vkbo/novelWriter v2.0rc2

Version 2.0 RC 2

on GitHub

Release Notes

This is a release candidate of the next release version, and is intended for testing purposes. Please be careful when using this version on live writing projects, and make sure you take frequent backups.

Please check the changelog for an overview of changes. The full release notes will be added to the final release.

For install instructions, see the documentation.

Detailed Changelog

Note: This release introduces a new Project XML format with version number 1.5. When the project is opened, a request to update the file format will show up.

Bugfixes

• The custom folders for user defined themes and syntax were not created properly when the app was first launched on a new computer. The folders were successfully created on a second launch. The error was handled, but reported. This was caused by the folder creation process being in the wrong order. Issue #1180. PR #1184.
• Fixed context menu entries for split and merge having inconsistent labels. Issue #1199. PR #1197.

User Interface

• The exported status for document items have been renamed to active/inactive. Their icons have also been updated. Issues #1196 and #1198. PRs #1200 and #1216.
• The status/importance context menu now shows which label is the current. Issue #1202. PR #1207.
• The status/importance context menu now has a "Manage Labels" action that opens the Project Settings dialog at the correct place. Issue #1203. PR #1207.
• Both GUI theme and syntax theme can now be updated without restarting the app. Issue #1171. PR #1212.
• The GUI theme now determines which icon theme is to be loaded. It is no longer a separate setting. The icon theme can also be reloaded without restart. Issue #1172. PR #1212.
• The block formating features in the Format menu now also works on empty lines. Issue #1178. PR #1214.
• There is now a Format menu entry and shortcut code for synopsis comments. Issue #1177. PR #1214.
• The split document dialog now has the option to move teh source document to trash. Issue #1179. PR #1217.

Other Changes

• Archived documents are now partially indexed. This mainly means that the item will have the correct document icon in the project tree corresponding to its main heading. Issue #1176. PR #1183.
• The option to add notes files in the Project Wizard now automatically switches off if there are no notes categories enabled. Issue #1192. PR #1201.
• When a project is opened for the first time, the first document in the project is also opened. Issue #1219. PR #1223.
• When there is no project open, the toolbars on the Project Tree, Novel View and Outline View are disabled. They are enabled only when a project is loaded. Issue #1220. PR #1230.

Installation and Packaging

• The AppImage release now has version information in the package name. Issue #1182. PR #1218.

Code Improvements

• The main heading of a document is now stored in the item class instead of the index. PR #1183.
• The common module checker functions no longer allow None values. The only one needing it was the string checker. A new string checker that allows None has been added for those cases. This makes type discovery in the code editor easier. Issue #1185. PR #1188.
• Verbose logging has been removed. The lowest severity level is now DEBUG. Issue #1186. PR #1191.
• Added a number of None checks in the code where especially Qt calls could potentially return None, even if they were unlikely to do so. PR #1197.
• Renamed the status bar attribute in the main GUI class as it conflicts with a Qt method. Issue #1190. PR #1197.
• The data access methods for the custom config file parser have been improved to better report correct type information. PR #1197.
• Saving and loading of XML data is now handled by a separate set of reader and writer classes. The reader class is capable of reading all file formats that have been used thus far. The various data classes have been improved, and a new XML file formart version 1.5 added. Issue #1189. PRs #1221 and #1232.
• The index is now automatically rebuilt when the project file format is updated. Issue #1235. PR #1236.
• The project folder on disk is now wrapped in a storage class that the project accesses files through. It also handles lock files and archiving used for backup. The change is in preparation for adding a potential single file format. Issue #1222. PR #1225.
• The Project Wizard now creates the project on disk, and then opens it. This replaces the old method where the new project was built directly into the current session. This caused a few inconsistencies from time to time, and was a duplicate way of getting a project into the session. Issue #1152. PR #1225.
• The Config class has been refactored extensively and now also uses pathlib for all paths. Tests are also switched to using pathlib. Issue #1224. PRs #1228 and #1229.
• The updating of tree order method of the project tree class has been updated for better performance. PR #1236.