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Release Notes for JMRI 1.5.7 test release

Date: June 2, 2005

From: Bob Jacobsen

Subject: Test version 1.5.7 of JMRI/DecoderPro is available for download.

Notes:

This is a test release. Please post a note if you encounter any new or old bugs! And please back up your JMRI files before installing this, in case you want to go back to an earlier version.

This test release is part of a series that will eventually lead up to a production release called version 1.6. We hope that will happen very soon, so your prompt feedback on this test release would be appreciated.

New warnings for this test version:

Paul Bender corrected sensor addressing for Lenz XPressNet. Unfortunately, this change will require modifications to existing panels used with XPressNet; Users will need to add 8 to the number of any existing XPressNet Sensor. Alternately, users can change the address in hardware by subtracting 1 from the LR10x address.

Older warnings for the 1.5 series of test versions:

The CT Electronik decoders have been reworked and renamed. Users of this decoders (only) need to reread their roster or manually edit their roster.xml-file.

The method for configuring the C/MRI protocol has changed since version 1.4. If you use the C/MRI protocol, you will have to reconfigure your preferences the first time you run this version.

Download links:

Please use these links for downloading, including the "?download" at the end. That adds to SourceForge's advertising statistics, which makes them happy to host our stuff.

Changes since test version 1.5.6:

Dennis Miller fixed a bug (new in 1.5.6) that prevented adding Sensors to a panel.

Updated a file-definition DTD so that older panel files could again be read

Add support to panel logic for counting CVs to be programmed; a first step toward a progress bar.

Minor updates to message formats in the LocoNet monitor

Paul Bender revised the turnout feedback support for XpressNet to make it work with new feedback modes

Added milliseconds to the time displayed by the protocol monitors (LocoNet monitor, XPressNet monitor, etc)

PM4, BDL16, SE8 programmers now have better error handling, and can now address boards up to 256 (was up to 128 before)

Paul Bender fixed a small bug in the consist support where a locomotive could be added twice with two different directions

Fixed a bug causing configuration files to carry more than one entry for the route manager. This had no user impact (we merge the entries anyway), but was untidy.

Saving "configuration" and "Panel" files are now handled separately to reduce the chances of a user inadvertently overwriting one of their files.

Fixed a problem causing panels to have a different size when loaded than they had when stored. This may cause small changes to the size of existing panels; if so, just resize them as desired and save again.

Paul Bender improved how deleting a consist works.

Added a checkbox to the Turnout Table that controls whether the feedback-related columns will be shown. It defaults to off, to hide complexity from people who don't need it.

Simon Ginsburg provided decoder definitions for the Digitrax DN163I0 and DN163K1B decoders.

Corrected the bit location for the "Vstart/Vmid/Vfull in 128 step mode" variable in Digitrax decoders (problem noticed and diagnosed by Herb Poppe)

Paul Bender made some improvements to XpressNet service mode.

Andrew Crosland contributed tools for updating SPROG microcode

Howard G. Penny contributed info on the NCE D14SR decoder.

Len Royles contributed five new/updated MERG decoder definitions.

Add "open throttle" to actions that can be configured to take place at startup

Fix problem where loco number field wouldn't appear in throttle panel

Rick Beaber provided decoder files for the MRC 1626 and 1627

Throttles on LocoNet can now do F9 through F12

Dennis Miller adjusted the ID, road name, road number, etc fields in the roster so that they can contain more information.

Dave Duchamp changed the Route logic so that they'd send their turnout messages even if the message was thought to be redundant. This is needed because a local control might have changed the turnout from the previous position.

Dennis Miller updated the way that the throttle sizes the function buttons so that they can contain more text and still be readable; the text has also been changed to a monospaced font to make layout easier.

When the Lenz XPA adapter is changing directions, send "idle" instead of "Emergency Stop/Off" (so we don't have to worry about XPA settings)

Setting the turnouts in a Route now proceeds in parallel with other operations (David Duchamp)

Paul Bender added support for the Lenz LI-USB interface to XpressNet.

Paul Bender and Dennis Miller arranged for some windows to have better icons on Windows machines; there's still more work to be done here, including adding this feature to more windows.

Paul Bender made a correction to intermittent bug with not seeing all information on the LI101F tool. This is a fix for Tracker Bug #932107.

Corrected bug in LZV100 Command Station reset button command station now properly resets when button is pressed.

Add the ability to reverse the relative direction of the second locomotive in a Lenz "Double Header".

David Duchamp fixed a bug with loading panel files that would sometimes cause user names to be missed.

Ian Birchenough and Phil Grainger contributed six new definitions for ZTC decoders

Mark Schutzer contributed a decoder definition for the Lenz Gold decoders

Norman Clymer contributed a decoder definition update for TCS

Howard Penny fixed a DecoderPro bug that resulted in exceptions when more than 12 functions were used.

Paul Bender contributed a new decoder definition for the Atlas VO1000

Error handling improved in the programmers for the various Digitrax boards

Fix problem when more than one TurnoutTable is open (the show feedback buttons interacted in a bad way) Fix problem with the closed/thrown button being displayed as a text field when show feedback has been selected.

Paul Bender: Make sure XPressNet JMRI throttle can take over from physical throttle. Error caused by too frequently checking the status of the currently selected address when not in control (i.e. in Follow the Leader mode).

Under certain circumstances, the font size in the throttle address field would get too small (sometimes to small to be visible) or too large. This is now constrained within some reasonable limits.

Mark Knox contributed code to make SPROG drive turnouts

Norman Clymer contributed a new definition for the ESU LokSound 3 decoder

It has been unfortunately necessary to add a copyright notice to each of the decoder definition files.

Paul Bender corrected the addressing of XPressNet sensors. See warning at top about changes to addressing which may effect existing panel files.

The XPressNet monitor now converts Turnout and Feedback encoding into English.

Howard Penny improved scroll bars on PanelPro panels so they don't take up space when not needed.

Howard Penny fixed bug 1198724, where removing an icon (turnout, sensor, etc) from a panel would still leave it visible until the panel was repainted.

Howard Penny fixed bug 1199405, not showing right color in a panel-icon popup menu after first loading the icon

Mark Knox suggested a change to the build.xml file so that Javadocs could build inside Eclipse IDE. (Yes, there are a lot of buzzwords in that item; if you don't know what those mean, you probably haven't needed this fix)

Scott Henry contributed two new scripts: SetAllTurnouts.py - This script sets all turnouts to "closed". It is intended to run at startup of Panel Pro. An initial 30 sec wait is provided so that the layout can be powered up after panel pro starts, which updates the detection sensor, yet still have power available for the turnout commands. Additional 5 sec wait periods are provided between turnout commands so that the previous command is completed. It was tested on a layout with tortoise motors and Digitrax SE8c and DS44 turnout control. Sensor-sound.py - This script plays the crossing sound when the sensor changes from active to inactive. Thus the crossing bell sound on the entrance of a train into the block.

Fixed problem releasing a JMRI throttle with EasyDCC systems (bug 1174256)

RFE 1200692: C/MRI nodes that are not responding to polls will periodically have an init message, followed by an output message sent to them. This is meant to get them to recover if they've e.g. been powered off.

For debugging, it's now possible to directly edit the values for Reporter and Memory objects via the Reporter and Memory Table.

MemoryIcon objects now work two ways: If a series of icons is defined in the file, the memory contents will be translated via this table (this was the original behavior). If there aren't any icons defined, the memory contents is displayed directly, as a string if it's a String and as a NamedIcon if it's a NamedIcon.

Simple block logic controllers (BlockBoss) now contain a "hold" parameter so scripts can easily start/stop the logic. When hold is true, the output is always red.

Error handling with the new NCE EEPROM has been somewhat marginal; this release improves it.

Under some circumstances, writing to CV 1 (short address) would leave the decoder set for "short addressing", even though DecoderPro was showing long addressing selected. This has been fixed.

Ian Birchenough provided information for the "Bachmann 4-function decoder" definition, which is new.

Fixed bug 1213024, error printing roster summaries when the comments are very long.