Changelog for ARRIS++ Version  8.1   (Spin 103, Rel. 02):

The following lists describe the changes that have been made to the ARRIS++ Enhanced Menus since the previous release (version 8.1 - release 101), on April 1, 2004. 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:



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

General Improvements:

The following table lists general improvements that have been made to the ARRIS++ menu system.

:cj_wa_bisect Sigmac code for setting the work angle by bisecting an angle was posted to the ARRIS mailing list by Jim Bennett of Sigma Design. This code was substantially revised and expanded to create a new ARRIS++ command named :cj_wa_bisect. This command offers the following new features: Fixed a bug that caused command to fail if a work angle was in effect when the command was executed The reference blip is now updated as points are being input If the command is canceled or aborted, the previous work angle and reference point are restored Messages and prompts were enhanced including the ability to terminate the command Error checking was added An option forces the cursor to always be oriented so that the positive X-axis is no more than 45-degrees from zero (i.e., range is from -45 to +45 degrees) If the previous option is not selected, the work angle will always be set to a positive value between 0 and 360 degrees Two new convenience routines, :wab and :waba, were added to the optional sigmac library.

:cj_mv_panzm Barbara Shays (bshays@bbaltd.com) of Blount Bennett Architects, posted sigmac code to the ARRIS mailing list for a keyboard-based panning/zooming command using existing code taken from an ARRIS text entry sigmac. Mark Aycock (mdaycoc@wal-mart.com) of Wal-Mart, suggested some additional improvement. Using these excellent ideas, a new command named :cj_mv_panzm was added to ARRIS++ which performs panning/zooming functions while offering the following features: Zoom in using the "+" key Zoom out using the "-" key (It is not necessary to hold down the shift key) Pan the drawing using the four arrow keys Exit the command using either the <CR> or <ESC> keys Change the panning factor ratio in 20 geometrically increasing steps by using the numeric keys 1 through 0, where the 0 key is treated as 10 and the shifted numeric keys are treated as 11 through 20. The default panning factor is 4. The most recently selected panning factor is remembered between invocations of the command It is convenient to adjust the panning factor based upon the current zoom level. The further out one zooms, the larger the panning factor should be.

:mn_dmtxed A long-standing bug has been fixed that previously made it impossible to properly change multiple dimension string text while CAPS mode was on.

Documentation Enhancements:

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

All of the HTML documentation was revised so that it displays properly on modern browsers.

All of the modifications and enhancements noted here have been fully integrated into the master documentation set.

Complete on-line help was written for the DISTANCE menu.

Menu Modifications:

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

QUERY:	Query Distance  Query DISTANCE Menu As can be seen in the accompanying image, the query DISTANCE command and menu have been enhanced. The revised command and menu offers the following new features: A new entry for CURRENT RUNNING TOTAL DISTANCE has been added to the menu. Each time the distance command (:mn_dist) is run, this total starts out at zero and accumulates the sum of all subsequent distance measurements made during the measurement session. A new entry for HISTORICAL RUNNING TOTAL DISTANCE has been added to the menu. This line displays the sum of all distance measurements made since the ARRIS session began or since the last time the historical total was cleared. This allows a total distance sum to be calculated without having to keep the measurement command constantly running. Two new [C] buttons have been added which reset either the current or the historical totals to zero when selected. Right-clicking on either button will reset both the current and historical values to zero in one step. The command now honors the user's XYF and DSR settings. This change makes it possible to make more precise measurements along a particular axis and allows keyboard values to be properly entered and accumulated in the running totals. A complete set of on-line help has been added so that users can quickly review what type of information is being displayed in each field. The labels for ANGLE A and ANGLE B have been augmented to indicate that the first is a measurement in the X-Y plane while the second is measured in the X-Z plane. The DISTANCE menu is now a standard pop-up which may be repositioned on the screen (by right-clicking on the [X] icon) if it is currently placed in an inconvenient location. Clicking on the titlebar will dismiss the menu from the screen without interrupting the running distance command. Clicking on the [X] icon will dismiss the menu and terminate the running command. All of the data boxes on the menu are used for display only and have no function when selected. However, the menu has been redesigned so that user's may assign custom right-click commands to these boxes if desired.
RASTER:	Save Screen As Raster File  SAVE RASTER FILE Button There was a bug in the command assigned to this button on the RASTER overwrite menu that kept the save operation from executing. This problem has been fixed.
TOOLBAR:	Entity Select Assignment  TOOLBAR Button On various entity SELECT menus there is a TOOLBAR button used to assign a selected entity or entity style to a location on the toolbar. The function associated with these buttons has been enhanced and is discussed for each applicable entity below. Repeated Items: On the REPEATED ITEM SELECT menu, selecting the TOOLBAR button produces the following prompt:  RI SELECT TOOLBAR Button Prompt Select option #1 if you wish to use the specified repeated item as a toolbar button icon (i.e., label) while leaving the current toolbar button command as is. This is a feature that is not available in standard ARRIS but can be a very useful aid when creating customized toolbars. For example, you might place a command on the toolbar that has a text label. You can later search for an appropriate RI icon and easily attach it to that button using this method. Select option #2 if you wish to place the specified repeated item on a toolbar button along with an associated command that will place single instances of that RI on the drawing. This function is similar to what occurs in standard ARRIS, but has been enhanced so that each time the toolbar button is selected, the repeated item status menu will automatically be displayed so that the RI scale, rotation, offsets, etc. may be examined and changed. Also, unlike standard ARRIS, the repeated item image will be displayed on the toolbar using appropriate menu color(s) rather than whatever the currently active color happens to be. In general, this makes RIs used as button labels more readable and consistent. Lines: On the LINE SELECT menu, selecting the TOOLBAR button produces the following prompt:  LINE SELECT TOOLBAR Button Prompt This new prompt offers a choice of line placement commands to be associated with the specified line style. Each command will automatically load the line status menu so that line parameters may be reviewed and adjusted. The desired option may be selected using the mouse or indicated by entering the associated number from the keyboard. An appropriate button label will be placed on the toolbar to describe the option selected. Curves: On the CIRCLE SELECT menu, selecting the TOOLBAR button produces the following prompt:  CIRCLE SELECT TOOLBAR Button Prompt This new prompt offers a choice of curve placement commands to be associated with the specified text style. Each command will automatically load the line status menu so that line parameters may be reviewed and adjusted. The desired option may be selected using the mouse or indicated by entering the associated number from the keyboard. An appropriate button label will be placed on the toolbar to describe the option selected. Text: On the TEXT SELECT menu, selecting the TOOLBAR button produces the following prompt:  TEXT SELECT TOOLBAR Button Prompt This new prompt offers a choice of text placement commands to be associated with the specified text style. Each command will automatically load the text status menu so that text parameters may be reviewed and adjusted. The desired option may be selected using the mouse or indicated by entering the associated number from the keyboard. An appropriate button label will be placed on the toolbar to describe the option selected. Dimensions: On the DIMENSION SELECT menu, selecting the TOOLBAR button produces the following prompt:  DIMENSION SELECT TOOLBAR Button Prompt This new prompt offers a choice of dimension placement commands to be associated with the specified dimensioning style. Each command will automatically load the dimension status menu so that dimension parameters may be reviewed and adjusted. The desired option may be selected using the mouse or indicated by entering the appropriate number from the keyboard. An associated describe the option selected. Patterns: On the PATTERN SELECT menu, selecting the TOOLBAR button produces the following prompt:  PATTERN SELECT TOOLBAR Button Prompt This new prompt offers a choice of pattern placement commands to be associated with the specified pattern style. Each command will automatically load the pattern status menu so that pattern parameters may be reviewed and adjusted. The desired option may be selected using the mouse or indicated by entering the associated number from the keyboard. An appropriate button label will be placed on the toolbar to describe the option selected.

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 problem created by ARRIS 8.1 colormap change that was causing the viewport border lines to display in the wrong color (pink) if the new high-color map was used.
:mn_dist	Modified handling of XYF and DSR so that user's settings were honored. More precise measurements can be made made along an axis and keyboard input will be treated properly. The reference point is now properly updated on the screen.
:mn_dmtxed	There was a long-standing bug when editing multiple dimension strings in manual text mode while CAPS mode was on, that caused the replacement dimension text to alternate between upper and lower case for each dimension string being edited. This has been fixed.
:mn_raster	Fixed a bug in the way default prompt responses were being handled that caused mouse selections of the default to silently fail.

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.

:mn_dist	Added support to calculate current and historical running totals for distance calculations.
	Added 'reset' and 'init' modes to support new features on the DISTANCE menu.
:mn_raster	Improved various prompts to indicate exactly what the default action would be when <CR> was entered.
:mn_riselect	Added support for new prompt options for the 'toolbar' command that allow the user to place just the RI icon or both the icon and placement command on the ARRIS++ toolbar. Also enhanced the toolbar command to automatically load the RI status menu.
:mn_select	Added support for new prompt options for the 'toolbar' command that allow the user to select from a variety of entity placement options when assigning a command to the toolbar. The toolbar commands will automatically load the appropriate status menu.

New ARRIS++ Sigmacs:

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

NEW COMMAND	CLASS	DESCRIPTION
:cj_mv_panzm	move	Keyboard-based panning and zooming
:cj_wa_bisect	work ang	Set work angle by bisecting specified angle
:cj_wa_trap1	work ang	Exit handler for the :cj_wa_bisect sigmac

Optional ARRIS++ Sigmacs:

The following new sigmac routines have been added to the optional cj_mnopt.sm sigmac library in this release of ARRIS++.

CMD	EQUIVALENT CMD	CLASS	BRIEF DESCRIPTION
:wab	:cj_wa_bisect;=1	work ang	Set work angle by bisecting an angle. Force angle to be within 45-degrees of 0
:waba	:cj_wa_bisect;=0	work ang	Set work angle by bisecting an angle. Allow result to be any positive angle

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