What's New in Astrocalc Version 6.2 February 2012
This document brings you up to speed with the very latest and most important changes/additions introduced in the current version of Astrocalc. It is at large a subset of the longer document Quick start guide to Master Astrocalc version 6.2 but may include some late added information the former document lacks. In other words, when a new release is done (even if just a new build/revision) it may trigger an immediate change/addition in this document and hence always represents the most up to date documentation you will find, while the other document is more extensive, slower to update and will go a bit further in covering significant changes back in time. That document will also guide you on the very first steps needed to get up and running. Once installed, you can access the Quick Start Guide as well as this document from the programs help menu (simple format) or open them in your word processor from the program group in the Windows Start menu.
A small redesign of Data Entry form brings great improvements.
This change was originally planned for version 6.3 but as I felt it’s too good to hold back any longer and too small to warrant a new version release on its own, I decided to take the most visual part of it and apply it on the current version (6.2.0.45). The rest will come in the next version release.
In comparison with 6.0 and earlier releases of 6.2, the most notable difference is that the “Search & Select” field in the centre part of the form is gone. It has instead been merged with the Name field in Chart Details and provides a 3 in 1 functionality, as an edit and input field for the current and new charts name (as before), as a search field to lookup one or more charts in the database, and as a selectable list of chart from the currently active group . To some extent this reminds of how it was in version 5.x and earlier of Astrocalc, but now with much more finesse and control.
To accommodate these 3 functions in one place you now have 3 buttons above the new Name field, New, Edit and Delete and you add the non visible Chart to all three captions. New and Edit changes the behaviour when you type into the field and instead typing a search term you are actually editing the name of the chart. When you click on each of these 2 buttons the caption changes to “Save” and the other button gets disabled, and further more the Delete changes to Abort.
When you click Abort the chart that was current when clicking New or Edit will simply be restored from the database. When you click Save your changes will be checked and then stored either as a new chart or an updated version of the current one. Charts are always saved in the current group so e.g. to relocate a chart to another group, click Edit, select the group or create a new one, and then click Save.
There is no longer any need to calculate or display a new or edited chart to make your input stick, just click Save. In fact, you can make all the changes to a chart, except for the chart name, without clicking Save and instead click Go! to display the wheel, based on your changed input. Nothing will be saved though you can pick another chart from the wheels chart list and get back to your changed chart as long as you don’t do anything that will read it afresh from the database. With the changed chart wheel on display you can even return to the Data Entry form still with your changes, click Edit and then Save to make them permanent.
Another improvement in your day to day work with charts is that the dropdown list no longer only display charts from the Active Group of charts. When you make a search and it results in more than one chart returned they are all loaded in to the list which drops automatically displaying essential details so you don’t have to guess which to choose. The collection of charts stays in the list until you reset the search. This can be done explicit by clicking the button “Reset Search” , or if you change the active group, if you select a chart from the “Recently Used Charts” list or click the New button. Also if only one chart is returned the reset is done automatically. As the search is reset the list will once again show charts from the Active Group.
Furthermore there has been a slight rearrangement of some labels in the Chart Details frame, so the ones for Calendar and House system has moved towards the lower end, while the one for Zodiac has moved up. Also the checkbox to Huber Mode has once again been relocated, because it’s not always easy to find the right place for an object not displayed in all editions, yet it has to occupy its space, visible or not. I think it’s a fair chance though we finally got it right by placing it just above the Go! button as other changes made that possible.
We also decided to remove the functionality to make the dropdown optional when search the atlas for places. After all, that’s what you want when searching – see the results! The reason we originally made this optional was that the standard control used not always handled this gracefully. However, as we changed to more advanced controls making the major Data Entry change possible, there was no reason to keep that option any longer.
Instant Now and Clock Charts
The behaviour of the Now and Clock buttons in the “Moving Wheels” frame has changed. When you click any of these buttons the wheel is now displayed instantly, using the Display and Calculation intervals set in the frame. The intervals can be controlled and changed as usual from the wheel, moving the calculations forward and backward (use a negative interval value). To save the chart on return you first click Edit, which will restore the chart name for Clock and force you to enter a new one for Now, then click Save.
While you are in Now or Clock Mode the function to search for charts are disabled and Name works as a normal input field where you can edit the chart name. You can though start a new chart or change and select one from a group which will automatically reset Now or Clock and get you in to normal operation.
There is now also a button to reset Now or Clock mode explicitly, which will bring back the chart that previously was loaded.
New improved Atlas and Time Zone Module
All Editions of Astrocalc now comes with a vastly improved World Atlas and Time Zone module, without the need to purchase it separately. In older versions, custom added places were stored in the Autogaz being a standard part of the program that was separate from the Atlas and Time Zones module, which had to be purchased separately. Hence, even after purchase of the atlas, own added places couldn't take advantage of its time zone functionality.
Autogaz is now history and the new Atlas is editable so that you can add your own places with geographic coordinates, as well as adjust these values for originally included places too - if you find it necessary. Your custom places can also be assigned a time zone and will like the original ones use the time zone functionality automatically. Any change you do will be persistent and survive an update/upgrade of as well program as atlas.
Another improvement that comes with the new atlas is the ability to optionally search for places across the whole world and not only individual countries. When your search results in more than one hit all found places are presented to you with full details in a drop down list to choose from. The data of the selected place will load in to the chart details fields.
With this much improved search function you seldom want to click the Atlas button ('View' in older versions) when looking for a place, unless you are very unsure about the spelling (but you can now do other things there). Instead you are encouraged to learn how to effectively search by making use the criteria’s that can be set. To search you simply type in to the Place field and execute by pressing the Enter key. If you don't finish by pressing Enter but move forward by pressing Tab, an Arrow key or click with the mouse, it signals to the program you want to do a manual input of data and no calculation of zone time is carried out.
There are two parameters you can work with to limit the range of the search, the 'Search World' and the 'Exact Match’ option in the Atlas Control Panel. The old way was to blank the Country field if you wanted to search across the whole world, and select a country to limit the geographic range. The blank trick still works but you can now simply check the 'Search World' option instead. Uncheck 'Exact Match' to do a partial search, from the beginning of the Place name. The less you type the more hits will be returned. It’s pretty simple and strait forward.
Fast accessible places
You can now keep up to 10 places in memory to quickly load in to the chart details, either by selecting from a list with the mouse or by pressing a key combination on the keyboard. One of these places are defined as your 'Default Place', which the program may use automatically when needed, as when you make a Now chart or start a New one. This broadly equals to and replaces the ‘Current Location’ function available in older versions.
United Kingdom is not a country but a sovereign state
In the new Atlas data for all UK locations have been split up to sort under respective country rather than the sovereign state at whole. In the original atlas that was based on a batch of text files, the data had a flat structure with no ability to index the data or use it relationally in an effective way. While this format was limited in many ways it didn’t have a problem with associating a place with both the country and the UK sovereign state, but under the hood a place was linked not to one but to all the UK countries. This was normally not a problem as you had to select the country first before you could get to the place.
When we created the 1st version of the new atlas all data moved in to a database file allowing for indexing and relational linking of the data. The said change created however a problem with UK places as in the original atlas they were all kept in the same file, without a clear affiliation to their real country. While other countries had one label pointing to a unique identifier, UK had several, one for each country, all pointing to the same identifier so as an example Glasgow could be paired up with England rather than Scotland, simply because E comes before S in the alphabet . This problem no longer exists as the new atlas has evolved to its second version.
New Text Editor and Interpretation text structure
The text editor and the whole way interpretation text is used in the program have changed dramatically in the new version of Astrocalc. The editor in older versions was rather complicated, hence quite difficult to understand and use. This should no longer be the case. As a part of the editor redesign we also took a look at the logic behind usage and implementation of the text and found that simplicity also made it possible to remove some limitation and leave that open to the mindset of the text creator.
As a result, Interpretation text is no longer tied to a specific Routine or Routine's Subroutine as it was before, except for text to be used in some structurally specific routines like Transits, Midpoints and Synastry Direct Comparison. All other text sets are simply deemed as Wheel Text and can be used in any type of wheel, as from a technical point of view they are all the same. In other words, a chart wheel is always a chart wheel no matter if it contains a Natal Chart or a Lunar Return.
This probably upsets one or another Saturnian mind as it breaks with the tradition. The magic key to get it all sorted and organized though is called ‘Named Configurations’ and this name will show up in menus where you select the text to use for an interpretation. It means the borders are a bit more fluid and you can deliberately write text that apply to more than one type of wheel, or you can stick to your old regime and name files accordingly and stay prudent with selecting them only when proper or it makes sense to you.
OTHER CHANGES
Many other small changes have been done and the most important will be presented below.
The program executables as well as Setup packages are now signed with a digital certificate to ensure you that files haven’t been tampered with by any Dart Wader wannabe from the Evil Empire since they left our development computer. Furthermore, it makes later versions of Windows to run happier as well ;-)
The program now has support for Unicode and Windows Styles, it means you can basically use any language specific characters for input and they will store as well as display correctly. This is also to open the path of translation in other than Germanic languages. The Windows styles make the program adjust in colours and fit in with the desktop theme used on modern computers.
On most forms you can now show help by simply hovering with the mouse over an area or control, without the need to actually select it. This feature should be very useful to new users who quickly can get up to speed with what various things do, without initiate any real action. As time goes you may find it annoying that the help box is flickering as you move around the mouse, for that reason it can be switched On/Off from the Help menu.
By popular request, the button to restore the natal charts from none natal subroutines have been reintroduced. It now has a caption ‘Back to Natal’ and will show up at the top left inside the Chart Details frame.
What was previously called “East Point” has correctly been renamed to “Equatorial Ascendant” in version 6.2.0.44
Support for many more and bigger screen resolutions have been added, as well as improvements for the older ones.
A huge amount of internal changes to code have been done to improve stability and resource usage on later versions of Windows, together with many improvements to the Graphic User Interface (GUI) makes the program run not only with increased stability but also faster and it’s easier to use.
Finally, and although it changed already in 6.0 and improved in 6.2, it’s worth mention here (for those cheating in reading the other documentation) that the license system has changed so no need any longer to obtain a new code each time you need to reinstall the program. Likewise, when using the program to do other things than Natal chart, no need any longer to first calculate and display the Natal before moving on with other things like Progressions, Returns etc. Just jump right on it, Astrocalc takes care of the basics in the background, instead of telling you need to do it - as long as it has the natal input for the chart.
For a more detailed listing of all the changes in 6.2 please see the changelog