OK to make changes to the options and use them for the current ARRIS session without saving them. If changes have been made, the following message will be displayed: NOTE: ARRIS++ options have been changed but not saved. This is an informational message only and does not indicate any error. If it is desired to save the revised configuration at a later date, simply return to this menu and click on SAVE. The ARRIS++ option data is saved to the file: {usr,std}:config.dir/cj_options.tx
EDIT:	Move Scale/Rotate The right-click command associated with the MOVE SCL/ROT editing button has been changed. The new command provides an alternate version of the command which is backwards compatible with ARRIS 2001 and earlier. This command ignores the SCALE and ROTATION boxes on the EDIT and EDIT SHORT pull-down menus and instead prompts for these values during the move operation. In addition, the prompts also offer a POINTS option which allow the scale and rotation to be determined graphically. When prompted for the scale factor, selecting POINTS allows a new point to be specified relative to the original reference point, defining a reference line. Next, a second point relative to the new location is specified, defining a target line. The selected entities will be scaled based upon the ratio of the length of these two line. When prompted for the rotation, selecting the POINTS option again will cause the entities to also be rotated relative to the angle between the two lines.
NOTES:	Notes Main Flyout Menu  NOTES Main Flyout Menu The CLEANUP NOTE command was added to the NOTES flyout menu.
	Notes Parameters All numerical range limitations have been eliminated when entering note parameter values, either from the NOTE PARAMETERS pop-up menu or from the notes status menu.
PATTERNS:	Insert Point In ARRIS 8.0, the :sip command was changed so that it no longer would allow a point to be inserted into a pattern boundary. While this problem appears to have been corrected in the 8.0.3 Update #1, this changes provided the catalyst for the creation of a new command that would provide an improved method for inserting points into patterns. Typically, one or more points are inserted into a pattern boundary so that they can then be moved to a new location to change the profile. This resulted in a three-step process: 1. insert point(s); 2. move point(s); 3. update display so that pattern is shown filling the newly defined region. In addition, for patterns that did not display their boundary lines, it could require a bit of guesswork to determine where the perimeter actually was while inserting the new points and knowing what results were being achieved as the points were moved. All of these problems have been address by the new :cj_xh_sip command, available by clicking on the INSERT POINT button.  INSERT POINT: Step #1 When the command is selected, it first prompts to select an existing pattern on the drawing.  INSERT POINT: Step #2 When a pattern is selected, if the boundary is currently not displayed, it will be temporarily turned on for the duration of the command. The selected pattern is highlighted and the boundary lines are displayed in the original pattern color to make them easy to identify. The second prompt asks for a location on the pattern boundary where a new point is to be inserted. Using the mouse, indicate the desired location.  INSERT POINT: Step #3 The third prompt asks for the new location where this point is to be positioned. To skip this step and leave the point where it is, simply hit the <CR> key. NOTE: It is possible to move an existing point rather than insert a new point by first selecting the existing point in step #2 using the F3 key and then moving it to a new location in this step.  INSERT POINT: Step #4 The display of the pattern is immediately updated to reflect the new perimeter layout. The command now repeats, allowing additional points to be inserted into the selected pattern. When <CR> is entered at this prompt, a new pattern may be selected for modification.  INSERT POINT: Step #5 When all work is completed on the current pattern, the original boundary condition is restored and the pattern is properly redisplayed. Special care has been taken to insure that the original pattern boundary condition is always properly reset, even if the command is interrupted, so that unintended corruption to the drawing are prevented.
RECENT DOCS:	Recent Document Enhancements Use of the RECENT DOCUMENTS menu can be very convenient when switching back and forth between multiple drawings within a single project or when working on more than one project at a time. Instead of having to navigate the project or drawing selection menus, the sheet or drawing that you were recently working on is quickly available directly from the DESKTOP menu. However, the one serious problem with this scheme has been that there was no direct control over the document list. As you worked with ARRIS the list automatically updated and the entries on the list were constantly changing position, making it difficult to predict what you would find on the menu and where it would be located. Two new tools are now provided to deal with these limitations, making the use of recent documents a much more useful and enjoyable experience.
	Chad Estes' Favorite Documents Chad W. Estes (chad@beicker.com) was the first to tackle this project, resulting in his favorite documents tool which he has been gracious enough to donate for inclusion in ARRIS++. The code and menus have been modified slightly from his original contribution to make this program look and operate in a manner that is similar to the other recent document tools, but the general design and feature set are entirely his creation.  Chad Estes' FAVORITE DOCUMENTS Menu Chad's FAVORITE DOCUMENTS differs from the standard ARRIS recent documents in that entries only appear on this list when explicitly added and can be relied on being there until they are explicitly removed. As can be seen in the image above, each entry is displayed with the drawing or sheet description, the full path and the date and time when the document was last saved. Here is a summary of the major features of this menu: Selecting the LOADING MODE box toggles between READ-ONLY, LOCK BY SHEET and LOCK BY VPORT modes. Clicking on the DESCRIPTION, PATH or LAST SAVED buttons will sort the all of the list entries in ascending order based upon the data in that column. Right-clicking on these column heading will sort the entries in descending order. Clicking on any empty line (lines 8, 9 or 10 above) will cause the current document shown on the DESKTOP menu (i.e., project #0005 - Site Plan) to be automatically added to the end of the favorites list. The program takes care to avoid adding duplicate entries. Clicking on any line containing an entry will cause that document to be loaded into the current ARRIS session. Right-clicking on any line containing an entry will start up a new ARRIS session with the specified document loaded. Clicking on one of the CLR buttons deletes the entry on that line. Remember that there must be at least one empty line available in order to add a new document to the list. Clicking on the RECENT DOCS button toggles the menu to recent documents mode as seen below. The favorite documents data is maintained in the file: usr:config.dir/cj_cefavs.tx  Chad Estes' RECENT DOCUMENTS Menu Chad's RECENT DOCUMENTS menu is similar to the standard ARRIS version in that it presents an automatic list of the most recently loaded documents. (But only documents loaded in FILE, not PROJECT mode.) The main features of this menu are: Selecting the LOADING MODE box toggles between READ-ONLY, LOCK BY SHEET and LOCK BY VPORT modes. Clicking on any line containing an entry will cause that document to be loaded into the current ARRIS session. Right-clicking on any line containing an entry will start up a new ARRIS session with the specified document loaded. Clicking on one of the CLR buttons deletes the entry on that line. Clicking on the FAVORITES buttons toggles the menu back to favorite documents mode previously discussed. Some differences between the RECENT DOCUMENTS and FAVORITE DOCUMENTS menus are: Clicking on the column headers will not sort the entries. The order of this list is strictly determined by the date and time that the documents were last accessed. Clicking on an empty line will not add the current document to the list. Documents are added automatically by ARRIS when any drawing or sheet is loaded in FILE mode.
	ARRIS++ User Documents The design for an improved recent documents tool had been sketched out and placed on the ARRIS++ to-do list quite some time ago. Chad's efforts (discussed above) inspired the effort to finish development, resulting in the new USER DOCUMENTS menu.  ARRIS++ USER DOCUMENTS Menu This tool has a similar goal to Chad's favorite documents menu, but offers a different user interface design. The menu is divided into an upper section with a single CUR (current) and five PREV (previous) lines which act as an abbreviated recent documents list, and a lower section with twelve (1-12) lines displaying documents explicitly placed there by the user, which remain in their specified location until deleted or moved. Here is a summary of the major features of this menu: Double-clicking on any list item (first click highlights the item; second click activates it) will cause that document to be loaded into the current ARRIS session. Right-clicking on any previously selected (highlighted) list item will start up a new ARRIS session with the specified document loaded. The default database may be loaded at any time by selecting the LOAD noname.db button. At the bottom of the menu, selecting the LOADING MODE box toggles between READ-ONLY, LOCK BY SHEET and LOCK BY VPORT modes. At the bottom of the menu, clicking on the SELECT BY box toggles between PROJECT and FILE modes. A separate list of documents is maintained for each mode. Clicking on the ADD button allows a document from the upper section of the menu to be selected and placed anywhere on the user documents list (lines 1-12). Clicking on the DELETE button allows any item from the lower user documents list to be removed. Clicking on the MOVE button allows any item on the lower user documents list to be relocated to another position. Right-clicking on the ADD, DELETE or MOVE buttons initiate continuous command mode. This is indicated in the box at the bottom of the menu which highlights and displays REPEAT in place of SINGLE. While in this mode the selected command may be repeated as many times as necessary without having to constantly reselect the command button. An ADD, DELETE or MOVE operation may be canceled at any time simply by clicking again on the active button. For maximum flexibility, a list item to be added or moved may be chosen either before or after the ADD or MOVE button is selected. When adding or moving an entry on the user documents list, if the target location is empty, the document will be placed on that line. On the other hand, if another document currently resides in that location, then ARRIS will prompt: INSERT at this location or REPLACE item?   INSERT  REPLACE   CANCEL Selecting CANCEL cancels the operation altogether. If REPLACE is selected, the new document overwrites the existing one. However, if INSERT is selected, then all items will be shifted down to make room for the new document. If there are no empty lines below, then a final prompt appears: INSERT will cause item #12 to be lost?   CONTINUE  CANCEL Selecting CANCEL cancels the operation while CONTINUE will proceed with the insertion and item #12 will be removed from the list. Whenever a change is made to user documents list, the SAVE button label will change to yellow to indicate that these modifications have not yet been saved. Click on the SAVE button to make the current configuration permanent by writing it to disk. Whenever the EXIT button or the menu title is selected, if there are unsaved changes, then ARRIS will present a confirmation prompt asking whether these modifications should be saved or abandoned. Right-clicking on the titlebar executes the initialization command associated with this menu. Be aware that if any unsaved modifications have been made, they will be silently lost as the current configuration from disk will be reread. The user documents data is maintained in the file: usr:config.dir/cj_dbuser.tx
	Customizing Recent Documents for Personal Use With so many possible choices for accessing recent documents, the only problem remaining is figuring out how to use these new tools. There is already an ikon on the DESKTOP menu (the small down-arrow) which was being used to display the standard ARRIS RECENT DOCUMENTS menu and it seemed natural to continue to use this button for the same purpose regardless of which of the tools was preferred. This problem has been solved through the new ARRIS++ Options feature discussed above under the CUSTOMIZE section of this table. Using this tool, it is possible to assign any of the following options as the left and/or right-click command for this button. The available choices are: ARRIS STANDARD RECENT DOCUMENTS MENU ARRIS++ USER DOCUMENTS MENU CHAD ESTES' FAVORITE DOCUMENTS MENU CHAD ESTES' RECENT DOCUMENTS MENU If no specific options are selected, then a left-click on the button will continue to display the original ARRIS RECENT DOCUMENTS menu and a right-click will display the ARRIS++ USER DOCUMENTS menu.

Existing Sigmac Bug Fixes:

The following table lists fixes that have been applied to existing sigmacs to correct problems and bugs.

:_cj_vp_rview	Fixed a serious bug that could cause ARRIS to crash under certain conditions.
	A small section of essential code was temporarily commented out for some testing and then accidentally left that way! This caused the routine to fail when used in non-plan views. This error has been corrected.
:j_arris	Fixed a serious bug that caused the command to fail completely on UNIX systems. The command may now be used on all platforms to launch a new ARRIS session with the specified drawing loaded.
:mn_catmgr	A small change was made to allow proper loading of the standard ARRIS Architect Catalog under all conditions.
	Fixed a bug where multiple selections from the ARCHITECT CATALOGS pop-up menu could not be made under certain conditions.
:mn_dbhist	Fixed a very serious bug that caused ARRIS to lose track of the current project when documents were loaded from the RECENT DOCUMENTS menu in PROJECT mode. This could result in the incorrect PAGE SELECT or PROJECT PAGE MANAGER menu being displayed or in ARRIS incorrectly reporting that there was no page list for the current project.
:mn_dmstat	Fixed a bug in the display of the text font name on the leader line dimension status menu. This had not been updated for ARRIS 8.0.
	Fixed a bug that caused the leader line symbol (arrowhead) to improperly display in the current color rather than the dimension mark color for the current dimensioning style.
:mn_nctmgr	Fixed a bug that kept the CURRENT NOTE CATALOG field from being properly updated on the NOTE CATALOG MANAGER menu when the active notes catalog was deleted.
:mn_notesm	Fixed a bug where there was an attempt to take the $str() value of a string variable, leading to a system error which kept the notes system from properly initializing.
:mn_notesparam	Stopped the NOTE PARAMETERS menu from resetting the KEYNOTE SYMBOL RI to the first symbol (the square) if any of the unused (i.e., empty) boxes were selected.
:mn__pjdtdisp	Eliminated the code that was automatically switching from Select by Project mode to Select by File mode. This was always annoying, but changes during the 7.1-8.0 time frame broke this completely so that FILE mode was being set even when a project/page was selected. Now, ARRIS remains in whatever mode was selected by the user.
:z_toappl	Fixed a bug that caused the DRAW main menu label to disappear when the button was selected after the last application module had been unloaded.

Existing Sigmac Enhancements:

The following table lists revisions that have been made to existing sigmacs in order to provide some expanded or new capability beyond that offered by the original command.

:cj_vp_togl	Added improved error checking to detect when a viewport was being properly selected on a sheet.
:mn__lyent	Updated code to load the NOTES overwrite menu when MATCH ENTITY PARAMETERS is selected from the entity edit pull-up menu. (Note: Parameters must still be set from the NOTE PARAMETERS setup menu.)
:mn_nctmgr	Added code to update the name of the current notes catalog on the NOTES overwrite menu when that catalog was changed.
:mn_notes	The MANUAL NOTE command was enhanced similar to CATALOG SELECT to allow the specified note to be placed in multiple locations on the drawing. Entering <CR> at the initial placement prompt will terminate the command. This is the behavior if either of these commands is selected using the left mouse button. If either of these commands is selected using a right-click, then an alternate looping mode is initiated. When the current note has been located on the drawing, the corresponding pop-up menu will be automatically redisplayed so that another catalog note may be selected or another manual note may be entered.
:mn_qry	Updated code to load the NOTES overwrite menu when MATCH ALL PARAMETERS is selected from the NOTE QUERY/EDIT pop-up menu. (Note: Parameters must still be set from the NOTE PARAMETERS setup menu.)

New ARRIS++ Sigmacs:

• The following new sigmacs routines have been added to the current release of ARRIS++.

  NEW COMMAND	CLASS	DESCRIPTION
  :cj_ce_favs	chad	Load Chad Estes' FAVORITE DOCUMENTS menu
  :cj_ce_files	chad	Manage all functions for Chad Estes' DOCUMENTS menus
  :cj_ce_fstrt	chad	Initialize Chad Estes' FAVORITE DOCUMENTS menu
  :cj_ce_hist	chad	Load Chad Estes' RECENT DOCUMENTS menu
  :cj_db_hist	database	Manage all functions for the RECENT DOCUMENTS menu
  :cj_db_user	database	Manage all functions for the USER DOCUMENTS menu
  :cj_db_ustrt	database	Initialize the USER DOCUMENTS menu
  :cj_mn_arfix	menu	Reload the standard ARRIS menu libraries
  :cj_nt_btn	notes	Execute the commands associated with the NOTE button
  :cj_op_minit	options	Initialize the ARRIS++ OPTIONS menu
  :cj_op_opts	options	Manage all functions for the ARRIS++ OPTIONS menu
  :cj_xh_bndisp	pattern	Controls the display of the pattern boundary lines
  :cj_xh_disp	pattern	Display a pattern located at the specified database point
  :cj_xh_find	pattern	Locate an editable pattern near the specified display list point
  :cj_xh_sip	pattern	Enhanced :sip command to insert points into pattern boundaries
  :cj_xh_trap	pattern	Reset the pattern boundary to its initial state

  
  
  

• As part of an ongoing effort to standardize the naming conventions for the ARRIS++ sigmac code, the following existing sigmacs have been renamed as shown in the following table.

  NEW NAME	OLD NAME	DESCRIPTION
  :cj_ct_pload	:cj_catalog	Front end to system :y_pload sigmac
  :cj_mn_main	:cj_ma_init	Initialize the _MAIN menu