What's new in OpenBMD 0.2.6 PreAlpha
Dec 23, 2011
- Compiled the DistrictList file to include over 18,000 official districts,
- alternate spellings and volume numbers.
- Added two main helper methods to aid district transcription:
- Districts are suggested as they are typed. Tabbing out of
- a cell with a suggested district will auto-complete the district and
- volume number in the respective columns.
- Pressing the down arrow key on a cell with a suggested district will
- call a pop-up menu showing a list of suggested districts. Selecting one
- will auto-complete the district and volume number in the respective
- columns
- Districts which aren't found in the district list file can be typed
- manually.
- The manifest file now directs the packager to include the district
- file is packaged as part of the distribution.
- Fixed the get_district_picklist method - it now converts the string
- 'year' to a numeral to get at the appropriate volume set.
- Manually set the column widths to optimise the space provided.
- Debugged some more code to prevent recursion errors and to optimise
- data entry.
New in OpenBMD 0.2.5 PreAlpha (Nov 11, 2011)
- Version control is now handled using GIT.
- Added a method called 'editor_text' to gather in real time, what district the user is typing into the active cell editor. This information will be used to generate a filtered list of districts for the user to select from.
- The 'check order' method now properly looks at forenames and ignores the forename cell on the last row if it is blank - i.e. the user has typed a new entry.
New in OpenBMD 0.2.4 PreAlpha (Oct 20, 2011)
- Continued work on the district picklist:
- Gathetered together the 'official' district and volume numbers from the FreeBmd site for all districts beginning with the letter A.
- Looked at the best way to present this district picklist to the user to select from. So far the options I've looked at are using the built-in 'GridCellChoiceEditor' (a type of combobox) or to have a custom pop-up menu triggered on each keystroke.
New in OpenBMD 0.2.3 PreAlpha (Oct 13, 2011)
- Data entry improvements:
- Extended the capitlise method to handle names punctuated with
- full stops and names with apostrophies, e.g. derek c.n.d. is
- automatically capitalised to Derek C.N.D, and o'brien is
- capitalised to O'Brien.
- Modified the capitalise method to ignore the +PAGE, +BREAK,
- COMMENT and #THEORY entries.
- Modified the check_order method to ignore the +PAGE, +BREAK,
- COMMENT and #THEORY entries.
- The check_order method now checks all entries for surname and
- forename alphabetical order every time an entry is added or
- updated. This is useful where a user adds a new row entry
- in the middle of a range which affects the sequence validity
- of entries below the new addition, or where a change to an
- entry has an effect on the sequence elsewhere.
- Pressing shift+tab on the surname column 'wraps' up to the
- previous row - mirroring the 'wrap' down feature implemented
- previously.
- Started work on the district picklist.
- Bug fixes:
- File opens and saves are now reported to the terminal /
- command line interface with the correct time. This fixes the bug
- where the time reported was when the application was run.
New in OpenBMD 0.2.2 PreAlpha (Oct 6, 2011)
- Data entry:
- Extended the method handling the notification of sequence errors so that it now updates the status bar with a short message.
- Changed the character set encoding of the application to utf-8, which means users can enter characters outside of the standard ASCII set (127 characters). This is important for names that contain 'non-standard' characters.
- Included a capitalize method which add 'proper' capitalization to entries. This means that names entered in lowercase are automatically converted to propercase, e.g. 'dennis r.' is converted to 'Dennis R.', and any leading or trailing spaces are removed. It even works for names like McCoy and d'Aubigné.
- File input and output:
- .bmd files are now saved using utf-8 character encoding instead of the default locale defined by the operating system. This preserves characters inputted to the grid that are outside of the ASCII character range.
- Imported the codecs module to handle character set conversions for file saves and opens; all string comparisons are done internally in Unicode.
- Bug fixes:
- Modified the name sequence checking method so that it is not case-sensitive, addressing issues whereby names in lowercase were considered to precede names with proper capitalization even though they lexically come afterward, i.e. 'xavier' < 'Addams'.
- Fixed the problem in Windows where tabbing onto a new row caused the cell cursor to disappear behind the column label. * Fixed a bug causing the capitalise and check_name_order methods to be skipped when the user tabs into a new row.
New in OpenBMD 0.2.1 PreAlpha (Sep 29, 2011)
- Added methods for the handling of grid data:
- The row delete method was expanded so that several rows can now be deleted at the same time using the context menu on the row labels. This method is able to handle sequential and non-sequential grid rows.
- Included a method to handle clearing the of data from rows (without deleting the rows themselves). This method can also handle cell selections (individual and blocks of cells). This method is accessible from a context menu from the row labels and grid cells.
- Added / improve methods for easing data entry:
- Surnames and forenames are checked for alphabetic consistency when the user tabs out of the cell. If an entry is found to be out of alphabetic order the cell background is colored red and a tool-tip added to give a description of the error. The cell background and tool-tips are reset when the entry is corrected.
- Added context menu entries to permit the insertion of +PAGE, +BREAK, #COMMENT and #THEORY rows, and modified the row highlight method to include these entries.
- Adding a +PAGE row via the context menu automatically inserts an incremented page number.
- Added a method that automatically copies the previous surname or forename if the user tabs through an empty cell. This will help to speed up the rate of entry transcriptions.
- Fixed file input and output:
- Fixed the bug causing a file-naming dialog to appear every time the .bmd file is saved - even when the file already has a name. Now, this dialog only shows when saving a .bmd file for the first time or 'save as' is selected. Fixed the bug causing rogue +PAGE entries being added to .bmd transcript files on save.
- Added a method to notify any unsaved edits in the current file by appending an asterisk to the filename in the window title, e.g. 'openBMD (1938B1A0001.bmd *)' This marker is removed once the file is saved again.
New in OpenBMD 0.2.0 PreAlpha (Sep 28, 2011)
- Added an event handler to the grid to catch key down events:
- Tabbing to the end of the current row moves the cursor to the beginning of the next row.
- Tabbing at the bottom-right of the grid creates a new row and places the cursor at the start of the newly-created row.
- Added a context (right-click) menu to the row labels:
- Highlights the selected row.
- Gives the user the choice to delete the row or insert a new one.
- Added an event handler and event method to deal with deleting a row
- Other changes:
- Populated the grid with nine rows of sample data taken from a scan of the index of Births from Q4, 1938.
- Expanded the BMD_File module so that it includes grid entries in the saved .bmd file.
- Fixed two bugs whereby the scan source and page number are printed twice in the header lines of the saved .bmd file.
- Added in a method to read an opened .bmd file and populate the transcription_details and transcription_page widgets with the information. This now means that .bmd files can be created, saved and then re-opened at a later stage.
New in OpenBMD 0.1.8 PreAlpha (Sep 16, 2011)
- Continued work on the transcription page:
- Added a class to handle the wx.grid instance in the lower pane of the transcription page - this will be where the user does most of their transcribing activity.
- Added column labels to the wx.grid.
New in OpenBMD 0.1.7 PreAlpha (Sep 9, 2011)
- Started work on the transcription page; where the user will do most of the work of transcribing entries.
- Added a splitter window to allow flexible viewing of the transcription scan and the data entry fields.
New in OpenBMD 0.1.6 PreAlpha (Sep 2, 2011)
- Continued work on the class to handle reading and writing of .bmd files.
New in OpenBMD 0.1.5 PreAlpha (Aug 25, 2011)
- Added event methods for the edit menu items (undo, redo, cut, copy, paste). Added file dialogs to handle opening and saving of files (though they're not functional yet - still require methods to read and write .bmd files)
- Removed the filenaming methods out of the Main_Frame class and placed them in the file writing class
- Fixed the bug that prevented loading the logo and icons when run under linux.
New in OpenBMD 0.1.4 PreAlpha (Aug 18, 2011)
- BMD transcript files are automatically named from the information given in the 'transcription details' page. They follow the format: Year | Event type initial | Quarter number | Volume letter | Page No.bmd, i.e. 1945M2W0428.bmd
- Added validation to the page field to accept either numbers in the range 1 to 9999, or the occasional alphanumeric pages from 0001A to 9999Z.
- Added validation to the volume letter field to accept only alpha characters. Continued work on the file writing class to write the header fields to the .bmd file.
New in OpenBMD 0.1.3 PreAlpha (Aug 11, 2011)
- Added on-change event to the media combobox on the transcription details page that deactivates either the 'Reference', 'Range', or 'Number' fields dependent on what option was selected. This is to help make data entry quicker, easier and more self-explanatory.
- Started work on the class to write the header fields to the .bmd file.
- Designed a logo to accompany this project.
New in OpenBMD 0.1.2 (Aug 11, 2011)
- Finished laying out the transcription details entry fields in a more user-friendly and logical fashion.
- Added the ability to read and write to a config.cfg file for long-term storage of user-entered information.
- Added tooltips to entry fields to advise what the fields are requesting and to
- improve user-friendliness.
New in OpenBMD 0.1.1 (Aug 11, 2011)
- Re-factored the validation methods to classes in their own module.
- Started redesigning the transcription details page to make it more user-friendly.