Re: MEDM Byte Monitor Object

[Andrew Johnson <anj@aps.anl.gov>]

Paul Sichta wrote:
> MEDM 3.1.1 supports the Byte Monitor Object in the UP and the RIGHT
> directions, version 3.0.3 supports it in the DOWN and RIGHT directions

My copy of MEDM 3.1.1 supports "down" and "right", and gives a warning 
if I set the widget to either "up" or "left".

> (medmByte.c).  In 3.0.3 edit mode, you can choose any of the four directions;
> at runtime the invalid direction is overridden with the supported one.  The
> current MEDM Manual's 'direction attribute' table says the Byte Object can
> use all four directions, although the paragraph for the Byte Monitor
> describes the direction limitations.
>
> So a display created under 3.0.3 with a medmByte in the UP direction will
> generate a warning (in stdout and MEDM Message Window) under 3.1.1 .  The
> appearance/vertical-alignment of the 'bits' are the same for both medm's, so
> it's not too disasterous.  

From a glance at the source code changes between the releases and after 
some investigation, all that may have changed since 3.0.3 is the 
nomenclature used for the directions, to make the widget's behaviour 
match the actual wording the user selects.

In 3.1.1 the bit adjacent to the Start Bit is always displayed either 
below or to the right of the start bit.  However that adjacent bit 
number can be higher or lower than the Start Bit depending on whether 
the End Bit setting is larger or smaller than the Start Bit setting.

My conclusion: This change was a bug fix, not a regression, and should 
not affect the functionality of any existing displays.

- Andrew
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