Bugs Fixed In VEE 3.X / 2.X

last update 25 aug 98 / greg goebel / public domain / vwb_3x2x

* This document provides a list of bugs fixed in the 3.X and 2.X versions of VEE.

[*] VEE 3.21 OVERVIEW

* VEE 3.21 fixed many of the gross defects of VEE 3.2. 3.2 was a fairly big jump (from Win3 to Win95/NT) and it had a lot of obnoxious defects.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.21 / From DataSet Goes Slow

* Due to the use of a brain damaged Win95/NT function to build numbers from ASCII strings, the 'From DataSet" object is slowed down by about 100 times.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.21 / Plug&Play; Bugs

* Strings as parameters for a Plug&Play function call don't work. Also, executing a Print All with a To/From Plug&Play object with transactions will fail with a "Big Red Box" (BRB) error.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.21 / Can't Invoke ID Compiler

* Normally, if you configure an uncompiled ID file under VEE, it will be automatically compiled the first time it is loaded. This is broken on Win95 due to a long file names problem. The compiler can be invoked from the command line and work OK.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.21 / VEE Instrument Driver Problems On HP-UX

* Classic VEE instrument drivers have problems on UX 10.01. HP-UX 10.01 changed the behaviour of a string function that, dependent on how the driver is written, may not cause a problem at all -- or make the ID unusable. The IDlang instruction "ENTER variable FORMAT K" is interpreted as "ENTER variable FORMAT k". This will break some drivers.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.21 / Mysterious Baffling VEE 3.2 Bug #1

* With VEE 3.2 do the following:

• Build a UserObject with a XY Display added to its panel.
• With either Panel or Detail view showing, iconize the UserObject.
• Mimic a Get/Save cycle by cloning the iconized UserObject.
• Unpack the clone while it's still iconized.
• Notice the warnings.

While the warnings seem innocuous, things are in a bad state. Any meaningful work, particularly on the objects that were on the UserObject panel, may not save correctly. The workaround is to make sure that the UserObject is un-iconized before unpacking (again, detail or panel view showing doesn't matter).

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.21 / Mysterious Baffling VEE 3.2 Bug #2

* Build a UserObject with input or output terminals, and populate the inside of the UserObject with primitive VEE objects that connect to the UserObject's input or output terminals.

Build a panel on the UserObject and clone it to mimic a Get/Save cycle. While the cloned UserObject is still in panel mode (or in icon mode) and has never been switched to Detail view, delete a terminal.

When the UserObject is brought back to Detail view, the internal connections to the input or output terminals are screwed up. The UserObject will not execute correctly and will force a BRB, nor will it save correctly.

The workaround is to force the UserObject to detail view before deleting a terminal.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.21 / Mysterious Baffling VEE 3.2 Bug #3

* This defect is dependent on editing a maximized UserObject that has a panel that has been added to either the main work area's panel, or to a surrounding UserObject's panel. The key is that the nested UserObject must be edited when maximized; if the UserObject is edited when not maximized, everything is fine.

To create this, do the following:

• Pull down a UserObject. Pull down another UserObject and place it inside the first UserObject.
• Place a XY trace display inside the nested UserObject. Add it to that UserObjects panel.
• Now add the nested UserObject's panel to the parent UserObject's panel.
• Change the parent UserObject to detail view and the nested UserObject to detail view.
• Maximize the nested UserObject using the title bar "maximize" button and delete the XY trace.
• Shrink the nested UserObject back down by clicking on the maximize icon in the title bar.
• Change the parent UserObject back to panel view.
• Notice error!

This can be avoided by not maximizing the nested UserObject.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.21 / Mysterious Baffling VEE 3.2 Bug #4

* This defect is very much like the one above, but it is harder to create. Again, it depends on editing a maximized UserObject that has a panel that has been added to a surrounding UserObject's panel.

Furthermore, the nested User Objects must have gone through a Get/Save cycle when the surrounding UserObject is in Detail view. In this case, it isn't neccessary to delete an object that is on the nested UserObject's panel; all that has to be done is that some objects within the nested UserObject be removed or added. It is not neccessary that the objects be on any panel.

When the nested UserObject is unmaximized, and an attempt is made to move to the surrounding UserObject's panel view -- remember, a get/save occurred and the surrounding UserObject was not in panel view -- a caution error occurs that complains about not recognizing some keyword.

It is this innocuous caution which is the insidious part. At this point the VEE program is not in a good state; any subsequent save puts out a worthless file. At some point in the future, the file becomes unusable: it will not Save correctly and will not Get correctly, and any attempt at editing it will cause BRBs.

The nasty part is the decay happens slowly. The initial caution may have occured last week and been forgotten, but a week later the file is dead.

[*] VEE 3.2 OVERVIEW

* The VEE 3.2 version was the first Win32 (Win95/NT) release as opposed to Win16 (Win3) release. It essentially cleared the slate on a lot of defects (while introducing some new ones at the same time.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.2 / Memory Leaks In MDIO and Load Library

* There were memory leaks in MultiDevice Direct I/O and in Load Library.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.2 / Printer Problems

* A number of printer problems were resolved in VEE 3.2:

• Postscript support on UX has been refined (but there are still some things left to resolve in MS Windows).
• Scrolling Alphanumerics that had been scrolled a great deal would print with the data scrolled even more than the display showed.
• Printing User Objects would "hairpin" output lines back to the input.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.2 / OK Button Panel Problem

* If you assigned an OK Button to a function key, but did not show the OK Button on the Panel view, the function key would not work in RunOnly.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.2 / File Selection Dialogue File Mask Problem

* You could not set a file mask in the File Selection dialogue.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.2 / Read Binary Stops Short

* A READ BINARY X STR transaction in From File would terminate after 1025 characters. If you tried to use From String to print a large array, some of the values would end up braindamaged.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.2 / Regression Errors

* Regressions would give bizarre results if the orders-of-magnitude of the X and Y values were vastly different; this is actually a function of popular simple regression formulas that involve an XY term and we had to come up with a new algorithm.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.2 / Broken Termination Characters On RS-232

* You could not enter a value above 277 octal as a termination character for Direct I/O in serial for VEE;

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.2 / XON-XOFF Reversed

* XON and XOFF characters were reversed under VEE for Windows.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.2 / Ramp() Function Value Duplication

* The ramp() function had a bug in which integer values might be duplicated in the ramp.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.2 / Delta-Time Format Error

* The Delta-time format could give values like 1:02:60.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.2 / Graph Objects MinMax Settings Won't Save

* The min-max settings on Graph objects in log mode would not survive a save-load cycle.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.2 / Sum() Of Empty Array Gives Error

* Trying to sum() an empty array would give an error.

[*] VEE 3.12 / VEE 3.11 OVERVIEW

* We ran into some severe problems with VEE 3.1 and fixed them, resulting in a VEE 3.11 release, and then we ran immediately into some other such problems, and had to fix them with a VEE 3.12 release.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.12 / BRB With Nested UserFunctions

* If you had UserObjects nested two deep, you'd get a Big Red Box error when you tried to convert them to a UserFunction.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.12 / Pop-Ups Return Data Out Of Sync

* Data obtained from Pop-Ups would get oddly out of sync -- it would return data entered from the previous invocation.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.12 / Securing Userobject Changes Shapes

* If you secured a UserObject, all objects on its panel view would revert to their default sizes and shapes.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.12 / Kanji Fonts Problem On HP-UX

* There were some errors with Japanese Kanji fonts on VEE-UX. These were corrected.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.12 / DIO Upload State Broken

* Sending Upload State in Direct I/O gave a Big Red Box error.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.12 / Records Cause BRB

* Various record operations could lead to a Big Red Box error.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.11 / Strip Graph Versus Input Pins

* We had major problems with the Strip Graph and other graphics objects in setting up input pins; the results were crazy and would give a Big Red Box error.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.11 / Modification Of Binblock I/O

* We changed our BINBLOCK I/O to conform more concisely with 488.2 syntax.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.11 / Changing Parameters Clears Strip Graph

* If you changed the parameters of a Strip Graph, it would clear its data.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.11 / Change Data, Then Tab, Gives BRB

* Changing the data type in a record constant and then tabbing gave a Big Red Box error.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.11 / Printing With Wrong Linetypes

* Printing a graph when the line type was set to small dots would give a Big Red Box error.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.11 / VEEDOC Error Escape Character

* VEEDOC gives error message on a '\033' in To Printer object transactions.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.11 / Bad Printing Of Popups

* If you did a PRINT SCREEN while a pop-up UserObject was on the display, it would not print correctly.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.11 / Named Pipes Problem

* "Read To End" on named pipes doesn't work (it never did!).

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.11 / No Window Position

* You could not specify the VEE window position in MS Windows.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.11 / Rotate() Broken

* The "rotate()" function gave incorrect results.

[*] VEE 3.1 OVERVIEW

* VEE 3.1 was mostly a bug-fix release to correct some nasty bugs from VEE 3.0.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.1 / Missing Fonts Block Installation

* We ran into an odd error in installing VEE for Windows. It would install OK, but when the customer tried to run VEEWIN, it displayed the copyright box, and abruptly returned to the Program Manager.

It turned out to be due to the fact that the customer hadn't installed certain fonts under Windows. All was well once the customer ran Windows Control Panel -> Fonts, and added "Arial (TrueType)", "Courier New (TrueType)", and "Times New Roman (TrueType)" fonts.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.1 / Can't Resize Text Boxes

* If you create a UserObject and place a, say, Text Box on it, resize the Text Box, then Secure the UserObject -- the Text Box snaps back to its normal size. Only thing you can do is go into the program file and change the sizes by hand.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.1 / Graph Objects Go Nuts When Input Pins Added

* If you try to use the mouse to add an input pin to the X versus Y graph objects, you get all kinds of strange behavior with labels and input pins and so on ... no workaround. The lab says the same problem may be manifested in other graphics objects.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.1 / Pop-Ups Out Of Sync

* There's a very odd bug with using UserObjects as Pop-Ups with Text (or other) Constants in them ... if you send a string to the Text object, it doesn't appear until after you tell the Pop-Up to go away. Only workaround is to use the new pop-up dialogs.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.1 / Pinging NotLive DIO Object Gives Error

* If you try to ping a DIO object when it's not in LIVE mode, it gives you an error.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.1 / No More Automatic Installation, Thank Bob

* While this is not exactly a bug, I am reproducing here to keep it on the record. Early versions of VEE automatically installed the I/O libraries, which occasionally led to lockup problems.

If you got a lockup at the end of installation, you needed to run the "setup" program with the option "-noautosicl". This would eliminate automatic I/O scanning.

You could then configure I/O by manual means, either by running "Configure I/O" from the VEE program group under Windows again, or (if you wanted to get more information about and more control over the configuration) the SICL I/O configuration utility. This was not in the program group but was available under: \SICL\BIN\HWCONF.EXE.

The automatic installation was removed in VEE 3.1.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.1 / Broken Serial Driver On Win3.11

* This was not really a VEE 3.1 bug and the solution had nothing to do with VEE. If if you tried to install VEE on Windows for Workgroup, IFINDER would lock you up -- a SICL problem, or, to be more precise, a SICL problem with a broken WINWORK serial driver (not an HP problem). An updated Win3.11 serial driver was available from Microsoft.

[*] VEE 3.0 OVERVIEW

* VEE 3.0 was a major upgrade that featured a new user-interface scheme. Minor printing and wiring bugs were resolved.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.0 / Slow Record Handling

* VEE record handling -- which was insanely slow and a hideous memory hog -- has been changed and is now much faster and more efficient.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.0 / On Cycle Repeated Counts

* There was a curious bug with VEE for Windows related to the On Cycle object: every now and then it will give a burst of repeated counts for one time interval, like:

   12:37:41
   12:37:42
   12:37:43
   12:37:44 <
   12:37:44 <
   12:37:45  

What happened was that if the chunk of VEE program that the On Cycle is driving completes in less than one PC clock tick (1/18.2 seconds), then the On Cycle isn't smart enough to realize that it's already done something in that clock tick, so it does it again.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.0 / Instrument Finder Problems

* Instrument Finder has been updated to be able to ID 82340A and 82341B cards -- and eliminate the odd "720-01" display when "720" was required. Instrument Finder won't find any instruments on an NI AT-GPIB / TNT card (which works fine otherwise); this fix has been folded in as well.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.0 / No Repaint On IDs

* There was an odd bug with control inputs to VEE instrument drivers; they wouldn't repaint the panel -- thus things didn't look reset, even though they were.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.0 / Popups Spontaneously Secure Themselves

* Customers would call up and complain every now and then that popup UserObjects were spontaneously securing themselves; we went around on this one for the longest time ... and finally, the lab told me this was a consequence of pausing a program and then saving it.

By default a popup is secured when it's popped up, and then unsecured after it goes back down; this prevents people from messing with it at runtime. If you pause the program and then save it, the popup will be stored in this state.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.0 / New Serial Implementation

* The RS-232 interface software has been changed to use SICL and so is a clean slate. (The lab engineer has acquired great knowledge in the potential of RS-232 for inflicting pain since VEE 2.0 and assures that his test suites are thorough.)

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.0 / New Font Handling

* Font handling has been completely changed and is also a clean slate.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.0 / Sequencer Logging Bugs

* There were some obscure bugs with the Sequencer object where you could RETURN logging record values, except for the "description" and "timestamp" fields.

Another bug showed up in that you can set an input pin on the Sequencer to dictate which test is run. The odd effect of it is that it disables logging output. There is now a "Data In" pin that gets around this problem.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.0 / Token Problems

* The From String object would read a wrong number of tokens when the number of tokens exceeded 147.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.0 / ColorMap Enhancements

* Colormap handling has been improved and some of the odd behavior reported by certain customers with graphics objects -- graticules missing, lines of wrong colors, and so on -- have gone away.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.0 / Trace Markers Disappear On IDs

* There was a minor bug where trace markers would disappear on certain instrument drivers (such as the E1326 ID).

[*] FIXED IN VEE 3.0 / Can't Maximize Runtime

* If you used the "-r" option under VEE for Windows, you couldn't get a maximized window. This was an odd consequence of the fact that the toolbar is removed for runtime operation.

[*] VEE 2.3 OVERVIEW

* VEE 2.3 was introduced to provide backplane support on embedded controllers. It fixed a number of bugs, in particular a spectrum analyzer problem in VEE 2.0.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 2.3 / Major Spectrum Analyzer Problem

* Spectrum analyzer problem: a serious defect was reported where programs containing spectrum analyzer instrument drivers (IDs) could be stored but then could not be reloaded. This was a VEEWIN problem, but affected the following IDs:

   hp3588a  
   hp70900a  
   hp71951a  
   hp8560_3  
   hp8566_8  
   hp856xe  
   hp859x  
   hp8751a  
   hp8753c  

To see the problem:

• Bring in a state driver for the ID.
• Connect a trace as an output from the ID object.
• Save the program.
• Load the program.

You will get an error stating that tracetype is undefined, followed by several bogus internal pointer errors. The load will then abort.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 2.3 / Secondary HPIB Addressing Problem

* If you configure a VXI driver to a secondary address greater than 15 (such as 70916, 70917, and so on), then the ID will send a reset each time the VEE model "pings" it.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 2.3 / Serial Port Problems

* If you have a VEE program that uses a serial port, and the model errors out, you'll get an error message every time you try to run it again because the program tries to open the port (and it's already opened).

[*] FIXED IN VEE 2.3 / DataSet Memory Leaks

* Allocating records to a dataset results in a big-time memory leak.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 2.3 / Strip Graph Gives Flat Data

* A field guy reports that using a Strip Graph fed by a Sliding Collector results in bogus (flat) data after about 8,000 points.

[*] FIXED IN VEE 2.3 / Printing Problems With Graphs

* There is a major bug in performing PRINTs or PLOTs from graphics objects -- generate too many points and not all the points will be printed or plotted.

[*] VEE 2.0 OVERVIEW / Eval Kit Problem

* As VEE 2.0 was the first Windows release and this buglist only covers Windows, it can be regarded as the "ground zero" and so no bug fixes are discussed here.

There was, however, a problem with the VEE 2.X evaluation kit that needs to be recorded.

We encountered a problem with the evaluation kit and installing drivers. If the customer tried to run the "Install Drivers" icon from Windows, it would first ask for a disk that contained the drivers. When the disk was inserted and the "OK" button was pushed, a error message was returned that read:

   HPVEE for Windows does not appear to be installed on this computer.  

This bug was quickly fixed but some copies were in circulation for a while. A workaround was available, performed as follows:

• Exit Windows

• If not currently in the Windows directory, change directories to it.

• Use a editor to pull up the win.ini file.

• Near the end of this file you should find a section named "[VEEVAL]" with an entry that looks like this: "InstallDir=C:\VEEEVAL".

• Just before or after this entry, add a section named "[VEE]" and follow it with an entry: "InstallDir=C:\VEEEVAL".

• Save this modified version of WIN.INI.

• Restart Windows, and "Install Drivers" should now work correctly.