AnswerTool Release Notes

The items below are brief notes that indicate what has been done in this and previous releases of AnswerTool. This is not intended to be a comprehensive discussion of each change, so not only are the entries terse, they are often technical. You have been warned. :-) We have included these items for those who really want to know.

Releases are listed in reverse chronological order, but entries under each release are in chronological order.

Changes for v2.3.1 (2005-01-04)

• Added: Option to disable the MRU combo box in QuickPaste window.
• Fixed: Setting of option added in previous release (enable tooltip preview) not being saved between sessions.
• Added: Keyboard acceleration for MRU and main drop lists in QuickPaste window based on first letter of item title.
• Added: Shift-Tab support for QuickPaste window.

Changes for v2.3 (2004-10-21)

• Added: Most Recently Used (MRU) combo box in QuickPaste window that allows quick access to the most recently used answers.
• Added: Optional tooltip preview of answer contents in QuickPaste window.
• Fixed: Bug in HTML parsing; lists of items in answers were not handled correctly.
• Updated: AppUpdate.dll updated to version 3.0.0.26.

Changes for v2.2 (2003-06-17)

• Added: Ability to drag and drop URLs into the Open URL window.
• Update: Improved positioning of QuickPaste window when near edge of work area.
• Added: Ability to drag and drop questions from the Quick Paste window into your email client, which will automatically paste the associated answers in the email client. This is for those email clients that support OLE drag/drop, including Outlook and Mozilla.
• Fixed: Strip embedded cr/nl sequences when converting an HTML answer to plain text. This is in order to prevent mid-line breaks.
• Added: Option to start AnswerTool when Windows starts.
• Added: Option to lock answers so that it looks like a read-only document and allows you to click on the URLs.
• Added: Handle WM_QUERYENDSESSION so that the software shuts down properly if it is still running when the user logs off.

Changes for v2.1.1 (2002-07-08)

• Update: Fix rendering of HTML tags stored within answers. Previous versions would always strip out the tags, so you could not reuse snippets of HTML.
• Update: Added workaround for IE editor issue with adding a non-breaking space at the end of the answer if a blank paragraph was started there.
• Update: Improved XP theme support in left pane.
• Update: Fix bug that caused a program crash when closing a modified file without saving.
• Added: Cut, Copy, Paste commands to the HTML editor context menu.

Changes for v2.1 final (2002-05-28)

• Update: Fix handling of European special characters.
• Update: Update the "Ready to Install" screen of the installation script to show the status of the Start menu shortcut option selected on the previous screen.
• Update: Fix file loading code to prevent wiping out an Untitled file that has been modified.
• Update: Fix problem in which the expanding or collapsing of a topic was not properly handled in a couple of places.
• Added: By popular request, added a Print command to print the currently selected answer.

Changes for v2.1b1 (2002-05-10)

• Added: QuickPaste window and associated hot key.
• Added: QuickCopy window and associated hot key.
• Update: Begin work to move all hard-coded strings into resource file.
• Added: Ctrl+F keyboard accelerator that brings up the Search tab.
• Added: Search command under the Edit menu.
• Added: Find/Replace command under Edit menu, Find/Replace dialog.
• Update: Fix problem if editing a list and the option is selected to have the Enter key insert a line break instead of a paragraph break, pressing Enter will not start a new list item as it should but instead will break out of the list.
• Update: Change the New Topic accelerator from Ctrl+Ins to Ctrl+T. A customer correctly pointed out that Ctrl+Ins should be performing a clipboard copy operation. This is for backward compatibility.
• Added: Compatibility accelerators for Cut (Shift+Del) and Paste (Shift+Ins).
• Update: Fix problem when using drag/drop with a topic, dropping the topic does not update the "Jump to topic" drop-down list.
• Update: Fix crash that occurs when an open file is modified by another process and a question is currently selected.
• Update: If a question is selected in the Index tab and text is displayed in the editor, when switching to the Search tab AnswerTool now saves any changes and blanks the editor window.
• Added: In the Search tab, you can now sort by clicking on a column header. Clicking a second time reverses the sort order.
• Update: QuickCopy now preserves previous topic selection so that subsequent QuickCopy operations can go to the same topic.
• Added: Open from Web command under the File menu and corresponding dialog with auto-complete. AnswerTool can now open an .ansr file from a standard URL.
• Update: Rearranged the File menu for better command grouping.
• Added: Configuration options for QuickCopy and QuickPaste in Options->Preferences.
• Update: Create new context menu for questions in the Index tree so we can add the Copy command to it. Context menu for topics remains the same.
• Added: Copy command to context menu in the Search window.
• Update: OLE drop target support for the main AnswerTool window. You can now drop a URL that points to an answer file from Internet Explorer into the AnswerTool window and it will be opened as if you selected Open from the Web.
• Added: Support for resolving and opening shortcuts (including Internet shortcuts) from File->Open or when dropped from the desktop or the file manager.
• Update: If text is selected in the editor when an Edit->Replace command is given, it is inserted by default in the Find what field of the Replace dialog.
• Added: Dropping text or HTML into PSM will pop up the QuickCopy dialog and allow you to create a new question.
• Added: QuickStart wizard added to take care of configuration basic program functions when AnswerTool is run for the first time.
• Update: Trial period startup screen redesigned. Now indicates days elapsed/remaining with a thermometer graphic.
• Update: Save and restore currently selected tree node when switching between documents. (Note: Selection is not preserved between sessions.)
• Update: Update the AboutAnswerTool.ansr file with information about new features and changes.
• Update: Created new wizard graphic for the installation program.
• Update: Fix failure to report errors during file save operation.
• Update: Detect if the read-only status changes on an open file and update the UI appropriately.
• Update: Add the "jump to topic" combo box to QuickPaste window.
• Update: QuickPaste window now preserves node and topic selection.
• Update: QuickPaste window now properly restores focus to working app when Enter key is pressed.
• Update: Removed annoying beep when using space bar in QuickPaste window.

Changes for v2.0.2 (2002-03-11)

• Update: Fix minor problem in Search window where HTML entity references were not being converted to the characters they represent.
• Update: Fix a logic error when reloading document. This can potentially cause a crash if the document is modified outside of the current AnswerTool instance and a selection has been made in the tree.
• Update: Fix minor focus save/restore problem when switching windows.
• Added: Subscribe to mailing list command under Help menu.
• Added: Keyboard accelerators in preferences pages.
• Added: Keyboard accelerators for switching to next, previous file (F6 and Shift+F6, respectively).
• Update: Replaced system tray code with a lighter version for better control.
• Added: Always strip extra blank lines at the beginning of answers.
• Update: Improved HTML Format rendering to remove extra spaces when pasting into Outlook.
• Update: Fixed AppUpdate integration error that would cause a downloaded installer to always be run even if the user un-selected that option.

Changes for v2.0.1 (2002-02-11)

• Update: Fix AnswerTool.com link in About dialog.
• Update: Fix restoring focus to the correct control when switching back to AnswerTool after switching to another window.
• Update: Fix formatting when pasting plain text into answer with the "strip HTML tags" option selected.
• Update: Remove Print icon from toolbar since there is no Print command in this version.
• Update: Fix bug in AppUpdate integration that could potentially cause a crash.

Changes for v2.0 final (2002-01-28)

• Update: If pasting plain text, wrap it with font attribute representing the current font and size. This is to prevent the browser from converting it to Times New Roman as it prefers to do otherwise.
• Update: Move insert caret to top of answer when switching between questions.

Changes for v2.0rc1 (2002-01-24)

• Added: Windows XP manifest. This causes the windows and common controls to use Windows XP themes.
• Update: Minor toolbar drawing fix (font color button) for Windows XP.
• Update: Prevent new/delete accelerators from working in read-only documents.
• Update: Fix URL launching for various web links within the software.

Changes for v2.0b3 (2002-01-22)

• Added: Right-click menu for file tabs allows saving and closing selected document.
• Added: Release Notes menu item under Help menu.
• Updated: Release notes document now includes a brief introduction.
• Added: Ability to toggle Index topic expansion by pressing the space bar.
• Added: Dragging a topic or question over a collapsed topic will automatically expand the collapsed topic after 1.5 seconds.
• Updated: Save topic expansion state in document so that when a topic is collapsed or expanded it will stay that way between sessions.
• Added: Tell-a-friend command under the Help menu.
• Added: "Yes to All" and "No to All" support in file save dialog.
• Added: Collapse All and Expand All commands to context menu in Index tab, to View menu.
• Updated: Fix topic icon displaying for questions when trying to expand or collapse questions.
• Added: Custom wizard bitmap for AppUpdate (Help->Check for Updates).
• Updated: Removed Print option because AnswerTool doesn't need it.
• Added: Right-click menu for editor window. Contains the basic formatting commands.
• Added: New Tip of the Day dialog, Tip of the Day command under the Help menu. Optionally display Tip of the Day at program startup.
• Updated: Changed detection of disk file modification to do active document only, but added additional times when this check happens. This is intended to reduce disk access with lots of files that are not in active use, and especially when sharing files across a network.
• Updated: Fix for reserved characters being converted to and displayed as entity references after a drag/drop operation.
• Updated: Converted Options->Preferences to use property sheet instead of flat dialog.
• Added: Added option in installer script to create icon in Start menu.
• Added: Editor preferences page.
• Added: Option to set default font and size for new answers (Options->Preferences->Editor).
• Added: Option to swap Enter and Ctrl+Enter functionality (Options->Preferences->Editor).
• Added: Hyperlink command to the Format menu to explicitly insert a hyperlink.
• Updated: Documentation updated for changes.
• Updated: Fix for default font setting not loading properly on startup.
• Updated: Fix for default font not being set properly for new answers.
• Added: Option to strip out all HTML formatting when pasting into the editor.

Known Problems in v2.0b3

• When minimizing to the system tray from a maximized window, maximized state is not restored when the application is displayed.

Changes for v2.0b2 (2002-01-14)

• Update: Fix Edit->Copy command so that entire answer is selected if no explicit selection has been made in the editor.
• Update: Save and reload all open documents between sessions.
• Update: Save and restore selected item when switching between open documents.
• Added: In Search tab, added a command to right-click menu that jumps to the Index tab and selects the same item as in Search.
• Update: Fix file reload if open document is changed but is not the active document.
• Update: If an open file is moved, renamed or deleted, issue an appropriate warning.
• Added: Accelerator keys (Alt+1 through Alt+0) to switch between the first ten open files.
• Update: Fix accelerators for child windows of Index and Search tabs when focus is in the editor.
• Update: Fix Undo and Redo commands so that you can't undo and redo past the edits to the current answer.
• Update: Detect typing in editor window for better document change notification.
• Added: When copying to the clipboard, add a copy in CF_HTML clipboard format regardless of conversion settings.
• Update: Fix inability to manually copy to the clipboard when the automatic copy option was turned off.
• Added: Accept files dropped from file manager (Windows Explorer).
• Added: Only allow a single instance of AnswerTool to be running. Files double-clicked from the file manager will be opened in the existing instance.
• Added: Prompt for confirmation before deleting a topic or question.
• Update: Fix delete function in Search list.

Changes for v2.0b1 (2002-01-02)

• *** This beta will expire February 1, 2002.
• Update: Fix drag and drop to prevent crash when dragging on top of a folder.
• Added: Use IE design mode for editing HTML in answers. Requires IE 5.5 or later for best operation.
• Update: MFC version frozen; application rewritten in ATL and WTL.
• Added: Hot key to activate and deactivate the application.
• Added: Options dialog to configure hot key and auto-clipboard copies.
• Added: Text-to-html and html-to-text conversion for clipboard operations.
• Added: Tab interface to allow multiple pages.
• Added: Search tab for quick searches.
• Update: New custom IE hosting class for improved editing support.
• Added: Formatting toolbar for font and color settings in editor.
• Added: Accelerator keys for tab switching.
• Added: Tab traversal between controls and edit window.
• Added: Option for minimizing application to the system tray.
• Added: Font and font size selection in formatting toolbar.
• Added: Rename command for renaming items from menu in addition to the slow double-click method.
• Added: Virtual list support in Search tab for faster display of search results.
• Added: Reload last used document on startup.
• Added: Context menu in Search dialog.
• Added: Include AppUpdate(tm) integration for built-in software updates.
• Added: Ctrl+Enter keyboard shortcut to insert a simple line break. Using just the Enter key starts a new paragraph.
• Added: LAN awareness; Check if the current file has been modified by another process, present the option to reload it.
• Update: Fix most recently used file list code to prevent garbage characters in file names. (WTL bug.)
• Update: System tray icon tool tip text now reflects currently loaded file.
• Update: Set editor background to grey when editing is not allowed.
• Update: Display currently selected font color in toolbar using custom draw.
• Update: Fix for nodes inserted out of order.
• Added: Prevent editing read-only files.
• Update: Fix tab traversal in HTML dialogs.
• Added: 15-day trial, license key support.
• Update: Fix drag/drop of folders on top of other folders when holding Ctrl key.
• Update: Fix clicking on links within answers. Now launches links in separate browser.
• Update: Fix duplicate accelerator processing in HTML dialogs.
• Added: Beta warning screen added to installer.
• Added: Format menu for basic formatting operations.
• Update: Fix UpdateUI code in main window to properly disable menu items.
• Update: Add Indent and Outdent commands to Format menu.
• Update: Add ordered list formatting command.
• Update: Improved focus management restores focus when using hot key.
• Update: Increase default number of entries in MRU file list to 10.
• Update: Fix file loading to display error when loading non-answertool files.
• Added: Document modification indicator in status bar.
• Added: Icons in context (right-click) menus.
• Update: Enforce beta software expiration date but allow Check for Updates command.
• Update: Add code to correct common typos in license key entry.
• Update: Prevent accelerator functions when edit window is disabled.
• Added: AnswerTool now uses the .ansr file extension. It registers the file extension and associated icon on startup.
• Update: Change from folder/topic metaphor to topic/question metaphor.
• Added: Support for multiple open files with a tab control at the bottom to switch between then.
• Update: Prevent loading the same file multiple times.
• Added: Click Here to Purchase button in toolbar for unlicensed version.
• Added: Close All command to File menu.
• Added: Save All command to File menu and toolbar.
• Added: Add reminder to check for software updates every so often.

Changes for v1.0 (2000-08-01)

• Added: Automatic clipboard copy when an item is selected from tree.
• Added: Drag and drop to rearrange items in tree.