This topic contains the release notes that document the new features, improvements and bug fixes that were included in the various releases of Q++Studio in 1999.
See also: release notes of the current year and release notes of other years.
December 29, 1999
•(Major new feature) Holidays can now have attributes (like Slogans), including embedded tokens.
•For example a holiday caption can now be: "Daylight savings begins at [d] [mmm] at 2am.".
•(Major new feature) The Script Preview window has been redesigned from scratch. In particular:
•All the tokens contained in the selected page, and only those, are now displayed including the different DayValues and LanguageTags.
•You can now sort these tokens by DayValue or by TokenRoot.
•The preview of complicated tokens (macros, colors, symbol fonts, ...) has been dramatically improved.
December 11, 1999
•You can now cut and paste from the "comments" editor.
•The combo boxes listing colors that appear in Templates now display a fairly accurate preview of each color on-screen. This is also the case for the "Inspect Templates" menu item.
December 6, 1999
•Plain Qxd property editor improved
•Signatures Property editor improved
•Improved the speed and reduced flicker of display in the scripts Preview
•Improved the display of token values in Monthly Preview of scripts
November 29, 1999
•The Sara Engine now includes a new button to duplicate the currently selected Sara.
•The Q++Email dialog is now resizeable, and the message area includes scrollbars.
•When you apply a Macro to a Macro Token, it is now automatically enabled.
•The limit on the size of text per textbox has been increased to 16384 characters (from 4096). This applies equally to the pre-processor limits of Macros.
•Q++Studio now issues a warning when deleting a Macro Set.
November 22, 1999
•(Major new feature) Grid Options now contain generic colors which can be used from within Saras, MiniCalendars and Macros. This allows maximum reuse. For example you can define a Macro which changes the date into the "Second Color of the Template" for any Template. It saves you time and allows beginning users to use Macros more fully, since they do not need to edit them.
•(Major new feature) The Templates Database Debugger (available from the Templates menu) has been improved. Changes in the selection of Template are now smoother, faster and additional security has been added for slower PCs which have problems decompressing the Quark Files inside the Templates, in the case of a rapid scroll down the list. Also the column headers of the list of templates now allow you to sort each column with a single click.
•Messages related to Macros now open the correct Macro in the Macros Editor.
November 15, 1999
•The Q++Studio eMail feature now remembers email addresses you recently used, and you can specify the priority level of your message (which on some email servers makes the server connect automatically).
•The problem where a NEW COLOR would be created in the output file, is resolved as long as you use one of the existing colors of the Template. Even if you are not using one of the existing colors, at most one NEW COLOR will be created, making the search/replace of colors easier.
•Added 5 new Macro functions.
•The list of variable dates Inserts (inserts based on Holidays Sets) now appears in the "All Insert Dates" property.
•(Major new feature) Minicalendars can now be vertical (dates running from top to bottom). All the options previously available for horizontal Minicalendars are also available for vertical Minicalendars.
•Breakpoints can now be set to break when a variable is equal to a certain value (as before) or when it is larger or smaller than a given value. For strings, this means that you can set a breakpoint corresponding to, for example, break when sResult contains "Martin".
•Fixed a resource leak that occured when closing a Script.
•Fixed a problem where Q++Studio was getting confused if there was a * in the name of a Macro (apart from the * at the front of the token).
•Fixed a minor glitch whereby you would get an erroneous error message that some tokens of your template were incorrect, if they had DayValues between 401 and 588.
November 5, 1999
•(Major new feature) A new property "Holidays Override" now allows you to override the choice of a-e-i-o-u-Holidays Lists for each single DiaryGridLine. This is useful when you have many dated pages (including recap of holidays as info pages), or when you are combining templates which were designed using different conventions (example: one designer uses e-holidays for "by-lines" and the other uses a-holidays).
•Preferences now remember specific scripts paths, even if these are temporarily unavailable (ie. a given user is not logged on).
•Added a confirmation message when deleting a Holidays Set or a Slogans Set.
•Fixed a problem where simply pasting text in the macros editor, without any typing, would cause Q++Studio not to notice that the macro had been modified.
October 24, 1999
•Fixed a bug in the Saints part of the data pump, whereby the saints day would use the value of the month. This had the following consequences: only dates such as 1/1, 2/2, 3/3, ... were being copied, and this would sometimes cause key violations in the target database.
October 18, 1999
•You can now view all the Sara "hits" in the output file, in a similar way to the way you view errors which occured during Script generation. This is available from the Sara Report window which appears at the end of Sara Execution, as well as from the DEBUG menu.
•Improved the auto-generated names for Saras.
•Fixed minor Access Viloation when editing the Preferences Execution Options.
•New option in Preferences allows you to decide if the design-time message "Template has been modified since last scan" should be treated as a warning (the default) or as an error, thus preventing you from running a script if any of the templates in it have not been re-scanned.
October 14, 1999
•You can now specify in the Preferences, a list of paths where scripts are kept. This allows you to access Script directories on the network easily from within the scripts Manager or the Open Script dialog.
•Fixed Scrollbar in TreeView of scriptsExplorer.
•Added Quick-Preview of Templates in script editor.
•Fixed problem in Moon Phases Manager where changes would not be saved if the year had not been validated.
•You can now set holidays rules with special treatment when there is a conflict with a holiday, even a holiday belonging to another Holidays Set.
•All the menu items in the Macros Editor are now functionnal.
•The new Data Pump (on the Data menu) allows you to move data around from one set to another, to users on different sites, and to technical support.
September 16, 1999
•Holidays Rules: added the option of acting on a conflict only if the conflict is with a particular holiday (previously it would happen if there was a conflict with any of the holidays in the same Holidays Set).
•Data Pump (on the DATA menu): allows you to copy all the various Q++Studio data types either within your shared database, or to export or to import.
September 7, 1999
•Fixed problems with the incremental search combo box in the Templates Explorer (would sometimes freeze if you hit ENTER while in the select mode).
•When you save a Macro, its new name now immediately appears in the title bar.
•The ID for a Holidays Set is now displayed in the Holidays Sets properties of the Holidays Sets Manager. This allows you to access a Holidays Set directly from within a Macro function.
•BreakPoints in the debugger are now fully implemented; you can save them and set them based on a code line and/or a variable value.
•You can now modify the System Variables in the Macro Code Editor, allowing you to test your macro under specific conditions.
•The Quark File name sometimes appeared incorrectly in the script editor. This has been fixed.
•The description of the selected pages for a Quark Pages script line now replaces "1-" by "All Pages" and "22-" by "22-end" for easier understanding.
•The "All Dates" property editor now allows you to change the range of dates viewed.
•The Bug Reporter is now better integrated in the Q++Email.
•Spurrious design-time message that [:slog01_xxx] does not exist is gone if you use [:slog1_xxx] instead. Q++Studio now understands that the 2 are the same slogan token.
September 2, 1999
•The last sort order used in the Templates Explorer is now saved.
•Improved interface for the Moon Phases Manager.
•Double-clicking in the Macros Editors now allows copying or cutting to the clipboard.
•The Display Font selected for a Slogan Set is now automatically used to display slogans in the Slogans Manager.
•All Jewish calendar tokens are now implemented.
•Fixed minor bugs with the settings for Holidays1 and Holidays2 in the Mini-Calendar Options.
•You can now comment out the entire Front Pages and/or Back Pages.
August 23, 1999
•New RELOAD button in Holidays Manager to reload all holidays if another user has modified the database.
•Added the concept of Moon Phases validation, and related run-time messages.
•Added Execution Options to abort Script if the list of holidays is not generated for the current token's year, and/or if the Moon Phases have not been validated for the current token's year.
•A default for Multiple Holidays Options can now be set as a Preference.
•Bug reports now get deleted after being sent to tech support.
•Fixed a bug which made Q++Studio think a Macro had been modified when it was not the case.
•Every design-time and run-time message can now be selectively disabled by the Administrator, but each user can override this and choose to See All Messages.
•You can now use tokens on the right side of Zap tokens (see the help file for syntax details).
August 16, 1999
•Every message (info, warning, error) is now linked to a help topic.
•Added the option to Warn if Macro is skipped in Preferences.
•You can now shutdown Q++Studio on the server from you workstation.
•Server setup now includes a tab for automated email notification by the Q++Studio server of any problems encountered overnight.
August 11, 1999
•Minor updates to the links to the Help File.
•Call to SoloBug bug reporter is fixed.
•New version of the bug reporter. Includes more meaningful classifications.
August 9, 1999
•All dialogs' help button are now linked to the help file.
•New holiday rule option: weekday before a fixed date. For example: the wednesday before December 2nd. In the past you had to do some gymnastics to set such a rule.
August 1st, 1999
•Improved the useability of the "Both MiniCals" option in the MiniCalendars Options property editor.
•You can now choose (in the Preferences) if you wish the label or the filename to appear in the script editor, for Quark Pages script lines.
•If you selected to use Inches in the preferences, the size warning of the Messages Window will now issue a warning in Inches (previously it was only in centimeters).
•Fixed a bug in the Macros property editor where a Macro would be displayed, even if the first Macro Token had no token assigned to it.
•Fixed some interface glitches where the current editor of the properties inspector would not hide when the inspector lost focus.
•Added 7 new Macro functions and implemented the setting by the user of default values for the system variables when using the Q++Studio Macros Editor at design-time.
•Added 2 new design-time messages.
July 26, 1999
•All the compiler messages of the Macros Editor are now connected to their help topic.
•The Server Automation dialog now completes the paths with a backslash if necessary.
•The SpinEdits now all allow key entry (not only using the arrows as before).
•Q++Studio has now been modified to run on the MacIntosh. Contact us for details.
July 19, 1999
•All the property editors are now fully connected to the on-line help.
•The order in which the properties are displayed in the properties inspector has been improved to follow the alphabet. This affects the following script lines: "Book Format" and "Insert".
•Got rid of the "Missing Fonts" warning that appeared when generating a Script which contained Place Holders.
•Cleaned up problems with the Saras editor, when it was being used to display all the Saras of a Script between diary generation and performing the Saras (the "Pause to Display Saras before Performing them" option). The page range is not properly displayed for all Saras.
•The "Pause for Preview" option is now more robust and easier to understand.
•A new property "Rules for Feb. 29" was added to the Insert script lines. This allows you to tell Q++Studio how to interpret the selection of February 29 in the "Repeating Dates" property (ie. does it mean the last day of February every year, or really only February 29th, only on leap years ?).
•The Server Automation has a new tab named "Mirroring". You can use it to tell Q++Studio to make copies of the overnight backup to up to 5 different locations on the network, using UNC or drive letter paths. This will protect these backups from a hard disk failure on the server. Note that for this feature to work, you must download a version of Q++BackUp.EXE dated no earlier than July 14, 1999.
•The warning/error that some of the Holidays Rules were modified, and hence that he Holidays table needed to be regenerated, have been improved to get rid of some false alerts.
•In the a-e-i-o-u-Holidays property editor, selecting a Holidays Set in the listbox to the right now synchronizes the treeview to the left, so you can tell the difference between 2 similarly named Holidays Sets.
•Note that the Variable Dates and Rule for Feb.29 properties for Inserts have been partially implemented (property editor, help topic and error/warning messages). However these 2 properties feature are still not entirely functional.
•Got rid of a glitch in the incremental search of the Templates Explorer (the GoTo button would sometimes remain disabled).
July 12, 1999
•Code was added in the "Templates Explorer" and the "Inspect Templates Database" dialogs, to slow down scrolling through the list of templates, just enough so that slower PCs have time to decompress the bitmapped previews.
•Because database maintenance can cause damages, if something goes wrong, Q++Studio now forces a backup of the databases on any day when you choose to have the Q++Server do database maintenance.
•Q++Studio now remembers the last HolidaysSet, Language, Macro and SlogansSet used, and will display it next time you open a "sets manager" or an "item manager" (for example if you go and change the settings for a HolidaysSet, Q++Studio will remember that HolidaysSet and when you go to edit the HolidaysRules, it will open that HolidaysSet by default, and vice-versa).
•Q++Studio now also remembers the last MoonSet used. One consequence of this, is that the Moon Phases Manager now automatically opens to the last MoonSet used, without prompting you as before. Q++Studio will only assume that the most-recently-used MoonSet has changed (when using the MoonSets Manager), if you add or modify a MoonSet.
•An incremental search combo box in the Templates Explorer now allows you to type in the first letters of a Template's name and have Q++Studio propose the closest matching Template name. Pressing the Enter key moves you to that Template.
June 30, 1999
•Special characters such as &n (non-breaking spaces) or &s (soft returns) can now be included in the text of a holiday in all cases. Previously, they would only work for multiple holidays tokens such as [Fa], and not for holidays tokens such as [Fa1] or [Fa11].
•Note that in the holidays text you can also include tokens; for example: "Easter&n([d]&n[mmm])". However Q++Studio, for the moment, does not check that you have not included a holidays token inside the holidays text, which would cause an infinite recursion (ie. the machine would freeze). Until code is written to protect against this, it is your responsibility to make sure you do not set the holidays text to something like this: "Easter&n([Fa])". Including a Saints token ([:st_a] for example) inside a holidays text is OK though.
•This web site can now be accessed from the Q++Studio toolbar, or the Help menu.
•A toolbar button and corresponding item on the "tools" menu now lets you call up a calculator from within Q++Studio. By default the standard Windows calculator is launched, but you can ask Q++Studio to launch another calculator program of your choice through the "Tools|Preferences" menu.
June 27, 1999
•The Q++Studio Email feature now works with mail clients that support SMTP, even if they are not MAPI compliant.
•Some annoying refresh bugs in the properties inspector have finally been eradicated.
•A speed button was added to access Languages, and the Languages Manager's interface was slightly improved.
•scripts on your local C:\ drive are now automatically backed up when you launch Q++Studio the first time everyday, and then all scripts tables are packed to reduce the space they occupy.
•The term "Q++Studio Xtensions" has been replaced everywhere by "Q++Studio Macros" to avoid confusion with the QuarkXPress Xtensions.
July 23, 1999
•Improved format for the mirroring log file, each date appears only once making it easier to see where each day's log begins and ends.
July 16, 1999
•The Q++BackUp can now make copies of the overnight backup into up to 5 different locations on the network, using UNC or drive letter paths. This will protect these backups from a hard disk failure on the server.
July 3, 1999
•Bug fix for Q++Broker. Forces disk to flush its cache when updating templates, to eliminate the problem of missing text and colors when re-scanning a template (GB July 1st).
June 7, 1999
•The backup component now reads the all the automation and purging options.
May 31, 1999
•Original release of the various Q++Server modules: Q++Stub, Q++Broker, Q++Backup, Q++PackDb.
Other Years
See also: release notes of the current year and release notes of other years.
Topic 167500, last updated on 14-Aug-2024
