[duxhelp] Re: DBT 10.6 SR1 beta test

  • From: "Peter Sullivan" <peter@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <duxhelp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2006 10:15:04 -0400

Hello Jack,

The last release was sometime on August 15.  The date associated with the
.exe is July 13 or perhaps July 27; I'm just not certain which after a quick
check.

Regardless, the autobuild log was cleared upon release, so you'll only see
new stuff there.  Or, just read the attached file, which is a draft of the
beta home page for SR1.

- Peter

-----Original Message-----
From: duxhelp-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:duxhelp-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Jack Maartman
Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 6:35 AM
To: duxhelp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [duxhelp] Re: DBT 10.6 SR1 beta test

Hi Peter:

Do you know the date of the last releas?  Can I check this from the date
associated with dbtw.exe.  If that is acurate, I should be able to get onto
"partners", and get a sense of what will be addressed in this release.

I have moved.  For anyone who wishes to contact me by snail-mail or phone,
my contact data below.

Jack Maartman,
Apt 501, 420 Eglinton Avenue east,
Toronto Ontario, M4P 1L8
(416) 489-07-21

Thanks

Jack
----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Sullivan" <peter@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <duxhelp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 7:37 AM
Subject: [duxhelp] DBT 10.6 SR1 beta test


> Beta Testers,
>
> We're readying ourselves for a quick beta test of DBT 10.6 Service Release
> 1, presumably to commence at the start of next week.  A separate
> announcement will follow.
>
> It is a tough time of year for many of us to find time to look at new
> software.  We'll certainly appreciate any effort you can put in.
>
> If you would like to be removed from this mailing list, but remain in the
> beta program, or if you'd like to be removed from the beta program
> altogether, please let me know.  You can reach me at peter@xxxxxxxxxxx
>
> You can also write to me, or to our webmaster (David Holladay:
> david@xxxxxxxxxx) if you don't remember how to access your account on
> partners.duxburysystems.com.  You'll need to access that account to
download
> the beta software when it becomes available.
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Peter Sullivan
>
>
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Title: DBT 10.6 SR1 Beta Program Home Page

Welcome to the DBT 10.6 SR1 Beta Program

Goals

There are four goals to this beta program. We want to get feedback most especially about two Featured Improvements, gather initial responses about some upcoming major improvements, and, at the same time, we want to keep this beta test period as short and focused as possible. The four goals in detail are:

  • We want to try out DBT's improved Daisy/NISO importer with NIMAS files. With NIMAC now operating as a clearinghouse for electronic files for grade school textbooks in the US, proper handling of these files is very important, and we want to hear how things are working with real-world documents.
  • We want to get DBT onto Microsoft Vista installations. We've tested DBT 10.6 SR1 internally with Vista, and believe that it is fully compatible, with one exception, as described below. We want to verify Vista compatibility through the beta testing process.
  • We want to get early feedback on several upcoming features. These are available in DBT 10.6 SR1 only if you opt to enable them. We call these "Alpha" features because we know they're not ready for use and presume that they won't be ready for use when DBT 10.6 SR1 ships. You can read more about the Alpha features by clicking on the last of the Quick Links, below.
  • We wish to get DBT 10.6 SR1 shipping as soon as possible. As such, we hope that you'll consider putting it to real-world use. The major changes since DBT 10.6 are mostly bug fixes. So we'll certainly be willing to extend the beta period if problems arise with the Daisy/NISO importer or with installation in Windows Vista, but with regard to the "Alpha" features, we are just gathering initial feedback at this point and won't delay shipping DBT 10.6 SR1 even for very serious problems with these features.

Quick Links:

DBT 10.6 SR1 Release Candidate 1 (posted 2006-12-00)

DBT 10.6 SR1 Release Candidate 1 is available as a Windows Installer package (dbt-1006sr1rc1.msi). DBT 10.6 SR1 may be installed over DBT 10.6, on a computer without DBT, or on a computer with any earlier version of DBT. If DBT 10.6 is already installed, we recommend not removing it before installing DBT 10.6 SR1.

Changes Since DBT 10.6

Here is a list of what's new since DBT 10.6:

Featured Improvements

  • Daisy/NIMAS imports have been greatly improved. When appropriate, the Daisy-specific document template is automatically selected, avoiding a common problem with these documents.
  • DBT can now be installed in Windows Vista. (But note that slsService is not Vista-compatible, so if activation is to be shared among many computers, the computer holding the activation must not be running Vista. Other computers certainly can.)

Editing Improvements

  • DBT's responsiveness while editing a document should be improved in some environments where sluggishness, or even an extreme lag, has been reported.
  • Applying a linear style will no longer remove a [fte~i] or similar code at the end of a line.
  • DBT will no longer corrupt a document when deleting a code with a matching code that includes a number or a parameter (e.g. deleting [ptye] after [ptys2]).
  • The list of open documents in the View menu is working more reliably.
  • Replace all no longer corrupts documents when bullets and similar characters are replaced.
  • When attempting to insert a Braille document into a print document or vice versa, DBT will now refuse to do so, rather than just display an error and proceed with the insert.
  • Rendering of [gd] code in coded view is corrected.
  • The [caplv], [ftlv], and [xcs] codes have been added to the code list (F5 list). These codes are honored by DBT 10.6, but could not be entered via the code list.

Translation and Formatting Improvements

  • Support has been added for Amharic, Khmer, and Ukrainian translation.
  • The Farsi table has been updated so that two variant letter forms are treated the same as the corresponding regular Arabic letter forms, i.e. U+06a9 Arabic letter keheh = variant of U+0643 Arabic letter kaf Arabic letter farsi yeh = variant of U+064a Arabic letter yeh
  • The Khmer (Cambodian) print-to-braille table (kmaacp.btb) has been updated so that U+200B (Zero Width Space) is translated to an optional line break.
  • The Lithuanian braille-to-print table (ltaacb.btb) has been updated to process Lithuanian text properly as such, including the special Lithuanian letters. (Formerly it was a placeholder suitable only for the Latin-1 letters and embedded English.)
  • The English/Unified print-to-braille table, enuncp.btb, has been updated (to version 2;8 061024) in order to correct an infinite loop that would occur when [vrn~ida] (informal treatment of hyphen, as requested in Australia) was in effect and a capitalized passage was encountered that in fact also contained some digits.
  • The "new" English/British print-to-braille translation table (enbrcp.btb) has been updated so that:
    1. When suppressing capitals ([caplv1] in effect), code [ii] (as in the "acronym" style) will not cause an unwanted extra letter sign when applied to an acronymn that coincidentally is a Roman numeral, e.g. CD or VI.
    2. Dots 456, 34 instead of just 34 is used for all explicit fractions in math as well as the literary oblique stroke.
  • The Quebec table has been updated to implement [fts...] ... [fte...] emphasis tagging in the same manner as the "pre-Unified" French tables.
  • A problem with the translation process, which affected American translations only, has been corected. The problem could cause word capitalization to be handled incorrectly in some cases within the ordinary text following the first reference to a computer notation style (such as compinline or compdisplay).
  • DBT will no longer introduce spurious skipped lines within line-numbered BodyText.
  • Several running header problems have been fixed, notably that a [tld] (discontinue running head) on the same page as [tls] ... [tle] (set running head) would cause a lockup (endless internal loop) in DBT when "anticipatory headers" mode is in effect (as for British practice);
  • The formatter has been improved to guard against lockups even when due to yet-undiscovered problems.

Documentation Improvements

  • Some helpful tips for Vista users have been added to the online help.
  • Indexing of online help has been improved.
  • Several new screen shots have been added to "The Menus".
  • "Table and Style Example" has been added to "Working with Word", which hopefully sheds a glimmer of light on very basic table handling.
  • French documentation ("Manuel d'utilisation DBT 10.6") has been updated to reflect use of DBT 10.6.
  • The [xcs] code is documented in Codes Quick Reference. (The code is not new, but it was undocumented in DBT 10.6.)

GOODFEEL Integration Improvements

  • Improved stability and performance when GOODFEEL is used to embed transcribed music in a document.

Embosser Support Improvements

  • The Modify Embosser and Remove buttons in DBT's Global Embosser Setup dialog will be disabled when it appears that a user will be unable to save the resulting change. This applies to any user not running "As Administrator" in Vista.
  • The Embosser Setup configuration editing dialog (the dialog with General, Device Settings, and Advanced tabs) will now lock a limited user, or anybody not running "As Administrator" in Vista, into saving a configuration "For the current user only".
  • Global Embosser Setup will now give an error message after any failure to save changes to embosser definitions.
  • To the Braillo 200/400 series, we added esc R 0 to the start up sequence. This sets the "page adjust" offset to zero. This is not an issue unless you manually set the "page adjust" parameter to a non-zero value and then DBT failed to reset this to zero. This change fixes a problem for at least one customer.
  • Added support for the ViewPlus Emprint.
  • Fixed a braille spacing problem when interline print is included in output to Tiger embossers.
  • Control-Z has been added to the end of output for Index embossers and others that require it.
  • Interpoint alignment on narrow paper has been improved for Index embossers.
  • Multi-Copy output to pre-Model 3 Index embossers has been corrected.
  • New keywords PortCloseSyncCount, PortCloseSyncByte, and PortCloseSyncPrompt are supported in emb.elt and myemb.elt. These are documented in emb.elt. They should not generally be necessary, except, in rare cases, when data is lost at the end of any embossing job, and the problem is not solvable using other handshaking adjustments. PortCloseSyncPrompt has in fact been added for the PED-30, which will otherwise lose part of the last page of data.
  • Syntax errors in myemb.elt will no longer cause a crash.
  • Sequences in the form <Ctrl-X> within embosser configuration custom job setup strings will now work.
  • Duxbury's embosser "drivers" now support a form offset. This is an advanced configuration feature that has been put to use on a PED-30 with plates that are less than the maximum width.

Improvements for Microsoft Word

  • SWIFT has been updated to have a new Word 2007 interface. SWIFT will also give you an error with some instructions if you attempt to use it to open an OpenXML document in DBT.
  • The updated "Francais - 2006.dxt" is included in DBT distributions.
  • Word imports are more robust when encountering paragraph numbering information in an unrecognized format.
  • Start value overrides in auto-numbered documents are handled correctly again.
  • Text boxes now import from Word 2003 documents.
  • See also Word 2007 Support and MathType Support, below.)

Improvements for Scientific Notebook

  • Added support for \lnot (logical not) and \implies.
  • Fixed problems with spurious spaces after some function names.
  • Fixed problems with sinh and real
  • Fixed a variety of problems with fraction levels.

JAWS Script Improvements

  • Removed laptop keyboard layout designation for keystrokes Alt+0 and Alt+P; added laptop keyboard layout designation for keystrokes JawsKey+U, JawsKey+I, etc.
  • When switching DBT back into focus in a braille document window, you no longer get extra keyboard echo (QWERTY echo plus braille character echo).
  • When you press Alt+F3 the announcement of coded view or formatted view is no longer out of phase with JAWS versions 7 and up.

Braille-Build Improvements

  • Braille-Build has been modified to introduce a visible space character in the SimBraille font (U+00B7)
  • Braille-Build will honor a custom font name you specify, without altering it.
  • Dot diameter adjustments are now honored.
  • The fonts have been updated to version 1.10.
  • Generated fonts should be compatible with MacOS X.

Miscellaneous Improvements

  • Cancel button in Global Printer Setup and Document Printer Setup now works without side effects.
  • DBT will now be more fully compatible with the LaserJet 6P and other new and full-featured printers.
  • The prompt to remove temporary files, which typically followed after appearance of the Autosave Recovery Wizard, has been removed.
  • SGML will now import when the file type was selected by the user rather than autodetected.
  • Global, Other Importer has been removed. This feature has not been in common use for many years.
  • User-defined import filters, broken in DBT 10.6, are working again.
  • DBT's installer now traps processor exceptions in the custom action code (dxwst.dll) and logs any failure to the normal log file. To get at the information, one must run the installer with sufficient logging enabled: e.g. /L*v <logfilename> on the command line.
  • A broader range of characters (specifically, numeric entity references) will be recognized by the HTML/SGML importer.

Features in Alpha Testing

The features listed below are built into DBT 10.6 SR1, but are not yet fully supported, because we don't feel that they're yet ready for production use, or at least have not been sufficiently tested. These features are also not enabled when you first install DBT 10.6 SR1, but can be enabled by following the instructions given with each.

We strongly encourage you to try these features out, if they are of interest. Though they are almost certain to remain disabled when DBT 10.6 SR1 ships, you'll be able to go on using them, if you find them useful. And we hope that your feedback will allow us to make them more generally available with a major update release in spring 2007.

Word 2007 Support

Microsoft Word 2007 represents a very major departure from earlier versions of Microsoft Word. The user interface has been completely overhauled. SWIFT, the general-purpose DBT add-in for Word, has been updated to work through the new user interface of Word.

But DBT is not yet normally able to read Word 2007 files. So a Word 2007 user must normally save documents in the older file format to work with DBT.

To enable prototype Word 2007 support, open the file here. This file will modify your registry to enable DBT to open Word 2007 files. SWIFT will recognize this change too, and allow you to open Word 2007 files directly from within Word. (But note that SWIFT does not recognize Word 2007 files within earlier versions of Word.)

Word 2007 support does allow you to read mathematics material created using Word's new Equation Editor. You can also read mathematics material created using MathType or earlier versions of Equation Editor, if you've enabled additional Alpha features, described below.

OpenDocument Support

DBT can open simple OpenOffice Writer and OpenOffice Calc (spreadsheet) files if you enable support by opening the file here. This file will modify your registry to enable DBT to open these files.

MathType Support

If you have MathType 5 installed, DBT can use it to directly import MathType and Equation Editor objects (mathematics expressions) in Word 97-2003. (In fact, if you've also enabled Word 2007 support, as described above, DBT can use MathType 5 to read MathType objects within Word 2007 files too.)

To enable this feature, open the file here. This file will modify your registry to enable DBT to use MathType 5 as a file importing aid.

Equation Editor Support

If you do not have MathType 5 installed, DBT may still be able to read MathType and Equation Editor objects in Word files. However, this feature is purely experimental, and may never be supported. However, if it is of interest, you can enable DBT's direct importing of MathType and Equation Editor objects by opening the file here. This file will modify your registry to enable DBT to read MathType and Equation Editor objects directly.

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