DipTrace 5.2 release

[novarm44]

Hi All,

We have published 5.2.0.2 update.
The list of changes is available here: https://diptrace.com/docs/fixes5_2.pdf

Kind Regards,
DipTrace Team

[0xdeadbeef]

5.2.0.2 has a tendency of showing only a blank screen in the PCB Layout tool even though a design was shown before.
Sometimes it happens when moving the cursor into the working area after bringing the application to the foreground again.
But it's somewhat problematic to reliably reproduce. Still, it happens all the time and is super annoying.
Sometimes zooming out/in cures it, sometimes I need to remove the copper fills or something like that.

[novarm44]

5.2.0.2 has a tendency of showing only a blank screen in the PCB Layout tool even though a design was shown before.
Sometimes it happens when moving the cursor into the working area after bringing the application to the foreground again.
But it's somewhat problematic to reliably reproduce. Still, it happens all the time and is super annoying.
Sometimes zooming out/in cures it, sometimes I need to remove the copper fills or something like that.

We were able to reproduce this several times (no exact sequence) on one of our PCs (very outdated), but all others work without issues. We will try to find the reason and fix it.

[0xdeadbeef]

When I minimize the application screen and maximize it again and then move the mouse pointer from the lower border into the working area, it happens almost all the time.
In OpenGL mode it's easier to reproduce - maybe because it's the fastest mode. It also happen in D3D-mode though.
What is also interesting: even if the whole area is pitch black (part from the blue origin lines), the selections are displayed correctly (light blue).
Actually, when moving the mouse over a ground connection (with lots of vias and large copperfill area), everything is displayed correctly until the mouse leaves the ground connection again.
Also, pressing "F1" (origin on/off) fixes the issue for a moment (until it happens again).

[novarm44]

When I minimize the application screen and maximize it again and then move the mouse pointer from the lower border into the working area, it happens almost all the time.
In OpenGL mode it's easier to reproduce - maybe because it's the fastest mode. It also happen in D3D-mode though.
What is also interesting: even if the whole area is pitch black (part from the blue origin lines), the selections are displayed correctly (light blue).
Actually, when moving the mouse over a ground connection (with lots of vias and large copperfill area), everything is displayed correctly until the mouse leaves the ground connection again.
Also, pressing "F1" (origin on/off) fixes the issue for a moment (until it happens again).

It looks like we an not reproduce it anywhere already. Did it appear in 5.2?

[0xdeadbeef]

It looks like we an not reproduce it anywhere already.

Sounded like you did:

We were able to reproduce this several times (no exact sequence) on one of our PCs (very outdated), but all others work without issues. We will try to find the reason and fix it.

Did it appear in 5.2?

It didn't happen in 5.1 for sure. I'm not 100% sure in which version of 5.2 this started. I really noticed it first in 5.2.0.2 but haven't done much with DipTrace 5.2 before.

[novarm44]

Sounded like you did:

The tester who reproduced and reported it cannot do that already. All actions, including reported by you, do not produce such effect even on his test very outdated PC. Also he reproduced it in walk-around + push traces feature only (I have improved it and fixed several issues for 5.2.0.3 and now he cannot reproduce it, I will also give task to revert back to old codes and try there).
Actually 5.1 doesn't have walk around yet - you can try to turn it off and see what happens. Graphics and general algorithms were not changed between 5.1 and 5.2.

[0xdeadbeef]

I tried to disable "walk around" but this didn't fix it. Would have been weird anyway since I'm not even routing at this point. It happens when moving the mouse over traces and they are automatically highlighted.

I tried the last v4 version and can't reproduce it there. But with 5.2.0.2 it always happens sooner or later.
It might be a bit easier to reproduce with large ground layers but I could reproduce it with any of my PCB up to now.
I first thought it would only happen when zoomed in, so when moving the mouse cursor into the screen, you highlight some net fast enough.
But it also happens when zoomed out (i.e. viewing the whole PCB) if I move the mouse very quickly into the working area and over the PCB (after resizing the window).
It also happens when moving the mouse in from the top or the right side. It's probably more important that you hit a "vulnerable" trace quick enough after entering the working are.
Or maybe it's about highlighting multiple nets withing a certain time.

Anyway, looking at the behavior, it seems pretty likely that it has to do with highlighting traces/parts. Like it's "forgetting" to draw everything else but the highlighted tace/component and when you hover over a ground trace, everything comes back until you move the mouse outside the ground trace. Like the list of things to display gets corrupted.

[novarm44]

I tried to disable "walk around" but this didn't fix it. Would have been weird anyway since I'm not even routing at this point. It happens when moving the mouse over traces and they are automatically highlighted.

I tried the last v4 version and can't reproduce it there. But with 5.2.0.2 it always happens sooner or later.
It might be a bit easier to reproduce with large ground layers but I could reproduce it with any of my PCB up to now.
I first thought it would only happen when zoomed in, so when moving the mouse cursor into the screen, you highlight some net fast enough.
But it also happens when zoomed out (i.e. viewing the whole PCB) if I move the mouse very quickly into the working area and over the PCB (after resizing the window).
It also happens when moving the mouse in from the top or the right side. It's probably more important that you hit a "vulnerable" trace quick enough after entering the working are.
Or maybe it's about highlighting multiple nets withing a certain time.

Anyway, looking at the behavior, it seems pretty likely that it has to do with highlighting traces/parts. Like it's "forgetting" to draw everything else but the highlighted tace/component and when you hover over a ground trace, everything comes back until you move the mouse outside the ground trace. Like the list of things to display gets corrupted.

We still cannot reproduce it anywhere.
Do you use cross selection and highlight when this happens? If yes, please try to turn it off and let me know if it helps. If no, could you help us to debug it? We will send exe files step by step, which you can run and see if the issue happens or not - we will go back through our commits and try to find exact place where it appears.

[0xdeadbeef]

Cross selection is disabled. Never used that. The Schematic tool was never open when it happened anyway. I'm in "Default Mode" when it happens. As I said, I think it has to to with automatic highlighting of nets/components when moving the mouse over them.
I haven't found an option to disable this auto highlighting.
Side note: I just noticed that just clicking the left mouse button anywhere also fixes the problem (until it happens again). Right clicking doesn't help though. Just brings up the context menu.
I added an MP4 which shows the problem. I use left click several times to recover from the issue, then resize the screen and cause the issue. Then the issue won't usually happen until I rescale again.