Opticks Blog from Jun 09, 2009

Skip to end of sidebar Go to start of sidebar
Kip Streithorst posted on Jun 09, 2009
New Production Extras Release - Extras 1.0.0

Extras version 1.0.0 has been released on June 9th, 2009.
Downloads:

User Highlights:

  • This release of Extras includes the new IDL extension. The IDL extension provides the ability to combine the power of Opticks and the IDL language. This extension provides the IDL scripting window which allows you use Opticks to load and visualize your imagery and then directly interface that imagery with IDL from within Opticks to manipulate and perform algorithms using the full power of the IDL language.

NEW CAPABILITY

  • The IDL extension is supported on Windows 32-bit and Windows 64-bit versions of Opticks 4.3.X.
  • In order to install the IDL extension, simply download the IDL-[VERSION].aeb and then drag and drop it onto a running instance of Opticks 4.3.X. Opticks will then immediately install the IDL extension and you just need to restart Opticks in order to complete the installation.
  • After the extension has been installed, please read the IDL Help available from the Help menu in Opticks for information on configuring the extension to locate your licensed copy of the IDL runtime (http://www.ittvis.com/ProductServices/IDL.aspx).

Thanks,
The Opticks Extras Team

Kip Streithorst posted on Jun 09, 2009
New Production Release - Opticks 4.3.0

Opticks version 4.3.0 has been released on June 9th, 2009.
Downloads:

User Highlights:

  • This release is intended to replace Opticks 4.2.4 as the recommended release to create production products.
  • Opticks 4.3.X, including 4.3.0, is binary incompatible with any 4.2.X release. Any plug-ins built for Opticks 4.2.X will need to be re-built against 4.3.0rc1 or later in order to work with any 4.3.X release. Once a plug-in has been built against 4.3.0rc1, it will continue to work without changes on any later 4.3.X release.
  • You can view the entire list of bugs fixes and new features in this release by viewing them in JIRA, our bug and issue tracker using the following URL:
    https://issues.ballforge.net/jira/secure/IssueNavigator.jspa?reset=true&&pid=10190&fixfor=10406&sorter/field=issuekey&sorter/order=DESC

NEW CAPABILITY

  • The user can no longer edit the text for certain annotation objects (Lat/Lon Insert, Frame Label, Scale Bar, Measurement). The ability to edit the text was removed because editing text is not allowed for these objects. (OPTICKS-69)
  • Opticks will now provide a message in the status bar when frames are dropped while playing an animation. (OPTICKS-84)
  • The user can now set animation bumpers on the animation toolbar. These bumpers can be used to effectively set a new start and stop point for the animation. These bumpers can be used with the looping capability provided during playback. (OPTICKS-293)
  • The user can now use the TO_DATE() function when specifying query conditions for a Geographic Feature. This allows the user to select features based upon date and time. Previously, the user could only select features based upon date. (OPTICKS-555)
  • The user can now select and open multiple files using the "File->Import Data..." dialog. Previously, the user was restricted to opening a single file at a time using the "File->Import Data..." dialog. In addition, the user can now type the full path to a file directly without needing to use the mouse to change directories. (OPTICKS-349)
  • The Import Options dialog will now show whether each data set is valid or not, previously only the validity of the current data set was shown. (OPTICKS-349)
  • The "Take Snapshot..." feature has been moved from the "Edit" menu to a right-click menu on both the image and the Session Explorer. It was renamed to "Copy to Clipboard". In addition, a new variant was added called "Copy to Clipboard..." that will bring up a dialog that allows the user to specify the size of the resulting snapshot that is copied to the clipboard. The user can now set the defaults as well for determining the size of the resulting snapshot. (OPTICKS-535)
  • The user can now specify the output image size (both during export and the default) when using the "Bitmap View Exporter", "GeoTIFF View Exporter", "JPEG View Exporter", and "PNG View Exporter". (OPTICKS-535)
  • The Wizard Builder interface has been updated significantly. The user now adds wizard items by dragging and dropping them from a new "Wizard Item Palette" dock window. In addition, the user can now pan and zoom the wizard canvas. The method for connecting items has changed as well, to use a left-click instead of a middle-click. Opticks will continue to load and execute any wizards written in Opticks 4.2.X. (OPTICKS-455)
  • A new wizard item was added, "Set Threshold Options", that allows the settings of a threshold layer to be changed. (OPTICKS-517)
  • The existing wizard item, "Derive AOI", was renamed to "Derive Layer" and now allows a layer to either be converted to another layer type or a new layer to be derived from an input layer. (OPTICKS-517)
  • The "Get Data Set" wizard item has a new output argument to return the "Raster Layer". (OPTICKS-517)
  • The user can now enter "$M()" as the text of a annotation text object. This can be used to query information from the metadata and have it rendered as the text for the annotation object. (OPTICKS-413) For example:
    • $M(My/metadata/item) inserts the metadata value for "My/metadata/item" from the annotation element's parent data element.
    • $M(//NameOfElement//My/metadata/item) inserts the metadata value for the "My/metadata/item" from the data element with the name of "NameOfElement".
    • $M(//[View 1]//My/metadata/item) inserts the metadata value for the "My/metadata/item" from the primary raster element in the view object named "View 1" in the current annotation layer
  • The user can copy the full name of an item in the "Session Explorer" by using the "Copy Name..." menu item on the right-click menu. (OPTICKS-413)
  • A new exporter has been added, "Metadata Exporter" that can be used to export the metadata from any Data Element to an xml file (*.metadata.xml). (OPTICKS-518)
  • A new algorithm, "QT Cluster", under the "General Algorithms" toolbar has been added. This algorithm can be used to cluster together multiple objects in an AOI and then output the results as a "Boundary", "Centroid" or "Centroid and Boundary" as an Annotation Layer. The cluster results can also be output as a Pseudocolor Layer. The algorithm that is used to cluster the AOI objects is QT (Quality Threshold). (OPTICKS-518)
  • The "NITF Importer" for the Windows 64-bit version of Opticks can now load NITF files up to the size specified by the NITF 2.1 specification. Previously, it could only load files up to 4 GB in size. (OPTICKS-487)
  • The "NITF Exporter" for the Windows 64-bit version of Opticks can now export NITF files up to the size specified by the NITF 2.1 specification. Previously, it could only export files up to 2 GB in size. (OPTICKS-487)
  • The "NITF Importer" no longer crashes when loading images on a system with a low amount of available memory. (OPTICKS-487)
  • The export options for "AVI Product Exporter" and "MPEG-1 Product Exporter" have been updated to provide better selection of start and stop frames/times. The user now a slider with a non-editable spin box to select both the start and stop locations. The spin box will select the next/previous available frame or time. In addition, the start and stop locations will default to the location of the animation bumpers if enabled. (OPTICKS-291)
  • The on-line help has been updated to document some of the new features in 4.3.0. Further help updates will be coming for 4.3.1. (OPTICKS-553)

BUG FIXES

  • The application start-up time has been improved because of reductions in the number of times that plug-in libraries are loaded. (OPTICKS-543)
  • The user can properly enter the full range of values for "char" and "unsigned char" when using the Metadata editor and Wizard Builder. (OPTICKS-496)
  • The Opticks package on Solaris has been updated so that extensions (AEBs) can now be properly installed by running Opticks as root. (OPTICKS-490)
  • The "OK" button for the Import Options dialog is now properly enabled and disabled as appropriate. (OPTICKS-349)

Plug-In Developer Highlights:

  • Opticks 4.3.0 is binary incompatible with any 4.2.X release. Any plug-ins built for Opticks 4.2.X will need to be re-built against 4.3.0rc1 or later in order to work with any 4.3.X release. Once a plug-in has been built against 4.3.0rc1, it will continue to work without changes on any later 4.3.X release.
  • When upgrading your plug-in from 4.2.X to 4.3.0, there are a number of source and functionally breaking changes. For details on the changes and instructions on upgrading your plug-ins, please the "Upgrading From Earlier SDK" page available in the SDK documentation.

NEW CAPABILITY

  • The AnimationServices class now has additional functions that will determine the active AnimationController. (OPTICKS-15)
  • The SignatureSelector class now has the ability for plug-in developers to add a custom button. (OPTICKS-395)
  • A new DockWindowShell class was added. Plug-in developers should subclass this if they wish to create a dock window. (OPTICKS-350)
  • The PlotWidget class now has additional functions to allow changing the widget's background color and the legend background color. (OPTICKS-57)
  • The DesktopServices class now has the ability to create a mouse mode with a QCursor in addition to using an XPM. (OPTICKS-253)
  • The DesktopServices class now provides the ability to display a suppressible message dialog (i.e. the user can choose to never see the dialog again) to the user. (OPTICKS-178)
  • A new GlContextSave class was added that will save and restore the current OpenGL context. (OPTICKS-554)
  • A plug-in developer can now configure the timeout when communicating with ArcProxy to load geographic features. A plug-in developer can also configure the name of the ArcProxy executable. See 1-ApplicationDefaults.cfg for the settings. (OPTICKS-562)
  • Plug-in developers can now block signals from being sent by a Subject. See the new SignalBlocker class for details. (OPTICKS-409)
  • The AttachmentPtr class has been split into two classes. There is now a new SafePtr<T> class that provides just the auto-nulling feature of AttachmentPtr. AttachmentPtr now inherits from the SafePtr<T> class and continues to provide all of previous capability. (OPTICKS-409)
  • The Point class now has a function to query the PointSet that the Point belongs to. (OPTICKS-480)
  • The performance for the setAttribute() and setAttributeByPath() functions of DynamicObject have been made equivalent to adoptAttribute(), adoptAttributeByPath(). It is now recommended that plug-in developers prefer the set versions. In addition, the performance of setSetting in ConfigurationSettings and setData in Signature were improved as well. (OPTICKS-566)
  • A plug-in developer can now query if a setting is a per-user, session or default setting with the addition of new functions on ConfigurationSettings. (OPTICKS-566)
  • Additional support was added for Int64 and UInt64, specifically vector<Int64> and vector<UInt64> in DataVariant, MessageLog and PlugInArg. Developers are reminded not to use the long, unsigned long, int64t and uint64_t with those classes and instead use Int64 and UInt64 if they need to support multiple platforms. (OPTICKS-587)
  • The Wizard capability and plug-in args now support connecting layers and all of the derived layer types, previously only the base Layer class could be connected. (OPTICKS-517)

BUG FIXES

  • The "char" and "unsigned char" types are now properly parsed by StringUtilities. Previously these types would be truncated to a single digit. (OPTICKS-496)
  • The OpticksBatch application will no longer crash after an AEB that contains an icon has been installed. (OPTICKS-591)
  • The Scripting Window will no cause a crash during a new session. (OPTICKS-510)
  • The "AnnotationImagePalette", "ConvolutionFilter" and "Image Comparison" plug-ins are now being included in the SDK. They were accidentally omitted in the 4.2.5 SDK. (OPTICKS-491)
  • The AEB platform string for the Windows 64-bit version of Opticks is now correct. (OPTICKS-490)

Thanks,
The Opticks Team