Document 708

Patch update 2953 for Version 5.5

Version 5.5 - Scientific WorkPlace, Scientific Word, & Scientific Notebook

Note: Build 2960 is available and supersedes the patch described in this article. See Patch update 2960 for Version 5.5.

We have released build 2953 of Version 5.5 of Scientific WorkPlace, Scientific Word, and Scientific Notebook. The update applies only to the English language version of the products.

You can download a patch update file for build 2953 if you currently have installed

  • Build 2890 of Version 5.5

The patch update for build 2953 adds these new features:

  • Support for gridlines in plots.

  • Support for plot background color.

  • Support for translucent surface colors in 3D plots.

  • Improved support for approximate integral plots, including support for additional approximation methods, color, and animation.

  • Support for 2D inequality plots.

  • Support for contour style surface mesh in 3D plots.

  • An external lookup feature that provides the ability to call an external application, such as a search engine or encyclopaedia, using the current selection as a parameter. User-configurable lookup commands appear on the Tools and Context menus.

See a complete list of changes in the program that have occurred since the release of Version 5.5 (build 2890).

Please read all the instructions before you begin the update.

Step One. Check the version of SWP/SW/SNB you're using.

  1. Start your copy of the program.

  2. From the Help menu, choose About and note the version and build numbers.

    • If you currently have build 2890 of Version 5.5, you can use this patch update.

    • If you have an earlier version, you must purchase an upgrade to Version 5.5.

Step Two. Download and install the patch update.

If you prefer, you can download the complete self-extracting installation file for build 2953 (88.1 MB for SWP; 66.8 MB for SW; 44 MB for SNB; 13.5MB for SV).

If you have sufficient disk space, you may want to make a copy of your current program directory before you apply the patch update. If the update should fail for some reason, you may need to reinstall from the original program CD or download the full self-extracting installation file. In most cases, the patch update preserves user preferences, such as new automatic substitutions and toolbar configurations.

To download and install the patch update:

  1. Choose the appropriate file from the table following these instructions and download it to your local hard drive.

  2. When the download is complete, close your current version of SWP, SW, or SNB.

  3. Run the downloaded patch update and follow the screen prompts.

  4. Start SWP, SW, or SNB.

  5. From the Help menu, choose About, and check that the build number is 2953.

    If the build number is not 2953, follow the instructions below for downloading and installing the full version of the release.

    6. If you have Download patch update
    Scientific WorkPlace
    V5.5 build 2890    		 swp55tob2953.exe — 4.5 MB
    Scientific Word
    V5.5 build 2890    		 sw55tob2953.exe — 2 MB
    Scientific Notebook
    V5.5 build 2890    		 sn55tob2953.exe — 4 MB


To download and install the full version of this release:

  1. Uninstall the program:

    1. From the Windows Start menu, choose Control Panel.

    2. Choose Add/Remove Programs.

    3. Select the program name.

    4. Choose Change/Remove.

    5. From the Welcome dialog, choose Remove and then choose Next.

    6. If the ReadOnly File Detected dialog displays, check Don't display this message again and choose Yes.

    7. Follow the screen prompts for the remainder of the uninstall process.

    8. Restart your computer.

  2. Choose the appropriate file from the following table and download it to your local hard drive.

    Product Download full install file
    Scientific WorkPlace swp-pro550.exe — 88.1 MB
    Scientific Word sciword550.exe — 66.8 MB
    Scientific Notebook scinoteb550.exe — 44 MB
    Scientific Viewer sviewer550.exe — 13.5 MB


  3. Run the downloaded program and follow the screen prompts to install the program.

    If you use the same directory from which you uninstalled the program in step 1, you can skip the registration process.

  4. Restart your computer.

  5. Start the program.

  6. From the Help menu, choose About, and check that the build number is 2953.

  7. From the Help menu, choose System Features. and check that all functions are listed as available.

Changes included in build 2953

This patch update contains the following additions and changes, which have occurred in the program since the release of Version 5.5 (build 2890). Some descriptions use technical and internal terms and may not completely describe the change. Note that not all changes apply to all products; for example, changes to the Style Editor do not apply to SNB and changes to computational capabilities do not apply to SW. The list is presented in no particular order.

  • Added a FillStyle attribute to approximate integral plots.

  • Improved support for approximate integral plots, including support for additional approximation methods, color, and animation.

  • Added command line modes (/ops or /opsl logfile) to the Document Manager so that it will only wrap snapshot and VCAM files. These can be useful to when trying to manage snapshots and VCAM files.

  • Added support for grid lines in plots.

  • Added support for plot background color.

  • Added support for two colors in conformal plots.

  • Added support for 2D inequality plots.

  • Added support for translucent surface colors in 3D plots.

  • Added support for contour style surface mesh in 3D plots.

  • Added the external lookup feature that provides the ability to call an external program, such as a search engine, encyclopaedia, or other application, using the current selection as a parameter. User-configurable lookup commands appear on the Tools and Context menus. The interface to modify or add lookups is available via the Tools/External Lookup command.

  • Added documentation of the new plot features and external lookup feature.

  • Added a registry setting to control when snapshots are used for rendering. In particular, made the default to NOT use snapshots for rendering in when previewing or printing from the File menu (without typesetting). This is more essential with the addition of transparent surfaces in plots, as the transparency is lost in the snapshot.

  • Added a warning when opening a writable document in Viewer mode.

  • Updated the MuPAD library including conformal.mu, inplicite2d.mu, and muplotml.mu.

  • Updated the LaTeX packages fncychap and nomencl from CTAN.

  • Added .cst support for underline tags in the package ulem.sty.

  • For all .cst files, changed all old-style color values to the new style (that is, from R0,G0,B0 to R:0 G:0 B:0).

  • In many shells, fixed a problem with Body Math tag.

  • Added shells for the Journal of Economic Theory. Journal of Financial Economics.

  • Fixed a bug in 2multibyte that added unwanted space after a command.

  • Fixed an Exam Builder bug in the handling of Greek letters.

  • Fixed a bug that prevented .jpg graphics from rendering in the TeX previewer.

  • Fixed a bug in which the leadin justification was saved incorrectly in a .cst file.

  • Fixed a problem with equation array labelling that occurred when backspacing to delete a row.

  • Fixed a crash that could occur in searching for index entries.

  • Fixed a crash in the output filter that occurred when a TCIMacro statement follows an index entry.

  • Fixed a crash which could occur during the Compute/Define operation.

  • Fixed various plot problems, including

    • A bug in which the animation parameter setting was lost.

    • A bug in which plots disappeared when a window was resized.

    • A bug in which the view range of log plots was not sticky.

    • A problem with certain defined functions that would plot only "f(x)" and not "f". (Note: In Version 5.0 they behaved exactly the opposite way.)

    • Various failures in the rendering and disappearance of plots.

    • Problems entering negative values for plot label orientation.

    • A failure to recognize certain parametric plots as parametric.

    • Fixed a bug in which plots disappeared when a window was resized.

  • Fixed a bug in which the animation parameter setting was lost.

  • Fixed a crash that could occur when modifying graphic sets from the Typeset/General Settings dialog.

  • Fixed various bugs in import/export filters:

    • Fixed a bug in the portable filter in the handling of ~in a link.

    • Fixed a bug in the HTML export operation that occurred when a graphic has an underscore in a key.

    • Fixed bugs in the input filter in which a blank line between consecutive \end{environments} failed; in which the input filter failed if an HTML field contained %; and n the handling of multibyte characters in tables, matrices, and arrays.

    • Fixed another problem with multibyte characters in the handling of \tag.

    • Fixed a bug in the input filter and program internals in which \\* was mishandled in equarrays.

    • Fixed a bug in the Import Non-SWP/SW LaTeX filter in which $ .. $$..$ failed.

  • Fixed several installation bugs that

    • Prevented the installation of pretex.exe in SW.

    • Copied the ptdata to the quizzes directory in SNB.

    • Corrected the case of some directories in the installation program.

  • Fixed a bug in the registration program in which white space in the serial number caused a failure, and changed the registration program so that new licensing information is prepended instead of appended to an existing license file.

  • Added a warning when a timed license has less then 7 days remaining.

This document was created with Scientific WorkPlace.

Last revised 02/01/07