Black Night Release Notes

• Overview
• Release Notes
• Online Reference
• Example Scripts
• Download Black Night 1.0.7
• Download Black Night 1.0.7 French Version
• Download Black Night 1.0.7 German Version
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Release 1.0.7

Fixed several bugs and went international.

• International
  Black Night is now available in English, French, German and Italian.
  
  
• Closed Connections
  Fixed a small bug whereby spontaneously closed connections by CTB tools wouldn't get noticed.
  
  
• Resource Bug
  Fixed a small bug whereby the finder would accidently close other applications while they were still active. Most apparent when launching the text editor, quitting and then launching it again.
  
  
• Scrolling Regions
  Fixed a small bug whereby scolling regions would scroll in response to a linefeed beyond the scrolling region - pretty rare really ...
  
  
• Auto Print Terminal Mode
  Added support for "Auto Print" mode capture to a text file. In a strange way, this enables a text capture capability that so many people have been asking for. Please refer to the example scripts for more information.
  
  
• Popup Function Key Menu
  F5 and F6 were messed up and have now been reeducated.
  
  
• Help Menu
  Apple changed the behavior of the (Balloon) Help menu so I've added my own help menu.
  
  
• Scripting the Keyboard
  The AppleScript command:
  
  set configuration of terminal of document 1 to "keyboard \"anything\""
  
  didn't work - it now does.
  
  
• AppleScript Recording Part 1
  Some commands did not get recorded in Release 1.0.5 - they do now.
  
  
• AppleScript Recording Part 2
  Some commands never got recorded at all - they now do.
  
  
• AppleScript Crash
  The AppleScript command:
  
  set position of document 1 to {100, 100}
  
  would cause a crash. This was undetected as it was one of those command that didn't get recorded - all fixed now.
  
  
• MS-DOS Text Downloads
  When downloading an MS-DOS Text file (i.e. with CR-LF), some extra bytes (equal in number to the number of linefeeds) no longer get added.
  
  
• VT100 Terminal ID
  Restored the VT100 terminal ID to what it was prior to Release 1.0.5.
  
  
• Serial/Modem Driver Soft Hangup
  The scripting interface incorrectly recorded and set this option.

Release 1.0.6

Please refer to Release 1.0.7.

Release 1.0.5

Fixed several bugs and a couple of features.

• Netscape Telent Helper
  Added limited support for Netscape's rather odd data transfer protocol so you can use Black Night as a Telnet Helper Application.
  
  
• GetURL AppleEvent
  Added limited support for the GetURL Apple event so you can use Black Night as a Telnet Helper Application.
  
  
• VT100/VT220 Screen Colors
  Added limited support for customised VT100/VT220 screen colors.
  
  
• Attached Printers
  The ANSI/PC/VT Driver now supports the host print controller command.
  
  
• File Transfer Failures
  Changed the manner in which file transfer failures are reported.
  
  
• Wait for Wake-up
  Cured a wake up issue when 'waiting for a call'.
  
  
• Outil Minitel
  Fixed a small incompatibility with Outil Minitel.
  
  
• VersaTerm FTP Client
  Fixed a small incompatibility with the VersaTerm FTP Client.

Release 1.0.4

Fixed several bugs and added one new feature.

• DMA Serial Driver
  Adjusted some timers to accommodate the new DMA Serial Driver. This should also make uploads a little more reliable.
  
  
• Scripting Changes
  A few changes have been made to the AppleScript interface. See the example scripts for more information.
  
  
• Window Selection Bug
  Under some circumstances it was possible to select a document over the top of modal dialog. This was undesirable, would sometimes cause a crash, and is now fixed.
  
  
• ANSI/PC/VT Driver 18pt
  Added an option for 18pt font in the ANSI/PC/VT Driver.
  
  
• Spurious Drag and Drop Crashes
  Sometimes when you dropped unknown 'flavors' over an online Black Night window you'd get a system crash (actually infinite recursion). This has now been fixed.
  
  
• System 7.5.2 and LocalTalk
  Altered the LocalTalk initialisation routines to accommodate some further fundamental changes to the MacOS (OpenTransport I think, why doesn't Apple lift the lid on this ?).
  
  
• Duo Cursor Keys
  Enabled cursor keys with DUOs (and MacPlus's).
  
  
• More Annoying Beeps
  Got rid of some more annoying beeps with the new version of the Express Modem Tool.
  
  
• Sticky Colors
  Stopped sticky bold.

Release 1.0.3

Fixed several bugs and added one feature.

• VT100 Scrolling
  The ANSI/PC/VT Driver would 'misinterpret' a couple of scroll range commands sent by a couple of UNIX applications (IRC Chat and the OS Line Editor). This would result in a rather garbled output on the screen. This has now been corrected.
  
  
• Spurious Beeps, Transfer Failures and -15128
  A few users with brand new macs started experiencing odd beeps and transfer failures accompanied by a mysterious and undocumented error '-15128'. This condition has been traced and accommodated. All I can say is that I wish Apple had a more proactive change control process ...
  
  
• Slow ZMODEM Downloads
  Some users reported extremely slow ZMODEM downloads, others reported extremely fast ZMODEM downloads. The slow downloads have now been traced to a rare interrupt sequence request from some UNIX hosts and is now corrected.
  
  
• 'Not Supported' ZMODEM Uploads
  Some PC based hosts request a strange set of upload parameters that the built in ZMODEM Driver would reject. It now ignores them.
  
  
• Default Modem Setup
  The default modem setup string had an extra 'Ø' on the end. Most modems ignored this, while some returned an error. I've now removed it.
  
  
• Spurious Screen Clears
  In PC language FormFeed means ScreenClear and in VT language FormFeed means LineFeed. The ANSI/PC/VT Driver now acknowledges the difference.
  
  
• ScrollBack Buffer Content
  The ANSI/PC/VT Driver now sends partial screen scrolls and line deletes to the scrollback buffer as well as full screen scrolls, full screen clears and partial screen clears.
  
  
• Crash with a particular File Transfer Tool
  I've made some File Transfer Manager things more robust.
  
  
• Sticky Colors
  A special new feature for a particular user. Unless you're involved in real time monitoring of complex telecommunications operating systems, I suggest you leave this alone.
  
  
• Keyboard Buffer
  There are some subtle changes in the activate/deactivate procedure for the Keyboard Buffer window.
  
  
• File Transfer Complete Sound
  You may finally get to hear it ...
  
  
• Concealed Password
  The password now stays concealed.
  
  
• Wait until transfer
  The AppleScript command:
  
  wait until transfer of document 1 becomes
  
  now supports sending and receiving as well as closed.

Release 1.0.2

Fixed several bugs and fine tuned several parameters.

• Sluggish Keyboard
  Some users reported that the keyboard felt sluggish, while many said it was ok. I did discover that when the serial hardware was seriously overloaded, then 'keyboard performance' was not only sluggish but downright slow. This issue has been fixed by a change to the serial driver completion procedures.
  
  
• Spurious end-of-transfer Error and Crash
  Sometimes file transfers would end with a reported error and (sometimes) a subsequent 'error type 1' crash. I've traced this to an odd set of circumstances involving a not-quite- up-to-date desktop database, and eliminated it.
  
  
• Uploading to Hermes BBS failures
  When uploading to a Hermes BBS using the built-in ZMODEM, the transfer would just sit there and eventually time-out. Black Night is now a lot more tolerant of 'interesting' interpretations of the ZMODEM spec and the problem no longer exists.
  
  
• It says 'dialling' but nothing happens ...
  Some uses reported that the Serial/Modem Driver would not consistently dial every time. They were right, and I've adjusted some timers to account for modems that treat 'OK' as an acknowledgement rather than a prompt.
  Incidentally, we really do spell dialling with two 'l's (and initialise with an 's' and color with a 'u'), however I acknowledge that there are several billion of you and only three million of us so I'll change this in a later version (maybe).
  
  
• Strange timeouts when running scripts
  There was an issue with the 'wait for' command in scripts run from within Black Night that sometimes meant the command would immediately timeout. This would only happen when you didn't specify a timeout value and is now corrected.
  
  
• Filename fiddling
  I've disabled the '.bin' extension on MacBinary uploads until further notice.

Release 1.0.1

Fixed several bugs and fine tuned a couple of parameters.

• Escaping Control Characters using the built in ZMODEM Receiver
  Version 1.0.0 specifically prevented control characters from being 'escaped'. This would most likely show up as a 'failed' or 'high error rate' during ZMODEM downloads.
  
  
• 'Wait for call' using the Serial/Modem Driver
  Version 1.0.0 specifically prevented 'Wait for call' using the Serial/Modem Driver from working if there was no telephone number entered.
  
  
• Instability when using Communication Toolbox File Transfer Tools
  Version 1.0.0 would sometimes corrupt documents and helpers when you edit the settings for Communication Toolbox File Transfer Tools. This would lead to frequent " Configuration Invalid" dialogs and occasional random system crashes. This 'feature' was most apparent with the Pacer ZMODEM Tool, however the bug was definitely in Black Night and not the Pacer tool. Note: Version 1.0.1 and later will attempt to repair your corrupted helpers and documents.
  
  
• HEX headers with binary data subpackets using the built in ZMODEM Receiver
  Version 1.0.0 was very unforgiving of ZMODEM senders that used HEX headers with binary data subpackets. This is rare and you probably never noticed.
  
  
• Processor hogging while in the background
  Version 1.0.0 was a bit of a time hog when in the background. I've adjusted the timers a little and you should find foreground applications a little more responsive in 1.0.1 and later.

Release 1.0.0

First Public Release