Version 1.5.0 (20-Mar-2013) --------------------------- - Connect dialog: do not enable the 'Open' button until a valid entry has been selected from the list. - Connect dialog: double-clicking on an entry does the same as clicking the 'Open' button. - Nuclide library: fixed (hopefully all) decimal point problems when reading .nli files in systems that use comma (or something else) as decimal separator. - Main toolbar: after connecting, set the Start and Stop buttons according to the current MCA acquisition status. - Main toolbar: set the Lin/Log buttons according to the current display mode (bug fix: the 'Start' action always depressed the 'Lin' button even if the current mode was Log) - Keep ROIs in sync between the two dataplot objects (zoom mode). - Bug fix (bReadNucFromFile): when reading nuclides from a library, the first entry was always ignored. - Bug fix: when loading an ROI file, the first entry was ignored. - Nuclide library files names are now NuLib.dat, NuLib.idx and NuLibE.idx. - File open dialogs: fixed filter for 'All Files' (must be *.*). - Manual calibration dialog: ask the user for confirmation before leaving the dialog. - Settings dialog: added a 'Store' button to save settings into device's EEPROM. - On connect, read calibration parameters stored on device. Every time the calibration is changed, store the new parameters on the device. - MCS mode: set the number of channels using the correct MCA parameter. - Dataplot: the mouse wheel can now be used to move the cursor in fine steps. - Clearing the spectrum now fully clears the display. Clicking on the clear button when the acquisition is active now clears both the spectrum and the time. - Add ROI from file: fixed error message ("Key not unique in colection") that appears when opening a new library right after another one was loaded. - Nuclide library editor: fixed error message ("Key not unique in collection") that appears when trying to add a line that already exists in the library. - Adding ROI from nuclide library: the dialog now accepts fractionary values in the FVWM box. - When setting a MCS window from a nuclide emission (Settings dialog -> MCS -> Setup), if the 'Preview' option is checked, the selected entry no longer loses the selection when the FWHM value is changed. - In MCS mode, the current channel is displayed in the status bar during acquisition. Version 1.5.1 (21-Mar-2013) --------------------------- - When in MCS mode, the X axis units are now displayed correctly as 'Time', and not as 'Energy'. Version 1.5.2 (26-Mar-2013) --------------------------- - The print function now allows the user to select a printer other than the default one. - Ensure ROI information is up-to-date before printing a report. - When loading a file, read the saved hardware parameters so they can be output to the report. Version 1.6.0 (26-Apr-2013) --------------------------- - Preferences dialog: make sure that it always appears with the first tab selected. - Preferences dialog: added the option to remember the last detector used and to open it automatically the next time the program is started. The HV can also be turned automatically ON if desired. - Added the option to launch an external program to process the currently acquired spectrum. The spectrum is saved to a user-defined data directory; the external program is run using user-specified arguments. Use %D in the argument string to specify the data directory, and %F for the file name. Version 1.6.1 (30-Apr-2013) --------------------------- - When connecting automatically to a detector on startup with automatic turning of the HV ON, the checkbox of the settings dialog was not being updated. - Preferences dialog: changed the 'File Prefix' option in the 'Procesing' section to 'File name'. The file to be processed will be saved with the name specified here, if no extension is given .spe is assumed. Note that the file will overwrite, without any warnings, any existing file with the same name. A %T macro can be specified as a part of the filename, and it adds a timestamp string so files will be saved under a different name each time and no overwriting will occur. - Changed the 'Connect' dialog. The 'Search' button is now gone, and the dialog now checks periodically for new devices to appear and updates the listbox accordingly. Requires DIMHW.DLL version 1.1.0.1 or newer. Version 1.6.2 (07-May-2013) --------------------------- - Use better numeric format for the calibration factors in the report. - Numbers in the .spe file are now always saved in language-neutral format ("C" locale). - When the autoconnect mode is enabled, the program will keep trying to connect to a device until the connection succeeds or the operation is explicitely cancelled (before, a single attempt to connect was made and an error message was shown in case of failure). This change was done to guarantee a reliable connection when the bMCA program is started automatically at Windows boot time (e.g. via a shortcut in the StartUp folder): after the opertaing system restart, the bMCA application was often launched faster than Windows had time to enumerate USB devices and thus the connaction failed. Version 1.6.3 (24-Jun-2013) --------------------------- - Fixed a bug that caused the application to crash if an ROI was specified with the starting channel equal to zero. - When launching an external application, set the startup/default drive and directory to the user-specified data path. Version 1.6.4 (01-Jul-2013) --------------------------- - Preferences dialog: the user can now enter an explicit 'Start in' directory specification for the external processing application. If the field is left empty, the external application will be started where the bMCA binary executable resides. The special %D macro can also be specified, which will expand to the specified data directory. Version 1.7.0 (04-Sep-2013) --------------------------- - Addition of spectrum throughput (cps) to report and spectrum display - Implementation of the new Preset Modes available in the latest bMCA firmware: a) (standard) on Time (live or real time) b) On Counts within a region in the spectrum c) Both: Time or Counts (whichever is reached first) d) "Count forever" - Implementation of "Use ROI" for getting the current ROI boundaries for Preset Counts from existing ROIs in the spectrum - Neccesary changes to the report and main program window to show the correct preset - Addition of a new panel (4th panel) in the status bar for displaying Preset mode and its value - The Settings window has a new layout to better display all controls when working at low screen resolutions - Limit the data entry in the Settings to numeric only, and with decimal separators if required. - Negative values are not displayed when showing ROI calculation results. Version 1.7.1 (08-Apr-2014) --------------------------- - The program now saves in the .SPE file the actual acquisition start time instead of the spectrum saving time. NOTE: for this to work properly, the application must be kept running while the acquisition is active. If the application is closed and restarted sometime later to check an ongoing MCA acquisition, the original acquisition start time will be lost. - The spectrum acquisition time is now indicated in the print report under the 'Data acquisition' section. Version 1.7.2 (10-Apr-2014) --------------------------- - Bug fix: the acquisition start time was not being updated when the 'Clear' button was used while an acquisition was active. Version 1.8.0 (16-Jun-2014) --------------------------- - Added an spectrum ID string that can be used to identify the measurement. The ID is displayed, entered and/or edited in the rightmost box of the info bar, below the toolbar. The value entered is saved in the $SPEC_ID section of the .SPE file and is printed in the 'Data acquisition' section of the report. - Bug fix: after stopping an acquisition the status bar did not always get updated properly, and the "Acquiring" message remained visible until an explicit Clear was done. Version 1.8.1 (27-Aug-2014) --------------------------- - Bug fix: close UDP socket when the 'Connect' dialog is closed, otherwise it will prevent other instances of the application from finding Ethernet devices. - Bug fix: when the auto-connect feature is enabled and the 'Also turn the HV ON' option is unchceked, the 'Connecting...' window remained active even after succesful connection. - Fixed the crash that happened when the application window was resized such way that the 'Spectrum id' entry box no longer could be displayed. Version 1.8.2 (27-Jan-2015) --------------------------- - Support up to 16384 channels (Topaz-X, Topaz-HR). - Display ICR on status bar if function supported by the MCA. Version 1.8.3 (19-Mar-2015) --------------------------- - ROI information panel: display keV and CPS values on separate lines to avoid truncation of large values. - Fixed an overflow problem in CPS computation that caused the application to crash after long acquisitions (the sum of all channel values exceeded the range of VB6 Long type). Version 1.8.5 (9-Apr-2015) -------------------------- - Implemented a Batch-mode data acquisition with several options/parameters, including: * Option for specific number of acquisitions, or Run Batch until Stop * Automatic saving (in full SPE format) of the acquired files * Clearing of spectrum after each acquisition completes (for the moment fixed always to TRUE) * Launch “Process” after each acquisition. NOTE: no feedback is expected or received when the Process function is executed. * Specification of a subdirectory for storing data files from the Batch. * Option for including a “Wait” step and the Waiting Time (in sec) - Added the corresponding Batch setup dialog. - Added additional GUI elements to the main application window to show the current Batch mode and status: * Menu entry added to the MCA menu. * Group box added to the side panel. * A “(Batch)” mark is shown in the status bar - Synchronization of the main application window when operating in Batch mode and/or normal acquisition. - Changed the way the .SPE spectrum is saved to match the originally-proposed IAEA specification, as some commercial programs are very strict when reading this format and will refuse to load it if the format diverges a little from the expected: * The '$DATA:' block now saves 8 channels per row (before it was 1 channel/row) * Added a '$MCA_CAL:' data block for storing energy calibration (some programs use this block header instead of '$SPEC_CAL:') - Corrected the behavior of the “Clear” toolbar button when not connected to device (was left enabled). Version 2.0.1 (3-Aug-2015) -------------------------- - Switched to the new USB driver and DIMHW.DLL (now using libusb-1.0). - RT, FT and PZ values are now automatically calculated according to the ADC sampling rate of the MCA, so they are correct for the newer families as the Topaz-X. - Automatic detection of new bMCA and Topaz-X features (ICR, LT trim factor, PUR guard, etc.). The new settings can be now adjusted via the 'Advanced Settings' dialog. - ICR, if supported by the deivce, is now displayed in the status bar at the bottom of the main application window. Version 2.0.2 (12-Nov-2015) --------------------------- - Fixed a problem in DIMHW.DLL that caused the application to crash on startup if the 'autoconnect' option was enabled. Version 2.1.0 (7-Mar-2015) -------------------------- - Fixed a problem in the Advanced Settings Dialog: wrong TRP and PUR guard values where sent to the MCA when applying changes. - Added support for extended acquisition status values. - Expanded the Advanced Settings Dialog to support the programmable GPIO features of the Topaz-X and. - The application now properly detects 'Waiting' and 'Suspended' acquisition states when external acquisition control is enabled. Version 2.2.0 (26-Apr-2016) --------------------------- - Disable the 'File/Open' option when a connection to the MCA is active. Version 2.2.1 (21-Dec-2016) --------------------------- - Fixed Topaz-Pico Ext I/O detection problem. - The 'Apply' button of the Setings dialog now also calls the Apply function of the Advanced Settings dialog to ensure all the settings are synchronized. Version 2.3.1 (29-Jun-2017) --------------------------- - The application now remembers on exit the size, status (maximized/minimized) and position of its main window on the screen, so next time the application is started it re-appears on the same sopt. - Fixed the ToolBar, StatusBar, and ZoomIn/ZoomOut checkmarks of the View menu on startup. Now they reflect the correct application status. Version 2.3.2 (22-Oct-2017) --------------------------- - Undone the size/position remembering (Version 2.3.1) as it causes the application to crash under Windows 10. Version 2.3.3 (6-Nov-2017) -------------------------- - Calibration dialog box: fixed tab cycling. Version 2.3.4 (6-Feb-2018) -------------------------- - Fixed tab stops in calib dialog. - Renamed 'Cancel' button on frmROIfromNLIB to 'Close', as it makes more sense. - Added support for HV ramping/fault status. - HV limit is now set correctly for Topaz-HR. - Advanced settings dialog: added Analog P/Z control. Version 2.3.5 (10-Apr-2018) --------------------------- - Scope grid color is now lighter for better visibility. Version 2.3.6 (17-Sep-2018) --------------------------- - Batch file name can now contain a user-defined tag. - Added checkbox to the Preferences dialog to enable/disable remembering of the window location. - Increased the upper limit of the PUR and TRP guard in the Advanced Settings dialog to support the Topaz-HR. - Added support for the full 14-bit fine gain resolution of the Topaz-HR Version 2.3.7 (17-Oct-2018) --------------------------- - Increased the upper limit of RT and FT listboxes of the Settings dialog to support the wider Topaz-X and Topaz-HR registers. - Added more checkings to prevent crashes by possible out-of-range settings. Version 2.3.8 (26-Feb-2019) --------------------------- - Added support for the Topaz-HR BLR rate parameter. Version 2.4.1 (24-Apr-2019) --------------------------- - Added support for the EXT HV Inhibit input of the newer Topaz-HR MCAs. - The Digital Gain setting was moved to the Advanced Settings dialog, since it rarely needs to be changed. - The Digital Gain is now automatically set to the minimum operational value when the number of PHA channels is changed. Version 2.4.2 (5-Dec-2019) -------------------------- - Added support for new Topaz-SiPM MCA. Version 2.4.3 (10-Feb-2020) --------------------------- - When searching for devices, update the IP address of the listed ones in case a bMCA/E unit was still acquiring an IP address when first detected. Version 2.4.4 (13-Jul-2021) --------------------------- - Added support for new Topaz-SiPM-Ethernet MCA.