Qscape Release Notes

Qscape new release

Version 31.1 13^th December 2024

Fixed

1. QMeasure - Make Plant Schedule - Now accommodates for carriage return format characters ("\P") in plant label mtext entities (in the default "Qty + Abbr" mode). Note in BricsCAD even opening a multi-line plant label eg a Plant Mix, Hedge Mix or Hedge with mtext editor, then do nothing and press "OK" to close the editor - the new-line format characters ("\n") get swapped to carriage return format characters ("\P") unasked. Then the Measuring (Plant Scheduling) Program won’t read the labels correctly (so they appear in the unrecognised label list on QMeasure's Plant Schedule tab). The QPlants Label content settings, now accommodates for this behaviour too and will read manually inputted carriage returns too.

Version 31.0 29^th November 2024

Supported CAD versions

· BricsCAD Pro (or higher) V18 to V25

· AutoCAD 2022 to 2025

New

1. BricsCAD V25 supported.

Fixed

1. QMeasure - Make plant schedule - Qscape would hang/crash if a plant label was copy/edited (and layer not changed) and a Windows path was pasted into the label. eg E:\Company CAD files\Qscape\LW. It was the "\" character which causes the crash as CAD reads it as an escape character.

2. QMeasure - Draw Measure/Ignore polygons - the draw "Rectangle" command line option was unclickable.

3. QPlants - Settings - Palette Actions - Couldn't import a plant palette with a name starting with a number. Was necessary to add at least one letter before importing.

Version 30.0 13^th May 2024

Supported CAD versions

· BricsCAD Pro (or higher) V18 to V24

· AutoCAD 2022 to 2025

New

2. AutoCAD 2025 supported.

3. BricsCAD (V22 onwards) - Beta support for network/floating licenses.

Improved

1. QPlants/QMeasure - Plant Mixes - Can now accommodate decimal places in their composition percentages eg 2.5%.

2. QSlope dialog - function c:ADD_SLOPE gave error messages if picked from CAD's command line (eg via auto-suggestion). This is because the command is designed to be invoked from Qscape's QSLOPE dialog and is reliant on information on the dialog. c:ADD_SLOPE will now show Qscape's "QSlope" dialog if the dialog is inactive.

Fixed

4. BricsCAD - QPlants - Settings - Plant Label Content - The show/hide plant mix constituent plants in labels failed on certain drawings with error.

Version 29.1 7^th March 2024

Fixed

2. Updated registered office address on EULA.

3. Fixed "false negative" license check issue on certain cloud servers.

Version 29.0 17^th November 2023

Supported CAD versions

· BricsCAD Pro (or higher) V18 to V24

· AutoCAD 2021 to 2024

New

1. BricsCAD V24 supported.

2. BricsCAD only - QTools - QscapePrint button - Temporarily hides QSoft's and QHard's hatch boundaries before printing/pdf’ing.

Improved

1. Remastered/designed icons for CAD interface - Now better optimised for Ribbon and large toolbar sizes. Ribbon buttons now have labels. Labels are in part to make it more compliant with the new BricsCAD V24 Ribbon where you can now toggle labels on/off through the blue "Interface settings" label on top/right of Ribbon.

2. QTools toolbar/panel - Add Northing Easting label tool - The tool adds a Northing/Eastings block + leader + label (using CAD's World Coordinates System) - The Northing and Eastings labels now report back solely in metres, regardless of the working units of the drawing. So if Qscape's units is set to "mm", the coordinates will be converted back to metres (as per the British National Grid) again for the label. NB The tool has a command line option to also return simple XY coordinates, these won't be converted and will always report the true WCS point (if working in mm).

3. QMeasure - Cost Estimates/Schedule of Quantities - Grand total area/length calculations - for eg hatch layers, closed polyline layers, linear polyline layers, eg Turf, edges, shrub beds are now always rounded up to the m2. Previously they were rounded to the nearest m2. This could cause issues on smaller schemes eg if there is a single area/length of an item under 0.5m2, it would erroneously be reported as 0m2 in the Cost estimate or Schedule of Quantities.

Fixed

1. QAbout- Check for Updates - Update available dialog - Release Notes link was broken.

Version 28.1 20^th June 2023

Fixed

1. QPlants - Settings - Label Content - Removal of constituent plants from Plant Mix labels (ie unticking the checkbox) failed for mixes which comprised a very long list of constituent plants. Some of the plants failed to be removed from the label leaving a discombobulated looking plant mix label).

Version 28.0 12^th June 2023

Supported CAD versions

· BricsCAD Pro (or higher) V18 to V23

· AutoCAD 2021 to 2024

New

1. AutoCAD 2024 supported.

Version 27.1 22^nd March 2023

Improved

1. BricsCAD only – Start up - If Qscape menu is loaded but BricsCAD is being run at "Lite" license level - a Brx applications not supported warning dialog at startup appeared. It is now supressed.

Fixed

1. AutoCAD only - QPlantPARTNER - When navigating the PlantPARTNER website (eg to import products or schedules), script errors would popup in the HTML control every time the page changed and needed cancelling. They didn't prevent usage but were annoying and now been fixed.

2. CHM Help/PDF User Manual - Fixed some out of date information eg office addresses, phone numbers, system requirements etc.

3. QHard - Poly M tab - Drawing Extruded polylines - Qscape changes changes CAD's "OffsetErase" setting to true but did not reset to the original value.

Version 27.0 2^nd December 2022

Supported CAD versions

· BricsCAD Pro (or higher) V18 to V23

· AutoCAD 2020 to 2023

New

1. BricsCAD V23 supported.

Fixed

2. Qscape menu files and resource files - now copied from Menu subfolder in Qscape Program Files directory into a Menu sub folder in "Qscape Application Data" folder. This folder is read/writeable, so allows resource files to be generated on the fly as required by AutoCAD and/or BricsCAD. Previously start-up crashes would occur occasionally for some users. AutoCAD only - the Menu subfolder is remapped in File Support Paths and added to AutoCAD's Trusted locations.

Version 26.2 12^th October 2022

Fixed

1. Registering for license key – through KTF license server - Failed if various non alpha numeric characters appeared in user serial numbers or user entered text (eg apostrophes, various brackets, accents, tildes etc). Also failed if a field length was over 120 characters. Regression added v26.0.

Version 26.1 19^th August 2022

Fixed

1. Registering for license key - QIPCONFIG" command – for getting Network Adaptor information. Failed if list of properties of a Network adapter was too short. Some VPN's eg ExpressVPN if installed would cause the list to be shorter.

2. Registering for license key - "DisableKTFEmailRelay" command (New command for v26.0 for forcing user email registration method rather than through KTF server) caused registration process to crash.

3. Registering for license key - Failed when Window Log in names have a space in them eg "Joe Blogs". Regression added v26.0.

Note

1. Download (no register urls) on various pages - updated for new (php 8.0 compatible download website forms). V26.0 and earlier Qscape version download links will stop working, once website if fully switched over in November 2022.

Version 26.0 29^th July 2022

Supported CAD versions

· BricsCAD Pro (or higher) V16 to V22

· AutoCAD 2016 to 2023

New

1. AutoCAD 2023 supported.

2. QTools - QColor - New GUI. BricsCAD V21 onwards. (Support for AutoCAD to follow in due course all going to plan). This tool allows the quick creation of coloured plans. It adds Solid Washes to hatches, closed polylines, linear polylines (with width value, eg kerbs, block edges) and blocks (where the picked subentity is a closed polyline). A new layer of the same name of the picked entity layer (or block name for blocks), with the prefix "qcolor-" is created. The colour and transparency can then be further titivated in the Layer Manager. There is also a propagate button, where qcolor will try to apply the wash to all similar entities and the ability to swap wash colours etc, delete them etc. Further development to follow in due course for instance a dedicated layer colour manager/transparency/RGB/ACI Grid control.

3. QSoft/QHard - New complex linetype - QLTYPE_067 shrubs/hedge hybrid type appearance. NB Please find new Linetypes at bottom of the linetype pickers as they appear in alphanumerical order.

4. Network Licensing – Preliminary support added - KTF NLM License Manager can be placed in a shared folder on LAN eg "\\CustomerServer\\Customer_Selected_Shared_Folder". This will allow unlimited users, but a maximum number of concurrent users. This facility is in "beta" and is turned off by default. It requires special files (available on request) for it to be enabled.

Improved

1. License Key Registration - New registration system, relayed through KTFsoftware servers. New streamlined registration process - User fills License Key Registration Form - Then the software will try to talk to KTF Server directly, if fails will automatically switch to email method (where user will be asked to copy/paste or attach the registration details manually and email them to us).

2. "QFixView" command now turns "Perspective" off (if its on) and resets the dwg's VisualStyle to 2DWireframe (as that is the optimum Visualstyle for 2D drafting).

3. QTools - QCoordinates - command made clearer that it now accepts keyboard entries for the point eg in the form of 1000,2000 when inserting the point block. It will also center the view on the new point, if it is off screen.

4. Toolbars/Ribbon - Button icons remastered to properly support large buttons sizes. Ribbon design refreshed. QBlocks now moved to the QTools toolbar/ribbon panel (Along with QColor). The intention being to keep the Qscape focussed on the core – (QSoft, QHard, QPlants and QMeasure).

Fixed

1. QPlants - Hedges tab - ListView - The last hedge in the hedges.dat file would not appear in the list if there wasn't a blank line underneath it in the hedge.dat file.

2. QPlants - Hedges tab - Add Hedge label to drawing - There was some "undo" "flotsam" on the command line.

3. QPlants - Plant labels (mtext and leader entities) - Annotative scaling - if the current dimension style is annotative. Then these entities are drawn annotatively too. This isn't usually desirable behaviour as Qscape is a "what you see is what you get" program and you want what you see in your model space be reflected in the viewport. This is because plant labels are often densely packed or you don't want them obstructing part of the drawing. Qscape now creates its own "clean" dimstyle called "qscape" and uses this for the plant labels.

4. QSoft/QHard - Error on launch if the Listbox is empty for instance if the All/Used/defined/checked toggle button is set to defined but nothing is defined in the dwg.

5. QTools - Qscalebar - Failed to import if Attribute Dialog box (AttDia) was set to on.

6. QSoft - PolyM2 - Colour of "Planting-Ornamental Mixes" was ACI 66 (muddy green) not green (ACI 3) in the Support folder. (Out of Factory settings).

7. QMeasure - Quantities/Costs tab - Schedule of Quantities - If using Public/Private mode - Hard Landscape for "Private" areas was omitted. (Still included in Cost Estimates).

8. QTools - BMask-on button - Add Background Mask, didn't bring entity to the front, so depending on the draworder, the mask didn't always fully display.

Depreciated

1. QAbout - A few website label buttons (eg file support request, contact us, feature request). They were rarely used and will fail when a new form system is implemented at www.qscape.co.uk in the near future. So removed now.

2. AutoCAD – QPoly Toolbar automatically appearing - The auto-pop up by the dialog when drawing polylines/hatch boundaries functionality is depreciated due to fatal crashes occurring for some AutoCAD users. Workaround is to now click the command line, instead of typing "l" or "a", or just have the toolbar permanently docked in the interface. (NB Crashes understood to be due to issue of an AutoCAD uninstaller wiping out the ObjectDBX entries for ALL installed versions instead of just the one it was uninstalling!").

Version 25.1 30^th November 2021

Fixed

1. AutoCAD 2022/2021 - Start up failed with error (for intermittent AutoCAD users) – The Qscape Menu file ("Qscape.cuix") loaded but with errors and failed to add the toolbars which caused start up to fail when Qscape tried to “force show” the missing toolbars. Workaround was to delete the Qscape.cuix companion files "Qscape.mnr" and "Qscape_light.mnr" files (from a writeable directory) and then regenerate them fresh again). Menus are now all recompiled again for AutoCAD 2022. Have put a protocol in place for developer to ensure this is done for each new release of AutoCAD even if the legacy cuix works on our system).

Version 25.0 4^th November 2021

Supported CAD versions

· BricsCAD Pro (or higher) V16 to V22

· AutoCAD 2016 to 2022

New

1. BricsCAD V22 supported.

Fixed

1. AutoCAD - QMeasure - Plant Schedule Import ("Default" style) - When dwg has a rotated user UCS (with ucsfollow=1) - The angles of the lines of text became discombobulated.

2. AutoCAD - QMeasure - Plant Schedule Import ("Table" style) - When dwg has a rotated user UCS (with uscsfollow=1) - The table was imported rotated to the World UCS not the Current UCS.

3. AutoCAD - QMeasure - Create Cost Estimate - Routine failed if there were errors in the data file (perhaps from manual edits). Now skips over problematic lines rather than fails.

4. QPlants - Leader Reattach button - When dwg has rotated UCS (ucsfollow=1). The label/leader combinations were recreated in the wrong place.

5. AutoCAD 2022 - Start up - Errors would appear on the command line "** Undefined Shape 10" then repeated through to "** Undefined Shape 15". Did not prevent usage. Issue was found to be undefined Shapes in QD_Linetypes.dwg. (Ferreted out and deleted the offending (invisible) Shapes with the help BricsCAD's Structure Browser and zooming to them. Deleting invisible/empty ones.

6. QMeasure - Plant Schedule - Export to Excel - Columns for "Bamboos" "Climbers", "Bulb/Wildflower Mixes" and "Aquatic/Marginal Mixes" became discombobulated.

7. QSoft/QHard - Hatch tab and Polyline tabs - Drawmode = "Swap" - If the target polyline (including hatch boundaries) entity colour properties wasn’t "bylayer" - a major crash would occur, then Qscape could not be launched again until BricsCAD was restarted. (The hatch entities were simply ignored and would stay the same colour. This is now also fixed and they now get swapped to colour = bylayer too).

8. Plants - Find & Replace - Plant mixes, hedge mixes and hedges weren't found. Regression added in v24.3.

Version 24.3 23^rd September 2021

Improved

1. Startup – Insunits - Qscape no longer resets "insunits" to 0 (unitless) as that maybe times where this behaviour is undesirable eg if inserting xrefs or blocks of different drawing units from the current drawing and the “insunits” is set up accordingly in all the files.

Fixed

1. Start up/Welcome - "Register for License Key" - The "register by email" option was broken and caused Qscape to crash.

2. QPlants - Find & Replace - False positive plant abbreviations would be found (and replaced) if the abbreviation was the same but with a different suffix. Eg If searching for the abbreviation "Abe Mas" - The abbreviation "Abe Mas 5L" would also be found (and replaced).

Version 24.2 27^th August 2021

Improved

1. QSoft/QHard - Draw Polylines/Hatches (in Draw mode) - Can now click the "draw Line", "draw Arcs" etc command line options similar to using the native "pline" commmand.

Fixed

1. BricsCAD only- QSoft/QHard - Draw polylines (in Draw mode) – Command line echoing wasn't supressed (when the floating "QPoly2" Toolbar was displayed). This made the command line options difficult to follow. Regression added v23.1.

2. QSoft - Blocks - Purged some superfluous layers eg QD-Private-Planting Distance, QD-Label-Plant, QD-Soft from the blocks in the "factory" My Qscape Documents folder.

3. QSoft/QHard - Hatch - Settings - Hatch Preview/picker dialog – the "QGrass_3" hatch preview was missing.

4. QPlantPARTNER - Product Import failed.

Version 24.1 29^th June 2021

Fixed

1. QPlants - Accidentally included a plant palette not meant for “shipping”.

Version 24.0 28^th June 2021

Supported CAD versions

· BricsCAD Pro (or higher) V16 to V21

· AutoCAD 2016 to 2022

New

2. AutoCAD 2022 supported.

Version 23.1 16^th June 2021

Fixed

5. QSoft/QHard - Drawing polylines/hatches - When using multiple screens - process failed with error when "Show QPoly toolbar" setting is turned on (the default setting) and using multiple monitors. This pops up when manually drawing polylines. Regression added in v22.0.

6. QPlantPARTNER - Product Import failed due to changes to PP website. Some Schedule Import became discombobulated. Now improved to approx 80% success. Still a few plants which still not imported quite correctly)

7. BricsCAD V21 - QPlants - All/Used filter – The Used plants filter failed and showed no plants. Bug developed sometime after BricsCAD V21.1.06, first reported in BricsCAD release V21.2.05, so likely then. Patch in core Qscape created to accommodate, as not sure BricsCAD timeframe for bug fix.

Version 23.0 4^th December 2020

Supported CAD versions

· BricsCAD Pro (or higher) V16 to V21

· AutoCAD 2016 to 2021

New

1. BricsCAD V21 supported.

Improved

2. BricsCAD - Ignore Lines - as used for Plant schedules and cost estimates. False positives were returned if flotsam segments of ignore lines occurred in the dwg or the closed polyline was really small. This resulted in plants/entities not being picked up. Now Qscape only reads them if they are closed (or seemingly closed) and have a minimum area of 1m2.

3. Debugger – Now accommodates the CAD configuration pre-routines.

Fixed

8. QSoft - PolyM tab – Swap mode – When swapping entities using "Swap mode" failed with error.

9. Qscape launch - failed to launch with error when using a KeyTERRA-Firma CAD Profile. (Regression added v22.0)

Version 22.0 3^rd July 2020

Supported CAD versions

· BricsCAD Pro (or higher) V16 to V20

· AutoCAD 2016 to 2021

New

1. AutoCAD 2021 supported.

Improved

1. Program Support folders - moved from %ProgramData%/Qscape Application data to %ProgramFiles%/Qscape/Support. This is to facilitate future support for BSB (OEM) software.

2. QPlants - Favourites - Export – The “Archive” folder is now built on the fly as required. The “Copy” checkbox is now depreciated (Favourite files are copy exported now as a matter of course). Favourite files can of course then be deleted as desired thought the Favourites interface. (This is to simplify the interface).

Fixed

1. Hatch Boundary visibility functions (qhbvis,qhbinvis) - The visibility state of the layer name wouldn’t update, if it had been manually renamed eg by using "-rename" command and the text case (eg L l, H h) didn't match the case defined in the Layer definitions stored in the "My Qscape Documents" folder (or the program code).

2. “Remove_Qscape” command – the command failed to remove File support Paths (if used before Qscape had been launched).

3. AutoCAD - Register for License Key – The Online option failed with error.

4. QSoft/QHard - QPoly toolbar – The toolbar (optionally) pops up when manually drawing polylines. For some AutoCAD versions (Students versions suspected) - Qscape would error as the AutoCAD doesn't recognise the toolbar as defined in the CUI. The show/hide toolbar routines now made more robust, so don’t error if the toolbar isn’t found for some reason. Qscape just moves on.

5. Welcome/Register dialogue boxes - "Contact Us" hyperlinks were opening website using obsolete http (unsecure links).

6. Startup - Qscape would fail to launch with error if a drawing does not have an annotative scale of "1:1" defined in it. (Qscape tries reset "cannoscale" to "1:1" if in model space at start up)

Version 21.1 27^th November 2019

Fixed

1. QPlants - QPlantPARTNER - Import button failed to appear when browsing to PP "Product" or "Schedules" pages. (due to loss of "www" in PP Location Urls). Qscape now accommodates both.

2. QPlants - QPlantPARTNER - Obsolete login instructions appeared when not on Schedule or Product Pages.

3. QPlants - QPlantPARTNER - Schedule Import failed. (Logged here in case the bug developed before Item 1).

Version 21.0 6^th November 2019

Supported CAD versions

· BricsCAD Pro (or higher) V16 to V20

· AutoCAD 2016 to 2020

New

1. BricsCAD V20 supported.

Improved

1. Ribbon interface - Buttons "QLayerOrder", "QXrefOrder", "Add vertex" (BricsCAD only) ported from the QTools toolbar. Buttons/Rows/Panels arrangement tweaked.

Fixed

1. QPlants - QPlantPARTNER - Automatic log in system updated to accord with PlantPARTNER login changes. Protocol previously was a url constructed from user name and password. Now users retrieve a direct access url from their Account page in PlantPARTNER. QPlantPARTNER automatic login system updated accordingly.

Version 20.2 18^th July 2019

Fixed

1. QSoft/QHard/QTools - Make Hatch Boundaries Visible - Routine failed. (Make Hatch boundaries invisible worked though). Regression added in V20.0.

2. Startup - Register for License Key - Register by Email option - Open preferred Browser option - Failed to register serial number and delete old license information on pc. So license key activation would fail using this method. Feature/Regression added in V20.0.

Version 20.1 11^th July 2019

Fixed

1. QSoft - PolyM2 tab - Drawing closed polylines (eg planting beds) - The original polyline failed to be deleted (if using automatic offset) when drawn in a clockwise direction. Regression added in V20.0.

Version 20.0 7^th June 2019

Supported CAD versions

· BricsCAD Pro (or higher) V16 to V19

· AutoCAD 2016 to 2020

New

1. AutoCAD 2020 supported.

2. QSettings - QPSLTSCALE - Paper/Model space scaling – (QPSLTSCALE command) – This is a new Qscape setting/interface that allows you to override Qscape's default MODEL space linetype scaling, (PSLTSCALE = 0) with PAPER space linetype scaling (PSLTSCALE = 1). The QPSLTSCALE interface will allow you to physically rescale the Qscape linetype entities so they are correctly scaled for a sepcified viewport scale eg 1:200. We do recommend using MODEL space scaling where possible (as the Qscape polyline lin file is optimised for this), but on occasions where PSLTSCALE=1 is required (for instance to tie in with drawings/work by others – this interface makes it quick and easy to toggle back and forth between paper/model space linetype scaling. Please note if you have been using the “PsltscaleFix” patch, “qpsltscale” replaces that functionality but it won’t be compatible with legacy drawings converted to PSLTSCALE=1 (using the aforementioned patch).

3. QTools toolbar - "QLayerOrder" button - (QLAYERORDER command) - Launches an interface that allows changing the draw order of layers through drag and drop actions, "bring to top" buttons etc. The "gathered" layer order is determined by the last drawn entity on a layer.

4. QTools toolbar - "QXrefOrder" button - (QXREFORDER command) - Launches an interface that allows changing the draw order of all xrefs in a drawing through drag and drop actions, "bring to top" buttons etc.

5. BricsCAD only – QTools toolbar - "QAddVertex" button - (QADDVERTEX command) for quickly adding a vertex to an existing polyline without going through the "Quad" (while pressing <Ctrl>) or using the "pedit" command.

6. QHard - PolyM tab – suite of buttons/tools for working with PolyM triple polylines - (NB These functions may not work on legacy drawings, but will on drawings produced going forward):

i. “Select” button – Creates a gripped selection of QHard PolyM polyline(s) along with the two associated edge lines (if applicable). Either the PolyM polyline or the Edge Line can be picked. Note there are command line options to choose what is selected eg all 3 polylines, or outer or inner.

ii. “Delete” button – As above but deletes. Also includes command line options to choose eg all 3 polylines, or outer or inner.

iii. “Trim” button – trims triple polyline(s) in a single click.

iv. “Extend” button - extend triple polyline(s) in a single click.

v. “Edge Line colour toggle” button - toggles colour of edge lines between bylayer and the middle polyline entity colour.

Improved

1. QHard - PolyM - Edge Line layer naming convention - The "dumb" edge lines which "sandwich" the main dashed/complex polyline now have more intelligent naming convention. They are now placed on layer QD-Edge Line_Hard, QD-Edge Line_Hard_Kerb, QD-Edge Line_Hard_Paving or QD-Edge Line_Hard_Enclosure" as appropriate. The target layer is derived from text pattern matching the layer of the main polyline eg if text string “KERB” is in the layer name - “QD-Edge Line_Hard_Kerb” will automatically be delegated as the layer name for the edge lines. This makes layer control easier on a completed drawing easier eg for instance so you can turn off internal paving lines but keep Kerb lines etc.

2. QHard - PolyM - Swap mode - Now swaps triple polylines in their entirety. The width and the two "sandwich" edge-lines will also be recalibrated accordingly. NB This feature won’t work on legacy drawing, but will on drawings produced going forwards.

3. Qscape License Requests - Interface improved both for "online" registering and "by email" registering. Less onerous required fields with just name and email now minimum requirement. Third option for "Register by Email" added which launches default email client.

4. "Luprec" (Linear Unit Precicision Setting) - This would previously be reset to 3 (0.000) at startup by Qscape. This is to the nearest millimeter (if working at 1 CAD unit = 1 metre). This has been now bumped up to change a drawing's luprec setting to 4, (if less than that value) at Startup. A luprec value of 4 is CAD's default value, 8 is the maximum value.

5. QMeasure - Plant Schedule (Table style) Import - These can now only be imported into model space. Paper space imports would get discombobulated when toggling between "mm" and "m".

6. QMeasure - Plant Schedule (Table style) Import – Tables now brought in as linework and mtext, as the Tables were proving intransient for rescaling, switching units etc. KISS "Keep It Simple & Stupid" principle applied.

7. QSettings - "Metres/Millimetres Rescale Drawing" – Renamed and dialogue box reformatted to be clearer. Checkbox has been added giving the option to update the zoom factors of the viewports as part of the process.

8. QSettings - QViewport - If a viewport is active - the centering tool now automatically centers it.

9. QTools – added to "Qscape" menu drop down – this submenu duplicates the toolbar, but allows the functions to be more instantly readable than the toolbar.

10. QSettings - Metres/Millimetres - Rescale existing entities - "Regenall" call added to end of routine, to reduce the need to type “regen” after using the function.

Fixed

1. Qscape License Requests - Online option - Will now fail for earlier versions of Qscape due to website switch from http to https protocol.

2. QTools - Add user defined label - failed to show the textbox form due to depreciated subroutine. Depreciation added Qscape v18.0.

3. QSoft - Poly M - "Swap" mode - the last drawn polyline was swapped rather than necessarily the actual picked polyline.

4. QPlants/QMeasure - Mixes eg Plant Mixes, Hedge Mixes etc - Constituent percentages of plants didn't display correctly for single integer percentages eg "5%" if there was an empty space in the database for instance "10% Ilex aquifolium.." works; "5% Ilex aquifolium.." works but " 5% Ilex aquifolium.." did not work, note the black space at front.

5. QPlantPARTNER - Product Import - For product sizes where there is a PlantPARTNER image or if they are non-typical size - the imported plant Spacing value became discombobulated.

6. QPlantPARTNER - Schedule Import - Failed further to an update to PP website.

7. QSettings - Metre/Millimetres - Rescale Existing drawing - Erronously recalculated Ltype scales of polylines when the setting PSLTSCALE = 1 (On) ie Linetype scaling set to PAPER space. (Ltscales should stay the same not change).

8. QSoft - Poly M2 - Draw Polyline using Swap mode - When swapping to a complex polyline, the "linetype generation" setting of the new entity wasn't turned on, so the symbols sometimes appeared on the wrong side of the polyline eg on curves.

9. QAbout – Telephone and address updated to new details.

10. QPlants - All/Used Plants toggle - failed when mixes including constituent plants displayed were in the drawing and the number of characters in the mtext entity exceeded 250. So larger mixes caused the routine to break.

11. AutoCAD only - HTML controls/forms - several Internet Explorer Script error messages would pop up when launched for certain websites (ones using Joomla/Wordpress) eg Qscape website. This affected registering for license keys using online option and "Contact Us" forms etc accessed off QAbout. (Process still worked but was off-putting to end user). HTML Controls now replaced with browser for AutoCAD.

Version 19.0 20^th November 2018

Supported CAD versions

· BricsCAD Pro (or higher) V16 to V19

· AutoCAD 2016 to 2019

New

1. BricsCAD V19 supported.

2. Command "QBlockDefsUpdate" - routine to update existing block definitions in a legacy drawing with new definitions as amended/stored in the "My Qscape Documents" folder. Please read command-line carefully when using as it contains options to do certain blocks or update all block definitions.

Improved

1. QSoft/QHard – Blocks tab - Settings – Block redefining - code updated to more efficient code as developed for “QBlockDefsUpdate” routine.

Fixed

2. "Dimdec" (Dimension Precison) setting was reset to 0 by Qscape at Start Up causing dimensions (eg linear dimensions) to appear as round numbers (eg 40 rather than 39.95) when this behaviour is not necessarily desired. This setting can be reset on the command line by typing "dimdec" and then entering an integer for instance 0 for no decimal precision to 3 for 3 point decimal precision.

3. QPlants - Adding Hedge or Plant Mixes - Obsolete command line muttering regarding undo marks had appeared.

Version 18.0 12^th September 2018

Supported CAD versions

· BricsCAD Pro (or higher) V13 to V18

· AutoCAD 2013 to 2019

New

1. AutoCAD 2019 supported.

2. Preliminary support for High Res Screens - Qscape GUI's (forms, controls, fonts etc) are now scaled in accordance with the Windows Display/DPI settings eg Text, App etc Scaling Overrides. NB Graphic buttons on GUI's and CAD toolbars/ribbon, don't yet scale unfortunately - So for small, super high res screens, where the App Scaling override needs to be very large, it is still better to "stop" down the resolution in Windows' "Display settings" to something like 1920 x 1080p. (NB After changing display settings in Windows, you should log out then in again for CAD to work properly).

3. QSoft/QHard - Hatch Settings - Hatch Selection icons – Proper hatch selection palette added (with long overdue preview icons). This replaces the rather unhelpful dropdown list of hatch names when select hatch patterns for a new/existing hatch entity.

4. Command "QDocsPath" - Opens a dialogue box telling you whether you using Qscape in "Local" or "Network" mode and gives you the Windows path to your current "My Qscape Documents" folder. It also gives you to open the folder in Windows Explorer.

5. Commands "QDocsZip", "QDocsUnzip", "QDocsExport", "QDocsImport" – All do the same thing and are a command line way of launching the revamped "My Qscape Documents - Zip/Unzip" GUI. See item 4 under "Improved" for more information.

6. Command "QNetworkSettings" - Alternative command line method to Launch the "Local/Network Settings" dialogue box (rather than going through QSettings interface.

Improved

1. QTools - QCoordinates (adds Eastings Northings to drawings) – Command line option added to change the label style from Easting Northing style eg "1234E, 1234N" etc to XY style eg "X = 1234, Y = 1234".

2. Command "Remove_Qscape" – now always available even if Qscape isn't launched. For instance to remove a trial. NB This command doesn't delete files or registry - it only removes the menu file and file support path from the current active CAD profile.

3. QSettings "Local/Network Settings" - Browse button - For browsing to network "My Qscape Documents" folders is now less "picky" - it will still work if a parent or subfolders (of the “My Qscape Documents” folder) is selected.

4. QSettings - "My Qscape Documents - Zip/Unzip" - (renamed from "My Qscape Documents - Export/Import"). Interface refreshed to be clearer. Routines now improved to allow seamless replacing of current active "My Qscape Documents" folders in both "Local" and "Network" mode. All overwritten folders are automatically first backed up (in case future recovery is required). The unzipping process will also takes you to Qscape's download page, should an update be required to connect to the newly extracted folder. This GUI can now also be activated from the command line see item 5 under “New”.

5. Automated "My Qscape Documents" folder backups - (are now automatically done when a Qscape is user is about to overwrite a folder through the Qscape interface). Routines now have unlimited backups, (formerly there was a maximum limit of 5). Additionally a text file is now automatically created called "Backup_Creation_Notes.txt" in the backed up folder. This text file contains pertinent information about the backup for recovery purposes (ie the original folder name and path, whether it was retained or deleted, the Qscape user at the time and the date and time the backup was created).

6. "My Qscape Documents" folder - Automated rebuilding of non-crucial folders - Both the "Flags" and "Qscape Schedules" folders can be intermittently empty. When manually zipping a "My Qscape Documents" folder through Windows sometimes empty folders can be omitted from the zip file. This would cause Qscape to error later if reading to the subsequently unzipped folder eg when creating editing flags or making a cost estimate or plant schedule. The missing sub directories are now created "on the fly" as required should they become missing.

7. Qscape Startup - If Qscape doesn't launch for instance because it isn’t licensed or it couldn’t connect to the “My Qscape Documents” folder, a command line message is returned saying so.

Fixed

1. AutoCAD 2016 & Later - QPlants - Find - Crash when zooming/unzooming to found labels due to new command-s calls being required.

2. QTools - QScalebar - Routine failed when layer 0 was locked. Possibly also failed in AutoCAD 2016 onwards (due to not using command-s calls). Also removed off putting command line message saying command "not allowed in paperspace" when routine was used.

3. QMeasure - Qscape Cost Rates dialogue – A typo (landcape) corrected on Tab Strip.

4. QPlantPARTNER - Product Import – The (Qscape) Product Import - plant data fields became discombobulated after a PlantPARTNER website update.

5. QPlants - Settings - Palette Actions - Dropbox/Cloud buttons erroneously still on the dialogue despite being depreciated in v17.0.

6. QSettings - My Qscape Documents Import/Export - Dropbox/Cloud references still on the dialogue despite being depreciated in v17.0. NB Item now renamed "My Qscape Documents - Zip/Unzip". See Item 4 under “Improved”.

7. QSoft – “Poly M2 tab” – Some item descriptions became corrupted to “1” or “0”. Regression added Qscape v15.0/v15.1. The Extraneous Update works at Startup after V16.0 (or later) update were meant to fix the bug, unfortunately it appears Network "My Qscape Documents" weren't fixed after all. Issue now hopefully fixed for V18.0 (or later) post installation extraneous updates. NB This is an obscure bug and probably would not be noticed by most.

8. Qscape Startup - Qscape would erroneously connect to a later release version of a "My Qscape Documents" folder in Network mode. Qscape now warns the user, gives the user the opportunity to download the latest version of Qscape or revert back to "Local" mode.

Other

1. License troubleshoot commands added - "qregistermac" command to allow registering for a license key using a specific mac address; "qipconfig" command collects a pc's Network Adapter info and writes it to a text file called qipcfg.txt on desktop. Nb "qipconfigopen" opens qipcfg.txt in Notepad.

2. The DosLib loader moved to menu file, so DosLib is now installed prior to the Qscape session starting, so DosLib copywrite now appear at the start of the CAD session rather than at Qscape launch.

3. QSettings - Local/Network Settings - now simply relaunches Qscape after closing. This is to simplify code, so global variable resetting, version checks etc can all be handled in one place (start up) rather than in several places within the code.

4. AutoCAD - File support Paths - "..Qscape\\Menu" subfolder now added to File support Paths at start up. (AutoCAD 2019 requires Partial Menu files to be in file support paths despite not being necessary for AutoCAD 2018 and 2017). Blanket added this for all AutoCAD installations as a precaution.

Version 17.2 27^th March 2018

Fixed

2. QBlocks – The "Insert" Button was missing its caption and was disabled. Inserting blocks also failed. Regression added in V17.1.

Improved

1. "Luprec" setting - This setting (Linear Unit Precision) controls how many decimal places CAD displays. Previously Qscape would configure CAD to show precision (eg measurements) to three decimal places (eg 5.123m) when working in metres and zero decimal places when working in mm (eg 5123mm). The luprec setting also affects some settings such as the "plinewid" setting (polyline width). So you could have a legacy plinewid setting of 0.05 but it will only displays as 0 (if working in mm). Unfortunately CAD doesn't display arcs when “plinewid” is set to very small number (but not 0) eg 0.05. Due to this potential confusion, Qscape is modified to sets luprec to 3 at start up (whether working in metres or mm).

Version 17.1 22^nd February 2018

Fixed

1. QPlantPARTNER - The "Import into Qscape Palette" button failed to appear when browsing to “Schedules” and “Product” pages in PlantPARTNER. Issue caused by Qscape not accommodating for PP urls upgrading to the secure “https” protocol.

2. New document event handing in CAD (OnDocEvents) - (ie user switches between open drawings, some with Qscape launched and some without) caused modeless GUI's to freeze and/or error messages to appear on the command line and occasionally system crashes. OnDocEvents are now defined for all Qscape modeless GUIs whenever the Qscape menu file is loaded.

3. QSettings - "My Qscape Documents - Export/Import" – (Exports/Imports the user’s folder to a zip file). Process failed. Regression added in V17.0.

Other

1. Code - QPlantPARTNER - Further work to the robustness of Schedule/Product Import. (At programmer troubleshoot level - Matrices (and not just lists) are generated (and printed to test htm files) to aid troubleshooting).

2. Code – GUI’s – The new Odcl 8 lisp symbol naming convention now fully implemented.

Version 17.0 24^th November 2017

Supported CAD versions

· BricsCAD Pro (or higher) V13 to V18

· AutoCAD 2010 to 2018

New

1. BricsCAD V18 supported.

2. QSettings – “QPlants - Label Size” setting – Allows the control of font heights allocated to anticipated plot scales eg 1:100, 1:200 etc. Font heights can be allocated to just the current drawing and/or to Qscape defaults. There are also options to update existing entities in the current drawing and to revert back to “factory” settings.

Improved

1. QPlants – Inputting Plant Mix Labels into drawing – Closed polyline selection behaviour now aligned with other categories such as “Shrubs”, “Herbaceous” etc. So Private line lassoos will be retained/deleted in accordance with QSettings (“QPlants – Lassoo Actions”). Qscape will also automatically attempt to generate a lassoo if user clicks into blank space rather than selecting a closed polyline.

2. QSoft/QHard - "Descriptions" - (allocated to Qscape layers and appears in Excel Cost Estimates/Keys). Non-alphanumeric characters such as speech marks or punctuation now supported.

Fixed

1. Qscape Palette (UK) – Shrub - Spiraea - spelling corrected from Spirea. (NB will only affect new installs).

2. QMeasure - Cost Estimates tab - Export to Excel - Failed if the current drawing file extension was upper case eg "MyDrawing.DWG" rather than "MyDrawing.dwg".

3. QPLantPLANTPARTNER - Schedule Import - Broke due to changes to PlantPARTNER website.

4. QPLantPLANTPARTNER – Schedule/Product Import - Surplus spaces in PlantPARTNER specification information stripped out before import into Qscape. Eg for bulbs/wildflowers - “Full pot” would become “Full pot”.

5. QMeasure - Plant Schedule Import (Table format) - Further information at bottom of Schedule eg "- Substitutions to be agreed with Landscape Architect" etc was missed off.

6. QSoft - Poly M tab - Automatic Offset - If offset button is set to on, but no distance entered in the offset distance textbox, the polyline got deleted (rather than retained but not offset).

7. Start-up – The user prompt on the command line was lost after the Qscape Web/copyright information. (“cmdecho” setting).

8. “Cmdecho” setting - Qscape turned off cmdecho (Command Echo) setting at start up. This could cause confusion to advanced CAD users working interactively with lisp on the command line, due to missing prompts and messages. Code substantially rewritten to only surpress (and restore) cmdecho as and when required.

9. AutoCAD (probably 2015 onwards) - Launching Qscape from the "QAbout" dialogue box (as appears by default when a button is pressed before Qscape is launched) caused fatal error. (Command-s call issue).

Depreciated

1. QSettings - Auto Launch - This feature automatically launched Qscape every time a drawing was opened (It is set to off by default). A bug arose in BricsCAD V17 where by using the double-click method to open more than one drawing in quick succession caused BricsCAD V17 to fatal error. As it is bad practice to launch Qscape in drawings where Qscape is not required this feature has been depreciated.

2. QDropbox - Depreciated due to API changes by Dropbox and the removal of "Public" folder functionality. This means Qscape is now unable to second guess the generated sharing link urls.

3. QClip command - (For punching holes or removal into xrefs/blocks). Depreciated as the native "xclip" command does the same, including “punching” holes into xrefs/blocks.

Other

1. Qscape Menu files - moved to their own subfolder with in the primary Qscape folder.

2. "QLicstatus" command - returns license information such as days to expiry or license troubleshooting information on command line.

Version 16.1 3^rd May 2017

Improved

1. QPlantPARTNER - code substantially rewritten, so should be more tolerant to PlantPARTNER website updates (and in the future, if it does get broken, easier to fix).

Fixed

1. BricsCAD V17 (v17.2.04 onwards) and AutoCAD - Start up - Failed if the current layer in the drawing is locked. Regression added in v16.0 (Qload_Ltypes subroutine).

2. AutoCAD - QPLANTPARTNER Product & Schedule Import - Although fixed for BricsCAD in the previous release, there was an unanticipated diversion in how website html code was read between the two CAD packages.

Version 16.0 6^th April 2017

Supported CAD versions

· AutoCAD 2010 to 2018

· BricsCAD Pro/Platinum V13 to V17.

New

1. Support for AutoCAD 2018.

2. "QViewport" - Accessed from command line or from QSettings. This is a tool/dialogue box that creates, modifies and queries viewports. The advantage over native controls is that it takes in account whether the user is using millimetres or metres and you can just select the desired scale eg “1:200, 1:100” etc. It will also test/convert the scale of existing viewports. Another advantage is that it allows users to predetermine the centre point of the viewports in modelspace.

Improved

1. QAbout – Qscape version information made clearer.

Fixed

1. QAbout - Check for new updates - Download dialogue box (if applicable) visited out of date urls.

2. QPlantPARTNER - Product and Schedule Import failed.

3. AutoCAD 2014 (possibly 2015 too?) - Start up failed. This was due to confict in the loading Qscape Linetypes (block insert/redefine) routine using newly implemented command-s calls.

4. AutoCAD 2017 - QSettings - Several settings failed due to new command-s calls being required. Fixed Settings are "Metre/Millimetres - Change existing drawing"; "Qscape Layer Prefix"; "QPlants - Label Style"; "QPlants - Leader Style"; "Qscape's Default Layer settings"; "Drawing Sheet Setup".

5. QSoft/QHard – Tooltips - Several were out of date/incorrect.

6. Qscape V15.1 and V15.2 users - QSoft - PolyM2 – Some users reported their item descriptions getting corrupted to “1” or “0”. This was most obviously visible when producing keys or exporting cost estimates to Excel. (Patches were issued as required at the time). Patch now included in the extraneous update works launched at start-up when new install detected just in case any affected users are unaware of the bug.

Version 15.2 25^th February 2017

Fixed

1. New user installs - Start up error. Due to extraneous update works routine for v15.1 not accounting for new users. (Existing users worked fine).

Version 15.1 8^th February 2017

New

1. Language Localisation available - More information available on request.

2. Currency Localisation available – More information available on request.

3. QSettings - QSoft/QHard - Cost Rates – All cost rates can now be accessed and tweaked in a single here. (Can still also be accessed through the QMeasure - Cost Estimate tab).

Improved

1. QSoft – Poly M2 - Settings – Hedges – Qscape has always treated hedges differently. Rather than measuring their area, it derives a length measurement from the circumference of the hedge polyline, working on the assumption hedges are generally between 0.5 and 1.5m wide. Previously Qscape knew a layer was a hedge by searching for the text string “hedge” within the layer name. Now you expressly tell Qscape if a layer is a hedge using a checkbox in a “Hedge” column on the “Properties” grid. The “Costs” grid now explicitly says the measurement unit is “m (derived)” rather than ”m2” which it wasn’t. NB All legacy hedges on the “Poly m2” tab will automatically be updated in this fashion. In future, if you are adding hedge layers, you need to tell Qscape that they are hedges using the checkbox and there is no requirement to have the text string “hedge” in the item/layer name.

Fixed

1. QAbout – Registered business address changed 6th January 2017.

2. QSettings/QPlants - Changing Plotscale - When working in mm in a scale other than the default 1:200, the Mtext labels were tiny (because the Textstyle font scale wasn’t scaled up from metres).

3. QSettings - Plotscale - Changing existing labels - If QPlants was active, an error message appeared and the label on QPlants wasn't updated. Routine worked apart from that though.

4. QMeasure - Cost Estimate Settings - "Derive total lengths of hedges from plant labels" feature now depreciated. With apologies, this feature has become untenable because it doesn’t take account of multiple hedge layers with multiple cost rates. There is no way to know which layer (and costs) to allocate to the counted hedge labels. Please remember that Cost Estimates are exactly that, just "Estimates". So, for super precise measurements of hedge lengths should be derived from the plant schedule rather than the cost estimate.

5. BricsCAD V17 (17.1.17 and earlier) - Exporting mixes to Excel - Mix break downs are not properly split into the correct columns. This is due to a regression that developed in BricsCAD’s “wcmatch” function. (Fixed for the next BricsCAD release).

6. AutoCAD 2017– QSoft/QHard – Poly m2/Poly m Settings – The Properties tab grids failed to populate correctly due to a subroutine (to load Qscape linetypes) requiring a “command-s” call.

Version 15.0 28^th November 2016

Supported CAD versions

· AutoCAD 2010 to 2017

· BricsCAD Pro/Platinum V13 to V17.

New

1. Support for BricsCAD V17. NB Minimum build required is 17.1.09.

2. "My Qscape Documents" folder backups – backups are now created when user is overwriting folders (through the Qscape interface). If a user is copying their "My Qscape Documents" folder from the "Local" location to the "Network" location or vice versa, and agrees to overwrite the old folder when queried, Qscape will create a back up the old folder into a "Deleted Qscape Documents" folder within the same mother directory. Up to 5No. legacy copies of Qscape Documents will be retained in this fashion. This procedure is designed to aid trouble shooting for users who have accidentally overwrite their “My Qscape Documents” (through copying using “local/network settings” interace). NB This is not a substitute for inhouse backup protocols as it can’t protect against system failures/user errors outside of Qscape’s control eg deleting through Windows. The “Deleted Qscape Documents” folder can be manually deleted if desired, it doesn’t affect Qscape’s operation.

3. QSoft/QHard/QPlants data file back ups - When editing layer settings/costs and plant databases - a backup copy (up to a maximum of 10) of the original data file is made in the "Back up" folder of "My Qscape Documents" (one per day) every time one is accessed through the Qscape interface. This is to aid data restoring, should something untoward happen such a user accidentally deleting their data when editing a plant or a hatch setting for instance.

Improved

1. About Qscape (QAbout) dialogue - "Check for updates" button - added as more visible than the previously used hyperlink.

Fixed

1. Start up - Pop up Tray Window in bottom right of screen - information was truncated (on certain setups).

Version 14.2 20th October 2016

Fixed

1. QPlants – Error Handler - When triggered (Escape pressed) whilst inputting lassoos,– The error handler failed and then offered an innocuous looking command line option to "undo all?". As it is easy to miss and the default answer is "Yes", it was very easy to inadvertently undo an entire day’s work with no “redo” option! (Regression added in V14.1).

2. QMeasure - "Edit Costs button" – Failed and went into error in Network mode, when a flag is found indicating that the cost databases are/have been edited by others.

Version 14.1 29th September 2016

New

1. QPlants - Adding a Plant - Automatic Lassoo generation - When adding a plant such as a shrub, bamboo, herbaceous etc. If there is no lassoo to pick, just pick a point (with in a closed boundary) and Qscape will attempt to automatically generate a lassoo, measure it (and optionally delete) for you and start your label leader.

2. QPlants – Recalculate Plant numbers to new polyline - Automatic Lassoo generation – See above.

3. QTools - "QCoordinates" button - Adds labels to user selected points on a drawing showing the Northings and Eastings coordinates (using World coordinates). To aid production of setting out drawings.

4. QPlants - Find/Replace dialogue - 3 new buttons:

i. "Unzoom" - Reverts back to previous view (after zooming into a found label).

ii. "Textbox All" - Add a text boxes on a non-plotting layer of all the instances of that plant.

iii. "Untextbox All" - Removes all textboxes.

5. QTools - "QSel" command enhancements (for querying and selecting drawing entities) - Area and Length information now returned, always returned in metres even if drawing is set up for mm. Returned information can now also be copied to Window's clipboard.

Improved

1. Dialogue screen centering failsafe added - Sometimes modeless dialogue boxes eg QSoft, QHard, QPlants can get lost "off screen" in Windows. To get around this a failsafe has been added each time a dialogue is launched. First time you launch it - it is opened in the previous used location. Second time you launch it, assuming its open (and possibly off screen) it automatically centers the dialogue box on the screen.

2. QPlants – Useful buttons moved to more prominent locations – The moved buttons are the “Plant label numbers recalibrate” button and the “Plant Find and Replace” button.

3. QSettings/QPlants - "Lassoo Actions" – Renamed from “Keep/Delete Lassoos” and additionally added to QPlants – Settings dialogue box.

4. AutoCAD – Lassoos generation - can be generated within non Qscape layer polyline boundary sets. (BricsCAD already did this).

5. QPlants - Adding a plant - Selected polyline/lassoo stays highlighted until the plant label is brought in (to reduce chance of accidentqally selecting the wrong polyline).

6. QAbout - Release date - format upgraded from 29.9.16 to 29^th September 2016.

Fixed

1. AutoCAD 2015 onwards - QSoft, QHard, QPlants Error Handlers failed - due to it not accepting "Command" calls within it. (Changed to "command-s").

2. QSoft/QHard/QPlants – Osnap/Esnap – When using “Pick point” drawing mode (or lassoos) - Osnap is temporarily supressed by design, but wasn't reinstated if the error handler was triggered. (Escape pressed).

3. QSoft/QHard - Hatching – Assorted hatch settings not reinstated if error handler was triggered (escape pressed) – Settings were hpassoc, hpbound, hpname, hpscale, hpseparate, hpang, hplayer.

4. BricsCAD - QPlants - Error handler - "Promptmenu" settings - not reinstated after being suppressed.

5. QAbout - PDF User Manual - failed to open.

6. QTools - QScalebar - At 1:5 scale, because it was such a small scale, a couple of incorrect numbers appeared due to rounding up of numbers to one decimal place.

7. QMeasure - Plant Scheduling – Unnecessary command line message - If all ignore lines found are actually frozen, unnecessary command line message appears "0No. Ignore polygon(s) found. Subtracting entities, please wait...".

8. TrayWindow popup in bottom right of screen - (appears at start up to indicate current settings or as a warning if using a twisted view). Was a third party function, but was causing crash reports to be generated in BricsCAD V16 (Windows 7) and crash info to appear in Windows 10's EventViewer. Function now rewritten as integrated part of Qscape to prevent this. Colour changed to green to fit in with other Qscape graphics.

Version 14.0 12th May 2016

Supported CAD versions

· AutoCAD 2010 to 2017 (and verticals such as AutoCAD Architecture).

· BricsCAD Pro/Platinum V12 to v16.

New

1. Support for AutoCAD 2017.

2. QPlants - Recalibrate existing plant label to a new/changed closed polyline button - Found at bottom of QPlants with other plant labelling functions. Simply select an existing label and a corresponding closed polyline and the quantities in the label will be recalibrated. The function also has a command line option to recalibrate plant numbers to linear polylines too.

3. QPlants – Shortcut button directly to QSoft's "Blocks" tab - for quick insertion of blocks on the fly when doing planting plans.

4. "QToolbar" command - (Commandline only) - forces show and float of Qscape Toolbars in the CAD interface. Useful for Ribbon users who still want the Qscape toolbars within the interface. Also useful if the toolbars have been turned off or accidentally pushed off screen for any user. See also “Qmenu” command (Item 8, under “Improved” heading below).

Improved

1. QPlants - Improved graphics, tooltips and command line user prompts through out.

2. QPlants - "Multi" toggle – toggles rationalised to single toggle button and moved to bottom of QPlants next to Background Mask toggle and with the other plant label function buttons. Style updated.

3. QPlants – “Background Mask” toggle – style updated.

4. QPlants - Used plants toggle added to each tab next to the column toggles.

5. QSettings - Optimise BricsCAD/AutoCAD Settings (qconfigure) - Set cross hair size option - reduced from 5 pixels to 4 pixels. (5 pixels started seems a tad too big).

6. Startup - Ribbon Interface users - Qscape toolbars now added as a matter of course after a new install/update. This is because in the latest iterations of AutoCAD they are easier to turn off than to manually add to the user interface should they be required. (The new "qtoolbar" command also helps in this regard).

7. "QMenu" command - (Commandline only) - Forces loading of Qscape menu and toolbars. AutoCAD Ribbon users now asked whether they want the Qscape toolbars (Qscape and QTools) added to the interface. This is for Ribbon users who prefer having the easy access of the Qscape toolbars within the Ribbon interface.

8. BricsCAD V16 (and later) - QSettings - Optimise BricsCAD Settings (qconfigure) - Time Sensitive Right click option added.

9. Qscape program folders – Rationalised to a single working folder (in Program Files). Reduces Qscape clutter in CAD’s “program options/settings” eg File Support Paths, Trusted Paths etc. NB The “My Qscape Documents” folder remains unchanged and separate.

Fixed

1. QSoft/QHard - Blocks Tab - "Swap" drawing mode - Command line error if no entity selected.

2. BricsCAD - Quad Display setting - By default, the Quad is displayed on right click of the Mouse (“quaddisplay” setting). This interfered with Qscape's right-click repeat/shortcut menu show actions. Quad right click activation - now turned off at Qscape start up.

3. Startup – Rogue font files causing system crash – This occurred due to Qscape not "liking" a few font files (if allocated to a Qscape label style) such as "ISOCP". The offending font files are actually ".shx" files found in the BricsCAD/AutoCAD's support paths rather than the usual ".ttf" files found in the Windows's fonts folder (C:\Windows\Fonts). It was the support of "Big Fonts" aspect of the shx files which broke Qscape.

4. QSoft/QHard - Entity Input mode toggles - Incorrect tooltip for "Swap" mode. Control heights were inconsistent.

5. QSoft/QHard - Polyline generation - Failed when CAD's "Plinetype" setting (governs handling of old style pre AutoCAD R14 polylines) was set to 0 rather than the default value 2. This is now fixed at Qscape’s start up.

6. Plant databases - Mixes - Data file editing - Capital "C" for centers/centres text caused parsing failure. Eg Plant Mix 1 planted @ 3m Centres failed but Plant Mix 1 planted @ 3m centres worked.

Version 13.2 22nd February 2016

Improved

1. QPlants/QMeasure - Plant Data files - Capitals for spacing for Mixes/Hedges eg "3/M2" not just "3/m2" now supported.

Fixed

1. PlantPARTNER - Schedule Import broken - Fixed and hopefully made more robust, including "catching" more PlantPARTNER plants, such as those included in mixes and own self defined groups.

2. QMeasure - Plant Scheduling Crash Analysis - The Mix name which failed not always correctly returned.

3. QMeasure - Plant Scheduling - Traffic Light - now set to red when counting routine initiated, to avoid false positive green light (if crash occurs).

Version 13.1 4th December 2015

Improved

1. QMeasure - Cost Estimating/Plant Scheduling - This was slow (sometimes extremely) where lengthy and complex Measure/Ignore polygon arrangements were found in large drawings. Qscape code now optimised to improve speed (sometimes significantly) with such drawings. NB The “windows polygon” selection function within CAD’s engine can be slow, so the less the number of polygons and the less number of vertexes within polygons the better. Unusually BricsCAD is much slower than AutoCAD in this regard, therefore the process may still take around a minute for exceptional drawings. Bricsys have been made aware of this performance differential and are working to fix the issue. (NB generally BricsCAD has a quicker engine than AutoCAD).

2. Startup - New license key registration - Existing user checkbox (for faster registration with just an email address) moved to more visible location and highlighted yellow.

Version 13.0 12th November 2015

Supported CAD versions

· AutoCAD 2010 to 2016 (and verticals such as AutoCAD Architecture).

· BricsCAD Pro/Platinum V12 to V16.

New

1. BricsCAD V16 now supported.

Improved

1. QPlants - Plant Data files editing – Improved the parsing methods of datafiles to allow more flexibility of editing of the data bases. Plant Scheduling/QPlants generation is now more robust on the following levels:

i) More flexibility with the allowable information for each plant. For instance for spacing type in Hedge Mixes, you don't need to write " in a " to obtain a the spacing type. eg "NATIVE HEDGE MIX 1 planted @ 6/m in a Double Staggered Row" could be "NATIVE HEDGE MIX 1 planted @ 6/m through 4 Staggered Rows". No requirement for "in a".

ii) More spacing styles accepted eg 10cm centres, 100mm centers. NB Hedges require the "?/m" style of spacing to calculate the plant quantities (due to their linear nature).

iii) If Qscape doesn't parse the information correctly, instead of breaking the program - the offending plant/mix should still be displayed. Albeit incorrectly with "??" in the fields. This will alert the user to re-edit the offending item in the date file.

iv) If the worse happens (and hopefully it wont now) and QMeasure/Qplants breaks – the Qscape error handler should now indicate the problematic plant data file/plant on the commandline using the following format to aid trouble shooting:

**************** QMeasure Crash analysis by Qscape ****************

A problem occurred attempting to parse the "HEDGE MIXES" data file.

The problematic mix is "SPECIAL NATIVE HEDGE MIX 2".

Please re-edit the data file or contact Qscape if you require assistance.

**************** End Crash analysis by Qscape *******************

2. Qplants – Find function - More robust pattern matching of multiline mtext (eg hedge/mix labels). For instance manually edited ones contain "\\P" format characters, (manually added carriage returns), so they weren’t found.

3. Licensing – Routines tweaked so to differentiate between QArb/Qscape license keys.

4. QPlants/QMeasure – Find function - Fuzz factor added to the zoom, so zoomed in labels do not unhelpfully fill the entire screen.

5. Startup – Splash screen uang on third party copyright notices which was distracting.

Fixed

1. Start up - Welcome Dialogue/Register Dialogue - "Contact Us" hyperlink was broken.

2. AutoCAD - Start up - Local/Network network settings checks failed to alert user if network connection failed.

Version 12.3 10th July 2015

Improved

1. QMeasure - Plant Schedule - Specification column - Truncation (where required) of specification column (to create multiple line specifications) now based on character count (60 characters) rather than word count (previously 6 words). This creates a more even (and aesthetically better) specification column.

Fixed

1. QPlantPARTNER - Schedule Import - Was temporarily broken due to PlantPARTNER website update. Qscape code not amended as a fix provided at PlantPARTNER side 3.7.15. Included this in release notes for user information.

2. Start up - Licensing Dialogue - The "Paste License Key" button failed to enable the "Launch Qscape" button if a recognisable license key was manually entered by clicking on the license textbox.

3. QMeasure - Plant Schedule Import - Tables - If the Table is to include the specification column. Multiline specifications got corrupted and appeared in the wrong column.

Version 12.2 11th June 2015

Improved

1. Start up - 64bit processors – When launching a third party arx/brx application, a harmless error message appeared on the commandline.

Fixed

1. Start up – License Key Request/Enter Dialogue - The "Paste License Key" button failed for some users because Qscape was unable to retrieve copied license key windows clipboard. Code changed, improved error handling added and option to manually type/paste license key added.

2. QSoft - Poly m2 Tab – Automatic offset - If enabled but distance is set to 0 – Polyline would disappear (rather than simply not offset).

3. BricsCAD - QSettings - Metres/Millimetres - Rescale existing drawing - Plant Label Leaders became corrupted when rescaling from mm to m.

4. BricsCAD - QSettings - Metres/Millimetres - Rescale existing drawing - Tables (eg new style Plant Schedules) became corrupted when rescaling. NB Tables are now exploded when rescaled.

Version 12.1 28th May 2015

Fixed

1. QPlants - PlantPARTNER - Product and Schedule Import failed due to PlantPARTNER website update.

2. QPlants - Bamboos tab - The "Abbreviation" column visibility toggle failed.

Version 12.0 26th May 2015

Supported CAD versions

· AutoCAD 2010 to 2016 (and verticals such as AutoCAD Architecture).

· BricsCAD Pro/Platinum v12 to v15.

New

1. AutoCAD 2016 now supported.

2. QMeasure - Plant Schedules – Font - Now imported using the same font as plant labels (rather than the utilitarian looking fixed width font "Lucida console"). See item 4, if old style schedule are required.

3. QMeasure - Plant Schedules - Tables - Checkbox added to allow importing of plant schedules directly as Table entities. NB These are true tables but can be optionally exploded into their simple line and mtext entities. This feature is unavailable for BricsCAD V13 or earlier.

4. QMeasure - Plant Schedules - Legacy style checkbox - This imports plant schedules in the old style using Lucida Console font. The schedule is an exact facsimile of the text file opened by pressing the "Review" button. This style is recommended if a lot of manual editing is undertaken to the plant schedule prior to importing.

Improved

1. QMeasure - Plant Schedules – Specification column/Compact style - checkbox settings are now stored in the drawing, so do not have to continually be reset.

Fixed

1. Start up - Failed when in Paperspace where the cannoscale variable is set to "1'-0" = 1'-0"" and is read-only.

2. QMeasure - Plant Schedules - Specification information was added to Mixes even if the "Include Specification" checkbox was unticked.

Version 11.0 18th November 2014

Supported CAD versions

· AutoCAD 2010 to 2015 (and verticals such as AutoCAD Architecture).

· Bricscad Pro/Platinum v12 to v15.

New

1. BricsCAD V15 now supported.

2. BricsCAD V15 – Qscape CUI file – Ribbon – Qscape tab added.

Improved

1. "QBaseplan" command – This brings in a demo layout for demos/training exercises. Some of the polyline gaps have been removed to better illustrate Pick Point concepts.

2. QMeasure - Plant Schedules - Notes and abbreviations – (As appended to the bottom of plant schedules). Measuring program is now more discerning to which ones are added.

3. QAbout – Qscape contact information updated with new phone number and layout refreshed.

4. BricsCAD Only - QSettings - Optimise BricsCAD's settings (qconfigure) - Right Click of Mouse better optimised for BricsCAD.

Fixed

1. Start up - Splash screen - Flashed on/off too quickly, version/copyright message intermittently failed to appear, if user aborts they could be left stuck with a wait cursor.

2. QMeasure - Plant Schedules - Notes and abbreviations – (As appended to the bottom of plant schedules) – Automatic ones did not line up with user ones when the schedule was imported into the drawing.

3. QSettings - QPlants - Label Style dialogue - Incorrect current font was shown in the Font combobox.

4. QSettings - QPlants - Leader Style dialogue - Incorrect current leader shown in the combobox.

Version 10.1 8th August 2014

Fixed

1. Interactivity with Qscape website - new website necessitated url remap of Qscape's online forms. For instance "license key requests, support requests, contact, bug reports, update checks etc.

2. QPlantPARTNER - Schedule/Product Import - Last Microsoft Windows update broke this functionality in Qscape. (Event Evoke property of controls now changed to synchronous).

Version 10.0 4th July 2014

Supported CAD versions

· AutoCAD 2010 to 2015 (and verticals such as AutoCAD Architecture).

· Bricscad Pro/Platinum v11 to v14.

New

3. AutoCAD 2015 now supported.

4. QPlants - Favourites Tab - Major refresh to make the Favourite categories and Favourite Plants more visible and easily accessible.

5. QPlants - Automatically resizes - The GUI now resizes itself to fit the information being displayed in order to maximise drawing space “real estate” and avoid the need to continually manually resize the form. Docking has been sacrificed to gain this functionality as it was an either/or option and the resizing facility is more useful.

6. QSoft/QHard/QPlants – Database backups – A precautionary backup of the previous version of the database (before editing for that day begun) is created in folder "My Qscape Documents/Backup".

7. AutoCAD - Ribbon Interface added – Autodesk are now forcing the Ribbon interface onto their customers and consequently have removed the “Classic mode” switch from AutoCAD 2015. Qscape toolbars and menu dropdown are still available for AutoCAD 2015 users who wish to recreate a toolbar/menu interface manually.

8. QTools - "QCopy" button – This button complements the existing “QMove and “QErase” functions. It only selects entities on Qscape layers for copying.

9. New Linetype - "QLtype_066", replicates CAD's native zigzag linetype. Useful for certain types of fencing amongst other things.

10. QSoft/QHard - Qboundary button - Draws a boundary polyline on the private layer. Essentially like the lasso feature minus the “pick tail”.

11. QSettings - QPlants Leader Start Points - Allows users to override Qscape automatically starting plant label leaders at the insert point of blocks eg Trees, climbers etc. Useful for when the landscape layout is an xref, or the block insert points are in the wrong places.

Improved

5. QSoft/QHard – Blocks Tab - Settings - Defining new blocks in the drawing - Error handler improved.

6. QSoft/QHard - Layer Settings - Descriptions - Copying and pasting multi-line descriptions into the “Descriptions” textbox, broke the Settings dialogue, the next time it was launched.

7. QSoft/QHard - Layer Settings - On initialise events are now more robust in case the program encounters unexpected something unexpected in the data file (such as a multiline description).

8. QPlants - Palette Actions Dialogue Box - When clicking on a palette name to do an action - the name was highlighted and went into edit mode. It should only do this when the "Rename" button is clicked.

9. "Pickfirst" setting – setting would be reset to 0, if escaping out of "QMove" and "QErase" commands. Error handler improved to reset “PickFirst” setting to user’s original setting.

10. QSoft/QHard - Drawing Mode - "Pick" renamed to "Swap". The term "Swap" better describes what happens and less likely cause confusion with “Point”.

11. QSettings - Metres/Millimetres Change Existing Drawing - Viewport zoom factors are unow pdated even if their "display locked" property is set to True.

12. QPlants - "Used/All" label/toggle – the label is now coloured green when set to "All" and red when set to "Used".

13. QPlants - Drawing Scale – Combobox now replaced with a clickable label and moved to top of QPlants.

14. QPlants - Draw Private Line, Bed Divison Line buttons - QPoly2 Toolbar now appears along with layer information in the same way it does with QSoft.

15. BricsCAD - QSettings - Set Drawing Units - References to AutoCAD in text removed.

Fixed

5. BricsCAD V14 - QSettings - "Metre/Millimetres - Change existing drawing" - Leaders became corrupted when rescaling from millimetres to metres.

6. Startup - If using an unsupported version of BricsCAD, an error message failed to appear.

7. BricsCAD V14 - QHard/QSoft - Adding hatches using Pick Point methods. Where there are Mtext islands - hatch would be incorrectly made invisible when using Qscape hatch boundary visibility functions. This is due to a bug in BricsCAD V14 (as tested on 14.2.09) and has been reported to Bricsys. Patch added to Qscape in the meantime.

8. QSettings - Qscape Layer Prefix - Some delimiter characters eg "@" "#" caused QMeasure and certain other functions to fail because they are also recognised as "wildcard" characters by CAD. They have now been removed from the list of available delimiters.

9. BricsCAD - QPlants Settings - Label Content - Toggling constituent plants in Mix labels within drawing. Some of the longer mix labels would be deleted when removing the constituent plants from labels.

10. QPlantPARTNER - Schedule Import was broken further to format changes to PlantPARTNER Website.

11. QPlantPARTNER - Header instructions when "Import into Qscape" button is not available updated to reflect changes to PlantPARTNER website.

Version 9.3 11th March 2014

Improved

1. Windows Server – Qscape’s hkey current user registry hive now supports roaming. This is to optimise Qscape for Citrix environments (where users “roam” across multiple servers using the same Windows profile).

Fixed

3. QBlocks - Further to the removal of the QBlocks Library from the "My Qscape Documents" folder in V9.2. The relevant folder "Qscape Blocks" was sometimes not removed/renamed when switching to "network" mode.

Version 9.2 21st February 2014

New

12. QMeasure - Key/Legend - Checkbox added to allow either entity descriptions or partial layer name to be used in the key.

13. QMeasure - Key/Legend – Checkbox added to allow conversion of text to uppercase.

14. Four new hatch boundary visibility commands to enhance the existing hatch boundary visibility buttons. (These are command line only).

i) "qsoft_hb_on" - Makes just QSoft hatch boundaries visible.

ii) "qsoft_hb_off - makes just Qsoft hatch boundaries invisible.

iii) "qhard_hb_on" - Makes just QHard hatch boundaries visible.

iv) "qhard_hb_off - makes just QHard hatch boundaries invisible.

Improved

16. QMeasure - Key/Legends – Order - Soft landscape elements now (rightly) appear before hard landscape elements in the key.

17. QBlocks - The block library is now removed from the "My Qscape Documents" folder and has become part of the core Qscape program. The reason for this is to reduce the "My Qscape Documents" folder size from approximately 37Mb to approximately 2Mb. The thousands of blocks were adding unwanted “bloat” to the "My Qscape Documents" folder when it is meant to be highly portable for easy sharing. It will also improve login speeds for Cloud/Citrix environments as Qscape now has a much smaller Windows roaming profile presence. Unfortunately there is a small downside - it is now not possible now to write new files to QBlocks. If this is something you have been doing a backup of your blocks will be found in a Windows folder called "QBlocks Depreciated v9.2" adjacent to the "My Qscape Documents" folder in the Qscape Application Data folder on the local drive and the network (if applicable) too. This folder can be deleted after removing any blocks you wish to retain.