ProSteel 2008 changes

Release 5.32h, 28 Dec 2008

• The only change in this release is that it will validate 2010 and later activation keys. As before, the last three digits of our activation keys indicate the key validity, YMM. For 2010 and later the year is indicated by a letter, A=2010; B=2011, thus a key ending in 911 will unlock releases to Nov 2009, A07, July 2010

Release 5.32g, 18 Nov 2008

• There are no functional changes in this release. Our new Australian business name, Greentram Software Pty Ltd has been substituted for Survey Design Associates Ltd in copyright and disclaimer messages, and on first-time installs folders are now named Greentram rather than SDA (e.g. default install folder becomes C:\Program Files\Greentram). If you install this release or future releases as an update, the previous folders will be used. The program configuration files will continue to be called SDA_Apps.ini. The location of this/these file(s) will be retrieved from registry keys HKLM/HKCU Software\Greentram if present, otherwise HKLM/HKCU Software\SDA. If the last sentence means nothing to you, then you don't need to know it!

Release 5.32f: 16 Sept 2008

1. Beams can now have up to 50 (was 25) loads.
2. If you used a channel as a column with the load being applied in position 4 (i.e. offset from the flange end of the web), the resulting moment was miscalculated (too high) - fixed.
3. Entering a negative value in a calculated field (e.g. a point load of -5.0) gave an 'expression cannot start with an operator' error - fixed
4. The number of decimal points shown each column of the beam analysis reflects the maximum value in the column.
5. The Check Website for Updates dialog now has an extra button that lets you download an update using your default web browser - this should help some users with firewall problems, but you still need to have internet access to check on which updates are available
6. If your activation key validity expired some months ago, you may be offered a release which is not the most recent, just the most recent one you're entitled to as determined by your activation. Previously you might be unaware that a later version was available: now you are explicitly told when this is the case.
7. Menu options that accessed sda.co.uk are now directed to superbeam.co.uk.
8. If you are running ProSteel on a Windows/95/98/ME system the disclaimer and licence screen shows an warning message stating that support for these platforms will be withdrawn before too long. ProSteel is written using CodeGear Delphi and the latest version, just released, builds programs that will only run on Windows 2000, XP and Vista. We do need to make the change once we have tested and approved the new version, as it takes advantage of features that are in current Windows releases but not earlier ones.

Release 5.32e: 20 June 2008

1. If a member fails, this is now noted in the Project Summary
2. Load expressions containing a comma are now handled: previously if such an expression found its way into a project file (it shouldn't have) the file could not be read in.
3. A lower case 'l' in load expressions is now uppercased if it precedes a '/' (e.g. l/2 is turned into L/2) or follows a number (e.g. 0.5l is turned into 0.5L). Before this change 'l' was discarded, possibly leaving an invalid expression.
4. Additional moments on columns can now be entered as expressions.
5. Where the section type is ASB, adding beam openings should not have been allowed. Trying to do so now gives a message to this effect (in practice you would almost never be using a ASB where openings are required)
6. For fin plate connections, the check 10 (ii) punching shear (conservative) is now carried out. For this to be satisfied the yield strength of the supporting member must exceed that of the fin plate. A S275 6mm fin plate requires a minimum support web or hollow section wall thickness of 4.02/3.37mm (S275/S355), an 8mm plate 5.37/4.49mm. If the supporting member thickness is less than this you will need to reduce the fin plate thickness accordingly. In practice this only affects fin plates being welded to thin wall hollow sections.
7. Where the vertical height of the Project Manager and number of items was such that the item list finished with an incompletely displayed row, clicking on the last (part) row displayed the wrong item. Now only whole rows are shown.
8. A basic standard notes file is now installed in the program folder on new installs. If the file shown in Configuration, User Setup is not found, the default file will be copied over to the user's data folder (the file name and location is shown in Configuration, Information and in the notes edit dialog). Obviously the intention is that users will modify the default notes to suit their own needs.
9. A new option on the Help menu takes you straight to our new User forums - please use these where possible for your questions, feedback and suggestions. Our previous website helpdesk is no longer in use.

Release 5.32c: 26 March 2008/5.32d: 3 April 2008

1. A new option on the Steel page of the beam data edit dialog lets you enter a non-default effective length, As elsewhere, use 'L' to denote the span and 'D' for the beam depth.
2. Where you have more than one opening in a beam web, the openings are now sorted into order when you press 'Apply'. If two or more openings are too close (i.e. not separated by the beam depth), a message to this effect is added to the openings calculation sheet. This is not flagged as a fail condition since you may have entered two alternative openings.
3. This release incorporates various changes required to make it work in countries that do not use a period, '.' as the decimal separator
4. Some additional error checking has been added which should make it easier to diagnose startup and shutdown problems.
5. An extra option on the Miscellaneous menu takes you to a page on our website https://www.superbeam.co.uk/renew which lets you renew your update cover online. From the end of April we will not be taking credit card payments ourselves. This option is greyed out until 45 days before your update cover expires.
6. 5.32d fixes a problem with page heading column widths: on accessing the heading editor the widths were lost and could not be reset.

Release 5.32b: 4 Feb 2008

Pressing 'Apply' after editing a text page could give a 'List index out of bounds' error - fixed