What’s new
For new metadata documents, the default style sheet is no longer expected to be a copy of NBII_classic.xsl in the document directory.
Instead, the program now defaults to the copy of NBII_classic.xsl in the program directory. This works even if you install to a program
directory other than the default of C:\Program Files\Metavist.
Version 1.0 placed a shortcut on the desktop. Version 1.2 places a shortcut on the desktop and adds a shortcut to the Start menu. This
should more closely conform to Windows XP expectations of very little desktop content. It can also help reduce the desktop clutter for
Windows 2000 users who don’t use the software frequently.
Export HTML feature
One major feature has been added to the program — the ability to directly export HTML suitable for use in a Web browser.
Version 1.0 relied on the use of style sheets to display the underlying XML in a browser. A drawback of this approach was that
any paragraph structure in the XML representation was lost in the HTML display. The HTML exported from the program retains the
paragraph structure, making it easier to read the metadata document.
To use this feature: create or open metadata document, go to File menu and select "Export HTML". You will be asked to specify
a style sheet and then specify a destination file for the HTML. The output is UTF-8, all special characters are preserved,
paragraph breaks are preserved. Firefox displays the output file correctly as it written. IE needs you to open the file in Notepad
and re-save it (same name or new name, doesn't matter) — this will cause any special characters, such as m-dashes or Greek letters,
to display correctly. Because of the prevalence of IE as a browser, performing the Notepad step is probably worthwhile.
A couple of files in the program directory demonstrate this. "special.xml" is a very short metadata document that just has some
special characters in the Abstract element. "special.html" is the HTML output from the program that displays correctly in Firefox but
not IE; "special.notepad.html" has been opened and saved in Notepad (no other changes) and it displays correctly in both Firefox and IE.
Disclaimer: This feature was added fairly quickly and does not have as much error checking/recovery/reporting as the rest of the program.
While this will be addressed in version 2.0, you should be aware that the HTML export feature may be somewhat fragile. And I would
greatly appreciate hearing of problems you encounter with it (or any other part of the program).
Bug Fixes
Version 1.1
Planar Coordinate System Definition (reported by Ken Papp, Alaska DNR)
Ken: Why do I get an error telling me that I have changed the grid projection and that parameters need to be updated if I only
made changes to the "Planar Coordinate Information" (i.e. layer name or abscissa resolution)? This requires me to click
on "Edit Parameters" in the "Coordinate System" tab, do nothing, click "OK", then click "OK" again.
Dave: This is symptomatic of a more generic problem – If you fire up a copy of Metavist, open a document that has Spatial Reference
Info already present, go to the Spatial Reference tab and click on Edit in the Planar area, your pre-defined Planar Coordinate System
Definition pops up. Click on OK without doing anything else and the “Specification error” message (displayed below) incorrectly pops up.

Bug is fixed; December 1, 2005
Time Period of Content (reported by Dave Rugg, USDA Forest Service)
If you set a single date and then convert to a range of dates, the initial conversion works correctly but the program won’t let the user
change the beginning date (the controls work properly in the edit window, but when the OK button is clicked the beginning date is always
set to be the same as the ending date).
Bug is fixed; April 13, 2006
Available Time Period (reported by Laurie Porth, USDA Forest Service)
The graphical interface doesn’t work – clicking Add doesn’t do anything. (This is an optional item in Distribution Information section,
under Distributor/Prerequisites & Availability.)
Bug is fixed; April 17, 2006
Dates (reported by Dave Rugg, USDA Forest Service)
BCE and pre-BCE dates are written correctly when a document is saved, but the program fails to process them correctly when reading a metadata document.
Bug is fixed; April 18, 2006
Writing the Data Quality section (reported by Dave Rugg, USDA Forest Service with help from Terry Giles, US Geological Survey)
The manual says that the presence of a Logical Consistency Report, a Completeness Report, or Lineage–Processing Steps will cause the
Data Quality section to be processed when writing a metadata document. Version 1.0 actually uses only the Report elements.
Bug is fixed; April 28, 2006
Version 1.2
No bug fixes. HTML export feature added.
Version 1.3
Citation Information (reported by Ken Papp, Alaska DNR)
Publication day is not parsed into the form, and so is subject to being lost when Citation Information is edited.
Bug is fixed; May 9, 2006
Entity & Attribute – Detailed (reported by Ken Papp, Alaska DNR)
The first specification of Ending Date of Attribute Values sets Ending Year = 1. When editing Attribute Values, Ending Date does not
appear in the editing window.
Bugs are fixed; May 9, 2006 (Ending Year now initializes to same value as Beginning Year)
Distribution Information (reported by Ken Papp, Alaska DNR)
When there are multiple distributors, the wrong Digital Forms are presented for editing when editing Distributors other than
the first distributor.
Bug is fixed; May 16, 2006
Other issues
- “MetaPad” is used as the name of the software instead of “Metavist”, reflecting earlier programming. I think this has been fixed
via search and replace, but would appreciate hearing of any stray instances. (last search April 13, 2006)
- Spelling errors shouldn’t exist in interface windows or error pop-ups, but would appreciate hearing of any stray instances. (some
spelling errors fixed April 13, 2006, including the misspelling in the error message addressed in the next issue)
- When a metadata document is opened that contains an old-style SPCS Zone Identifier made up of some text and a number, the error
message (displayed below) can be misleading because there may be 4 digits in the Identifier. The new error message specifies that
the Zone Identifier must be a 4 digit number with no text. (April 13, 2006)

Thank you for your interest!!
|