Revised main user interface, which is now an SDI window instead of the previous MDI window. The old "child windows" are replaced with re-sizable "panes", separated by vertical and horizonal splitter bars. The primary pane is tabbed to give quick access to the major screens. Plant Master now has 2 alternative views - a page view that replaces the old "all notes" window, plus the previous data view. Menus and command buttons have been somewhat simplified. Command buttons for the most common functions are now placed on the left-hand menu panel. All screen resolutions now use the same window layout, with adjustments for size. There are numerous detail changes, but all basic functions remain as before.

Installer has been changed to NSIS (NullSoft) which provides better support for Vista and allows greater customisation of the install process. The installation of Microsoft run-time library files has been completely re-written and in most cases should resolve recent problems with version incompatability.

The license code and some minor config options are now stored in the .ini file, rather than the Window Registry.

Print and Print Preview functions now have an additional selection dialog. This is needed as the new SDI window shows multiple topics, whereas previously printing was available on a window-by-window basis.

Export list data dialog now has options to select simple or detailed data, for the same reason as with printing.

The Plant Master history of visited records has been doubled to 40.

The Archiver now remembers the last used archive file.

Fixed bug - on Plant Master form, scrollbar not show in notes box when the length of text just exceeds the size of the box.

Fixed bug - when using a wide display screen such as 1280x800, by default the Plant Selector screen was incorrectly shown as a large form size, even though the screen height was only sufficient for the standard size.

Fixed bug in PlantMaster Find dialog - if the plant name was not found and the user chooses to search for synonyms, only the first record with the synonym is located. "Find Next" always returned to that first record, even when others existed.

Minor user interface changes.

Minor changes to support synchronisation with Plant Base Mobile - improve deleted record tracking, add sync program to File menu if it exists, option to clean deletes journal when compacting, plus various database format changes.

Increase font size of note fields in PlantMaster form.

Replaced Help with Microsoft Compiled HTML format (.chm), instead of the classic WinHelp which is no longer shipped with Vista.

Added tracking of deleted Plant Master, Picture and List records, in order to assist synchronisation with Plant Base Mobile.

Reduced trial period to 15 days.

Improve Plant Selector's free-text search algorythm to give better accuracy.

Fixed bug in validation of numbers that caused a failure when a decimal point was entered without a preceeding zero.

Fixed bug in Growth Habit Maintenance, where changing a habit name would not correctly update any Plant Master records that were using it.

Fixed bug where and invalid temperature could sometimes produce a message giving the wrong scale - Celsius instead of Fahrenhiet or visa versa.

The Archiver function has been changed to offer the choice of copying out only new and amended records, as before, or outputting all records selected by a Personal Plant List. This enables the creation of data transfer files based on user defined content.

Added the capability to customise growth habit definition, in the same way as plant types, families and colours etc.

Complete re-work of the maintenance forms into a single form, which is more efficient and also allows easy switching between the functions.

Outline plant type/shape silhouette removed from PlantMaster screen, also its maintainance form.

Added import function to Options screen, to load program configuration settings from another database or archive file.

Fixed bug causing the trial period to be expired immediately after installation. This only happened for certain locales when dates where incorrectly formatted prior to the date comparision.

Fixed bug in Find dialog, where a synonym record would not be located if the search was first successful, then FindNext selected but no further records found, then the search continued using synonyms, but the synonym record is positioned before the preceeding successfully found record.

In the Find dialogs, ignore leading or trailing spaces, also multiple spaces in a plant name.

When adding or changing a plant name, a check is made for the existance of any synonyms and an advisory dialog box shown. The record may be saved anyway, provided the name field itself is unique.

Improve validation and correction of botanical name, in particular the use of non-standard quote marks for cultivars.

Added Drag&Drop text editing to note boxes.

Additional options to show height/width dimensions as Imperial feet and Inches. Also to show minimum temperature as degrees Fahrenheit. These are conversions from the underlying Metric data. The existing tooltip conversion option has been changed to work with either system. Extra data input validation in Plant Master and Selector screens to prevent the possiblity of overflow errors.

Added option in the Colour maintenance screen to sort list box by colour code or by alphabetical colour name.

Removed all code to limit functionality. This was used to allow an extended trial period, which has also been removed. The trial period nag screen has been changed to open at program exit instead of start and is shown from 8 days of the trial period instead of 31.

Added "References" window to list location of related plant information. A new dataset contains the reference records. Several types of reference can be used, including internal links to other Plant Base records, web links,local file document link and notes about paper references. A new PlantMaster screen button opens the new screen. Archive and Import functions have been amended to include reference records. This feature is disabled if working on an old format database file, which has no Reference dataset.

Added a records visited history to remember the last 20 PlantMaster records displayed. New toolbar buttons enable moving back and forward through the history stack.

The photographer/copyright is displayed in the Status Bar when clicking on a picture.

Archiver screen changed so that output filename is displayed and can be selected before starting the archive run.

Fixed bug that caused Picture Browser to close on any record navigation, if the option was not set to load whenever Plant Master form is opened.

Fixed bug where record navigation errors could sometimes occur after deleting a record from PlantMaster or a Picture Library.

Fixed bug in Import List Data function that caused "not valid file format" message, when the input text file was in fact correct.

Fixed problem where the medicinal flag was incorrectly set when importing from an old database or Archive file (created by Beta version 1.3.23 or older).

Replaced packaged Extra Characters program with version 1.0.3, which fixes a fatal bug caused when it attempted to send a key value to an application that was no longer running or changed window identity, e.g a new Word document.

Corrected positioning of customised record indicator for large screen size Plant Master form.

Fixed bug where an error message and sudden program termination occurred on some systems when opening a picture of very large dimensions. Usually triggered from the Picture Maintenance screen, but also opening an image from the Picture Browser, when the image is considerably larger than the viewable screen area.

Corrected printing error from Plant Master, spurious new-line for medicinal.

Enhanced Free Text searching in Plant Selector. Records are now returned regardless of word order or position. If an exact phrase match is required, then the text can enlosed by double-quotes. Wild-card characters may still be used, inside or outside quotes.

Added check for a new version, so that a new trial period is allowed when the version changes.

Fixed bug that caused a program error when attempting to show a pop-up description for a blank colour box.

Fixed problem where Add mode could be interupted by the Edit toolbar/menu command and visa-versa for Edit mode. This could previously lead to an inconsistant command button display.

Added Menu Panel and Plant List icon to main toolbar. All toolbar icons changed to 4-bit.

Added function to maintain Plant Types and inclusion of a note field for type.

Additional error checking in maintainance functions.

Program code optimisation for execution speed and memory use.

Remove in-built Extra Characters function and launch external module with preset target. External program updated for better functionality.

Detect optional Reporter module and add item to File menu.

Add photo credit tooltip to caption area.

Allow for associate text display and link.

Replace program icon with new design, multiple depth and size icon, which includes XP style 48 pixel version. Optimise tool-bar and other icons.

Help file changes and additions.

Enhancement to Archiver, offering the option to include all Personal Plant List records. To use them, the Plant List import function now has the option to read all list records from an Archive file. This significant feature allows much simpler upgrades and data migration.

Correction to the file-size of saved images, which were previously one or two bytes larger than the original image files. This did not affect the correct saving of pictures or their use but certain applications, notably Turnpike Email, regarded the files as suspicious due to the extra bytes at the end.

Improved graphical colour picker for leaf, flower, fruit and stem colours. Also added buttons to open it, adjacent to the relevant fields.

Spin controls added to zone and temperature numeric fields.

Additional error checking added to PlantMaser record navigation.

Bug fix for occasional problem where the program appears to lock-up and will not respond to mouse clicks, but hitting the Return key works OK. This only happened when certain windows obscured essential question dialogs. Dialog boxes requiring priority action now ensure they are fully visible.

For the Import function, a Cancel option is added when the user is asked whether or not to overwrite a customised record.

In the Find dialog for Picture Maintenance, the rarely used "Either" option (name or caption) has been replaced by an option to locate records by Photo credit or note field text.

Choose and New list buttons added to List window, giving the same functons as from the Activity menu.

If the List window is not open, any "Add to List" function first confirms that the correct list is being used.

When selecting plants, double-clicking an item in the results window shows the plant information in Plant Master, as previously, but when using "smart screen layout", if the Picture Browser is open, its width is reduced and so is the width of the results window, so that both can be seen side-by-side. This makes it easier to view image thumbnails while scanning a plant selection in Plant Master.

Added function to import Personal Plant List data from external text files. The Plant List export function has also been improved, it produces files that are fully compatible with the import function and also with MS Excel's csv format.

Minor bug fixes for:
Occasional incorrect screen positioning of file dialog box when adding or replacing a picture.
Picture maintenance form left in wrong display mode following a rather obscure sequence of actions after cancelling an Add New.
In very rare situations, Plant Master form not returned correctly to normal mode following an error encountered while adding or editing a record.
Deleting a Plant Master record that also appeared in the currently displayed Personal Plant List, did not remove it from the List and could cause an error if Plant Master then attempted to reference the list item.
All Notes display could sometimes loose the last line.
Plant Selector's form colour appears incorrect in the Windows 2000 and XP default and classic appearance scheme.
Problems could sometimes occur when editing or deleting records while in Plantmaster's selected records display mode.
Screen saver sometimes switches off due to false mouse signals from Windows.

Right-mouse-click popup menu added to Picture Browser thumbnails. This and the existing right-click popup menu in the Picture Maintenance window now include "Save picture as file", the same function as normal picture windows.

Minor changes to the screen saver module. In very rare situations if it could not open a database file, an error message box could be displayed multiple times on srceen. It now just treats the file as unavailable and continues. The screen saver now also attempts to automatically link the picture libraries with the main database. This usually solves the problem of the screen saver not working after an update install, until the main Plant Base program had been run at least once.

Small adjustments to appearance and position of Slide Show control panel.

The All Notes display window is now cleared while adding a new PlantMaster record.

Improved cleanup of temporary disk workfiles.

New screensaver module which allows control of image transition speed, as well as the slide interval. Relevant for very fast or very slow CPUs.

Added option to skip the startup splash screen.

Some cosmetic changes, mostly the use of flat data boxes for a crisper look.

FIRST PRODUCTION VERSION

Some "Beta Test" code removed or modified for production.

Various cosmetic changes to screens and their layout, mainly for better appearance at larger resolutions.

Smart Layout now also operates when the main window is not maximized.

Registration code extended to 40 characters, and registered user name to 20.

Registration code algorithm now accepts an & (ampersand) in the user name.

Added option to close pictures when moving to a new plant record.

Added option to scale picture to fit within main workspace

The full history of Beta test versions prior to the production release is available in the product's README.TXT file.