This page summarizes the changes, enhancements and fixes to the Qckvu3 for Windows program.
This version fixed a problem with the layers color and fill assignments.
Modified the Structure List bar to include a filter edit field for files containing large numbers of structures. Typing in the filter edit field will display only those structure names which begin with the filter value.
Modified the Structure Tree bar to include at most 2000 hierarchical structures. This prevents the control becoming unusable for files with large
numbers of structures.
This version can handle files with up to 60000 layers. The previous limit was 1024.
A customer noted that a GDSII file with very high dynamic range was not displaying the data inside of a particular structure. This was found to be due to a problem with the quad tree not properly dealing with values near the maximum dynamic range of the database. This has been fixed.
The GUI dialogs and fields have be updated to work nicely with 4K displays. In previous versions, some of the dialogs were unreadable for 4K displays where the display scale was set to greater than 100 (which is actually normal for these high resolution displays -- otherwise the text is too small to read)
Qckvu3 plug in handler on Windows updated to support a new plug-in: AIF Import.
This version will confirm whether the program working directory is correctly defined and writable. If it is not, it will perform the same test, using the TEMP directory as the working directory.
If the TEMP directory is not defined, or not writable, the program will issue a warning to the user and disable OASIS support.
This version and its DLLs include version information in the file properties.
This version changes plugin layer processing; layer data can be fed back to plugins without forcing a redraw of the main Qckvu3 window.
RedistributablesIncludes the correct VS2015 redistributable instead of VS2008.
Modified the info display to differentiate an array reference from a structure reference; include the array dimensions.
Global Message HandlerAdded a global message handler so that all messages can be directed to an external monitor.
Plug In UpdateAdded support for the -pluginargs: command line option, to automatically pass a notification and arguments to a plugin after Qckvu3 has completed launching.
Added support for filtering OASIS attributes in the Open Filters dialog. This can greatly accelerate the loading and display of large files if the input file has a large number of attributes.
Default Color MapModified the default gdsplot.map file that ships with Qckvu3 by removing some colors which were clashing with the Qckvu3 background color. An existing user who upgrades to this version will need to delete all .map files from the directory:
C:\Users\user_name\AppData\Local\Temp to see this change.
Added a field to the Preferences dialog which allows the user to define the working directory location. The default working directory is located at:
C:\Users\user_name\AppData\Local\Temp\Qckvu3.
Qckvu3 now deletes all stray .bin files from the defined working directory when the application starts up
Library UpdateOut of date internal libraries were updated.
Client file with over 300000 cells took over 10 minutes to load and display. New algorithm improves the speed to about 15 seconds.
There is a limit of 65535 cells to display in the tree cell menu. The cell list menu has no limit.
This version uses the same error and warning messages as defined on the Linux version.
This version supports the latest key routine. Plugins new key routines are up to date as well.
Changes and upgrades to the Qckvu3/W internal API in order to support more advanced plug-in behavior.
Qckvu3 64-bit version application name and registry key was changed from Qckvu3 to Qckvu3 x64. This should avoid any confusion for users, plugins etc. Both versions can co-exist using separate registry trees.
Added support for plugin reporting. A new menu item was added to Info | Plugin Report. The buffer from the plugin manager is displayed in the Info window.
Added qckerror.h, qckplugin.h and qckpluginw.lib to both installation packages. This enables immediate building of compatible plugins once the application is installed
New and more compact installation - resolves the issues with hanging during installation.
Reversed the nesting level filter behavior when level 0 is selected. This turns off all structure reference outlines instead of turning them all on.
Fixed a bug which was displaying inaccurate data in the GDSII report for large GDSII files.
This version fixes the issues with opening OASIS and with opening GDSII files on Windows 8.
Qckvu3 now sends the OnChangeLayers notification when layers are changed from a plugin.
The x64 version of Qckvu3 has also been fixed so that layers can be changed from a plugin
Qckvu v3.44 implements QisLib v2.85 and the latest plugin API which adds support for opening a file from a plugin.
Created a new service for plug-ins. This gives plug-in developers more flexibility in creating functions and avoids the need to rebuild plug-ins when Qckvu3 is upgraded.
HExtract plugin can now be installed with Qckvu3 32-bit.
Changed the install background/font, as well as including custom graphics.
MSFlxGrd.ocx is no longer optional.
The install now allows you to place a shortcut on the desktop.
Both installs have been tested on newly installed versions of XP 32 and 64, Vista 32 and 64, and Windows 7 32 and 64. On vanilla Windows XP 64-bit, the 64-bit install has an issue with the VC Redistributables so that it will not currently work right out of the box.
gdsplot.map has been replaced with a new map file that cycles through 16 color/fill combinations.
corrected some issues related to revisions in the underlying QISLIB engine.
Expanded the grid settings edit box to allow smaller grid values.
OASIS file openFixed a bug where .OAS files were not being opened correctly.
Qckvu3 Windows 64 bit is now available. Users can now load extremely large GDSII and OASIS files on Windows 64 based computers.
Internal updates to support latest Plug-in modules.
Added a marker option to the Zoom Area bar.
Report Structure ParentsAdded a Structure Parents bar which shows the parents of the currently selected structure.
Plug-in APIAdded support for the latest plugin API to synchronize with the Unix/Linux version.
Cache FileAdded the ability to save and load GDSII cache files.
Input FiltersAdded an Open Filters dialog to the File menu which adds support for input filtering: a layer filter, loading files to memory, quad size and pruning empty cells.
Added support for flexlm licensing using the ARTWORK_LICENSE_FILE environment variable. This allows the user to set ARTWORK_LICENSE_FILE instead of LM_LICENSE_FILE thus avoiding potential conflicts with other software tools still using LM_LICENSE_FILE variable.
Lite vs. Pro LicensingAdded support for Qckvu3 Lite and Upgrade licensing.
Structure Fill ColorAdded the ability to specify the structure display filter color from the Filter toolbar. Previously the fill color was hardwired to black.
View TransformationAdded new Transform View functionality to the View menu. The interface is a dockable dialog bar which supports translation, mirroring, rotation and scaling.
License DetailsAdded a Licensing dialog to the Help menu to show which licenses are in use by Qckvu3.
Updated the plugin-API.
Extract GDSII Plug-InRe-built the Extract GDSII plugin to work with the latest plugin API.
Added support for Copy/Paste CtrlC/CtrlV for copying information from and to Qckvu3 screens.
Extract GDSIIFixed a crashing bug with the Extract GDSII plug-in.
Added new Zoom Area under View menu. It is implemented as a bar, so it can be docked like the other bars,
or floated modelessly.
Supports three ways to specify the area. Compatible with Qckvu v2.7x, can use the X key to show/hide.
Copy to clipboard now available under View menu or using Ctrl-C. Copies visible client view to the clipboard which can subsequently be pasted into another application.
New PlottingQckvu3 now supports plotting. User can select the printer to plot to, scale, page size, window or extents etc.
Fixed a bug which was crashing Qckvu3 when using the arrow keys in the Layers Bar.
Tool barThe single toolbar has been broken into a set of smaller toolbars. These can be switched on and off using a new View|ToolBars menu item.
Highlight StructureAdded support for highlighting structures.
Installation bugFixed a bug in the installer which caused corrupt license file in node locked mode.
Fixed unit display issue.
PDF ManualPDF manual is now available.
custom plug-ins can now be licensed through Qckvu3 on Windows.
Added support for plug-in API calls including the layer control services.
Added text scaling functionality.
Plug-in APIAdded the draw marker support to the plug-in manager.
Updated installer to support USB key locking.
Updated Plug-In APIUpdated the plug-in manager to support the latest header files and to bring the windows version into alignment with the Linux/UNIX version. NOTE: the complete set of services has not been fully implemented as of this release.
Added angle from the x-axis data to the information displayed by the measure tool.
Updated to the latest QIS library.
Added options to measure (snap) to an object's edge, center and edge midpoint. Added an option to measure at multiple of 45 degrees.
Added support for plugins and added a plug-in for extracting a window of data from the design to GDSII.
Added licensingAdded the flexlm license modules for node locked and floating licenses.
The first version of Qckvu3 on Windows released for internal testing.