Bugfix release

• Added a fix so Julia will write default preferences to disk when it first starts. Before this change the user was forced to alter some setting to make Julia write the file so she/he could read the property keys.

Bugfix release

• fixed wrong detection of plugin path during installation phase.

More CLI enhancements

This release brings several improvements.

CLI

• It is now possible to specify rect using center and diameter as it's used to do with most other programs. However, this is currently an exclusive feature of the CLI. The GUI will continue to offer inputs for top left and bottom right corners. When using the new syntax for rect, the resulting JIM file will contain an additional record.
• It is now possible to halt image generation using CTRL+C and have Julia save a partial rendering you can later recover.
• The package command now scans the complete directory tree to search for relevant files when providing a directory as part of the INPUT_PATH list of arguments. Descendant file paths will be relativized using the directory argument. These relative paths will also be present in the resulting JUP archive.

API

• Not exactly an API change, but this new version will not anymore consider a parameter value retrieved from the getter method as a hint unless the descriptor does not provide hints for that parameter. This actually resulted in a removal as the annotation class org.altervista.mbilotta.julia.Groups makes no more sense after this change.
• This release introduces a third plugin type, namely alias. Purpose of alias is just to ensure JIM format backward compatibility when a plugin ID changes. It serves as a legacy reference to a renamed plugin. Aliases are not exposed to the user.

Misc

• Prior to this release, Julia used to store its preferences under <profile-directory>/preferences using a binary format. This release changes this path to <profile-directory>/preferences.properties which now uses the familiar Java properties format (textual). This serves as an aid for CLI users as not only the GUI but also the CLI makes use of these preferences (e.g.: retrieve values for image width and/or height when the user does not provide one or both of them to the CLI).

Basic CLI

This release brings the most relevant functionalities of Julia to CLI users.

There are currently 4 commands available:

• install to install *.jup packages
• generate to generate images
• package to create a *.jup package
• help to print help informations about a specific command.

More information in the README.

API changes, executable wrappers for Windows

• This release should conclude the process of minimizing responsibilities of plugin descriptor files. New plugins will not let the user tamper metadata that is tightly coupled with plugin internals: parameter constraints, previewability, etc. must be now hardwired as Java annotations.
• Windows users should now find it easier to run Julia. A couple of EXE will be delivered with every new release from now on:
  • julia.exe will run the GUI with the Windows Look & Feel set.
  • juliac.exe will let the user access the GUI as well as the CLI functionalities.
• A new CLI argument --refresh-cache has been provided to force regeneration of cache and documentation for every installed plugin.

UI improvements and fixes

• Fixed main window scrolling using mouse wheel or SHIFT + mouse wheel. Now you can scroll by wheel also when hovering the image: b90a816.
• Fixed bug that caused wrong rectangle calculation when zooming from a disconnected control window: 9c61b37.
• Menu items in the main window are now grouped more logically: c3f1cc6.
• Added command for zooming directly from the main window without changing any image parameter other than the rectangle: a07a5a8.
• Minor improvements: a90b930.

CLI

• Added a command line interface powered by picocli. You can use it to create JUP archives for your plugins!
• Small change in the loading phase to tolerate cases where a property getter returns null instead of discarding the entire plugin.
• Minor UI improvements.

UI Improvements

• Pin/Unpin button was replaced with a Connect/Disconnect button with inverted semantics.
• Improved I/O user experience.

v1.0.8

Version fixed, added project homepage