Date: December 11, 2009
From: Bob Jacobsen
Subject: Test version 2.7.10 of JMRI/DecoderPro is available for download.
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 is the tenth, and hopefully last, in a series of test versions. We expect this series to end in a JMRI 2.8 production release in December 2009.
It contains mostly minor changes. See the complete list below.
Some of the changes involved are quite extensive. They may require a certain amount of experience before they are working well. Therefore, this test version should be considered experimental.
JMRI is now only available under the GNU General Public License. For more information, please see our copyright and licensing page.
If you're using the "Function Label" or "Roster Image" panes with the DecoderPro "Comprehensive" programmer format, you should change to using the "Advanced" format. You select this at the bottom of the window when opening a locomotive for editing, or via the JMRI Preferences window.
Changes in JMRI 2.7.7 to the internal structure of the classes for the throttle windows (not the throttle classes themselves) may cause trouble for scripts that were using them.
JMRI 2.7.7 uses a different set of libraries for processing the XML panel files. In turn, this means that if you've created your own startup scripts, you may need to adjust them.
Starting in JMRI 2.7.6, the Windows installer puts the Java libraries (jar files) in a lib subdirectory. This is the same layout used on Linux and Mac OS X, and makes the JMRI program directory much more organized and easier to understand. If you have your own custom startup scripts, you may have to adjust them to the new library location. If you're just using the JMRI installer and its startup tools, you shouldn't have to change anything you do.
The orientation of the coordinate system in the new audio support changed in JMRI 2.7.6. Starting with that release, when you are looking at the model railroad, X is positive toward the right, Y is positive into the layout (away from you), and Z is positive upward. If you wrote scripts using the new audio support with JMRI 2.7.5, you'll have to swap axes.
The new audio support in JMRI 2.7.5 requires some new libraries. Those libraries are included in the JMRI downloads. They, in turn, require that the startup scripts include the new libraries, so these have also been modified. The 2.7.4 and earlier scripts will not work with 2.7.5 and later. In particular, if you've created your own copies of startup scripts, you'll have to update those:
If your roster contains locomotives with Soundtraxx Steam Tsunami decoders, you should migrate those roster entries to the new decoder definition names. We've created a tool to make that easier. For information on how to use that tool, please see the separate note.
JMRI 2.7.4 changes the way filenames for icons, etc, are stored in XML files by JMRI. The advantage is that this new method will make it much easier to move panel files from one computer to another, even of a different type. So long as you keep all your files in the JMRI preferences directory on both machines, the files should just move over without trouble. The warning is that files written in this format will not be properly read by JMRI versions before 2.7.4. This includes files from earlier versions that are read by JMRI 2.7.4 or later and then written out again, as the program will update them to the new format upon storing them.
Please use these links for downloading:
Andrew Crosland changed the standard/extended address boundary in the SPROG throttle software to match the SPROG hardware.
Kevin Dickerson improved the code for saving panel files.
Brett Hoffman updated the WiFi communications code.
Lionel Jeanson improved the throttle help pages to include much more information about advanced features.
Dan Boudreau made several improvements to the operations code. You can now print your manifests using colors for the car drops and pickups. You can now reset a train if you've modified the train's route after you've built the train. And the car database is automatically saved when you change the Car Types (Descriptive or AAR codes) in setup.
Peter Ulvestad improved the decoder definition for the MRC 1663 Atlas S2/S4 decoder.