Hi,
The latest version of VisOrc SAOL edition is now available. This is a major
upgrade for the beta build so please check it out and let me know what you
think. As well as fixing problems and bugs with earlier releases it
introduces the following large scale changes:
+ The Savefile format has been changed to XML. The old files are still
supported for load operations in this version but you should resave all
files in the new format. This change has several interesting implications:
- Although not implemented in this release it is now possible to have XML
beans (bin64 encoded nodes) in VisOrc project files. This means that audio
and MIDI files can be embedded with the normal GUI data.
- It is now a lot easier to write utilities which read and write VisOrc
project files using any standard XML library (eg. Microsoft MSXML.DLL).
- The librarian is now far more robust and flexible.
- You can view VisOrc project files in Internet Explorer 5 (Not sure about
earlier versions or Netscape) as a rather neat XML tree.
+ The visorcunits.txt file is also now in XML format (visorcunits.xml) and
contains library User Defined opcodes and Instruments as well. An updated
librarian takes care of this file within VisOrc, use the "Add to Librarian"
options in the instrument menu.
+ Added an Web update feature in the Device Designer. Select this to
automatically check for new template, instrument and UD opcode updates from
the VisOrc SAOL website and add them to the database for immediate use.
+ Further integration of your favourite compiler into VisOrc. Output from
the compiler window (eg. SFront) is now piped directly into the VisOrc
Compile output window. Select "ShellStyle = Hide" in the options menu to
completely remove all trace of the shelled console window.
+ Online help now works. The HTML help files are installed in the /doc
directory in this release and opened from within VisOrc by selecting from
the Help menu. If the file does not exist and you have an internet
connection VisOrc will automatically open the online version.
+ The GUI interface has been reworked to be faster with less flickering.
Units are now fully rescalable and their appearance is configurable.
+ The Visual Basic 6 Runtime files have been removed from the full install
version to keep download sizes to a minimum. You still need these files to
run VisOrc if you do not already have them! The following Microsoft web page
contains information (which files and versions are installed) and a download
link.
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q235/4/20.asp
+ The new Render Dialog can be displayed with [CTRL+R] to specify in detail
which parts of your project are compiled and modify the command line before
launching the compiler.
+ New parameter types "Window" and "Code" have been added to the CParam
object. A window parameter opens to expose an instrument window and can be
used in opcodes like 'If' and 'if..else' to provide a graphical interface
for conditional statements. The "code" window is similar but provides an
editor interface for typing statements directly.
+++++DOWNLOAD++++++
To download the full install of Visual Orchestra 0.2.4 (No VB6 runtimes)
http://www2.hku.nl/~perry/saol/visorcsaol.exe (5.85Mb)
To download the upgrade install (must have previously installed VisOrc SAOL
edition)
http://www2.hku.nl/~perry/saol/vosaolupgrade.exe (1.79Mb)
_PLEASE_ let me know if you install VisOrc, its always good to hear from
people. And do let me know of any problems you encounter or questions you
have so I can get things fixed as soon as possible.
+++++++++++++++++++
Dave Perry
mailto:perry@student-kmt.hku.nl
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Jan 28 2002 - 11:46:40 EST