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What's New



New in Version 2.85:
. Webpage Help
. The QuickLoad Buttons , which allow the user to quickly switch between different fingering views - Alternates, Trills, Beginner advice, etc.
. New Preferences options, allowing user to automatically load various files at startup - e.g. Supplied file - NORMTRIL.TXT
. The program can now display single holes for right-hand fingers 3 and 4, instead of the normal double-hole pair for each finger. This should be useful for users who are building fingerings for historical recorders that only have single holes in these positions. See F Record - Full-Specification for more information.
. The program now allows users who are building fingering files to change the names of the notes. For example, you could build an alto G recorder which starts with the note G. The Note Buttons will be relabeled starting with G, and you can even supply different names for the notes in each octave (e.g. G' for octave 1, G'' for octave 2, etc.). See N (Note) Record for more information.
. The program now allows users who are building fingering files to change the image displayed in the scale location (above the note buttons). This goes hand-in-hand with the ability to rename the notes (see above). See O (Octave Bitmap) Record for more information.
. New option on the View menu to refresh the display (also hotkey F5). See The Menu and Known Problems for more info.


New in Version 2.80:
. The Large Text Panel, which gives users with high-res monitors the ability to enlarge text displayed by the program. See Show Large Text Panel Checkbox for more information.


New in Version 2.75:

  A new option under the View Menu (see The Menu) allows you to bring up the InfoBox dialog with a single click of an Info button (see Info Buttons). This setting can also be established at startup in the Preferences dialog.

  Fixed a few small bugs and improved the context sensitive help (F1) facility.


New in Version 2.74:

  The Keyboard Navigation now allows use of the Shift key to select sharp notes. For example, holding the shift key down and hitting the g key will select the note g-sharp.

  Added some info in this Help file about how to use the wordprocessor Report with Microsoft Word.

  The File Menu adds an extra item to make it easier to load Wollitz.txt if it detects its presence. See The Menu for more info.


New in Version 2.72:

  New Report options:
  • After the report is written, you can now have Recorder Digits open the report in the associated application (e.g. open a text report in Notepad).
  • Choice of standard Trill Position indicator ("^" or "v") or full wording ("note obtained with trill fingers UP/DOWN") on report.

      Fixed bug in handling of R (Recorder-Type) Record.


    New in Version 2.71:

      The main reason for the new release was to change all email references to a new email address and website addresses to a new web address.

      Modified the margins on the Report dialog for a nicer appearance.


    New in Version 2.70:

      The program can now produce a "wordprocessor" report (as well as the text report it could already produce). This new report is a Rich Text Format (.rtf) file which has pictures of recorders showing the fingerings, not just the text fingerings that were in the old text report. This RTF report can be opened in a wordprocessor (e.g. Word, WordPad, OpenOffice, WordPerfect, etc) and a very nice printed version can be created. This change is one I've been wanting to make for a long time, but couldn't quite figure out how to do it until recently. For more info, see Report.

      2 new Display options for external fingering files, allowing special wordprocessor-only or text-report only records to be created. See F Record - Full-Specification for more info.

      Wide message records now appear correctly on reports - i.e. with the text combined with the text from the following regular message record. This especially improves the report appearance of Ken Wollitz's external file.

      Small modifications to Supplied file - NORMTRIL.TXT, for better reporting.

      Discovered and fixed bug that has been there all along (!) - if holes are half-covered and trilled, unchecking the Display Trill Fingers box did not remove the trill indicators.

      Added an alternate fingering for Octave 3 A. (Thanks Bob!)


    New in Version 2.68:

      "Wide" message records, which use 2 screen positions, are available for use in external fingering files.They make large amounts of text appear in a nicer format on the screen, especially when combined with the linefeed capability introduced in 2.67. See F Record - Message for more information.

      New versions of  Supplied file - NORMTRIL.TXTSupplied file - TURNTRIL.TXT, and Supplied file - LEARN.TXT, using the new wide message records for a better display. Also, Turntril's report was improved by showing the actual note names on the report for each variation, instead of just reading "Full step above," etc. 

      New keyboard navigation keys added: the numpad's number keys select the octave; the numpad's Plus and Minus keys select a note a half step up or down from the current note; the R key toggles External ReadMe display on and off, if present. See Keyboard Navigation for a complete list.

      The V (Version) Record, allowing fingering files to specify a minimum version of Recorder Digits to display the file properly.

      Fixed the documentation for Using Bitmaps on F Records to reflect the fact that ;bmp= must be in lowercase.


    New in Version 2.67:

      It is now possible to position the system cursor within a text message on the display and make the message scroll. This allows the viewing of messages that do not fit within the area because the system font is large. It also allows copying the message to the system clipboard. See Fingerings for more information.

      Similarly, it is now possible to position the system cursor within the Message Field at the bottom of the screen. This allows the viewing of messages that are too wide to fit in the Message field area, by making the text scroll at the right side of the area when the cursor is moved to the right. It also allows copying the text to the clipboard.

      The Text portion of the InfoBox (obtained by doubleclicking an Info button) can also have the system cursor placed within it for scrolling and/or copying. See Info Buttons for more info.

      It is now possible for External file F Record - Message records to have linefeeds (line breaks) in them, using the new variable %n . See Text Variables for more info.


    New in Version 2.65:

      A new Enharmonics Menu item, which allows users to pick how the program will display enharmonic note names.

      A new entry on the Preferences dialog to allow the user to pick the Enharmonics setting at program startup.

      A new  version of Supplied file - NORMTRIL.TXT, which uses the new F Record - Label to create a more pleasing appearance.

      For external fingering file authors, 2 new varieties of Text Variables are available, to override the user's enharmonic names setting (these should only be used in special circumstances).



    New in Version 2.60:

      A new  Preferences dialog has been added, allowing you to set the startup settings of the program - Recorder Type (alto, soprano, bass), Octave, and Display Trills setting.

      All supplied external files have had their Recorder Type record removed (commented-out). This makes the Recorder Type setting established in Preferences stay in effect even when an external file is loaded.


    New in Version 2.52:

      A new external fingering file showing turned trills is now supplied with the program (see Supplied file - TURNTRIL.TXT).

      The keyboard keys PageUp and PageDown now perform the same function as the FWRD>> and <<BACK buttons (see Keyboard Navigation).

      New entries on the File Menu make it easy to load the 3 external files supplied with the program (see The Menu).

      For external file development, "smart text" can now be used on the headings that appear above the "Standard" and "Alternate" areas of the display layout (see H (Heading) Record). This permits the heading to change depending on the note being displayed and the recorder type. TURNTRIL.TXT uses this to good advantage, as well as a new version of NORMTRIL.TXT.).

      For external file development, a new type of Fingering record has been created. See F Record - Absolute Reference.

      For external file development,  F Record - Relative Reference records (and the new Absolute Reference records) can now refer to any type of fingering record (e.g. Message records, Bitmap records, etc). Until now, they could only refer to recorder fingering specification records (i.e. that display recorder fingerings).


    New in Version 2.50:

      Doubleclicking an Info button will bring up the new InfoBox, a separate box which displays the fingering plus the Info text in a larger font. See Info Buttons for more information.

      External fingering files can now use "Screen-Only" fingering records - records that will appear on the screen display but will not appear on any report that is produced. See Screen-only Records for more information.

      The display problems that the program had with systems that use the Large Font setting has been corrected. See Known Problems  for more information.

      Technical change: To completely fill one display position on the screen, a bitmap should now be 111 x 146 pixels in size (see F Record - Bitmap). This used to be 111 x 145. This was necessitated by the rewrite of the code that does bitmap positioning (to fix the large font problem), and an annoying quirk of Visual C++ which prevented me from keeping the old size.


    New in Version 2.42:

      External fingering files can now use "Report-Only" fingering records - records that will not appear on the screen display but will appear on any report that is produced. See Report-only Records for more information.
        

    New in Version 2.40:

      The program now uses "smart" text that takes into account the type of recorder being displayed - i.e. alto/bass or soprano/tenor. 
        
    For example, on the Info button for an Octave 2 fingering, the prior version displayed (regardless of the recorder type):
        
            "The standard A(E) to G(D) trill..."
        
    Version 2.40 displays (when the recorder type is alto or bass):
        
            "The standard A to G trill..."
        
    or (when the recorder type is soprano/tenor):

            "The standard E to D trill..."
        
    This is accomplished through the use of Text Variables, which can also be used in external fingering files. New versions of the supplied external files NORMTRIL.TXT and LEARN.TXT use this new feature.

      Improved the F1 Help facility. It now displays help about Menu items if a menu item was the last thing used. 


    New in Version 2.33:

      External ReadMe view improved to help distinguish it from the normal display. See External ReadMe - Using.

      Frequently Asked Questions section added to Help. See FAQs.
     

    New in Version 2.32:

      The keyboard can now be used to navigate octaves and notes (see Keyboard Navigation). 

      Modified Octave 1, Note E - added a trill finger to one alternate (thereby giving a nice alternate F to E trill), and rearranged other alternates.

      The Supplied file - NORMTRIL.TXT was modified to add the alternate F to E trill mentioned above. A bitmap image is used to show an example of where this alternate trill might be useful.


    New in Version 2.30:

      New File->Report menu item, allowing users to produce a text report of the fingerings displayed by the program. See Report.


    New in Version 2.21:

      Fixed bug which caused External ReadMe button to disappear after a File->SaveBuiltin.

      Reduced size of Help file by decreasing colors of its BMP files. Also modified some wording to improve clarity.

      Reduced size of zip installation file by decreasing colors of BMP files used by NORMTRIL.TXT and LEARN.TXT.
     

    New in Version 2.20:

      External files can now display graphics (.bmp files). See F Record - Bitmap and Using Bitmaps on F Records for instructions. Supplied file - NORMTRIL.TXT uses this technique in both its regular display and its External ReadMe, to make it look nicer and to show how it can be used.

    A new external file LEARN.TXT is now supplied. It is intended for use by recorder beginners and provides standard fingerings plus short instructions for all notes. This can also serve as a good starting point for teachers, who can easily modify my instructions with their own.

      The maximum length for Fingering records has been increased from 125 characters to 200.

      Fixed an error in the built-in fingerings that prevented the explanatory text for an alternate for octave 3 F#/Gb from appearing. This alternate and explanation are valuable for playing Brandenburg Concerto #4.


    New in Version 2.11:

      Fixed problem that caused program to display incorrectly on some systems

      Added alternate Octave 2 C# to Built-in fingerings and used this in new alternate C# to B trill in Supplied file - NORMTRIL.TXT.

    New in Version 2.10:

    "Shade windway" can now be indicated on fingerings in External Files (see I (Information) Record.

    External Files can now have ReadMe information associated with them. See  External ReadMe - Using, External ReadMe - View/Hide Button, and External ReadMe - Creating.

    New in Version 2.00:

    The big news in Version 2 is the ability to Load external fingering files. The program is no longer limited to displaying only the fingerings that are built-in. This gives any user the ability to change the fingerings that the program displays. Additionally, it is hoped that people will create fingering files and distribute them for use with the program. For example, a person could create a file with the fingerings specific to a particular model of recorder.

    This is a summary of what's new in Version 2:
    A standard Windows menu, with File, View, and Help entries (see The Menu)

    The ability to Load external fingering files (see External Files - General Description).

    An external fingering file is supplied with the program - NORMTRIL.TXT. This file provides normal trills for all notes. See Supplied file - NORMTRIL.TXT for a more detailed description.

    Even after an external file has been loaded, you can still see the program's built-in standard and alternate fingerings (see Viewing Built-in Fingerings)

    The ability to Save the built-in fingerings to disk, as an aid and starting point for creating your own external fingering files (see Getting Started - Saving Built-In Fingerings).

    The ability to automatically load an external fingering file at startup (see Autoload).

    The program can now display as many as 99 alternate fingerings for any note, with page forward and back keys to go through the fingerings (8 per page).

    The program can now display textual information within the recorder fingering area. This allows fingering file creators to not only show fingerings, but also include instructions right on the screen.