KN/23.11.2005

jDraft 1.0.0.6b/1.0.0.7b Release Notes

NOTE. As of this release jDraft requires JRE 5.0 (aka 1.5).

NOTE. Because of an embarrasing mistake version 1.0.0.6b was shortly replaced with 1.0.07b. Both version are functionally almost identical, to learn about the difference see revision history .

Major New Features

Improved DXF-import

Importing of the following DXF entities is now supported:
  • ARC
  • CIRCLE
  • LINE
  • POLYLINE
  • LWPOLYLINE (including bulges)
  • TEXT
  • BLOCK

    • The drawing is now auto-sized to match the extents of the elements in the DXF-file.

    Import now observes the current coordinate system so that drawings in any scale/units can be imported. Just set up the current coordinate system to reflect the scale and units used in the DXF-file.

    AutoCAD colors (ACI) are also imported correctly.

    True Polyline Support

    Previously the draw polyline tools created line segments instead of true polyline objects. Now true polylines are created. To support the editing of polylines the following commands have been added to the click menu:
  • Explode
  • Join
    • and the following commands to the draw polyline popup/icon
  • Insert Vertex
  • Remove Vertex

    • Drawing Templates

    Now one can store drawings in the directory '~/jDraft/templates' (FYI, in Windows this can be found under 'C:/Documents And Settings/your-user-name'). Drawing files stored in this directory will appear in the 'File' menu under item 'Templates'. Selecting one of them creates an untitled copy of that drawing that can then be saved under a new name.

    jDraft now also includes built-in templates for the ISO standard series for engineering drawings (ISO 7200) from A0 down to A4 size with standard comformant border, frame, title block and change history.

    Drag And Drop Support

    Support for Drag and Drop has been added. Both Copy and Move modes are supported.

    Enhanced Text Block Anchoring

    Previously text was (implicitly) anchored at the first text line baseline and on the left side of the first character. Now the text block can be ancored to left,center,right and to first/last line ascender-line, descender-line or baseline.

    Improved Keyboard Shortcut Scheme

    The handling of keyboard shortcuts has been re-worked. There is now a 'Settings/Shorcuts...' dialog in which all the keyboard short cuts can be configured.

    Many more shortcuts are now available than before, see the dialog.

    Some of the (default) shortcuts are at least superficially compatible with TurboCad.

    The 'snap' shortcuts have a dual functionality. If pressed shortly they act as just keyboard short cuts to the snap icons. If pressed for more than half a second they will stay in force only as long as the key is held pressed and the original snap mode is restored upon release (TurboCad style).

    Improved Printing

    Priting user interface and machinerey has been re-worked completely.

    The new printing machine includes the following features:

  • Fit To Page
  • Print As Multiple Pages
  • Crop to Page
  • Print Selection
  • Print With Preview
  • Crop to Page
  • Cotrolled Drawing to Paper Alignment
  • Non Printable Margins
  • Fit To Page

    • Improved Drawing Size Handling

    Standard sizes (A4,A3..., A,B...) in portrait and landscape orientation can now be picked from a combobox.

    The 'anchor' corner for resizing the drawing can now also be specified.

    Usability Improvements

    Arc / Circle Quarter (Snap) Points

    The Arc and Circle quarter points (for snapping-to purposes) are now alligned with the current coordinates system. In most cases these are the points that are most usefull for snapping to. The drag-handle functionality remains as it was, ie the handles stay where the user drags them.

    Explicit Last Point

    The last point ,as used in the relative entry mode, is now explicit, it is displayed as a gray circle with a cross hair.

    Edit / Copy,Cut & Paste Now Use Last Point

    The Copy,Cut & Paste commands in the Edit menu, but not those on the editing toolbar, now use the Last Point as the reference point.This is more intuitive for those users who have been contaminated with the simple sketching features that most office applications offer.

    Relatice and Absolute Coordinate Display

    Coordinate display now displays absolute or relative coordinates depending on the ABS/REL numeric entry mode.

    Hatched Areas Create Behind Bounding Elements

    The creation of hatched areas has been changed so that the hatched area is created behind the boundary shapes and not in-front, as previously. This makes picking (eg in dimensioning) and snapping more practical and in case the hatch and the boundary have different colors this is visually more pleaseing.

    Fillets And Chamfers Use Element Style And Position

    Fillets and chamfers are created in the same back-to-front position as the first line selected. Previously the fillet was always added to the front. Also now it will be created within in the same group as the first line if that line is part of a group and it will have the same line style.

    Zoom Point/Rect Has Both Oneshot and Persistent Modes

    The behaviour of Zoom Rect command has been improved. Previously it worked in one-shot mode, ie after zooming the previous drawing mode was resumed. Now the Zoom Rect icon can be double clicked in which case the zoom command stays active for doing repeated Zoom Rect operations. It persists until the icon is re-clicked or another command is selected.

    Snap to Reference Snaps to Drawing Corners and Origin

    Snap to Reference Point -option now snaps, in addition to reference points, to document corners and coordinate system origin.

    Zoom to Mouse Location

    It is now possible to center the view at the current mouse (hover) location without clicking by pressing keyboard shortcut 'Q'.

    Select All Command

    A 'Select All' command that selects all visible commands has been added to the 'Edit' menu.

    Improved Right Click Menu

    The right click menu now includes:
  • End Polyline
  • Close Polyline
  • Explode
  • Join
  • Group
  • Ungroup
  • Edit Group
  • Exit All Groups

    • Enter / Exit All Groups by Double Clicking

    (The Work Insidede / Out Of Group commands have been renamed to Enter/Exit Group.)

    A group can now be entered by double clicking it and all groups exited by double clicking the Exit Group icon.

    Miscallenious New Features

    Speed / Memory Display

    The top left corner of the view now displays a small indicator text that show the latest re-draw time and free menory / total memory.

    Performance Test

    A simple graphics performance test has been added to the 'Tools' menu. This can be used to measure re-draw speeds, in case this becomes an issue and needs some work done on it.

    XML Import/Export Removed

    The 'Tools/Export/Import XML...' commands have been removed because they had become obsolete.

    Inverse/Customized Coloring

    Color selection for background,foreground etc settings has been added to the 'Tools/Tuneup...' dialog.

    Now one can get authentic 80's CAD feeling with black background and rainbow colored lines!

    Default Origin Now Left Bottom Corner

    The built-in default coordinate system (Paper CS) origin has been moved to the lower left corner of the drawing.

    The name of the default coordinates system has been changed the to 'Paper CS (mm)'.

    A corresponding but inch based default coordinate system 'Paper CS (inch)' has been added .

    Using these coordinate systems importing DXP files (both metric and imperial) becomes trivial. Just select the approriate coordinate system and do the 'Tools/DXF Import...".

    New File Extension '.jdwg'

    The (primary) file type extension has been changed to '.jdwg' as it seems that '.dft' may conflict with some existing applications. So from now on, users should save their documents with the new extension (this happens automaticaLLy for New files).

    The Java Web Start will now try to register/associate the new file extension to jDraft so that '.jdwg' files can be opened by double clicking the document icon.

    Drawing Integrity Check

    A drawing structure integrity check has been added to file load/save functionality. The integrity check reporst errors to the console and fixes them as it best can. Missing layers and lines styles are added to the document and non layered objects added to a special 'lost and found' layer.

    Bug Fixes

    The following bugs have been fixed:
  • A bug that caused text primitives not to obey layer color.
  • A bug that caused text primitives to be unselectable after undo.
  • A bug that caused changed line style color not to appear visually everywhere immediately.
  • A bug that caused dimension texts and imported text elements to spontaneously delete all text if the user attempted to edit them.
  • A bug that under certain circumstances allowed entering of wrong values to entry fields and sometimes caused the alert dialog for too small/large values to appear twice.
  • A bug in the progress bar handling that caused the progress bar not to show progress properly.
  • A bug that caused 'undo' not to work for saved documents.

    • regs,
    Kusti / Siuntio 26.11.2005