Robochart/OL8.1, Robochart/XM2.1 Release Notes - January 1998
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This is an enhancement release of the Robochart Flow Diagram
Editor, including some major new features, other improvements,
and some bug fixes.

* Internet/WEB support: Robochart can export diagrams in image
  formats (e.g. GIF), so that you can include them in HTML web
  documents, and import them into programs that don't support
  vector formats like EPSF. In addition, Robochart can generate
  HTML files, containing maps matching shape positions in the
  diagram image, so that you can build web pages where clicking
  on diagram shapes activates links to other pages. The links
  can be manually specified, or can be automatically-generated
  links to other generated files based on a Robochart hierachical
  diagram.

* Tooltalk interface: Robochart supports the Tooltalk standard
  for communication between applications. It accepts many
  different messages allowing external programs to control
  the display and editing of diagrams in a Robochart window,
  so that you can integrate custom capabilities into the
  diagram editor or remote-control Robochart from another
  program. It also generates notices so that you can coordinate
  other programs in response to user actions in the editor.

* Improved editing feedback: Full object shapes and labels, 
  rather than simplified outlines, are displayed as you
  move and resize parts of the diagram.

* Curved flow lines: Each flow (arrow) with vertices can be
  displayed (and printed) as either straight line segments or
  a smooth curved line.

* Improved shape customization: While all custom shape definitions
  you create are saved in your configuration file, only those
  actually used in a diagram are stored in that diagram's 
  document file. Robochart maintains separate shape lists for 
  global shape definitions, user-defined custom shapes,
  and diagram-defined shapes. This prevents your personal
  configuration from being modified when you load someone else's
  diagram. You can delete custom shape definitions in the
  Shape Definition window, to revert to the global definition.

* Autoconnect feature: if you delete an object with links to
  two other objects, the other objects are automatically connected
  together across the gap. For example, if you have
  [A]-->[B]-->[C] and delete [B], Robochart will connect [A]-->[B].

* Objects with hierarchical sublevels are easier to locate:
  the Show Page window shows these object with a diagonal line
  across the box.

* You can add special characters like bullets to label text.

* The new label symbol ".NPAGES." is replaced with the
  number of pages in the current document during printing
  (so you can do something like "Page .PAGE. of .NPAGES.").

* The "Load Template" option in the FIle menu loads a diagram 
  file but resets the current name, forcing you to enter a 
  new name before saving the file. This makes it easier to 
  keep "template" or "boilerplate" diagrams and not worry
  about accidentally overwriting them.

* The OPEN LOOK Load File window includes a "Pattern" field, 
  to limit the scrolling list to only show filenames matching 
  that pattern.

* The Motif version has resources to configure whether to
  beep when popping up alert messages, and whether to display
  alert messages at the current pointer position.

* You can set dynamic defaults for object attributes to be
  global or per-shape. For example, you change a box to have
  a red border, then set a circle to have a blue border. With global 
  defaults, the next object you create will default to a blue border. 
  With per-shape defaults, only circles default to blue; the next
  box you create will be red.

* You can enter a specific range of pages to print in the
  Print/Export window.

* The object edit popup menu shows the current object's
  shape number.

* Robochart will not overwrite your configuration file when exiting
  if the file was modified externally (e.g. if you manually
  edited it).

* The built-in box and ellipse shapes come with a larger set of
  default flow attach points for better appearance in complex
  diagrams.

* When pasting a group of objects, Robochart avoids positioning the
  group with any objects outside the accessible drawing area.

* When exporting to a sequence of files, Robochart generates names
  with embedded numbers (e.g. "chart.002.mif") rather than appended
  numbers ("chart.mif.2"), so the filename extension is easier to see.

* Spacing between text lines has been adjusted, so that underscores
  are always visible. This change can be disabled with an
  environment variable if you need old diagrams to display
  exactly as they used to.

* The "Cut" key deletes flows even if flows are the only things 
  selected. Note that flows by themselves don't go into the
  clipboard.

* The Undo command now works properly. In the previous version,
  some undo operations with object deletion in multi-level
  diagrams would confuse Robochart, resulting in a corrupted 
  diagram file.

* The OPEN LOOK Load Diagram popup window no longer alters the
  current save file name.

* The batch print program "rcprint" now prints the correct
  range of pages when a range is given on the command line.

* Robochart no longer has trouble reading very long input lines
  in diagram files (e.g. custom shape definitions with large
  numbers of attach points).