Quantum GIS Documentation Version 1.2.0 Daphnis Please read this entire document for important information about this release.

Whats new in Version 1.2.0?

Please note that this is a release in our 'cutting edge' release series. As such it contains new features and extends the programmatic interface over QGIS 1.0.x and QGIS 1.1.0. If stability and long term support is more important to you then cool new and untested features, we recommend that you use a copy of QGIS from our stable 1.0.x release series.

This release includes over 140 bug fixes and enhancements over the QGIS 1.1.0 release. In addition we have added the following new features:

Editing:

Editing functionality in QGIS has had a major update in this release. This
includes the addition of new vector editing tools:

- delete part of multipart feature
- delete hole from polygon
- simplify feature
- Added a new "node" tool (in advanced digitizing toolbar).
- New functionality for merging features
- Added undo/redo functionality for vector layer editing.
- Added option to show only markers of selected features in editing mode.
- Change layer's icon in legend to reflext that the layer is editable.

In addition, there are undo/redo actions in Edit menu, in Advanced digitizing toolbar
and there is a new dock widget displaying undo stack of active layer.

About the node tool: It resembles a tool for editing paths by nodes that is
present in every vector editor. How does it work (in QGIS)? Click on a
feature, its nodes will be marked by small rectangles. Clicking and dragging a
node moves it. Double clicking a segment will add a new node. Pressing delete
key will remove active node. It's possible to select more active nodes at
once: by clicking and dragging a rectangle. It's possible to select a segment's
adjacent nodes by clicking on the segment. It's possible to add/remove active
nodes by using Ctrl when clicking a node or dragging a rectangle

We recommend that you turn off vertex markers in QGIS options when working with
this tool: the redraws are much faster and the map is not cluttered with
markers. 

Keyboard shortcuts:

New feature: configure shortcuts for actions within main window of qgis!
See menu Setting->Configure shortcuts

Map Composer:

It is now possible to lock/unlock composer item positions by right mouse click.
The width and height of the composer map will now remain fixed if user sets the
composer map extent to the map canvas extent. possibility to display
current date in composer label by typing (d 'June' yyyy) or similar.
It is now possible to keep the current layers in a composer map even if further
layers are added to the main map. Export to PDF in composer is now possible.

Attribute tables:

It is now possible to search the attribute table within selected records only.
General speedups have been made on the attribute table. Setting of field width
and precision when adding attributes is now possible. Handling of attribute
types in WFS provider has bee improved.

Attribute aliases for vector layers are now available. The aliases are shown
instead of the original field names in the info tool and attribute table to
make things easier for end users. There is now a GUI for setting edit widgets
for layer attributes.  A new dialog allows loading a value map from a layer
(could be non-spatial table too!).  The edit widgets settings will also now
be respected in the attribute table.

Plugins:

- The order of layers in the WMS dialog can now be changed.
- The eVis plugin, version 1.1.0, has been added to the QGIS project and
  included as a standard plugin. More information about eVis can be found here:
  http://biodiversityinformatics.amnh.org/open_source/evis/documentation.php .
- The interpolation plugin now has the ability to use line layers as constrains
  for triangulation in interpolation plugin. You can also now save the
  triangulation to shape file.
- An new OpenStreetMap provider and plugin have been added to QGIS.

Projects Management:

QGIS now includes support for  project relative position of file data sources
and svgs. The saving of relative paths of file data sources is optional.

PostGIS & the PostgreSQL Provider:

You can now select the SSL mode when adding a new DB connection. Turning off
SSL encryption can greatly improve performance of PostGIS data loading where
connection security is not required. Support has been added for more native
types and for setting of column comments.

Symbology enhancements:

- allow refresh of symbols via popup menu on the renderer's symbol selection
- add support for data defined symbol(name)s
- add support for font symbol markers (only data defined - no gui yet)
- add symbol size in map units (ie. symbols that keep the size in mapunits
  independant of the mapscale)

Command line arguments:

Added command line argument support on windows.
Enhancement of command line arguments:
- allow given snapshot sizes
- allow suppression of splash screen
- capture map decorations from plugins on snapshots

Grass:

There is a new GRASS shell. Also there have been many cleanups and consistency
updates.

Whats new in Version 1.1.0?

Please note that this is a release in our 'unstable' release series. As such it contains new features and extends the programmatic interface over QGIS 1.0.x. If stability and long term support is more important to you then cool new and untested features, we recommend that you use a copy of QGIS from our stable 1.0.x release series.

This release includes many bug fixes and enchancements over the QGIS 1.0.0 release. In addition we have added the following new features:

• Updates to translations.
• Improvements and polishing of the Python plugin installer. Switch to the new official QGIS repository.
• Improvements to themes so that plugins and other parts of the GUI are better supported when switching themes. Addition of the new GIS icon theme.
• Improvements to Debian packaging to better support Debian standard requirements.
• Support usb: as a GPS device under Linux.
• WMS plugin now supports sorting and shows nested layers as a tree. WMS provider also support 24bit png images now. The WMS plugin also now provides a search interface for finding WMS servers.
• Added svg point symbols symbols from Matt Amos (with his permission).
• Improvements to proxy support and support of proxy in WFS provider. The WFS provider now also shows progress information as it is fetching data.
• Improvements the PostGIS client support. Massive speedups in PostGIS layer rendering can now be achieved by disabling SSL in the connection editor.
• Mapserver Export improvements for continuous color support.
• Added tools menu - the fTools plugins are now part of the core QGIS plugins and will always be installed by default.
• Improvements to the print composer including object alignment options. It is also now possible to print maps as postcript raster or vector. For python programmers, the composer classes now have python bindings.
• When using File - Save as image, the saved image is now georeferenced.
• Projection selector now includes quick selection of recently used CRS's.
• Continuous color renderer supports point symbols now too.
• Improved CMake support for building against dependencies from OSGEO4W (Windows only). Addition of an XCode project of developers building under OSX.
• Updates and cleanups to the GRASS toolbox.
• Changes in open vector dialog to support all drivers available in ogr including database and protocol drivers. This brings with it support for SDE, Oracle Spatial, ESRI personal geodatabase and many more OGR supported data stores. Note that in some cases accessing these may require third party libraries to be on your system.
• The middle mouse button can now be used for panning.
• A new, faster attribute table implementation.
• Numerous cleanups to the user interface.
• A new provider was added for spatiallite - a geodatabase-in-a-file implementation based on the SQLITE database.
• Vector overlay support that can draw pie and bar charts over vector layers based on attribute data.

Whats new in Version 1.0.0?

• HIG Compliance improvements for Windows / Mac OS X / KDE / Gnome
• Saving a vector layer or subset of that layer to disk with a different Coordinate Reference System to the original.
• Advanced topological editing of vector data.
• Single click selection of vector features.
• Many improvements to raster rendering and support for building pyramids external to the raster file.
• Overhaul of the map composer for much improved printing support.
• A new 'coordinate capture' plugin was added that lets you click on the map and then cut & paste the coordinates to and from the clipboard
• A new plugin for converting between OGR supported formats was added.
• A new plugin for converting from DXF files to shapefiles was added.
• A new plugin was added for interpolating point features into ASCII grid layers.
• The python plugin installer was completely overhauled, the new version having many improvements, including checking that the version of QGIS running will support a plugin that is being installed.
• Plugin toolbar positions are now correctly saved when the application is closed.
• In the WMS client, WMS standards support has been improved.
• Complete API revision - we now have a stable API following well defined naming conventions.
• Ported all GDAL/OGR and GEOS usage to use C APIs only.

Special Requirements

• Qt 4.3.0 is required.
• The Expat XML Parser is required for the GPS plugin. This vastly improves the speed and memory management when loading GPX files.
• The raster georeferencer plugin requires the GNU Scientfic Library (GSL).

GSL and Expat are optional and required only if you want to use the georeferencer or GPS plugins respectively. SQLite is always required.

Known Issues in this Release

General

• Some internationalization (translation) files may be incomplete.
• QGIS is not bug free - we make no assertions as to its fitness for use for any particular purpose. Use entirely at your own risk.

OS X Specific

• Due to a limitation in the Quicktime graphics engine, there is a limit on the number points allowed per feature. See the Readme that comes with the OS X dmg

Windows

• GRASS included with windows build is from : GRASS 6.3

Reporting Bugs

If think you have found a bug, please consider reporting it to the development team. The steps to report a bug are:

1. Go to the Bug Tracker at https://svn.qgis.org/trac
2. Read Using Trac With QGIS to learn about the submission process
3. Review the list of current issues to make sure your bug has not already been submitted. If it has, review the submission and see if there is anything you can add to the bug report to aid the developers
4. If your bug has not been reported, create a new ticket, making sure to either login to trac or provide your email address. Tickets lacking contact information are subject to deletion.

User, Installation and Coding Guide

The QGIS manual is the definitive guide to using QGIS including installation and coding instructions (be sure to read this!). A current version of the QGIS manual and translations are provided at http://qgis.osgeo.org/documentation/manuals.html. Older versions are available at http://download.osgeo.org/qgis/doc/manual/."