Release History
Release history for NoteTab 5 and 6:
6.2 | 6.12 | 6.1 | 6.0 | 5.8 | 5.7b | 5.7 | 5.61 | 5.6 | 5.5 | 5.4 | 5.3 | 5.2 | 5.1 | 5.0
- Updated the regular expressions engine to the latest release, which is based on PCRE 8.01 (Perl 5.10).
- Now uses the Windows user-interface default font instead of MS Sans Serif.
- Fixed an issue when saving Web pages that have a mismatch between their charset declaration (Unicode) and the actual file format (not Unicode).
- Added optional code page token support in template headers. The code page value is placed between parentheses and is preceded by the letters CP. The code page value should be one of the numeric values listed on the Microsoft Web site. This example creates a new UTF-8 document:
= DocTemplate CP(65001)
- Added three templates that you can use to easily create new Unicode documents.
- Included sample plain text and HTML files containing text based on a variety of character sets (Arabic, Chinese, Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew, etc.) These files are stored in the Samples subfolder under the NoteTab program folder.
- Added "Open Sample File" in SampleCode library. Use this Clip to open a plain text or HTML file containing text based on a non-Western character set (Arabic, Chinese, Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew, etc.) The purpose of these files is to demonstrate how NoteTab 6 handles text based on different Windows code pages.
- Fixed the "Text Case" commands, which sometimes converted extended characters based on non-system code pages incorrectly. Note that the "Invert Case", Capitalize, and Sentence commands do not correctly handle double-byte characters (DBCS) and so should only be used on parts of text with Latin-based characters.
- Fixed the "Document to HTML" and "Characters to HTML" commands, which previously assumed source text was always based on the Western ANSI character set. This sometimes resulted in invalid HTML entities when processing text based on other code pages.
- Fixed "String list does not allow duplicates" error that could sometimes occur when opening Unicode and UTF-8 documents.
- Fixed a rare issue that caused NoteTab to misidentify certain ANSI documents as Unicode.
- Fixed ^$GetFileText(FileName)$ Clip function, which failed to check the file format prior to loading text. Now correctly handles Unicode and UTF-8 files.
- Updated Help.
- Added the Code Page submenu to the Tab-bar shortcut menu. This feature lets you reload a document using a different code page. Useful in cases when NoteTab doesn't automatically select the most appropriate code page.
- When opening files, NoteTab can now automatically detect the most appropriate code page to display Unicode and UTF-8 documents.
- When saving Web files (those listed in Options), NoteTab automatically uses the appropriate encoding based on the defined charset value.
- Improved Search Disk feature. It now correctly handles Unicode and UTF-8 files, as well as files with non-Windows line breaks. During find/replace operations, the searched file is loaded into memory and temporarily converted to ANSI with Windows line breaks (CRLF). If a replace operation has modified the data, NoteTab converts it back to its original format before saving it to disk.
- Updated Export dialog box with UTF-8 and Unicode options.
- Added new "Format-Search Limit" setting on Advanced tab in Options dialog box. See Help for details.
- Included a new Clip-based Clip writing aid, "Clipcode Syntax" (courtesy Sheri Pierce). See the Clip Help file for details.
- The "UTF-8 (no conversion)" code page option has been fixed and a new "System Code Page" option added in the File Open dialog box.
- Fixed some issues with double-byte text and the rich-edit controls.
- Fixed an issue in NoteTab Light and Std version 6, which affected the reliability of the Replace All feature under certain circumstances.
- Updated Help, documentation, and data files.
- Some other minor improvements and issues fixed.
- Improved support for Unicode and UTF-8 files, as well as documents based on alternative character code pages. Support for these new features appear in the File Open/Save dialog boxes as well as in Clip commands. Note that NoteTab is not a Unicode editor; characters that cannot be converted to the chosen ANSI code page are lost. Note also that Windows may substitute the document font with another that offers the appropriate character script. In NoteTab Pro this could result in a fixed-width font getting replaced with a variable-width font; when this happens, you may experience inconsistencies when selecting and editing text.
- When you open a Web document without specifying a code page, NoteTab will search the file for a charset, encoding, or lang attribute value. If such a value is found and recognized, NoteTab will attempt to adjust the font to the appropriate font script in order to display the text faithfully.
- The read-only document protection is now only set after opening a UTF-8 or Unicode file containing characters that failed to convert to ANSI.
- NoteTab Pro: significantly improved handling of Double-Byte text (DBCS).
- Updated the regular expressions engine to the latest release, which is based on PCRE 7.9.
- By default, unselected document tabs now use a less dark color.
- Fixed failure to set read-only protection when opening UTF-8 Web files lacking BOM signature.
- NoteTab Pro: fixed minor alignment issue in column ruler when line ruler is turned off.
- Updated several file-handling Clip commands and functions to add support for the new code-page features.
- Updated the SampleCode Clip library with two new commands for opening and saving documents. The Open Document command lets you specify a code page and the Save Document command lets you specify an ANSI, UTF-8, or Unicode encoding. You will find additional code page values listed on the Microsoft Web site.
- Some other minor improvements and issues fixed.
- Updated the regular expressions engine to the latest release, which is based on PCRE 7.8.
- Added the /Close and /Exit command-line switches. Use either one to close a running instance of NoteTab.
- Fixed an issue that under specific conditions when searching through all open documents can cause an Outline document to lose all its topics except the current one.
- Fixed a display issue when minimizing/restoring NoteTab while the Find or Replace dialog is open.
- Fixed issues with the "Go to Hyperlink" feature.
- Fixed an issue with the ^$GetReSubStrings$ function, which failed to return a captured substring when only one subpattern was defined in the search criteria.
- Some other minor improvements and issues fixed.
- The /Temp command-line switch value is now automatically stored in NoteTab's INI file. As a result
you only need to use the switch again to change the last saved value or when the INI file has been reset. Use a blank value to use the default Windows temp folder (e.g., /temp="").
- Fixed an issue with search hyperlinks, like when Ctrl+Double-clicking in [ NoteTab ], that appeared in version 5.7.
- Fixed loss of icon from file types associated with NoteTab Light.
- Updated the regular expressions engine to the latest release, which is based on PCRE 7.7.
- Improved the Strip HTML Tags feature. Now correctly processes unordered lists, ordered lists, and definition lists. Also improved processing speed.
- Added the Outline Tutorial shortcut under the Help menu to easily open the Readme.otl document.
- Added support for a new type of "text" hyperlink. You can now open files in their associated application by using an exclamation character (!) at the start of the hyperlink text. The following example will open the GIF file in your associated image viewer: [!Samples\notetab.gif]. See the [Readme.otl::Hyperlinks] topic for more details (tip: to open the document, hold down the Ctrl key while you double-click on the text between the square brackets).
- Opening a shortcut file (.lnk) in NoteTab now always opens its target file.
- Added support for folder and file name tokens. These tokens represent either fully qualified folder names or system variables. See "Folder and File Name Tokens" topic in Help for more details on this feature.
- Improved the /usb switch option. You now only need to use this command the first time you run NoteTab off a USB drive. NoteTab will store the option in its INI file on the USB drive. To cancel the option, run NoteTab with the /usb=false command-line switch.
- Added keyboard shortcuts to combo-box and edit-box controls in dialogs: Ctrl+Z = undo; Ctrl+Backspace = delete word before cursor; Ctrl+Delete = delete from cursor till end of word.
- NoteTab Pro: added Ctrl+Shift+Up/Down keyboard shortcut to extend selection range a paragraph at a time.
- Fixed several issues affecting certain complex regular expression operations.
- Fixed issue with AutoReplace feature failing to work when an Outline document is open.
- Fixed issue when using keyboard shortcuts to open context menus.
- Fixed several accessibility issues. Added configuration file for Window-Eyes, JAWS for Windows, and Dolphin Hal; these are stored in the Accessibility subfolder. Use the following command-line switch to install them in the appropriate folders:
NoteTab.exe /acc=install
or
NotePro.exe /acc=install
- The Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT), which describes how NoteTab conforms to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, is available from the VPAT page of this site.
- Freeware and Trial versions of NoteTab are now protected with a different third-party product, which should significantly reduce compatibility issues.
- Updated the spell-checker help file to the HTML Help format. Previous WinHelp format does not work on Windows Vista without installing extra support files.
- Added new print shortcuts to the Utilities library and Clipbar.
- Added many new Clip commands and functions.
- Some other minor improvements and issues fixed.
- Updated references to Fookes Software to reflect the new legal form of business company. Fookes Software is now a Limited (Ltd) company, which is owned by Fookes Holding Ltd.
- Updated the regular expressions engine to the latest release, which is based on PCRE 7.6.
- The PCRE regular expressions engine now defaults to the ANYCRLF option.
- Setup no longer requires administrative or "power user" privileges under Windows NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista.
- Added option in Clipbook shortcut menu to Restore Default Library.
- Paste-Board feature now resets NoteTab in Windows Clipboard chain when set. Useful when a misbehaved application breaks the chain.
- Updated the regular expressions engine to the latest release, which is based on PCRE 7.5.
- Added /TEMP command-line switch. By default, NoteTab stores temporary files in the Windows Temp folder under the logon user folder. If the /USB switch is used, temporary files are now stored on the USB drive in the Temp folder. If the /USER switch is used, temporary files are now stored in the Temp subfolder of the specified folder. Use this switch to specify an alternative location for storing temporary files. The folder name can include system variables; example:
NoteTab.exe /temp=%AllUsersProfile%\NoteTab\Temp
- To avoid import/export issues with the main NoteTab distribution packages, encryption features are only available after you install the file ntb_enc.dll. You can download this file from the Encryption page.
- Fixed issue causing incompatibility under Windows 95 and NT4. Download the new NoteTab Windows 95 and NT4 Compatibility Pack.
- Fixed issue with backup creation during search-disk replace operations.
- Fixed slow startup issue when NoteTab's Reopen list contains inaccessible files.
- Several other minor improvements and bug fixes.
- Updated EULA and documentation, including Glossary.otl.
- Updated the regular expressions engine to the latest release, which is based on PCRE 7.4. The \R newline sequence now matches either CRLF, or a lone CR, or a lone LF.
- Changed method on Windows XP and Vista to determine default location of folder for user settings. Fixes issues on some systems that have corrupted registry keys.
- Restored the MS-Office Sounds setting in the Options dialog box (View tab). This option is only available if you have installed the sounds on your system. Download details at the Microsoft web site.
- Fixed a minor display issue on Windows Vista that caused toolbar button delimiters to draw incorrectly.
- Fixed an issue on Windows Vista that caused some buttons and checkboxes in dialogs to disappear when pressing the "Alt Gr" button (special button available on some keyboards for accessing a third character on a key).
- Fixed a text-flicker issue in NoteTab Pro when it is run on slower computers.
- Fixed issue with incorrect total page count sometimes printed in Page Preview.
- Fixed issue with Partial Loading option failing to work.
- Fixed a weakness in the Clip parser.
- Added new Clip command:
^!IfFileUnicode "FileName" GoToLabelTrue [ELSE GoToLabelFalse]
Jumps to specified label if FileName is a Unicode text file or UTF-8 Web page.
- Updated documentation.
- NoteTab Light now available as a version 5 release.
- Updated the regular expressions engine to the latest release, which is based on PCRE 7.3. For a list of improvements see the PCRE web site.
- Added several new Clip syntax elements.
- Several minor improvements and bug fixes.
- Updated documentation.
- Improved "Replace Notepad" feature under Windows 2000, 2003, and XP. Feature not available under Windows Vista.
- File Associations set through NoteTab now work under Windows XP with a user "Limited Account" and under Windows Vista.
- Added /RESETWND command-line switch, which resets the NoteTab window position and size at startup. This switch is useful if the NoteTab window does not show up when you start the program.
- Fixed issue with some system dialogs opening offscreen on multi-monitor systems.
- Fixed issue with Clip-wizard labels not appearing under Windows Vista.
- Fixed issue with header/footer text not always appearing when printing documents.
- Fixed issue causing a long delay when opening a file from a shared drive (e.g. \\Vista-central\public\file.txt).
- Fixed sorting issue with ^$GetFileFirst$ Clip function.
- Fixed Vista compatibility issue with ^!Keyboard Clip command.
- Updated the regular expressions engine to the latest release, which is based on PCRE 7.2. For a list of improvements see the PCRE web site.
- Updated the print engine to the latest release.
- Added ^$GetWinVersion$ function to return the version of Windows that is running NoteTab. Possible values are: Win95, Win98, WinME, NT4, WinXP, Win2000, Win2003, Vista, Longhorn, Unknown.
- Improved ^!SetDebug Clip command. Now has the capability of storing debug information in a log file. Simply specify a filename as the parameter. If no pathname is specified, the log file is saved under the "Application Data\NoteTab\Libraries" folder. Example:
^!SetDebug Log.txt
- Many other minor improvements and bug fixes.
- Updated the regex engine to PCRE version 7.
- Added /usb command-line switch. Use it when you want to run NoteTab from a USB key.
- Fixed misplaced warning and information dialog boxes when running NoteTab under multiple monitors.
- Fixed several issues with ^$GetDocMatchAll Clip function.
- NoteTab Std: fixed issues with ^$GetParagraph$ Clip function.
- Many other minor improvements and bug fixes.
- Updated documentation.
- The registered version is compatible with Windows Vista.
- Added token for Header/Footer line separator on printed pages. Use an underscore character ( _ ) at the start of the Header and/or Footer field to insert a separator line on printed pages between the main document text and the header/footer text.
- Added "Close All Other" command to documents tabbar shortcut menu.
- Added method to print only selected text. Hold down the Shift key while you click on the Print or Print Preview command.
- Added /USER=FolderName command-line switch. By default, NoteTab 5 stores per-user customization files under the Application Data folder: \Documents and Settings\\Application Data Use the /USER switch to specify a different location for the NoteTab customization files. This option is particularly useful if you work with sensitive data (point to a folder on an encrypted drive) or simply don't want to leave files behind on the computer you're using (point to a removable drive like a USB key). Example: NotePro.exe /USER="E:\NoteTab Data"
- Only Template files with the .tpl extension are now interpreted. Earlier versions of NoteTab checked all files for the template header, irrespective of file extension. Some users felt this was a potential security issue and requested to limit this feature to files with the official template .tpl extension.
- The Euro Clipbook was not part of the initial 5.0 package. Due to frequent requests, it is now included with NoteTab again.
- Updated the code for ^!DirectPrint Clip command to improve compatibility under Windows XP and other NT versions.
- Clip lines starting with a command (^!CommandName) are now automatically stripped of trailing blank characters before execution. This eliminates unexpected Clip errors due to stray blanks.
- Fixed slow loading of Clipbars.
- Fixed issue with modal dialogs sometimes ending up behind main NoteTab window, notably when receiving focus from another application. When this happened, NoteTab appeared to lock up.
- Fixed issue opening files with wildcards from the command line when an instance of NoteTab is already running.
- Fixed issue with "Open File at Cursor" that failed to open files when used on relative filenames.
- Fixed several reference errors in the Utilities Clipbar.
- Fixed issue loading Clipbooks and Clipbars that have dots in their name.
- Fixed minor issues in ^$StrCapitalize()$ and ^$StrSplit()$ Clip functions.
- Fixed an issue in NoteTab Std with the ^$GetLine$ Clip function which returned an extra character at the end of the line.
- Fixed an issue in NoteTab Std with certain regex Replace All operations failing to work.
- Fixed an issue in NoteTab Std with the Undo command after a Replace All operation.
- Fixed an issue in NoteTab Pro with the line-number ruler not repainting properly after the program window is maximized/restored.
- Several other minor glitches fixed.
- Updated Glossary.otl file.
- Updated Help files.
- The registered version is compatible with Windows Vista.
- Added full support for running NoteTab under multi-user and network environments.
- Can be run reliably from a user "Limited Account".
- Improved user-interface appearance under Windows XP.
- Improved memory usage and processing speed.
- Improved conversion between HTML and plain-text format.
- Added new print engine with Print Preview tool.
- NoteTab Pro now supports line lengths up to a theoretical limit of 2 GB.
- Improved Undo feature in NoteTab Pro.
- Improved opening files through the Windows Shell and Send To feature.
- Replaced regex engine with a powerful new one that is based on PCRE (Perl 5 compatible).
- All core libraries have been rewritten for improved reliability and compatibility.
- Added support for IntelliComplete Server (www.flashpeak.com).
- Improved "Go to Hyperlink" function to support opening email addresses.
- Removed redundant info box with Replace dialog when no more occurrences found.
- Dot at start of filename is no longer treated as extension delimiter.
- Fixed issue opening documents with very long fully qualified filenames through Windows Explorer.
- Fixed issue with folder being locked (can't rename or delete) after NoteTab opens a file from it.
- Fixed issue opening HTML documents in Firefox.
- Registered version succesfully tested under Wine.
- Many other minor improvements and bug fixes.
- Revised license pricing.
- Updated documentation.
Clip-code additions and improvements:
- New predefined Clip variable:
^%DOLLAR% = Dollar character ($)
- ^!IfRegexOk Pattern GoToLabelTrue [ELSE GoToLabelFalse]
Jumps to the specified label if the regex pattern is valid. If the pattern has mistakes and the optional ELSE keyword follows the first label name, execution jumps to the specified GoToLabelFalse label; or to the next instruction if the "ELSE" label is not used.
- ^$GetRegexErrorMsg$
Returns the error text if the previous regex pattern contained mistakes. If there was no error, the function returns an empty string.
- ^$GetDocMatchAll("Pattern"[;SubPatternId])$
Finds all matching strings based on the supplied regex pattern. Optionally specify a subpattern value between 1 and 65536. Use the ^!SetListDelimiter command to define how matches are separated in the resulting string.
Example that collects all URLs in a Web page:
^!Set %NewVariable%=^$GetDocMatchAll("(?s)<a.+?href\s*?=\s*?"(.*?)"";1)$
- ^$GetReSubStrings$
The above function is best used together with ^!SetArray. It extracts all Substrings from a regex search after using ^!Find. Use the ^!SetListDelimiter command to define how matches are separated in the resulting string. Example:
^!SetArray %Array%=^$GetReSubStrings$
- ^$IsOnline$
Returns True if NoteTab detects a connection to the Internet.
- ^$GetDataPath$
Returns the folder where NoteTab stores user settings and data.
- ^$GetLibraryFileName$
Returns the fully qualified filename of the current Clipbook library.
- ^$GetLibraryUserPath$
Returns the folder where NoteTab stores user-modified libraries.
- ^$GetLibraryPath(LibraryName)$
Added support for optional parameter that causes the function to return the location of the specified library. The following example returns the location of the current library:
^$GetLibraryPath(^$GetLibraryName$)$
- ^$StrSort supports two new values for the CaseSensitive parameter: ANSI to enforce a case sensitive dictionary-type sorting order and No_ANSI (or False_ANSI) to ignore character case during sorting. The ANSI option produces a sorting order that matches the result from the Modify/Lines/Sort menu command. Note, however, that sorting is much slower with the ANSI option.
- ^$IsNumber(Value)$ improved to support negative and decimal values.
- ^!Find and ^!Replace improved to support selection of regex subpatterns.
Syntax Changes from Previous Regex Engine
- There are significant differences compared to the previous regex syntax used in earlier versions of NoteTab. The most notable ones are listed below:
- \n for newline (hex 0A); before it was hex 0D 0A. Replace \n with \r\n
\l and \p - no longer used
\b and \B – now zero width assertions of word boundary and non-word boundary (except in a character class where \b is now a backspace character); before they represented blank and non-blank characters respectively
\s – now means any whitespace character; before used for a space
- Tagged Matches:
Replace { } with ( )
- Replace tokens:
& no longer used; replace with $0
\1 to \9 meaning changed; replace with $1 to $9
