Planned future changes.
As well as the more mundane changes listed at the bottom of this file, I plan
that V1.5 will support ethernet as well as serial connections.
This change means that the current .tcp files will become invalid, and
there is no work-around I can do.
The script.tcp files (not tcc.tcp) contain the following information:
- Where each window was last open on the screen.
- Which windows were open when Tcc last exited.
- The filter settings (Configure->Filter menu).
- The contents of the CTC windows
- The contents of the network configuration window.
The first three are relatively minor, and their loss can be ignored.
The CTC windows can already be saved (V1.2) in .ctc files.
V1.4 adds the capability to save the network config to .nwt files.
Please let me know if you find any errors in this mechanism, otherwise this
data might get lost in the migration to V1.5.
So why add support for ethernet?
- Because it has been requested.
- Because it has always been on my wish-list.
- Because RS232 ports are a dying breed.
- Because the Dallas TINI board makes ethernet cheap and easy.
- So I can control my layout from my laptop (which has no RS232 ports).
- Because its there.
What will it provide?
- Connection to stacks that use ethernet instead of RS232.
- Communication between multiple copies of Tcc distributed on a network.
- Allow the creation of virtual hardware: some other software that runs on
the same computer, or another computer that uses a supported protocol can
interface to Tcc without Tcc being modified to support that hardware.
- Allow the creation of windows on remote machines.
Why not use USB?
- Because Java does not yet support USB.
- Because USB is no easier to implement than ethernet on the target hardware.
- Because ethernet has a lot more capabilities than USB - such as
peer-to-peer networking.
A rather incomplete recent history of changes.
The version numbers omit many in-between versions sent to various people to add
new features or to fix problems.
V1.4 Oct-04
Add support for drawing/moving/erasing images in CTC panels.
Allow colours to be defined in constant list.
Add save network as text file, and open same.
Allow Controls and Sensors sections to check item count with: "total count "
Add -noedit command line option to prevent CTC edits.
Rework GROUP: for more flexibility.
Fix bug in WAIT timings.
Make long strings, or multi-celled images appear in full, not just the
first cell.
Report missing javacomm installation.
Compress tcc.jar by using an 'obfuscator' program.
Add this (rather inaccurate and very incomplete) history.
V1.3 April-04
- Add image scaling to size 0 - leave image unscaled.
Fix arithmetic operators such as not '~'
Add ELSE, ELSEIF to inline IF action.
Some optimizations to cell changes in CTC panels.
Add GridColour and Background to .ctc file definitions (read-only).
Prevent QTU from appearing in non-QTU interfaces.
Allow GROUP: to have just row or column list
V1.3 March-04
- Add DrawImage, MoveImage etc. to draw pictures in CTC panels.
Update to QTU scriping language.
Basic (buggy) printing capability
V1.2 Feb-04
- Add capability to insert cells in CTC panels.
Add CTC save (and load) as text file (.ctc)
Add ColorMessage for CTC panels.
Optimise script speed
V1.1 March-03
- Rework to optimise CTC panel drawing
Add QTU editor, compiler, decompiler and serial support.
Fix data corruption in serial interface to RPI
V0.*
- Lots of previous changes, unrecorded and unremembered.
To-do list:
- Make printing work properly.
Lots more help files.
Consider Do-While actions.
Allow editing of script - this is quite a big change - adding the window would
be easy, but updating the system to run again after an edit would be harder.
Suggestions or bugs
- Please email them to me.
For suggestions please outline how your feature request might work.
For bugs please send stdout.txt and stderr.txt files as well as your script
and .tcp files.