MWorks 0.9 released

May 13, 2019 Posted by Christopher Stawarz

MWorks 0.9 is now available for macOS and iOS. Highlights of this release include:

MWorks 0.9 requires a Mac running macOS Sierra (10.12) or later or an iPad running iOS 12.2 or later.

For a full list of changes in this release, please see the release notes below.

Added xml2mwel script for converting XML experiment files into MWEL
Variable declarations are now a special case of component declaration and therefore can include parameters and/or children
Statement macro invocations can now include a default value with = (as long as the macro body is a single variable declaration that does not include a default value)
Added support for nestable, multiline comments delimited by /* and */
Parser now expands all enclosing macro parameters in children attached to macro invocations
Improved error reporting for unterminated string literals
mwel2xml now accepts --omit-metadata as a command-line option, which inhibits the inclusion of location info and experiment source in the generated XML

Added layer and mask stimuli
Movie and frame list stimuli can now have their frames attached as children (instead of being contained in a stimulus group)
Image file stimulus now prevents image color values from being altered when color management is disabled
Drifting grating
- Added support for using a grating as a mask
- Added smoothing to discontinuous edges in square and sawtooth gratings
- inverted parameter now applies to all grating types
Moving dots
- Added rand_seed parameter
- Added default values for field_center_x, field_center_y, and direction parameters
Stimulus display is now backed by Metal (always on iOS, and on Macs running macOS 10.13 or later that support Metal)
Added support for setting the stimulus display’s gamma function (only on macOS, and only if color management is disabled)
Added support for making the main stimulus display window non-opaque (mirror window is still always opaque)
Stimulus display is now created only if the experiment uses it
Update Stimulus Display action now issues a warning if it takes more than two display refresh cycles to complete
Dropped support for render_at_full_resolution key of #mainScreenInfo. Stimuli are now always rendered at the full, native resolution of the display.

Added word output and digital input pullup channels for Firmata devices
EyeLink
- Added support for tracker-driven calibration
- Enabled reporting of EyeLink blink, saccade, and fixation events
- tracking_dist is now required only when eye_x, eye_y, and/or eye_z are specified
- Error messages now include EyeLink error message (if available)
NIDAQ
- Improvements to analog output voltage channels
  - All waveform parameters can now be modified at run time. Changes take effect after the device is stopped and restarted.
  - Parameter offset is now optional and defaults to zero
  - Added optional parameters amplitude and mean
- Added analog_output_enabled parameter
- When stopping device, all digital output lines are now set to low, and all (non-waveform) analog output voltage channels are set to zero
- Added workaround for bug in NI-DAQmx Base that manifests in 64-bit processes on macOS 10.12 and later
- Now requires 64-bit variant of NI-DAQmx Base (i.e. version 14.0 or later)

New on-disk format for event files (MWK2)
Expression parser now supports multiplication of strings and lists by integers. Multiplying a list or string by integer n results in the concatenation of n copies of the list or string, e.g.
```
  [1, 2, 3] * 2 == [1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3]
  3 * 'abc' == 'abcabcabc'
```

New app icons
Version info for all apps now includes the build date
MWClient and MWServer now support Dark Mode
macOS installer now backs up existing MWorks installation silently (without popping up a dialog box)
MWServer and MWClient now preserve the location of their preferences windows between sessions
iOS MWorks app now supports hiding the “Choose experiment” button

New user interface icons
Eliminated some spurious connection failures
Calibrator and reward window’s action buttons now end editing in all fields (thereby committing any pending changes) before performing their task
Eye window now presents its options in a panel (instead of a drawer)

Added code to prevent App Nap from delaying response to client connection requests
Now preserves the selected preferences window tab between sessions

Python and MATLAB data tools now transparently support both MWK and MWK2 files
Python plugin is now available on iOS. Includes all features available on macOS (run file and run string actions, Python file resources, and the expression parser functions py_eval and py_call).
Functions message, warning, and error are now available to code executed by the Python plugin
Python plugin now embeds Python 3.7 (instead of 2.7). In addition, the plugin now includes its own copies of Python and NumPy (no external Python installation required).
Removed MWKStream class from Python data tools
Python tools now support Python 2.7 and 3.7. (Python 3.6 is no longer supported.)
MATLAB tools now require MATLAB R2016b or later

Added iOS installation and configuration instructions
Updated Running an Experiment to cover launching and connecting to MWorks on iOS
Added iOS version of FindTheCircle example
Analyzing Experimental Data now explains how to access event files stored on iOS
Added descriptions of current and legacy event file formats
Added documentation on the Python mworkscore module and the execution environment of embedded Python code (see Run Python File)
Other minor improvements

Upgraded to new versions of several supporting libraries:
- boost: 1.66.0 ➞ 1.69.0
- zeromq: 4.2.3 ➞ 4.3.1
- msgpack: 2.1.5 ➞ 3.1.1
Added OpenSSL 1.1.1b, Python 3.7.3, NumPy 1.16.2, and SQLite 3.27.2 to supporting libs
All code is now compiled using the C++14 and C11 language standards
Added support for stimuli with child components
BasicTransformStimulus now enables blending when drawing; subclasses can override the blend equation
Added new MacOSOpenGLContextManager (used only on systems running macOS 10.13 or later that support Metal). Old MacOSOpenGLContextManager is now called LegacyMacOSOpenGLContextManager.
IOSOpenGLContextManager, MacOSOpenGLContextManager, and LegacyMacOSOpenGLContextManager are now private to MWorksCore. Plugins that need access to platform-specific resources should use AppleOpenGLContextManager.

The MWorks Project