Cultural Dynamics - Release Notes

Version 11.00

Errors Corrected

• The Filter and Find windows did not stay in their set positions on the screen(s) since version 10.02.
• When deleting a timeline it was not ensured that all its connections and timeline events had been deleted.
• In the HTML export, the menu did not close when a filter was selected.
• In the HTML export, generated file names with accents and umlauts did not work on the hosting server.

Other Changes

• Filter: New feature to iteratively explore connections.
• Filter: New feature to limit display between dates.
• Improvements to the way connections join to objects.
• General Events can now be used as titles within the diagram.
• Spacing of rows improved.

Version 10.03 12-JAN-2025

Errors Corrected

• The delete button on event and connection editors was not enabled.
• After import, the tags and some data were only visible after saving and re-opening the file.
• Connections were not sorted correctly.
• Some corrections to file naming in HTML export.
• Crashed prevented with double-click or typing in empty tags fields.
• Available tags were left over from previously opened file.

Other Changes

• Reports: Values of current settings included in all reports; New setting to show empty rows in missing data report.
• Reports: Filters now included in Summary report.
• Exported HTML now shows currently displayed filter in titles.
• HTML export now shows progress with number of files.
• Graphics resolution of HTML exports improved.
• Improvements to handling of empty rows.
• The start icon of timelines is now positioned such that the left edge of the icon aligns with with timeline start date. This prevents the icons going over the left maragin.
  The end icon's right edge now aligns with the timeline end.
• Connections tab in event editor: columns widths changed to make source/destination column wider.
• Improvement to where some messages, row editor, etc. appear when using multiple monitors.

Version 10.02 11-DEC-2025

Other Changes

• Window positioning and cascading redesigned. Windows now appear on the screen where the main window is currently located.
• The main window now starts at full screen height and two thirds of the screen width.
• Row numbers are now shown outside the left margin so that they are not obscured by the graphics.
• Internal: Main class refactored into main and GUI.
• Internal: Boolean arguments changed to enums.
• Internal: Sundry refactoring improvements.

Version 10.01 25-NOV-2025

Other Changes

• Import: The timeline-events are now imported in a separate pass, so can be imported without their timeline if that timeline already exists in the target data.
• Import: The directory for import now starts with the directory of the last file opened.

Errors Corrected

• Import: Connection source and destination were not being set to the target dataset.
• Import: The colour palette in the preferences was not refreshed after importing new colours.

Version 10.00 15-NOV-2025

Other Changes

• Legacy CSV File Converter removed.
• New function to import selected items from another file.
• Improvements to error handling and logging when opening a file.

Version 09.05 15-NOV-2025

Other Changes

• New Help menu item to extract some icons from the jar file.
• Legacy Open CSV file removed.

Version 09.04 07-SEP-2025

Other Changes

• HTML export now omits Introduction entry in the filter menu if there is no introduction.
• HTML export now names the image files for the filtered views with the filter name instead of "CulturalDynamics0" etc.
• HTML export now includes timeline-events in timeline pop-up.
• HTML export connection names now included in connection pop-ups.
• HTML export referenced events are now clickable and open a new window.

Version 09.03 16-AUF-2025

Errors Corrected

• Main title of html export had the top directory instead of the JSON file directory name.

Other Changes

Version 09.02 01-FEB-2025

• Reports and Find did not include new segment background colours.
• Delete colour from palette did not check for in use in new segment background colours.
• Connections and brackets for vague times on timelines was not right.
• Some preferences were not written to or read from the JSON data file.
• Umlauts in Link URLs caused a mysterious console error when opening browser. We now convert them to % codes.

Other Changes

• Shortcut key for File Open reinstated to open JSON file.
• Timeline Events can now be created from the timeline editor with a new button.

Version 09.01 13-NOV-2024

• The logic for changed data not saved is now not actiivated for preferences if preferences are not to be saved.

Other Changes

• Tags lists can now be searched by typing one or more characters.
• Dates can be entered without leading zeros.
• Tag selector tidied up to enable/disable buttons depending on what is possible.
• Row editing improved so that a new row entered in an event editor but not applied will only be overwritten if the event's row is changed by the row editor.
• The browse function for icon path in Preferences and in event editors now starts at the /icons directory in the user's home if it exists.
• Segments now have separate colours for foreground, inner background and start and end of the gradient shaded outer background over the vague dates.
• Find now optionally searches in connection source and destination event names. The connection name is included in the result.

Version 09.00 04-NOV-2024

Errors Corrected

• Using Find to go to an untimed event crashed because they have no dates.
• Export graphics and html were missing the labels on the year lines.
• In find the Go There button was not always enabled when it should have been.
• Save As now ensures the extension is .json, presets the output file name and starts in the directory from which the file was read.

Other Changes

• Connection names (removed in V08.00) are now back. They can be shown at the source or destination, neither or both.
  They have a surrounding rectangle with an inner margin set in preferences. This is also used for untimed events.
  The name can be clicked and dragged to position it. The name and the connection are highlighted while the mouse is pressed.
  A double-click on the name will open the connection editor in the same way as double-clicking on the connection itself.
  There is a new checkbox in the filter to hide connection names.
  Missing connection names can be shown in the missing data report.
• Event and connection names (except timelines) can have multiple lines of text.
• Date parser formatter changed to lenient as required by JDK 23.
• Find function improved. When the find window gains focus the find field is focussed and existing content selected.
  The results table can be sorted by columns.
  When connections are found the line and the displayed name at source or destination are highlighted.
  Found items that are not shown due to filtering are now in italics. Double-click or Go There will then only open the editor if this is selected. The message that the item is filtered out has been removed.

Version 08.01

Errors Corrected

• Sorting of events could crash with contract violation - was using isEqual() instead of equals().

Other Changes

• Handling of margins in graphic redone so that margins are kept empty. The overall drawing is now simply clipped to the margins.
• Connections are now always (and only) shown if at least one end is on screen (within the margins).
• Curved connections are limited such that the control point is kept within the margins.
• The X axis is now drawn in its own panel.
• The date range is extended to keep the outermost start and end icons (and their labels) in view.
• Timeline events are now stacked in chronological order.

Version 08.00 06-JUN-2024

Errors Corrected

• Sorting of events by start date was not working - overlapping timeline events now look better.

Other Changes

• In the connections tab of the event editors, an entry can be double-clicked to open the connection editor.
• Connections no longer have a name.
• Date range restricted to -/+ 50000 years to avoid overflow in range.

Version 07.00 14-MAR-2024

Errors Corrected

• Summary report did not always show the links.
• Segemnt editor crashed if early date empty.
• The cross reference report matched partial names on tags rather than the whole word giving too many entries.

Other Changes

• Connections now go to the events dependent on the direction to which they go or from whence they come.
• Cross-reference report: colours now include timeline segments.
• Cross-reference report now has all internal links.
• Export dialog now remembers the target directory.
• HTML export function added to generate html for web server.

Version 06.00 17-DEC-2023

Errors Corrected

• Improvements to export paging.
• Summary Report: titles and table of content entries omitted if there are no untimed events or no introduction. Filter applied correctly to untimed events.
• Timeline and General Events did not keep the new row setting when editor focus lost and regained.
• Export now does not block the main window.
• Export now restores the screen graphic to its proper size.
• Find could crash if an event was created while filtered out and then "Go there" used.
• Cross Reference Report now includes unused tags.

Other Changes

• New event type Untimed Events for information that has no dates. These appear at the top of the graphic and can be connected to other events.
• Event and connection editors now open on the Metadata tab for an existing item and on the Data tab for a new item.
• Event editors have a new tab to show and edit connections.
• The results from Find are now in a table showing only one entry for each found item.
• URL handling updated for Java 20 and error handling improved.

Version 05.00 09-OCT-2023

Errors Corrected

• Find: go to source of connection was not working.
• URL validation improved by converting to URI.

Other Changes

• Connections: Dotted and Dashed lines added. The parameters are set in the Preferences.
• Find: New checkbox to include transliterations of German umlauts (ae for ä etc.).
• Find: shows "None found" if search returns no results.
• Preferences: In the Missing Data Report the setting for Connection Tags can now be set to 0.
• JavaDocs completed.

Version 04.01 20-MAR-2023

Errors Corrected

• Windows does not support handling quit (alt-F4) and the program would not start under Windows.
• There was no check that a timeline must have an early end date, causing a crash.

Other Changes

Version 04.00 19-MAR-2023

Errors Corrected

Other Changes

• Missing MetaData Report now has option for minimum number of tags in a connection.

Version 03.02

Errors Corrected

• Preferences reworked to correctly cancel and not lose settings.
• Filter Editor: adding a filter before the first or removing the first did not show the logic.
• Changes in the filter editor did not show as unsaved changes.

Other Changes

• If a colour is missing from the input file palette or preferences were not saved,
  a warning is logged and the first default colour used; previously it produced a hard error and stopped.
• The icons directory setting is saved to the data file. On reading the file, if the directory does not exist,
  e.g. if the file came from another user or systesm, nothing is set and it defaults to the user's home directory.

Version 03.01 07-MAR-2023

Errors Corrected

• Reports and their links corrected

Other Changes

• Updated to Java JDK 19.0.2
• Function to rename tags added.
• Improved error handling when reading input file. It now produces a log window that can be saved or printed.
  There is a new preference to select whether all lines or only errors should be logged.
• Cross-Reference report now includes colours (with option in Preferences).
• New function to convert data files from previous version. Initially implements new error logging preference from V02 to V03.

Version 03.00 18-FEB-2023

Errors Corrected

• Hard quit (e.g. Cmd-Q on Mac) now confirms with user before quitting.

Other Changes

• Double-clicking on objects now no longer opens editors for all objects in scope, but,
  if there is more than one object under the mouse, shows a pop-up menu to select the object to be editied.
• Internal: Events and Timelines refactored such that Timeline is a subclass of Event.

Version 02.00 11-JAN-2023

Errors Corrected

• .

Other Changes

• Ruler removed - it is now a stand-alone program.
• Some improvements to error checking of input file.
• Summary Report now has links between entries, additional links and table of contents.
  Cross-Reference and Missing Meta-Data reports have table of contents and can save and print.
  Cross-Reference includes unused colors.

Version 01.05 27-APR-2022

Errors Corrected

• Maximum and minimum dates were not correct if no events were shown.

Other Changes

• Filter Editor: Filter On checkbox replaced by a Turn Off button.
• Date consistency checking on event, timeline and connection editors improved.

Version 01.04

Errors Corrected

• Zooming out when panned to right now works better - before it would leave the date range magnified.

Other Changes

• The colors are coded in hex in the output file to appear more familiar. It can still read them in decimal. They include the alpha channel.
• Editors tidied up.
• Editors now accept arrow keys with Cmd/Ctrl and shift for moving cursor and selecting text.
• Vertical scrollbar now has a suitable block increment of half the height.
• Drawing optimised so that connections are not drawn until zooming/panning/scrolling has stopped. (Unfortunately Java does not have support to do this when resizing the frame.)
• The filter can now be applied to the summary report.
• Colours are now pre-defined in a palette in preferences.

Version 01.03

Errors Corrected

• Tag editor checking if tags exist did not work if a tag was the same as the first part of another tag.
• Deleting tags now checks properly if they are in use in timelines, event, connections and saved filters.

Other Changes

• The filter can now optionally omit lines that become empty after filtering.
• All filter checkboxes are now saved with the filter to the data file.
• Stacking of events improved to avoid overlaps with icons as well as name.
• Events are now sorted in order of their start dates.
• Row management in timeline and general event editors improved - now shows current row separately and is not affected by tag editor.
• In editors for general events and connections, the drop-down lists of timelines and events are updated when the editors gain focus so that they include and additions or deletions to the lists.
• Find function added to View menu. This is used to find a timeline, event or connection and move the diagram to show it while optionally opening the editor. Search can be made on any combination of the name, tags and description. The search can be simple or can use regular expressions.
• Indication of unsaved changes with red text in status bar.
• Improvements to export on multiple pages.
• New report for missing metadata.
• Summary and missing metadata reports can be configured in preferences.
• In the filter, selecting a saved filter puts its name in the rename field to make it easier to make small changes.
• New editor for introduction and technical details texts. The introduction can be included in the summary report.
• Summary report can be printed.
• Events now have earliest and latest start and end dates.

Version 01.02 26-Jul-2021

Errors Corrected

• The Event editor did not save links.
• Creating a new event with no end date could cause a crash.
• When a filter was in use some hidden items would still open editors when clicked.
• The row sorting did not always work.
• The metadata of connections may have been assigned to the wrong connection when reading a file.
• Creating a new segment and later clicking on it crashed instead of opening the editor. (It worked after the file was saved and re-read.)
• In the Event editor, if the icon path was removed and apply clicked, the icon preview was not removed from the editor.
• Filter editor now has a New button to create a new filter without making the currently loaded filter unsaved.

Other Changes

• The data file is now written and read with the UTF-8 character set, and so should be compatible between Windows and MAC/UNIX systems.
• The following editors will now add scrollbars if needed: timeline, event, connection, segment, links, filter. This prevents the problem of not being able to access the OK/Cancel buttons on a small screen.
• Tags may now contain any lower case letter in any language (as well as numbers as before).
• The icons at the start and end of a timeline are now not centered on the end points but abutt to the ends. Note that if the icon does not go to the edges of its full size, there will appear to be a gap.
• The year lines have more transparency and so do not hide other content.
• Summary now lists timeline-events by timeline separately from general-events.
• Editors select the whole name when new items are created and the cursor is placed in the name field.
• Saved filters are now always shown sorted. (Previously they were only sorted when saved as or renamed.)
• Timeline events are now always positioned below the line and there is a new preference to "stack" them which avoids the names overlapping.
• There are new checkboxes in the filter:
  • Show timelines of events: if checked the timelines of timeline-events are shown if the filter includes the event.
  • Hide connections: if checked, all connections are hidden.
• Ruler function added to view menu and preferences.

Version 01.01 17-Jun-2021

Errors Corrected

• Description fields did not show text beyond 10 lines.
• An event with no icon would show the internal path of the icon and then give an error when saving edits.
• The filter did not differentiate between tags containing the same substring, e.g. #book1 and #book2.
• The early dates in timelines and connections were not completely checked before comparing with late dates. This could cause a crash.
• Renaming a loaded filter now also changes the name in the Loaded Filter Set field.
• The left-hand "Use" list of the Tag Selector now allows multiple selections.
• Keys Ctrl-A, Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V, Ctrl-X and the corresponding Mac command keys now work on all text fields.
• Shortcut keys on menus for Open, New, Save, Save As.

Other Changes

• When filters are applied the overall range of the diagram reflects only the items that are still displayed.
• The First Fit setting for the row optimisation of timelines and events is now saved with the data. The preferences setting now only applies to new timelines and events. Before, if the preference was set, the timeline or event could jump to a different row when saved, causing some confusion and annoyance.
• Sorting of cross reference and summary improved.
• When a filter was applied, the diagram did not re-adjust correctly to cover the remaining total time because it still considered the segments of timelines that were filtered out.
• The filter is now always switched on when a saved filter is used (with double-click or with Load and Apply).
• The Filter Save and Save As buttons now have some logic to ensure only those that can be used are enabled.

Version 01.00 15-Jun-2021

Errors Corrected

• Timeline editor: if an icon path was removed and then a new icon selected, the icon was not shown in the editor until Apply was clicked.
• Year lines corrected for years BC.
• Timeline and event editors now resize to accommodate different sizes of icon.
• The font of the time axis was not being saved in the preferences.
• Clicking OK on the timeline or event editor when First Fit was set for the rows would erroneously move it to another free row.

Other Changes

• Export function implemented - the diagram can be exported to graphics files for printing or inclusion in documents.
• Menus restructured.
• If icons cannot be found when reading the input file, either because the directory is not there or because the icon file is missing, a warning is given and a default grey square icon is used. Previously the program terminated with an error message.
• Events can now be created without giving an icon, in which case the default icon will be used.
• The pan control is now a slider and can be moved incrementally by clicking on the space and the arrows.
• Program version and Java version are now shown in the About window.
• Names of event are now shown centered below the event, and for timeline-events above the timeline, above the event.
• Additional preference to set minimum vertical distance between rows.
• Timelines, Events and Connections now have an additional tab in their editors for Tags, Description and Links.
  Tags can be added and removed for use in the filter.
  Description is a text field to add information.
  Links are URLs for internet links.
• Filter function - the display can be filtered on a logical combination of tags. Connections are not shown if either the source or destination is filtered out. Filters can be saved.
• New reports: Tags xRef - a cross-reference listing of tags. Summary Report summarising all the items.
• Separators added to menus.
• The row editor has a new checkobx "Keep row empty" which will prevent timelines or events being placed in that row when optimising to place in the first row they will fit.

Version 0.7

Errors Corrected

• When general event editor was opened for an existing event, the row field was disabled event though the fit row box was unchecked.
• Fixed crashes when deleting timeline events and creating timelines.
• Editors do not permit semicolon in names, as this would cause saved file to be unreadable.
• If a connection had a timeline date and was then changed to connect to the start or name of the timeline or to an event, the date was retained internally and may have caused the overall time frame to be too long.

Other Changes

• Preferences can now set all four margins independently.
• New timeline event has default position below instead of on timeline.

Version 0.6

Errors Corrected

• Icons were not removed when the path was deleted in the timeline and event editors.

Other Changes

• Rows introduced. Timelines and General Events are placed in rows, and more then one can be placed in the same row as long as they do not overlap. The minimum time between items in the same row is defined in preferences.
• Menu items disabled until they can be used.
• Start and end icons on timelines are not longer repeated but only drawn on the latest start and earliest end dates.

Version 0.5

Errors Corrected

• Editors are now opened with double-click for compatibility with user interface standard and to enable selection with single click in future.
• Connection Editor: "Dest" corrected to "Destination" and name added to title as for timeline.
• Segment Editor dates do not require AD/BC, and always use English AD/BC regardless of system language.
• A new timeline was created even if there were errors in the input.
• Preferences can now be closed with the window close button and this has the same effect as cancel.
• All editors now treat window close like cancel and restore old values.
• The overall time frame now takes connections and segments into account, as these may go beyond the ends of timelines.
• If the program was closed after creating a new file, it warned of unsaved changes even though no changes had been made.
• The connection curve parameters for a new connection were not set from the preference presets.
• The arrows on all line types are now correctly oriented.
• The locale is set to US to that system texts are all shown in English and the on-screen languages are not mixed.
• If a new object, e.g. a timeline, was created but not saved and then a New File opened, and then Apply or OK clicked in the open editor, nothing would happen (because it saved to the old deleted data). Now, all open editors are closed when New File is selected.
• The checkbox for Save Preferences was not checked when a file was read with preferences included, so that the preferences would then not be saved with the next File Save.
• Logic to prevent deleting timelines and events which have connections corrected.

Other Changes

• Object name added to title bar of all editors. This shows what the name was before it was changed and therefore what it will go back to if Cancel is clicked.
• All editor windows update their titles when the name is changed and Apply is clicked.
• All editors now show correct date format with error messages for invalid date input.
• When editors are opened by double-clicking within the diagram, they cascade from the top right of the monitor in which the main window appears. Editors opened with the New menu items are placed over the main window.
• Creating new object names them "New xxx" rather than "xxx 1". This was misleading as it does not increment the numbers.
• All editors now have Apply buttons so that repeated trial-and-error edits can be made.
• Only one editor can be open for each object. Double-clicking an object which has an open editor will bring that editor to the front. This prevents changes from one editor being overwritten by OKing a previously opened editor on the same object.
• Timeline names must be unique to avoid confusion when selecting from drop-down lists.
• Event names must be unique to avoid confusion when selecting from drop-down lists.
• New file now closes any open editors and does not think there is unsaved data when there isn't.
• Timelines and Events now appear in alphabetical order in drop-down lists.
• File extension field removed from preferences. It was not used - the extension is determined in Save As.
• Delete button disabled on editors for new object until it has been saved.
• Improved error checking on input file.
• Some automation of date setting -
  • Timeline and Connection: If a latest date field is empty and the corresponding early date only gives a year or a year-month, the latest date is set to the end of the same year or year-month to facilitate entry when the date is not known exactly.
    Event: Similarly for Event start and end dates.
  • Connection: When creating a new connection between timelines at a specific date the destination timeline Date button is clicked, the destination dates are preset to the source dates to facilitate marriage-type connections.
  • Segment: When a new timeline segment is created, its start date will be set to the end date of the previous segment, or if it is the first segment, the start of the timeline.
• The connection type STRAIGHT (as opposed to WAVY or HELIX) has been changed to PLAIN, as it is also used with curved lines.
• Bracketing of indefinite dates improved.
• A timeline can have up to 5 lines of segments.

Known Issues

• If multiple editors are opened and older ones closed newer ones will overlap others without cascading.

Version 0.4 - 18-MAR-2021

• Mouse click on graphic now opens all editors of overlapping objects

Version 0.3 - 17-MAR-2021

• Revised zoom and pan.
• Corrected error: if a file was opened and then an invalid file was opened, Save would overwrite the first file with no content.
• If a file cannot be opened, the original state is now maintained.
• Corrected inconsistencies in checking for unsaved changes.
• Unneeded horizontal scrollbar removed from main window.
• Deleting timelines or events did not always reset the view properly.
• Editor windows overflowed hiding the icon Browse buttons when icons selected.