Release: Xdata 6/7.3.0.5 for QuarkXPress 6/7

August 26, 2007 by cpr

These notes include all releases in the Xdata 6/7 series.

Changes at 6/7.3.0.5 release

• Fixed a crash when updating headers containing non-empty, untagged continued text.

Changes at 6/7.3.0.4 release

• Fixed a problem where Xdata’s preference settings would become muddled upon opening a document in QuarkXPress 7 that was previously saved in an older version of QuarkXPress.
• Corrected ellipsis usage in a couple of menu entries.

Changes at 6/7.3.0.3 release

• Fixed a problem which was causing Unicode code points above U+7FFF to be ignored on import.

Changes at 6/7.3.0.2 release

• Fixed a problem where Xdata > Update Headers/Footers… could result in a crash if any header being updated is to be set to empty because there are no marks on the page or spread for that header.

Changes at 6/7.3.0.1 release

• Added indexing tag support to Xdata’s put styled statement. The <XO>, <XC> and <XI> tags may now be used to create dynamic index entries from Xdata-generated text.

  Important: the Index palette must be showing for these index tags to work properly. If the Index palette is hidden for the import, these tags will not be handled
  correctly by the Indexing XT. (This is QuarkXPress’s limitation, not Xdata’s.)

• Corrected a problem where Xdata preferences could become corrupt if the document was moved to a different OS and saved without Xdata being present. For example, creating and saving a document in QXP/Mac with Xdata, opening and saving the document in QXP/Win without Xdata and then reopening the document in QXP/Win with Xdata would result in corrupt Xdata preference values.
• Worked around a problem where some folks were seeing odd system behavior (hidden windows appearing) seeming to result from an import using Xdata 7. (QuarkXPress 7.x Windows only)

Changes at 6/7.3 release

• Xdata 7.x is now fully Unicode compliant internally and externally and supports the import of files encoded as Mac Roman, Windows Latin, UTF-8 and UTF-16 (selectable in the Data Preferences dialog) on either platform (Mac OS and Windows).
• Fixed a problem where some valid data files were being displayed as unselectable in the Import from File dialog.
• Fixed a problem where settings modified in Xdata’s preference dialogs were not being saved with the document.
• Fixed a problem where a box name specified via scripting could result in a “box not found” error.
• Fixed a minor memory leak that could occur with each <<put styled>> statement.
• The File to Import dialog now displays all validly typed or named text files as selectable. Before, some valid data files were being displayed as unselectable in Mac OS X 10.4.
• Fixed a problem where an import would force the document’s Master Page Items preference to always be Delete Changes.
• Fixed a problem where <<set picturefolders>> statements were being ignored. (7.x only)
• Added support for drop shadows. (7.x only)
• Fixed a problem where Xcatalog links in a prototype were being replicated incorrectly in the document.
• Fixed a problem where a crash could occur upon Xdata > Import From File… if the dialog’s initial folder contained a file with a name ending with a period. (Mac OS X only)
• When importing tagged text, the character resulting from a numeric escape tag is now governed by the <e> tag and mapped into the current platform’s character set. So a Mac-based numeric escape tag like <\#170> now properly generates the TM symbol on Windows rather than a superscripted “a” character.
• A problem in QuarkXPress 6 where the document’s home folder is “forgotten” when the document was opened on a network volume has been worked around (the problem arises because XPress now copies a remote documents to a local version before working on it). Now Xdata will find pictures relative to the document’s folder even when that document is on a network volume. (Documents on a local volume were never a problem.)
• The Get File dialog now displays files that match the filename extensions .tsv, .csv and .txt as well as the Classic TEXT file type. (Mac OS X only)
• For data files, Xdata now automatically recognizes Unix/Mac OS X-style line-ends (a single line-feed, character 10) in addition to DOS and Mac OS (Classic) line-ends when a carriage return (character 13) is specified as the record delimiter.
• Fixed a problem where loading a picture using a relative path of the form :a folder:a picture file with a very long name.tif or :a picture file with a very long name.tif would result in a file not found error even if the picture file actually existed. (Mac OS X only)
• Fixed a problem where keyboard focus would disappear after dismissing an Xdata error dialog. (Windows only)
• Attempted to work around a problem where QuarkXPress’s Document Layout palette would get confused and start drawing outside its borders after repeated page additions or master page applications. (Windows only)
• Fixed a problem where pictures weren’t always being loaded if the end of the data source was reached while using a <<read>> statement.
• NB: If you’re having trouble with Xdata 6.x for Mac OS always prompting for a serial number at start-up, find and delete any old com.emsoftware.* files in your ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/ folder.
• Fixed a problem where doubled quotes followed by a field separator character inside a quoted field would cause Xdata to skip the rest of the record. For example, the comma-separated record

  "Some part of length 1"", and and height 2""","Last"

  is now read as two fields (Some part of length 1", and height of 2" and Last), rather than one partial field.

• Placing anchored pictures with non-item clipping applied will no longer crash.
• The new import data from scripting event will treat its direct parameter asa string, if possible. If the parameter cannot be coerced to a string, only then will it be treated as a file. (MacOS only)
• The import data from file scripting event once again handles file paths specified as strings (e.g. import data from file "Macintosh HD:MyData.txt") rather than requiring file aliases. (MacOS only)
• Fixed a header/footer updating problem where a line-limit specified in the Make Header/Footer… dialog was being ignored in some cases. This was manifesting as a failure to find text marks on previous pages, when used in conjunction with that feature.
• Images are now imported with a high (72dpi) resolution preview instead of a half-resolution preview.
• Images containing a default embedded clipping path are now loaded with that clipping path active. Previously, such images were ending up with item clipping unless custom clipping was being applied via a proxy image in the prototype.
• Improved support for long filenames (longer than 31 characters). Previously, pictures with long filenames would fail to load. (Mac OS X only)
• Fixed a problem where a prototype’s rectangular anchored box would be inserted into the document as a rounded-corner box if the prototype’s box had ever been a rounded corner box. (6.x only)
• The “first” and “last” radio buttons in the Make Header/Footer dialog are now set correctly when the dialog is first displayed and header or footer text is selected. Before, the “first” button was always set even if the selected header or footer had previously been set to “last”.
• Added an upgrade button to the About... dialog so that a product serial number may be entered or changed at any time.
• Sped up picture importing. (6.x only)
• Include the actual operating system error code when a picture fails to load, instead of the generic “XPress doesn’t understand this picture format”. (6.x only)