Release notes for Sirius Mods V8.1
These release notes list the enhancements and other changes contained in Sirius Mods version 8.1, which is still in development. Until the the commercial release of the software, Sirius reserves the right to remove or change anything described herein.
The previous version of the Sirius Mods, 8.0, became available in April, 2012. The previous release notes are:
Changes to classes and methods
Daemon class changes
New subroutine: ReturnToMaster
ReturnToMaster returns control from a daemon thread to its master thread inside a User Language request.
New functions to continue processing in a daemon
- Continue tells a daemon that did a ReturnToMaster Daemon class call to continue processing at the point of the call.
- ContinueAsynchronously tells a daemon to continue processing asynchronously.
- ContinueIndependently tells a daemon to continue processing independently.
New property: State
State returns the state (the new DaemonState enumeration) of the specified daemon thread.
New exception class: IncorrectDaemonState
The IncorrectDaemonState exception class indicates that the state of the daemon thread was not correct for a method.
New option for New constructor
The New method's optional, named parameter, OpenAll opens in the daemon thread all the files and groups that are open on the master thread.
New class: ScreenReadError
The ScreenReadError class ??
New exception class: RecordLockingConflict
The RecordLockingConflict exception class catches record locking conflict errors thrown by methods in the file classes.
New enumeration methods: FromOrdinal and NumberOfValues
The FromOrdinal and NumberOfValues methods make it easy to enumerate all the values in an enumeration class without having to maintain code that has a list of all the values.
Other feature changes
Model 204 command and parameter changes
New system parameter: RECLOCKO
The RECLOCKO (RECord LOCKing Options) parameter specifies the information messages that are issued for some or all record locking conflicts. The messages always include user, file, and record number, and they optionally include locking level, time lock obtained, original user number, whether its a pending update lock, etc.
New system parameter: SNAPLIMD
The SNAPLIMD parameter specifies the maximum number of snaps to generate for any particular zap title. The default is 3. The purpose of this parameter is to allow SNAPLIM to be set to a higher value than previously, without concern that some bug might repeatedly cause snaps and consume output resources.
Compatibility and fixes
Backwards compatibility with Sirius Mods 8.0 and Sirius Mods 8.1
In general, backwards incompatibility means that an operation which was previously performed without any indication of error, now operates, given the same inputs and conditions, in a different manner. We may not list as backwards incompatibilities those cases in which the previous behaviour, although not indicating an error, was "clearly and obviously" incorrect, and which are introduced as normal bug fixes (whether or not they had been fixed with previous maintenance).
No incompatibilies have been introduced in Sirius Mods version 8.1.
Fixes in Sirius Mods 8.1 but not in 8.0
This section lists fixes to functionality existing in the Sirius Mods version 8.0 but which, due to the absence of customer problems, have not, as of the date of the release, been fixed in that version.
UnicodeReplace if no replacement table
The UnicodeReplace function can produce unpredictable results (snap, clobber storage, etc.) if called and there is no Unicode replacement table, that is, there are no replacements as specified by the Rep subcommand of the UNICODE command.
UnicodeUntranslatablePosition unpredictable results
The UnicodeUntranslatablePosition function formerly could produce unpredictable results.