Release Notes for SPARKvue v4.5.1
SPARKvue v4.5.1 is a hotfix maintenance release that fixes some critical issues.
Resolved issues for v4.5.1
- This release fixes the issue where when you double click on an experiment file to open it in the app, it would try to run the installer and fail. It now opens the app and the experiment properly.
- The issue with the FFT not reporting the correct frequency has been fixed.
- There was an issue with the default sample rates when there was an on-board sensor, even though that sensor was turned off. The default sample rate will now be properly selected regardless of the disabled on-board sensors.
- The data for the Angle Measurement on the Polarimeter now goes the right direction. And the data will automatically be zeroed on power-up.
Release Notes for SPARKvue v4.5.0
SPARKvue v4.5.0 is a minor release and includes FREE upgrades for existing SPARKvue users.
New Features for 4.5.0:
- Support for the Smart Cart Motor
- Support for the Code Node Cart
- Support for the Wireless Polarimeter
- Blockly can now be run without requiring a sensor to be connected.
- If code in Blockly is referencing a sensor that is not connected it will now warn the user when they try to execute the Blockly code.
- Blockly will now allow User Calculations, User-Entered Data Measurements and Video Analysis Measurements in the [value of ] block.
- The Help/About dialog now shows the expiration date for the trial version.
Resolved Issues for 4.5.0:
- SPARKvue is once again notarized for the Mac so installations will be normal again.
- You can now control more than one Smart Cart/Smart Fan (this also applies to the new Smart Cart Motor coming soon as well as combinations of the fan and motor).
- Fixed an issue where if you had a large number of runs you could no longer record a new run.
- On iOS/iPadOS and Android if you opened a file from a cloud drive app while SPARKvue already had a file opened, the new file did not get opened. The new file is now properly opened.
- Fixed multiple issues on Android when opening an experiment from a cloud drive app.
- The “abc” button on the calculator keyboard now works.
- In the Blockly block [value of ], when you select a measurement, the default unit is now displayed for that measurement rather than just the first unit in the list.
- Fixed the issue with editing the measurement and unit names on User Entered Data measurements in the table.
- On Chromebooks, the Start button is now disabled when a wireless sensor is disconnected through the Bluetooth dialog.
- Fixed an issue on Chromebooks where when a connected wireless sensor is turn off, SPARKvue did not realize it was no longer there.
- While calibrating a Wireless Drop Counter on a Chromebook, SPARKvue would erroneously report that the sensor had been disconnected. This bug has been squashed.
- On MacOS the Cancel and Save buttons are now shown on the Assessment display.
- On MacOs the Sampling Options dialog was defaulting to the on-board microphone instead of the connected PASCO sensor.
- The Graph Coordinates tool no longer throws an error when you click on it after deleting a plot area.
- We made several fixes and improvements to sensor calibration in SPARKvue.
Release Notes for SPARKvue v4.4.1
This is a hotfix release of the SPARKvue software.
Improvements for v4.4.1
- Improved the Blockly code so when the [value of ] block is used, it is guaranteed to
return a valid data value.
- Changed the //code.Node Acceleration Sensor to Motion Sensor to better reflect what is being measured.
Resolved Issue for v4.4.1
- Renamed the Essential Chemistry labs with single digit names to give them a leading zero. This will
help with installations that were failing on some Windows machines.
- Correctly set the permissions of some installed files on the Mac.
- SPARKvue wasn't remembering the setting if you turned off Automatically check for updates. It now remembers you changed that.
- We fixed an issue on Chromebooks where sensors were not being identified correctly regarding whether they had remotely logged data or not.
- There was a missing block in Blockly. Under the Lists category, you will now find the [make {} with delimiter {}] block.
- The [set <//code.Node> array LED ...] block no longer accepts a Boolean (true/false) block in the brightness parameter.
- If you opened an experiment that had Blockly code and added another block, the experiment was not recognized as dirty and therefore did not prompt to save on exit. This bug has been squashed.
Release Notes for SPARKvue v4.4.0
This is a feature release of the SPARKvue software. Below are the highlights of the new features and fixes.
Improvements for v4.4.0
- The Blockly programming environment has been updated with new blocks that support the //code.Node.
- The new Wireless Sound Sensor is now fully supported.
- Wireless sensors are now qualified with the 6-digit sensor ID when more than one sensor or measurement
of the same name are connected.
- Improved the Blockly code so it no longer needs an initial sleep nor does it need a sleep in a loop
that is writing to a text or numeric output.
Resolved Issues
- If a sensor turned off while the Bluetooth connection dialog was open, SPARKvue could crash. This
will no longer happen.
- Fixed an issue where the Done button could be pushed out of view in the Remote Logging Wireless Devices
List dialog.
- Setting the Smart Ballistic Cart Accessory position to 0 no longer launches the projectile immediately.
- Fixed some localized strings.
- Fixed an issue on Mac OS 10.11 where the Start button did not change to a Stop button when clicked.
- On certain Android tablets fixed an issue where the graph displayed an error shortly after pushing Start.
- The Live Data Bar now shows the current Wireless Sound Level value.
- On Chromebooks certain sensors that failed to connect the first time had to be reset. This is no longer
the case. The sensor can be retried immediately if it fails to connect.
Release Notes for SPARKvue v4.3.2
This is a maintenance release of the SPARKvue software. This version is only being released on Mac and Windows.
This version of the software extends the trial period to 180 days.
Release Notes for SPARKvue v4.3.0
This is a feature release of the SPARKvue software. Below are the highlights of the new features and fixes.
Improvements for v4.3.0
- Blockly programming environment has been integrated into SPARKvue with custom blocks that give access to all PASCO sensors and output devices as well as blocks that allow you to create string and numeric output from Blockly that can be displayed on the screen.
- Support for exporting directly to Google Sheets has been added for the SPARK LX/LXi and Android devices.
- Support for accessing PASCO sensors in Google Science Journal has been added to this version of SPARKvue for SPARK LX/LXi and Android devices.
- The following new sensors are now supported:
- Wireless Diffraction Scanner
- Wireless AC/DC Module
- Wireless Sound Sensor
- Smart Ballistic Cart Accessory
- Smart Cart Vector Display
Resolved Issues
- The range setting on the Wireless Motion Sensor (PS-3219) for long and short were backward. They are now correct.
- Fixed the issue where the range on the Wireless Motion Sensor could be set differently in two different dialogs leading to confusion on which range was actually set. The dialogs now properly reflect the current setting when brought up.
- Fixed calibration issues with the Pasport Drop Counter (PS-2117) sensor.
- Other minor bug fixes and improvements
Release Notes for SPARKvue v4.2.1
This is a maintenance release of the SPARKvue software. This version is only being released on Windows.
Resolved Issue
- On Windows installations for certain languages such as Korean, Chinese and Thai, SPARKvue would open to a blank experiment screen after selecting a template in the Sensor Data Configuration screen.
Release Notes for SPARKvue v4.2.0
This is a feature release of the SPARKvue software. Below are the highlights of the new features and fixes.
Improvements for v4.2.0
- Improved button touch response for the LX/LXi datalogger.
- Increased the height of the main menu items to make them easier to touch.
- Added new quick start files for some sensors.
- Updated the Essential Chemistry and Essential Physics experiment config files.
Resolved Issues
- Fixed an issue where sometimes a licensed install of SPARKvue could become a trial version.
- Fixed several Chromebook connectivity and stability issues:
- Clicking on a template in the Sensor Data Configuration screen caused SPARKvue to become unstable and not fully load the display.
- SPARKvue could sometimes become unresponsive after deleting all runs.
- Sometimes after collecting several runs, the next run would not collect any data even though the experiment clock was running.
- Sometimes clicking the Start button could cause SPARKvue to become unstable and not respond.
- The Wireless O2 Gas Sensor would not connect via native BLE.
- Sometimes a sensor would fail to connect and disappear from the list of available sensors.
- The Wireless Smart Gate could not be connected via native BLE.
- SPARKvue could lose connection with a sensor or adapter connected via USB if the Chromebook was left idle for a while.
- Sensors connected to a SPARKlink Air which was connected to the Chromebook via USB would often not show up in the Sensor Data Configuration screen. Clicking on anything else would cause SPARKvue to become unstable.
- Sometimes connecting a second wireless sensor via BLE could cause the sensor to go into a bad state where it wasn’t connected but it also didn’t show up in the Bluetooth window as a device that could be connected.
- A wireless sensor connected to the Chromebook via USB would disappear after a few seconds from the Sensor Data Configuration screen or from the Hardware Setup panel.
- Often when a Wireless Current or Wireless Voltage sensor was connected via USB, the Scope and FFT displays would not show in the display picker.
- Remotely collected data on a wireless sensor could not be retrieved if the sensor was connected via USB.
- The Wireless Hand-Grip Heart Rate Sensor would never show as a device in the Bluetooth screen unless a dongle was plugged in.
- Fixed a crash on MAC when closing the application from an experiment.
- When setting up a sensor to remotely log data, it was possible to turn off all sensors on the device leading to no data being collected. The OK button on the dialog is now disabled if all sensors on a wireless device are turned off.
