This is a simple, but effective update to 1.28. Most notably I added Apple Event support for OpenURL.
(I've done away with the text-only version of the User Manual. Let me know if this causes undue heartache.)
Changes from 1.28:
* Apple Event support for OpenURL. This allows our new World Wide Web client (MacWeb) to hand wais URLs to it. (MacWAIS now has a default Launcher defined for WAIS type HTML -- namely, MacWeb.)
* Added a popup menu to the Preferences dialog that allows the user to select the character transliteration option (i.e., which 'cmap' resource) is to be used in mapping extended characters (i.e., codes >= 128) to Macintosh characters. (Yes, new transliteration tables can be added as 'cmap' resources (to either MacWAIS or the MacWAIS Preferences file). The default is id = 128.)
* Added a "Window At Startup" Preference that has 3 options: None (the default), New (as it used to be), and Dialog (displays the Open Question dialog).
* Fixed a bug in SearchWais introduced as part of the "smart" MaxResDocs allocation added in 1.28. (Thanks to David Inman (David.Inman@cdc.com) for reporting this bug.)
* Modified suGetDirectoryPath so it will present the user with the SFPut Dialog for saving
Sources that have names > 31 characters (even though the "wais-sources" Preference may be set). (Thanks to David Inman (David.Inman@cdc.com) for his help in solving this problem.)
MacWAIS 1.28 Release Note 23Feb94
---------------------------------
A couple of versions have skipped by without my updating the shareware release
for which I apologize. Significant *new* features include: "smart" allocation of
MaxResDocs, and character translation for codes > 128 (it's about time, eh Alberto? :-).
A new version of the User Manual was *not* generated for this release. (But I am
including the Manual generated for 1.26 which is slightly different than that for
1.25.)
Special thanks go to Alberto Arabia (arabia@mathp7.jussieu.fr) for suggesting and testing the addition of extended character translation, and to Nathaniel Lee (than@wais.com) for suggesting and testing the addition of "multi-sources".
Changes from 1.27:
* Made changes to accommodate addition of Type argument to prefs-utils
functions.
* Turned "Smart Link" back on. This may or may not cause problems.
* Modified allocation of MaxResDocs so it's "smarter". Before, MaxResDocs
was evenly allocated amongst all sources. Thus, if MaxResDocs = 40, and a
Question is directed to 2 sources, then each source will have the opportunity to
return 20 result docs. In this example, if the 1st source only returns, say, 2
documents, then there are 18 result docs that'll go unused. Now, remaining docs
are re-allocated amongst the remaining sources. Thus, to continue this example,
the 2nd source, instead of having 20 docs (as initially allocated) will have 38.
* Began adding "multi-sources". (A "multi-source" is a single source file
that contains multiple source descriptions.) They can be viewed, but they can't
be edited. (Currently, when editing a multi-source, changes can only be made to
the head element. A subsequent release will enable the editing of multi-sources
from within MacWAIS.)
* Added ISO-1 translation for characters > 128. (The translation information
is contained in Resource 'cmap', id = 128.)
* Modified ProgressD so BytesPerSec value is updated either every time
additional bytes are received or every second -- whichever occurs first.
* Modified mwdRetrieve so cursor is made visible before search is initiated.
Changes from 1.26:
* Fixed a bug in init_for_source. It was parsing the port string with atoi
-- which yields a 2-byte number. This restricts port numbers to a maximum of
32767. I've changed atoi to atol.
* Added ConfirmMessage function AMUtils.
* Added file-not-found (fnfErr; -43) error handling to DoViewOther. It now
asks the user if s/he wants to manually launch a viewing application.
* Renamed PathNameFromDirID and PathNameFromWD to DirIDToPath and WDToPath
(for consistency). Reordered args to DirIDToWD, too.
* Modified myNCSASocketAbort so it processes events during SP_MISC (which is
called during sock_tcp_connect). This allows processing to be aborted during
socket connects.
* Fixed bug in VScrollToBar so it properly scrolls in the presence of an
updateRgn. Also fixed VFind so it updates an existing updateRgn properly, too.
* Modified DoClear, DoCut, and DoPaste so they mark Question Windows as
having been modified.
* Fixed bug in FilterViewSourceD. (It was swallowing <Return> and <Enter>
key presses without processing them.)
Changes from 1.25:
* Fixed bug in suGetDirectoryPath which incorrectly updated a freshly saved
Source's vRefNum.
* Modified AddLauncher so "Choose Example…" now filters out applications. (A
*common* user error.)
* Added EditLaunchers LDEF. Disabled launchers are now grayed-out (instead
of the hokey '+'/'-' stuff).
* Added additional "View Catalog As:" Preference that queries the user for
the viewing style (i.e., either as text or as a document list). This new
Preference is now the default.
* Modified myTextFilter (used as a dumptextHook) so it doesn't remove tabs.
* Fixed bug in VScrollToBar so it doesn't attempt to copy screen bits when
there's an existing updateRgn.
MacWAIS 1.25 Release Note 27Sep93
---------------------------------
MacWAIS 1.25 includes one important new capability; namely, a Preference that
specifies where temporary files are stored. (Before, this was the folder
from which MacWAIS was started.) The obvious application is locating MacWAIS
on a read-only volume. (This new feature was "encouraged" by
Pascal.DEGIOVANNI@enslapp.ens-lyon.fr :-).
As before, updates to the MSWord version of the User Manual have been designated by
change bars in the right-hand margin. Thanks to Patrick Hoepfner (hoepfner@heasfs.gsfc.nasa.gov) the size of the User Manual has shrunk dramatically (e.g., ~550k). The reason? MSWord's "Fast Save" option (which, heretofore, I was using). It simply appends changes to the end of the file!
Changes from 1.24:
* Added a Temp File Folder Preference allowing MacWAIS to be stored on a read-only
volume.
* Fixed bug in Select Sources and Edit Source dialogs that prevented the initial
filesystem folder from being correct (it would wrongly select the Desktop).
* The names of retrieved Sources now have trailing filesystem paths removed.
* Modified Prefs file creation so it has the correct type and creator.
* Modified local file retrieval so it can handle files > 32K.
MacWAIS 1.24 Release Notes 07Sep93
----------------------------------
MacWAIS 1.24 includes two important new capabilities. First, it is no longer dependent
on Color QuickDraw (which it was *only* by oversight) so it now runs on "Classic"
QuickDraw Systems (i.e., PB100, SE, etc.). Second, it now can search Local sources (i.e., indexes that reside locally). (The documentation doesn't reflect the local search capability (sorry, Ann!) -- I'm going to change the Source interface to incorporate this new capability. When I do, the documentation will change.) And, as a plug, I'm working on porting the indexer to the Macintosh. I've got the basic port done (and it works!), I'm now working on the UI. More details at a later date.
Updates to the MSWord version of the User Manual are designated by change bars in the
right-hand margin.
MacWAIS 1.24 is roughly 90K *bigger* than 1.23. It grew because I migrated to the
new ThinkC 6.0 development environment, and there are bugs with "smart" linking; so,
I turned that option off (which results in a larger executable).
Changes from 1.23:
* New, underlying socket library. This, plus some other modifications, have increased
download capability by ~2x.
* Removes Color QuickDraw dependencies. MacWAIS now runs on Classic QuickDraw
Systems (PB100, SE, etc.). (Reported by Sami.Tikka@hut.fi, Kent Kalnasy
(kkalnasy@bvu-lads.loral.com), and Jonathan Brecher (brecher@mac.archive.umich.edu).
Thanks for the reports -- sorry for the incompability!)
* Allows searching of Local sources. (Note: Local sources can ONLY be specified by
manually editing the Source description. The host":ip-name" line should be removed,
and the ":database-name" should be the Macintosh pathname to the index file. This
will ultimately become specifiable directly in MacWAIS.)
* In the Select Sources dialog, Selected Sources may be deselected by first highlighting
them and then pressing Delete. (The documentation has been updated to reflect this
addition.) (Suggested by Harry Morris (morris@wais.com).)
* Miscellaneous shortcuts added to dialogs (e.g., cmd-D means "Don't Save").
How do I install it?
------------------
MacWAIS and the wais-sources folder may be located anywhere on your hard disk. Once MacTCP is installed, MacWAIS is ready to go!
What do I do if I have questions and/or problems?
---------------------------------------------
Send email regarding questions, problems, or suggested enhancements to mac-shareware@einet.net.
Acknowledgments
----------------
Special thanks go to the following people and organizations for their help in the development of MacWAIS: the Electronic Power Research Institute (EPRI), Gerry Brown, Jim Matthews, Rodney Robertson, Paul Rutz, and Archie Warnock.
