2.1

Version 1.0 Pre-Production release

2.2

Version 1.1 First Production release

This release includes the following enhancements:

2.2.1

XMaster Developer: Info Box Editor and editable Info Boxes
This allows the developer to specify additional information to be attached to each Hypothesis and each Item of Evidence

2.2.2

XMaster Developer: Options...Terminology
This allows the developer to specify terminology specific to each knowledge base under development in place of the default terminology of "Hypotheses" and "Evidence".

2.2.3

Modified .XGN file structure
Version 1.1 has a different .XGN file structure to version 1.0. Both XMaster Developerand XMaster User Version 1.1 will read both Version 1.0 and Version 1.1 file structures but XMaster Developer will save all files in Version 1.1 format. XMasterVersion 1.0 cannot read files saved in Version 1.1 format.

2.3

Version 1.11

This release includes the following enhancements:

2.3.1

Enhanced XMaster DeveloperHypothesis and Evidence Views
The Hypothesis and Evidence Views in XMaster Developer now take account of any Terminology Options specified; and, also, have a more active labelling of the various parts of the display to aid usability.

2.4

Version 1.12

This release includes the following enhancements:

2.4.1

A wider range of font sizes is available for printed reports and within the BYOES Data Editor.

2.5

Version 1.13

This release includes the following enhancements:

2.5.1

XMaster Developer andXMaster User: no longer issue a blank page prior to printing Reports.

2.5.2

XMaster Developer andXMaster User: Probabilities are presented to fewer decimal places in Reports.

2.5.3

XMaster Developer: The Hypothesis and Evidence Views in XMaster Developer now have a modified labelling of the Prior Probability frame.

2.5.4

Session Logs: The Date of sessions saved to the log is now displayed in the Long Date format as specified in the Control Panel of the host system.

2.6

Version 1.20

This release includes the following enhancements:

2.6.1

Session Logs: Menu system added. The command button functionality is now replicated in the menu system.

2.6.2

From XMaster Developerthe current knowledge base can now be exported as a plain ASCII text file or as an Excel spreadsheet. The purpose of this is to enable examination and checking of the knowledge base or its incorporation into other documents.

2.6.3

XMaster DeveloperSession Log Import facility added. Using XMaster Developer the contents of Session Logs attached to other copies of the current knowledge base can now be imported into the current Session Log. This enables results obtained from a variety of copies of XMaster User to be consolidated into a single copy of the knowledge base.

2.6.4

XMaster DeveloperExcel inter working added.

2.6.4.1

From XMaster Developerthe current knowledge base can now be exported to an Excel spreadsheet.

2.6.4.2

From XMaster Developerthe Session Logs can be exported to an Excel spreadsheet; or the contents of an Excel spreadsheet can be imported as additional records to the current Session Log.

When importing records from an Excel spreadsheet to the current Session Log the recommended procedure is to first Export a Session Log containing sample records to an Excel Spreadsheet and then to use this spreadsheet as a template to determine the correct format for any subsequent spreadsheet records to be imported.
Note that the Session Name field (eg Bill Bloggs) in each spreadsheet record to be imported must be non-blank.

See On-line Help (Excel, spreadsheets, Import, Export) for more information.

The Excel inter working facility provides, amongst other things, a means by whichXMaster can be used to carry out batch processing of data obtained from other sources.

[Note: there must be a copy of Microsoft's Excel spreadsheet available on the system and in the path to make use of these options.]

2.7

Version 1.21

This release includes the following enhancements:

2.7.1

XMaster Developer: revised formats have been adopted for on-screen probability displays.

2.7.2

XMaster Developer andXMaster User. New /nb start-up command line parameter suppresses the creation of .BAK backup files when a .XGN knowledge base is opened.

2.8

Version 1.23

This release includes the following enhancements:

2.8.1

XMaster Developer: The Options...Thresholds, Increments, and Calculations dialog boxes no longer have the OK button enabled when no knowledge base is loaded. (Note: The OK button updates values in the current knowledge base only and has no effect without a knowledge base being loaded.)

2.9

Version 1.24

This release includes the following enhancements:

2.9.1

XMaster User: Enhancements to the control mechanism which controls the ordering of question-asking. This typically means that XMaster consultations need to ask fewer questions in order to reach their conclusions.

2.9.2

XMaster Developer andXMaster User: Minor enhancements to the display of probability values shown in Reports and via the Info buttons.

2.9.3

XMaster Developer: Minor enhancements to the wording on the Hypotheses View and Evidence View.

3.0

Version 1.25

This release includes the following enhancements:

3.0.1

XMaster Developerand XMaster User: Enhancements to the display which should give better presentation on different monitor sizes and resolutions.

3.0.2

XMaster Developerand XMaster User: The Windows...Maximize menu option sets theXMaster window to the size needed to display its entire contents and centres it on the screen. Previously this menu option enlarged the display to full screen irrespective of whether or not it was useful to do so.

4.0

Version 1.26

This release includes the following enhancements:

4.0.1

XMaster Developer andXMaster User: Info boxes may now contain up to 2,048 characters (previous limit 1.024 characters).

5.0

Version 1.265

This release includes the following enhancements:

5.0.1

XMaster Developer: The detailed reports now show the conditional probabilities of any associations.

5.0.2

XMaster Developer: The exported reports (obtained using Edit...Export...ASCII orEdit...Export...Excel) now include details of Info Box entries and Question Text.

6.0

Version 1.267

This release includes the following enhancements:

6.1

XMaster Developerand XMaster User: Session Logs: unavailable or inappropriate menu options and command buttons are disabled at such times as they are unavailable or inappropriate to use.

9.0

Version 1.27

This release includes the following enhancements:

9.1

XMaster Developerand XMaster User: Session Logs: Import and Export menu options are available from XMaster User as well as from XMaster Developer.

9.2

XMaster Developer: Excel Interworking: It is now possible to both import and export a knowledge base in Excel workbook format. This means that it is now possible to develop entire knowledge bases in Excel.

11.0

Version 1.28

This release includes the following enhancements:

11.1

XMaster Developerand XMaster User: Session Logs: When importing from Excel XMaster first checks the records to be imported to ensure that they have the correct number of Items of Evidence and that those Items of Evidence have the correct names to match those already in the receiving knowledge base.

11.2

XMaster Developer: When importing a knowledge base from Excel the five worksheets in the imported Excel workbook may be named either:
"Summary Details"
"Hypotheses and Info"
"Hypotheses and Associations"
"Evidence Questions and Info"
"Evidence and Associations"
or, may be named using the Excel default worksheet names:
"Sheet1"
"Sheet2"
"Sheet3"
"Sheet4"
"Sheet5"

12.0

Version 1.281

This release includes the following enhancements:

12.1

At start-up XMaster now attempts to check which symbol is being used as the Windows default decimal symbol and, if it is not the English decimal point symbol (.) it prompts the user to change to that symbol and, if requested, will attempt to change to that symbol itself.
If it cannot make the change, it will advise the user and give advice on making the change from Windows Control Panel.

12.2

XMaster Developer and XMaster User: these products are now distributed on a CD-ROM containing the XMaster Installer installation program providing an easy-to-use installation interface.
Also included on the CD-ROM are .pdf copies of all four XMaster manuals together with copies of the Adobe Acrobat Reader program.
XMaster Developer and XMaster User are still available on floppy disc if required.

12.3

XMaster Developer and XMaster User: minor improvements have been made to the way that information is presented in the Info Boxes.

12.4

XMaster Developer and XMaster User: these programs start more quickly now.

13.0

Version 1.30

This release includes the following enhancements:

13.1

XMaster Developer and XMaster User: these products now use Windows MSI Installer technology.

14.0

Version 2.00

This release includes the following enhancements:

14.1

XMaster> version 2.00 and higher now uses full 32 bit working for compatibility with the latest versions of Windows.