Switch 07 release notes

SWITCH 07 Update 1

LIGHTSWITCH - FULLSWITCH - POWERSWITCH

The SWITCH designer no longer crashes when:

• Repeatedly pressing the left or right arrow keys in the files pane.
• Clicking an archive hierarchy that uses a network path in the canvas.
• Viewing the contents of a user-managed backing folder in the files pane.

FULLSWITCH - POWERSWITCH

- The QuarkXPress configurator offers a property to select the PostScript driver when saving as PostScript.

- The Markzware FlightCheck Professional configurator works as expected (it was broken on Mac).

 

Switch 07 Update 2

LIGHTSWITCH - FULLSWITCH - POWERSWITCH

Designing and running flows

New functionality:

• Support “wrap-around” for long messages in the messages and dashboard panes.
• Import a flow by dragging the ".sflow' file over the flows pane.
• SWITCH can be operated by a limited user (provided you relocate the application data root).

Fixes:

• The designer no longer crashes when deleting files in the files pane.
• The contents of the files pane and folders pane refreshes more quickly when files are added or removed.
• The canvas correctly displays design-time alerts immediately after an invalid flow has been imported.
• An design-time alert icon is displayed for a connection that has invalid properties.
• In the properties pane, the tab key moves the focus to the value of the next property.
• The scale to fit setting in the canvas is persistent for each flow.
• The canvas background image scales with the flow design when the flow is tiled.
• The choose file dialog properly follows shortcuts (rather than selecting them).

Tools and configurators

New functionality:

• New "Ignore these subfolders" property for folder allows ignoring information stored in certain subfolders by a generic application.
• New "Abort application" property for generic application allows aborting third-party applications after time-out.
• New "Synchronize EXIF/IPTC fields" property for the XMP pickup tool allows picking up EXIF and IPTC fields.

Fixes:

• Archive hierarchy correctly creates subfolders when its backing folder is set to a UNC path.
• All flow elements with a user-managed backing folder properly hold jobs when the network connection to the backing folder is lost, resuming operation when the connection is re-established.
• Mail receive properly detects and receives PDF files in messages sent from Mac OS X Mail client.

Metadata

When reading the embedded metadata for common image formats, SWITCH retrieves basic information about the image from the image data itself, and adds this information to the metadata. This ensures that certain frequently used variables (color space, pixel dimensions) always contain relevant information (see supported file formats).

Language packs

The SWITCH user interface and help system can be displayed in a language other than English by installing the appropriate language pack (a separate installer) and selecting the desired language in the user preferences.What's new in SWITCH 07 update 2

A German language pack for the user interface (but not the help system) is available in conjunction with update 2.

 

FULLSWITCH - POWERSWITCH

Tools and configurators

New functionality:

• The Adobe InDesign configurator offers a new property "fail jobs with unavailable images".
•  The QuarkXPress configurator offers new properties "PPD" and "fail jobs with unavailable fonts/images".
• The Axaio MadeToPrint InDesign and QuarkXPress configurators offer a new property "use fonts in package".

Fixes:

• The hyperlinks in preflight reports generated via the Enfocus PitStop Server configurator should work in all cases as long as the report and the checked file are placed in the same folder (tested with PitStop Server 4.03).
• The DevZeroG PrintSure configurator correctly reports the licensing state for PrintSure.
• The DevZeroG PrintSure configurator properly moves failed jobs to the outgoing error connection.
• The Axaio MadeToPrint InDesign and QuarkXPress configurators correctly abort the host application after time-out.

POWERSWITCH

Scripting

Optimizations:

• The Job.sendTo() functions avoid copying jobs (using "move" instead) wherever possible (at least on local disks).

Fixes:

• SWITCHSCRIPTER always shows log messages of type "debug".
• VBScript syntax or execution errors are reported with the correct line number (in the source code).
• SWITCHSCRIPTER no longer crashes when invoking the VBScript jobArrived entry point twice in a row.
• The timerFired entry point is properly invoked in AppleScript.
• The Dataset.createDefaultMap() function properly includes all namespaces defined in the XML/XMP file.

SWITCHCLIENT

This is the first 07 version of SWITCHCLIENT. Although SWITCHCLIENT 06 update 9 should still works with SWITCH 07 update 2, it is highly recommended to use SWITCHCLIENT 07 update 2 instead.

New functionality:

• View the report associated with a job in a checkpoint.
• Replace a job in a checkpoint by a locally edited version of the job.
• Filters for log messages (just like in the SWITCH designer).
• Status message at the bottom of the client window displays the current communication status.
• Option to use secure communication (htpps).
• Option to turn off compression for jobs transferred between client and server.

Optimizations:

• Cache job progress information on the server, reducing the processing power needed to provide this information to the client.
• Automatically update only the currently visible client pane, avoiding bandwidth consumption for information that is never displayed. When the user switches to a pane that hasn't been updated for a while, an immediate update is automatically requested. Thus the downside is that there might be a slight delay in delivering up to date information when a user switches panes. See updating server information.
• Retrieve information about checkpoints and submit points in a single message (rather than many small messages), reducing communication overhead.

Fixes:

• Metadata field definitions can use variables to specify the read-only or default value.
• A job can be renamed while it is being submitted (by entering the new name in the job name field).
• Mac file type and resource fork are properly preserved also when client is on Mac and server is on Windows.
• When editing metadata values, the tab key moves the focus to the next value.
• Job size (byte count) is shown more precisely in SWITCHCLIENT.
• Double-clicking on a submit point or checkpoint row no longer produces a weird visual effect.

 

SWITCH 07 Update 3

LIGHTSWITCH - FULLSWITCH - POWERSWITCH

Designing and running flows

Optimizations:

• Substantially reduced SWITCH startup time (often more than twice as fast).

Fixes:

•  Sometimes a task in an active flow is stuck for a long time (or forever), which means you can't deactivate the flow (because SWITCH waits until all tasks are completed). When you quit the application, SWITCH waits until all flows are deactivated. However, if this takes a long time, SWITCH now offers a "force quit" option rather than just waiting indefinitely. When you choose this option, any active flows are aborted, and they are flagged as problem flows so that they won't be automatically reactivated when you subsequently restart SWITCH.
• You can't use variables in the system administrator problem alert email messages, so the button to define variables was removed there.
• All flow elements with a user-managed backing folder properly hold jobs when the network connection to the backing folder is lost, resuming operation when the connection is re-established.

Tools and configurators   

Fixes:

• Mail receive injects messages with an empty subject line in the flow as "No Subject.txt" rather than causing the message to disappear.
• Mail receive properly processes plain text messages that are not MIME encoded.
• FTP receive properly processes and consumes dot-underscore emulation files placed on the FTP site next to regular files.

New functionality:

• The language environment preference affects the text encoding defaults for email and ZIP compression.

Language packs

Fixes:

• The German language pack properly translates the preferences dialog.
• On Mac, the German language pack properly translates the items in the main application menu.

FULLSWITCH - POWERSWITCH

Tools and configurators

New functionality:

• The QuarkXPress configurator supports QuarkXPress Passport in addition to the standard version of QuarkXPress.
• The Altsoft Xml2PDF configurator offers new properties to configure PDF output conformance and color condition, and to configure the document's background.
• The new configurator for callas pdfAutoOptimizer (a plug-in for Adobe Acrobat Professional 8.1) optimizes a PDF file according to specifications, including transparency flattening.
• The callas pdfInspektor configurator correctly processes files that have a comma in their filename.

POWERSWITCH

Scripting

Fixes:

• The Switch.getPropertyValueList() function returns a proper string list value also when invoked from VBScript.
• The JavaScript for applications documentation no longer describes the $outfile variable which has been obsolete since the first version of SWITCH 07.

SWITCHCLIENT

Fixes:

• When editing metadata values, the tab key no longer removes the previously entered value.

Optimizations:

• Jobs exchanged between SWITCHCLIENT and the server (in both directions) are compressed and transmitted on the fly, without making a copy on the local disk. This speeds up the transfer and reduces the required amount of disk space. For obvious reasons, this optimization is enabled only when both the client and the server are updated

 

SWITCH 07 Update 4

LIGHTSWITCH - FULLSWITCH - POWERSWITCH

Operating systems

SWITCH update 4 runs properly on Mac OS X Leopard (10.5). All issues known at the time of release were fixed. If you still encounter problems while using SWITCH on Leopard, please contact support.

Note that some third-party applications are not (yet) supported on Leopard.

Designing and running flows

Optimizations:

• The algorithm for displaying the number of files in each folder on the canvas (while a flow is running) is optimized. It consumes substantially less system resources, and the designer no longer hangs or crashes after long periods of monitoring.
• The implementation limit on the number of simultaneously active flows (around 50) was eliminated.
• The dashboard pane no longer leaks memory.

Fixes:

• Dragging a subfolder from the files pane into the files pane no longer crashes the designer.
• [Mac only] SWITCH properly honors operating system logout/shutdown notifications.

Tools and configurators

Fixes:

• Mail receive properly receives attachments sent from any mail client (fixing a problem introduced in update 3).
• Mail send properly includes the list of files that triggered the mail in the email body, even if the files aren't attached.

FULLSWITCH - POWERSWITCH

Tools and configurators

New functionality:

• The AlwanColorHub configurator support traffic-light connections and produces a report.
• The callas pdfaPilot configurator replaces the callas pdfaPilot Validator and callas pdfaPilot Converter configurators.
• The Elpical Claro configurator supports concurrent execution of multiple processes, and offers several new properties. 

Fixes:

• The Adobe Acrobat Professional configurator properly splits PDF files with a large number of pages ( > 1000).
• [Mac only] The Adobe Acrobat Professional configurator properly honors the value of the $error variable in custom scripts.
• The Adobe InDesign configurator properly ignores missing images when "Fail jobs with unavailable images" is set to no.
• The Axaio MadeToPrint InDesign configurator properly works with InDesign CS3 when "Use fonts in package" is turned on.

POWERSWITCH

SWITCHCLIENT

Fixes:

• Installing SWITCHCLIENT over a previous version of the client no longer produces spurious error messages.
• SWITCHCLIENT can be properly installed as a regular user (i.e. without administrator rights) on all systems.
• When submitting jobs, filenames starting with a period remain unchanged (in update 3, a leading period was replaced by an underscore).
• When submitting Quark jobs from a Mac, resource forks are properly transmitted.

Scripting

Fixes:

• [Mac only] When double-clicked, script packages properly open in SWITCHSCRIPTER (rather than SWITCHCLIENT).

 

SWITCH 07 Update 5

LIGHTSWITCH - FULLSWITCH - POWERSWITCH

Tools and configurators

• Mail send allows email addresses that include '+' or '&' characters.

Language packs

Fixes:

• The German language pack properly translates the tooltip for the Compress tool

FULLSWITCH - POWERSWITCH

Tools and configurators

Fixes:

• Generic application correctly detects and processes job folders placed in its output folder (by a third-party application).
• Using a custom JavaScript in the Adobe Acrobat Professional configurator sometimes caused jobs to lose their associated metadata; this problem has been fixed.
• The configurators for the callas products sometimes inadvertently reported an error while starting the external application ("Error waiting for starting..."); this problem has been fixed.

POWERSWITCH

Scripting

Fixes:

• SWITCH server sometimes crashed when concurrently executing two or more scripts or script expressions; this problem has been fixed.
• The functions in the Environment class to retrieve the licensee name and organization also work in AppleScript.