Release notes: Embedded Wizard 7.10
Version 7.10 contains the following changes and improvements:
Evaluation Edition
With this version we introduced a new Evaluation Edition of Embedded Wizard. This edition is intended primarily for test and evaluation purpose. Unlike the old Demo Version, the Evaluation Edition allows you to generate code for your particular target system as well as to save modifications made on your project.
On the other hand, the Evaluation Edition is limited regarding the maximum size of your project. In other words, you can enjoy the entire functionality of Embedded Wizard for free – as long as the complexity of your project doesn’t exceed predetermined limits.
The calculation of project complexity is based on the number of project members, implemented methods, code lines, etc. For your convenience Embedded Wizard shows the current project complexity as percent value in the Log window every time you save the project.
New color format: LumA44
The set of supported basic color formats has been extended by the new format called LumA44. With this color format every native pixel is composed of a 4-bit luminance and 4-bit opacity (alpha) values. Like other basic color formats the order of the color channels and the pre-multiplication with the alpha value are configurable. The new color format is intended for all kinds of gray-scale and monochrome displays. In particular it is appropriate for applications to be designed for e-ink paper devices.
With this new color format Embedded Wizard supports now following configurable color formats: RGBA8888, RGBA4444, RGB565A8, RGB555A8, LumA44, Index8, YUVA8888.
Display orientation
Embedded Wizard provides now the possibility to configure whether bitmap resources should be generated in rotated orientation.
In the usual (not rotated) case the origin of the frame-buffer does correspond to the top-left corner of the display. Your product design, however, may require the display to be installed in any other orientation, e.g. a landscape display can be installed in the portrait position by rotating it by 90 degrees.
In such case you design the GUI application in the desired portrait format and you inform the Embedded Wizard about the real orientation of the display in the product. Embedded Wizard will then apply the necessary rotation steps on all bitmap resources when these are generated.
Using this option allows the graphics hardware in the target system to access the bitmaps without any intermediate rotation steps. The resulting performance will correspond to the system without any rotation.
If available for your particular Platform Package, the new option appears automatically in the corresponding profile member. The option is called ScreenOrientation and can assume one of the values Normal, Rotated_90, Rotated_180 or Rotated_270.
Format of bitmap resources
Embedded Wizard provides now the possibility to configure whether bitmap resources should be generated in the compressed format or uncompressed in the format valid for the particular target system. This option is available for target systems allowing the bitmaps to be accessed directly from the ROM code. In this manner no intermediate steps to allocate the video memory and decompress the bitmap are necessary. The RAM footprint is significantly reduced. On the other hand the ROM footprint is increased. This option is intended primarily for low-end systems providing few RAM (e.g. 128kB). Target systems with sufficient amount of main memory should continue using the compressed bitmap format. If available for your particular Platform Package, the new option appears automatically in the corresponding profile member. The option is called FormatOfBitmapResources and can assume either the value Compressed or DirectAccess.
Format of string constants
Embedded Wizard provides now the possibility to configure whether string constants should be generated in the compressed format or uncompressed. This option is available for target system allowing the strings to be accessed directly from the ROM code. In this manner no intermediate steps to allocate the memory and decompress the string block are necessary. The RAM footprint is reduced. On the other hand the ROM footprint is increased. This option is intended primarily for low-end systems providing few RAM (e.g. 128kB). Target systems with sufficient amount of main memory should continue using the compressed string format.
If available for your particular Platform Package, the new option appears automatically in the corresponding profile member. The option is called FormatOfStringConstants and can assume either the value Compressed or DirectAccess.
Bug Fixes
The following bugs have been solved:
★Assistants: The font ranges assistant could cause Embedded Wizard to crash when the user tried to open the assistant for a Ranges attribute containing a very long list of glyph codes.