V1.41 Released 17th March 2000

• Service Pack 1 available January 19th 2000
• Service Pack 2 available January 19th 2000
• Service Pack 3 available January 19th 2000
• Service Pack 4 available January 19th 2000
• Service Pack 5 available March 17th 2000
• Service Pack 9 available May 22nd 2001

Note: Service Packs 6, 7, and 8 were not generally distributed and have been integrated into Service Pack 9 along with all previous Service Packs.

V1.40 Not released

v1.32 Released 1st January 1999

• Various modifications up to release (f) of this release - release (c) is generally available

v1.31 Released 1st July 1998

• Advantest Driver Patch: PATCH1 October 12th 1998

v1.30 Released 1st June 1998

v1.21 v1.20 v1.11 v1.10 - no details available

v1.00

Bugs fixed:

• AUP9211A black box device replaced with new device and loss/gain component
• CES.EXE modified to remove problem of not displaying trace when ambients are selected.

Summary of changes and enhancements

• Fix for bug preventing the copying of files in User areas.

IMPORTANT NOTE

After this service pack has been run the SCHGRAPH.EXE file placed in the installation folder must be moved to the Windows folder. Failure to do so will result in major errors being reported when attempting to run EPS9980.

This service pack incorporates a number of changes included in lettered releases of version 1.31 (EPS9980 v1.41a to v1.41g) as well as the changes introduced in previous Service Packs. The additional changes since v1.31SP3 are as follows:-

• New drivers: ADV3132.rad for R3132 Advantest spectrum analyser ADV3371a.rad for R3371 Advantest spectrum analyser
• CES.EXE modified to add Edit|Copy|Project Details to menu options to allow user to copy the application, project and test details to the clipboard for pasting into other applications.

NOTE: After this service pack has been run the SCHGRAPH.EXE must be moved to the Windows directory.

IMPORTANT NOTE

After this service pack has been run the SCHGRAPH.EXE file placed in the installation folder must be moved to the Windows folder. Failure to do so will result in major errors being reported when attempting to run EPS9980.

EPS9980 v1.41 SP3 available January 6th 2000

This service pack incorporates a number of changes included in lettered releases of version 1.31 (EPS9980 v1.41a to v1.41f) as well as the changes introduced in previous Service Packs. The additional changes since v1.31SP2 are as follows:-

• CES.EXE modified to allow proper use of the database manager for copying items to new databases

NOTE: After this service pack has been run the SCHGRAPH.EXE must be moved to the Windows directory.

IMPORTANT NOTE

After this service pack has been run the SCHGRAPH.EXE file placed in the installation folder must be moved to the Windows folder. Failure to do so will result in major errors being reported when attempting to run EPS9980.

This service pack incorporates a number of changes included in lettered releases of version 1.31 (EPS9980 v1.41a to v1.41e) as well as the changes in Service Pack 1. The additional changes since v1.31SP1 are as follows:-

• CES.EXE modified to remove Edit|Copy|Graph from menu options since this feature has now been replaced with the File|Reports|Extract Portrait ( Landscape ) menu options to produce an OLE insertable object.
• CES.EXE modified to display over-range and under-range markers correctly with no loss of displayed points for the actual continuous trace.

IMPORTANT NOTE

After this service pack has been run the SCHGRAPH.EXE file placed in the installation folder must be moved to the Windows folder. Failure to do so will result in major errors being reported when attempting to run EPS9980.

This service pack incorporates a number of changes included in lettered releases of version 1.31 (EPS9980 v1.41a to v1.41d). Customers who are using version 1.31c have all the changes incorporated into SP1. The additional changes since v1.31 are as follows:-

• Peak (max) hold facility now exists for the R3131 driver. This is implemented as a new button which appears in the segment section of the test editor and is labelled Peak Hold. If pressed then a second form is displayed allowing the user to select the number of scans to be performed for each peak hold measurement. If this is set to 1 ( the default ) then peak hold is disabled. If set to > 1 then peak hold is enabled and the instrument is placed in peak hold mode for the number of passes selected. The button will not appear for drivers that do not support this feature.
• The database is updated to version 9 to include a new field in the segments table.
• dBm is now added to the list of units that can be used for transducer factors. The user should allow for the 107dBm difference between dBm and dBuV by creating a transducer with factors offset by -107dB.
• Limit lines are displayed even when frequency points are off-graph
• Printing onto printers of different DPIs now works with the graphs in the correct place.
• When verifying a test the scan form is not activated until the test validates OK. In earlier versions the form was activated before the test was validated and then cleared afterwards.
• Limit line titles are now displayed even if the line is off the graph.
• Rescans now work correctly when limit lines are present on the graph.
• Fonts are now selectable and can now be changed whilst a graph is being displayed. When displaying transducers, limits, ambients and cable loss/gain graphs the font will be shown as that selected but the font size is fixed. This is because the graphs are not expandable. Printing will use the font size selected by the user. The selected fonts and their size is also transposed onto OLE automation files such that they will also appear in the Word documents generated as part of the FlexReport and AutoGen reports.
• The problem reported regarding "Out of Memory" has now been fixed - this was a fault in the GDO. The GDO is now at version 1.0F.

IMPORTANT NOTE

After this service pack has been run the SCHGRAPH.EXE file placed in the installation folder must be moved to the Windows folder. Failure to do so will result in major errors being reported when attempting to run EPS9980.

• The VBW and RBW are now separately controllable. This feature only applies to instrument drivers that are written to support it. Existing drivers do not support this feature. The test editor form contains a new button which appears only if the driver supports this feature. The user can then select the button and a new form appears allowing them to set the continuous VBW and the stepped VBW individually.
• The version of the database is now upissued to version 8. This is to add 2 new fields to the segment table to contain the above VBW settings.
• Copying the peak table now works properly in that it copies the first line also.
• During a scan all options controlled by ribbon switches and menus at the top of the scan form are now disabled. This prevents the user from editing graph attributes, overlays and spreadsheet tables whilst the test is running.
• Tracking generator feature is now supported for instruments with this feature. Existing instrument drivers do not have this but as new driver files are created this will come on-line.
• The abort from a scan now works more quickly when in the middle of a frequency optimise.
• Rescanning peaks now allows manual optimisation.
• When selecting an attenuation values for a segment in a test the "Auto" feature is now a valid selection ( if supported by the instrument driver ) and will appear on the drop down list box. The selected reference level will be highlighted as out of cal when this selection is made. The user should then enter the required reference level according to the test and the instrument

Changes

• Graph drawing is now done by our own Graphics Drawing Object (GDO) which is an OLE Automation server and is released as part of the CES/EPS installation disks.
• All graphs can now be exported to an OLE Server file and can then be inserted as objects into client applications, eg Word, Excel.
• The hooks for FlexReport and AutoReport generation are now included and use a Report Interface File (RIF) format to implement separation from the CES/EPS applications and the actual report generating applications. The AutoReport generation is included on the installation disks and comprises a set of base Word documents and templates containing macros which are used to generate the report. These are all installed automatically into the correct directories.
• The format of stored data for the results field in the database has now been improved to properly handle large data blocks. The items are now split into smaller 64K strings and are connected to each other by order and reference fields.

New Drivers

• ADV3551 - Advantest 3361 with a 3551 preselector

Changes

• Advantest 3131, 3261, 3361, 3271 and 4131 drivers have been modified to fix various bugs.
• Sample tests for the Advantest R3131 analyser have been added to the database.
• EPS9980 used to crash with error 2004 ‘DAO.Field Out of Memory’ if a scan containing more than 21000 points is saved. This limit has now been removed.
• The step editor now has the ability to export data.
• The AUP9211A now works correctly with fast PCs.
• Graphs are printed in Landscape mode while the rest of the printout is in portrait mode.
• Configuration details are only printed once if the same configuration appears in more than one segment of a test.
• If ‘Continuous then Step’ mode is chosen, the continuous dwell time is no longer reset to 0ms.
• Toolbar buttons are now displayed correctly if the language is changed.
• The Test editor now re-sizes correctly when 3 or more segments are included in the test.
• The gain/loss option labels are now translated in the Gain/Loss Editor.

A bug reported to the Helpdesk on 7th October 1998 was traced to the way that the various Advantest analysers dealt with the trace being on the bottom line of the graticule in linear modes of operation. The value returned to EPS9980 under these conditions was 0.00 and gave rise to Error 6: Overflow.

This was resolved on October 12th and a patch disk is available for users containing drivers for the R4131D, R3131, R3271A, R3261A/B/C/D and R3371A/B/C/D analysers.The fatal Error 6 condition is now replaced by an under-range marker (red triangle) plotted on the results graph at any position where the response from the analyser is 0.00 using the average detectors.

Please contact Software Support if this problem affects you. The changes incorporated in the PATCH1 driver disk will be incorporated in the next full release of EPS9980.Note that the same drivers are used with CES9985 and so users of CES9985 should also contact Software Support for the modified drivers.

Bug fixes

• The software no longer crashes when Pause or Stop scan are clicked twice.
• Transducers created when heights were included can no longer be used. An error message is now displayed to explain the reason.
• The limit label is no longer truncated when it exceeds the width of one segment.
• The preselector parameters are now checked prior to a scan. This will prevent scans starting which exceed the frequency limit of the preselector.
• Ambient, Step and Transducers editors no longer crash if the close-form button is clicked before the form is completely open.
• Notes are now printed even if they were the only selection.
• Message and button labelling now agree for Manual Optimisation on Step Scan.
• Countdown timer operation improved to prevent countdown continuing during pause. This caused the timer to suddenly change when the test was resumed.
• The drop-down list box of configuration names has been made smaller to allow use on VGA resolution screens (640 x 480).

Improvements

• The maximum number of antenna factors has been increased to 250 entries.
• Transducer spreadsheet help is now available by pressing F1.
• The details of the Test and Configuration editors are now added to the CESERROR.LOG file
• Notes can be printed for all editors.
• The Results, Test and Configuration editors can now print the tables and graphs of Loss/Gain components and transducers.
• The Test Editor allows the configuration data to be printed.

This version was a maintenance version released in advance of version 1.31 to resolve problems with version 1.20 and 1.21. It was only released to those users with problems that it fixed. This was because of the scheduled release of version 1.31 in July.

New Functions

• Control of Advantest R3131 Spectrum Analyser.
• Export of Test Results Data. Continuous Scan data can be made into a standard comma separated variable (CSV) file. This format can be imported into Excel, Word, etc. Note. There was already the facility to export via the Windows clipboard, but the amount of data often exceeded the capability of the clipboard.
• A scan can now be aborted by pressing the Esc key.
• The Software Key Code is now permanently encoded into the Software Key.

Bugs Fixed

• If the Emission Limit was not defined in the first segment of the Continuous Scan it was not shown on screen and paper plots.
• Sometimes the Test Note field was printed over the top of the graph data on plotted results.  Also the page footer was printed over the bottom of the graph on plotted results when landscape page orientation was used.
• In the Test Editor, Continuous Method was not always set to a valid value.
• Printing configuration, 'cancel' button did not work.
• Printing configuration, current transducer details were not printed unless the data had been saved.
• There were also a number of other minor bug fixes made.

Comments

• Minimum system requirements were increased to Windows '95 in a 120MHz Pentium with 32MB RAM.
• There is no change to the database structure or usage at this release so current databases will be useable without modification.

Changes and additions

• User, Folders and Data File names can now start with numeric characters

Comments

• This software no longer operates with Windows 3.x. This is because the software uses VB4 which needs Windows OLE functions to operate. Windows 3.1 does not support OLE though Windows 3.11 does. Users with Windows 3.x cannot upgrade to this software without upgrading to at least Windows 3.11.