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POV-Ray 3.7.beta.20b is available from http://www.povray.org/beta/. At this
point only Windows binaries are posted, as the changes between 20a and 20b
are almost exclusively windows-specific.
Changes between 3.7.beta.20a and 3.7.beta.20b
---------------------------------------------
Added 'alternate render file' feature to povwin IDE. See comments below.
Added extensions .MCR and .MAC to list of files povwin considers include
files (i.e. which are filtered as such in the various file dialogs and
assigned the POV file type for the editor syntax highlighting).
Added .INI file type to povwin editor syntax highlighting.
Added window menu to povwin IDE. Entries are MRU-sorted.
Activated memory statistics code in Windows build.
Fixed issue with editor window splitting not being restored
(<45620b9e$1@news.povray.org>).
Fixed issue with file type not being set on initial save if 'save as'
was not used (reported many times, including <45602a08@news.povray.org>
and <46092c8a@news.povray.org>).
Windows Editor Changes
----------------------
This beta introduces two notable changes to the POVWIN IDE.
Firstly, it now has a Window menu, which is located where the GUIEXT
menu used to be (the latter has moved to within the Options menu).
While technically a Window menu is not necessary, as all open files
are visible in tabs, the addition of this menu provides two advantages:
1. We can provide the option of showing all tabs on a single line,
with a scroller to view non-visible ones. This has not yet been
added but will be at a later point.
2. The MRU arrangement of the window menu makes it trivial to toggle
between files without taking your eyes off the text or using the
mouse. The most recently viewed window (i.e. the current one) will
always be entry 1 in the list. The second most recently viewed
(i.e. the last window viewed before switching to the current one)
will always be entry 2 in the list, and so forth. Given that
entries 1 through 10 in the list are given the menu mnemonics
1 through 0 respectively, it is therefore clear that to toggle
between the current and previous files all you need to do is hit
Alt-W then 2. To go to the third oldest, Alt-W then 3, and so
forth.
Currently, the MRU list is not saved on exit. This will be added.
We may also add keyboard accelerators (e.g. ALT-2, ALT-3 etc) as
a shortcut for Alt-W 2, etc.
Secondly, there is now an 'alternate render file' feature. This is
intended to make things easier when editing macro or include files.
While it is possible to use SDL to detect whether a macro/include file
is being rendered directly and to pull in supporting code, that approach
is not very flexible.
The alternate render file feature allows a render to be started on an
include file, and instead of the include file being rendered directly
(as would have happened previously), the source file that most recently
included that file in a render will be rendered instead. Note that by
'source file', we mean either a .POV or .INI file.
For this feature to work, you need to have rendered a file which
includes the target file during the current editing session (the
association between include files and source files is not persisted when
POVWIN exits). Additionally you need to have requested to render a
source file which does not have the .POV or .INI extension. When you
request the render, a message box will appear asking you what to do. You
can choose to render the alternate file this time only, to render the
alternate file each time you render this one, or to render this one each
time (i.e. disable the alternate file option).
In all cases, the choice you give only persists for the current editing
session; it is not restored when you re-launch POVWIN. This is by
design.
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