October 2016

From: Dr Christopher Mabb, Scientific Word Ltd.
To: Our Scientific Word/WorkPlace/Notebook Technical Typesetting list

1. Version 6.0.20:    The changes in v6.0.20 are as follows:
   • Added labels to the drop down tag lists on the standard toolbar
   • Fixed problems related to cursor positioning when editing maths name objects
   • Fixed a problem that would allow creating a maths display inside an existing maths display
   • Extended the range for zooming
   • Improved selection of mathematics at the end of a line
   • Fixed a cursor positioning problem when maths was pasted next to maths
   • Improved behaviour of typing spaces in maths
   • Made sure cursor is placed at the beginning of the document when loading a new document
   • Added CSS rules to keep the cursor out of forbidden places in maths displays
   • Made changes to put the cursor in the right place after inserting mathnames and fences
   • Fixed a computation problem where the wrong derivative was returned in some cases where D notation was used and the term began with a constant
   • Fixed a problem where deleting an exponent in a computation result caused a crash
   • Removed one instance of InvisibleTimes being inserted into computation results
   • Rearranged fragments files
   • Fixed a problem where entering a radical in the denominator of a fraction would cause a crash
   • Working directory can now only be created when opening a .sci file
   • Fixed an import problem when there were two blank lines in the author field
   • Prevent import of obsolete LaTeX 2.09 documents
   • Fixed a problem where there was an extra temporary input box when adding fences to the document
   • Unchanged documents started from a shell document no longer trigger the save/cancel dialog when closed
   • Initialize fragments in a way that should preserve user-defined fragments as well as updating any fragments we might provide



2. Version 6.0.19:    Changes in v6.0.19 include:
   • Fixed a problem on import caused by an encapsulated TeX field inside an align environment
   • Fixed a problem where copy/cut/paste from the context menu did not work
   • Fixed a problem on import where a fraction was imported as a \genfrac TeX field
   • Removed msi-graphicx.sty to improve graphics import of non-SWP/SW/SNB .tex files
   • Fixed a computation crash when evaluating an expression starting with nabla
   • Fixed a computation problem where an incorrect derivative returned if D notation is used and term begins with a constant
   • Improved CSS editor enough to do basics
   • Fixed a display problem where maths name objects were not always using upright fonts in grey
   • Fixed an import problem caused by \strut
   • Fixed an import problem where preamble commands appearing before any \usepackage statements were lost
   • Added .nonum. and .renum. automatic substitution macros to unnumber and renumber section headings
   • Fixed an import problem that had caused two separate paragraphs to become merged
   • Fixed an import problem where some \renewcommand statements after an \appendix statement were lost
   • TeX Live defaults to the 2015 version if no TeX Live installation was done



3. v6.0 Import problem:    Within the past week, one of our Annual Maintenance sites in London asked us about a problem importing a v5.5 document into v6.0:

   I'm wondering if you can advise on an issue we have with importing Tex files into Scientific Workplace 6.
   <snip>
   The error is attached, and comes up after going to File, Import Tex.. and choosing the attached file. This is a file made in version 5.5 and it opens fine in version 5.5.

   We've constructed a similar document here (right-click – Save, to download) to demonstrate the problem: it compiles fine in v5.5, but when you try to import into v6.0 gives this error message. We replied along the lines of:

   Hi – good to hear from you. The clue’s really in the screenshot of the error message you sent:

   <sectiontitle>Brexit means <bold>Brexit<a name  etc.

   So the problem is a bold maker in a section heading:

   Open the .tex file in Scientific WorkPlace v5.5, and search (Ctrl – Q) for ‘Brexit means’ in a title. With the cursor in the title... you'll see the Text tag tells you that you've got some things in bold – almost certainly it's objecting to having the marker in bold. So highlight the title, including the marker, and use F4 to turn off the bold. It’s also not a good idea to have markers actually in the section heading, so I've put a Carriage Return in so the marker goes in the body text. Save this... and import into v6.0.

   Having thought about it further, the issue was more likely to be the ampersand (&) in the marker in a section heading, rather than the boldface. But the point is the same: it's worth reading the error message to find out where the problem lies. And if you don't want to go back to Scientific Word/WorkPlace v5.5 to fix it, the .tex file can be opened in WordPad [TextEdit on Mac]: simply search for the text highlighted by the import filter, strip out that line, then save and import into v6.0 (and add your missing line back in).
       The v6.0 Import filter doesn't yet seem to be totally robust, and once it has given an error message like this it’s inclined to give the same error even when importing a file it should handle. So after such an error message, it’s a good idea to close and re-open Scientific Word/WorkPlace v6.0.



4. Landscape page numbers:    We've been singing the praises of the lscape package for changing to landscape in the middle of a Scientific Word/WorkPlace document since our October 2008 mailing (Item 1). One of our v5.5 users Emailed about it, saying:

   Page numbering seems to follow “portrait” format. Is there a simple fix?

   Well, that's because it's a portrait document. We responded:

   The lscape package is intended for turning one page (or several pages) round 90 degrees in a portrait document – in which case the page numbers stay in the (portrait) orientation of the document. If you want to turn the whole document to landscape, then you should choose that as a class option (Typeset – Options & Packages – Class Options – Modify – Orientation – Landscape)

   – in which case the page numbers are placed on the long edge of the paper as you'd expect. Hopefully this reminder about Class Options will save other users a few minutes of frustration too...



5. Right to left:    According to MacKichan Software:

   Language Support
   Version 6 supports any left-to-right or right-to left language that is supported by your operating system.

   So that's what we told the man who asked if Scientific WorkPlace v6.0 worked in Arabic. But we haven't tried it ourselves – and he never came back to tell us the result.
   If you've got any experience of using version 6.0 for a right-to-left language, do please let us know and we'll circulate the information for the benefit of others. Thanks a lot.



6. v6.0 co-authors:    We referred to working with co-authors back in our 12/12/12 mailing (Item 5). In v5.5 this involved wrapping up your .tex file with its graphics and packages to produce a .rap file. But in v6.0, simply send the .sci file that's in your \SWDocs, \SWPDocs or \SNBDocs folder. One of our new users summed it up nicely saying:

   So, this is a container file, and if I need to send a document to a co-author, I should send the .sci file.

   We couldn't put it any better ourselves!



7. v5.5 Tech. Support:    Technical Support for v5.5 of Scientific Word, WorkPlace and Notebook will be ending from the second anniversary of the release of v6.0 (ie. June next year); however, this will not apply to our Annual Maintenance / Support Contract sites, or Premier A-list customers – those who have in some way been especially helpful, bought multiple systems or often put us in touch with other prospective users of Scientific Word or WorkPlace.
       In the coming months, why not play the Fair Use policy in reverse? Those who give us more in quality referrals than they ask in Tech. Support may well find themselves added to our Premier A-list... Alternatively, do please be sure to upgrade to v6.0 before next summer.



8. A new website:    And not before time...