The Walls download site is
hosted by the Texas Speleological Survey. Additional program information, along
with a link to the most recent Walls build, will normally be
available at the TSS Web site.
To review the changes in the most recent program update, see the
RECENT
BUILD HISTORY section below. Because of the
way Walls is being developed, it's almost certainly the case that
the latest build is an improvement over the previous build and
compatible with existing project data. The build date is displayed
in the program's About box.
DOWNLOAD INSTRUCTIONS
To download the Walls v2 B8
setup program, select this link:
Walls_setup
(4.6 MB). When the download is complete, run Walls_setup.exe and follow the
instructions. If upgrading, you can use your existing Walls program
directory without explicitly uninstalling the earlier version. You shouldn't
have to purge work files and lose project-specific option settings. The prior release (B7)
is still available here,
but if you ever decide to revert back to an older version of Walls you'll have to
uninstall the newer version first.
A printable PDF manual, essentially a copy of the online help,
is installed during setup and is also available separately:
Walls manual (1.3 MB).
All that's missing in the manual are the pop-up windows with short descriptions.
Also part of the installation are two sample data sets
that demonstrate SVG round tripping, perhaps the most significant new component of recent
releases. If you run the Walls setup under Windows Vista and choose the default program location,
the sample projects will be installed in Vista's public folder, normally C:\Users\Public\Walls Projects.
If you're running Windows XP they are installed in Projects, a subfolder of the
chosen application folder. After opening Kaua North Maze.wpj (the setup
should do this when it closes), read the contents of the first project tree item, a
text file that describes the sample data and serves as a brief introduction to Walls2D and SVG map production.
A second sample project,
Tutorial.wpj, can serve as a getting started guide. While it also has an SVG
source file, its main purpose is to illustrate basic features of a georeferenced data
set.
SVG VIEWER SETUP
Walls incorporates an SVG map
viewer, WALLS2D.EXE, that's launched for viewing exported SVG
map documents. Much of its functionality, however, requires the
presence on your system of Adobe's free SVG viewer plug-in,
ASV 3.x. If you don't already have ASV installed, please obtain the
executable setup file, SVGVIEW.EXE, at the following Web
site:
Install the plug-in by simply
downloading and running SVGVIEW.EXE. The setup is quick and there
are no options. Links to this download site are also available in
the Walls2D About box and in the Walls help file.
Although Adobe has announced it will end official support of the viewer in January 2009, the
ASV EOL FAQ
states the following :
Adobe does not currently have plans to remove Adobe SVG Viewer from the Adobe.com download area.
Adobe recognizes that customers have built Web applications that depend on ASV being available for
download, and although Adobe does not plan to develop ASV further, we plan for the existing versions
to be available for download as long as our customers rely on them.
The FAQ also suggests that the viewer may have limitations when running under Windows Vista,
such as the View Source context menu option not working. (It does in fact work on my system when running Vista 64-bit SP1.)
These limitations are apparently minor and don't affect the functioning of Walls2D.
RECENT BUILD HISTORY
Version 2, B8 Release, Build 2008-12-26
Several Vista compatibility issues are addressed in this build. When run under Windows
Vista the Walls setup program stores the sample projects in Vista's "Public" folder if
the "Program Files" folder is chosen as the install location. This is to allow read/write
accessibility for all users. Also, the SVG map viewer, Walls2D, no longer uses the application
folder for temporary files. Under Vista that would disable the toolbar buttons that
control SVG layer visibility. See the above note regarding the
Vista compatibility (and future availability) of Adobe's SVG viewer.
Version 2, B8 Release, Build 2008-08-22
The substantial change in release B8 is the use of a different file
extension for project script files. The required extension is now WPJ instead of
PRJ. The renaming was done to avoid conflicts with the projection files used by
modern GIS software. The transition should be entirely automatic. Walls will still
recognize the PRJ files created by earlier releases but will prompt for confirmation
and automatically change their extensions to WPJ in the process of opening them.
New compiler versions (both for code and online help) were used for this
release. Windows Vista compatibility has been improved, for example the pop-up
windows in online help should now function properly under Vista.
You'll find a printable version of the online help, Walls_manual.pdf,
in the doc subfolder. There are several new or revised topics, mostly related to
SVG round tripping.
When exporting UTM shapefiles for datums NAD27, NAD83, and WGS-84, the program
now produces ESRI-compatible projection files with extension PRJ. The presence of a
PRJ component greatly simplifies adding shapefiles to GIS projects, allowing for
the automatic conversion of coordinates to a different datum or map projection when
it's required.
Miscellaneous minor fixes. An option to suppress the averaging of foresights and backsights was added to
the data format due to a suggestion by Bryan Signorelli.
Version 2, B7 Release, Build 2007-09-23
The SVG export function was revised to work around an annoying problem present in
all recent versions of Adobe Illustrator (especially CS3 it seems), which is the
tendency to occasionally rename an object or layer unnecessarily when writing an
SVG. For example, w2d Survey might be renamed w2d Survey_1_, even when it isn't
necessary for insuring ID uniqueness (an SVG requirement). This would cause Walls
error messages such as "invalid layer name" or "no vectors in view", the easiest fix
being to edit the SVG manually. To get around this bug, suffixes like "_1_" are now
removed during the processing of w2d layer names and vector IDs.
Two additional levels of prefixing were implemented with directives #PREFIX2
and #PREFIX3. This simplifies the merging of large surveying projects, where the
original level-one prefixes (field book numbers, for example) are not necessarily
unique and would cause conflicts. Jim Borden suggested this enhancement.
Miscellaneous fixes. In earlier builds, clicking the "Data summary" toolbar button without the
review dialogs being open would cause the program to close unexpectedly. The program should
now start up noticeably faster.
Version 2, B7 Release, Build 2006-06-02
IMPORTANT: If you downloaded a copy Walls from this site anytime between 2006-05-23
and the time of this build, you must optain this update to correct an issue
with first-time project compilations (which would fail with an error message).
The SVG merge function was fixed to properly support character entities
representing Unicode characters. Stan Allison helped discover this
limitation. A few other improvements were made to the SVG export module,
now at version 1.13.
The project management features were improved based on suggestions from
Jim Borden and Scott House. Duplicate shots are now optionally logged. It's now
possible to delete data files associated with project tree branches. The text
editor's search and replace dialog is now properly disabled for read-only files.
Miscellaneous fixes: The format of exported 3D shapefiles was not strictly correct, potentially
causing problems with readers. The button "Flag Symbols" on the Segments page was re-enabled
to open the Flag and Marker Symbols dialog. The report option to organize stations
by flag name now prints the flag name headings correctly.
Version 2, B7 Release, Build 2005-12-01
The SVG-related features, including the tutorial project's source SVG,
Polygon_w2d_mrg.svg, were updated to support roundtripping with the latest
Illustrator version, 12 (or CS2). For details, see Roundtripping SVG Maps - Instructions for Illustrator
Users in the help file.
The modules wallnet.dll and wallsrv.dll were eliminated, their code now part of Walls32.exe.
Also, to avoid incompatibilities with some laptop versions of Windows, the program files are no longer compressed.
The link to the Walls home page in the About box was updated.
Version 2, B7 Release, Build 2005-03-10
This release fixes a bug (discovered by Jim Borden) that causes text to sometimes not scroll
properly in an editor window.
Miscellaneous help file changes were made. Victor Komarov corrected an error in
the Data Screening Tutorial topic.
Version 2, B7 Release, Build 2005-01-10
The latest version of the
International
Geomagnetic Reference Field (IGRF) was incorporated. This is the mathematical model used to
estimate declination when the geographical calculator is active or when
declinations are computed automatically during data processing. The model now covers the period
Jan 1, 1900 through Dec 31, 2009.
A multi-level undo/redo capability was added to the text editor. This is accessed
in the standard way: from the toolbar, edit menu, or with keystrokes Ctrl-Z and
Ctrl-Y. It's now possible to reverse all changes made to a file since it was opened.
An option to enlarge LRUD polygons by a specified amount was added to the
Passage Display Options dialog as suggested by Mark Passerby. This can be used in
connection with SVG roundtripping to produce gradient-colored passage floors.
Making the polygons larger allows portions outside the drawn passage walls to
be clipped so that floor regions are entirely covered.
Version 2, B7 Release, Build 2004-12-17
Support was finally added for the manipulation and highlighting of traverse chains
in the Geometry and Map review pages. If you're already somewhat familiar with the data screening tools in Walls, you
can review a documentation
excerpt to get a sense of what this entails.
Improvements were made to the report dialogs and their methods
of access via tool bar and file menu. Coordinate reports can be restricted to data appearing within
the current view frame. When the program sorts project tree branches and station
names in reports, strings of digits are handled properly -- for example, "A30" comes before "A100".
To help prevent inadvertent editing, project files can be compiled, opened, and navigated in
read-only mode. Jim Borden is largely responsible for these changes.
There is a new item on the right-click context menu for screen maps named Resize map frame.
It allows us to quickly change the overall map size (resolution) without affecting the view or
other map attributes. The change can apply to just the active map window or can be saved as the default
for new map windows.
To aid computer map drafting, an SVG export option is now available that places
cross section rectangles alongside LRUD bars. This can occur only for LRUD
specifications with a "C" argument following the last dimension number or facing
azimuth. Examples: *1,3,1,0,c*, <.5,1,5,1,270,C>. The check box for this option is
in the Advanced SVG Export Settings dialog. (Thanks to Mark Passerby for detailing
this feature.)
Backup archives now store items that were originally outside the project's folder
tree in suitably named subfolders. The stored PRJ file is modified accordingly,
preventing the "blank page icon" problem that sometimes occurred after extraction.
Bill Stone encouraged this improvement which simplifies transporting large
projects to different computers.
Version 2, B7 Release, Build 2004-08-19
This is a maintenance release of Walls with miscellaneous improvements
to the interface, help file, and error reporting. The search and replace functions were
significantly upgraded. See Program Operation - Search Operations in the help file.
Version 2, B7 Release, Build 2004-05-20
SVG roundtripping now works with the latest Adobe Illustrator version (11 or CS), which has improved support for the SVG format. Also, with both AI10 and AI11 you can now decorate your maps with linked or embedded images, rotated or path-aligned text, and SVG filter effects. Such artwork will correctly conform to view or survey changes after processing by Walls. This processing has been revised so that symbols, text, and unnamed groups of objects can be placed in shp layers and their north-relative orientation will be preserved. (Unlike passage outlines, for example, they will be translated and scaled but not morphed.) As before, placing such objects in sym layers preserves their page-relative orientation. Numerous other improvements were made to SVG export/import operations. See SVG Layer Definitions in the help file and the updated sample in the Walls\Projects\Tutorial Project folder.
The shadowed box at left was created with an SVG filter, which is more flexible and efficient than an effect that has to be rasterized and embedded as an image. The large rocks are symbol instances placed in layer w2d Detail shp. Their positions might change with an adjustment, but their orientation with respect to the rotated grid is preserved. This is also true for the path-aligned text.
The Color Gradient Dialog now has an "Apply to Map" button that updates (without closing the dialog) all open map frames with the color gradient you've temporarily defined. If you then cancel the dialog, the previously defined gradient is preserved while keeping any changes to the map displays. This feature (suggested by Jim Borden) makes it much easier to choose an effective color range. Also, an "Apply to Map" button replaces "Update" on the Segments page of the Review dialog. This refreshes all open map frames with the color settings on that page.
Miscellaneous improvements: The options to view previously generated SVG and VRML files behave differently. If an SVG file is highlighted in the project tree, the operation will open that specific file. Otherwise, you'll pick from a date-sorted list of files in the project folder.
Version 2, B7 Release, Build 2004-03-20
The most significant change with this build is that survey vectors
and flagged stations are automatically highlighted as you move
the mouse pointer over a displayed map. Upon selecting an object you can jump to either its definition in the raw data or to its
position in the statistics tables. Another choice is to display all compiled
information about the object. The information window is also available from the
editor and Traverse page context menus and has buttons for copying coordinates
directly to the geographical calculator. See topic Vector Properties Window in
the help file.
Vector highlighting is enabled when a screen pixel represents
two meters or less. If an enclosing rectangle is present,
right-clicking displays a menu like the one at left. If the
pointer is not near an object when you click, a
different menu appears -- one that supports zooming, layer
toggling, and other operations.
The help file topic Accessing Walls from Other Applications
documents how an external program, such as Huw Millington's
Windows Grep, can be tightly
integrated with Walls to perform specialized searches (involving wildcards, etc.) across project data files.
Numerous minor improvements. Examples:
The display statuses of station notes and flags are preserved project settings.
Color selection buttons show the current color or gradient type
when the mouse pointer pauses over them. Rendering of
gradient-colored LRUD passages was improved. The tutorial sample project was expanded.
Thanks for taking the time
to look the program over. Please contact me if you have suggestions
or need additional information.
WALLS -
Tools for Cave Survey Data Management
