Datamine Studio is the third generation of the highly successful Datamine software, and provides significant new features and functionality compared to Datamine 5.  In order to make these improvements we have had to change the operation of a few existing procedures, and so in some areas commands and processes operate differently.  Some of the differences are recorded in "What's new in Datamine Studio" which is available through Help | Contents.  In particular you should note the section entitled "Other enhancements to existing functionality" which can be selected from the drop down menu.  Other differences between Datamine Studio and earlier versions of Datamine are summarised here:

Location of Help Files
Help files cannot be stored in the local directory.  Help files are HTML files (the same as scripts) and if an auto-recorded script is stored in, say, copy.htm the system will not be able to distinguish between that script and the help file for the COPY command.  Help files are normally installed in the Helpfile directory under Program Files\Datamine\DmStudio.140.  If you want to customise a help file then it is recommended that you put it your custom directory.

Zoom
The zoom-graphics command has been changed from a "click-move-click" model to "press-drag-release".  The quick key for zoom-all-graphics is now zx.

Visualization
The visualizer window is fully integrated into Datamine Studio, and so the open-visualiser-window command is now obsolete.

List Directory
When used interactively the LISTDR (DIR) command gives a listing of the local file name and the location of the physical file.  This is the same as using Files | List Project Tables from the Main Menu bar.  When used in a macro LISTDR displays the same output as in earlier versions of Datamine and allows a catalog file (&OUT) file to be created.  A catalog file cannot be created interactively.

File Names with Dot Extensions.
Datamine Studio recognizes file names according to their actual names. In previous versions of Datamine a file such as holes___d.dm was shown in Datamine as holes.d.  This convention was introduced because of the limitations of DOS.  However with the introduction of longer file names and multiple dots in file names this will no longer work.  Datamine Studio will thus recognize a file called holes___d.dm as holes___d.  Similarly it will recognize the file holes.d.dm as holes.d and holes.p4.d.dm as holes.p4.d.dm.

This means that existing macros which use file names such as holes.d within them will cause Datamine to look for a file called holes.d.dm rather than the old style name of holes___d.dm.

When a project is first converted to Datamine Studio the project wizard gives the (default) option to convert all existing files of the old name format to the modern format.  It is strongly recommended that this option is not deselected to ensure that existing macros will still run.

History Files
History information for Datamine commands is no longer stored in individual history files (copy.his, rename.his, etc).  All history information is now stored in the Project file.

LINK and UNLINK
When run from a macro both LINK and UNLINK operate as previously.  LINK will create a link file in the Project directory which points to a file in another directory.  UNLINK will delete the link file leaving the file to which it pointed unaffected.

Entering LINK interactively in the !>>> command box is the same as selecting File | Add to Project | Files...  from the Main Menu bar.  It allows you to use the system file browser to select files to be added to the Project.  Entering UNLINK interactively gives information on how to remove a file from the Project, and on using UNLINK from a macro.

Note that a macro will only recognise files that are in the Project directory and files that have been linked using the LINK command from a macro.  A macro will not recognise files in other directories even if they are part of the current project unless they have been linked using LINK.

Obsolete Datamine Commands
With the release of Datamine Studio we are taking the opportunity to obsolete some Datamine processes as shown in the table below. Alternative commands are shown where applicable. A few obsoleted commands do not have alternatives. In general these commands do not work correctly or are unusable.  Many of the commands in the table were not generally available anyway, and have been included only for completeness.

Although obsolete commands do not appear on any menu which is provided with DM Studio it will still be possible to run the commands until 30th June 2001.  This works as follows:

• If you run one of the commands interactively, there will be a warning message in the title bar of the files, fields, parameters dialog window.
  
• If you run a macro or menu that contains one or more of the commands, the macro or menu will run to completion, after which a dialog box will be displayed warning that the macro or menu includes obsolete commands which are on the obsolete list.

You should therefore edit any macros which include these obsoleted commands, so that the alternative commands are used instead.  If you have any problems doing this please consult your Datamine support office.

Design Window Commands
The following Guide commands are implemented differently in the Design Window:

select-string.    The default action in the Design Window is now to select a string.  In other words, if no other command is active then clicking the left mouse button will select a string.  You can select multiple strings by holding down the control (Ctrl) or shift key.  The Ctrl key toggles selection.

open-visualiser-window.    This now does the same as update-visualiser-objects.  Initially the visualiser window is not displayed.  However the first time you use open-visualiser-window or update-visualiser-objects the window is opened and remains open for the remainder of the session.  The command close-visualiser-window is no longer operational.

set-snap-mode has been replaced by set-snap-grid-parameters which is available from the menu Edit | Snapping | Grid Snapping Control.

The dialog for assign-fill-codes has changed when recorded to a CL file.  "accept" has been replaced by "continue", and the null responses have been removed.  However your Guide CLs which use assign-fill-codes will still run in Datamine Studio, although you will not be able to use a Datamine Studio CL in Guide.  Examples of the two versions are:

DM Studio
command("assign-fill-codes","yes","RED","lo","AU<1","YELLOW","hi","AU>=1","continue")

Guide
command("assign-fill-codes","yes","RED","lo","AU<1","","YELLOW","hi","AU>=1","","accept")

Quick Keys
As a general rule quick keys in Guide were based on the initial letters of the words on the label buttons on the menus.  With Datamine Studio the recommended way of accessing commands is through the drop down menus from the Main Menu bar.  The text on these menus has changed considerably from the Guide buttons, and so for a large number of commands the old quick keys are no longer relevant.  We have therefore reviewed all quick keys and although some commands have the same quick keys as before, there have also been a considerable number of changes.  We have tried to use the same principles as previously and where possible make the letters correspond to the initial letters of the text on the drop down menu.

The master list of Design Window commands and their corresponding quick keys is given in the main environment file, datamine.env.  This is usually located under Program Files\datamine\DmStudio.140.  The environment file also contains the old quick keys, which have been commented out with a # character in the first column.  

If you do want to reinstate the old version then you will need to remove the #'s from the old quick keys, and put #'s in front of the new ones.  However this is not recommended as the tutorials and other documentation are geared to the new quick keys.  In order to assign quick keys to commands which are new in Datamine Studio and also maintain compatibility with Guide 2.7, it was necessary to change a few of the quick keys for existing commands.  The changes are summarized in the following table, but are only relevant if you swap back to the old set of quick keys as described previously. 

MDEBUG
MDEBUG is an interactive process for developing and testing macros.  The operation of the EXECUTE subcommand now requires you to enter all the files, fields and parameters as if you were writing a macro.  For example to list a file enter LIST  &IN(MYFILE).

Print File
In previous versions of Datamine you could set the @ECHO parameter to 1 to record some of the output to the print file.  This has been replaced by the ability to copy and print directly from the Output Window.

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