HighWater Q2 Output Controller Release Notes


HighWater Q2 Output Controller Installer

Version: 4.4r2
Date:
April 2008
Platforms:
Windows 2000 / XP / Server 2003 INTEL


Contents

Installation
Important Notes
Known Problems on Windows XP SP2
Important Upgrade Information for Barcode Plate Requeue
Revision History
Contacting HighWater Technical Support


Installation

Make sure there are no other applications running, and no MS-DOS command windows open. Insert the HighWater PrePress Solutions CD into the drive.

After a short delay your default web browser should automatically open a home page from the CD. Follow the instructions for installation. If your default web browser does not open automatically, browse the CD and double-click on the file 'index.htm'.

If you are upgrading an existing Q2 installation, please copy ‘Applications.cfg’, ‘Preferences.cfg’, ‘Queues.cfg’, ‘CommandLine.cfg’, and ‘LBPrefs.cfg’ from the existing Q2 folder to the new one, to maintain the existing settings. It will also be necessary to run the Q2 Configuration Editor and change the location of any file or folder paths inside the Q2 folder to use the new Q2 location.

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Known Problems on Windows XP SP2

  • If problems are experienced running under Windows XP SP2 it could be that some User permissions need to be adjusted by the System Administrator. The problem shows itself in such a way that HighWater Q2 Output Controller error dialogs will appear on screen warning that files cannot be moved or modified. If this does occur, the System Administrator must add Modify and Write permissions to the Users profile for all hot folders specified when configuring Q2. If in doubt, please refer your query to HighWater Technical Support, details in Contacting HighWater Technical Support

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Important Notes

  • The Barcode Plate Requeue application will be installed as part of the standard Q2 Output Controller installation. HOWEVER, to use this option it MUST be purchased separately and it requires a specific keycode to unlock it. Please contact your sales representative for details.
  • The Load Balancer application will be installed as part of the standard Q2 Output Controller installation. HOWEVER, to use this option it MUST be purchased separately and it requires a specific keycode to unlock it.Please contact your sales representative for details.
  • Q2 Output Controller v4.0.3r1 (or later) requires that version 4.0.11 or later of the Configuration Editor is used. It is important that, if upgrading from a previous version of Q2 Output Controller, the Configuration Editor should be started at least once. It is unimportant that any changes be made, but this action will ensure that the correct number of parameters is supplied to Q2 on first starting the application after installation.
  • The PC must be rebooted after installation in order that the Sentinel Dongle Driver installation is completed correctly.

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Important Upgrade Information for Barcode Plate Requeue

It is imperative that this procedure is followed carefully in order to maintain existing configuration settings and the integrity of previously allocated barcodes when upgrading from an older version of Q2 with BPR.

  • Copy the folder 'barcodes' from the previous Q2 installation folder to the new Q2 installation folder.
  • Copy the files 'barcode.ini', 'BPRConfig.ini' and 'BarcodeDatabase.xml' from the previous Q2 installation's System folder to the new Q2 installation's System folder.

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Revision History

Release 4.4r2 April 2008

This release matches Q2 v4.4 with Service Pack 1 installed.

Bug fixes

·      Q2 Engine.exe: corrected a rare problem causing the next job to be started too early. This has only ever been seen with InkMonitor (T+1532)

·      Q2Engine.exe: corrected a rare problem resulting in completed jobs (possibly remaining highlighted in green) remaining in the queue, with the completion action not being taken (T+1552).

Component versions

  • AddBarcode.exe v1.1.9.0 5Oct07
  • BPRConfig.exe v1.2.1.0 21Jul06
  • Controller.exe v4.4.0.0 27Oct06
  • Decomp2 v2.3.14 25Nov05
  • Editor.exe v4.4.0.0 9Oct06
  • Engine.exe v4.4.8.0 31Mar08
  • HWImage2.dll v1.4.17 26Jun06
  • HWUtils.dll v5.0.0.0 09Jun06
  • HWViewer v3.2.2: decomp2 v2.3.14 25Nov05; HWImage2.dll v1.4.17 26Jun06; pdiofncs.dll 29May02
  • Lrgd.exe v2.0.6.0.0 16Oct06
  • OdbcAccess.dll v2.0 17Jan02
  • Pdiofncs.dll 29May02
  • PSapi.dll v4.0.0 23Jan01
  • PythonStatus.dll v4.0.2.0 14Nov05
  • Q2CommsServer.exe v1.0.6.0 12Mar08
  • Q2.dll v1.1 11Sep01
  • Viewimage.dll v1.3 3Feb03

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Release 4.4r1 November 2007

This release matches Q2 v4.4 with v4.4 Patch 3 installed.

Bug fixes

·      Q2 Comms Server: If communication with the Console is lost, the Comms Server will quit, allowing plate output to continue. (T+1086)

·      Q2 Engine.exe: Correct problem resulting in plates (very rarely) being reported as 'Job died' in the Imager queue; Operation: Add barcode. (T+1063)

·      Q2 Engine.exe: Correct problem causing a resident process which dies to be restarted multiple times. (T+1274)

·      AddBarcode.exe: Remove limitation of 1000mm for images into which a barcode can be stitched.

Component versions

  • AddBarcode.exe v1.1.9.0 5Oct07
  • BPRConfig.exe v1.2.1.0 21Jul06
  • Controller.exe v4.4.0.0 27Oct06
  • Decomp2 v2.3.14 25Nov05
  • Editor.exe v4.4.0.0 9Oct06
  • Engine.exe v4.4.2.0 14Mar07
  • HWImage2.dll v1.4.17 26Jun06
  • HWUtils.dll v5.0.0.0 09Jun06
  • HWViewer v3.2.2: decomp2 v2.3.14 25Nov05; HWImage2.dll v1.4.17 26Jun06; pdiofncs.dll 29May02
  • Lrgd.exe v2.0.6.0.0 16Oct06
  • OdbcAccess.dll v2.0 17Jan02
  • Pdiofncs.dll 29May02
  • PSapi.dll v4.0.0 23Jan01
  • PythonStatus.dll v4.0.2.0 14Nov05
  • Q2CommsServer.exe v1.0.3.0 6Dec06
  • Q2.dll v1.1 11Sep01
  • Viewimage.dll v1.3 3Feb03

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Release 4.4 October 2006

Feature Additions/Changes

  • A new control has been added to the Barcode Plate Requeue configuration tool to allow barcodes to be placed in alternative positions on successive plates. (T+616)
  • When adding a BPR barcode to a plate image, if the barcode position is outside the perimeter of the plate image, the plate image will be extended to accommodate the barcode. (T+817)
  • Improved the error message reported when trying to requeue a plate not in the barcode database. (T+299)
  • The Barcode Plate Requeue configuration tool Preferences dialog now contains a field allowing the barcode database expiry time to be altered. This is the number of days after which the record associating the barcode number with the plate details will be removed from the database. (T+299)
  • The low-res generator daemon (LRGD) has been added to the Q2 suite of programs.

Bug fixes

  • Corrected a problem causing Q2 to sometimes lock up when shutting down. (T+665)
  • Corrected the start time of a new day’s log when daylight savings time is in force. (T+837)
  • Improved reliability when restarting  a resident child process. (T+32)
  • Internal change. (T+767)
  • The first process following and aborted job is now called correctly. (T+550)
  • A Q2 Engine crash which occurred during stress testing has been corrected. (T+670)
  • Improved reliability of queue processing. (T+852)
  • Improved robustness of Q2 if it cannot send a message to Comms Server (T+872)
  • LRGD (not previously included with Q2) contains the following changes:
    1. V2.0.6 Now correctly generates low-res files for image files with multiple full-stops in their file names. (T+980)
    2. V2.0.5 Now honours settings for file settle time and sleep between scans time. (T+725)
    3. V2.0.4 Corrects a memory leak (T+651), reduced thread count (T+652), correctly generates low-res images for files starting digit, dot. (T+626)

Component versions

  • AddBarcode.exe v1.1.7.0 14Sep06
  • BPRConfig.exe v1.2.1.0 21Jul06
  • Controller.exe v4.4.0.0 27Oct06
  • Decomp2 v2.3.14 25Nov05
  • Editor.exe v4.4.0.0 9Oct06
  • Engine.exe v4.4.0.0 30Oct06
  • HWImage2.dll v1.4.17 26Jun06
  • HWUtils.dll v5.0.0.0 09Jun06
  • HWViewer v3.2.2: decomp2 v2.3.14 25Nov05; HWImage2.dll v1.4.17 26Jun06; pdiofncs.dll 29May02
  • Lrgd.exe v2.0.6.0.0 16Oct06
  • OdbcAccess.dll v2.0 17Jan02
  • Pdiofncs.dll 29May02
  • PSapi.dll v4.0.0 23Jan01
  • PythonStatus.dll v4.0.2.0 14Nov05
  • Q2CommsServer.exe v1.0.3.0 11Oct06
  • Q2.dll v1.1 11Sep01
  • Viewimage.dll v1.3 3Feb03

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Release 4.3 December 2005

Feature Additions/Changes

  • Many internal changes to allow integration with the Cobra platesetter user-interface.
  • Error messages from Q2 child processes now persist across restarts of Q2.
  • BPRConfig.exe now allows the position of the barcode to be specified relative to any of the four edges of the plate.

Bug fixes

  • Corrected a potential problem with filename filtering. (T+124)
  • Corrected a problem with the day-naming of the log files. (T+346)

Component versions

  • Q2.dll v1.1 11Sep01
  • PSapi.dll v4.0.0 23Jan01
  • HWViewer: decomp2 v2.3.13 11Feb05; HWImage2.dll v1.4.14 18Feb05; pdiofncs.dll 29May02
  • HWUtils.dll v4.0.2.0 14Nov05
  • Pdiofncs.dll 29May02
  • Decomp2 v2.3.14 25Nov05
  • Viewimage.dll 3Feb03
  • OdbcAccess.dll v2.0 17Jan02
  • HWImage2.dll v1.4.14 18Feb05
  • PythonStatus.dll v4.0.2.0 14Nov05

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Release 4.2 May 2005

Feature Additions/Changes

  • This is the first release which has the Barcode Plate Requeue application as a standard part of the installer. To make use of this facility please see the Important Notes section of this document.
  • 'Don't process files while they are open for read or write' is now the default option in the Job Settings->During Processing section of the Configuration Editor. The behaviour has changed for this option in that, while a job in the queue is open for read or write by another application, the queue is paused until that job is available, rather than the job being skipped which is what used to happen. Once the job becomes available for output it is processed and output continues.
  • Many changes to improve reliability.
  • Many enhancements to improve consistency of dialogs and menus.
  • Improved the consistency of queue highlighting in the 'Requeue Job(s) from Done Directory(s)' dialog. (Q2-019) [Controller]
  • Reduced the time it takes Q2 viewer to refresh the thumbnail images. (Q2-089) [Controller]
  • Q2 now honours subdirectories of the source file path when moving a file on completion of a task, creating the required folder structure if necessary. This option is configurable in Preferences.cfg. (Q2-113 & Q2-274) [Controller]
  • Rationalised behaviour of job suspend/unsuspend when double-clicking on jobs to be identical to that of the contextual menu. (Q2-143) [Controller]
  • If Q2 is running and a second instance of the program is requested, instead of just showing an error message, the running application is brought to the foreground. (Q2-176) [Controller]
  • Added 'Insert' button to allow serial processes to be added to an existing queue, before one or more existing processes. (Q2-191) [Editor]
  • Q2 now honours subdirectories of the source file path, if identically named subdirectories occur in the destination folder, when dragging a file from one queue to another. This option is configurable in Preferences.cfg. (Q2-193 & Q2-274) [Controller]
  • A job is now suspended if it fails due to an error from any process in a multi-process queue. (Q2-200) (Q2-215) [Engine]
  • Process Instructions dialog now contains a warning that all parameters specified will be applied to all processes in the Q2 queue for which they are set. (Q2-204) [Editor]
  • When a resident process dies it is restarted. (Q2-209) [Engine]
  • Inhibit Q2 Output Controller from displaying its shutdown message if it is minimised when shutting down. (Q2-211) [Controller]
  • Improved display of strings wider than their visible field in Q2 Configuration Editor. (Q2-212) [Editor]
  • Each error is time stamped and the information displayed in the 'Display Job Error' dialog. (Q2-214) [Editor]
  • When tabbing between fields of the 'Process job using identifier...' dialog unused character spaces are zero filled. (Q2-219) [Controller]
  • When adding Command Line Parameters to the Path, from the list of parameters, the parameter is now added if any one of the Add Process, Insert Process, Next or Previous buttons is selected, as though the OK button had been selected. (Q2-220) [Editor]
  • When the user selects a command-line parameter from the list in the Processes dialog of the Q2 Configuration Editor, and then click Previous, Next, Insert Process or Add Process; the command-line parameter is added to the process path, just as if 'OK' had been selected. (Q2-223) [Controller]
  • Display quitting message while killing child processes when shutting down Q2 Output Controller. (Q2-225) [Controller]
  • Changed the menu entry 'Requeue plate using ID...' to 'Process job using identifier...'. (Q2-227) [Controller]
  • Improved the way in which Q2 Controller reports the problem when trying to run TicketMaker without a keycode which enables it. (Q2-239) [Controller]
  • When a queue is configured to include sub-directories, Job Ticket folders are now not included. These are treated as special cases so their contents are not listed. (Q2-240) [Controller]
  • When a single job is selected in a queue and 'Delete Job' is selected from the Job menu the 'Yes To All' option is now greyed out. (Q2-242) [Controller]
  • Q2 Controller and Configuration Editor no longer create keys in the Registry to store the application paths. (Q2-244) [Editor]
  • Added a new 'Job reassignment rule' (All jobs but don't split groups) to the 'Balancing strategy rules' section in the Load Balancer configuration dialog. (Q2-255) [Editor]
  • If Q2 is set to run at startup time, with the startup shortcut set to run it 'minimized', it now does not display the splash screen. (Q2-263) [Controller]
  • When Q2 pops-up an error dialog the information supplied is more informative and relevant. (Q2-264) [Controller]
  • When editing a load-balanced queue in the Config Editor, not all the entries in the three menus are mutually compatible. For some of them, changing the setting of one menu causes another menu setting to snap to a valid state (but not neccessarily the desired state). Changing the setting back does not cause the other setting to revert to its original state. The user is now warned when this happens(Q2-265) [Editor]
  • Changed the wording in General Preferences for 'Plate search application' to 'Identifier search application'. (Q2-276) [Editor]

Bug fixes

  • Fixed a problem reported with the Q2 output to printer queue. If a proof file is produced with the same name as an existing proof file, then the new file overwrites the first file. While this is reasonable, Q2 does not consider that a new file has arrived and therefore, does not launch HWViewer to output the new proof. (Q2-033) [Controller]
  • Corrected a problem with the order in which multiple processes are defined for a single queue. (Q2-149) [Editor]
  • Fixed a bug so that remote volumes now do not need to have a drive letter in the pathname i.e. UNC file naming convention is now supported. (Q2-154) [Engine]
  • Fixed a bug which caused the Q2 engine to throw several messages, when started, saying it could not open the file d:\q2\logs\ engine.log, if the folder d:\q2\logs had been deleted. The folder is now created if it is missing when Q2 starts. (Q2-164) [Engine]
  • Q2 now makes jobs from a remote volume unavailable (greyed out) if that volume disappears. When the volume re-appears, the jobs are made available for output again. The jobs used to be removed from the queue, then reappear in the queue marked as ready to process, e.g., if the remote volume was re-booted, even if they had previously been output. (Q2-172) [Engine]
  • Fixed a problem which caused Q2 Output Controller occasionally to fail to quit. (Q2-192) [Controller]
  • Fixed a bug which left LoadBalancer running if Q2 Output Controller was quit whilst running up. This meant that next time Q2 Output Controller was started up two instances of Load Balancer would be running, causing a comms error. (Q2-183) [Controller]
  • When using LoadBalancer with multi-copy jobs, instead of sharing the jobs between queues, the job would be sent to one queue and number of copies changed to one. When moving jobs between queues the number of copies was not retained. Number of copies is now retained under both of these circumstances. (Q2-217) [Controller]
  • Fixed a bug which caused the Configuration Editor to crash if there was no '.exe' extension in the Process field. (Q2-221) [Editor]
  • Ensured all error messages are now logged to file. (Q2-226) [Engine]
  • Windows XP may generate a hidden thumbnail file 'Thumbs.db' for images it finds in a folder. A modification has been made so that hidden files are ignored and they won't appear in the queues. (Q2-229) [Engine]
  • Fixed a bug which caused thumbnail images for a PPPS 'OutputToPrinter' folder are incorrectly deleted by Q2 if the BitmapsToProof queue was associated with a drive letter. (Q2-233) [Controller]
  • Fixed a bug which caused the editor to "get confused" when creating new queues and passing jobs from one new queue to another new queue. If the first new queue was created, then the 'Test Queue' deleted, and the second new queue created, jobs moved from new queue 1 to new queue 2, the parameters would be saved as passing jobs from queue 1 to queue 1. (Q2-235) [Editor]
  • Fixed a bug which caused hidden queues to remain suspended after an error even after restarting Q2 with 'Initial State Not Suspended' selected. Have made a change in Q2 Config Editor so that 'Initial State Not Suspended' cannot be selected if a queue is hidden. (Q2-236) [Editor]
  • Fixed a bug in LRGSpool which meant that thumbnail images were being produced with the wrong colours. (Q2-237) [LRGSpool]
  • Currently if another application opens a file which Q2 is processing, e.g. Low Res Generator, the process might fail, or the clean-up action may fail due to the file being open. (Q2-238) [Controller]
  • Corrected recovery behaviour when a resident process dies or is killed. (Q2-247) [Controller]
  • Corrected handling of write protected Job Tickets. (Q2-248) [Controller]
  • If a folder associated with a queue in Q2 was removed or renamed, and then Q2 was started, that queue was suspended, but no error was reported either via a dialog or in the logfile. The missing folder is now created and reported in the logfile. If the folder cannot be created then a doalog should report that the folder could not be found and that Q2 Controller will quit. (Q2-257) [Controller]
  • New jobs are now sorted by modification date before being added to a queue. (Q2-258) [Controller]
  • If a job selected in the Imager queue, with the corresponding .tkt and .icf files being "read only", was dragged into a TicketMaker queue using Q2 GUI, Q2 threw up an error dialog reporting "Failed to delete job ticket for job...", but the job was then moved to the TicketMaker queue. Inspection of the folders showed the TicketMaker queue contained all the files from the original Imager queue, but the read only .tkt had also remained in the Imager queue folder. This "litter" is now no longer left in the queue from which the job was originally dragged. (Q2-260) [Controller]
  • Corrected a rare problem where a job which has been processed correctly is marked as 'Died'. making this change has greatly increased the ability to run multiple queues in parallel without errors. (Q2-326) [Controller]

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Release 4.1.3 May 2004

Bug fixes

  • decomp2.dll updated to v2.3.10.
  • Further minor improvement to fix for Q2-205.
  • Added extra debug capability in the software build settings. [Engine]

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Release 4.1.2 April 2004

Bug fixes

  • It is no longer possible to use characters in queue names which would be illegal in Windows file/folder names. (Q2-190) [Editor]
  • With a queue running two processes, first one non-resident second resident, the first job would be processed without error but for the second job, the commandline passed to the first process was incorrect, having an empty string for the -fl (file pathname) parameter. This has now been fixed. (Q2-203) [Controller]
  • A timing problem has been corrected which could cause jobs to be marked as completed as soon as they had been moved to another queue for further processing, but before they had been processed. (Q2-205) [Controller]
  • Fixed a bug which caused jobs to be lost (very, very rarely) due to a timing issue triggered by LRGSpool processing files which are in JPEG format. (Q2-207) [Engine]
  • Configuration Editor no longer crashes if the file CommandLine.cfg is not present. (Q2-208) [Editor]
  • HWViewer updated to v3.0.8.

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Release 4.1.1 April 2004

Bug fixes

  • Further fix to quotation marks being handled in the pathname of the Processes to Run dialog box. (Q2-195) [Editor]
  • Stopped low resolution files being deleted when their filenames are created using the format jobname + ".tif". (Q2-196) [Engine]
  • Fixed a bug which caused lrgspool to crash occasionally.(Q2-197) [lrgspool]

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Release 4.1 March 2004

Feature Additions/Changes

  • Added new logging system. A new 'engine_XXX.log' logfile is created every day, where XXX is the first 3 letters of the day of the week on which it was created. This occurs on systems which run overnight too, with a new logfile being created at midnight each day. Old logfiles are moved to a folder called 'Archived Logfile', within the 'log' directory, for up to one week after which they may be overwritten. The default for truncation of logfiles has been changed to 10000 lines. (Q2-043)
  • Added facility to e-mail the engine logfile to HighWater Support. The current logfile is attached to an e-mail which is opened for the user to add any required text or add extra recipients for the mail. (Q2-042)
  • Added 'Open Image in HWViewer' facility to the Job Menu. This uses HWViewer to open the high resolution image for viewing.(Q2-039)
  • Changed the wording on the Job Menu item 'Display low-res' to 'Display Thumbnail'.
  • Changed the dialog for 'Requeue Job(s) from Done Directory' to be more comprehensive. (Q2-157)
  • Added feature to Configuration Editor for Command Line parameters to be held in a file and selected from a drop-down list on the dialog. Parameters which are typed into the 'Processes to run path' are added to the file CommandLine.cfg when the OK button is clicked. (Q2-078)
  • LRGSpool now supports Windows NT file compression as well as making low-res files from Pagebuffers. (Q2-162)
  • Redundant Low Res files created by lrgspool from within Q2 are now deleted from the system. If Low Res files have been created for Job Ticket jobs by lrgd these will be deleted when redundant. (Q2-165)
  • Added a new engine.log message to report the successful move of a job from one location to another. (Q2-180)
  • Added a dialog that informs the user that Q2 is quitting. (Q2-169)
  • Stopped a dialog reporting 'Could not resume the queue immediately as there is another queue in the same mutex group which is still active.'. This occurred if, as part of cleaning up, a job was being moved from the active queue's hot folder to another directory or another queue. (Q2-168)

Bug fixes

  • Quotation marks are handled correctly in the pathname of the Processes to Run dialog box. (Q2-177)
  • Fixed a bug that allowed Q2 to quit before all processes had quit. (Q2-170 and Q2-171)
  • Fixed a bug which allowed error reports to be displayed when 'Beep and display an alert box whenever an error occurs' was turned off. (Q2-179)

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Release 4.0.3r6 March 2004

Bug fixes

  • Fixed a bug related to requeueing job ticket jobs. When a job had passed through the system with its job ticket file (.tkt) and corresponding folder containing the .icf and .tif files being moved to the done directory on completion, and the job was then requeued from the done directory into one of the TicketMaker queues, the folder and .tkt were moved OK, but the original .tkt was not deleted from the done directory. The existence of the .tkt file in the done directory caused the job (after successful output) to fail to be moved to done directory again (Q2 reported an error), even though the 'Force overwrite' option was set in the cleanup options for the TicketMaker queue. This resulted in the entire job being deleted (.tkt and folder). (Q2-173)
  • Fixed a bug which caused occasionally, upon completion of an output from the PythonImager queue and/or at the point of taking the completion action for that job in that queue, Q2 pops up an error dialog reporting that it 'Failed to read the job ticket'. If you OK this error dialog, a second error dialog appears reporting 'Could not move the hot file to the done directory'. This only occurred when the file was being moved to a configured Done directory. (Q2-181)

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Release 4.0.3r5 February 28 2004

Feature Additions/Changes

  • Changed Q2Child.exe into a 'silent' process, so that Message Boxes do not appear on screen displaying the information requested. (Q2-155)

Bug fixes

  • Fixed a bug so that 'Process to Run' strings are now correctly enclosed in quotation marks regardless of how the string is entered in the dialog, or how the string has been 'quoted' in the Applications.cfg file. (Q2-112)

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Release 4.0.3r4 December 2003

Bug fixes

  • Fix to prevent Q2 crash when run for the first time after installation but before configuration.
  • Q2 v4.0.3r2 introduced a bug relating to moving folders (job tickets) on job completion: if the folder move to the 'done' directory failed (for instance because of sharing violation on a file within the folder), some files/folders may have been moved and others not. The failed move was not completely cleaned-up, and the job ticket folder remained in the 'done' directory. When the move was subsequently retried (automatically by Q2), a new job ticket folder was created within the one which was left behind. This behaviour has now been corrected. (Q2-159)

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Release 4.0.3r3 November 2003

Feature Additions/Changes

  • Added ability to type in 'Process to Run' pathname and parameters without enclosing quotes around the pathname in the Configuration Editor. (Q2-037)

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Release 4.0.3r2 August 2003

Feature Additions/Changes

  • Added ability to view the error associated with any failed job, by right-clicking on the job and selecting Display Job Error from the menu, or highlighting a job and selecting Display Job Error from the Job menu.
  • Name of logged in user now appears in the title bar of the GUI.

Bug fixes

  • The ability to requeue a completed job by double-clicking on the file in the queue has been reinstated.
  • Previously, sometimes when deleting files which have been processed by Q2, as part of 'Clean up', the enclosing folder was not being deleted.
  • If a requeue was for a file that was already in the queue a user error dialog appeared giving an error message to that effect. The job is now moved to the top of the list rather than raise an error.

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Release 4.0.3r1 August 2003

Feature Additions/Changes

  • Previously, the installer always added the application to the Startup folder. The user is now given the option of whether or not this happens.
  • The Q2 installer now runs the Sentinel Dongle Driver installer. If the driver is installed the PC will need to be rebooted. The user has the choice to do this immediately after Q2 installation has completed or to leave it to a later time to suit.

Bug fixes

  • If a resident process died, and was then restarted by Q2, there was an intermittent error which stopped the process from working.

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Release 4.0.3 March 2003

Feature Additions/Changes

  • It is now possible to change the order of the queues in the Q2 Configuration Editor.
  • A list of Q2 user names and passwords may now be specified in the Configuration Editor, and Q2 configured to require the user to log in before Q2 can be accessed. A log out facility is also available. Time stamped details of users logging in and out are now recorded in the logfile.
  • The queue name may now be obtained in child processes.
  • The user login name may now be obtained in child processes.
  • Added ability to specify the Plate Search application in the Configuration Editor.
  • Added ability to requeue plate given a unique twelve-digit plate ID. The location of the plate is obtained by calling the Plate Search application.
  • The Q2 log file now opens in the default text editor, rather than in a separate Q2 window.
  • It is now possible to configure groups of Mutex queues to switch automatically in a round-robin fashion each time the current queue contains no jobs waiting to be processed.
  • Many other user-interface improvements.
  • Q2 can now run with a time-limited, dongled keycode.

Bug fixes

  • Now includes a recursive search for thumbnail images.
  • Both the PIM job search and Requeue button now consistently only search 'Done' directories for the job to requeue.
  • The 'Process to run' field is now quoted, so it is tolerant of spaces in the file path.
  • The Configuration Editor no longer loses process information when copying a queue.
  • The Q2 log is now easier to view from the Output Controller. (Does not jump to top when new items are added to the bottom.)
  • The PIM and the Requeue from Done Directory dialogues now do not list the same plate file more than once.
  • Barcode entry is not now case-sensitive.
  • If you delete the log file and then try and view the log file, Q2 no longer takes 100% processor time.
  • Improved handling of low-res files for Job Tickets.
  • Removes low-res file when corresponding Job Ticket is deleted.
  • Configuration editor no longer changes the queue configuration to not move processed files to a remote completion directory, if that directory is unavailable at the time of editing the queue.
  • Changes to improve the reliability of Q2.
  • It is now possible to configure Q2 to call a batch file to which the path contains spaces.
  • It is now possible to resume a job, or group of jobs, from the Job menu.

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Release 4.0.2

Feature Additions/Changes

  • Added support for new features of Imager v4.2.
  • Added Launch Application job context menu entry.
  • Added Launch Application section to Processes configuration dialog.
  • Added Parameter File Editor section to Process Instructions configuration dialog.
  • Removed support for old-style white HASP dongles.

Bug fixes

  • Fixed possible memory allocation/corruption issue on Q2 startup.
  • Fixed requeue of 'job ticket' based jobs.
  • Fixed behaviour of job context menu on suspend/resume of entries.
  • Fixed Demo Mode.
  • Fix in problem with Launch Application feature.
  • Fix in File and Subdirectory filtering.
  • Fix in File name filtering.
  • Fix in handling of non-existent 'Hot Folder'.
  • Fix in File move/copy behaviour.

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Release 4.0.1

Feature Additions/Changes

  • Load Balancer now uses filename masking so non-Torrent style filenames can now be 'grouped'
  • Load Balancer logic improved for better balancing results and job grouping bug fixed
  • Load Balancer not using oldest files first bug fixed
  • Load Balancer file grouping maximum purge time increased to 23 hours 59 minutes
  • A queue icon can be changed to any suitable icon. (The icon is normally taken from the configured application)
  • A queue that doesn't run a process (no process queue) can be configured. This is useful for just moving jobs somewhere else without processing them. >
  • A 'no process queue' can be configured to hold jobs (i.e. don't run the 'clean-up' action). If hold job isn't set, the job goes to 'completed' status, otherwise the job just 'settles'. An example of its use is in pre-rip load balancing where you want jobs balanced to a number of directories, where the directories are shared by a rip as spool folders.
  • File Filtering can be configured on a queue by queue basis. Filtering can be set to include or exclude files based on their file extension. Excluded files can be deleted, moved to another directory or left where they are. Exceptions can be configured. For example, you may want to keep all tiff files except those beginning with 't'. This is coded as 'tif, !t*.tif' in the filter string. Beware when using this though, as this is not true wildcard representation

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Release 3.2.4

  • This is a support release. The only change is that the 'Display Thumbnails' feature now works.

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Contacting HighWater Technical Support

E-Mail:

support@highwater.co.uk

Web site:

www.highwater.co.uk

Voice:

+44 (0)1242 542102

Fax:

+44 (0)1242 251600


This page last updated: 23rd November 2007