KDE Science/Kst/roadmap: Difference between revisions

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Below is a tentative roadmap, based on a review of all kst bugs referenced in [http://bugs.kde.org KDE's bugzilla] and mailing list discussions.
Below is a tentative roadmap for future versions, based on a review of all kst bugs referenced in [http://bugs.kde.org KDE's bugzilla] and mailing list discussions. Kst versions 2.x, based on Qt4 and available on all major platforms, are considered stable and the latest Kst 2 version is recommended for production use. The Kst 1.x series, based on Qt3 and KDE libraries is no longer maintained.
A summary of the changes introduced in previous 2.x versions can be found on the [[previous versions]] page.


== 2.0 Series: early adopters and new users ==
== 2.0 Series: new version ported to Qt4, stable ==
=== 2.0.1: Intermediate bug fix release (released Nov. 12th 2010) ===
=== Last version: 2.0.(released July 17th 2013) ===
* <del>finalize menu/toolbar reorganization ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=249799 249799])</del>
For a more complete summary of the main new features see the [http://mail.kde.org/pipermail/kst/2013-July/021367.html release announcement].
* <del>finalize move plots between tabs ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=248885 248885])</del>
* <del>fix crash when moving view items ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=253165 253165])</del>
* <del>proper escaping of special characters ([https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=250014 250014])</del>
* <del>finish plot dialog revamp ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=252289 252289]) - basically:</del>
** <del>connect the "Edit" button in the Contents page</del>
** <del>ensure right order of elements in the left pane (right now the first two are not the most relevant ones)</del>
** <del>make sure the left pane is always large enough (in width)</del>
* <del>special characters escaping ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=250014 250014])</del>
* <del>update pb in the data manager ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=248888 248888])</del>
* <del>X-only zoom and Y-only zoom toolbar buttons ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=252080 252080])</del>


=== 2.0.2: Critical bugfix (released Nov. 18th 2010) ===
* New features
Released close to 2.0.1 due to a critical bug in 2.0.1 that made it basically unusable. Also implemented some small stuff:
** ASCII read time in HH:MM:SS.sss format ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=243684 243684]+[http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=243445 243445])
* <del>fix clipping when dragging</del>
** ASCII performance improvements
* <del>allow inserting vector/scalar names at cursor position in the equation editor</del>
** Support for threaded reading and file buffer to overcome Windows 32 bit memory-per-process limitations (useful when reading >1GB ASCII files!)
** Scripting: plugins, histograms and spectrums
** Automatic "unpacking" of netCDF vectors of type ncShort if they have scale_factor and add_offset attributes
** Improve naming of exported graphics by using the tab's name as suffix


=== 2.0.3: Polishing (released April 16th 2011) ===
* UI
* Bugfixes/polish
** Actions to copy parts of the window status bar into the clipboard: X copies the X coordinate, Y the Y coordinate and Ctrl + C copies the window status message
** <del>update fixes (plugin -> equation -> etc, dependencies not always updated)</del>
** Improve formatting of many dialogs
** <del>y-local zoom with shared axis box ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=236678 236678])</del>
** Drawing points: separate point size
** <del>Saving and reloading a file leads to empty data manager ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=256401 256401]) + other session management issues</del>
** In tied zoom mode, X only and Y only cursor extension lines appear in all tied windows
** <del>data manager UI detail: click on the + symbol, then double-click on the item below => you get the dialog corresponding to the wrong item</del>
** <del>labels from vectors with special chars in their names need to be properly escaped</del>
** <del>labels generated by fits are broken</del>
** <del>empty labels not taken into account in plot dialog (needs one space)</del>
** <del>apply button greyed out in some dialogs</del>
** <del>edit multiple for vectors: the UI offers it but nothing is active. Either remove the edit multiple button for vectors, or activate the fields</del>


* UI changes
* Bug fixes
** <del>oxygen icons</del>
** Fix a bug where if you drag a plot to a new tab, it wasn't picked up by future autoformat actions nor listed in plot lists
** Fix printing to PDF under Windows
** Fix purge so ancestors of ancestors of curves used in plots don't get purged, and so that scalars/vectors used in labels (and their ancestors) don't get purged
** Fix gaussian + Lorentzian fits so that they actually fit
** Make relative file paths work regardless of where kst2 is called from
** Various fixes to font scaling


* Various checks
=== 2.0.8: new GUI features and polish ===
** <del>check change data file tool</del>
Note: Already implemented changes are striked through.
** <del>check remember last settings in various dialogs (data wizard, etc)</del>
* Version control
** <del>default names (plugins, etc...) + automatic labels (top-label) sometimes disturbing</del>
** <del> Switch to github: http://github.com/Kst-plot/kst</del>


* Small features
* UI
** <del>strings from data file or vectors to be shown in View->Strings dialog (as scalars)</del>
** <del>Declutter the data manager / find-as-you-type filter as in kst 1.x ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=257164 257164])</del>
** <del>more metadata (netcdf) - watch out for update problems + show in UI (View->strings)</del>
** <del>Revamped  vector view with more display formats and multiple simultaneous vectors ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=257285 257285], [http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=257287 257287]) - see labplot/scidavis/origin</del>
** <del>ASCII units ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=216730 216730])</del>
** <del>Scalar selector improvements including bug [http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=325087 325087]</del>
** <del>tied zoom span tabs ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=221673 221673])</del>
** <del>When selecting multiple objects in "edit multiple" mode, '*' character no longer needed at the beginning or at the end of the filter string</del>
** <del>SVG export ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=142986 142986]) - and EPS as well</del>
** feedback during loading of large documents ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=92868 92868]+[http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=92870 92870])
** <del>File->Recent files... ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=252079 252079])</del>


* Misc
* Misc
** <del>web site revamp</del> + promotion work
** <del>Allow reading specific subsets of ASCII starting at any line</del>
** <del>full cmake support</del>
** <del>New command line option -T to create a new tab</del>
 
** <del>Differentiate plugin now uses consecutive points</del>
=== 2.0.4: Further polishing (released September 13th 2011) ===
** <del>Allow importing vectors without creating plots (bug [http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=307723 307723])</del>
* Bug fixes
** <del>Datamode improvements with matrices</del>
** <del>distribution of points sometimes very uneven if show points density < all ([https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=272578 272578]) </del>
** <del>Update system fixes (bug [http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=325314 325314])</del>
** <del>datawizard jumping back to the top of the list</del>
** <del>Fix viewitems so that the dialogs are properly updated when in 'fix to data' mode</del>
** <del>issues when dragging items in layout mode ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=254922 254922] and [http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=255274 255274])</del>
** <del>New datasource: sourcelist, repetition of otherwise identical sources</del>
** <del>Legend items should be unique ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=272576 272576])</del>
** <del>Equations: add 'degree' versions of the trig functions: sind, cosd, etc + atan2(x, y)</del>
** <del>Wrong point in PSDs with log scale ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=272580 272580]) </del>
** <del>Scalar from scalar update problem ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=272577 272577]) </del>
 
* UI
** <del>user-visible string changes ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=249805 249805])</del>
** <del>finish UI revamp (esp. context menus + connect plot dialog pages to the way the dialog is opened, e.g. double click on axes opens plot dialog in the right place)</del>
** <del>scientific notation for extreme axis numbers</del>


* Features
* Scripting
** <del>redo automatic plot layout algorithm</del>
** Finish and package python scripting (at least a beta release).
** <del> change scalar value directly in the scalar selection combobox </del>
** <del>as-you-type search in comboboxes (vector selection)</del>


=== 2.0.5: More polish and some new features (released May 21st 2012) ===
* Bug fixes
* Bug fixes
** <del>PDF export vs PDFCreator ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=219845 219845])</del>
** <del>Wrong prefix to session and data file lists on Windows (bug [http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=325086 325086])</del>
** <del>many small bugfixes (see http://kst-plot.kde.org/files/Log_messages_2.0.4_to_2.0.5.txt)</del>
** <del>Filter loses vector selection (bug [http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=325393 325393])</del>
 
* Various checks
** <del>tab order</del>
 
* Features
** <del>view items have an option to scroll/zoom with the contents of the plot</del>
** <del>improve automatic plot layout algorithm</del>
** <del>option to have anti-aliased plots</del>
** <del>mouse wheel scrolls and zooms ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=261972 261972])</del>  
** <del>Adding a drag and drop capability ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=272510 272510])</del>
** <del>data source should text box should handle ~/ as shortcut to $HOME</del>
** <del>legends should be wrapped to always fit inside their plot</del>
** <del>new datasource: Matlab .mat file reader (Matlab pretty much sucks at plotting, that'd be a pretty interesting move and there's a spec at http://www.mathworks.com/access/helpdesk/help/pdf_doc/matlab/matfile_format.pdf)</del>
** <del>beta of python-based, mathplotlib-alike scripting (Linux only for now)</del>
 
=== 2.0.6: Bugfix release (released July 27th 2012) ===
One new feature: an option to interpret a vector as EXCEL time
 
Other than that, quite a few bugfixes:
* Loading/saving
** When loading a kst file, prompt the user for an alternate if a datasource can't be found
** Save/use arrow head property defaults
** Don't invert Z order of viewItems which are direct children of the View
** Line and arrow dimensions were sometimes very far off
** Font and formatted text issues fixed
 
* Data import
** Data wizard fixes (spectrum format, speed improvements when there are many vectors,
** Properly handle missing data in custom-delimited ASCII to avoid mixing the vectors
** Large speedup (x10!) for ASCII with very many columns


* UI
=== Planned for future releases (2.0.9?) ===
** When leaving edit multiple mode, take the check boxes out of tristate mode
** Allow SVG and pixmap view objects to have adjustable aspect ratios
** Fix apply button in view item dialogs (including labels)
** Add a help window for label formatting (formatted text is quite powerful, but a bit hidden)
** Make sure the correct context menu is always shown
 
There was also quite a lot of work done on the compiling and packaging by Peter Kümmel. Hopefully this will help, even though python scripting is not yet available on Windows.
A more comprehensive list of changes between 2.0.5 and 2.0.6 can be found here: http://kst-plot.kde.org/files/Log_messages_2.0.5_to_2.0.6.txt
 
=== 2.0.7: Or will it be 2.1? ===
* Bug fixes
* Bug fixes
** with many plots in a window and large axis numbers, the labels overlap
** with many plots in a window and large axis numbers, the labels overlap
Line 132: Line 74:
* UI
* UI
** legends in more prominent place in plot dialog ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=236473 236473])
** legends in more prominent place in plot dialog ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=236473 236473])
** new curve placement widget missing tab selection
** layout mode span tabs


* Features
* Features
** scripting on all platforms
** scripting on all platforms
** jump to next marker
** time-based range tools
** time-based range tools
** ASCII read time in HH:MM:SS.sss format ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=243684 243684]+[http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=243445 243445])
** new curve placement widget missing tab selection
** Declutter the data manager / find-as-you-type filter as in kst 1.x ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=257164 257164])
** jump to next marker
** equations and plugins should no longer generate X slave vector ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=272575 272575])
** equations and plugins should no longer generate X slave vector ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=272575 272575])
** layout mode span tabs
** Capability to insert scalar in x/y markers ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=257153 257153])
** Capability to insert scalar in x/y markers ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=257153 257153])


== 2.1 Series: new features + reactivate main missing things from kst 1.x ==
== 2.1 Series: new features + reactivate main missing things from kst 1.x ==
Line 155: Line 96:
** text box resizing ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=221823 221823])
** text box resizing ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=221823 221823])
** cut/copy/paste
** cut/copy/paste
** command line switches + full batch operation
** ASCII configs ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=216744 216744])
** ASCII configs ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=216744 216744])
** ASCII could have an "auto format" mode which uses heuristics to detect the format
** ASCII could have an "auto format" mode which uses heuristics to detect the format
** more capable vector view with more display formats and multiple simultaneous vectors ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=257285 257285], [http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=257287 257287]) - see labplot/scidavis/origin
** feedback during loading of large documents (92868+92870)
** proper support or warning for files with non-unique field names ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=130195 130195]) Fixed?
** proper support or warning for files with non-unique field names ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=130195 130195]) Fixed?
** in-line changing of axis ranges, if easy ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=118774 118774])
** in-line changing of axis ranges, if easy ([http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=118774 118774])


=== 2.1.1: All kst 1.x features available ===
=== 2.1.1: All kst 1.x features available ===
* plugins (including easy "basic plugins" a la kst 1.x and plugin manager)
* easy "basic plugins" a la kst 1.x with plugin manager
* read kst 1.x files, at least load the data and create data objects, layout may not be pixel-perfect
* read kst 1.x files, at least load the data and create data objects, layout may not be pixel-perfect



Revision as of 18:46, 26 October 2013


Below is a tentative roadmap for future versions, based on a review of all kst bugs referenced in KDE's bugzilla and mailing list discussions. Kst versions 2.x, based on Qt4 and available on all major platforms, are considered stable and the latest Kst 2 version is recommended for production use. The Kst 1.x series, based on Qt3 and KDE libraries is no longer maintained. A summary of the changes introduced in previous 2.x versions can be found on the previous versions page.

2.0 Series: new version ported to Qt4, stable

Last version: 2.0.7 (released July 17th 2013)

For a more complete summary of the main new features see the release announcement.

  • New features
    • ASCII read time in HH:MM:SS.sss format (243684+243445)
    • ASCII performance improvements
    • Support for threaded reading and file buffer to overcome Windows 32 bit memory-per-process limitations (useful when reading >1GB ASCII files!)
    • Scripting: plugins, histograms and spectrums
    • Automatic "unpacking" of netCDF vectors of type ncShort if they have scale_factor and add_offset attributes
    • Improve naming of exported graphics by using the tab's name as suffix
  • UI
    • Actions to copy parts of the window status bar into the clipboard: X copies the X coordinate, Y the Y coordinate and Ctrl + C copies the window status message
    • Improve formatting of many dialogs
    • Drawing points: separate point size
    • In tied zoom mode, X only and Y only cursor extension lines appear in all tied windows
  • Bug fixes
    • Fix a bug where if you drag a plot to a new tab, it wasn't picked up by future autoformat actions nor listed in plot lists
    • Fix printing to PDF under Windows
    • Fix purge so ancestors of ancestors of curves used in plots don't get purged, and so that scalars/vectors used in labels (and their ancestors) don't get purged
    • Fix gaussian + Lorentzian fits so that they actually fit
    • Make relative file paths work regardless of where kst2 is called from
    • Various fixes to font scaling

2.0.8: new GUI features and polish

Note: Already implemented changes are striked through.

  • UI
    • Declutter the data manager / find-as-you-type filter as in kst 1.x (257164)
    • Revamped vector view with more display formats and multiple simultaneous vectors (257285, 257287) - see labplot/scidavis/origin
    • Scalar selector improvements including bug 325087
    • When selecting multiple objects in "edit multiple" mode, '*' character no longer needed at the beginning or at the end of the filter string
    • feedback during loading of large documents (92868+92870)
  • Misc
    • Allow reading specific subsets of ASCII starting at any line
    • New command line option -T to create a new tab
    • Differentiate plugin now uses consecutive points
    • Allow importing vectors without creating plots (bug 307723)
    • Datamode improvements with matrices
    • Update system fixes (bug 325314)
    • Fix viewitems so that the dialogs are properly updated when in 'fix to data' mode
    • New datasource: sourcelist, repetition of otherwise identical sources
    • Equations: add 'degree' versions of the trig functions: sind, cosd, etc + atan2(x, y)
  • Scripting
    • Finish and package python scripting (at least a beta release).
  • Bug fixes
    • Wrong prefix to session and data file lists on Windows (bug 325086)
    • Filter loses vector selection (bug 325393)

Planned for future releases (2.0.9?)

  • Bug fixes
    • with many plots in a window and large axis numbers, the labels overlap
    • anti-aliased rotated axes labels (257682)
  • Various checks
    • check change multiple (esp. on view objects)...
    • undo/redo
    • tooltips + What's this
    • check less often-used plot types
    • documentation
  • UI
    • legends in more prominent place in plot dialog (236473)
    • new curve placement widget missing tab selection
    • layout mode span tabs
  • Features
    • scripting on all platforms
    • jump to next marker
    • time-based range tools
    • equations and plugins should no longer generate X slave vector (272575)
    • Capability to insert scalar in x/y markers (257153)


2.1 Series: new features + reactivate main missing things from kst 1.x

2.1.0: New features requiring .kst file format update

  • Impact on the file format
    • dimensions tab for line/arrow: x,y instead of length, angle
    • save vectors to file (or embedded) (238923+...)
    • different colors/sizes for symbols and lines
    • each marker should have its own graphic properties
  • Features
    • text box resizing (221823)
    • cut/copy/paste
    • ASCII configs (216744)
    • ASCII could have an "auto format" mode which uses heuristics to detect the format
    • proper support or warning for files with non-unique field names (130195) Fixed?
    • in-line changing of axis ranges, if easy (118774)

2.1.1: All kst 1.x features available

  • easy "basic plugins" a la kst 1.x with plugin manager
  • read kst 1.x files, at least load the data and create data objects, layout may not be pixel-perfect

2.1.2: More KDE integration (248184)

  • file dialog
  • toolbar customization
  • GHNS (scripts, sample data, ...)
  • etc...

2.2 Series: Further improvements

  • mask data points for plugin operation (need to review 112549+110734+96249+86915)
  • quick curve creation RMB menu (136780)
  • multi-file data wizard if the above is not sufficient (124942)
  • multiple y axes (126743)
  • custom strings in general settings (142641)
  • sticky "color per file" (124558)
  • flow-around objects (115136+109430+157791), mostly for metadata/custom strings in the borders - for advanced layouting maybe but SVG export may be a nice way to get around it
  • once custom strings and flow-around exist, add support for templates (109472)
  • multiple -Fx switches on command line (115662, comment #8)
  • "buddyVector" feature for automatic detection of X-axis vector (mail on the list, point 2)
  • data sinks to save data back to disk
  • plot manager (124090)
  • proper approach for the update of file metadata used in labels when using change data file ("Metadata updates" mail to be sent by NB)
  • thread kst2
  • edit multiple for view objects, or "style paste" option à la Word or inkscape
  • new datasource: general-purpose configurable binary reader
  • new datasource: general-purpose configurable XML reader
  • new datasource: general-purpose configurable database (SQL) reader
  • end-to-end Arinc429 support?
  • 3D features? (or suggest paraview instead?)

Long term (GSoC ?)

  • turn kst into a real cool signal processing tool (filter design, etc...)
  • ...