AnyRail Model Railroad Forum

General Category => New versions => Topic started by: David on October 08, 2013, 10:05:59 PM

Title: Version 5.10
Post by: David on October 08, 2013, 10:05:59 PM
This version has the following new libraries:
- H0f Busch (Feldbahn)
- H0 Günther Weller (very nice product line: www.g-weller.de)
- O Faller hittrain and e-train

In this new release you can put labels on track items, for instance to name your turnouts.
Check the 'Labels' checkbox in the 'Home' tab to activate this.

A few bugs are fixed, most important:
- 'Cut flex here' had strange results with sections
- Zooming in and out should go a lot smoother

Have fun!

David

5.10.1 Solves the issue with 'Cut flex here' and sections
5.10.2 Solves: TrainPlayer export bug, enabling 'Rotate' button for text, redraw issue with copy/pasted groups after ungrouping them again, keeping radius and angle info of curved flex when cut.
5.10.3 Solves an installation issue on Windows 8.1
Title: Re: Version 5.10
Post by: Mike from CT on October 08, 2013, 11:40:13 PM
Quote from: David on October 08, 2013, 10:05:59 PM


In this new release you can put labels on track items, for instance to name your turnouts.
Check the 'Labels' checkbox in the 'Home' tab to activate this.


I love it.  (It's great for marking spurs with their purpose and would have been for tagging switches to their DCC identifier).

But can we get ability to set font, size or color?  (Actually size is the only one I want.  Okay, and color - I just tried placing a label long label on a short spur in a dark blue section of track....)
Title: Re: Version 5.10
Post by: Tom Springer on October 08, 2013, 11:59:35 PM
I agree that colors and font size for labels are important; try this example to see why.

btw, cut any of the flex tracks in the example; the section (and color) is still lost when doing so.  (Sigh)
Title: Re: Version 5.10
Post by: David on October 09, 2013, 12:13:18 AM
Tom, you are correct about losing the section info, but that's only for a single flex that's cut.
We'll fix that case soon.

David.
Title: Re: Version 5.10
Post by: Tom Springer on October 09, 2013, 12:22:09 AM
Thanks; have every confidence.

fyi, if I have a flex piece with 1 other piece of track attached, it too loses the section/color when the flex is cut; seems the section needs to be 3 pieces not to lose the section status.
Title: Re: Version 5.10
Post by: Nick the Cabin Boy on October 09, 2013, 06:33:58 AM
I also like the labelling function, but, like Mike, would like more control over it.

As a first suggestion, maybe the font size could be set/limited to what fits between the rails?  A choice of colours would be nice, but black would be okay, rather than the default line-colour grey.  I would also like it to align with the track, if possible.

And the zoom is much better!

Thanks, David

Nick
Title: Re: Version 5.10
Post by: David on October 09, 2013, 10:13:53 AM
Tom, the issue with the flex track and sections should be solved in version 5.10.1.
I'm sorry, the fix was not properly included when preparing the release originally.

David.
Title: Re: Version 5.10
Post by: David on October 09, 2013, 10:18:13 AM
About color and font for labels: I didn't need a crystal ball to foretell your wishes :)

Labels are in italics for now, so you can distinguish them from other text.

Labels are autosized so they always fit on the part, and are normally twice the standard size of part numbers. Indeed, the main purpose is labelling for DCC identifiers and such.

David.
Title: Re: Version 5.10
Post by: Tom Springer on October 09, 2013, 11:03:51 AM
Thanks for 5.10.1 !  Problem solved.  Made my day (night). :)
Title: Re: Version 5.10
Post by: Nick the Cabin Boy on October 09, 2013, 11:24:42 AM
Actually, David, I'm not so fussed any more about colour for labels, be they the new ones or the old section labels.  I do wonder, though, whether they could just be black.  I still would like that set-and-forget ability for font and size, though!

Being an ex-programmer myself (dBASE IV, in DOS yet!), I really do appreciate your great talent.  I also strove for uniformity, which is why, to me, the new labels look a bit odd, with their size-to-fit structure.

And, incidentally, that thing with W7 losing the recent files list is still happening, but I don't care any more!  Sometimes I get so many files pinned to the list because they all have some feature that I "may" want to copy over, that it's almost a blessing when you bring out a new version.

Nick
Title: Re: Version 5.10
Post by: santerdam on October 09, 2013, 03:22:32 PM
Quote from: David on October 09, 2013, 10:18:13 AM
.... the main purpose is labelling for DCC identifiers and such.

David.
David,

The labels are indeed very good for identifiers and such. My issue is the addition "and such". My first test gave me a lot of identifiers : Turnout-numbers, Block-numbers, Detection-numbers, and so on. Or even more complex like a Turnout-number and a Detection-number combined for a single turnout.

After a short time my track-example had so many labels that it was very hard to see the track itself. With the 'labels visible' setting I can turn on/off all labels - not selective like 'show turnout-numbers' or 'show detection-numbers'.

Is it possible to group certain labels into layers. Layers are a perfect tool for selective displaying information.

In my opinion color and font for labels are usefull. But in my example above I would like to see selective colors for various types of labels.

Sander
Title: Re: Version 5.10
Post by: QR_Freighter on October 10, 2013, 10:30:40 PM
Thanks David, for the bug-fix for the Back/Forward buttons for user objects.
I even found a few things I'd lost  ;)

Now, if one day I can change the colour of single track pieces without having to add Isolators, I'll be extra happy ;D

Cheers, Neal.
Title: Re: Version 5.10
Post by: Nick the Cabin Boy on November 26, 2013, 07:34:34 AM
I've just come up with an issue regarding the track labels.

When I do a list of materials, the labels show in the list, thus making each example of a labelled part a separate item.  So, instead of "ST-6, N Peco Setrack....  10", I get ten entries "ST-6,Label, N Peco Setrack....  1".

I tried unchecking the Labels box, then doing the list, but it's still there.  Could we please have the option to turn it off when making material lists, or maybe even remove it from lists altogether?

Nick
Title: Re: Version 5.10
Post by: santerdam on November 26, 2013, 06:01:10 PM
Indeed Nick, labels in list of materials looks strange. I can't think of a reason to combine those labels in the list.

David wrote : "Indeed, the main purpose is labelling for DCC identifiers and such.".

The list of materials is more your shopping-list for your track, labels are not important in the list. Having more entries for the same track-article-number is not very nice.

Sander
Title: Re: Version 5.10
Post by: David on November 27, 2013, 09:12:17 AM
Yes, this is an unforeseen side effect of adding the label to each part description.
It will be fixed in the next release.

David.