Alban Nanty

Thank you Missouri for this details description of the 1.6.1 release. Now I will start implementing the new features for the 1.7 release, which may not appears before several months, because I plan a lot of work for the next release. Bye.

Hi, The version 1.6.1 is online. http://bluebrick.lswproject.com/ Don't hesitate to report any bug. Bye.

This is not systematic, but it may happen that I release soon after a major release another minor release that fix the bugs introduced in the major release and found by the users. In the 1.6 version an anoying bug on the new snapping method was found. Therefore I estimate that this bug harm the main new feature of the 1.6 release. So yes, I may release the 1.6.1 version soon. Bye.

Hi, This is a quite original margin you try to create. Because you want to place the train on the track and the train is smaller than the rail. Usually the margin is a margin that comes inside the part, but here, you want to add a margin outside the part. Since the margin is supposed to be positive when it is inside the part, you can actually add a margin outside the part with a negative value. So to solve your problem you should write: <top>-0.5</top> <bottom>-0.5</bottom> Which means give a -0.5 margin to both top and bottom. Bye.

Ok I just fixed the bug I mentionned above in one line of code. I will wait a bit longer to see if new urgent bug arise and will probably release an 1.6.1 version in few days. Bye.

Hi, I'm glad to here that you like the new snapping! For your question, actually it depends if you're dragging a part from the library or not. 1) If you are dragging a part from the library, the selected conection point (the red one) is always the first one in the XML file. So this is working the way you want if you try to connect to the bottom of the joint, but not working if you try to connect from the top of the joint. But I cannot think of a proper solution for now. I may need to think more deeply to see if I can find some logic. 2) Now if you are moving an already placed part on the layout, the current connection point (the red dot) will be automatically updated according to where you click on the part. The red dot will be updated to the closer free connection point from your mouse click. Then this red dot is used for the snapping. So you should always try to grab your part from the side you want to connect to. BUT: I just tried now, and it seems the snapping is a a bit bugged if you change the current connection point and try to snap in the same drag'n'drop. It's better then to first click and release to change the current connection point, then grab and move the part. Thanks for letting me find this bug, I will fix it in a future release. Hope it helps! Bye.

Hi, The version 1.6 is released! Enjoy!

Hi Mike, Yes you're right, I was a bit harsh saying that. Sorry if I offend you. It is true that, for now, I don't plan to implement scrollbar, and I'm not excited about implementing them. I've sometimes had to implement scrollbar for some software I've develop for my job, and it was always painfull. The API of scrollbar is not convenient and always throw exceptions. Since I truely think that the pan and zoom feature is convenient enough, and since I've still a lot of other features I need to add, I don't want to spend some time on developing the scrollbars for now. But maybe in a far furture, if nothing more interresting end up on my todo list, I may take some time to implement them. Bye.

Hi, For now, I've received the Dutch and Spanish translation and they are integrated. If you know the other BlueBrick translators (Italian, German, Portuguese) because maybe they are in your LUG, don't hesitate to give them some pressure I still plan to release the version 1.6 this weekend. Bye.

Unfortunatly, I will not implement the scrollbars because they are against the philosophy of the Editor. If you already have open 3DSMax, Maya or even MLCAD you will notice that there's no scrollbar, and you don't complain because there's no scrollbar in MLCAD, right? Why? Because you don't need it when you edit an infinite world without boundaries, instead of moving the document you move the view. To solve your problem, use the middle mouse button (click on the wheel and move the mouse), just like in MLCAD. Bye.

Hi, I've finished the big changes I wanted to do for the 1.6 version. The version now enters into its testing days to be sure of the statibily and to find the potential bugs that would be introduced by the refactoring. Meantime, I've sent the new translation changes to all the translators and I'm now waiting for their feedback. You can expect the release in less than 2 weeks. Bye.

Hi, Just a message to tell you that I've finished the implementation of the support for multiple Track Designer Registry. That's greater than you can imagine, because that means BlueBrick can becomes a CONVERTER of TDL files written with different registry: imagine you have created a TDL with the registry used inside your LUG/TLC then you want to share this TDL with another AFOL used to use another TD registry. Before your friend also had too download your registry. Now with BlueBrick 1.6, you will be able to load the TDL file and save it again, it will then be saved for the current registry used on your machine. Bye.

I'm very glad to hear that! I'm very happy to feel that I (and "we", including all the contributors) am doing usefull stuff for some people. Don't hesitate to share your layout after the event (to keep some suspens for the event day), at least a screenshot

Ah yes, sorry for the mistake.

Hi, A new post to tell you that I'm still hardly working on the next version (1.6), but I don't have a release date in mind for now. I finally managed to implement the missing feature that everybody was waiting for (even if you didn't know you were waiting for it): a smart part snapping for bricks that have connection points. I also improved the grid snapping that was a little buggy. You can ask missouri for his feelings about these new features. It took me 3 days to make it work just fine. I hope you will like it Bye.

Sorry no, I don't save these informations in the config file of the application. I will add your request in the feature request list. Bye.

Thanks a lot! Yes I plan to also add some links to download packs, like I mentionned before. The part tracker will be mainly usefull if you search one specific part/set. Bye the way, I totally reworked the website and just uploaded a totally new version, with a menu bar on top. This way the navigation will be normally improved and this let me rooms to add more info in a more organized way. Don't hesitate to visite the website again and give feedback.

I've decided to create a part tracker on my web site. It's available here: http://bluebrick.lswproject.com/partracker.html Please try and tell me if you can access it and if it is working properly It is written in PHP so the only thing I need to do is just upload the new parts (or update them) to the server, and then all the info are updated on the website. The PHP code parse the folder and also parse the XML files to get the infos. Later, I will add a search box, where you can type a part number to find the part quickly. What do you think? Do you think it is handy?

Hi, My concern about all these great gifs, is that the software will become too big to be pratical to download. I think people will be annoyed to download the software if the database is too large. Also I don't want to loose the focus of the software, which is making easily some layout with a strong emphasis on exhibition layout (even if I'm very happy to see all the good stuff people do with it). That's why I would like to propose the software with a basic part database that contains all the necessary parts for the preparation of a train show layout, and then propose as a separated download, different package for completing the part database. To follow this direction, I will probably remove the DUPLO parts from the basic database and propose all the DUPLO parts as a separated dowloadable file. Also the space theme could have the same destiny. Finally, why am I saying that? Because the trains/loco you just propose could also becomes a separated downloadable pack. We may also probably reduce a little bit the number of sets, but for that I need your help. What in your opinion should be in the default library included with the software? I already know that I want all the parts of TrackDesigner for an easy support, but then for the sets, I would be please to here your opinion, or maybe we can organize a poll. Bye. Hi, For this one, I would suggest to turn the yellow flags inside the baseblate to avoid unnessessary margin on the right. Bye.

Hi, Actually, for the mid november release, I hope we could be compatible with the 0.9f version of the registry extension for Track Designer (see http://www.freelug.org/article.php3?id_article=227 or http://www.novalug.ca/cgi-bin/index.cgi?ac...=tools&id=3 for reference), so if there is any part missing from this list in BlueBrick, I would be pleased if someone could produce it for the next release. Thanks. Bye.

Hi, The version 1.5.1 is online and does nothing more than fixing the rotation bug. Bye.

Hi, Finally, I highlighted even more the grabbed part. Also I just remember that this is the part that is used for the snapping on the grid or with free connection point. So for example if you grab a portion of track by a straight rail in the middle of the portion, then this is this rail that will be aligned on the grid. The double highlight of the grabbed part would normally make better understand that this is actually the part that is snapped to the grib or connected to the other parts. Bye. PS: I also improved the highlight (I finally found how to do the way I always wanted to do)

Good news Stefan, the bug is fixed. I will send you in private a version for test, then you can expect to see the version 1.5.1 be released in few hours (at least before the end of this weekend). After that I will start to work on the other important features for the 1.6 version. Bye.

Hi, Yes that could be a convenient feature. Bye.

Hi, I will probably not implement the button Stefan requested, since I already have this kind of feature but in a different way, as I explained and Stefan already experienced. However, I will - Fix the bug of the orientation - Improve the feedback such as the user can discover the feature by himself without needing to read the doc or read this forum. To improve the feedback, I plan to display some red dots around the free connections point of the part that is connectable. The connectable part will be the closest part from the mouse grab, that have free connection points. That way the user will discover that by grabing in different place the connectable part changes, and finally he will click directly on the part he wants to connect. So, thanks again for your Feedback Stefan, this will improve dramatically this very handy and important feature. Bye.