Thanks for the info. The short list in the press release was a bit underwhelming, but it looks like a lot of great features have been added. I appreciate your sharing here.
Can we now send TP files to the "wrong" panel size / type again, via NS3 rather than TP4?? Let's hope so, as we can't all afford to have one of each sat around for testing!!
Awesome feature list Doug!
It?s good to know that AMX truly considers our input as many of these features have been requested by those of us on the forum.
Can?t wait for 3.0.
Hi All,
Thank you so much for the great feedback, compliments, and interesting offers! We at AMX are very excited about this release as well and appreciate your ongoing contributions. Many of these features came directly from the forums and through our formal process via Tech Support. A couple of quick responses:
TP4 file transfer will allow transfer of any panel file to any G4 device. This was removed for the R4 to prevent something like a 17" panel file being loaded into an R4. Feature was restored by popular request.
Macros - this feature is like a keystroke recorder so it is entirely up to you how you wish to use it. You will be able to do things like use it to insert events, structures, functions, comments, or anything that you find that you commonly have to type or copy/paste from other files.
This is all intended to make your work easier, quicker, and to use fewer running applications.
I hope this helps,
Doug
I'd be curious to see what the bookmarking improvement are. My favorite bookmarking feature is one that the KDE editor Kate has, which puts bands across the vertical scrollbar corresponding to bookmark positions in the file. It is super useful. I should probably post something about it in the feature suggestions forum, actually.
Anyway, I have attached a screenshot of this if anyone is interested.
Ya know when you share your excitement about updates in programming software your wife doesn't always share the same enthusiasm.
I know exactly what you mean. I am almost giddy about NS3. When I tried to explain to my wife how I felt (hearing myself say it out loud) I sounded like such a dork.
In response to the question relating to file transfer of open TP4 files in Studio, here is the answer. When TPD4 opens the file, it is locked, so you can only transfer it from the TPD4 application.
In response to the question relating to file transfer of open TP4 files in Studio, here is the answer. When TPD4 opens the file, it is locked, so you can only transfer it from the TPD4 application.
If you attempt to transfer a bunch of stuff which includes a flocked file, will NS3 allow you to cancel the transfer, or simply ask for forgiveness?
You will get a warning that the file is open by another application, you hit OK, and it proceeds to transfer the rest of your files.
Could you make it to where it asks whether to continue with the transfer or cancel it? Perhaps making the "default" button (i.e. if you hit the space bar, or enter) "OK" and not "cancel", that way it kind of pleases both camps?
I'm with Matt on this one - we can deal with a locked file, but it'd be great to have the option to cancel the current & remaining transfers so we can close out the file and then continue
Or better yet, add a third option of "Retry", allowing us to close TPD4 and then continue where we left off, thus not skipping a device or two in the transfer.
I can deal with a locked file (although I must ask why. It would make things on my end much easier if TP4 didn't lock files . . . . ) but yea, if I try to send the master file and the tp file, and the TP file is locked, I don't want the master to reboot before I send the tp4 file from TP4.
I don't think anything has been late in the last few months, but I also don't recall anything new being announced.
From what I understand, AMX has reformed themselves and they are trying very hard to return to the company that says 90 days or less and means it. Because of this acknowledgment, I have decided to give them one more chance. I am watching these new products and their actual availability closely.
Jeff
At least when AMX is late on launch dates, they seem to have legitimate reasons for doing so. Why would they release something that would cause them and customers massive problems and ruin the reputation of a product? Unlike some other companies who release products prematurely only to have their integrators beta test them in the field. I have a substantially good feeling when I open a box with a new piece of AMX gear and am pretty sure it will do what it needs to do. When I was working for an integrator and saw a new piece of C-tron gear, I would prioritize my day around tech support calls. AMX tends to be worth the wait in my opinion, as long as it doesn't screw up the job timeline.
The telnet terminal is a big improvement for NS3. It would keep me from dragging a serial cable across my floor to the master, which draws complaints from the wife and acts as an impenetrable barrier that my dog refuses to cross
***editted***
This site blanks out the word "c-r-e-s-t-r-o-n"?
Will this allow you to detect and highlight changes from one copy of a file to the next?
I would imagine it would. My guess is that it'll be something along the lines of UltraCompare or WinMerge (both great programs and the latter is free.)
At least when AMX is late on launch dates, they seem to have legitimate reasons for doing so. Why would they release something that would cause them and customers massive problems and ruin the reputation of a product? Unlike some other companies who release products prematurely only to have their integrators beta test them in the field. I have a substantially good feeling when I open a box with a new piece of AMX gear and am pretty sure it will do what it needs to do. When I was working for an integrator and saw a new piece of C-tron gear, I would prioritize my day around tech support calls. AMX tends to be worth the wait in my opinion, as long as it doesn't screw up the job timeline.
The telnet terminal is a big improvement for NS3. It would keep me from dragging a serial cable across my floor to the master, which draws complaints from the wife and acts as an impenetrable barrier that my dog refuses to cross
***editted***
This site blanks out the word "c-r-e-s-t-r-o-n"?
yeah, you should try to search the amx.com website for c restron (without the space)
I would imagine it would. My guess is that it'll be something along the lines of UltraCompare or WinMerge (both great programs and the latter is free.)
NotePad++ is another universal editor that has the compare feature which is also free.
At least when AMX is late on launch dates, they seem to have legitimate reasons for doing so. Why would they release something that would cause them and customers massive problems and ruin the reputation of a product? Unlike some other companies who release products prematurely only to have their integrators beta test them in the field. I have a substantially good feeling when I open a box with a new piece of AMX gear and am pretty sure it will do what it needs to do. When I was working for an integrator and saw a new piece of C-tron gear, I would prioritize my day around tech support calls. AMX tends to be worth the wait in my opinion, as long as it doesn't screw up the job timeline.
I agree, I like the fact that AMX tries to avoid releasing broken or buggy gear. I just remember back in the day when they wouldn't announce a product until they had all of the major bugs worked out and were certain that they could deliver product within 90 days. I also understand that occasionally a bug pops up unexpectedly and I applaud AMX for biting the bullet and delaying a product release when it is necessary. It was just that delays became the norm, not the exception for a while.
are there things that are going to be removed from NS2 in the new NS3?
Will NS3 be like a NS2 with the added FEATURES, or will it be a completly new thing?
Right, I pleased to say I've seen NS3 in a (semi) operational state at AMX09 (Australia) over the weekend. They didn't have the cross-file highlighting or auto complete functioning but a lot of the other features were there. From what we saw the options for different data types (ascii, hex etc) in device diagnostics is a global setting rather than a per device option. Which unfortunately means that monitoring different device strings simultaneously is going to be a bit of the pain if they don't all use either ascii or hex protocols. At least for the moment.
On the upside apparently tp4 and ns3 use the same application framework which means implementation of preferences persistence in future revisions of tp4 is achievable and a noted feature request.
Comments
Thanks for the info. The short list in the press release was a bit underwhelming, but it looks like a lot of great features have been added. I appreciate your sharing here.
Can't wait to give it a go!
Amen . . . . . PLEASE hook us up here.
J
It?s good to know that AMX truly considers our input as many of these features have been requested by those of us on the forum.
Can?t wait for 3.0.
Is this to record a few steps (such as compile and transfer) to recall with one keystroke or button? What other situations can this be used for?
Hi All,
Thank you so much for the great feedback, compliments, and interesting offers! We at AMX are very excited about this release as well and appreciate your ongoing contributions. Many of these features came directly from the forums and through our formal process via Tech Support. A couple of quick responses:
TP4 file transfer will allow transfer of any panel file to any G4 device. This was removed for the R4 to prevent something like a 17" panel file being loaded into an R4. Feature was restored by popular request.
Macros - this feature is like a keystroke recorder so it is entirely up to you how you wish to use it. You will be able to do things like use it to insert events, structures, functions, comments, or anything that you find that you commonly have to type or copy/paste from other files.
This is all intended to make your work easier, quicker, and to use fewer running applications.
I hope this helps,
Doug
I'd be curious to see what the bookmarking improvement are. My favorite bookmarking feature is one that the KDE editor Kate has, which puts bands across the vertical scrollbar corresponding to bookmark positions in the file. It is super useful. I should probably post something about it in the feature suggestions forum, actually.
Anyway, I have attached a screenshot of this if anyone is interested.
Ya know when you share your excitement about updates in programming software your wife doesn't always share the same enthusiasm.
I am stoked about the updates. It will be interesting to see how we utilize the macros.
Did he say the macros were save-able? So I can put them on my laptop and desktop?
I know exactly what you mean. I am almost giddy about NS3. When I tried to explain to my wife how I felt (hearing myself say it out loud) I sounded like such a dork.
http://www.amx.com/products/NetLinxStudio.asp
I'm freakin' geeked about all of this. Does anyone have a paper bag?!?
I have a plastic bag, but my wife told me I should just put it over my head instead of just breathing inside it.
She tells me it takes a special person to find what I do cool, she said thank god she does...sometimes, only sometimes.
Don't be misled by the webpage. It has a downloadedable link, but its for NS2.
In response to the question relating to file transfer of open TP4 files in Studio, here is the answer. When TPD4 opens the file, it is locked, so you can only transfer it from the TPD4 application.
You will get a warning that the file is open by another application, you hit OK, and it proceeds to transfer the rest of your files.
Could you make it to where it asks whether to continue with the transfer or cancel it? Perhaps making the "default" button (i.e. if you hit the space bar, or enter) "OK" and not "cancel", that way it kind of pleases both camps?
I'm with Matt on this one - we can deal with a locked file, but it'd be great to have the option to cancel the current & remaining transfers so we can close out the file and then continue
Or better yet, add a third option of "Retry", allowing us to close TPD4 and then continue where we left off, thus not skipping a device or two in the transfer.
J
At least when AMX is late on launch dates, they seem to have legitimate reasons for doing so. Why would they release something that would cause them and customers massive problems and ruin the reputation of a product? Unlike some other companies who release products prematurely only to have their integrators beta test them in the field. I have a substantially good feeling when I open a box with a new piece of AMX gear and am pretty sure it will do what it needs to do. When I was working for an integrator and saw a new piece of C-tron gear, I would prioritize my day around tech support calls. AMX tends to be worth the wait in my opinion, as long as it doesn't screw up the job timeline.
The telnet terminal is a big improvement for NS3. It would keep me from dragging a serial cable across my floor to the master, which draws complaints from the wife and acts as an impenetrable barrier that my dog refuses to cross
***editted***
This site blanks out the word "c-r-e-s-t-r-o-n"?
This feature sounds intriguing.
Will this allow you to detect and highlight changes from one copy of a file to the next?
I would imagine it would. My guess is that it'll be something along the lines of UltraCompare or WinMerge (both great programs and the latter is free.)
yeah, you should try to search the amx.com website for c restron (without the space)
I haven't heard of NotePad++, I'll need to check it out. Thanks for the info!
PsPad is my program of choice for a universal text editor. It has a pretty big feature set including the compare function.
http://www.pspad.com/img/screen/textdiff.png
I agree, I like the fact that AMX tries to avoid releasing broken or buggy gear. I just remember back in the day when they wouldn't announce a product until they had all of the major bugs worked out and were certain that they could deliver product within 90 days. I also understand that occasionally a bug pops up unexpectedly and I applaud AMX for biting the bullet and delaying a product release when it is necessary. It was just that delays became the norm, not the exception for a while.
Jeff
Will NS3 be like a NS2 with the added FEATURES, or will it be a completly new thing?
On the upside apparently tp4 and ns3 use the same application framework which means implementation of preferences persistence in future revisions of tp4 is achievable and a noted feature request.
Very cool!
I can't wait.
J
Hey Doug,
You mentioned official Vista Support. Will this be both 32 and 64 bit versions?
Thanks!