THE VIRTUAL TABLET INTERFACE DIGITIZER TECHNOLOGY VERSION 1.20 (April 24, 1992) USING NOTEPAD TO VIEW THIS DOCUMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * If you enlarge Notepad to its maximum size, the following document will be easier to read. To do so, click the Maximize button in the upper-right corner of the Notepad window. Or open the Control menu in the upper-left corner of the Notepad window and choose Maximize. * To move through the document, press PAGE UP and PAGE DOWN or click the arrows at the top and bottom of the scroll bar along the right side of the Notepad window. * To print the document, choose Print from the Notepad File menu. * For Help using Notepad, press F1. ######################################################################## This document contains known bugs and fixes for the Virtual Tablet Interface by Version (Release Date) and Filename (Zip File). Fixes or workarounds are included with each problem unless otherwise noted. If you are experiencing problems with any of the Virtual Tablet Interface drivers, utilities or applications and don't find the answer here, please contact us via E-Mail on CompuServe account [74000, 2506] or by voice at 206-868-3246 during technical support hours. ######################################################################## F L A S H ========= 1. Versions of SETUP.EXE prior to Version 1.12 refused to Install or Update (just Remove) with certain disk utilities (like Stacker 2.0) and missing or Non-DPMI 1.00 compliant memory managers. SETUP.EXE is very careful about modifying files and always makes a backup of any file prior to modification. If it could not do this, it did not allow you to proceed and gave you only the option to Remove. This problem has been fixed and appologies are due to all who received erroneous messages and were unable to Install the demo software. 2. SETUP.EXE may not detect other types of digitizer drivers and software runnning under Windows or DOS. This will often show up as the error "Comm Port Missing" reported on the 'Status=' line in the [Virtual Tablet] section of SYSTEM.INI. If you are installing the Virtual Tablet Interface over other digitizer software, make sure that software is disabled either before or right after installation. Refer to the software manual for those products and check your AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS, WIN.INI and SYSTEM.INI files. ######################################################################## VERSION 1.20 =============== (April 24, 1992) GENERAL ~~~~~~~ 1. IMPROVED: All aspects of the Virtual Tablet Interface have been updated to conform with the Microsoft Windows Style Guide dated March, 1992. This mostly applies to dialog boxes and help menus. DOCUMENTATION (VtDocs.Zip) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. IMPROVED: The manual is now provided in Windows Write format. Print and assemble in the following order: Cover, Contents, Part1, Part2, Part3 and Part4. SAMPLES (VtSams.Zip) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. NEW: In addtition to the Virtual Tablet Editor, sample templates now include skeleton templates which you may edit, embellish or use 'as is' for the following applications: AutoCAD for Windows, Adobe Illustrator, CorelDRAW!, Micrografx Designer, FrameMaker, Aldus FreeeHand, ImageIn, Aldus Persuasion, Aldus PageMaker, PhotoStyler, Stanford Graphics, Ventura Publisher for Windows, Fractal Painter and WinCAD. See the Editor's template for an example of what a little extra effort can do to embellish a template. VTEDIT.EXE (VtExes.Zip) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. NEW: A new style dialog box now includes hard-coded multiline labels, triangle and diamond shapes. 2. NEW: Context-sensitive help is now available from within any menu and dialog box by pressing the F1 key. 3. NEW: The help menu now includes an option to search for help by keyword. Choose "Search for Help on...". The Editor template has been updated, as well. 4. IMPROVED: All file dialogs have been updated to conform to the new Common Dialog standard in Windows 3.1. This includes the "Open", "SaveAs", "Import" and "Export" file dialogs. VTLOAD.EXE (VtExes.Zip) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. NEW: Context-sensitive help is now available from within any menu and dialog box by pressing the F1 key. 2. NEW: The help menu now includes an option to search for help by keyword. Choose "Search for Help on...". 3. IMPROVED: File dialogs have been updated to conform to the new Common Dialog standard in Windows 3.1. This includes the "Open" and "SaveAs" file dialogs. 4. FIXED: Control characters in templates did not work correctly when sent to Multiple Document Interface applications. This problem has been fixed in the current version. VTABLET.DLL (VtExes.Zip) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. NEW: Specific support has been added for SummaSketch II and DrawingBoard II series of digitizers. See DIGITIZE.TXT for their configurations. Previous versions are still compatible with both series but for optimum performance, use the new tablet identifiers. 2. IMPROVED: The interrupt configuration parameter is no longer needed. The driver now supports only Comm 1 or 2 and uses industry standard comm port parameters (base, interrupt, vector, etc). 3. FIXED: Emulation of smaller tablets such as the SummaSketch 1201 by larger tablets could cause a crash in absolute mode due to the active area size differences. The driver now bounds all incoming coordinates to their expected values. VTABLET.SYS (VtExes.Zip) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. NEW: Specific support has been added for SummaSketch II and DrawingBoard II series of digitizers. See DIGITIZE.TXT for their configurations. Previous versions are still compatible with both series but for optimum performance, use the new tablet identifiers. 2. IMPROVED: The interrupt configuration parameter is no longer needed. The driver now supports only Comm 1 or 2 and uses industry standard comm port parameters (base, interrupt, vector, etc). VTCONFIG.DLL (VtExes.Zip) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. FIXED: A problem dating back to Version 1.00 which did not swap the mouse buttons correctly has been fixed. ######################################################################## VERSION 1.12 =============== (April 12, 1992) VTEDIT.EXE (VtExes.Zip) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. NEW: Tiny and Huge font sizes have been added to style labels. Font sizes now map to 1/100th (Tiny), 1/80th (Small), 1/60th (Medium), 1/40th (Large) and 1/20th (Huge) of the active area. Existing templates may need to be tuned to these new font sizes. 2. NEW: Button outline pen styles have been added. Give your template that 'Windows' look! Try elliptic buttons for important commands. 3. IMPROVED: Combinations now automatically provide an inside margin eliminating style conflicts with their member regions. 4. IMPROVED: The Build command has been enhanced and can now build templates for even the most sticky, non-standard Windows Apps (like Ventura Publisher). No more rolling menus prior to building. ######################################################################## VERSION 1.11 =============== (April 6, 1992) VTABLET.386 (VtExes.Zip) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. NEW: This new enhanced mode windows driver significantly speeds up Windows running in enhanced mode. Tablet interrupts are now handled down in the Virtual Machine and not in the Windows kernel. Depending on your tablet model and report rate settings, you should see an improvement of up to 400% faster response times. NOTE: You must download the new version of VTSETS.ZIP which contains specific support for installing and using this driver. If you are a registered user, you will receive a free update disk in the mail. VTABLET.DLL (VtExes.Zip) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. NEW: This driver has been updated to work with the new enhanced mode windows driver, VTABLET.386. The tracing interface has been updated. VTABLET.SYS (VtExes.Zip) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. FIXED: This driver has been updated to work with SummaSketch I tablets and restores their double-click capability. There are no other changes. VTEDIT.EXE (VtExes.Zip) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. NOTE: Previous versions of VTEDIT.EXE (prior to version 1.11) are no longer compatible with the Trace Command in VTABLET.DLL. Tracing will work but the cursor is glued to the left axis. Download and install both VTABLET.DLL and VTEDIT.EXE from VTEXES.ZIP. ######################################################################## VERSION 1.10 ================ (March 26, 1992) VTEDIT.EXE (VtExes.Zip) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. NEW: A toolbar now joins the status and scrollbars to assist you in navigating the Editor's window. It contains miniture icons for the twenty-two most commonly used commands. Check it out! 2. NEW: Style labels now automatically wrap to the object's bounding rectangle except when exporting to a metafile or using the Greek Fonts option for either the display or printer. VTABLET.DLL and VTABLET.SYS (VtExes.Zip) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. NEW: Sixteen button cursor support has been added joining stylus and 4-button cursors. As with all virtual tablets, only four buttons are actually ever used (this is a Windows limitation). 2. NEW: Button handling has been improved for applications which require simultaneous presses and releases of multiple buttons. 3. NEW: Kurta IS/ONE tablets for 8.5"x11", 12"x12" and 12"x17" have been added. See DIGITIZE.TXT for their configurations. 4. NEW: The choice of absolute or relative positioning has been added to the Windows driver and Control Panel applet running under Windows 3.1 or higher. 5. NEW: Report rates can now be configured. Under the Windows driver, an 'AutoEnhance' mode switch automatically lowers the tablets' report rate when running under Enhanced Windows to boost total system performance. 6. FIXED: A bug in SummaSketch I (not II) tablets results in loss of double-clicking under Windows and DOS. This problem has been fixed in Version 1.11. Download VTSETS.ZIP and VTEXES.ZIP and make sure the new enhanced mode driver is installed. ######################################################################## VERSION 1.01 ================ (March 16, 1992) VTEDIT.EXE (VtExes.Zip) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. FIXED: Build problems have been noted with deep cascading menu structures resulting in template regions that are too small for many output devices and are also capable of producing a crash in the Editor. This problem has been fixed in Version 1.10 which now warns you and asks to continue. Answering 'yes' will build a template for the menu but skip the 'menu items/template regions' in question. The workaround for earlier versions is to turn off cascading menus. VTABLET.DLL and VTABLET.SYS (VtExes.Zip) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. FIXED: Problems with certain SummaSketch tablets have been fixed in Version 1.10 which occassionally caused the tablet to hang at startup or when switching back from DOS under Enhanced Windows. ######################################################################## VERSION 1.00 =============== (March 9, 1992) SETUP.EXE (VtExes.Zip) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. FIXED: A problem installing VTUSEREG.DLL from other than a root directory has been fixed (1.00A). Download the new version of VTEXES.ZIP or run SETUP.EXE from the root directory of your fixed or floppy disk. 2. NOTE: If you are installing the Interface over an existing digitizer driver under Windows 3.1, you may receive an error indicating that VTABLET.DLL cannot load because the comm port is not installed. Under Windows 3.1, the mouse driver may block the port from access by other applications (including SETUP.EXE). You must delete or comment out with a semi-colon (;) the line in the [Boot] section of SYSTEM.INI that reads 'mouse.drv=' before running SETUP.EXE. You can also try running SETUP.EXE again after restarting Windows (VTABLET.DLL should be installed at this point) or try installing VTABLET.DLL manually. 3. FIXED: Manual loading of VTABLET.DLL in [MMCPL] under Windows 3.1 was incorrectly stated in the READ_ME.TXT. The CONTROL.INI file has been changed from the Final Pre-Release of Windows 3.1 to the Final Release. Consult your final Windows 3.1 documentation for the new location of the [MMCPL] section and how it works. VTEDIT.EXE (VtExes.Zip) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. NOTE: Scrolling the Editor's window quickly in Windows 3.0 without allowing the screen to repaint fully can result in a haphazard display. This is due to a bug in Windows 3.0 which was fixed in Windows 3.1. The workaround requires scrolling slower, i.e. waiting until the screen is painted before clicking the scrollbar arrow or pressing a cursor key again. Alternatively, you can scroll quickly and issue a Redraw command from the View menu (Ctrl+R). 2. FIXED: Build command problems have been noted with applications such as CorelDraw, AutoCAD for Windows, Ventura Publisher, etc. where menus comprise bitmap images or cascade to deep levels (and no error message was given!). The workaround requires unchecking the Cascade Menus option in the Build dialog box. This will work for cascading menus containing bitmaps (CorelDraw) but not for top-level popups (like AutoCad for Windows). This problem has been fixed in Version 1.01 (download VtExes.Zip) along with an error message if the Build fails. Bitmap menus are now ignored since they have no keyboard interface unless supplied by the vendor (see vendor's documentation and draw them manually). Note: The maximum level of cascading menus permitted is 3 counting from the menu bar. This is because the resulting regions can become too small to distingish visually on screen or by hand on the digitizer's surface. Also, the maximum number of regions currently supported is 256 which ''could'' become exhausted by deep builds on cascading menus. Finally, the maximum number of items per menu is 25. Beyond that they are truncated after asking you if you wish to continue. 3. NOTE: Build problems can also occur on Multiple Document Interface (MDI) applications, such as Word for Windows 2.0, if the build command is applied before the application is opened or it's menus accessed. This is because some MDI applications wait to initialize their menus when first accessed and cannot be scanned correctly by Build (which now builds them anyway). Open the MDI application and roll the cursor across the menu bar dropping down each submenu before using the Build command to work around this. VTABLET.DLL (VtExes.Zip) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. FIXED: Some problems have been noted using multiple instances of VTABLET.DLL loaded as both the mouse driver and an installable library under the final release of 386 Enhanced Windows 3.1 when other interrupt driven devices are present and a DOS window is closed. This has been fixed in Version 1.01 and the workaround simply requires loading the library in only one configuration, ie. mouse, library or pen tablet. The functionality of the driver is not affected in any way. If you are not sure how it's loaded under Windows 3.1, check the control panel for multiple icons - if more than one - and change SYSTEM.INI accordingly. 2. NOTE: Templates work fine under Window 3.0 but the cursor will not respond unless VTABLET.DLL is the designated mouse driver. Under Windows 3.1, VTABLET.DLL can manage the mouse cursor in conjunction with another pointing device (like a mouse) even if not designated as the mouse driver. Check the 'mouse.drv=' entry in the [Boot] section of SYSTEM.INI to see if VTABLET.DLL is the mouse. ########################################################################