Change-Log for Hero
Copyright Hero Software Pty Ltd 2024
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Release: 4.1 (4.1.0.2)
Date: 26/06/24
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Window Library:
- New WERSLink Library added with 1300+ new defaults, and 50,000+ new custom WERS windows.
- WERSLink library syncs from cloud on a monthly basis to ensure you're always using the latest windows
- Window List feature design rework to make simpler and more understandable
- Selected Window list now saved and loaded from Hero file (setting to turn off available). Includes Selected Skylight and Roof Windows.
- Window Library now remembers your view settings (column width, visibility etc) and links library and selected columns fully. Reset view to default button added
- Window Library design updated
- Added new Glass description column, residential/commercial filter, manufacturer filter options to Window Library
- Search compliant window specification button added to search area
Minor Changes:
- Added new alternative Climate Zones for several post-codes as per NatHERS & BASIX amendments. (2329, 2336, 2337, 2338, 2339, 2340, 2341, 2342, 2344, 2345, 2346, 2347, 2352, 2353, 2380, 2381, 2382)
- Default NatHERS Profile for new Projects now set to 2022
- New Hero Training File comparer feature added to Support button, for Hero-101 Training Project Comparisons
- Offset Line drawing mode option added to support easier splitting of ceilings or other offset aspects like Screens or Eaves
- WoH Air-conditioners now show AEER / ACOP alongside Energy Rating
- Visual Styles now saved and loaded from Hero file (can turn off in Settings)
- Added 'Open Hero Installation folder' shortcut to File menu
- Added 'Open Last Simulation folder' shortcut to File menu
- Added 'Resources' folder to Help menu with shortcuts to NatHERS, ABCB and other common guides
- Added setting to toggle Load/Save Summary View from Hero file
- Disabled Optimisation button for Mac until ready
- Clarified error message on attaching eaves to neighbouring and invalid walls
- Clarified alert message on roofspace zones missing adjacent ceilings
- Results CSV file name now has results in name
- XCEM Alphafloor floors renamed to Lightweight Concrete Subfloor type
- Right-click on Visual, Data-Grid, Library and Summary View bottom toolbar has additional options to close or redock
Bug Fixes:
- Fixed a bug on multiple monitors where Hero would show as title bar only
- Fixed a bug on saving project before exit or loading a new project would hang
- Fixed a bug on selection not being shared across views
- Fixed a bug on summary view table settings compatibility issue with previous version throwing exception dialog
- Fixed a bug where add/delete oven would not be shown for multi-dwelling projects
- Fixed a bug on gas hot-water systems not detecting star-rating between 0.5 increments
- Fixed a bug on copy dwelling not assigning WoH Systems to new dwellings
- Fixed a bug on Visual Styles missing new Floor Coverings and Window Openings
- Fixed a bug where clicking unselectable Group by Heading or Expand arrow in Data-grid would clear selection
- Fixed a bug on Cloud Simulation where "." would cause simulation to crash
- Fixed a bug on Certification where empty dwelling name or "&" in Zone name would cause certificate to fail to be created
- Fixed a bug on scale drawing mode not showing empty initial text
- Fixed a bug on Wall adjacency now detects closest wall to fix over-reaching zone adjacency bug
- Fixed a bug where clicking a minimised Windowed Hero view would not bring it to front
- Fixed a bug on Main Toolbar not expanding to full view width and blocking Run button from being pressed
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Release: 4.0 (4.0.0.6)
Date: 06/03/24
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Regulatory Updates:
- NatHERS Accredited NCC 2022 Whole of Home (WoH) Release
- NatHERS 2022 WoH Certificates can now be created on web-portal
- Chenath v3.23 Engine integrated for regulatory, WoH, comfort and air-tightness simulations
- WoH DTS Calculator compliance and export feature added
- Hero approved for regulatory use in ACT
General:
- Appliances / Whole of Home (WoH) added to Hero in Appliances tab of Summary View
- WoH Results added to Hourly Results Viewer
- WoH DTS compliance added to Appliances view and exportable to ABCB XLS
- Filter options in Summary View for better viewing, reporting and BASIX data-entry
- Future climate and alternative weather file functionality added
- Site Analysis view added in Summary View
- Air Tightness ACH now reported even for Regulatory Mode simulations
- Drawing Stamper added to automate stamping PDFs
- Copy and paste functionality now added for windows, doors, zone-items, skylights and holes
- Design visual update throughout
Data-Grid:
- Structural columns now auto-hide when not using Thermal Bridging
- "New" or "Missing" postcodes now allow user to then select an appropriate NatHERS climate zone
- ABCB Climate Zone now user-selectable rather than only auto-populating from NatHERS Climate Zone (as ABCB zones can cross NatHERS zone boundaries)
- Allow right-click context-menu on Zone and Dwelling data-grid rows to change order of Zones and Dwellings
- Process hourly results setting removed from Project Data-grid and always set to true
Summary View:
- New Appliances section in Summary View for WoH model creation, analysis and results. Add and edit HVAC, hot-water, lighting, cooking, appliance, pool, solar PV and battery systems to your project and analyse their reports. Create Appliance templates, add your own comments to the Appliance view for client reports, show the view in Presentation mode and Export to PDF Reports.
- New Filter button feature in Model tab allows separation and configuration of Summary View tables to show data in custom formats, aiding BASIX new materials data-entry. New column types Zone, Zone-Type, Dwelling, Level and Conditioned added for better grouping and data display to all tables
- Summary View configuration and settings now saved into Hero file per Project
- Summary View configuration and settings can now be saved and loaded from template files
- Summary View now contains new Site Analysis tab to better understand local climate and weather conditions, and export readable Weather data to various external formats
- Wall net-area column added to wall summary-view
- Total glazing area added to Openings summary-view
- Roof-Window U-value and SHGC columns added to summary-view (n/a for Skylights)
Construction Library:
- Thermal Bridging minor calculation changes.
- Toggle selection of use of new Default or Custom windows in the Window Library view for each project
- Several new materials added to NatHERS Materials Library including new Earth, Cob and Light Straw, Light Rammed Earth options
- New XCEM Alphafloor lightweight concrete floor assembly added to Floor Assembly library
Simulation & Results:
- WoH simulations (2x profiles) run simultaneously with other Thermal-Fabric and Comfort simulation runs
- WoH thermal and appliance results now viewable in Hourly Results Viewer
- Alternative and/or Future weather files can now be used and simulated (CSIRO future weather files are available for download from CSIRO website) in Non-Regulatory mode
- Airtightness results are now reported in Results view even for default simulations meaning the simulated ACH can now be known for regulatory runs (and then in non-regulatory mode a blower-door ACH can be used to compare)
- Fixed NSW heating and cooling limits in Climate Zones 9, 10 and 11 being improperly reported for some climate zones and project situations
- Chenath v3.23 now used for all NatHERS 2022 simulations (including air-tightness runs) and v3.21 for 2019 simulations
Web Portal:
- Allow creation of NatHERS NCC2022 WoH certificates on web-portal (WoH Certificate setting must be selected in Appliances WoH section otherwise only a NatHERS NCC2022 Thermal Fabric only certificate will be issued)
Settings:
- Touch-screen / Mac mouse sensitivity and Invert Mouse Zoom settings added
- Template view show on startup setting
- Number of parallel simulation options increased
- Auto-calculate WoH and other WoH settings added
- User profile picture now shown in main toolbar and WoH Comments sections
Minor Changes:
- Removed a NatHERS alert on openability of garage doors (superceded requirement)
- Backgrounds can now be sent to back/forward to can overlay layer for multiple backgrounds
- Merge Zone feature added (Join/Merge Drawing Mode) - Split Zone coming soon
- Template view remembers last used folder
- Allow decimal point to downlights per m2 setting in template view
- PDF Viewer tool added to menu toolbar (experimental)
- View Menu now has Show Coordinates in Visual View option
Bug Fixes:
- Fixed an issue in window resizing for Windows 11
- Fixed an issue where custom assembly would get removed from save file
- Fixed an issue in Mirror Optimisation leaving some shade objects
- Fixed an issue in Hourly Results viewer changing colors of series vs legend incorrectly
- Fixed an issue where Optimisation View would not respect Open File after Creation global setting
- Fixed an issue where saving project into a cloud drive (OneDrive, DropBox etc.) would incur performance delay
- Fixed an issue where autosave file names would use GMT not local time
- Fixed an issue where changing a Zone to Void or Unconditioned type would not clear previous results
- Fixed an issue where changing assembly material thickness would lose commit
- Fixed an issue on What's New screen fit to screen
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Release: 3.1 (3.1.0.6)
Date: 07/08/23
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Regulatory Updates:
- NatHERS Accredited NCC 2022 Thermal-Fabric Release
- NatHERS 2022 "Thermal Fabric only" (no WoH) Certificates can be created on web-portal
- Thermal Bridging ("Structure" in Hero) added to models
- Final NCC2022 ABCB heating and cooling load limit schedules
General:
- Structural Options and Thermal Bridging added throughout Hero across data-grid, summary-view, construction library views
- New Thermal Comfort rating & Free-running simulation modes
- New Hourly Chenath Results Viewer
- New Optimisation Batch Feature
- Design style refresh
Template View:
- Can specify downlight per m2 in template view
Data-Grid:
- Custom Wall Library and Project Wall Library feature added
Summary:
- Structural option columns added for walls, floors and ceilings
Construction Library:
- Custom Wall Library and Project Wall Library feature added
- True thickness insulation options. Customisable R-value to thickness for Insulation Materials
- Range of new default Wall Assemblies with Semi-reflective sarking options provided for brick-veneer and lightweight walls
- Latest Colorbond solar absorptance values integrated into colour library
- User created Assemblies saved into Hero files now get added to Project Assembly library upon load, avoiding duplication in Custom library section
- Group by Library type and Opening type toggle options available in Wall Construction Assembly Library
Simulation & Results:
- Final ABCB NCC-2022 Heating and Cooling Load Limits added for Compliance targets
- Scratch material thicknesses account for new thermal-bridging settings and structure options
- Added option to open last created Scratch file from File menu
Web Portal:
- Allow creation of NatHERS NCC2022 thermal-fabric certificates on web-portal
- Allow NatHERS 2022 simulation profile to be used in regulatory mode
Settings:
- Auto-Heal Walls toggle on/off setting in Settings view
Minor Changes:
- Exported data now uses the table-cell data not the underlying model data for clearer export
- Support link updated to new support portal address
- Summary view now remembers collapsed state
- Remove clear text button from textfields in Project data-grid
- Added and reworded several mouse-hover tooltip messages to column headers and other locations
- Minor performance fixes on some events
- Allow decimal point azimuth and rotation
Bug Fixes:
- Fixed an issue where Windowed views would hide and re-appear in Main window when Main window divider dragged
- Fixed an issue where Wall thickness would be shown as 0mm for certain parallel situations
- Fixed an issue with dropdown comboboxes not being shown in Summary View after sort
- Fixed an issue with duplicate assemblies (or near duplicates) being added to Construction Library
- Fixed an issue with very small skylights or holes or openings below 5mm rounding to 0 in Chenath scratch file and causing issues
- Fixed an issue of PDF data and text imports not importing due to special characters
- Fixed an issue to ensure naming of objects is unique
- Fixed an issue where level would skip occassionally on change of level toggle
- Fixed an issue where two wing-walls on a single side could occur temporarily after a split
- Fixed an issue for Window local shading options not flipping in Mirror operation
- Fixed an issue of rounding of percentages in Summary view
- Fixed an issue in results view for really long zone names taking up lots of space
- Fixed an issue where the door thickness would re-size when adjusting parent wall
- Fixed an issue in copy drawing-mode for subfloor or roofspace adjacent walls
- Fixed an issue in weatherstripping disable setting not updating on zone-type change from garage
- Fixed an issue in Project Data-Grid export CSV regarding site exposure
- Fixed an issue on floor/ceiling adjacency scanning
- Fixed an issue where support window was cutoff on very small screens
- Fixed an issue on data-grid overflow menu not showing if thin width
- Fixed an issue on backgrounds for level-above an empty level
- Fixed an issue on Drag select when Template View showing over
- Fixed an issue on Scratch perimeter values including floating walls
- Fixed a simulation error for extremely small carpark or subfloor zones areas in Chenath scratch file
- Fixed an issue on polygon merger for inner donuts
- Fixed an issue where re-naming a roofspace caused issues
- Fixed an issue on wing-wall exceptions in data-grid
- Fixed an issue on Chenath simulations for 0m2 areas
- Fixed an issue on geometry validation script on load
- Fixed an issue on Opening drawing-mode if changing submode during text entry
- Fixed an issue on duplicate zone names showing graphs incorrectly
- Fixed an issue where a second support view was shown if already viewing
- Fixed an issue where No Unit Number alert showing for 1x dwelling + 1x common-area
- Fixed an issue on data-grid ceiling adjacency options
- Fixed an issue on void ventilation heights in scratch file
- Fixed an issue where Sign-In window would appear behind Main window in some screen configurations on startup
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Release: 3.0.1.1
Date: 10/08/22
- Fixed a results view regression introduced in 3.0.1
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Release: 3.0.1
Date: 04/08/22
What's New in Hero v3.1? Thermal Bridging & Structural Options Hero v3.1 introduces thermal-bridging to the NatHERS modelling industry with the concept of "Structure Options" that can be applied to a wall, floor, ceiling or roof. Thermal-bridging is the penetration of the material layer of an assembly by a secondary material, thereby changing the actual thermal-resistance of the wall. For steel-frame walls in particular the effects, but this occurs in timber-frame homes to a NatHERS assessments for the NCC2022 require the modelling of steel-frame thermal-bridging for walls, floors and ceilings. Timber-frames are excluded, and the bridging steel-frames also aren't truly bridged, but instead are compensated based on a timber-reference construction. So you can now model a "Structural Option" for your wall, floor, or ceiling in Hero that represents the structure of the assembly that will typically be timber or steel. Most default wall, floor and ceiling assemblies in Hero have had various "default" Structural Options to them similar to how we create Insulation Options by default, and these represent typical steel and timber frame options that might be present in your project. You can change between not modelling thermal-bridging / structural options, or modelling as per NatHERS methodology (e.g. timber excluded, metal compensated etc.) or modelling full thermal-bridging for timber & metal walls.
Minor Changes:
- Multi dwelling results now show pie-chart, stacked bar-charts and bar-charts correctly as per single dwelling results
- Export data options now export table data correctly rather than use underlying model data
- Summary view now remembers collapsed/expanded state between Hero sessions
- User can now open the last created scratch file from File Menu
Bug Fixes:
- Fixed a bug where changing opening’s parent wall caused intermittent crashes
- Fixed a bug where importing background images threw an exception if an empty level above
- Fixed a bug in export data where columns were misaligned
- Fixed a bug in cloud simulations timing out after long sessions
- Fixed a bug in Mac pop-up windows going to full-screen causing issues
- Fixed a bug in Clean Geometry validation call
- Fixed a bug where void zones with openable windows at exact same height as ceiling caused Chenath issues
- Fixed a bug in floor/ceiling adjacency scan routine
- Fixed a bug in Ceiling assembly lists shown in Ceiling data-grid not showing correctly when External (Shaded) adjacency used in project
- Fixed a bug where long Zone and Dwelling names would cause lack of chart plot area in Results views
- Fixed a bug where overflow menu not showing correctly for data-grid header at short widths
- Fixed a bug where saving prior to new project would cause new project to have same name as previous project
- Fixed a bug where drag-select would pause when Template view focused
- Fixed a bug in Opening Drawing mode when changing drawing submode
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Release: 3.0
Date: 22/07/22
General:
- Hero Mac OS compatibility added with Mac Intel and Mac Silicon installers provided
- Remote simulation feature added to run Chenath simulations in Hero cloud services for both Mac & Windows systems
- NatHERS 2022 profile selectable which will model using updated NatHERS 2022 weather files, star-rating bands, ABCB & BASIX heating & cooling load limits, and cooling thermostat changes
- Blower-door air tightness feature added for non-regulatory mode simulations to model varying air-infiltration rates
- Hero Support page added directly to desktop interface to raise support tickets and access user manual
- User sign-in function added to desktop interface, required for cloud simulation
- Multiple background images support per level
- New results chart types and settings to change between bar, stacked bar and pie charts
Constructions:
- New Chenath materials added including Polyisocyanurate (PIR) insulation, scoria, & ash
- New CLT (cross laminated timber) assemblies added to Wall, Floor and Ceiling Assembly Library
- Several new concrete thickness assemblies added to Wall, Floor and Ceiling Assembly Library
- New R2.3 Roof Blanket options added to default Roof Insulation
- Several new external colour defaults added
- All NatHERS materials now selectable in Wall Assembly table to allow better proxy substitution of materials that aren’t typically on walls
- New uninsulated waffle-pod insulation options added to support non-EPS void formers (No Insulation and 90mm non-refl air options)
- Matching similar assemblies now incremented numerically rather than an additional “1” added to name
Web Portal:
- Download page updated with new Mac download options and removal of Mac interest forms
- Support page moved to new format with direct access to support tickets, user-manual and forums
- Forums transitioned to new Support Desk format
- Minor certificate updates as per NatHERS administrator request
Minor Changes:
- Design changes across most views including new logos
- Ability to change between local and cloud simulation in Run button menu and within Settings (Mac only has cloud option)
- Copy/export to image feature, image quality improved
- Ability to export whole of results view in snapshot
- Status-bar results popup now shows nearby star-rating bands
- New “Connected to Eave” and “Connected to Screen” Wall Visual Styles
- Window Drawing Mode snaps to 150mm and 300mm increments
- 1500mm ceiling fan size added (in addition to v2.0 large diameters)
- Ceiling fan section added to Summary View
- User setting that allows cursor style to be custom selected by user for Standard and Drawing Modes
- Simulation alerts added for too many objects added to a scratch file beyond Chenath limits
- Changing auto-save frequency does not require a restart of Hero to come into effect
- Icons changed for cross compatibility with Mac release
- Background rotation and Rotate Drawing Mode now allows decimal point rotations
- Missing subfloor adjacency and insulation vs base material alert message revised
- Custom assemblies renaming strategy changed to increment number rather than adding a 1 character to non-matching assemblies
- Setting to change number of adjacent levels to search wing-walls across
- Log folder changes
- “Save As” now starts with current file name in dialog
- Suspended floor default insulation is now 90mm non-refl instead of none
- Setting to save cloud simulation scratch and result files to local simulation folder added
Bug Fixes:
- Summary View exports now don’t include non-visible columns
- Fixed a bug where templates were saving all insulation options of a custom assembly rather than just the used template insulation
- Fixed a bug where Import Drawing mode could cause file errors
- Fixed a bug in Rotate and Mirror Drawing Mode that changed opening locations
- Fixed a bug in Copy Paste Drawing Mode for opening openability & style
- Fixed a bug in Split Drawing Mode that was not completing splits correctly
- Fixed a bug where a Void zone below a normal zone would throw a Simulation error
- Fixed a bug in Opening Data-grid tab where tab-key would not refocus on correct next column
- Fixed a bug where changing Dwelling of Zone would set automatic wing-wall to manual
- Fixed a bug on Window U-value & SHGC sliders where font size would change on refocus
- Fixed a bug in Summary View where Opening External Colour was not updating Opening table
- Fixed a bug on Window Library U-Value & SHGC search fields
- Fixed a bug on typing characters in Wall Assembly table to auto-navigate to material
- Fixed a bug where updating materials in Wall Assembly table was not updating Summary View Assembly tab
- Fixed a bug on concrete block thickness in Wall Builder
- Fixed a bug where the Zone shape was shown incorrectly after a Mirror transform
- Fixed a bug in the data-grid when selecting insulation options that were of same R-value but different type would select incorrect option occassionally
- Fixed a bug where error was thrown on zoom to dwelling for some zones
- Fixed a bug where incorrect error message was shown in Screen Drawing Mode for maximum number of connections
- Fixed a bug where Mass Walls contributed to zone volume calculations
- Fixed a bug where unselectable Data-Grid items became selectable after load
- Fixed a Chenath simulation bug where perimeter values were 0m
- Fixed a bug where a flip on a floating wall caused openings to change position
- Fixed a bug where common area dwelling zones retained results if they were run previously as normal zones
- Fixed a bug where visual styles results would toggle to wrong category upon keyboard shortcut
- Fixed a bug where Doors would appear very thick visually upon move
- Fixed a bug where external colour columns in Summary View were not grouping model objects correctly
- Fixed a bug where automatic wing-walls were not shown selected in Visual View if generated in Data-Grid
- Fixed a bug where an error message was occasionally shown on loading a project with Window Library open
- Fixed a Chenath simulation bug where zones with same name in different case could cause conflicts
- Fixed a bug where previously selected window specifications were not added to window library on startup and only NatHERS default windows were selected
- Fixed a bug where template would overwrite ceiling fan sizes
- Fixed a bug where peak loads and ceiling fan electricity were not included in export data
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Release: 2.0
Date: 04/02/22
General:
- Windowed Mode added to all main Model Views to allow them to be moved into their own Window for better multi-monitor support
- Full Windows Scale / Zoom setting support to allow Window Scale settings away from 100%
- Dwellings are now selectable across Model Views (e.g. Visual, Data-Grid & Summary)
- Keyboard auto-search added on all drop-down menus
Visual View:
- New “Visual Styles” view added to style model objects in the Visual View based on selected properties
- New “Transform” Drawing Modes including Copy & Paste, Move, Rotate, Reflect/Mirror that can be applied to selected objects or whole project to duplicate or geometrically edit model objects
- New “Import Hero File” feature accessible from File Menu that allows import of an existing .hero file into an existing Project as helper for template or apartment replication
- Snap to Background Points feature added for Background PDFs (new only) and used to assist Drawing Modes and Transform
- Split Drawing Mode fixes – split shape can now can be polyline shape and support internal edge to edge splits
- “Floating Walls” now have an orientation arrow shown in the Visual View which can be clicked to do a 180 orientation flip
- Door Swing direction arrow button added (cosmetic only, no simulation effects, Keyboard Shortcut “Shift+D”)
- Mouse Horizontal Scroll-wheel support in Visual View to pan left/right
- Background Image “Rotate by Angle” context-menu action that allows rotation to be specified by degrees
- Dwelling now selectable in Visual View, using Double Left-click to navigate up the model hierarchy or via Context Menu on selected Zone
- Zone name extracted from Background PDF option added to Zone Drawing Mode
- New Zoom to drawn window shape functionality added (keyboard shortcut “Shift-Z”)
Template View:
- Floor adjacency default added to Floor Template tab
Data-Grid:
- Project Data-Grid now has Unit Number Textfield shown even for Single Dwelling Projects
- External Subfloor walls can now have Ground adjacency type
- Internal Colour columns added to Wall, Ceiling and Floor Data-Grid tabs (by default not shown – use overflow menu-button)
Opening Data-Grid tab “Right Offset” column added as optional additional column
- Ceilings with External (Shaded) adjacency type can now have assembly and insulation varied away from CEIL-01
- Eave Projection editable in Eave Data-Grid
- Wing-wall Data-Grid tab now shows automatic/manual Wing-wall Setting Checkboxes in Footer
Construction Library:
- WERS custom window library updated (2.3.3.13.9.3)
- “Select” and “Select & Zoom To” buttons added to Wall Assembly Table View for current Assembly & Insulation Option
- Current Insulation Option heading now added to Wall Assembly Table
- Window Library has Search by U-value/SHGC sort feature added
Summary View:
- Many new additional “model grouping” values added as optional columns to the Summary View’s tables to allow grouping by shared property values for each table (eg Zone-type, Floor Covering, Colours, Heights etc.).
- Summary View column width, visibility and order preferences now saved to user preferences
- Ceiling Penetration table now has Sealed and Insulated as Checkbox items
- Window to Wall/Floor Area Ratios added to Windows Table of Summary View
Simulation & Results:
- Peak loads now shown in Results View from Chenath simulation results
- Ceiling Fan energy usage now shown in Results View
- Non-Compliant Red visual styling applied to Results View similar to Status Bar Results
- Total Energy load shown in Summary section of Results View
- Single Dwelling Results tab view changes and dividers added
- Results View remembers column width, visibility and order preferences
Status Bar:
- Total Energy level now shown in Status Bar Result and in Status Bar Compliance Popup
Web Portal:
- Certificate now also shows Light/Medium/Dark category in Colour columns
- Several column value fixes on Certificate generation
- Many bug-fixes and performance improvements
Alerts:
- “No Alert” success alert message added and shown if no Alerts exist for Project
Settings:
- “Lock to Template” Setting now added to Template &
Settings View, which is the inverse setting of the “Follow Previous Value”
shown in the Visual View that sets default creation values to always be
Template values rather than follow previous values and update on each change
- New Advanced User setting that allows automatic wall and floor/ceiling adjacency scanning functionality turned off temporarily to allow workflow variations when geometry editing
- New File->Edit Menu Advanced User setting added that allows an Adjacency Scan to be manually run on selected or all walls and/or floors/ceilings to resolve geometry adjacency errors
- New keyboard shortcuts view in Settings to show current default keyboard shortcuts (currently non-editable – editable coming-soon)
Model:
- Range of new larger Ceiling Fan sizes added (1.8-3.0m)
- Walls can now have 2x Eaves attached to them, simulated in Chenath as one “Eave” horizontal shade and one “Pegola” horizontal shade
- Weather-stripping & Insect-Screens are now editable on Openings in Garage & Carpark Zones or Alteration/Addition Projects
- Void zones can now be greater than 2 levels tall to allow for multilevel void merged zones
- Doors created in Garage Zones will by default now have Metal Garage Door Specification applied
- Shade Projection values are now based on distance from outside face of a Wall
- Parasol / Shaded External Colour added (0.1 Solar Absorptance) as alternative to External (Shaded) adjacency
- Automatic Wing-Wall setting of Project now saved into .hero file per Project than Global
- Screen/Eave Opacity values no longer ever “Follow Previous Value” and are always 100% by default upon new Screen/Eave creation
- Ceiling Penetrations that were auto-added removed on Zone-type change to Garage or Carpark
- New Assemblies added to Default Construction Library including Hebel Powerfloor+ Floors
- New Colours added to Library including Colorbond Matte range
- Minor changes to default emissivity values for some insulation options
- Subfloor External Wall assemblies now uninsulated by default
Minor Changes:
- Background Import quality setting now shown on each Background import
- Performance fixes on project loading and saving, level-changes, view changes from Results to Model
- Wall Insulation Options now no longer continually created during editing in Wall Assembly Table
- Construction backups revised
- Walls with Neighbour or External (Shaded) now no longer can have Wing Walls
- Keyboard accelerators added to most dialog options (e.g. “Yes”/”No” etc.)
- Default Keyboard Short-cuts added for Go to next Summary View (“Shift+M”), Go to Results View (“R”), Zoom to Selected Objects (“Alt+Z”)
- Split Internal Walls horizontally action disabled due to uncertainty on Wall choice
- Select Dwelling from Summary View added
- Show ABCB Climate Zone in Project Data-grid tab
- Security, framework and dependency updates
- BASIX compliance loads based on Rammed-earth / Mudbrick Wall setting now calculated based on meeting 50% of gross wall area
- Materials dropdown lists in Wall Assembly Table of Construction View autoscrolls to items
- Several higher parallel simulation CPU settings added
- Percentage values added to Results Piecharts
- Area of Penetration column in Zone-Item table of Summary View now is total Ceiling Penetration area, not gross area
Bug-fixes:
- Fixed a bug in the Data-Grid textfields where some conditions and keys were losing the edit and resetting value to previous
- Fixed a bug where tab-key was not focusing on the next column if that next column was empty
- Fixed a bug where Opening on Wall would flip Left-Offset when connecting to an adjacent Wall
- Fixed a bug where “Zoom to Selected” button in Data-Grid was not firing for Zones & Dwellings
- Fixed a bug where Walls in the Visual View would not move correctly after some splits
- Fixed a bug in the Data-Grid where Textfields in the first column would have Tree Dropdown Arrow overlapping when editing
- Fixed a bug to disallow attaching a Screen to internal walls in Attach Drawing Mode
- Fixed a bug where a second Double-click on an Opening or Skylight would not navigate to Dwelling level
- Fixed a bug where deleting a Level would never delete a Dwelling entirely located upon it
- Fixed a bug where Skylight type would not correctly change on Ceiling change from Roofspace to Flat adjacency type
- Fixed a bug on Wall autohealer that would cause inappropriate merges
- Fixed a bug on some “user-set” flags that would override user selections incorrectly on some occasions
- Fixed a bug where Zone-items could not move back from an invalid position to a valid position
- Fixed a bug where BASIX alteration/additions compliance loads would cause simulation to not finish
- Removed some invalid Wall Assembly context-menu actions in the Wall Assembly Library
- Fixed a bug where Template View would show additionally on New Project if already open
- Fixed a bug on Visual View Toolbar Dwelling names not being updated on Data-grid Name changes
- Fixed a bug on Chinese language settings causing intermittent exceptions
- Fixed a bug in the Skylight Alert if outside parent error being fired improperly
- Fixed a bug that would show the Background from the lower level after a Level delete
- Fixed a bug on certificate for adjacent wall not adding minor wall for common-area conditions
- Fixed a bug where Ceiling Fan and Roof Window Ventilation on Void Zone not added correctly to lower Zone
- Fixed a bug in the Visual View where Wing-Walls would flicker on some mouse conditions
- Fixed a bug where Penetration Groups were not reselected upon a Group by Button press
- Fixed a bug where Wing Wall projection was not being updated on Wall thickness change
- Fixed a bug where having 1x normal dwelling and 1x common area dwelling would incorrectly trigger a change to “Multidwelling” mode in the application, showing the Dwelling data-grid tab etc.
- Fixed a simulation bug for External (Shaded) Ceilings adjacent to a Common area dwelling with specific floor assembly
- Fixed a bug where Wall drags were lost on change from adjacent Wall to non-adjacent Wall in Visual View
- Fixed a bug where many selected walls merging would throw an occasional exception dialog
- Fixed a bug where data-grid values were not being refreshed upon window maximised
- Fixed a bug where minor internal wall assembly not added correctly to External (Shaded) adjacent walls in simulation
- Fixed a bug where Wall values were not being reset correctly on resetting from a “Null” adjacency
- Fixed a bug where the Zone selection bounds in the Visual View were incorrect in some situations
- Fixed a bug where Openability could be entered for Fixed Window-Type
- Fixed an internal wall drag-move bug
- Fixed a bug where some items would show incorrectly when on an adjacent level and selected
- Fixed a bug where PDF background names with special characters were not loading correctly or showing error dialog
- Fixed a bug in Background Import where Enter-key would select wrong Page-number
- Fixed a bug for suspended floors with reflective insulation to lining
- Fixed a bug where Penetration Insulated setting did not reset Clearance value
- Fixed a bug in the Visual View where the Backgrounds do not contribute to “Fit to Plan”
- Fixed a bug where auto-save timer was not reset on load or new project such that inappropriate autosave can occur
- Fixed a bug where the Alerts View was showing blank view incorrectly
- Fixed a bug in the Visual View where Error icons would sometimes not show on project loads
- Fixed a bug in Wall shape not being correct in the Visual View after a Split Wall action
- Fixed a bug where Skylight user-set names changed on Skylight Shape change
- Fixed a bug where deleting a Dwellign would not remove its Results in the Results View
- Fixed a bug where the Window Specification in the Template View could be empty on all Selected Windows cleared
- Fixed a bug where multidwelling results would show in status-bar if 1x normal dwelling and 1x common-area dwelling
- Fixed a bug where Roof Window Chenath ventilation perforation factor was set at 85% instead of 100%
- Fixed a bug on Zoom to Zone-item not firing correctly
- Fixed a bug where Permanent Opening alerts were firing incorrectly
- Fixed a bug where deleting all Insulation Options would cause exception on Assembly Library
- Fixed a bug where up and down keys during combobox dropdown showing would hide list improperly
- Fixed a bug where Penetration previous values were set to invalid values
- Fixed a bug where Void zones were shown in some Floor and Ceiling tables
- Fixed a bug on Skylight Shaft-area not being calculated correctly on construction
- Fixed a bug in Scratch file where Window Zone Heights were rounding indeterminately causing adjacent Wall errors
- Fixed a bug on Data-Grid collapse/expand buttons not being disabled correctly
- Fixed a bug where Wing-Wall creation buttons and Shade Attachment Lines in the Visual View were interrupting mouse-clicks during active Drawing-Modes
- Fixed a bug on Skylight invalid position alert not showing correctly
- Fixed a bug where Roofspace adjacency would go to External adjacency after Level delete
- Fixed a bug where Exposed Ceiling on External (Shaded) adjacent could create empty Chenath material list exception
- Fixed a bug where the visibility setting of a Background Image was not saved correctly to .hero file
--------------------------------
Release: 1.2-beta
Date: 14/01/21
General:
- New “Summary View” added that shows a high-level, aggregated data perspective and allows viewing, selecting and editing various components (floors, ceilings etc.) as groups of similar items. Summary View split into “Model” and “Assembly” (summary of constructions in use) tabs.
- WERS custom window library updated (2.3.3.13.9.1)
Template View:
- Template View now supports saving and loading custom Templates in .template file format
- Template View can now be changed/re-used after initial setting (to apply to subsequently created model objects) and accessed in the Visual-View’s Top Toolbar
- Template View now supports adding a Specification per Window Style type (ie. casement, awning etc.) so that changing the Window Style on a Window will set the Specifications automatically based on the template
Visual View:
- New “Snap Options” added to most Drawing-modes that allow snapping options to be toggled on/off. Orthogonal snapping option added (by default On) that replicates previous use of shift-key.
- Additional split Wall and split Opening options added to Visual View, and dialog allowing height to be set on split
- Eaves and Screens now on same visual layer so they can be hidden behind each-other
- Export snapshot image of Visual-View feature added to Visual View menu-button
- Importing Backgrounds will use the position of any existing Background below or above the current Level to set its initial coordinates
- Keyboard shortcut zoom in/out and mouse-key panning features added to Visual-View. The end of a Panning event now does not clear selected items
Data-Grid:
- Downlights can now be “Insulated” which will mean no Ceiling Insulation loss modelled in Chenath (without Downlight geometry needing to change)
- New split Wall and split Opening actions added to Footer-bar of Wall and Opening Data-grid allowing multiple walls and openings to be split simultaneously into multiple segments
- “Show Special Zones” check-box added to some data-grid tabs that will show or hide objects from subfloor and/or roofspace zones (by default not shown)
- Export Data-Grid options (clipboard, image & CSV) added to menu-button of all data-grid tabs
Construction Library:
- Window Library now allows saving & loading of “Window Lists” (collections of selected window specifications)
- Three new optionally shown columns added to Wall Builder (Specific heat capacity, thermal conductivity, and material density) to allow better evaluating of substitute materials (not shown visible by default)
- Wall Builder export currently shown Assembly feature added
- Concrete Block wall-types added to default assembly library
Simulation & Results:
- Visual-indication of compliance (red) added to status-bar results, shown if results not achieving estimated regulatory compliance requirements
- Simulation progress indicator added to Status-bar
- “Star-rating” column added to Zone Results table showing zone-by-zone rating
- Changes to Wing-wall modelling within Chenath Scratch file to avoid small or insignificant wing-walls effecting Chenath ventilation calculations
Web Portal:
- New Class 1 NatHERS Summary Certificate and Stamp issued for multi-dwelling Class 1 projects
- Merge Project feature added to Web Portal that allows multiple files to be combined into a single Summary Certificates (can be multiple multi-dwelling projects or individual dwellings or any combination) allowing a hybrid multi-dwelling modelling approach
- Resend Activation Email button added
- User Profile now shows current Certificate Credits
- Fixed a bug where Hero emails were showing incorrectly in Microsoft Outlook
- Various bug-fixes and performance/stability improvements
Alerts:
- New Alerts (Certification Error) that are raised when duplicate Unit Names or Numbers are detected
- New Alert (Warning Type) that is raised if there is no Hole between a two-level Dwelling
- New Alerts (Warning Type) that are raised if there are no Bedrooms or Unconditioned Zones in a dwelling
- New Alert (Warning Type) that is raised if there are no Screens in a Project
- New Alert (Info Type) that is raised if there are no Openings in a Zone
Minor Changes:
- Resolved several memory leaks to reduce memory use when loading new projects and long sessions
- Drawing modes now correctly detect object “on top” for actions such as attaching Screens/Eaves and splitting objects
- Automatic wing-wall creation improved for some edge-case situations
- Split Opening naming strategy improved to be “Excel column/row like” (ie. alphabetical vertical split, numeric horizontal splits) (thanks Mr Graham)
- Adding custom insulation R-values to a CSOG floor now uses XPS insulation material by default
- Disabled Run-button when Common-area Dwelling selected as current dwelling
- Stopping a simulation in progress now does not clear previous simulation results
- A single simulation can proceed even if there are other dwellings with errors or alerts blocking their simulation
- Setting a Garage door specification to Metal (Uninsulated) will not save this specification to be used on next created Door
- Data-grid zoom in/out feature disabled temporarily due to performance issues
- Chenath simulation ventilation openings now uses parent wall top height rather than zone ceiling height
- External Subfloor Zone Walls are now named after the Wall in the connected Zone above
- Edit menu advanced option added to perform a rescan of adjacencies across the project or upon selected objects for debugging purposes
- Automatic wing-wall detection disabled for Special Zones (i.e. subfloors and roofspace zones)
- Exporting pie-charts in Results View now includes their titles
- Run-All Button selected by default when Dwelling count > 1
- Minor visual design changes to support lower resolution screens
- Data-grid now re-sorts entries after group-by button change
Bug-fixes:
- Fixed a bug where wall data-grid showed duplicate entries in construction drop-down
- Fixed a bug that caused higher than expected cooling results in some rare situations
- Fixed a bug where openings base heights were not changed upon wall base height changes that made them invalid
- Fixed a bug where Visual-View Alert icons were showing intermittently rather than constantly on zoom
- Fixed a bug when a basement zone was used in combination with a >9m high dwelling
- Fixed a bug when splitting walls adjacent to sub-floors or roofspaces
- Fixed a bug in the data-grid when clicking an internal wall after a sort action
- Fixed a bug that incorrectly raised the “No Unit Number” alert
- Fixed a bug where “Null” adjacent walls were not cleaned up and/or reset after a zone is deleted
- Fixed a bug that allowed sub-floor external walls to be deleted
- Fixed a bug that did not clear a Roofspace Alert when changing from Roofspace (This Level) adjacency to Roofspace (Level Below) (and likewise for Subfloors)
- Fixed a bug that did not add ceiling-fan energy to results upon project-load (only upon simulation)
- Fixed a bug when changing a zone to a common-area type that changed floor adjacency type
- Fixed a bug that allowed screens and eaves to be connected to walls from another level
- Fixed a minor bug on roof azimuth values within scratch file
- Fixed a bug on mismatched areas on scratch ventilation internal openings
- Fixed a bug that allowed ceiling insulation to be typed into the insulation combo-box in the data-grid for Internally adjacent Ceilings
- Fixed an issue when changing zone-types from conditioned to unconditioned that now clear any existing results on next simulation
--------------------------------
Release: 1.1.1-beta
Date: 28/10/20
General:
- New Alert (Certification Error) for No Simulations Results in save file
- New Alert (Certification Error) for No Unit Number for multidwelling projects
Data-Grid:
- Zone name changes in Data-Grid now detect & assign Zone-Type automatically feature added
Minor Changes:
- Splitting walls horizontally now connects them to any eaves or screens connected to original wall and copies manual wing-walls to new wall
- Changing ceilings to Neighbouring adjacency no longer changes to a Slab construction
- Limit simulated skylight pitch to 60 degrees due to Chenath bug
Bug-fixes:
- Fixed a bug where floating walls blocked normal walls from moving
- Fixed a bug in Zone Drawing mode that could allow user to click an existing Zone point
- Fixed a bug in Results View reporting Void zones in Unconditioned Area
- Fixed a bug on scratch simulation ventilation network mid-heights
- Fixed a bug on scope of common-area dwelling zones to include in simulation
- Fixed a bug on BASIX compliance limits when loading file
- Fixed a bug that allowed a Wall Assembly to be unselected in the Wall Assembly Library
--------------------------------
Release: 1.1-beta
Date: 06/10/20
General:
- “Template View” added which is shown for new Projects to setup initial project defaults
- Substantial improvement to Geometry package to improve automatic adjacency splitting and stability issues on multilevel projects after moves or deletes. Geometry validation algorithms added to ensure valid adjacency splitting performed & for program to remain performant
- ABCB Heating & Cooling Load Limits calculated automatically based on project, climate & floor-type etc. and presented to user for single & multi-dwelling projects
- BASIX Heating & Cooling Load Limits calculated automatically based on project, climate & floor-type etc and presented to user for single & multi-dwelling projects
- Substantial changes to Results presentation including improved export facilities, addition of heating & cooling loads; heating & cooling load Limits; star rating compliance requirement suggestions; area summaries; ABCB climate zone 1/2 outdoor ceiling fan & living areas options
Model:
- New zone types "Neighbour" & "External Unconditioned" added, "Corridor" changed to "Glazed Corridor"
- New user-selectable adjacency type "External (Shaded)" added to Walls & Ceilings
- Default Screen height changed to 1800mm to match NatHERS Tech Notes
Visual View:
- “Drag-select” direction (e.g. top-left to bottom-right) reversed from select-all enclosed or select-all touched to mirror common CAD functionality (Autocad etc.). (Good catch Mr Hooper!)
- “Send to Back” functionality now sends Eaves behind any overlapping Screens and vice-versa
- “Split Wall Horizontally” context-menu action added to walls
- Floor/Ceiling outline colour changes to visually differentiate splits better
- Snap to typical Door dimensions (620/670/720 etc) on Draw Door mode feature added
- Default Background Import Scale Ratio changed to 1:100
Data-Grid:
- Added detailed description tooltips to all “Zone-Type” and “Adjacency Type” columns in Data-Grid
- “Area” column added to Zone Data-Grid
Constructions:
- Wall Builder design revised
- Several new wall constructions added including AAC group & single-skin timber type
- Checkboxes removed from Insulation Options in Wall Assembly Library view
- Standard vs Custom Assemblies visually styled differently in Assembly Library
- Divider position saved between Wall Builder Assembly Library and Assembly Table
Results:
- Status Bar Results area now show Heating & Cooling loads for single & multi-dwelling projects
- Status Bar Results area now show ABCB or BASIX Heating & Cooling Load Limits when hovered for single & multi-dwelling projects
- Results View updated with ABCB or BASIX Heating & Cooling Load Limits for single & multi-dwelling projects
- Results View Area Summaries now include “More Info” area for BASIX Users with various construction & type area summaries (thank-you for suggestion Mr. Mueller)
- Export to Data & Export to CSV File features added to Results sub-views (thank-you for suggestion Mr. Graham)
Settings:
- Automatic wing-wall creation from detecting either adjacent Walls or Screens setting added to Settings View
- Clean geometry on project load setting added to Settings View
- Background image quality default changed to 100dpi from 400dpi to reduce memory usage
Web Portal:
- Numerous design & functionality improvements throughout
- Export projects to CSV feature added
- Amendments to NatHERS Certificate formatting & data-structure
Minor Changes:
- Improved automatic wing-wall creation feature: projection now detects outside face of walls not internal wall face; and automatic wing-walls now created off screens when screen slightly in-front of wall
- “Automatic” wing-walls now become “Manual” on vertical offset change in Data-Grid
- Improved “Null” wall detection near internal wall spines & corners
- Improved wall adjacency splitting to reduce small wall creation
- Performance & memory usage improvements on loading projects
- Performance & memory usage improvements to large multi-level projects
- Weatherstripping and window internal-shading now locked as per regulatory mode requirements where appropriate
- Autosave directory moved out of Windows temporary directory to eliminate accidental removal by Windows. More autosaves kept on program close.
- Window library now always shows NatHERS Default category as top item
- Floating walls can now be split using Split Drawing mode or context-menu actions
- Block creation of tiny floor/ceiling areas on Split Drawing modes & automatic adjacency splitting
- Internal Floor insulation default now "90mm Non-Refl Air-gap" rather than "No Insulation"
- Revised Adjacency text within Data-Grid
- Numerous visual design refinements, icon changes & improvements
- Numerous new alert types added for various situations including unconnected eaves/screens, incorrectly orientated screens, unconnected subfloors & roofspaces
- New error messages added for various situations & exceptions
- Improved search algorithm for wall assembly library
- Dwelling Unit Number now auto-populated
- Insulation position now shown in Data-Grid Insulation columns if similar insulation in different position
- Collapse/expand buttons added to window library
Bug-fixes:
- Fixed a bug when moving or creating complex shapes on multilevel projects caused program to become unresponsive due to Adjacency Splitting algorithms or creating incorrect floor/ceiling shapes
- Fixed a bug when Zones were selected that showed an incorrect Zone shape
- Fixed a bug where Velux Roof Windows was not allowing simulations to begin
- Fixed a bug where a Void Zone with numerous Holes in it was not allowing simulations to begin
- Fixed a bug where Penetrations were auto-added back into Zones after they had been removed if Zone-Type changed
- Fixed a bug where Skylight Orientation arrow was shown incorrectly on load
- Fixed a bug where floating walls would connect to normal walls below after move
- Fixed a bug on simulation where Corridor & Carparks adjacent to each-other caused program to become unresponsive
- Fixed a bug on simulation when Zones with duplicate names or special characters caused program to become unresponsive
- Fixed a bug that reset adjacency on roofspace or subfloor connected floors/ceilings when split using Split Drawing mode
- Fixed a bug that resulted in allowing Penetrations outside the Zone Bounds
- Fixed a bug on attempting to merge two internal walls
- Fixed a bug on elements not being unselected correctly in rare situations
- Fixed a bug allowing internal floor/ceiling anchor points to be deleted in more general applications
- Fixed a bug on Data-Grid Delete button deleting objects that typically cannot be deleted
- Fixed a bug on Data-Grid divider not refreshing cells
- Fixed a bug where number of parallel simulation options not showing options for > 32 CPU cores in Settings View for users/cyborgs with semi-sentient-computers
- Fixed several items in the Visual View showing on adjacent levels when selected in Data-Grid
- Removed gray area beyond background image
- Fixed a bug in Wall Builder that incorrectly scrolled the Assembly Library
- Fixed a bug where Right-click on Anchor point sometimes showed incorrect menu
- Fixed a bug where shifting/moving levels or deleting levels caused program to become unresponsive
- Fixed a bug where no Sort icon was shown on secondary headers of Data-Grid
- Fixed a bug on custom insulation creation within Data-Grid on multiple assemblies
- Fixed a bug where Internal Wall Flip icon remain shown incorrectly on occasion
- Fixed a bug where no Error Message was shown in some situations on Simulation, Saving or Loading Projects error
- Fixed a bug where multiple custom wall assemblies or custom insulation options were added upon project file loading
- Fixed a bug when changing Skylight shape when row was selected in Data-Grid
- Fixed some drawing-mode status-bar messages
- Fixed a bug where duplicate window names could be created on splitting windows
- Fixed a bug on multiple monitors that incorrectly saved preferred monitor
- Fixed a bug where Common Area Dwellings were able to have Site Exposure in Data-Grid
- Fixed a bug where post-codes with no associated Australian State or Territory (Willis Island etc) caused the program to become unresponsive
--------------------------------
Release: 1.0-beta
Date: 12/06/20
General:
- Many new help tooltips added throughout application
- Some icons updated
- Certify & Help URLs updated
Model:
- Default Wall height is now 2400mm from 2700mm
- Default Screen height is now 2000mm from 1800mm
Constructions
- Green Roof ceiling construction added
- AFRC Window Libraries updated
- Reverse Brick Veneer assembly now has air-gap between internal brick & stud
- Additional slab-edge insulation options added
- Waffle Pod now has Uninsulated Option to model non-EPS waffle-pod constructions (eg plastic void formers etc)
- Selected Windows section of Window Library filter button removed
Data-Grid:
- Floor Assembly options for internal floors now exclude CSOG & Waffle options
Bug-fixes:
- Fixed a bug causing the Settings & Alerts view to not fit within smaller screens or screens with high Windows scaling
- Fixed a bug causing occasional incorrect heights of wing-walls
- Fixed a bug which caused mouse zoom in/out scroll to become irregular
- Fixed a bug where background images could not be dragged & moved
- Fixed a bug causing incorrect raising of "Hole not completely within Parent Floor" Alert
- Fixed a bug on waffle pod insulation
- Fixed a bug throwing an exception when creating new projects with Wing-Walls selected
- Fixed a rare bug throwing an exception when changing data-grid sort order & deleting objects
- Fixed a bug allowing the same window to be added to the Selected Windows list more than once
- Fixed a bug where items were improperly selected after a Penetration or Hole was deleted
- Fixed a bug throwing an exception when changing to New Project from within Results View multiple times
- Fixed a bug that caused widths of the Data-Grid to be incorrect on first start
- Fixed a bug that caused Background Images to lose its first right-click
- Fixed a bug that now allows Delete key to delete a selected background image
- Fixed a bug on split drawing mode that threw an exception if user double-clicked or clicked back at origin for edge to edge split
- Fixed a bug causing the Window Library height to not extend if divider dragged
- Fixed a bug on deleting items from within the Data-Grid
--------------------------------
Release: 0.9-beta-preview
Date: 15/05/20
- Initial public preview release