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Docklight Changelog

What's new in Docklight 2.4.11

Mar 28, 2023
  • Fixes and Improvements:
  • Fixed high CPU usage with COM ports. (A Windows 10/11 issue that appeared after release; new version avoids repeated GetCommMask calls which seem to be the cause.)
  • External Editor support for "Visual Studio Code". Improved presets include now extra waiting time to allow the external editor to complete the "save" operation
  • Fixed display bug in Project Settings when switching between baud rate setting "none" and actual baud rates.
  • Fixed display bug when using a Send Sequence with parameters: The documentation area is now updated before the Send Sequence Parameter dialog appears and shows the corresponding sequence documentation.
  • Added checksum types: CRC-XMODEM (corresponds to CRC:16,1021,0000,0000,NO,NO) and MOD65536.
  • Added XOR and CRC-XMODEM to the dropdown list with common checksums.

New in Docklight 2.4.5 (Apr 25, 2022)

  • Fixes and Improvements:
  • New Expert Option: Devices -> "Disable I/O error detection / hotplug feature for COM."
  • Hotplug / auto-recovery was added in Docklight V2.3, but could produce I/O error events with some specific drivers even in normal operation. V2.4 has improvements, plus you can always disable hotplug completely (back to V2.2 behavior).
  • Improved COM port RX timing for devices using Microsoft's standard driver usbser.sys on Windows 10 and higher.
  • Fixed bugs with Project and Sequence Documentation area: wrong sequence index.
  • Fixed bugs with Project and Sequence Documentation area: Tables or other complex documentation parts could get lost after storing/reloading/browsing/editing the project.
  • Fixed bug after removing a USB COM device, then stop and re-start communication in Docklight.
  • Fided rare "Internal comm. processing error" that was possbible in rare overload situations, e.g. after a sleep/resume.
  • Improved checksum preview when Special Function Characters are used.
  • Fixed rare send button display bug: remained pressed when "Channel Alias" option was active.
  • Scripting: DL.OpenProject now correctly uses relative paths like "..myprojectproject1.ptp"
  • Scripting: Added "bigEndian" optional argument for DL.CalcChecksum
  • Scripting: new DL.MsgBox2 method, as a companion to DL.InputBox2
  • Scripting: Improved multiple connections / "side channel" support. Side channel IDs > 4 now correctly supported for COM ports and (multiple) Docklight Tap Pro / 485 connections.
  • Scripting: DL.GetEnvironment("DOCKLIGHT_VERSION") now appends " (Eval)" to the result, if no license key is present.
  • Scripting: UDP connections with SO_BROADCAST and SO_REUSEADDR flags set.

New in Docklight 2.3.0.26 (Mar 10, 2020)

  • Fixes and Improvements:
  • Fixed bug with handshake status indicator box (was not continously updated).
  • Scripting: Fixed bug with DL.SetOutputText when appending text continuously.
  • Content was not limited correctly, now RTF content is limited to approx. 510000 characters.

New in Docklight 2.3.0.23 (Jan 13, 2020)

  • Fixes and Improvements:
  • New features and functions:
  • Project and Sequence documentation:
  • The lower right area of the Docklight main screen is now a documentation area,
  • replacing the previous "Docklight Notepad".
  • Individual documentation can be added to each Send Sequence and Receive Sequence.
  • Collapsable Send/Receive Sequence area to allow more space for the communication window
  • New Receive Sequence Comment Macro %_S can be used to play the
  • default Windows notification sound.
  • Scripting: New DL.SetUserOutput method to create independent output tab for
  • visual user feedback & interaction (using DL.GetKeyState, see below):
  • DL.SetUserOutput(<text>, <rtfFormat>, <append>, <readFromFile>)
  • <text>: The text to use/add. If empty string (""), hide the user output area again.
  • Default is vbCrLf = add line break
  • <rtfFormat>: False (default) = text is plain text. True = <text> is a RTF document
  • <append>: True (default) = add to the existing output. False = replace the existing output
  • <readFromFile>: False (default) = <text> is the actual content. True = <text> is a file path that should be loaded
  • Scripting: New DL.SetWindowLayout method to control the Docklight main window appearance
  • Scripting: New DL.GetKeyState function to obtain current keyboard state,
  • compatible to Windows GetKeyState() API function and documentation. See user manual.
  • Pro Tap / Tap 485 communication scan (baud rate scan):
  • In Docklight VTP channel setting, set baud rate to None (0) to perform a continuous baud rate scan
  • for both communication directions independently. See Docklight User Manual, Project Settings for details.
  • "Start Logging" dialog and DL.StartLogging method now support RTF output format as an alternative to HTML.
  • Use extended syntax DL.StartLogging "d:test", false, "AH", <format>
  • with: <format> = 0 or False : plain text
  • <format> = 1 or True : HTML
  • <format> = 2 : RTF
  • Scripting: DL.ShellRun to launch external application:
  • result = DL.ShellRun(<operation>, <file> [, <parameters>] [, <directory>] [, <showCmd> = 10])
  • e.g. result = DL.ShellRun("open", "notepad.exe", "log_asc.test"). See user manual.
  • Scripting: Multichannel / side channel support for opening additional data streams. See user manual
  • for "Side Channels".
  • Fixes and Improvements:
  • hotplug / reconnect / auto-recovery for COM, HID and TAP connections. You are able to unplug and replug
  • USB devices like USB-to-RS232 interfaces during communication. An error will be displayed during the
  • interruption and communication resumes after reconnecting the USB device.
  • Added LRC-ASCII checksum for MODBUS ASCII applications
  • Fixed Edit Send/Receive Sequence dialog bug on some non-ANSI locales:
  • when switching HEX -> ASCII -> HEX, character codes greater than 7F were changed to 7F.
  • Improved DPI awareness for Windows app size > 150%, basic icon rescaling.
  • Improved printing: communication windows printing now considers margins.
  • Pause detection now possible for smaller times down to 2 milliseconds (mininum setting 0.002 seconds)
  • Communication window font size range 6-32pt, not just 8,9,10 and 12.
  • Experimental extra tweak settings: Expose UART framing errors -
  • Please contact our technical support if you require this setting.
  • New and improved examples, e.g. Modbus RTU.
  • Docklight welcome dialog allows to go to the /Samples folder directly.
  • Custom baud rate selection up to 99 999 999 baud
  • (please consider limitations in Docklight's overall data throughput!)
  • Scripting: USBHID allows product ID PID = 0 now.
  • Scripting: fixed incomplete error handling in V2.2, when DL. function is used as argument for another DL. call.
  • Before the fix, script execution would simply stop, now full error details are shown.
  • Scripting: Minor fix in DL.ResetReceiveCounter to ensure that the receive matching is fully reset.
  • Scripting: DL.AddComment added support for comment macros %_L, %_S, %_T
  • Scripting: FileInput.Dialog and FileOutput.Dialog now support additional fileFilter argument, e.g. "Text Files (*.txt)|*.txt"
  • Experimental Receive Sequence detection options ("packet-oriented", "reset after match"). Please
  • contact support for details.
  • Added checksum specs, LRC-ASCII,LRC,-MOD256 for MODBUS ASCII, POS protocols and others. Extended user documentation and
  • examples. New Modbus example project.
  • Fixed/Improved checksum calculation for variable-length telegrams.
  • Fixed bug where checksum setting was reset after modifying other settings in Edit Send Sequence / Edit Receive Sequence dialog.
  • Fixed crash when using "Detect Checksum = Both OK/Wrong" along with variable-length wildcard areas (using '#' wildcard).
  • Fixed rare problem where Docklight Project Settings dialog takes a long time (> 10 sec) to appear.
  • COM enumeration timeout now 5 seconds.
  • Scripting: "Could not initialize script language: VBScript" problem fixed with earlier V2.2.23 support version in sandboxie.com environment
  • Fixed minor Edit Sequence glitch introduced with V2.3.11 preview

New in Docklight 2.2.8 (Nov 29, 2016)

  • Fixes and Improvements:
  • Windows visual style and high DPI awareness. (No "blurry fonts" with display text size 125% or higher.)

New in Docklight 2.2.4 (Aug 11, 2016)

  • New features and functions:
  • Scripting: "_auto.pts" script convention for automatic script loading & execution along with the project file.
  • Scripting: Extended USBHID channnel options for variable Output Report IDs and size.
  • Send and Receive Sequence List have now a small lock to protect against accidental sequence list reordering.
  • Special educational and promotional license key scheme combining a license key and the license holder's name.
  • License registration dialog now allows deleting/uninstalling the license.
  • Fixes and Improvements:
  • Scripting: USB HID compatibility in Windows 10 fixed. USB HID is now "Shared Access".
  • Scripting: USB HID now correctly indicates when a TX / write output report did not succeed.
  • Mouse wheel support in sequence lists.
  • Keyboard Console now supports ESC key to send ASCII code 27 (Escape).
  • Improved Checksum spec parser and added example for common LRC. "-MOD256" specifier for "data + checksum = 0" style checksum.
  • Fixed bug: On some serial devices with more than 4K serial buffers and high data load, Docklight could crash with "Internal error 1000 in module MdCommunication.printAndLogIntCommData Internal comm. processing error".
  • Fixed bug: When using a certain sequence of opening, closing and re-opening the Control Character Shortcuts dialog, Docklight could crash.
  • Fixed bug: RTS line corrected for Flow Control "RS485 Transceiver Control" and "Hardware Handshaking".
  • Fixed bug: Keyboard Console line break behavior, now CR/LF (or CR only or LF only) is always added correctly.

New in Docklight 2.1.10 (Sep 11, 2015)

  • Checksum calculator, Tap Pro support, faster

New in Docklight 2.0.5 (Feb 15, 2013)

  • Improved COM enumeration

New in Docklight 2.0.1 (Sep 4, 2012)

  • Improved sequence detection
  • Minor fixes

New in Docklight 1.9.21 (May 13, 2009)

  • Docklight Tap support,
  • Milliseconds timestamps,
  • High Priority Mode

New in Docklight 1.6.23 (Jan 29, 2007)

  • HTML help instead of Winhelp to prepare Docklight for Windows Vista
  • Window size correctly remembered after closing Docklight, even when maximized.
  • Font sizes < 10 now allowed (with additional warning)
  • Control characters except CR/LF can be completely suppressed in ASCII display
  • Baud rates up to 9.999.999 Baud can be entered (NOTE: This does not mean
  • Docklight can really process any kind of data at that speed.)
  • Fixed bug: A "CR only" produces an additional line break in HEX, Decimal and
  • Binary display
  • Fixed bug: The keyboard console tool always sets the RTS line to high when
  • typing characters
  • Fixed bug: The DCD line status is not displayed
  • Fixed bug in Docklight Scripting:
  • UploadFile() does not send data if the script contains a DL_OnSend() procedure
  • Fixed bug in Docklight Scripting:
  • RS485 Tranceiver Control does not reset RTS while a script is executed
  • Fixed bug in Docklight Scripting:
  • BREAK state introduces additional spaces in HEX, Decimal and Binary display