HP-GL Viewer

Feature Comparison Between the Various Versions

The first publicly available release was 2.10.

The new features in versions 3.00 and 3.10 of the viewer compared to version 2.10:

• Understands HP-GL/2.
• Considerably faster rendering.
• Smaller memory footprint.
• Toolbars.
• A separate lens window for viewing a part of the drawing in details.
• Several windows at the same time. A new file can be opened in a new window without restarting the viewer.

• Insertion of HP-GL / HP-GL/2 files as blocks to form a composite plot file.
• A mark-up feature (red lining) with simple text or by making references. It is possible to hide mark-ups (and blocks) and output the drawing without them.
• Understands multi-page files.
• Scroll bars.
• Indexed help and quick tips.
• Standard printer setup for the Windows version.
• Drawings can be saved in HP-GL/2.
• Remembers all previous views.
• When saving the viewer option settings, also saves the window position and size as well as the open and save file filters.
• Can start the viewer in batch mode to re-code or clip the file with parameters on the command line.

• A special mouse mode for measuring distances.
• Error indicators in the status bar and a log file with detailed information about errors and file statistics.
• A files tree for navigation of directories and for fast visualization of plot files.
• The lens window has scroll bars.
• Mark up allows multi-line text. All mark-up parameters can be set in a new dialog window in the options menu.
• New dialog for options allows to save options settings in different configuration files and to open any of them at any time.
• Up to 256 pens for files in HP-GL/2 format.
• A print dialog in the Windows version.
• Scale factor for output files settable in the options dialog.
• New command line options for batch mode: Text can be added to the drawing, files can be linked together, and the viewer can be started with a predefined zoom window.
• Plus many other small but nice features.

Version 5.20 is a service and bugfix release which also introduces some new features compared to version 5.00:

• Bezier curve commands BR and BZ (Advanced Drawing Extension).
• A page list for easy navigation of multi-page files.
• Log option is now page specific (i.e., shows statistics of a viewed page in addition to total figures).
• Write PJL headers in the output HP-GL / HP-GL/2 file if requested (some multi-language printers may need this to properly recognize the file as HP-GL).
• Can specify initial rotate and scale parameters on the command line.
• Option to use HP-GL/2 default pen color assignments when viewing HP-GL files.
• Various other small enhancements as well as all reported rendering bugs fixed.

Version 5.22 is a service and bugfix release which also introduces some minor new features compared to version 5.21:

• Additional dialogs upon saving and printing files to avoid accidental overwriting of data.
• Support for a few new symbol sets internally: Latin1, Latin2, Latin5, and HP-GL Drafting.

Version 5.30 is a service and bugfix release which also introduces several new features compared to version 5.22:

• Support for Apple MacOS X / Darwin.
• When printing or saving in PostScript or HP-GL / HP-GL/2 can choose paper size, Encapsulated PostScript outputs in natural dimensions unless changed with scale option.
• Align-page view option (Bottom-Left, Top-Left, etc.).
• Page size / align also available as command line options.
• Predefined zoom-windows for standard paper sizes (A0-A4, Letter, Tabloid, ANSI C, etc.).
• Possibilty to permanently fuse blocks into the main drawing body.
• Fully implemented CR (color range) command.
• Toolbar buttons for opening marktool and disabling pagelist.
• Motif-optimization: Draw to off-screen buffer and display the buffer if page geometry / zoom not changed.
• Viewer now understands and skips the special metacommands of OCE plotters.
• Display the closest fitting standard paper size in log window and with -paper command line option.
• Optimized polygon-fill algorithm to speed up drawings with lots of polygons. Especially helpful for wieving plot files produced by SolidWorks and SolidEdge CAD systems. Device-option exists to use the old semantics if necessary.
• Various other small enhancements as well as several bugfixes.

Version 5.40 is a service and bugfix release which also introduces several new features compared to version 5.30:

• Retracted support for Compaq/Digital OSF/1. This platform is close to dead, but if you still need to run the viewer on it, use version 5.30.
• Support for saving full printer configuration in the configuration file on Windows and Motif platforms. On Windows, both the Windows system printers and viewer internal printer definitions are saved.
• Support for converting or printing a particular page or all pages of a multi-page HP-GL file from the command line.
• Support for printing a raw PostScript or HP-GL / HP-GL/2 stream to a Windows printer bypassing the actual Windows printer driver.
• Support for printing to a Windows printer in batch mode. It is possible to print a raw PostScript or HP-GL / HP-GL/2 stream using an internal printer driver (prepend file name with the string "printer:" + the printer name when saving with options -hpgl, -hpgl2, or -ps), or to use a system printer driver (use the -wdrv command line option).
• Added a configuration option to start the viewer and open drawings in read-only mode.
• Added a configuration option to set the power-on mode (HP-GL, HP-GL/2, or Auto) of the emulated plotter device.
• Output scaling now accepts fractional (real) numbers.
• On Windows 2000/XP and later, the configuration file is now saved in the user's own local configuration directories (given by APPDATA environment variable). On earlier Windows versions it is saved in the Windows system directory as before.
• Added explicit AUTO and NAT parameters to the list of selectable page sizes on command line.
• Added a dialog to trim (add or subtract space) around page edges when saving and printing (on Windows and Motif platforms).
• Support for specifying the configuration file to use for all relevant command line operations.
• Added a preference option to free otherwise unused pens for editing.
• On Windows, support for drag and drop for opening plot files. Dragging and dropping multiple file names will open the files in separate windows.
• Support for proper color quantization to 255 AutoCAD colors when saving DXF-files. Internal organization of the DXF-file is also now layer-based to make it easier to modify in AutoCAD.
• Added a list of 10 most recently opened files to the File dialog.
• Support for "Auto scale" save/print option for HP-GL / HP-GL/2 drawings.
• On Unix, added man page hpglview.1.
• Viewer version string visible in the batch help text and in the log file display.
• Slightly improved installation procedure on Windows and MacOS X.
• Various other small enhancements as well as several bugfixes.

• Added -info batch option which shows more or less what the viewer log window shows.
• Added saving of the output from -size, -paper, and -info options to file.
• Binary for Apple Darwin (MacOS 10.4) on Intel platform.
• Dragging and dropping plot files to the viewer application icon to open them works on MacOS X. It is also possible to associate the viewer with the known plot file types.
• The MacOS X application now shows the viewer icon.

• Help window now scrollable in Windows.
• Save user-specific session parameters upon exit (current directory, printer, window positions, filters, and recently opened files). Controllable by settable options.
• Add page options to CGM output from command line.
• The MacOS X version on Intel platform now a real application (file associations work etc.).
• Various other small enhancements as well as several bugfixes.
• Unfortunately introduced a bug which breaks compatibility with some specific HP-GL files edited with the viewer. Therefore, this version is not available on all platforms.

• Support for 64 bit Linux (x86_64 architecture).