SuperBeam: 2003 changes

Release 4.40b, 31 December 2003

1. The XP Theme support in 4.40a didn't work properly - fixed
2. In the beam edit dialog, if you made a change to steel or timber data and then just pressed 'Close' you were asked whether the changes should be saved: even if you selected 'Yes' the calculation was not updated - fixed
3. The standard load names did not appear in the timber post edit dialog load table - fixed

Release 4.40a, 23 December 2003

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 SBW.CHM. The old file (SBW.HLP) can be deleted once the new version is installed and you have confirmed that the online help works correctly
4. A check is now made to ensure that the slenderness ratio of timber posts and studs does note exceed 180: a warning message is printed if it does
5. Cascade windows on opening project option in User Preferences was ignored: fixed
6. Increment/decrement spinners have been added to the stanchion and post length fields
7. The maximum length of text that can be entered in any heading cell has been increased from 80 to 240 characters (in practice of course you would never use anything like this). If you have SuperHeat and/or ProSteel do not use this facility on heading templates shared with them until you get versions of these programs with the corresponding change.
8. You can now instantly change the calculation screen font size using the Alt+Plus and Alt+Minus (numeric keypad '+' and '-') keys to enlarge or reduce the font size

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. For timber beams and posts, you can now design for Service Class 3 (wet) conditions: the appropriate K2 factors will be incorporated in the calculation. If (as suggested to various users) you have created your own timber data file with an SC3 (wet) grade use this or check the 'Wet' box in the appropriate dialog; do not do both.
4. 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.

Release 4.30b, 17 September 2003

This fixes two small bugs in 4.30a:

1. If you deselected 'Reload last project' you could get an 'error 103' message on starting the program under Windows 98

2. The B/F load option on timber posts did not work correctly with total loads - fixed

Release 4.30a, 8 August 2003

• The timber post load entry has been revised in line with the new stanchion load entry introduced in version 4.25. You now enter loads in a table, much as for beams, and can give loads descriptive names

• The screen and printer font dialogs have been combined into one dialog with two tabbed pages. You can now select the line spacing and blank line size

• The maximum fields lengths for beams have been increased: load name from 20 to 24, loads 14 to 20, start and end positions 11 to 14.

• The drop-down values for timber beam span deflections now include 14mm, the BS5268 figure for floor joists. The printout now shows the deflection limit you entered, rather than 0.003L: if this is anything other than 0.003L or 14mm an additional note stating that this is a user-defined value is printed

• The heading template edit dialog has been improved

• OLE page didn't show in Print Project selection dialog - fixed

• We have made some small changes to the autosave code to try and overcome problems reported by one or two users

Release 4.25d, 23 March 2003

This fixes two small bugs that have surfaced recently:

Release 4.25c, 30 March 2003

This fixes a bug in 4.25b which could cause Access Violations on startup

Release 4.25b, 28 March 2003

This fixes several minor bugs mainly connected with the new stanchion load handling introduced in 4.25a:

1. Changing a stanchion load name didn't enable the Apply button - fixed

2. Pressing Undo button in stanchion load edit dialog didn't refresh table (underlying values were restored) - fixed

3. Checking or unchecking the 'Extends above' button in the stanchion edit dialog did have the desired effect, but on occasions the note re proportioning of moments would be printed when it was not applicable and not actually done -fixed

4. The 'Extend above' setting could be applied when reading back a project although this box was not checked when the project was saved - fixed

5. You could not enter a negative additional moment on a stanchion - fixed (note that load offset positions 1 & 3 are assumed to generate a positive moment; 2 & 4 a negative moment)

6. When you first started the program, if you were very quick you could end up with the contents of two projects being merged - fixed

7. The Project Details dialog now contains an extra field containing the project start information (which is printed at the top of the Project Summary).

8. For Euronorm sections (IPE/HE) the rolling weight is now shown after the section name

9. We have also tightened up the line spacing on printouts slightly so in some cases a calculation that previously took two sheets will now fit on one.

Release 4.25a, 15 March 2003

This is an interim release that mirrors the changes made in ProSteel 5.1 in areas common to both programs. SuperBeam 4.3 will be released in April with reworked post and stud load, as already implemented for stanchions in ProSteel 5.1 and here.

1. The stanchion load entry has been completely revised. You now enter loads in a table, much as for beams, and can give loads descriptive names

2. The eight section type limit has been increased to 12. A new ALLSTEEL.DTA file includes section properties for Euronorm IPE (narrow flange) and HE (wide flange) I sections, also for RHS sections bent about their minor axis

3. The beam and stanchion load entry tables now show alternate rows in two different colours. These can be changed from within the Configuration, Colours dialog.

4. In release 4.20i we added a small button to the timber page of the beam design dialog which let you change the standard timber widths. The only effect of making changes here was to change what was shown in the drop-down lists: the program still calculated the required width or depth working in 25mm increments. Now when you ask the program to calculate the required width or depth it works along the values in these lists, so if (for example) the lists only contain regularised sizes only they will be used

5. When you start a new project you are asked for the project details and a file name. A new message box is then displayed telling you that you add beams and other items to the project using the toolbar buttons

6. The Print Project dialog is now resizeable and shows the items not selected and selected for printing in two list boxes. You can now drag items from one list to the other and also select multiple items with [Ctrl]+mouse click before pressing the appropriate button

7. PDF files produced by the program can now be merged with other non-protected PDF files if you have a copy of Adobe Acrobat (the full version, not just the free reader)

8. On a beam extended as a cantilever, shear was not checked at the root of the cantilever - fixed

9. Where a stanchion had equal and opposite beam reactions bearing on it, the fact that there was no net moment was taken as implying that the stanchion was axially loaded only and the reactions were ignored - fixed

10. The Project Manager 'Move up' and 'Move down' buttons do not do anything if the result would be to move an item above one whose data it accesses

11. We have made a number of changes which make the program run faster

SuperBeam user page and 2004 changes

2001 and earlier changes . 2002 changes .