SciDAVis / News: Recent posts

When the SciDAVis 1.Dx series was first released, a critical bug was discovered in the way SciDAVis project files have their version numbers parsed. The reader expected the version number to be in the old form of a number triple x.y.z. This meant that project files and template files created by the new SciDAVis were no longer readable.

This bug was fixed for project file in 1.D4, but still remains for template files. The SciDAVis 1.D5 release fixes that critical bug, as well a number of more minor issues and improvements to translations.

Several people have been asking about support for importing OPJ files in SciDAVis 0.2.x. While the changes and testing necessary to integrate liborigin[1] or liborigin2[2] properly and reliably with our current code base have so far prevented us from resurrecting "native" support for OPJ files,
there's now a second option available.

Miquel Garriga has kindly provided us with an OPJ-import Python module and script, which are currently able to partially (i.e. only tables and notes for now) convert Origin to SciDAVis projects. Apart from better handling of files created by different Origin versions, this solution has the advantage that it's written completely in Python and requires neither
knowledge of C++ nor SciDAVis internals for fixing issues or adding support for missing bits. The bulk of the code (i.e. the opjparse module) is independent of SciDAVis and may be of interest also if you want to extract data from OPJ files into other formats.... read more

This release adds two Czech translations (see below), improves the API exposed to Python scripts (documentation is still under construction, sorry) and fixes many bugs and performance problems. In particular:

- some parts of the Python API have been marked as deprecated and generate
warnings when used. This may be a bit unusual for a bugfix release; on the
other hand, they won't be removed any time soon and inserting the
deprecation warnings now will give everyone as much time as possible for
getting accustomed to the API we're moving towards.
Most prominently,
Table.cell(column,row) and
Table.setCell(column,row,value)
are deprecated in favour of
Table.column(column - 1).valueAt(row - 1) and
Table.column(column - 1).setValueAt(row - 1, value)
(note that the column/row INDICES DIFFER BY ONE!); the same goes for
Table.text(c,r) -> Table.column(c - 1).textAt(r - 1) and
Table.setText(c,r,text) -> Table.column(c - 1).setTextAt(r - 1,text).
This serves multiple purposes. It simplifies the interfaces by grouping all
functionality specific to a certain column in the Column class; it allows
column objects to be stored and passed around; and it moves from the
unconventional 1-based indexing to the more conventional 0-based indexing.
Future additions to the API will increasingly make use of the columns-as
objects paradigm.
- lots of bugfixes, again including crashes
- fixed compatibility issues with Qt 4.6 and SIP 4.9
- performance improvements
- substantially improved support for plots involving date/time data
- added two Czech translations: a default one by Pavel Fric (feedback
requested via http://fripohled.blogspot.com\) and an alternative one by Jan
Helebrant
- updated Spanish translation, thanks to Mauricio Troviano; Brazilian
Portuguese translation, thanksto Fellype do Nascimento; and German
translation
- fixed and extended many parts of the API for Python scripts, including the
new methods
Layer.pickPoint()
MDIWindow.clone()
Folder.save(filename)
newGraph(string)
Layer.printDialog()
Graph.printDialog()
Layer.setRightTitle(string)
Layer.setTopTitle(string)
Layer.grid() # => returns an instance of the new class Grid
Layer.insertFunctionCurve(formula,from=0,to=1,points=100,title="")
Layer.insertPolarCurve(radial_formula,angular_formula,from=0,to=2*pi,parameter="t",points=100,title="")
Layer.insertParametricCurve(x_formal,y_formula,from=0,to=1,parameter="t",points=100,title="")
Matrix.recalculate()
the constants QwtPlot.yLeft, QwtPlot.yRight, QwtPlot.xBottom, QwtPlot.xTop
for specifying axes and the Grid class
- multiple graphs can have active tools simultaneously
- based on user feedback, the default behaviour when importing ASCII files has
been changed to interpret the data as numeric (only applies to fresh
installations of SciDAVis)
- automatic resizing of table rows for multi-line cells intentionally dropped,
because this seems to be rarely needed and has a huge impact on performance
for large tables

SciDAVis is now officially part of Debian GNU/Linux. Yesterday the package has entered Debian unstable; migration to to testing is expected to happen within a few weeks.

For details and updates, see:
http://packages.qa.debian.org/s/scidavis.html

As of now, a new bugfix release is available for download.

- fixed many more bugs, including various crashes
- performance improvements
- improved pasting of cells from OpenOffice.org Calc and KSpread into tables
- Brazilian Portuguese and German translations improved
- Some build system fixes for building on MacOS X Tiger and detecting lupdate-qt4/lupdate
- now also compatible with Qwt 5.2.0
- main window remembers size from the last session instead of always displaying maximized
- added the following methods to the Python interface:
MDIWindow.name()
MDIWindow.setName(string) <- don't use, it's currently buggy!
Note.text()
Note.setText(string)
Note.executeAll()
Note.setAutoexec(bool)
Note.exportASCII(filename)
Note.importASCII(filename)... read more

This release adds a Brazilian Portuguese translation by Fellype do Nascimento and fixes a number of bugs:

- fixed opening of legacy files with non-numeric data
- fixed various crashes
- fixed importing of numeric data as new rows or overwriting the current table
- fixed various issues with invalid/empty cells
- implemented a more sophisticated file-saving protocol, which is supposed to
protect against data loss in the event of a system crash shortly after saving
the file; see
http://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/317781/comments/54
- performance improvements
- Python function Table.importASCII() reimplemented, which was missing in
SciDAVis 0.2.0 and 0.2.1.

This is the first bugfix release in the 0.2 series. Most importantly, saving project files containing fit/function curves works again. This bug also affects version 0.1.4; but since 0.2.1 should fix the critical issues in 0.2.0, users are assumed to upgrade to this release and a bugfix release for the 0.1 branch will be made only if requested.

Other fixes and updates include:
- fixed opening of backup copy on discovery of a corrupt project file
- Spanish translation update by Mauricio Troviano
- fixed several regressions introduced by the table/matrix rewrites in 0.2.0
- added per mille and per ten thousand signs to SymbolDialog
- compatibility problems between SIP versions triggers a warning instead of a
crash (happens sometimes when SIP version at runtime differs from the one
used at compile time)... read more

SciDAVis 0.2.0 is a stable release with a new minor version number. This means it comes with many new features and is found to be stable enough to replace the 0.1.x versions. Especially tables and matrices have seen a lot of improvements/changes. This release includes all fixes of the 0.1.x-line and many resolved issues found during beta testing.
SciDAVis 0.2.0 is backwards compatible as it can read all files saved by SciDAVis 0.1.x. Files created with version 0.2.0 however cannot be opened by any older versions.
During the next days, you can also expect an updated version of the manual and some updated translations.
If you have any questions or comments about the new version, don't hesitate to use the help&tips forum.... read more

This release contains a lot of bug fixes; most importantly, it fixes some problems that could lead to incorrect results of some analysis operations in previous versions. While version 0.2.0 (with new features, like multi-level undo/redo and improved user interface for tables and matrices) is also planned to be released shortly, 0.1.4 is for all those who need the bug fixes as soon as possible; as well as a fallback in case some users have problems with the new features.... read more

The first beta version of SciDAVis 0.2.0 has been released. Please test it and report all bugs you can find.

=== Release 0.2.0-beta1, 2008-08-10 ===
Most important changes (since 0.1.3)
- multi-level undo/redo for all operations on
tables and matrices
- many operations on tables and matrices now support
non-contiguous selections
- the important options/controls for matrices
and tables are now integrated in a sidebar
of control tabs which make working with
column or matrix based data much more
convenient (almost no more opening and closing of
dialogs necessary)
- tables now support different formulas
for each cell
- numeric values are now stored independent of
their textual representation, i.e., you don't
lose data when hiding decimal digits
- date/time values are now internally stored
as QDateTime objects which opens up many
new possibilities of date/time manipulation
using PyQt/Python scripting... read more

This is another minor release concentrating on bug fixing and stability improvements. It also features a new Windows installer and many improvements to make building and packaging on GNU/Linux easier.

Most important changes (since 0.1.2)
- page orientation for PDF/EPS export can now be chosen manually
- executing script code now gives a visual feedback
- new Windows installer
- many improvements to make compilation and Linux packaging easier
- fixed graph duplication
- fixed unnecessary graph rescaling
- several other bugs fixed

SciDAVis 0.1.2 is out now!

This is another bug fixing release. Thanks to all bug reporters!

SciDAVis packages for Debian Etch are now available at:
http://debian.physik.hu-berlin.de

Packager: Burkhard Bunk

SciDAVis 0.1.1 openSUSE packages for i586 and x86_64 are available at packman now:
http://packman.links2linux.de/package/scidavis

Packager: Quentin Denis

SciDAVis 0.1.1 is out now!

This is a pure bug fixing release. New features are in development but need more time until they are ready to be integrated into a stable release.

The first SciDAVis release is out now: version 0.1.0.

Most important changes (since QtiPlot 0.9-rc2):
- improved handling of custom decimal separators
- many improvements/additions to Python scripting
- improved user interface: restructured menus and tool bars, several restructured dialogs
- script window removed since notes offer the same capabilities
- more stable project loading/saving
- easier ASCII import/export, improved appending of projects and Origin graphs
- lots of small improvements and bug fixes
- export to eps and pdf without large white borders