ProSteel 5: 2004 changes

Release 5.20f: 7 December 2004

1. Generally we are now displaying numbers with just one decimal place where further digits are '0'. Previously we displayed three or four significant figures, e.g. a beam span that was printed as 2.100m is now printed as 2.1m
2. For beams extended as cantilevers using total load entry, the actual maximum deflection on the span is now calculated: previously the mid-span deflection was calculated. The latter is still calculated for Dead+Live load entry so that both LL and total load deflections are being calculated at the same point
3. The presentation of calculations for true cantilever members have been revised slightly (e.g. length now described as 'Length', not 'Span')
4. The load colour selected in the Beam Diagram Options dialog was not visible on XP systems - fixed
5. When an OLE page was printed from within the Print Project option the omit page heading option was ignored - fixed
6. The beam load and steel column load edit dialogs now display a hint panel below the load entry table which shows the input required in the currently selected field. This should be of particular help to new and occasional users.
7. If you change an existing load type entry in the beam or column load entry tables to '-' the row contents are now deleted as soon as you move off the row
8. The beam span, column length and B/F reaction, load position fields now have spin buttons.
9. If you try and save a project and the existing file is read-only a message to this effect is now displayed, giving you the option of overwriting the existing file. Previously you just got a 'Could not create backup' message - the non-obvious workaround was just to save your project under another name.
10. The Project Manager item description now includes the beam span or column length.
11. The Project Manager and Toolbar fonts can now be changed using the Configuration, Screen and Printer fonts option
12. The option to change the Project Manager display width from within the Configuration, User Setup dialog has now been removed. As before you can resize it by dragging the splitter bar to the immediate right of the Project Manager.
13. The Catalogue Project Files option now immediately displays a list of files with 'Open' buttons next to each file name. Press the 'Change' button to change the file mask.
14. A new field in the Configuration, User Setup dialog, Preferences page lets you change how multiple section beams are described, e.g. 2No or 2 of. Note that if your chosen descriptor requires a space before it, you must enter this, also any change made here does not affect calculations that have already been done.

Release 5.20e: 2 August 2004

• A masonry strength calculator has been added: press the small button captioned '...' to the right of each masonry strength field in the beam edit dialog bearings page and you get a dialog into which you can enter the masonry and mortar strengths, unit type and bearing class. From these the factored masonry strength is calculated automatically and an explanatory calculation is added to the bearing notes.

• The steel column baseplate edit dialog now shows the actual minimum required dimensions in brackets after the specified dimensions - the latter are never changed by the program if they exceed the required minima.
• You can now enter negative additional moments on columns

Release 5.20d: 17 June 2004

• Fixes bug introduced into 5.20c that stopped charts being printed

Release 5.20c: 15 May 2004

1. Bug fixed that caused bearing notes to be printed in the wrong position (or not at all)
2. Bug fixed that stopped you loading a file by double clicking on a file name if the file name contained one or more spaces
3. The bearing page of the beam edit dialog and the calculation algorithm have been amended slightly. The minimum required bearing length (for padstones and bearing plates) and plate thickness (for bearing plates) are now shown in brackets after the respective fields. As before, if you enter values that are greater than these they will not be changed when you press 'Apply'. If the bearing length is less, it is now rounded up to the next figure above the minimum (25mm steps to 225mm then 50mm steps). The plate thickness is rounded up to the next higher standard plate thickness: 5, 6, 8, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50mm. For each bearing there is now a small 'Recalc' button that calculates the rounded minima bearing length and plate thickness

Release 5.20b: 22 March 2004

1. For double notch connections the top notch dimension was printed twice instead of the top and bottom notch dimensions. The moment capacity of the notched section was not calculated correctly, but in practice this check is almost never critical
2. The Project, Print Project menu option did not work - fixed
3. For steel beam calculations deflection is now shown as a fraction of the span to tie in with the deflection limits in BS5950 (e.g. L/333 rather than 0.003L),

Release 5.20a: 5/6 March 2004

The key change (which affects us, not you) is that the program is now compiled using Borland Delphi 7 which has enabled us to make some enhancements to the user interface. If you are running Windows 95 or Windows NT4 you must install (if you have not already done so) a copy of Internet Explorer 5 or 6, which is included on most computer magazine cover disks. Doing this updates certain parts of Windows to current standards. All Windows 98/ME/2000/XP systems incorporate the required components.

1. If you are running the program under Windows XP you will now see XP style buttons (with rounded corners and which shimmer if you hold the mouse over them) and other refinements. As part of this change you can no longer change the program desktop colour.
2. The toolbar now displays captions under the toolbar buttons. To change the font used or turn them off, right click on the toolbar and select the appropriate option from the popup menu.
3. The help file now uses Microsoft HTML Help with an index down the left hand side. The new help file is called PSW.CHM. The old file (PSW.HLP) can be deleted once the new version is installed and you have confirmed that the online help works correctly
4. Cascade windows on opening project option in User Preferences was ignored: fixed
5. Increment/decrement spinners have been added to the column length fields
6. The maximum length of text that can be entered in any heading cell has been increased from 80 to 240 characters
7. You can now change the calculation screen font size without using the Configuration Menu option: use the Alt+Plus and Alt+Minus (numeric keypad '+' and '-') keys to enlarge or reduce the font size
8. Following present day usage, references to 'Stanchion' have been changed to 'Column'
9. The steel grade is now shown next to the section name on beam and column calculations
10. 'HF' (hot-finished) and the weight and are now added to hollow section section names. The significance of the former is that ProSteel's calculations are only valid for hot-finished hollow sections, not cold-formed ones.
11. The Project Manager 'Expand' button status (up/down) is saved when you exit and restored on startup
12. The calculator now includes keys to recall the last expression ('#') and to calculate VAT (at 17.5%) on the last result or current entry. A similar change has been made to the free standalone calculator on the CD

User requested enhancements

1. The beam analysis now omits the deflection coefficient. The actual total deflection is shown as before, and if you are using separate dead+live load entry the actual dead and live load deflections
2. For steel beams you can now add multi-line notes to each bearing - previously you were restricted to one 80-character line. Standard notes can be used as elsewhere. If you've selected the 'Show notes in summary' option these notes are now also shown in the Project Summary: to avoid confusion in the summary the main notes are printed before the bearings details
3. A 'Change Description' option has been added to OLE pages which (as the name implies) lets you substitute your own description (e.g. 'Connection detail') for the default 'OLE Object: Word Document' etc.
4. An alternative way of numbering pages has been added: the Print dialog now offers you two options: Sequential numbering (1,2,3...) as before, with the first number selectable by the user; or 'Number by content'. If you choose the latter, pages are given the same number as the item, with a second number for subpages, e.g. if a beam is item 12 in the Project Manager and on the Project Summary, the printouts will be numbered 12.1 and (if more than one sheet) 12.2
5. Where necessary the on-screen beam load table is resized to stop the beam description and span overwriting one another
6. By design calculated field entries ignore extraneous text which may clarify an expression - e.g 'avg' or 'est'. To save risks of errors being introduced, any instances of upper case 'O' are now flagged as an error, before 2O would be interpreted as 2, not 20.

Major changes to column design routines - PLEASE NOTE

A new example file DemoP326.ps5 is included which contains worked examples from the newly published SCI Publication P326 'Steelwork Design Guide to BS5950-1:2000 - Volume 2: Worked Examples'. These have shown up some errors in the column design routines in ProSteel which have been corrected. These changes are fully described in the program readme file. In addition the calculation layout has been revised for greater clarity. The unity equation is no longer printed where the member is only subject to an axial load