What's New in Version 4.4?

• New Molecular Descriptors - The number of molecular CDK_Descriptors available now stands at sixty. This four-fold increase provides many new opportunities for independent variable choice in statistical modeling. A new, stand-alone, Descriptor Utility is included in this release. In addition to the 60 2D-descriptors, this utility can calculate 30 3D-descriptors. Exploratory data analysis can be aesthetically enhanced by abbreviated naming conventions, e.g. MW vs. MOLECULAR_WEIGHT. Because variable names appear in graphical and tabular summaries, short names can de-clutter their appearance. Column width in Result Windows is determined by the name length and short names resut in a more compact appearance. However, short names can also cause confusion about their meaning and discourage their use as possible sources of explanatory power. Tables defined using the full descriptor set are also very wide and locating a particular column value can involve tedious use of horizontal scrollbars.
• DataTips - Result Windows in ScreenAble have always had a drop-down combobox control on their toolbar. Until this release, only the Well and Calc results from AssayRuns displayed it. The purpose of the control is to provide a mechanism for user comments on selected result records. It has now been adapted for use as a complete and highly visible glossary for datafields in most Result Window devices. When a mouse-click event happens in a given column, the DataTip for that column will be shown in the control. The drop-down list is presented in order of the underlying table's columns. Changing the selection here will result in the active cell of the device to be set to the current cursor and column combination. If this cell is out of view, the device will automatically scroll it into view. This feature makes it significantly easier to peruse wide tables for specific values.
• User Interface Improvements - There are numerous interfaces in ScreenAble that use listbox or combobox controls for specifying data field choices. While great for constructing compact and efficient dialogs, these controls suffer from a problem analogous to that of a wide table. In either control, a large number of items makes it difficult to multi-select items from a listbox or even locate a desired choice in a combobox. The latter case becomes even more difficult when its contents must remain in order. Two generalized interface solutions have been developed to address these issues. The Listbox Helper interface show the items from a listbox along with the DataTip associated with their value. If the listbox is multi-select, then checkboxes will be employed to specify the selection. This provides greater control in selection and a more informed selection process. Many listboxes in ScreenAble already had button controls beside their contents to assist with multi-selection. These buttons now launch the listbox helper. In several cases where the custom Multi-Select Combo contol was used to provide specifically ordered list choices, a new and more robust Select Columns interface is available. Many of the tools in ScreenAble have been enhanced by DataTips and the new dialog utilities. Specific information about these changes is found their help topics.