Product News

	Version 9.0	July 26th 2010
	Additional Updates	June 22nd 2010
	Absoft 11.0	December 11th 2009
	Windows 7	November 5th 2009
	Intel Fortran 11.1	June 26th 2009
	Intel Fortran 11.0 and VS2008	January 8th 2009
	Absoft 10.2	November 11th 2008
	Version 8.0	July 16th 2008
	Intel Fortran 10	June 29th 2007
	Windows Vista	March 20th 2007
	Absoft v10/Win32	December 16th 2006
	Mac OS X/x86	November 27th 2006
	Version 7.10	May 22nd 2006
	Version 7.0	September 13th 2005
	Version 6.10	January 17th 2005
	Version 6.0	June 7th 2004
	Intel Fortran v8	December 10th 2003
	Version 5.10	September 1st 2003
	30-day Trial (Win32)	May 13th 2003
	Version 5.0	February 11th 2003
	Version 4.10	May 27th 2002
	Version 4.0	November 7th 2001

Winteracter Version 9.0

July 26th 2010

Winteracter v9.0 is now available. Upgrades are available from any previous release. See Price List.

	New look
	Transparent images
	Visual Tools
	Database interaction
	Common dialogs
	Grids
	Editor windows
	X/Winteracter resource compiler
	General

View the full version 9.0 release notes.

New look

• Support for latest visual styles on Windows XP/Vista/7. Dialog controls can automatically adapt to native "look" of current platform. No changes required to calling Fortran code to take advantage of new styles. See the updated screen snapshots on the Image Gallery page.
• Flat toolbar style on all platforms, including X Windows.
• Three new sets of pre-defined 256-colour toolbar button bitmaps, in 16x16, 24x24 and 32x32 resolutions.
• New colour scheme on X Windows (see the new screen shots on the X/Winteracter page). Much finer control over X colour scheme. New redistributable colour scheme configuration tool.
• All the Winteracter visual tools use the new styles, toolbars, etc.
• To see the new look in action, download the latest version of the Winteracter demonstration program.

Transparent images

• IGrLoadImageData and IGrSaveImageData now support transparent images in PNG (alpha channel), ICO or CUR formats.
• New WBitmapBlendData blends transparent image data into screen or memory bitmap drawables.
• Improved visual tool support for transparent image files.
• Control over degree of transparency in image data, allowing for semi-opaque images.
• New colour conversion functions which allow for transparency.
• Convert between transparent and/or non-transparent formats (e.g. ICO to alpha-channel PNG).

Visual Tools

• The resource editor has been updated. In particular, the toolbar and image editors have been substantially overhauled:
  • The toolbar editor now mimics the newly adopted flat toolbar style. More spare images can be loaded and displayed. The depth of the undo buffer has been increased. Separate options to load the pre-defined 16x16, 24x24 or 32x32 button images. Documentation and screen updating have also been improved.
  • The image editor benefits from much improved screen updating and memory management. Undo buffer increased to 12 levels. Improved handling of region selection and cut/copy/paste. New image rotation tools. Improved drawing colour selection. PCX and PNG files can now be edited, when operating in "standalone" mode. Documentation substantially updated.
  • The mimic display in the menu editor has been reworked, providing more accurate replication of the menu's runtime appearance, particularly on Windows Vista/7.
  • On Windows XP/Vista/7, the dialog editor now uses the current system's visual styles to display dialog controls in both edit and test modes.
• WED, the Winteracter text editor, now provides a search string history, new toolbar buttons for Save All and Change Case options, better integration of the Find-All function with the other search/replace functions and an "insert #" function in the X version for Mac users.
• The data viewer, WinterView, can now display the contents of ICO/CUR files or transparent ("alpha channel") PNG files. When viewing gridded XYZ data, the raw co-ordinate list can now be viewed in a separate window. The number of recent files on the File menu has been increased.
• The Windows version of our development environment, WiDE, now includes a manifest creation option, to enable use of the latest visual styles. Compilation is faster on Linux and Mac, particularly when compiling multiple small files.
• SetupEd and the generic installer now allow for external programs to be run during installation (e.g. a license manager or installation configuration tool).
• The appearance of the contents/index control in HTML/Javascript help file sets created by the help editor, HelpEd, has been upgraded. See the Winteracter release notes for an example of such a help file set.
• PlotConv can now display transparent images in ICO/CUR or PNG (alpha channel) formats.

Database interaction

• Interrogate available data sources.
• Interrogate table/column names and types.
• Put string/number routines.
• Undefined value support.
• Improved error reporting.
• Raw SQL command execution.
• New general purpose data source viewer example program.

Common dialogs

• Colour selector: Program control over custom colour buttons (these are also a new addition in the X version). Title selectable.
• Directory selector : X version now includes "home directory" and "parent directory" buttons, plus better support for long pathnames.
• All the common dialogs benefit from the improved look noted above.

Grids

• Built in grid-window toolbar upgraded to 256 colours.
• Find string and associated options now program selectable.
• Improved error reporting.
• Multi-cell/multi-column operations now more efficient (e.g. due to elimination of repeated validation checks).
• Runtime grid redefinition now allows column width control.
• Interrogate number of visible rows, original number of columns and Find option state.

Editor windows

• Built in toolbars upgraded to 256 colours.
• Find and Replace strings and associated options now program selectable.
• Documentation reorganised and expanded.
• Interrogate Find/Replace option states.

X/Winteracter resource compiler

• All bitmap, icon and cursor image files are now stored in the compiled resource file on Linux/Mac in 24-bit/Zlib compressed format, rather than 12-bit/RLE-compressed as previously. This has several effects:
  • 24-bit colour images now display in dialogs with full shading.
  • Compiled resources containing multiple images or large images are typically much smaller.
  • Resource compilation time with Intel Fortran is significantly reduced.

General

• g95 support on Linux and Mac updated to "0.92 stable (July 2009)" release.
• Nine new demo programs, several others updated.
• 2D scatter plots with point-specific colours.
• New "find nearest colour" and "count colours" functions.
• Various new information items, including an extensive set of system colour reporting options (e.g. menu and dialog colours), Print Manager printer name/port and X server vendor/release.
• Status-bar sub-divisions size can be in pixels.
• Better error reporting for errors originating from other APIs such as OpenGL, MAPI, Zlib and ODBC.
• Direct control over background colour when creating and clearing memory bitmaps.
• The vertex limit on shaded polygons has been eliminated.
• New "Message Types" section in Programming Reference, detailing each possible message type on a separate page.
• Improved clipboard management on X Windows.
• Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) now officially supported.

Customers who purchased v8.0 on or after 1/June/2010 will normally be entitled to receive a free v9.0 update. Qualification for free updates from 8.0 is based on the date of shipment from I.S.S. or a recognised I.S.S. reseller and in any event is at the sole discretion of I.S.S. Ltd. Free updates are normally shipped automatically and do not need to be requested.

Additional Updates

June 22nd 2010

Various previously inaccessible Winteracter updates for versions 4.0 through 6.0 are now available once again on our Updates page.

Absoft Pro Fortran v11.0

December 11th 2009

Winteracter 8.0 has been successfully tested with the recently released Absoft Pro Fortran 11.0 compilers on Windows, Linux and Mac OS/X. The existing Absoft Pro Fortran 10.x support in Winteracter 8.0 on Linux and Mac is also suitable for use with the 11.0 compiler. Winteracter documentation and WiDE have been suitably amended at the 8.0g update to take account of this additional compatibility. As usual, existing Winteracter 8.0 licence holders can update via our Updates page.

Windows 7

November 5th 2009

The current version of Winteracter (v8.0) has been tested on Windows 7. No issues have been identified, so there appears to be no need for an update to add support for this platform. Both the 32-bit and 64-bit Windows versions of Winteracter 8.0 have been successfully tested on Windows 7. Compatibility testing has including testing of Winteracter based applications built on earlier Windows platforms (e.g. XP). These also appear to execute as expected on Windows 7.

No Windows 7 specific Winteracter update will therefore be issued, though the 8.0g update includes minor cosmetic amendments to the documentation, reflecting the additional compatibility with this platform. In general, existing v8.0 users should simply read any existing Winteracter documentation which refers to Windows Vista as meaning "Windows Vista and Windows 7".

Any users planning to develop Fortran based applications on or for Windows 7 should note that it is advisable to update to a recent version of their preferred compiler. This is not a Winteracter requirement as such, simply a compiler compatibility issue. The compiler versions used in our tests were:

• IVF 11.1.051
• Absoft Pro Fortran 10.2
• Lahey Fortran 7.10.02
• FTN95 5.40

Other compiler versions may also be compatible.

Intel Fortran 11.1

June 26th 2009

Support for Intel Fortran 11.1 has been added to Winteracter at the 8.0e update. In particular, the Windows versions of the Winteracter Development Environment (WiDE) have been upgraded to support Intel Visual Fortran 11.1.

Existing Winteracter 8.0 licence holders can update in the usual way, via our Updates page.

Intel Fortran 11.0 and Visual Studio 2008

January 8th 2009

Support for Intel Fortran 11.0 has been added to Winteracter at the 8.0c update. In particular, the Winteracter Development Environment (WiDE) has been upgraded to support Intel Fortran 11.0 on all of Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. On Windows a new IVF configuration mechanism has been added to WiDE, allowing selection between multiple installed compiler and Visual Studio versions. The Windows version of WiDE 8.0c also adds support for Visual Studio 2008 as the provider of tools/libraries for use with IVF 10/11. Additionally, WiDE 8.0c now allows VS2003 to be used as a debugger, as an alternative to idb, when using IVF 10/11.

Existing Winteracter 8.0 licence holders can update in the usual way, via our Updates page.

Absoft Pro Fortran v10.2

November 11th 2008

Winteracter 8.0 has been successfully tested with the recently released Absoft Pro Fortran 10.2 compilers on Windows, Linux and Mac OS/X. The existing Absoft Pro Fortran 10.0/10.1 support in Winteracter 8.0 on Linux and Mac is also suitable for use with the 10.2 compiler.

Winteracter Version 8.0

July 16th 2008

Winteracter v8.0 is now available.

View the full version 8.0 release notes.

• Documentation: The Programming Guide has been integrated into the main documentation set. The entire documentation set is now supplied in a single format, under a common contents/index. The documentation set now provides numerous hypertext links to/from the Programming Guide for the first time. Integration of the Programming Guide ensures that all of the supplied documentation can now be searched via a single interface.
• Bitmaps: Half-toning is now supported in bitmap stretching operations on most platforms, giving much better quality bitmap rescaling. WBitmapPut, WBitmapResize, WBitmapLoad and IGrLoadImage all beneft from this change. WBitmapPut now also supports bitmap stretching on X Windows. New bitmap file format conversion routine added.
• Latest o.s. versions: Improved support for recent operating system releases such as Vista, Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) and Fedora 9.
• X fonts: X Windows font support has been substantially reworked to reflect the fonts which most current Linux and Mac OS X installations actually provide. Changes also take account of font rescaling quality, which can vary depending on platform. Font selection in dialogs/menus, editor and graphics text output all benefit from these changes. Graphics applications should particularly benefit, since X fonts will be used much more often in preference to substituted "software" fonts.
• Information functions: Rationalisation of the the various information functions in the IF group has been completed, including various improvements to the graphics reporting functions.
• Presentation graphics: Substantially improved grid interpolation algorithm. More hatching options. Better missing data handling in filled contour plots. User scaling limit eliminated.
• Help files: WHelpFile (Win32) no longer relies on external DLL to display CHM files in IVF, LF95 5.7/7.x and Absoft 10 versions.
• Visual tools: Many new menu accelerator keys added to most of the visual tools.
• WiDE: Simplified OpenGL linking. Option to open files in system associated app on Mac OS X. Improvements to Project and Switches dialogs.
• Resource editor: Toolbar editor allows selection from more images. Dialog editor alignment grid improved on Vista. Better resource identifier file/module naming conventions. Improved dialog put/get code generation dialog.
• WED: Better tab key handling. More edit buffers. HTML symbol insertion. Improved printing option management. Command line "goto string" option. Improved dialog put/get code generation dialog in WiDE version.
• HelpEd: Project source format (RTF-to-HTML) conversion option. HTML symbol option insertion options, as for WED. Better topic identifier file/module naming conventions. Additional help options in topic editors.
• SetupEd and generic installer: Various improvements including better Vista support, optional licence agreement dialog, support for PNG or PCX bimaps, administrator privilege check, all-user/current-user shortcuts choice and more.
• WinterView: The data viewer provides better management, recognition and display of missing values. Displaying large XYZ data sets is much faster thanks to the improved grid interpolation option. Better local decimal point character support on Windows.
• Compilers: Updated compiler support. Intel versions now built with v10.1 on all plaforms. g95 support on Linux and Mac updated to latest 2008 "0.91 stable" release. (Note: MS PowerStation is no longer supported as of this release.)
• Installation: Various improvements to installation procedure on all of Windows, Linux and Mac. Better Vista support. Improved Windows shortcut creaion. New "Apps" directory generated on Mac allowing easy invocation of tools and documentation via Finder. Prompt for preferred documentation/web browser on Linux.
• Pixel co-ordinates: Mouse and keyboard messages now also include raw pixel co-ordinate values. Graphics units to/from pixel conversion routines now include top-left origin option, for consistency with other library routines which use pixel co-ords.

Intel Fortran 10

June 29th 2007

As of v7.10g, Winteracter now officially supports Intel Fortran 10.0.

In practice, earlier releases can also be used with the v10 compiler. Some advice on resolving minor compatibility issues has been prepared in the form of some brief Compatibility Notes.

Windows Vista

March 20th 2007

As of v7.10f, Winteracter has been tested on the newly released Microsoft Windows Vista. Virtually all Winteracter features appear to work as expected. In general behaviour is the same as on Windows 2000/XP. Compilers successfully tested with Winteracter on Vista include CVF 6.6, IVF 9.1, LF95 5.7 and Absoft Pro Fortran 10. Winteracter documentation has been updated to include references to Vista, where appropriate. Users who currently own a Winteracter 7.10 licence can update to 7.10f in the usual way, via our Updates page.

Absoft Pro Fortran v10/Win32

December 16th 2006

As of v7.10d, Winteracter supports the recently released Absoft Pro Fortran v10 compiler on Win32 platforms. Winteracter therefore supports Absoft's v10 compiler on all of Win32, Windows x64, Linux/x86 and Linux/x86_64.

We are continuing to also support Absoft Pro Fortran 9 on Win32, in version 7.10. Customers who hold or purchase a Winteracter 7.10 licence for use with Absoft Pro Fortran on Win32 will therefore have access to versions which support both the v9 and v10 compilers. Support for v10 is included in the downloadable v7.10 update, which is available on the Updates page.

Mac OS X/x86

November 27th 2006

X/Winteracter is now available for Intel-based Apple Mac systems. As of 7.10c, the supported compilers are Intel Fortran 9.1 and g95. Support for Absoft Pro Fortran v10 has also been added, as of v7.10f.

The Intel-based Mac version of X/Winteracter offers the same functionality as the earlier PowerPC equivalent, operating via the X server which is supplied as part of Mac OS X.

Please note: Support for the PowerPC-based Mac platform has now been frozen at v7.10a. All future X/Winteracter updates and new releases for Mac OS X will be for Intel-based Mac systems.

Winteracter Version 7.10

May 22nd 2006

Winteracter v7.10 is now available.

	3D modelling
	Database interrogation
	Graphics primitives
	Editor windows
	Grids
	Bitmaps
	Resource editor
	WED
	WiDE
	Help editor
	Troubelshooter editor
	Documentation
	Compilers
	General

View the full version 7.10 release notes.

3D modelling

• 3D models can be split into parts. Allows partial model manipulation without full model recreation:
  • Apply transformation matrix to a part to move or rescale it.
  • Change material of a given part (e.g. to highlight it).
  • Set part visibility, allowing objects to be hidden.
  • Names can be assigned to parts, to simplify end-user part identification.
• 3D DXF support upgraded:
  • Number of vertices and facets can be interrogated.
  • Faster loading when the "shared vertices" option is specified.
  • Parts recognised in DXF files.
• Substantially expanded model interrogation. Virtually all model information can now be retrieved, including vertex co-ordinates.
• Material of each facet can be set individually.
• 3Dview model viewer tool upgraded to support parts in both W3D and DXF files. A separate "Parts view" uses a split window to display a parts list and a model view highlighting the selected part.

Database Interrogation

• Interrogate data in third-party data sources, via ODBC.
• ODBC database access supported on all of Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.
• Retrieve data as strings, integer, real or double precision values.
• Access single fields or arrays of values (latter is more efficient).
• Interrogate number of database records.

Graphics primitives

• Co-ordinate system rotation:
  • Single subroutine call allows entire co-ordinate system to be rotated by 0, 90, 180 or 270 degrees.
  • Rotation affects all graphics output, including presentation graphics.
• Graphics text blocks:
  • Write multi-line text within a formatting rectangle.
  • Text can be justified or l/c/r aligned.
  • Option to auto adjust font size to ensure text fits.
  • Control over line spacing.
  • Line breaks can be forced.
  • Text block length interrogation function.
  Arrow head width control.
• Limits on polyline/polygon size eliminated.
• Palette interrogation: Get nearest 8-bit palette index, given a 24-bit RGB value.

Editor windows

• Editor window printing can be invoked under program control, in addition to user invocation.
• Program control over both program-invoked and user-invoked editor printing options.
• Set editor selection.

Grids

• Control over print options for user-invoked grid-window printing.
• Optionally save grid column/row labels in CSV files.

Bitmaps

• Faster bitmap rotation on Windows NT/2000/XP (approx 10 times quicker).
• Faster and better quality image resizing on Windows.
• More memory bitmaps allowed (max=50).
• X Windows versions now support same range of BMP/PCX sub-formats as Windows versions. Adds support for compressed BMP, 16-bit BMP and mono/16-colour PCX.

Resource editor

• Improved field resizing in dialog editor.
• Export current button in toolbar editor.
• Bigger images in image editor (max=100x100).

WED

• HTML tag insertion options:
  • Insert : Picture, hypertext link, table, list, anchor point, horizontal line or line break.
  • Text style formatting : Bold, italic, font size, super/sub-script, monospaced.
  • Paragraph formatting : Normal/heading/pre-formatted and paragraph alignment.
• Direct access to full Subroutine Reference via summary Subroutine Info dialog.
• Subroutine Info dialog now shows each argument's intent.
• Hex colour code insertion.

WiDE

• Line ending conversion tool eases source file exchange between Windows and Linux/Mac OS X.
• Improved front-end to Fortran source reformatter.
• Simplified code output from Application Wizard.

Help editor

• HTML tag insertion options when editing help files in HTML source form:
  • Insert : Table, list, anchor point, horizontal line or line break.
  • Text style formatting : Bold, italic, font size, super/sub-script, monospaced.
  • Paragraph formatting : Normal/heading/pre-formatted and paragraph alignment.
• Substantially expanded topic editor documentation.
• Advanced Search option when generating HTML Help (CHM) files.
• Access to Microsoft's HTML Tag Reference (where installed).

Troubleshooter editor

• Same HTML tag insertion options as WED (see above).
• Several additional help options, including access to Microsoft's HTML Tag Reference (where installed).

Documentation

• Advanced search options under Windows:
  • Boolean operators.
  • Previous search string history.
  • Restrict search to previous results and/or topic titles.
  • Sort results by title, location or rank.
  • Accessible via the Search tab in the HTML Help viewer window.
• New wsearch tool on Linux and Mac OS X provides similar documentation search capabilities:
  • Previous search string history.
  • Restrict search to previous results and/or topic titles.
  • Sort results by title or location.
  • Search can be invoked from the command prompt or the Help menu in WiDE.
• Improved index.
• Section name on every page.

Compilers

• Support for the forthcoming version of Lahey/Fujitsu Fortran running on Linux/x86_64 (AMD64/EM64T) platforms.
• Absoft Pro Fortran support on Linux upgraded to v10. (Note: v10 is now the required version.)
• New Win64 version for Absoft Pro Fortran v10 on AMD64/EM64T Windows.

General

• Display EMF metafiles from the program resource in a dialog field under Windows.
• Sort routine extended to optionally report new array order.
• WHelpfile accepts "ms-its:" filename syntax allowing access to a specific HTML file inside a HTML HELP (CHM) file.

Winteracter Version 7.0

September 13th 2005 (updated October 12th 2005)

New features benefit both Windows and Linux implementations, unless stated otherwise:

	64-bit Windows and Linux
	Mac OS X
	Absoft Pro Fortran v9
	Intel Fortran 9
	g95
	3D Modelling
	3D Model Viewer
	Help Editor
	Troubleshooter Creator
	WiDE
	Data Viewer
	Grids
	Resource Editor
	General

View the full version 7.0 release notes.

64-bit Windows and Linux

• New versions available for AMD64/EM64T platforms:
  • Intel Fortran 9 on X64 versions of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003
  • Intel Fortran 9 on Linux/x86_64
  • Absoft Pro Fortran 9 on Linux/x86_64
• Fully source compatible with 32-bit version
• Same range of visual tools as 32-bit version

Mac OS X

• X/Winteracter ported to Apple Mac
• Runs via Apples's X11 X server
• Virtually the same functionality as the Linux version
• Same calling interface and visual tools as the Linux version
• Target compiler : Absoft Pro Fortran 9.2

Absoft Pro Fortran 9

• Absoft Pro Fortran support updated from v7/8 to v9 (v7/8 are no longer supported)
• Absoft compilers supported across all of Windows, Linux (x86 and x86_64) and Mac OS X
• Win32 Absoft licence added to the choice of 30-day Evaluation versions.

Intel Fortran 9

• Intel Fortran versions are now built with and formally support the version 9 compiler
• Versions available for both IA32 and EM64T on Windows and Linux

g95 (New at v7.0a)

• g95 support has been added to all Linux and Mac OS X versions of X/Winteracter at v7.0a. This is included as an addition to support for the target commercial compiler. i.e. X/Winteracter licences are still supplied for use with a primary compiler from one of Lahey, Intel or Absoft, but g95 support is now included at no additional cost. Users of the original 7.0 release can obtain g95 support by updating to v7.0a, or later, via the Updates page. (To check your installed version number, select Help|Licence Information in WiDE.)

3D Modelling

• OpenGL-based renderer added to Winteracter 3D modelling routines:
  • New WglShow provides an OpenGL based equivalent of existing W3dShow renderer.
  • Offers a "best of both worlds" 3D modelling solution, combining our easy to learn 3D routines with OpenGL performance.
  • Existing Winteracter 3D modelling programs easily upgraded to use the OpenGL renderer.
  • Much larger models become feasible, as do models with intersecting facets.
• W3dLoad and W3dSave extended to read and write 3D models in DXF format. Allows 3D models to be exported to or imported from third party applications.
• W3dFacet now allows for double-sided facets
• Multiple light sources and light intensity/colour control
• Improved material reporting

Download our newly updated OpenGL demo which now also incorporates examples of Winteracter's own 3D modelling interface.

3D Model Viewer

• New 3Dview OpenGL-based 3D model viewing tool
• View 3D models created by Winteracter's own W3dSave routine or third party 3D DXF files.
• Highly responsive viewing control, with rotate, zoom and pan via mouse, keyboard or menu
• Animated rotation option
• Save models in Winteracter or DXF format
• Export image saves current view in BMP, PNG or PCX format
• Print via Print Manager (Windows) or PostScript (Linux or Mac OS X)
• Orthographic or perspective projection
• Choice of rendering methods (wireframe, unlit or shaded)
• Control over materials and lighting
• Redistributable with Winteracter based applications

HelpEd Help Editor

• Major upgrade of our help file creation tool
• Now available on Linux and Mac OS X
• Support for HTML/Javascript and HTML Help (CHM) upgraded to give equal emphasis to all three output formats
• Help file source can now be maintained in HTML as an alternative to RTF (HTML source always used on Linux and Mac OS X)
• Contents now managed via a treeview
• Topic editor adds various features from WED, e.g. insert file/date/time, find all, goto line, HTML syntax highlighting, etc.
• Improved documentation
• WinHelp-to-HTML converter now fully incorporated (replaces old separate Help2HTM tool)

TrEdit Troubleshooter Creator

• New visual tool creates Q&A style "troubleshooters"
• Available on all supported platforms
• Easy to use split-window treeview+editor user interface
• Topic editor includes various WED features such as insert file/date/time, find all, HTML syntax highlighting, etc.
• Creates HTML/Javascript or Windows HTML Help (CHM) output files. HTML files can be deployed to any platform. CHM files can be deployed as a single file.

WiDE development environment

• Find-in-Files option to search+edit project and/or non-project text files
• Improved project file portability
• Intel Visual Fortran configuration simplified
• Absoft Pro Fortran support updated to v9

WinterView Data Viewer

• Bit image files can be viewed
• XYZ co-ordinate lists can be loaded and automatically gridded
• Save surface as a model for viewing in new OpenGL based 3D viewer
• Missing data support
• Current cell indicator
• Smooth shading option
• Mouse control improvements

Grids

• Top-left corner can be labelled
• Save Selection menu option in grid windows
• Colour control in read-only cells
• Runtime column width control via column headers (Windows only)
• Faster CSV file save for numeric grids

Resource Editor

• Undo options added to menu and toolbar editors.
• Grid column rearrangement option in dialog editor
• Better image filename handling improves resource file portability

General

• Window background colour can be set on window-open
• Right justified status bar divisions
• 24-bit colour support in DXF files
• Smooth shading option in 3D surface and 2D contour plots
• Missing data indicator support in line-based 2D contour plots
• Movie playback to dialog fields (Windows only)
• Byte order swapping option in binary file I/O routine
• More fonts in WED, font selectable on the fly
• Desktop shortcut creation in generic installer (Windows only)
• Share a common menu between editor and non-editor sub-windows in a split window

Winteracter Version 6.10

January 17th 2005

New features benefit both Windows and Linux implementations, unless stated otherwise:

	Grids
	Clipboard
	Data Viewer
	Presentation Graphics
	WiDE
	Resource Editor
	Visual Tools
	Cursors
	General

View the full version 6.10 release notes.

Grids

• Major reworking of grid control under Windows with several benefits:
  • Lower resource usage
  • Faster scrolling
  • Much larger grids are feasible
  • Cells updated in real time when scrolled via the scrollbar
  • Less cluttered spinner and menu fields.
• Other performance improvements
  • Faster creation/destruction of grids under Linux, if all column types are the same
  • Faster grid file load and save under both Windows and Linux.
• Get/set grid selection under program control
• Reporting of grid selection changes
• Grid label interrogation
• Improved multi-cell selection mechanisms under Windows

Clipboard

• Clipboard contents interrogation
• Set of subroutines to put/get strings, bitmaps and metafiles to/from clipboard
• Replay EMF (Win32) or CGM (Win32/Linux) metafiles directly from clipboard
• Display memory bitmaps directly from clipboard

WinterView : Data Viewer

• New addition to the Winteracter visual tool set.
• Display two dimensional numeric data simultaneously in a grid and a 2D or 3D plot.
• Reads data from CSV files saved from Winteracter based programs or third party applications.
• Supported plot types : 3D surface, 2D line or fill based contour plot, 2D vector plot
• Zoom and pan options allow examination of sub-areas of the data.
• Print options for both grid data and plot
• Export plot in any of WMF/EMF, EPS, CGM, SVG, HP-GL, HP-GL/2, DXF, BMP, PCX or PNG.
• WinterView is redistributable with Winteracter-based applications.

Presentation Graphics

• Vector plots
• Shaded fill primitives
• Faster 2D filled contour plots
• Graduated colour option on line-based contour plots
• Continuous colour bar style key
• Number of built-in markers increased from 20 to 40

WiDE

• Optional combined window layout can be used to merge project dialog, console and editor windows into a single split window. (Multi-window layout still supported, if preferred).
• Source code reformatter provides various code beautification options.
• Improved toolbars
• Improved library management

Resource Editor

• Support for horizontal and vertical separator lines in dialogs.
• Dialog fields can be centred as a group, maintaining their relative positions.
• Image editor can load monochrome icons and cursors.
• Linux image editor uses tool-specific mouse cursors, as under Windows.
• Improved treeview properties dialog

Visual Tools

• More Help buttons in visual tools' dialogs and toolbars.
• More recent files on the File menu in various tools.

Cursors

• User-defined mouse cursors now supported on Linux, in addition to Windows.
• Per-drawable mouse cursor control

General

• A selection of new pre-defined icons, button-bitmaps and cursors
• Get/put command line history in editor windows
• Change editor window font on the fly
• Generic installer now includes a dialog-only option (i.e. without full screen backdrop)
• Line number and header/footer printing options in WED
• Set/goto bookmark option in editor windows and WED
• Partial registry emulation under Linux, allowing portable registry key usage across Win32 and Linux
• Save two dimensional integer, real, double precision or character arrays to CSV files via a single subroutine call. Simplifies data export to spreadsheets (e.g. Excel) or the new Winteracter data viewer.
• Parent dialog can be specified when showing a dialog.
• Program icon can be shown in a dialog field.

Winteracter Version 6.0

June 7th 2004

New features benefit both Windows and Linux implementations, unless stated otherwise:

	Split windows
	Resizable dialogs
	Development Environment
	Documentation
	Presentation Graphics
	Mouse Wheel
	Memory Bitmaps
	Save as HTML
	Help2HTM
	Other visual tools
	General

View the full version 6.0 release notes.

Split Windows

• Split windows into multiple panels.
• Sub-windows can be normal graphics output windows, dialogs, text editors, bitmap viewers or grid editors.
• Split windows horizontally or vertically. Each sub-window becomes a child window which can itself be split.
• Each sub-window can be resizable or fixed size.
• Only minor changes are required to existing programs to utilise this feature.
• To see split windows in action, download the Winteracter demo from the Demo/Trial Software page and select either of the Presentation Graphics or Animation options.

Resizable Dialogs

• Option to make dialogs user resizable. Simply nominate one resizable field within a dialog. Winteracter does the rest.
• Especially useful with grid controls, treeviews, list boxes and multi-line string fields.
• Several dialogs in Winteracter's own visual tools are now resizable.

WiDE Development Environment

• Make : Built-in 'make' facility reduces compile time.
• Help : Customisable help menu. Add your own help files.
• External applications : Define filetype associations for integration with external apps.
• Menu : Improved menu structure provides better organisation and clearer option descriptions.
• Hex dump : File browser option to view files in hex.
• Debug : Access to Microsoft debugger when using DVF/CVF 5.0/6.x or PowerStation 4.0.

Documentation

• Merged help : On-line documentation collected together under a single contents/index control. Single access point for virtually all on-line help.
• Programming Reference : Subroutine Reference, "winter" help file and parts of old User Guide combined into a single definitive on-line reference.
• Links : Navigation of on-line documentation further improved by extensive additional hypertext links within the Programming Reference, plus many links between help files.
• Programming Guide : New manual with greater "how to" emphasis replaces old User Guide.
• Linux : Improved contents control performance and better font handling in HTML help pages on Linux.

Presentation Graphics

• Error bars : Add error bars at any position and direction to 2D scatter and polyline plots.
• Scatter plots : Graduated colour 3D scatter plots. Varying number of points per data set allowed on 2D and 3D scatter plots.
• Contour plots : Graduated colour 2D fill-based contour plots.
• Scale : Interrogate automatically generated scale values.
• Surfaces : Control over grid line density on 3D surfaces.
• Tables : Double precision and string column types added.
• Limits : More data sets allowed. Limit on stacked plot size eliminated.

Mouse Wheel

• Mouse wheel scrolled message reporting.
• Mouse wheel support on Linux in editors, grids, bitmap viewer windows and various dialog controls.

Memory Bitmaps

• Save/load to/from disk in a single subroutine call.
• Bitmap manipulation routines : Mirror, rotate, resize.

Save as HTML

• New routines save two-dimensional arrays as HTML tables.
• Support for character, real, double precision or integer arrays.
• Save HTML fragment or complete page.
• Control over various layout options.

Help2HTM

• Font handling reworked. Now uses cascading style sheets instead of <font> tags. Gives more accurate font reproduction and improves cross-browser compatibility.
• Substantially improved Javascript contents/index control. Faster operation and better current-page tracking
• In-page links.
• Inter-help file links.
• Better support for character codes above 160.

Other Visual Tools

• ResEdit : "Double click selects default button" option for menu and treeview fields. "New toolbar button" option in image editor. Option to reduce frequency of symbol header save, for sake of 'make' facilities. Longer tab control captions allowed.
• WED : Bracket matching. Mouse wheel scrolling on Linux. Optional second toolbar. More recent files on File menu.
• PlotConv : Optional page range in multi-page printing. Resizable main dialog.

General

• Editor windows : More fixed pitch fonts. Set cursor position and find string routines.
• Line types : Eighth line style added.
• IOsDeleteTree : Delete a directory tree.
• Demos : Six more example programs.
• Large disks/files : InfoOpSystem and IOsFileInfo support disk/files bigger than 2Gb.
• Grids : Current selection range can be interrogated.

Note: Support for Intel Fortran v7.x (Win32/Linux) and LF95 v6.1 (Linux) has been dropped at this release in favour of Intel Fortran v8 and LF95 v6.2. Support for NAGWare f95 (Linux) has also been dropped.

Intel Fortran v8

December 10th 2003

Winteracter is available with immediate effect for use with the newly released Intel Fortran version 8, on both Windows and Linux. Intel Fortran v8 is the "combined technology" release which merges the Compaq Visual Fortran front-end and the Intel Fortran code generator. The Winteracter 5.10e update adds libraries and modules which are compatible with Intel Fortran v8.

Winteracter 5.10 users who have a licence for the Digital/Compaq/Intel Fortran version can download the latest update to obtain IF8 support. Users of earlier Winteracter releases can upgrade to v5.10 to obtain the same functionality (see the upgrade prices on the Price List page.)

More information on Intel Fortran is available on the Intel web site. For independent Fortran 9x compiler comparison information, visit Polyhedron Software.

Winteracter Version 5.10

September 1st 2003

New features at Winteracter v5.10 include:

	Development Environment
	Text Editor (WED)
	Resource Editor
	Pre-processor
	email
	Presentation graphics
	Debugging/diagnostics
	Help files
	Dialogs/grids
	Message handling
	Date/time
	Sound
	Editor windows
	Bitmaps
	Intel Fortran 7.x and 8.x

View the full version 5.10 release notes.

Development Environment

WiDE, the Winteracter development environment, has been substantially upgraded. It now offers an even more credible alternative to compiler/platform-specific IDEs.

• Separate Release and Debug configurations, selectable with a single keystroke or mouse-click.
• Additional program execution options when Debug configuration selected. Enable reporting of Winteracter library error messages. Run via your compiler's debugger (where this is provided in standalone form).
• C compiler support. Compile and link mixed Fortran/C applications, if required.
• Integrated WPP Fortran pre-processor can be invoked automatically during compilation or as a one-off.
• Context sensitive help. A new Help button appears in nearly every WiDE dialog.
• On-line help updated, expanded and reorganised. Manuals now accessible from Help menu.
• Improved Automake interface.
• Improved invocation of Winteracter's visual tools. Keyboard accelerators and auto-loading of compatible project files.
• Improved console message reporting.
• Enhancements to integrated text editor (WED) and resource editor.

WED

• Syntax highlighting extended: C, HTML, RC, H and BAT files are now supported. Fortran highlighting is WPP sensitive. Logical operators and statement numbers highlighted separately in Fortran.
• Pop-up Winteracter subroutine descriptions. Just place the cursor on a name and hit Ctrl+F1.
• Insert dialog value put/get source code in WiDE version of WED.
• Other new features: Context menu key recognised (Win32), optional backup files, modification indicator, save+Browse HTML in one step.

Resource Editor

• Code generation: Automatically generate code to process messages or to put/get dialog values, based on identifiers defined in resource file.
• Toolbar editor: Import PNG or PCX bitmaps or 16/256 colour icons, as toolbar buttons.
• Icon editor: New text and ellipse tools. Maximum image size increased. Improved rectangle tool.
• Context sensitive help: Help button in nearly all ResEdit dialogs.

Pre-Processor (WPP)

• New WPP Fortran pre-processor added. Useful for code which requires minor variations to suit different target compilers/platforms.
• Supplied both in command line form and built into WiDE.
• Easy to understand format relies on Fortran comments, ensuring both source and output files remain valid standard-conforming Fortran code.

email

• Send email direct from your Winteracter application.
• Support for multiple recipients/attachments.
• Works on both Win32 and Linux.

Presentation Graphics

• Missing data: Most plot types can now cope with unavailable data values via a program definable missing data indicator.
• Keys: Control over key area size/position. Optionally clear area or assign a title.
• Polylines: Varying length arrays in polyline plots.
• Markers: Numeric markers >9 supported.

Debugging/diagnostics

• Library error message strings now include name of originating routine and, where appropriate, operating system or zlib message strings.
• Operating system and zlib error message strings can be interrogated by number.
• IDebugLogical added.
• New WiDE debugging options.

Help Files

• HelpEd now allows bitmaps and metafiles to be included in help files.
• HelpHTM now recognises included pictures, as added via HelpEd. (Embedded pictures were already recognised).
• HelpHTM accepts links to external URLs and allows the help window background colour to be set.
• HTML and PDF browser names can be set under program control on Linux.

Dialogs/Grids

• Multiple copies of same dialog can be loaded simultaneously.
• Control provided over value returned by undefined numeric fields/cells.
• Save grids as HTML.
• Grid string search can optionally include numeric columns.
• Grid windows: Optional insert/delete row menu options and backup file creation.

Message handling

• Timers can now auto-repeat.
• FieldChanged messages can be forced to occur on every change in a string/numeric field.

Miscellaneous

• Sound: .WAV file playback on Linux, in addition to Windows
• Editor windows: Context menu key support (Win32), backup files, modification indicator, program invoked save, better error messages.
• Bitmaps: Get memory bitmaps from program resource. Click+drag option in editor windows.
• Operating system: Interrogate filetype/program association (Win32). Set environment variables.
• Date/time utility routines: Calculate day of week, difference between two dates and days in month. Identify leap year. Numeric date/time to string in various formats.
• Windows version now includes an uninstaller.
• PlotConv offers improved multi-image file navigation.

Intel Fortran 7.x and 8.x

• The Visual Fortran (DVF/CVF) and Intel Fortran 7.x (Windows) versions have been combined into a single licence. CVF or IF7 customers who upgrade to 5.10 will receive libraries/modules for use with both compilers.
• This release has been tested with and is ready to support Intel Fortran 8.x (due late 2003) on both Win32 and Linux. This is the long awaited release which combines the CVF and IF7 compilers. The v5.10 documentation and the new version of WiDE already include support for IF8. Customers who buy a CVF/IF7 (Win32) or IF7 (Linux) Winteracter 5.10 licence will be able to download IF8-compatible libraries+module, as soon as the compiler is officially released. (Note: While Intel Fortran 8.0 is based on the same compiler technology on both Win32 and Linux, the Win32 product will also be known as "Intel Visual Fortran" for marketing purposes. Since Winteracter supports the Intel compiler on both platforms, we are referring to it generically as "IF8".)

30-day Trial Version (Win32)

May 13th 2003

For customers who are considering purchasing Winteracter for the first time, a 30-day Win32 trial version is now available. This is available to users of the Lahey LF95, Compaq Visual Fortran or Intel Fortran compilers. The trial version includes the core Winteracter components, namely the main subroutine library and the Winteracter Development Environment (WiDE). PDF versions of the Winteracter manuals are also included. To request a trial, go to the Demo/Trial Software page.

Winteracter Version 5.0

February 11th 2003

New features at Winteracter v5.0 include:

Grid printing
Editor Richedit 2/3 support, RTF style control
Mutliple fonts in same dialog
Treeview directory selector
Help files (several new features)
3D modelling
Shaded polygon fills
X Windows 24-bit colour support
WED syntax highlighting
WiDE compilation error reporting
PostScript image printing
Graphical input
Motif 2.2
Dynamic resource editor limits

View the full version 5.0 release notes.

Grid Printing

• Grid windows now include a built-in Print option. Grids are printed via Print Manager (Win32) or PostScript (Linux).
• Grid printing also available under program control, allowing printing of grids in dialog.
• All or part of a grid can be printed. Grids can be printed over multiple pages and/or scaled. Control over use of colour and appearance of grid lines.

Text Editor Windows

• Text editor windows displayed by WEditFile now use the Windows RichEdit v2/v3 control, where available. This offers several benefits including multi-level undo, backward searching and enhanced mouse-wheel support.
• Selective program control over both paragraph and text style in RTF editor windows under Windows. Control over font, colour, emphasis, bullets, etc.

Dialogs

• The Windows version now allows fonts to be specified on a per-field basis in dialogs. Any Windows font can be used.
• The Windows version of the directory selector common dialog now uses a treeview, allowing easier directory searching.

Help Files

• The Windows version of Help2HTM now offers a choice of Windows HTML Help (CHM) output, in addition to HTML/Javascript output. CHM format offers simultaneously visible contents/index and topic information.
• HTML/Javascript help file sets generated by Help2HTM now provide an equivalent user interface to HTML Help (CHM), with contents/index and topic information in separate frames.
• HelpEd now includes a built-in version of Help2HTM. Help files can therefore be generated in any of HLP, CHM or HTML formats from a single tool, using common sources.
• Winteracter's own on-line help files under Windows and Linux are now both generated via Help2HTM (CHM under Windows, HTML under Linux). On-line documentation on both platforms therefore enjoys an improved user interface.
• New features and bug fixes are now documented in a single release notes help file (replacing the previous whatsnew and bugfixes documents).
• WHelpFile's CHM support has been upgraded to allow topic/keyword access and to allow the HTML Help viewer to be closed.
• WHelpFile can now display Adobe Acrobat (PDF) files.
• Invocation of local (non-URL) HTML files from within WHelpFile has been improved to ensure compatibility with Mozilla. This particularly benefits the Linux versions of the visual tools, which are now able to display their on-line help via Mozilla.

3D Modelling

• A major new set of 3D modelling routines offer an alternative to OpenGL, for certain users/applications. The new 3D routines offer a more concise and Fortran oriented calling interface. Built on Winteracter's own graphics primitives/drivers, they therefore provide more extensive hardcopy/export facilities and eliminate reliance on additional external libraries. (For more details of the respective merits of OpenGL and Winteracter's own 3D routines, please refer to the v5.0 release notes.)
• Create 3D model descriptions from vertex/facet data. Utility routines to produce rotated or extruded objects from 2D polyline/polygon descriptions.
• Control over associated materials (colour/etc.)
• Choice of rendition methods (wireframe, unshaded or lit with three shading methods).
• Control over viewing position, direction of view and 'up' vector. Location of a single light source can also be specified.
• Modelview matrix manipulation routines (put/get, rotate, scale, translate).
• Perspective or orthographic view.
• Save/load model descriptions to/from compiler/platform independent binary data files. Optionally, build models incrementally from multiple data files.
• Text routines to add 3D strings/numbers using outline fonts on both Win32 and Linux.

Shaded Fills and 24-bit Colour

• A new shaded polygon fill primitive has been added. A 24-bit RGB value is associated with each polygon vertex. Uses a GDI primitive where available or a generic substitute otherwise.
• 24-bit colour support under X Windows has been improved. Particularly useful when using features like the new shaded polygon fill or the 3D modelling routines. Also used by PlotConv to show more colours in 16/24/32-bit BMP/PCX/PNG files.

WED (Winteracter Text Editor)

• Syntax highlighting in Fortran source files supported in both screen (Win32) and hardcopy (Win32/Linux) output. The style of Fortran comments, strings, types, keywords and intrinsics are individually selectable. Generic and specific intrinsics are separately identified. Winteracter routine names are also highlighted. Hardcopy highlighting supported on both colour and mono printers.
• Fortran printer listings now also include subroutine-per-page and subroutine-index options, plus page numbering.
• A Print Selection option has been added.
• A Colour Number option has been added to the Insert menu.

WiDE (Winteracter Development Environment)

• Improved compilation error reporting and location. In addition to raw console output, compilation errors now appear in a summary dialog. Selecting an error jumps to that error in the editor.
• Syntax highlighting, as described above. Notably, highlighted/indexed Fortran printer listings are available to both WED and non-WED editor users.

PostScript Image Printing

• Bit image files loaded via IGrLoadImage are now reproduced in PostScript output via IGrHardCopy.
• IGrPrintImage bit-image dump now supports PostScript output (now used by default under Linux).
• The PlotConv graphic file viewer/converter can now print BMP/PCX/PNG files to PostScript or convert them to EPS.

Graphical Input

• Allow the user to mark a point, line, rectangle or ellipse with the mouse. Optionally maintain rectangle/ellipse aspect ratio.
• Allow the user to drag a fixed shape (line, polyline, curve, polygon or ellipse) to a new position.

Miscellaneous

• Motif 2.2 is now supported on Linux, in addition to v2.1.
• The Resource Editor now provides dynamic control over the maximum number of dialogs/menus/fields etc. in a resource. This will prove useful to developers of unusually large resource files.
• Several minor enhancements have been applied to log scaling on presentation graphics plots.
• The current user name can be retrieved.
• Default graphics hardcopy filenames are now sensitive to output file type.
• Support for Intel Fortran.

Winteracter Version 4.10

May 27th 2002
(updated June 15th 2002)

View the full version 4.10 release notes.

New features at Winteracter v4.10 include:

Visual Tools

• The Winteracter Development Environment (WiDE) now incorporates a fully intergrated version of the resource editor. All of the dialogs, menus, toolbars, etc. which your application uses are now automatically listed in a treeview on a "Resources" tab in the WiDE project dialog. Selecting any user interface component from this tab opens a window to display and edit that item in the resource editor. This provides more seamless integration than the previous method of resource editor invocation, which relied on running the standalone version as an external process. (Note : The standalone version is, of course, still provided for the benefit of those who prefer to develop in other environments. The functionality of both editors is essentially identical.)

• The built-in WiDE text editor (now known as WED) has been substantially upgraded and is now also supplied in stand-alone form. WED provides a number of Fortran/Winteracter-specific productivity features, including:
  • New "Insert" option allows you to quickly add any of the following to your source:
    • Winteracter library call
    • Winteracter symbolic name
    • Resource identifier
    • Message processing
    • New subroutine/function
    • File
    • Date/Time
    These options further enhance Winteracter's "visual" capability. The library call and message processing insertion options are particular time savers!
  • A "Goto Routine" option makes it easy to find your way round multi-routine source files. Just hit Ctrl+R for an instant alphabetical list of the routines, modules, etc. in the current source file.
  • The "Find All" option has been extended to allow the routine which contains each matched line to be reported.
  • Many other new options : Multiple file buffers (edit up to 20 files simultaneously), find-difference, save-selection, delete/join/transpose lines, indent/unindent, comment/uncomment, case conversion, open recent files, font selection, preference management and on-line help.

• Minor resource editor enhancements include support for pre-processing (useful when porting between Windows/Linux or when creating resources shared between multiple applications) and control over the initial format of floating point field/cell values.

Memory Metafiles

• Graphics metafiles can now be created in memory. Logically, this is equivalent to the existing memory bitmap capability, except that a list of drawing instructions are stored instead of a pixel based image. A new MF subroutine group has been added offering the following functions:
  • Create/destroy memory metafiles.
  • Save/load memory metafiles to/from disk.
  • Play back memory metafiles to the current drawable.
  • Copy memory metafile to the Windows clipboard.
  • CGM format metafiles supported under both Windows and Linux.
  • EMF format metafiles supported under Windows.
  Other new memory metafile functionality includes:
  • Memory metafiles selectable as target drawable via IGrSelect, exactly as for windows, memory bitmaps and dialog fields.
  • WDialogPutImage allows an EMF metafile to be specified as the picture to be displayed in a dialog field, under Windows.

Graphics Primitives

• A set of curve plotting and point calculation routines have been added to draw Bezier, cubic B-Spline and coincident curves. These are device independent routines which work with all Winteracter output formats. The point calculation routines can be used to fill polygons with curved borders.
• The number of line types supported in GDI output under Windows NT/2000/XP has been increased to the full set of 7, as supported by Winteracter's other graphics drivers. The line patterns used on NT/2000/XP have also been reworked to give results which are substantially superior to the standard Windows line types.
• The number of line types supported in CGM output has also been increased to seven (though is dependent on the CGM importing software).

OpenGL

• A set of text handling routines have been added to plug this notable gap in the OpenGL interface. These routines are closely modelled on the equivalent Winteracter graphics text routines, as introduced at v4.0. The particular facilities provided by the OpenGL text routines include:
  • Access to any True Type font, under Windows.
  • Vector based fonts under both Windows and Linux.
  • 3D text extrusion option.
  • Write either text strings or numeric values.
  • String measurement.
  • Alignment control.
• Brief Fortran oriented descriptions of all the OpenGL GL/GLU 1.10 function descriptions have been added to the on-line help. These are intended to supplement rather than replace the numerous existing sources of OpenGL documentation, which are almost invariably C oriented. At the same time, all of the supplied OpenGL related documentation has been collected together in a dedicated on-line help file.

Miscellaneous

• Windows. Windows can be hidden under program control after they have been displayed. The window icon can also be changed at run time.
• Text Editor Windows. The WEditFile routine now offers a multi-buffer option, allowing up to 20 files to be edited in the same editor window simultaneously.
• Bitmaps. A pair of routines have been added to put/get part of a memory bitmap to/from a colour data array. Keyboard scrolling has been extended in modeless/semi-modeless bitmap viewer windows. Memory bitmaps can be copied to the Windows clipboard.
• File Selector. A replacement for the standard Motif file selector is now provided under Linux, upgrading the functionality of WSelectFile to that of the Windows version (e.g. support for multi-file selection).
• Dialogs. Individual treeview strings can be changed at run-time, as can dialog title-bar icons. Individual options can also be appended to menu fields.
• Euro. Several of the supplied software fonts have been extended to include the Euro currency symbol. Documentation has also been extended to explain how to enter and display the Euro symbol in dialogs and graphics under Windows.
• Decimal Point. The local decimal point, as defined in Windows Control Panel, can optionally be used in dialogs, string/numeric conversion and numeric graphics-text output.
• Toolbar Buttons. The supplied selection of pre-defined toolbar buttons has been expanded.
• WMF. The IGrReplay routine now allows one 16-bit WMF file to be embedded into another under Windows.
• Information Functions. New WInfoDrawable, WInfoMetafile and WInfoGraphics information functions have been added.
• Help2HTM. The help to HTML converter has been updated at v4.10a to include support for Netscape 6.x and Mozilla. Our Linux on-line help files have also been regenerated to provide compatibility with these browsers. Users of the initial 4.10 release can download an update which includes these changes.

Compilers/Platforms

• LF95 5.7 (Windows). The new version of LF95 which uses the Microsoft linker is supported. Note that this compiler requires a different Winteracter library to previous releases, so an upgrade will be required. (Of course, previous Lahey compilers remain supported. The Lahey/Win32 version of Winteracter 4.10 therefore includes support for all of LF90 3.50-4.50, Elf90 4.0 and LF95 5.0-5.7.)
• Visual Fortran. This release has been built with VF 6.6, but compatibility with all of VF 5.0-6.6 has been maintained.
• FTN95. The Salford implementation has been built with the recently released FTN95 2.54.
• Linux. X/Winteracter now requires a Linux version based on glibc 2.1 (kernel 2.2) or later, e.g. Red Hat 6 or later. The LF95 Linux version has been built with the v6.1 compiler release.

Winteracter Version 4.0

November 7th 2001

View the full version 4.0 release notes.

New features at Winteracter v4.0 include:

Resource Editor

• A new resource editor lies at the core of v4.0. The new editor combines the functionality of the four previously separate dialog, menu, icon/cursor and toolbar editors. The new resource editor greatly streamlines GUI design and management of the associated resource files. Navigation of your dialogs, menus, etc. is now much easier, with the entire contents of the program resource accessible via a single treeview. No need to constantly load your resource into multiple tools! The combined editor also provides greater consistency of behaviour when editing different resource types. Various minor enhancements have also been implemented, including:
  • The pre-defined resource files used by various common dialogs and special purpose windows can now be managed from the resource editor, eliminating any remaining need to edit the resource file manually.
  • When editing a menu, the menu mimic more accurately reproduces the expected run time appearance of the menu.
  • The 'copy' option now works on entire menus and toolbars, as well as dialogs.
  • Arbitrary image sizes between 8x8 and 48x48 pixels are now supported by the toolbar and image editors.
  • Flood fill, hotspot and mirror/flip tools have been added to the image editor.
  • The image editor now supports 256 colour cursors.

Graphics Text

• Graphics text handling has undergone a major redesign in v4.0, providing a much more concise calling interface and additional functionality:
  • Access to any Windows font in GDI graphics output to screen, bitmap, printer or metafile.
  • The need for external software font files has been eliminated.
  • Opaque text is now supported.
  • Numeric values can be written directly without requiring intermediate conversion to strings.
  • Vector fonts can be drawn in a bold style.
  • More accurate measurement of string length in GDI output.
  The functionality of the new graphics text handling routines renders the GC, TX and FS subroutine groups largely redundant, so these have all been moved to the "obsolete routines" group (i.e. still supported, but use is now discouraged).

Graphics Import/Export

• CGM. Both the CGM import and export drivers have been improved:
  • The CGM importer has undergone a major upgrade. Many CGM features which the importer did not previously support are now recognised. This allows a much wider range of third party CGM files to be read.
  • Output file size from the CGM driver has been reduced.
  • Various minor improvements to the CGM driver.

• BMP/PCX/PNG. Bit image files loaded via IGrLoadImage are now reproduced in graphics hardcopy/export output when any of the following drivers are selected:
  • Windows Print Manager
  • Windows Metafiles (both 16-bit and 32-bit files)
  • CGM (uses CGM's "cell array" feature)
  • Raster hardcopy (i.e. HP and Epson type printers)
  • Raster image files (i.e. PCX/BMP/PNG files)
  Also, monochrome bit image files can now be read by IGrLoadImageData.

• EMF. 32-bit Enhanced Windows metafiles are written slightly differently with several benefits:
  • EMF's are imported at the correct scale into a wider range of applications.
  • IGrReplayArea now works more reliably when zooming in on a selected area of a Winteracter-generated EMF.
  • IGrFileInfo can now report the dimensions of our EMF files.
  • Clipboard EMF's now import successfully into a wider range of third party applications.

• DXF. Minor improvements have been made to the DXF driver:
  • Image size is no longer limited to 100 inches.
  • Output file size has been reduced by about 10%.
  • DXF's CIRCLE and ARC primitives are now used, where appropriate. This can also reduce file size and allows better rendering in imported applications.

• Print Manager. The current Windows printer selection is remembered when reinitialising the Print Manager driver, rather than reselecting the default printer.

PlotConv

• Our graphics file viewer/converter has been upgraded:
  • A much wider range of third party CGM files can be read.
  • CGM files containing bit images ("cell arrays") can be viewed, printed and converted.
  • The "view full screen" option has been replaced by a more useful "view in a window" option.
  • The aspect ratio of the image being viewed is now maintained in the preview field, the viewer window and in hardcopy output.
  • Line thickness is now reproduced when viewing CGM, HP-GL and HP-GL/2 files.
  • Various options are now offered when converting between vector file formats.
  • An option to merge all the images when viewing multi-picture vector files has added. This is useful when viewing files which split images into multiple layers (some GIS packages do this).
  • BMP, PCX and PNG images can now be converted into WMF, EMF or CGM files (i.e. metafiles with embedded bitmaps).

Operating System

• Temporary dir/files. WInfoFilename can be used to obtain names of a directory for temporary files or of a unique temporary file.
• Drive id. The Windows 'media presence' check has been extended to report the serial number of the specified drive.
• File info. A routine has been added to report the size, time/date and attributes (read only, etc.) of a specific file. Another routine has been added which allows file attributes to be set.

• Double clicks. Mouse double clicks can now be reported.
• Wheel mouse. Support for wheel mice has been extended to bitmap viewer windows and grids, under Windows 98/Me/NT/2K.
• WInfoMouse. A new mouse information function reports the number of mouse buttons and the mouse cursor type.

Miscellaneous

• Windows. Child windows can now be opened inside other child windows. Similarly, child windows can now be 'owned' by other child windows. (Note: This functionality is only fully implemented in the Win32 version, due to limitations imposed by X Windows.)
• Colour. Handling of 24-bit colour values has been standardised across the entire library. This provides a more consistent calling interface, allowing the same values to be used by all colour handling routines. A set of colour conversion functions have also been added, which simplify conversion between 24-bit RGB values and (red,green,blue), (cyan,magenta,yellow) or (hue,lightness,saturation) triplets.
• Spinners. FieldChanged messages are now reported when a spinner is used to change the value of a numeric field/cell. (Note: This enhancement was actually added at v3.10d, but is listed here for those who may have missed this change.)

Note : Following a review of the platforms, compilers and formats which we support, the following changes are effective from v4.0:

• This release has been tested with Windows XP. While earlier Winteracter releases also appear to function correctly with XP, v4.0 is the first to formally support this platform. If XP related fixes are required, these will therefore only be available for v4.0 or later.
• Winteracter development is now focussed on Windows and Linux platforms running on Intel and compatible processors. This decision has been forced by recent industry developments and the overwhelming market dominance of Intel/AMD processors. The SPARC and Alpha versions have been frozen at v3.10.
• The obsolete Lotus PIC graphics file format is no longer supported.
• Support for the Fujistu-branded Intel/Linux Fortran 95 compiler has been dropped in favour of the more popular Lahey branded equivalent (LF95). Fujitsu briefly marketed this compiler under their own name, but withdrew the product in favour of the Lahey equivalent some while ago.

For more information email: