Seetrax XL Designer Version 1.101  (10th January 2012)
------------------------------------------------------

Changed in release 101
----------------------

Artwork editor :

  o If any layer is selected as visible in the view control toolbar, then clicking the
    'all layers' visibility toggle button will cause all layers to be switched off.
    (Previously, they were all being switched on)
    
  o If the artwork top layer was visible, 'Identify->Pad' and 'Identify->Pin' would not
    work on visible bottom layer pads.
    
Parts and netlist editors :

  o When saving parts and netlists to a file, the File->Save Parts/Nets dialog now allows
    selection of saving the file with spaces or tab separated columns.  The tab separated
    output makes it easy to import into spreadsheets and other programs.
    
    When saving the net list with tab separation, the output is restructured slightly :
    
      The signal name column for unnamed nets will be blank.  (For space separated output, a
      full stop is shown)
      
      Nets nodes will not be continued onto multiple lines.  All net nodes will be output on
      a single line.
      
      The net UID values is included.
      
Foreign system import :

  o The Calay parts/net list importer that shipped with the previous Ranger XL product has now
    been included in XL Designer.
    
  o The text parts/net list importer could crash when re-importing the text file if any part
    description or outline values had been changed.

General system :

  o A new entry 'Select Grid Origin' has been added to the 'File->System Setup->Special Function Keys'
    dialog.  The initial key definition for this item is blank, but the user may define
    a key that can be used to activate the Grid->Select Origin action in any of the editors.

  O Updated version of reference guide included.



Changed in release 99  (28th November 2011)
---------------------

General system :

  o If the "Save Designs with File Compression" checkbox was unchecked in the File->System Setup
    dialog, then designs were still being saved with data compression.
    
Circuit schematic editor :

  o When a schematic was being compiled to parts/net list, artwork connectivity tracing and
    unroute generation was inadvertantly being performed for each processed net.  When an
    artwork had a large number of tracks/nodes, this process can take a long time and the
    repeated artwork scanning resulted in the schematic compiler appearing to hang.
    The unroute update is now performed only once at the end of parts/nets extraction.

DXF profile import :

  o When a profile was imported from a .dxf file, the design modified flag was not set.
  
Artwork editor :

  o At the beginning of split power plane and copper fill operations, the board profile must
    be processed into a continuous unbroken outline.  When the profile had been built from
    multiple line/arc sections where the endpoints did not always exactly meet, then this
    profile analysis was failing because it had zero tolerance for endpoint mismatch.
    The problem was particularly noticible with profiles imported from .dxf files.
    
    The profile analyser now permits slight coordinate mismatch in line/arc coordinates.
    The maximum permitted coordinate misalignment is now 0.005".

Profile editor :

  o Added 'Profile->Transfer to Current Layer' function.
    When this mode is active, selected line/arc/circle features will be moved from their
    current layer onto the layer selected in the 'Mode' selector.
    This function can be useful to separate profile/keepout data has been imported from a
    .dxf file where all the data is on a single layer.

Outline editor :

  o When the grid origin had been snapped to an outline pad, it became impossible to escape
    from the Outline->Move point function when moving line endpoints.
    

Changed in release 98 (18th October 2011)
---------------------

Artwork editor smooth edged copper fill:

  o If keepout line/arc features did not form a closed polygon, they were being ignored.

  o If a keepout area was drawn with parallel edges that were closer together than twice
    the profile clearance value, then the keepout area was being ignored.
    
  o Holes were appearing in copper filled areas and in power planes at the location of
    user defined via holes even when the user via hole style did not define any pad or
    drilling on the layer.
    
  o Copper fill did not take account of clearance values applied to individual nets.
    
  o Added a 'Via Holes' configuration option to the copper fill toolbar.  This option provides
    control over how copper fill connects to via holes that are members of the fill net.
    Available options are :
      'No Connection' - no heat relief stubs are inserted
      'Heat Relief'   - heat relief stubs are inserted to connect the via to the fill region.
      'Cover'         - the copper fill floods over the top of the via hole.
    
  o Added 'Component Pins' configuration option to the copper fill toolbar. This option
    provides control over how copper fill connects to component pins that are members of the
    fill net.
    Available options are :
      'Heat Relief'   - heat relief stubs are inserted to connect the part pin to the fill region.
      'Cover SMD'     - drilled pins are connected with heat relief stubs.  SMD part pins
                        (undrilled pins on layers T/B) are covered over by the copper fill.
      'Cover All'     - copper fill covers all part pins.

  o Copper fill toolbar was not remembering the Fill Layer and Fill Size selections.
  

Changed in release 97 ( 14th September 2011)
---------------------

Artwork editor :

  o Re-coded the smooth edged copper fill function because of severe accuracy and performance
    problems with the previous implementation.
    
  o Added a new control to the copper fill toolbar to control the minimum number of part pins
    that must be connectable to a copper fill region for the region to appear in the fill result.
    NB: setting this value to zero will result in the creation of isolated copper areas.
    
Artwork checker :

  o When a clearance violation occurred to a keepout area, the error flags could sometimes
    be displayed at an arbitrary position or not displayed at all.


Changed in release 96  (limited distribution release for new copper fill testing only)
---------------------
   

Changed in release 95  (24th May 2011)
---------------------

Artwork editor :

   o If a layer swap operation was performed on a track feature that had been entered
     with the 'Amend->Enter Tracks' mode, then a crash could occur.
     
   o If layers 'T' or 'B' are selected as invisible, the Identify->Pin and Identify->Pad
     functions will ignore pin/pad features on those layers.
     

Changed in release 94  (14th March 2011)
---------------------

General system :

   o When XL Designer is installed on a computer with a 64 bit version of the Windows
     operating system, the software will now correctly see Sentinel Super Pro security
     keys (dongle) attached to the USB or parallel printer port.
     IMPORTANT: This change requires the Sentinel System Driver to be upgraded to version
     7.5.2 or later.  The version 7.5.2 driver is available for download from the XL Designer
     downloads web page.

   o The software installer creates an association of the .rxl file extension with
     an open action within XL Designer, and stores it in the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT registry
     hive under the key 'XLDesigner.Document' (and also removes it on product uninstall)
     
     However, a much older file association registration was built into the software.
     This caused an unwanted duplicate association to be created in the registry under
     the name 'xl_designert'.  This association was not removed on product uninstall,
     and could cause confusion if the product was reinstalled to a different install path.
     
     The 'xl_designert' association will not now be created.
     
   o In the File->System Setup dialog, the two browse buttons for 'Text I/O Dir' and
     'Generic Extractors' were the wrong way around/crossed over.
     
   o When the main application window was moved or resized, information 'balloon' windows
     did not reposition to the correct screen location.
     
   o When an artwork or circuit schematic view was minimised, a cross probing locate action
     did not cause the editor window to come out of its minimised state.
     
   o If a design containing schematic split-parts was opened, then closed, and another design
     then opened, subsequent schematic/artwork cross probing actions could result in a crash.

Circuit schematic :

   o A crash could occur when using any of the non-electrical edit commands when undo-redo
     was disabled.
     
   o Fixed crash when compiling parts/net list after a component outline name change.
     (Customer report ref: DV CL599_A_temp1)
          
Artwork editor :

   o On low resolution displays, it was not possible to see all of the view control bar.
     A vertical scrollbar will now appear on tool bars when all of the bar cannot be seen.
     
     NB: The artwork view control toolbar has been made slightly wider to allow space for the
     scrollbar when displayed.  To ensure that the toolbar is displayed at its new width,
     it will be necessary to perform a 'View->Restore Default Layout->Editor Layout' action
     within the artwork editor.
     
   o When the boundary lines of a split powerplane polygon formed a closed shape, the size
     code of the boundary line was being set to zero. (Bug since release 1.91)
     
   o If a new user defined via hole style was created while the artwork editor amend/enter
     pads toolbar was displayed, the toolbar did not update to include the new style in the
     pulldown list of available user via styles.
     
   o A crash could occur if a new user defined via hole style was created while the artwork
     editor was open.
     
NC Drill output :

   o If a new user defined via hole style was created, and pads of that style added to the artwork,
     and then an NC drill output generated without first saving, closing and re-opening the design,
     the newly added via holes did not appear in the NC drill output.
     

Changed in release 93  (15th February 2011)
---------------------

General system :

   o The system was not handling UNC filepaths (server shares) correctly during the startup
     validation needed before seeding user directories from the UserTemplate files.
     This caused the system to abort with an error dialog referring to _mkdir failure.
         
   o There was a possiblity of complete lockout from the software requiring manual editing
     of the registry in situations where an incorrect configuration path existed.
     
     Any configuration path that now fails validation will cause the software to drop you
     into the System Setup dialog where any errors can be corrected.


Changed in release 92  (14th February 2011)
---------------------

Artwork editor :

   o A crash was occuring when performing a track ripup operation.
   
Artwork checker :

   o The checker was not honouring the 'Include Keepouts' flag correctly, so whether
     keepouts were checked or not was indeterminate.
     

Changed in release 91  (14th February 2011)
---------------------

Product installer :

   o GDI+ library was not being installed on systems where it was absent (Windows 2000).
   
   o The software was packaged with an incorrect set of WinSXS assemblies resulting in
     an oversized installation image file.
   
   o The installer will now correctly register the .rxl file extension and create a
     default open action, so double clicking on a .rxl design file will start
     XL Designer and open the design.  (There is however still an issue where clicking
     on additional designs will result in an attempt to launch another copy of XL Designer
     rather that open the extra designs in the same program instance.  This will be corrected
     in a future release)
   
   o There has been a rearrangement of how the installer lays out the product files within
     the installation target directory.
     
     Before performing an upgrade to this product version, existing users are advised to
     make a backup of their configuration data, PCB and Circuit schematic master library
     directories.  Although we have taken great care to ensure that this upgrade occurs
     without incident, a backup is good insurance should something unexpected occur.
     
     Previously, at install time, the user was given the choice of where to place the
     'Configuration Data' directory, 'PCB Masters' directory, and 'Hierarchical Circuit'
     library directory. The default was to place them in the following locations :

       <TARGETDIR>/Data
       <TARGETDIR>/Masters/Pcb
       <TARGETDIR>/Masters/HierCir
       
     (where <TARGETDIR> is the product installation root directory,
      normally 'c:\ProgramFiles\Seetrax\XL Designer').
     
     This install time choice of library and configuration directory has been removed from
     the installer, and the supplied default libraries and configuration will be installed
     into the following structure :
     
       <TARGETDIR>/UserTemplate/Data
       <TARGETDIR>/UserTemplate/Libraries/PCB
       <TARGETDIR>/UserTemplate/Libraries/Schematic
       
     Also, the 'DocTemplates' directory has been moved to the new <TARGETDIR>/UserTemplate
     directory.
     
     The configuration files and libraries in the new UserTemplate structure never get
     written to by XL Designer.  At startup of XL Designer, a personal configuration
     and libraries structure will be created in the user's 'MyDocuments' directory, and
     this will be seeded with files from the UserTemplate structure.
     The new personal files structure is layed out as follows :
     
       MyDocuments/Seetrax/XL Designer/Artmacros
       MyDocuments/Seetrax/XL Designer/Data
       MyDocuments/Seetrax/XL Designer/Libraries/PCB
       MyDocuments/Seetrax/XL Designer/Libraries/Schematic

     The seeding of any directory from the above structure will only occur if the directory
     is found to be missing, or is empty.  Pre-existing non-empty directories will never
     have their contents overwritten with files from the UserTemplate area.
     
     The 'Files->System Setup' dialog may be used to choose different locations for the
     various directories within the user's personal data and libraries.
     
     This file layout change overcomes the permissions problems that were associated when
     running the application without administrative priviledges on Microsoft Vista or
     Windows 7 systems.  When computers are shared between multiple users, it also allows
     individuals to edit/pollute their personal configurations and libraries without affecting
     other users of the system.  System managers will be able to produce their own sets
     of configurations and design libraries and copy them to UserTemplate area to be used
     as the initial defaults for all users.
     
     As in previous releases, it is possible to configure the system to continue using
     master libraries/configurations shared amongst multiple users.  Just access the
     'File->System Setup' dialog and ensure that the Configuration Data directory, PCB Masters
     and Schematic Masters directory paths point to your shared content.  As long as these
     directories are not empty, files from the UserTemplate area will never be copied over
     the top of your shared libraries and configuration.  Please note that when running on
     Vista/Windows 7, you will still need to take administrative action to ensure that all
     users have appropriate access permissions to the shared content.
     
     Apart from making the recommended backups, no special action needs to be taken before
     upgrading to this version of XL Designer.
     The new UserTemplate structure will be created and populated with the supplied libraries
     and configuration.  Previously configured paths to user's configuration and library
     directories will be honoured, and never overwritten.
     
     When performing reinstalls or future upgrades, the custom install option permits the
     user to exclude installation of the default configuration and libraries.  This would
     be desirable when the UserTemplate area had been customised.
     
     Product 'Uninstall' will never remove any files from the <TARGETDIR>UserTemplate structure.
     
Product license :

   o Prior to this release, the product license key was stored in the system registry in the
     <HKEY_LOCAL_USER> hive.  In a shared user environment, each individual user had to install
     the product license key.
     
     The license key is now stored in the <HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE> hive, so the key now needs to
     be installed just once, and will be available to all system users.
     
     On startup, if a key is found in the old location, but not in the new location, the key
     will be copied into the new registry location, so no special action need be taken
     during upgrade.
     
Profile editor :

   o When keepout areas are entered which form a properly closed polygon, then the area is
     displayed cross-hatched.
   
Artwork editor :

   o NEW FEATURE: A new 'View Control' dialog bar has been added to the artwork editor.  This
     brings together all the visibility controls that were previously available from the
     artwork 'View->Set Colours' and 'View->Setup Visibility' dialogs (which have been removed).
     All buttons on the view bar have 'tooltips' enabled, so hover over any button to get a
     description of the button's action.  The layer on/off buttons have layer usage and point
     count information in their tooltips.
     
     The unroutes 'Net' button allows manual selection of which unroutes to display.  When this
     button is checked, right click on a net in the navigator, and choose 'Show net unroutes'.
     Multiple nets may be selected and switched on/off.
     
   o NEW FEATURE: When the artwork icon is selected in the navigator, the 'Properties' pane will
     now display a layer type and point count summary for all the artwork layers.
     
   o After routing a board with the artwork built in autorouter, the 'design modified' flag
     was not set.
     
   o The 'Amend->Corner' mode was incorrectly allowing segments of copper fill to be selected
     for new node insertion.  This resulted in artwork corruption.
     Corner insertion is not currently supported on copper fill segments.  Only point move
     and segment delete is available.
     
   o When entering a boundary line for a split powerplane polygon, a crash could occur if the
     line was terminated without the polygon being closed, and a new separate line segment then
     entered to complete the polygon.
     
   o When a split powerplane polygon line was entered without forming a closed polygon, and
     another edit action was selected, the 'Add Line' command became greyed out so no further
     line segments could be entered.
     
   o Keepout areas are now displayed cross-hatched.

Artwork checker :

   o NEW FEATURE: The artwork checker now tests for violation of keepout areas.  These are
     flagged on the artwork with a letter 'K' marker.  This extra check can be enabled/disabled
     on the art checker run dialog.
     
Electra/Specctra optional autorouter interface :

   o Keepout areas defined within component outlines were not being included in the exported
     router design file.
     

Changed in release 90  (17th January 2011)
---------------------

General system :

   o Because if the new features introduced with this release, designs saved with this
     release will not load into earlier versions of XL Designer.

Outline editor :

   o It is now possible to define keepout areas within a part outline definition.
     Keepout zones should be defined using the 'Copper->Add Keepout Line' function.
     A closed shape should be drawn defining the required keepout area.  Keepout areas
     may be defined for the board Top, Bottom or 'All' layers.  NB: to see these new outline
     specific keepouts within the artwork editor, the 'Keepouts' checkbox must be ticked
     in the "Artwork View Properties" dialog.
     
   o A new 'Star Points' checkbox has been added to the Routing Constraints section of the
     outline properties dialog.  When this checkbox is set for a component outline, the
     outline takes on a special mode of behaviour used for star-connecting multiple nets
     at a single point.  Please read Star Points section below for a detailed overview of
     this new facility.
     
Artwork editor :

   o Gridded copper fill did not honour keepout areas.
   
Starpoints :

   o It is now possible to use star-connected nets within a design.
   
     A sample design (Starpoints Example.rxl) using this new facility is included with this
     product release and can be found in the <ProductInstallationDir>/SampleDesigns/PCB folder.
     The example also demonstrates the use of a keepout area placed within an outline definition.
     
     The first step in using star points is to create a special component outline that when
     placed on the artwork defines the track geometry for the location where the nets meet.
     
     To begin creating a star point outline, create a new blank outline as normal, then before
     adding any other features to it, select View->Properties (within the outline editor)
     and check the 'Outline is a Routing Star Point' checkbox.
     
     Pads should now be added to the star point outline.  One pad is required for each net that
     will be connected at the star.  The pads may be placed on the Top, Bottom, or 'All' layers.
     Any pad style may be used.
     
     The pads should then be interconnected by inserting 'free copper' on the top, bottom or 'Any'
     layer.
     
     Keepout areas should then be added to the outline using the Copper->Add Keepout Line function.
     The keepout areas limit the scope of autorouters and the copper fill routines from placing
     copper through the centre of the star point outline. The areas must not enclose any of the
     connection points on the outline.  Please read the implementation section below for more detail
     on this.
     
     A schematic part symbol that references the star point outline should be created, and one
     terminal placed for each pin on the star point outline.  The pins should be numbered as for
     any normal part.
   
     At the schematic level, each net that must meet at the star must be created separately, and if
     named, each must have a unique name. Each net must then be connected to one of the pins on the
     starpoint part symbol.
     
     Within the artwork, the star point part should be placed at the desired location, and the board
     may be routed, copper filled and checked as normal.
     
Starpoint implementation method :

   o The method chosen to provide star point capability is simple, but hopefully effective.
   
     The free copper features that interconnect the various star outline pads is never seen by
     the artwork autorouter, the copper fill routines or the artwork checker.  The only time it is
     present is during screen display and when creating artwork outputs.
     
     To prevent the autorouter and copper fill routines from placing copper in the area of the
     star outline occupied by the interconnecting free copper traces, a keepout area must be defined
     within the star outline.  By using a keepout to prevent nets from violating the star
     interconnections, there is no need for the artwork checker to process the star interconnections
     and shorts will not be detected between the nets.
     
     Because the artwork checker does not verify the copper connections between the star outline pins,
     you must manually verify that your outline does actually perform the desired interconnectivity
     between its various pads.
     
Starpoint implementation features not yet complete :

   o Outline based keepout areas do not get included in router files created for the optional
     Electra/Specctra autorouters.
     
   o The artwork checker does not yet check for clearance errors or violation of the keepout areas.
   
   o Both the above two ommisions will be corrected in the next release. (approx 7 days time)

      

Changed in release 89  (7th January 2011)
---------------------

Artwork editor :

   o CRITICAL BUGFIX:
     Every time that the artwork was repainted, one 'Graphics GDI' object was leaked.
     This resulted in redraw performance degrading each time that the artwork display was
     refreshed, and the process eventually running out of graphics resources causing the
     program to crash.

General system :

   o Behaviour change for 'partial unroutes'.
     If a trace is only partly routed from source to destination, then 'partial' unroutes
     occur at the start and end of the trace.  These are shown dotted to discriminate them
     from normal unroutes which are shown solid.
     
     Internally, partial unroutes are handled very differently from normal unroutes, a partial
     unroute being nothing more than a continuation of the part routed track with a special
     dotted visibility mode for the start/end segment, and also made invisible to output tools
     and the artwork checker.
     
     Using 'Amend->Move Point', it is possible for a user to pick up mid points of a partially
     routed track, and attach them to part pins or via hole locations, thereby forming a
     connection, the netlist then being patched up later to match the manually contrived
     connection. However, the connected trace does not finish at the part pin as it was only
     a mid point node that was moved.  The trace still continues on past the pin and finishes
     at the end of the partial unroute which has been abandoned.
     
     These abandoned partial unroutes cannot then be easily removed, and unroutes regeneration
     and artwork checking will not remove them.
     
     To assist in cases where such routing action has been performed, the following changes have
     been made :
     
        When a design is loaded, the artwork is scanned for all tracks having partial unroutes.
        If any partial unroute is found where the 'inboard' node (ie. the partial unroute node
        farthest from the end of the trace) is connected to a part pin or a via hole, then that
        partial unroute segment will be removed.
        
        When the inboard node of a partial unroute is moved with 'Amend->Move Point' and attached
        to a part pin or via hole, the partial unroute will be removed.
        
     

Changed in release 88  (30th December 2010)
---------------------

Artwork checker :

   o If the type of a layer was switched from power plane type to copper type, and the
     layer had existing powerplane antipads/heat reliefs, then these unwanted pad
     features were not included during an artwork check, and undetected short circuits
     and gap errors could occur.
     
     The artwork checker will now test all 'copper' type layers to determine if any
     antipads or heat-reliefs are present, and will abort artwork checking if any
     are found.  A report of the unwanted pad locations will be displayed.
     (For an easy way to clean out these unwanted pads, please read next note)
     
General system :

   o The artwork delete tool (accessible by right-clicking the artwork icon in the navigator)
     has been updated.  A new delete option 'delete features that are invalid for layer type'
     has been added to the tool.  The new mode will remove antipads and heat reliefs which are
     found on a 'copper' type layer.

   o When the type of a non-empty artwork layer is switched between power plane and copper
     type, a warning will be displayed advising the need to delete existing layer contents.
     
   o The design modified '*' flag was not being set in the following situations :
       
       During any changes to the schematic when schematic 'undo/redo' was disabled as a
       temporary performance workaround.
       
       When an artwork power plane was generated.
       
       After making a board profile edit with the numeric editor.
     
   o The design modified '*' flag was incorrectly being set in the following situations :
   
       After opening and closing a plot batch, even if no changes were made.
       
       After highlighting tracks in the artwork editor.
       
       

Changed in release 87  (8th December 2010)
---------------------

Circuit schematic :

   o Added attributes import/export facility.  Import/export commands may be accessed by
     right clicking on the top 'Schematic' folder for a design, or the top folder of a
     master library (eg. schematic folder '74xx')
     
     Exported attributes may be saved into tab separated (.txt) or comma separated (.csv)
     files as selected in the save dialog.
     
     The first row in the created file will always contain the column names for the data
     in the following rows.  The first column is always the name of a block/part/symbol in
     the schematic or library.  Each additional column represents an attribute setting.
     
     To export a file suitable for editing in Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, it is recommended
     to export attributes as a tab separated (.txt) file.  On loading, Excel will display
     an import Wizard where you may change the type of all imported columns to 'text' type.
     If you do not do this, and try to load from a .csv format, Excel always treats strings
     of digits as numbers, which is a problem if some of your symbols/attributes have all
     numeric names with leading zeros.
     
Artwork editor :

   o If the artwork did not contain any placed parts, then pads entered with 'Amend' mode
     were always drawn unfilled even if filled drawing mode was selected.
     
     

Changed in release 86  (26th November 2010)
---------------------

Design outputs :

   o Bitmap image output was not creating arc features correctly.
   
   

Changed in release 85  (24th November 2010)
---------------------

Design outputs :

   o Added bitmap image output capability.  This filter may be found under the
     new output group category "Image file".
     Images may be saved in PNG, BMP, GIF or JPEG format.
     When adding image output tasks to batch outputs, you must append the appropriate
     .png, .bmp, .gif, or .jpg file name extension to each output file name in order for the
     appropriate output encoder to be selected.
     
   o Removed redundant "2D Drawing" category from the list of plot tasks that can be created.

   o Schematic non-electrical "Annotate" mode features were not being included in the
     calculation of the "Fill Sheet" view.
     
Artwork editor :

   o Added "All powerplanes" checkbox to the powerplane generator toolbar.  When this is
     ticked, the "Generate" button will create all powerplanes in one operation.



Changed in release 84  (25th October 2010)
---------------------

Artwork editor :

   o When a component outline containing standard pad shapes was placed in the free copper
     section, and the part was rotated on the board to angles other than 0/90/180/270
     degrees, then the copper insertion action of the mask generator tool was placing
     pads on the artwork layers at the wrong angle.


Changed in release 83   (28th September 2010)
---------------------

Circuit schematic editor :

   o Identify->Instance did not work correctly for block I/O symbols.
   
   o Symbol->Copy could sometimes crash when copying block I/O symbols.
   
Artwork editor :

   o Powerplane generation could crash on split power planes if no polygon was
     defined for a secondary signal.

   o Track ripup could crash if you ripped up a track that was not correctly
     associated with a net.
     
   o When ripping up tracks a segment at a time (with the LH mouse button), you
     must rip the tracks segment by segment starting at a component pad.
     When there were very tiny track segments at the start of a route to force a
     track onto the routing grid, it was not always possible to see that you were
     not clicking the first/last segment connecting the pad, and the ripup operation
     was ignored.
     During segment by segment ripup, all very short track segments (<0.01" long) that
     are adjacent to the selected segment will no longer inhibit ripup, and they will
     be removed together with the selected segment.

  o Mroute->Move Track command was causing a crash.
  
  o The power plane generator was not honouring the "Use Heat-Relief when connecting
    to power planes" flag in user via hole definitions.



Changed in release 82   (8th September 2010)
---------------------

Circuit schematic editor :

   o If a schematic view was opened before any circuit view had been shown in the
     browser window, then display colours were not configured correctly.
     This wis normally seen as a wrong coloured grid after the schematic had been
     opened via an artwork 'Find' command.

Artwork editor :

   o Unroutes were not always correctly removed when user defined via holes were
     in a route.
     
Artwork checker :
     
   o The artwork checker was not always revalidating unroutes on completion.
     
General system :

   o Reference guide updated.



Changed in release 81   (6th September 2010)
---------------------

Outline Editor :

   o Pad->KeyMove command could cause a crash when moving a custom pad where the
     pad's name was longer than 11 characters.

Artwork editor :

   o If a user defined via hole did not have 'Allow in power nets' checked in the
     via hole definition, the hole style was still being selected automatically
     when manually routing power nets.
     
   o The powerplane generator was inserting an antipad on a powerplane layer for
     user defined via holes even if the hole definition defined the stack as not
     passing through that layer.
     
   o When dragging out power unroute stubs for smd power pins, user defined via holes
     were not being selected when the autoselect option was on. 
     
   o Equalised the width of all toolpanes to reduce unnecessary screen redraws when
     moving between various edit modes.
     
     
Gerber file generation :

   o Gerber output tasks were crashing if a used pad had zero dimensions in the
     sizes table.
     
General system :

   o When toggling between inch/metric units in the user defined via hole definition
     editor, the drill hole size value did not change.


Changed in release 80   (18th August 2010)
---------------------

General system :

   o Corrected incorrect display of lines that were partly out of the view window.
     (Bug only occurred in release 1.79)

   o Corrected a configuration problem where version 1.79 was compiled without code
     optimisation.

Artwork editor :

   o When layer colours were redefined, the layer colour indicator boxes in the manual
     routing, pad/track/text editing, region rules and copper fill toolbars did not
     update to show the new colours.
     
   o Changed the manual routing tool pane to display layer selection checkboxes for all
     copper layers.  To help with understanding the topology of multilayer boards, layers
     are presented in the tool pane in the assembly order defined for the board.
     Powerplane layers are also shown in the appropriate places.
     
   o Added a 'Via Autoselect' option to the manual routing tool pane.  When this is checked
     and the system needs to insert a via hole while performing a layer swap or point
     insertion operation, then the via hole will be automatically selected from the
     user defined via hole set.  The system will attempt to locate a via hole that traverses
     the minimum number of board layers while still providing the correct connectivity.
     If 'Via Autoselect' is not checked, or auto mode can find no suitable via, then a normal
     through-board via is inserted.
    


Changed in release 79   (4th August 2010)
---------------------

General system :

   o When running on Windows 7 or Windows Vista with Data Execute Protection (DEP)
     enabled, a crash would occur when using any action that caused a popup
     'balloon' information window to appear.
     
   o A 'Colour table overflow' message would sometimes occur when browsing items in
     the navigator window.
     
Circuit schematic editor :

   o Internal roundoff errors caused connections to sometimes not be correctly associated
     with symbol pins when metric grids were in use for symbol creation and schematic
     drawing.

   o Added a 'Disable Schematic Undo/Redo' checkbox to the 'Temporary fixes' area
     of the 'File->System Setup' dialog.
     The schematic editor Undo/Redo functionality currently has performance problems
     when working on large schematics.  As a temporary measure to help customers speed
     up work on large schematics, it is now possible to switch off the undo/redo code.
     

Changed in release 78   (14th June 2010)
---------------------

Artwork editor :

   o CRITICAL BUGFIX:
     When Amend->ReplacePad was used to change the style of a pad, the net identity
     of the modified pad was not always correctly retained.  The problem showed up
     most often when swapping standard via holes to a user defined via hole style.
     Once a pad's identity became lost or corrupted, this caused erratic behaviour
     in the correct selection of heat-reliefs/anti-pads when creating power planes,
     and also caused unroutes to be displayed where none were expected.
     
     Performing an artwork check will often correct the invalid net identity on the
     affected pads.  However, no connectivity problems must exist for the checker to
     be able to clean up incorrect net identities on artwork features.
     
   o Every time the amend pads mode was activated, custom library pad names and
     user defined via hole styles would be repeatedly added to the pad style and
     user via pulldown lists in the amend pads toolbar.

 General system :

   o The Via Hole Definitions editor was not remembering drill hole diameters correctly.

    

Changed in release 77  (8th June 2010)
---------------------

Artwork editor :

   o The state of the 'show filled pads' selection was not being preserved with the
     design.
     
   o When a track was ripped up from an SMD part pad that connected to a power plane
     via a stub and power via, the unroute 'blob' did not reappear on the part pad.

Circuit schematic editor :

   o Colour configuration was not being saved correctly with the design.
   
   o Colour configuration changed erratically when moving between designs and views
     with different colour setup.
     
          

Changed in release 76  (17th May 2010)
---------------------

General system :

    o When a circuit schematic was recompiled while the artwork editor was open,
      and the recompilation caused a part outline to be replaced, and the replacement
      outline had a different pre-routed copper arrangement, then a crash could occur.

    o When a circuit schematic was recompiled while the parts list editor was open,
      and the recompilation caused extra parts to be inserted, then a crash could occur.

    o If autosave was enabled and an unsaved job was open, the "Design Autosave reminder"
      dialog was posted to the screen every 10 seconds.

    o When performing a design "Save As", the original name is now displayed in the
      file save dialog.

    o Reordered some design icons in the navigator window to better reflect typical
      design flow.

    o Identify commands which displayed popup 'balloon' windows with no close button
      became stuck on the screen if their associated identify command was cancelled
      while the balloon was panned offscreen.
      
    o The navigator was automatically scrolling and expanding folders in order to show
      currently selected entities when working inside the various editors.
      This behaviour has now been changed.  Selected entities will now be shown in the
      browser/properties window but the navigator will not scroll and expand folders
      to show the item.
      The browser and properties window now contain a "Find" button.  Pressing this
      will cause the navigator to locate the item shown in the browser/property window.


Artwork editor :

    o Added a horizontal scrollbar to the net selector within the powerplane toolbar.
      The powerplane toolbar has also been increased in width to accommodate the
      display of longer powerplane subnet signal names.

    o The part placement tray was sometimes showing parts that were already placed.

    o Large time delays occurred when using undo/redo with a large number of parts in
      the part placement tray.


Circuit schematic editor :

    o When a block I/O port was duplicated using the Region->Copy and Region->Paste
      commands, then the resultant I/O port was forgetting its attribute values.

    o When multiple instances of a sheet occurred in the design hierarchy, the ident
      (suffix number) of the instance being edited was not displayed in the window
      title bar (or window tab when in maximised view mode).

      

Changed in release 75  (30th March 2010)
---------------------

Artwork checker :

    o When a power net was used simultaneously on more than one power plane layer, the
      artwork checker was reporting 'interplane shorts' for drill holes that correctly
      interconnected the layers.

    o The checker will now report parts that are unplaced or are placed outside of the
      board profile.



Changed in release 74  (1st March 2010)
---------------------

Artwork editor :

    o When a split powerplane was generated, the subnet boundary polygons were not
      being tagged with the correct net identity.  This caused them not to be recognised
      by the Specctra/Electra autorouter export function.
      (To correct this problem on affected designs, use the powerplane 'Generate' button
      to recreate each power plane layer)


Changed in release 73  (22nd February 2010)
---------------------

Artwork editor :

    o A crash occurred on entering the powerplane generation mode if any net contained
      a reference to a non existent part pin.
      
Circuit schematic editor :

    o Fixup crash at schematic load time when allocation data was bad.
    

Changed in release 72  (17th February 2010)
---------------------

Artwork editor :

    o Reimplementation and simplification of the powerplane generation mode.
    
      It is now possible for a power net to be used simultaneously on more than
      one power plane layer.  However, the artwork checker currently reports such
      usage as 'interplane shorts'.  This problem will be fixed in the next release.
      
      Split power plane net selection is now performed in the Configuration->
      Layer Assignments and Ordering dialog in the Navigator pane.
      
      Split power plane subnet polygons are now retained with the design, so it
      is no longer necessary to import them from the powerplane layer to regenerate
      a powerplane.  The import function is retained for compatibility with existing
      design files.
      
      The user guide included with this release still refers to the previous powerplanes
      implementation.  An updated guide will be included in the next software release.
      
      NB: Designs saved with this version of XLDesigner are not compatible with, and
      cannot be loaded into earlier releases of the software.
      


Changed in release 71  (3rd December 2009)
---------------------

Circuit schematic editor :

    o When old 'flat schematic editor' circuits were converted for use in the
      hierarchical schematic editor, some connections were not correctly
      processed.  The hierarchical editor has a strict rule that only 'ednpoints'
      of connection wires are permitted to be attached to symbol terminals
      and connection 'blobs'.  Some converted schematics were not complying
      with this requirement, and after subsequent editing of the schematic,
      internal inconsistencies occurred which resulted in a program crash or
      incorrect netlist compilation results.

      This bugfix corrects the incorrect initial conversion, and also fixes
      up the inconsistencies that have resulted from editing of the affected
      schematics.


Changed in release 70  (9th November 2009)
---------------------

Artwork editor :

    o After a region delete operation had been performed, the Mroute->RipUp
      and Mroute->Corner operations would cause a crash.

    o A crash occured after using the silk screen generator to add outline
      free copper to the artwork.

    o Part renumbering and gate/pin swap history will now be logged into the
      'renumber' file in the design log files folder.

    o Network changes made with the Tools->Network commands will now be logged
      into the 'netmods' file in the design log files folder.

    o A crash could occur when you moved or flipped a part having pre-routed
      copper features defined in the outline.

Outline editor :

    o Added Copper->Key Move Pad command.

    o Added Copper->Change Pad Style/Size command.

    o When alternating between outline mask editing and free copper editing,
      the free copper functions became confused as to which layer to enter
      features into.

    o Pad style and size controls have been added to the toolbar.  When pad style/size
      is changed in the toolbar, the navigator and browser windows will update to
      display the selected pad.  Pads may also be selected directly from the navigator
      (as before) and the outline editor toolbar controls will update accordingly.

Circuit schematic editor :

    o When using the region commands, the region rectangle corners and move/copy
      destination will now always snap to grid/half grid even if "Snap to Grid"
      is disabled in the Grid menu.

    o When a flat schematic was converted, the associated parts did not have their
      pin swap rules imported.

    o When a flat schematic was converted, instantiated part symbols that were
      members of a part with >1 available instance were not tagged with the correct
      sub-instance reference if 'gate' (part element) swapping had been performed
      within the old flat circuit editor.

    o If two wires were butted end-to-end on a flat schematic with no junction blob
      or part terminal at their join point, then connectivity was not preserved
      through the wire in the converted schematic. (Lloyd research 'Nets not being
      joined by signal name' bug report)

General system :

    o Added "Edit Datasheet Addresses" to the navigator top level schematic folder
      right-click menu. This permits bulk assignment of datasheet addresses to each
      schematic part/split-part.

    o Enabled the "Show Datasheet" option in the right-click navigator menu associated
      with schematic parts.  Please note the command will only be active for
      parts that have the datasheet address attribute defined.

    o Added "Purge Unused Outlines" commands to the right-click navigator menu
      associated with outlines.

    o Enabled the "Purge Unused Blocks" commands in the navigator top level
      schematic folder right-click menu.

    o When trying to delete custom pads from the pad library, a "dependency checks
      not coded" error was displayed.

    o Reference guide updated.


Changed in release 69  (11th September 2009)
---------------------

Artwork editor :

    o If you generated a power plane, then left the power plane tools menu
      and selected 'Undo', a crash would occur.

    o After using 'Redo', all entries vanished from the part placement tray
      and you had to exit and restart the program to recover them.

    o When an 'Undo' operation caused a net or part of a net to return to
      an unrouted status, then all signal names vanished from the net list.

Circuit Schematic :

    o Added Undo/Redo capability.

Design Outputs :

    o Added HP-GL pen plotter output filters.

General system :

    o Reference guide updated.


Changed in release 68  (29th June 2009)
---------------------

Circuit Schematic :

    o If a block I/O symbol was deleted from a schematic sheet, and the corresponding
      symbol for the schematic was instantiated on other schematics in the design,
      and the pin being deleted was connected on those other schematics, then an internal
      inconsistency occured which resulted in compilation errors.

      When you delete an I/O pin, the system will now warn you if that pin is connected
      elsewhere in the design hierarchy.  If you continue to delete the pin, the attached
      connections will now become correctly deassociated with the pin.

    o When a schematic compilation caused part outlines to be fetched from the master
      outline library, the outline pad dimensions were not being correctly merged from
      the master library into the design library.

    o It is now possible to have block names with / in them.  eg. I/O
      Please note that designed created with such names will not load into earlier versions
      of XL Designer.


Changed in release 67   (12th June 2009)
---------------------

Circuit Schematic :

    o When entries were deleted from the schematic part folders within a design, those
      deleted part names would appear as empty user blocks if the design were opened
      in RangerXL.  XL Designer was not affected by this problem.

    o When a schematic part or userblock was fetched into a design from a master library
      or another design, the type of the block in the source library was inadvertantly
      set as 'split part'.  If the source library or design were subsequently edited
      and saved, then the block became stored as a split part regardless of its correct type.
      The part entered into the destination design received the correct block type.

      To assist in correcting the wrong block type on designs and libraries affected by
      this bug, a command "Change Block Type" menu has been added to the 'right-click'
      context menu that is displayed when you right click on a schematic split part in
      the navigator.  Choose the appropriate submenu entry to alter the selected split
      part to be a userblock, part, primitive or blockio symbol.
      After changing a block's type in this way, the design should be saved, closed and
      reopened in order for the parts to appear in their correct navigator folders.

      NB: The "Change Block Type" menu is not normally visible, as it is only intended
      for recovery of corrupted designs.  To enable the menu, enter the File->System Setup
      dialog and check the "Enable Schematic Block Type Change" box.  Please note that
      XL Designer always starts with this feature disabled. (ie. the enable checkbox state
      is not remembered)
      
    o Back compatibility note:  When a design containing schematic split parts is opened
      in Ranger XL, the split parts will appear in the 'parts' section of the parts selector
      together with all the normal parts.  Ranger XL does not differentiate between split/non-split
      parts in its parts browser.  XL Designer correctly separates them out into their appropriate
      folders.  This has caused some users to believe that XL Designer is wrongly categorising
      normal parts as split parts.


Changed in release 66
---------------------

Artwork editor :

    o If you right-click on the artwork icon in the navigator, and choose
      'open detached', then the artwork will open in a separate window that
      may be dragged to a second monitor.

General system :

    o 'View->Restore Default Layout' command has been added.  This will restore
      the default visibility and positioning of the navigator, browser and
      status panes.

    o Reference manual updated.

    o IMPORTANT : This product update requires a version 2 license file.
      Previously issued licenses will require upgrading.
      (Not relevant for XL Designer Lite version)


Changed in release 65  (26th January 2009)
---------------------

Bath Scientific test point generator :

    o A crash was occuring when generating test data for some designs.

Artwork editor :

    o The autoplace, autoroute, copper fill and powerplane modes now
      contain a back arrow on the toolbar which will return you to
      manual place/route mode.

Netlist editor :

    o The displayed network 'MinClear' value was not being updated when
      you changed between inch/metric units.

General system :

    o When the inch/metric hotkeys (normally F9/F10) were used, values
      were shown incorrectly in certain system dialogs
      (eg. Artwork editor Parts->Keymove, Outline editor Text->Add,
       Manual routing parameters dialog, Schematic attribute edit height
       values)

    o A crash could occur if you had the artwork and parts list editors
      both open, and you deleted a part from the parts list when that
      same part was also in the artwork part placement tray.

    o Corrected a roundoff error when points were being snapped to a
      metric grid.  (This error had been observed when checking the
      coordinates of profile lines using the profile numeric editor)

    o The system should not have allowed an outline to be renamed when
      the outline is referenced in the parts list.

    o Added 'Delete all Parts & Nets' action to the right-click menu for
      the navigator Parts folder.

    o Added 'Delete all Nets' action to the right-click menu for the navigator
      Nets folder.


Changed in release 64 (11th December 2008)
---------------------

Artwork editor :

    o When a design uses library pads or buried vias, an internal hidden
      table is created to map drill sizes required for these pads into
      a size code that can be applied to power plane heat reliefs and
      anti pads.  An internal error in the management of this table
      resulted in power plane features being created with the wrong
      drill size associated with their size code.  This resulted in
      anti pads and heat reliefs around buried via and library pad
      drill holes begin generated with the wrong dimensions.
      
      Designs affected by this problem can be recovered by regenerating
      the power planes.
      

Changed in release 63 (5th December 2008)
---------------------

Circuit Schematic :

    o Find->Signal Name was displaying an 'Internal Error' dialog if a
      search was attempted on a signal name that did not exist on the
      schematics.
    
    o If you began entry of a connection, and terminated the insert mode
      by selecting another menu operation (instead of clicking on a symbol
      terminal,or dropping the connection with the right mouse button), then
      a crash would occur.

Outline Editor :

    o While a component outline was open for editing, every design save
      operation could cause a shift of the component outline and autoplacer
      footprint box positions if the 'Outline->Set Outline Datum' command
      had been used.

General system :

    o A crash could occur when a design was closed.
          

Changed in release 62 (24th November 2008)
---------------------

Circuit Schematic :

    o Circuit schematic undo/redo operations have been temporarily
      disabled.  They will be re-enabled as soon as their defective
      operation has been corrected.

    o Crash occurred if you used 'Terminals->Assign Names' and edited
      a terminal name that was > 16 characters long.

Outline Editor & Artwork Editor :

    o The Outline->Corner and SplitBoundary->Corner commands could cause
      a situation where the line endpoint could not be released.

Parts list editor :

    o When units were toggled between inch/metric, the displayed component
      position values were displayed incorrectly.

Artwork editor :

    o The artwork checker 'Include copper fill' box should have been checked
      automatically if the artwork contains copper fill features.
      Also, if copper fill had been created and then deleted, the artwork
      checker was warning that the 'Include copper fill' mode was not selected
      even though the artwork no longer contained filled areas.


Changed in release 61 (10th November 2008)
---------------------

Circuit Schematic :

    o When a schematic sheet containing placed power block symbols was
      open for editing, and the 'paste' operation was used to add extra
      parts to the schematic parts folder, then a crash could occur.

    o The 'Find->Signal Name' command did not work correctly. It should
      now function in a similar manner to the find part and find net commands
      which present 'previous/next' buttons in the popup balloon window
      to enable moving through all instances of the signal name.


Changed in release 60 (3rd November 2008)
---------------------

General system :

    o Includes updated version of the XL Designer Reference Guide.

    o Added 'Documentation' folder to design tree.
      It is now possible to create documentation files which are stored
      internally within a .rxl design file.

      To create a documentation file, right click on the 'Documentation'
      folder within a design, and choose the appropriate file type from
      the 'New' menu.
      It is possible for the user to customise the file types that are
      presented in the 'Documentation->New' menu :-
      In the \Program Files\Seetrax\XL Designer\ product installation
      directory, there is now a subdirectory named 'DocTemplates'.
      The DocTemplates\index.txt file defines all the file extensions
      and file descriptions that are to appear in the Documentation->New
      menu.  When editing this file, the extension and description fields
      must be separated by a single tab character.
      For each file type defined in the index.txt file, if a corresponding
      file named 'templates.{extension}' is created in the DocTemplates
      directory, then that file will be used as the initial file content
      for newly created documentation files.  If no template file is
      created for a file type, then the 'New' file action will create
      an empty (0 bytes long) file.
         
      The documentation file 'Import' action allows any existing file
      to be added to the documentation folder of the design.


Changed in release 59 (13th October 2008)
---------------------

Artwork editor :

    o If Active DRC was enabled, then a crash could occur when trying to
      insert a point into an unroute.

Circuit Schematic :

    o When Ranger XL designs containing flat schematics were opened, the
      converter was re-converting the flat schematic to hierarchical mode
      every time the design was saved and reopened, thereby destroying
      any subsequent editing of the schematic.

    o When a flat schematic is automatically converted to hierarchical mode
      on design opening, a report of the converted schematic pages will be
      displayed, and a 'flatcircuit_conversion' entry will be created
      in the design logfiles.

General system :

    o If you used keyboard up/down arrow keys to move through entries in
      the navigator, then the properties and browser panes were not updated.


Changed in release 58 (7th October 2008)
---------------------

Artwork editor :

    o If an unroute was picked up with the Mroute->Move Unroute command,
      and the operation then cancelled with the right hand mouse button,
      the unroute was not being redisplayed.  An artwork check, job
      close and reload was needed to make it come back.

Outline editor :

    o It was not possible to use auto pad assign on a bga outline having
      pads on a 0.5mm pitch as it was incorrectly assigning pads on
      adjacent rows/columns.

General system :

    o The navigator did not restrict the name length for custom pads, outlines,
      schematic parts, output tasks and batches, but when the design was
      saved, the names were truncated to the various internal system limits.
      (Custom pad and outline names were truncated at 16 characters.  Schematic
       parts, output tasks and batches were truncated at 20 characters).
      The navigator will now prevent the entry of element names longer than
      the internal system limits.
      
    o The maximum permitted name length for output tasks and output batches
      has been raised from 20 characters to 80 characters.
      NB: If designs are created with output task/batch names > 20 characters,
      and then loaded into earlier versions of XL Designer, the names will again
      be truncated to 20 characters.

    o The File->Print command in the sizes table editor did not work.


Changed in release 57 (2nd October 2008)
---------------------

Artwork editor :

    o If a design contained nets with single nodes, and any one of those
      nodes were shorted to another net, then the artwork checker was
      reporting all the single node nets as being shorted together.

General system :

    o Added preliminary reference manual (schematic editor only at the moment)
      to the help menu.

Electra router compatibility :

    o The electra router interface was incompatible with the command syntax
      requirements of the current series 2 routers.
      An option has been added to the Electra router installation configuration
      dialog to allow select of version 1 or version 2 routers.


Changed in release 56 (8th September 2008)
---------------------

General system :

    o After the 'ALT' key had been pressed, defined function keys stopped
      working in the graphical editors.  Please note that if ALT is pressed
      and no subsequent Windows menu action is selected by keystroke, then it
      will be necessary to hit ALT a second time to cancel its action and
      re-enable operation of the function keys in the editors.

    o If a design .rxl file was opened directly from a Windows Explorer window,
      then the Outputs folder did not appear.

Parts list editor :

    o Parts that were added to the list with "Repeat Part" could not be
      added to the artwork part placement tray.

    o Clicking on column headers will now sort the parts list by the
      selected column.

Artwork editor :

    o Pin numbers display did not take into account whether the associated
      component pad was visible.

Circuit Schematic :

    o The datum point of a bus ripper symbol could not be seen once a
      connection had been made to it.

    o If a part contained no terminals, then part allocation data was
      lost after the design had been saved and reloaded.

Design navigator :

    o Duplicate outline names were being created when using the 'Paste'
      operation.

Specctra & Electra optional autorouters :

    o Added browse buttons to the router installation configuration dialogs
      to assist in selection of the work directory and router executable file.

    o Work directory and router executable file paths were being limited to
      55 characters by the configuration dialog.

    o Circular board profiles were being incorrectly output as octagons.
      A circular profile will now be interpolated into 128 segments
      (2 degree steps)


Changed in release 55 (1st September 2008)
---------------------

General system :

    o It is now possible to load designs that were created with any previous
      Ranger product.
      In the file open dialog, select the appropriate "Files of type" value,
      and navigate to the appropriate design file or design index file.

Circuit Schematic :

    o If a design is loaded that has an old style flat schematic, then the
      schematic and its associated device library entries will be converted
      into design blocks within the hierarchical schematic editor.
      Please note that there are major differences in the way that "bus"
      signals were handled in the flat schematic editor and the hierarchical
      editor.  The hierarchical editor uses specially created bus ripper
      symbols to handle busses, whereas the flat schematic editor indicated
      busses by setting wires to "bus width".  The flat schematic compiler
      essentially ignored wires set at "bus width", leaving net node grouping
      by equivalent signal name tags to perform the required connections.
      The hierarchical editor compiler is unable to operate in this manner,
      so all imported "bus width" wires are converted to non-electrical
      features so they cannot be seen by the hierarchical schematic compiler.

      Some schematics with busses will need some manual editing after loading
      if it is desired to recompile the schematic to a parts and net list.
      If recompilation results in errors because multiple signal names are
      found on a net, then it may be necessary to convert more wire sections
      to non-electrical mode to hide them from the compiler.
      A new command :

        Wires->Flat Circuit Import Assist->Toggle Wire Section To Non Electrical

      has been added to the schematic editor.  This permits a section of a
      connection to be switched to non electrical mode thereby hiding its
      connectivity from the compiler.  Please note that this function only
      permits certain wire sections to be converted.  Wire sections connecting
      to component pins and sections which are not the first or last in a
      wire link cannot be changed.
      
    o The system crashed if you deleted a powerpin symbol from a part, or a
      subsymbol from a split part.
      

Design Outputs :

    o It was possible to delete an output task from the navigator while the
      task was open.  This resulted in an immediate crash.
    
    o The right and bottom print margin was incorrect for outputs to the
      MS Windows printer.
    
    o When an artwork layer was output with pads set as filled/drilled, tracks
      were being pulled back from the pad datum point.  This resulted in tracks
      not being picked up when parts were moved.
      

Changed in release 54 (18th August 2008)
---------------------

Gerber Output :

    o When the system output arc tracks to a gerber file, they are approximated
      by a series of straight line segments.  The individual segments were
      calculated to each subtend a fixed 6 degrees of arc around the line
      being plotted.  This worked well in most cases.  However, where an arc
      track is very shallow (huge radius of curvature) this resulted in only
      one straight line segment being output.
      The arc approximation algorithm will now generate as many segments as
      necessary in order that no point on a segment may be more than 0.001"
      away from the true arc position.
      
    o In the sizes table heat relief parameters page, it is possible to enter
      channel width values that cannot be achieved within the stated drill
      range for the entered track width and clearance values.  When a channel
      width is too large, it will be observed in the artwork (with pads displayed
      unfilled) that the heat relief segments appear to turn inside out
      (they look a bit like bow ties).  This does not affect artwork editing
      but is serious if the job is output to Gerber with this misconfiguration.
      Artwork output to Gerber (and other targets) will now check for this
      misconfiguration and raise a warning if detected.

General system :

    o If you created an outline with a comma in its name, the system was
      crashing when you tried to open the outline.
      

Changed in release 53 (11th August 2008)
----------------------------------------

    o The 'Print to File' option for Windows printer outputs did not work.

    o Copy & Paste were not available in the navigator for output tasks.

    o Implemented output batch functionality.

Artwork editor :

    o The artwork checker was giving incorrect results  for designs containing
      custom pads shapes.  (Customer supplied job "3004-07_11-03.rxl" was
      wrongly reporting short circuits)

Circuit Schematic :

    o Find->Part was crashing if you entered a part ident that did not exist.

    o Allocate->ShowFreelist was crashing.

    o When performing a region copy, bus connections were not being copied
      with the correct width applied.
      
    o Region->Paste command was shown as active even if nothing had been
      cut/copied.
      
    o Region Cut/Copy now works correctly between sheets within the same design.
      (Features cut/copied in one design cannot be pasted into another design
       as each design has its own private schematic cut/copy buffer)
       
    o Added 'Show Dependencies' action to navigator right-click menu for schematic
      items.

General system :

    o If a design having an old style flat schematic was saved from within
      XL Designer, then access to the flat schematic was lost if you attempted
      to reload the design in Ranger XL.
      As long as no hierarchical schematic blocks are created in a loaded design,
      any flat schematic will now remain accessible if the design is saved and
      reloaded in Ranger XL.  If heirarchical blocks are created, or schematic
      parts copied into the design, then deleting all of them will reinstate
      access to the flat schematic in Ranger XL.
      
    o Navigator Copy/Paste operations involving schematic design sheets or
      split parts did not work correctly.


Changed in release 52 (17th July 2008)
--------------------------------------

General system :

    o The licensing implementation has been improved to allow for the
      provision of 'schematic only' licenses.  Schematic only licenses
      will only work with this and newer releases of XL Designer.
      
    o Newly issued full system XL Designer licenses which are locked with
      a security key (dongle) will now allow operation of all program
      sections except artwork when the key is unplugged.  With the key
      unplugged, the artwork editor works in view-only mode.  Newly issued
      licenses having this feature will only work with this and newer
      releases of XL Designer.
      Previously issued licenses will continue to work with this version,
      but will not benefit from the ability to detach the key while
      retaining partial operation.

Profile editor :

    o "Grid->Select Origin" did not work.
    
Custom pad editor :

    o "Grid->Select Origin" did not work.
    
    o "Grid->Measure Distances" did not work.
    

Changed in release 51
---------------------

General system :

    o If you selected a net in the navigator pane, and the net had a
      large number of nodes, then the property pane would take a very
      long time to draw.  (A net with > 500 nodes was taking > 30 seconds)
      
    o Navigator "Find in Schematic" for nets was not finding net nodes
      that had alphanumeric pin references.
    
    o Right clicking on navigator standard pad folders now shows an
      "Open Sizes Table" action.  Previously, it was incorrectly showing
      a "New" which created a custom pad.
      
    o Properties pane will now display attributes and power pin information
      when browsing schematic parts in the navigator.
      
    o Clicking on a navigator design parts folder will now cause the properties
      pane to show a count of the number of placed and unplaced parts in
      the design.
      
    o Clicking on a navigator design nets folder will now cause the properties
      pane to show a count of the number of power and signal nets in the design.
      
    o The navigator Nets folder now uses a different icon for power nets.
    
    o Implemented design auto-save.  This must be switched on by ticking the
      option box in the 'File->System Setup' dialog.
      Please note that auto-save does not save changes that are in progress
      on master libraries.
      
    o The selected system inch/metric units mode now gets preserved across
      program sessions.
      
    o Grid snapping state now gets saved with the design.  Also, the state
      is now stored separately for the artwork/profile, outlines, custom pads
      and schematic views within the design.

Design outputs :

    o Plot preview was not being shown correctly for some plots (black screen)
    
    o When the N/C drill output encountered co-incident drill holes, invalid
      data was being placed in the drill data file.
      
Artwork editor:

    o If a directory named c:\temp existed, the artwork checker was creating
      a file called c:\temp\xldebug.txt

Outline editor :

    o 'Outline->Set Outline Datum' command did not work.
    
    o If a design was saved while a component outline was opened for editing,
      then changes/additions to the outline pins were not saved into the
      design file.
      
Parts list editor :

    o Enabled bill of materials output function in the 'View' menu.
      Bill of materials may now be output in the old "RangerXL" report
      style, or in a spreadsheet compatible style with selectable field
      separator.
      
    o Enabled 'File' menu 'Save Parts List as Text' action.
    o Enabled 'File' menu 'Print' action.
    
    o 'View->Show Part UIDs' setting will now get remembered between program sessions.
    
    o 'Edit->Find Part' has been made case insensitive.
    
Netlist editor :

    o Enabled 'File' menu 'Save Nets List as Text' action.
    o Enabled 'File' menu 'Print' action.
    
    o Enabled 'Edit->Find Signal Name' action.
    o Enabled 'Edit->Find Node' action.
    o Enabled 'Edit->Find Unconnected Pins' action.
    o Enabled 'View->Show NETUID Codes' and 'View->Show Minimum Clearances' actions.
    
Demonstration version only :

    o When you load a design that has too many parts or nets for the design
      size limits of the demonstration version, a warning dialog will be
      displayed if you attempt to save the truncated design over the original
      loaded design.
      

Changed in release 50
---------------------

General system :

    o Clicking parts and nets in the navigator pane did not show the correct
      properties information in the properties pane.
    
    o System can now display multiple popup windows for the navigator
      "Find in Artwork" and "Find in Schematic" operations.
      
    o Popup windows for the "Find in Artwork" and "Find in Schematic"
      operations for parts/nets now contain buttons that allow you to
      rapidy go to the identified feature in other views.
      Also, when an information popup is placed on a circuit schematic
      symbol, and the symbol is allocated to a part containing multiple
      elements, the popup will contain buttons to assist in finding
      other members of the same part.
      

Changed in release 49
---------------------

Circuit Schematic :

    o System was crashing when you dropped parts into the fast parts tray.

General system :

    o If you created a new circuit schematic, then compiled it, then opened
      the parts or net list editor, there was no correlation between the
      parts and nets displayed in the navigator pane and their entries in
      the parts/nets editors.  Also, if an artwork was produced, then the
      navigator "Find in artwork" options did not work.
      Normal operation was only obtained after saving, closing and reopening
      the design.
      
    o If you added a part to the parts list by using the artwork
      "Tools->Network->Add Part" function, and then tried to delete the part
      from the parts list editor, then the system would crash.
      
    o Added software reference manual to the Help menu.
    
    o Added online check for product updates to the Help menu.

    o A customer supplied design (BZ821_defekt.rxl) was failing to load because
      a net had a signal name tag that was missing from the signal name
      table. Invalid signal name tags now get cancelled on net loadup.
      The source of the invalid name has yet to be determined.
      

Changed in release 48
---------------------

General system :

    o Popup information windows (eg. identify part, x/y etc) have been
      restyled to be "Balloon" type windows.
      
    o Navigator "Find in Artwork" is now operational for parts and nets.
    
    o Initial implementation of navigator "Find in Schematic".
      This release only contains limited functionality for finding parts
      in the schematic, and does not yet work correctly for parts that
      have multiple elements.


Changed in release 47
---------------------

General system :

    o Added Cadence/CCT Specctra and Konekt Electra optional autorouter interface.
      (To access optional routers, right click on your artwork icon in the navigator.
       Optional routers must be enabled in the File->System Setup dialog in order to
       appear in the artwork icon context menu)

Outline Editor :

    o X/Y readout was not working.
     
Circuit Schematic :

    o The system was crashing if you tried to place a symbol from a split part
      that was located in a master library.
      
      
Changed in release 46
---------------------

General system :

    o Added profile import from AutoCAD DXF file.
    
    o Added artwork import from Gerber file.
    
    o Added parts/netlist import from text file.
    
    o GenCAD export tool was crashing on supplied customer designs.
      (The supplied designs had some pad table definitions where the dimensions
       displayed in the standard pad size editor appeared to be zero, but internally,
       roundoff error had resulted in a very small non-zero value, causing the pad
       output algorithm to fail)


Changed in release 45
---------------------

Outline Editor :

    o System was crashing when you closed an outline that had been opened
      from the master outlines collection.

General system :

    o Added GenCAD 1.4 export tool.
    
    o Added Bath Scientific Limited testpoint generator.


Changed in release 44
---------------------

Outputs Editor :

    o "RS 274X (Extended gerber)" text change was missing from the Gerber output
      non-auto job setup dialog.

    o Added DXF output filter.

    o Added output to artwork layer filter.


Changed in release 43
---------------------

Circuit Schematic :

    o Added wires 0/90 degree lock button to the toolbar, and entry to
      the wires submenu.

    o A horizontal scroll bar will now appear in the fast parts tray if
      the contained text is too wide for the window.

    o It should have only been possible to select "Bus Pin" type on the
      toolbar when editing "User Block" and "Block I/O" symbols.

Artwork editor :

    o When entering powerplane mode, the powerplane toolbar would display
      all powernames that were defined in the power names configuration table,
      even if the power name did not occur in the design netlist.
      After entering the powerplane setup dialog, and closing it again, the
      displayed powername table would reduce to just those power names that
      appeared in the netlist.  This was confusing.

    o In powerplane mode, if you selected a powername in the toolbar, then
      entered powerplane setup mode and switched the toolbar selected power
      name if 'Inactive', then the system would crash after the setup dialog
      was closed.

    o The powerplane preview mode did not repaint correctly.  (After panning/
      zooming, or using the setup dialog, it was necessary to switch preview
      mode off and on again to restore the correct preview display)

    o When using 'Text > Move' mode to move a 'URL' text item, the item was not
      undraw correctly when picked up.

Outputs Editor :

    o In the gerber output configuration dialogs, "Extended gerber" output
      mode has been renamed to "RS 274X (Extended gerber)"

Outline Editor :

    o If you added, deleted, or moved pads on an outline, then the change was
      not visible in the artwork until the design had been saved and reloaded.

Profile Editor :

    o The "View > Drill Holes" mode was only switching on/off the display
      of drill holes, and the part pins were always being displayed.  This was
      different to the behaviour in Ranger XL.
      Also, the menu entry has been renamed to "View > Part Pins" to agree
      with its actual functionality.

General system :

    o When new standard pad sizes were defined with the pad sizes editor,
      the newly entered sizes did not appear in the navigator until the
      software had been terminated and restarted.

    o When windows were resized to extreme aspect ratios, full use was not
      being made of the available drawing area.  (eg. Window > Tile Horizontal
      with several windows open would result in windows that only had partial
      grid coverage)



Changed in release 42
---------------------

Circuit Schematic :

    o Implementation of sheet editor Symbol->Power Place mode.

    o Implementation of 'Region' commands.

    o Implementation of user defined design extractor
      
    o Schematic compiler was causing an "Invalid Argument" error popup to
      appear.  Trying to continue would cause the system to crash.
      
    o Power symbols were vanishing from schematic sheets after a part
      had been placed from a master library.
      
    o If a userblock symbol was deleted from a schematic sheet while a view
      of the design hierarchy was open, the displayed hierarchy was not updated
      and could cause a crash.
      
    o It was not possible to delete parts and user blocks because of warning
      about "dependency checks not coded"

    o When a new part was added to the schematic, allocated, then the circuit
      compiled, artwork silk screen features that had been manually added were
      being deleted.

    o EMC attribute tags were not visible, and the system crashed if you tried
      to apply them.

    o F4(full) and View > Full was not working

    o The split part subsymbol swap rules dialog bar global/local selector
      had no default selection.

    o The RangerXL product uses a separate data section in the design database
      to hold gate and pin swapping rules extracted from library part and split
      parts.  XLDesigner derives its swap  rules directly from the library members,
      and does not require and was not generating this separate swap rules database.
      This resulted in a backward compatability problem when loading XLDesigner
      created designs in RangerXL.
      XLDesigner now generates this missing database.

    o Symbol and pin swap rules setting modes incorrectly showed rule 'circles'
      on placeable power blocks and power block pins.

    o Compiler did not correctly insert EMC attributes into extracted parts
      and nets data.

    o Reinstated the compilation result viewer.
    
    o When connections were inserted onto a blockio symbol pin, the connection
      would not attach correctly to the pin.  (if you picked up the symbol to move
      it, the connection would stay behind.
      
    o Symbol and pin swapping rules should only have been visible for part
      and split-part type symbols.
      
    o It was not possible to specify a typed pin reference to force allocation of
      a split part symbol to a specific subsymbol within the component.
      
    o Pin number assignment did not place a default value in the pin number box.
 

Artwork editor :

    o Corrected memory corruption in gate/pin swap rules handling.

    o Gate and pin swap rules were not being handled for schematic split parts.

    o Parts EMC hilighting mode was not working.

    o Region > Move/Rotate was not updating unroutes.

    o Region > Macro Generate and Region > Macro Add were disabled.

    o User defined via holes were not being displayed.

    o Amend > Enter Pads did not permit entry of user defined via holes.


Custom Pad Editor :

    o DrillHoles > Delete command did not work.

    o The drill size value in the toolbar did not work.


General system :

    o Schematic symbols, outlines etc. now get loaded into the navigator window
      sorted into alphanumeric order.
      
    o Component outline names in the navigator now get forced to upper case
      to be consistent with the parts list editor.


Changed in release 41
---------------------
    (Release not distributed)
    
Changed in release 40
---------------------
    (Release not distributed)
      
Changed in release 39
---------------------

Circuit Schematic :

    o Implementation of the fast-parts tray.

Artwork editor :

    o A design that had custom pads in the free copper section of an outline
      was crashing if the design was saved, then reopened, then attempted to
      open the artwork editor.



Changed in release 38
---------------------

Circuit Schematic :

    o Fixed compiler problem with signal names.
    
    o Fixed display problem with attribute positions on split part subsymbols.
    
    o When a design sheet was renamed, the corresponding symbol entry
      was not renamed.
      
    o Paste buffer was not being cleared at start of a new copy/cut operation.
    
    o When editing a symbol outline, line endpoints could not be released
      after the attributes move command had been used.
      
      

Changed in release 37
---------------------

Circuit Schematic :

    o Implementation of schematic parts & split parts editors.
    
    o Implementation of hierarchy navigator functions.
    


Changed in release 36
---------------------

Design Outputs :

    o Added the hierarchical schematic plot filter.
    
Circuit schematic :

    o Non electrical text strings containing version control markup
      was not being handled correctly.
      
    
Changed in release 35
---------------------

General system :

    o When outlines are imported into a design, and pad/track size code
      translation is required on import, size code 0 will no longer be
      allocated to translated features.

    o If you renamed a circuit schematic library entry, and then moved
      the main application window without first clicking again on a
      navigator entry, a crash occurred.

    o It was not possible to save changes made to the design master libraries.

Outline editor :

    o It was possible to place a pad on an outline when no pad style had
      been selected from the navigator.  A default round pad was being
      displayed, and it was possible to allocate a pin number to it.
      However, the resultant outline was unusable, and could cause a crash
      when trying to add it to the parts list.
      (System will now beep, and display a prompt on the status bar asking
       for the selection of a pad style)

    o When using Region > Copy with pads selected, the system would become
      unresponsive, and consume memory until a crash occurred.

    o Copper > Add/Move Corner would not move corners that had been added in 
      copper lines on copper layers.

    o Copper > Add/Move Corner would not move copper line end points that were
      not attached to a part pin.

Artwork editor :

    o Tools > Network > Add Part was causing a crash. (Problem introduced at
      version 1.34)

    o Tools > Generate Silk Screen caused a crash if you selected insertion
      of free copper features.



Changed in release 34
---------------------

Profile editor:

    o The system was crashing when trying to add a line feature to
      the profile in the master profile library.

General system :

    o It was possible to use "Paste" in the navigator window to overwrite
      a design custom pad, outline, schematic library entry or profile object
      when that object was open for editing.  This resulted in a crash.

Component outlines :

    o When using Copy/Paste to copy outlines between designs and the master
      outline library, required custom pads were not transferred with the
      copied outlines.
      
    o When outlines were imported to a design from the master library or
      another design, the size codes of imported pads and line features
      were not translated if there was a mismatch in the size table
      configurations between the source and destination.
      
    o Outline "families" are now available.  To configure families for the
      outlines in a design, or the master outlines, right click on the
      top level outline folder in the navigator, then choose "Manage Families"
      from the context menu.
      
    o Bulk editing of outline properties is now available.  To invoke the
      editor, right click on the top level outline folder in the navigator,
      then choose "Edit Properties"
      
Artwork editor :

    o "Parts -> Change Outline" command is now available.
    
Parts list editor :

    o Editing the outline name field for a part that is already placed on
      the artwork will now have the same editing effect on the artwork as
      using the artwork editor "Parts -> Change Outline" command.
    
      
Changed in release 33
---------------------

Outline editor :

    o System could crash when creating a new outline.
    
    o When an outline was opened, the autoplacement footprint was not being
      checked to ensure that it encircled the pin bounds.
      
    o Problems with outline corner/move point and free copper corner commands.
    
    o Pad angle control was not working when adding pads.
    
    

Changed in release 32
---------------------

Outline editor :

    o Initial release of component outline editor.
    

Changed in preview release 31
-----------------------------

General system :

    o Circuit schematic, design output tasks, and unreferenced outlines and
      custom pads would be lost from a design if a design was saved without
      any of the above data being first explored in the design navigator.


Changed in preview release 30
-----------------------------

Artwork editor :

    o Back annotation from gate/pin swap and renumbering operations will now
      be propagated to the circuit schematic.

    o The artwork checker did not see size changes made to the sizes table in
      the current artwork editing session.

Circuit schematic :

    o System was crashing if you tried to open a part that had a comma in its name.

Sizes table editor :

    o If you used the function keys to toggle between inch/metric units, the currently
      selected value got corrupted.



Changed in preview release 29
-----------------------------

Artwork editor :

    o System was crashing when you closed the artwork editor for a design
      where Amend->Replace Pad had been used on component pads.
      
    o Pads disappeared if you selected "filled" display mode.
    
    o "Named" unroutes view mode was not working.
    
      
Design Outputs :

    o NC Drill and Rout data output implemented.
    
    o System will now issue an audible beep and display "Plot Complete" on the
      status bar on completion of plot file creation.
      
    o Configure->Move Plot and Keymove Plot were not working.
    
    o Solder Paste setup dialog was failing.
    
    o Drill drawing output was failing.


Changed in preview release 28
-----------------------------

    o First release of Gerber plot implementation.
    

Changed in preview release 27
-----------------------------

Circuit schematic :

    o Symbol->Attribs->Move/Edit etc. was not picking up the correct
      attribute.

    o Wires->Attribs->Add was behaving in an erratic manner.

    o Allocate mode often required a deallocate action before it could
      be made to work.


Changed in preview release 26
-----------------------------

Circuit schematic :

	o It was not possible to make a connection to a block io pin.
	  (This error was reported as "p/w list compiler is not joining nets up through
	   the hierarchy".  A test job had been created, but because the connections
	   would not attach to the block io pins, they had been released over the
	   screen location where the io pin appeared, visually making a connection.
	   However, because the io pin locator had not correctly located the pin
	   as a valid connection target, the connection node was not tagged as
	   connecting to the pin, with the resultant apparent compilation error)



Changed in preview release 25
-----------------------------

Circuit schematic :

    o Circuit schematic was not being saved.
    o Edit -> Preferences dialog now available.
    o Schematic compilation now correctly generates unroutes in the artwork.


Changed in preview release 24
-----------------------------

Artwork editor
    o  Artwork editor now picks up gate and pin swap rules from the
       schematic parts.  Please note that 'split' parts do not yet
       generate gate and pin swap information

    
Initial preview of circuit schematic capture.

Known problems :

    o  Symbol editing mode not yet available.
    o  Design navigation using the hierarchy tree not possible.
    o  When 'find' operations require the opening of another view,
       the find marker is not placed on the correct sheet.
    o  Many problems with 'split' parts and placeable power blocks.
    o  Gate and pin swapping in the artwork does not yet back
       annotate to the schematic.
    o  'Region' commands not yet available.
    o  Undo/Redo not yet available.
    o  Allocation sometimes does not work unless you first do a
       deallocation operation.
    o  Design compilation produces parts and net lists, but unroutes
       may not appear in the artwork editor.
    o  System will crash if you use 'Copy' and 'Paste' on the design
       navigator to copy a schematic design sheet from another design
       into the currently open design.  However, using part place mode
       to insert a design sheet from another open design will cause
       the design sheet and all required dependencies to be correctly
       imported.