November 30th, 2010
GUI Design Studio version 4.2 is now available for immediate download. This is a maintenance release with some fixes and changes based on customer requests. It’s a free upgrade for all registered v4 users. Users of v3 and earlier versions can try this version for 30 days or purchase an upgrade.
For customers using version 4.0 or 4.1 of GUI Design Studio, simply install the new version and your existing licenses will continue to work. Be sure to install the correct Professional or Express edition though!
NEW: Play Sound
A simple “Play Sound” Storyboard element has been added for playing small WAV files in response to user actions. There’s also a corresponding new “Stop Sound” element.
Note that this is intended for short ‘system’ sounds and not for playing long audio tracks in multimedia application designs.
NEW: Resize Anchors
Resize Anchors have been added to all elements to automatically re-position and resize contained elements when an element is resized.
Top, Left, Bottom and Right anchors can be set to be Fixed, Proportional or nothing from the “Position” tab of the property editor or by clicking on the new Resize Anchor ‘lollipop’ graphics in the visual editor:
When you select multiple elements, the icons are only displayed on the primary slected element to avoid visual clutter but the change is applied to all selected elements.
You can turn the display of Resize Anchors on and off from the “View” menu or the new Shift+F8 hotkey:
The “Windows Library” has been updated (to v1.2) with Resize Anchors added to Dialog and Message Box custom element widgets allowing them to be easily added to designs and quickly resized from any corner:
…and after a little resizing on just the dialog frame:
Note that this is currently a design-time only feature to help with layout. Elements cannot yet be resized when running the prototype.
NEW: List Box Actions (Professional edition only)
List Box and Check List Box elements now support a few more action variables to allow simple manipulation of the list content:
- .add – Adds a comma separated list of items to the list.
- .addsort – Adds a comma separated list of items to the list then sorts.
- .delete – Deletes the items named in a comma separated list, or:
- assigning the value “{all}” deletes all items and clears the list.
- assigning the value “{selected}” deletes all selected items.
With these additions, it’s now possible to fully prototype designs that can add new items to lists and move items between lists:
Other Changes in v4.2
All editions
- Parenting rules revised. You may see subtle differences when moving elements around in the editor.
- Navigation links are now bubbled up so that clicking on an element that doesn’t have a connection itself will activate the first connection in its parent chain. This makes it possible to create compound elements (such as Buttons) by layering elements and have the outer, background element activate without the top layer elements blocking mouse clicks.
- With bubbled links, Icons can now have direct connections instead of having to be placed on another connected element such as a Toolbar Button as in previous versions.
Professional edition only
- When running the prototype and an element is hidden or disabled, all child elements also become hidden or disabled respectively. This is extremely useful for disabling groups of controls in a form.
Bug Fixes in v4.2
All editions
- Distribution (.gdd) files now open correctly when the machine does not contain a drive with the same letter or path as the original project files from which it was created.
- Table Element drawing fix for certain circumstances.
- Crashes fixed for circumstances where design files are modified externally then refeshed in the editor then undo/redo operations applied.
Professional edition only
- Elements with sub-variables now set their values when first activated instead of when their main value changes. This mainly effects Calendars, List Boxes and Trees.
- Prototype information tool-tips now correctly display conditions containing ‘less than’ and ‘greater than’ signs (‘<' and '>‘) where previously the text might get truncated.
- Combo Boxes now behave better with the transfer of data with their popup when variables are used and when designs are nested within Components.
- Under certain, rare circumstances, during prototype execution when an Edit Box was initially given the keyboard focus, it could appear floating at a distance away from where it was supposed to be. This has now been fixed.
We have some interesting developments brewing for the next few releases. Feel free to leave a comment below and let us know what you think about the new version.