New Features in 3.1

Mist 3.1 begins our move to a steady, and more frequent, update schedule. Mist 3.1's goals include fixing remaining usability issues and implementing targeted features:

  • Connections
    • Connection string builder dialog added for SQL Server
  • Context Menu and UI Consistency Improvements
    • Available BimlScript Transformers are now listed in the context menus for every object in Mist. They can be executed for that object directly from the context menu
    • In any context menu where an annotation can be added, we now let the user navigate to any annotations that are already on the item
    • Audit was performed of all context menus in Mist to improve consistency and add features
    • Context menus were added throughout the package designer and package details grids
    • Context Menu Details
      • All data grids now support a Copy Selection command via context menu
      • Fixed missing type icons, inability to select group items in the Partition, Aggregation, and Calculation data grids, added context menus in the cube editors and script project data grids
      • The Find Results context menu now has commands for Go to Next Location and Go to Previous Location, which matches Visual Studio
      • Additionally, the error list context menu now has an icon for the copy command
      • The References list, Output control, and Recent document context menus have been updated with commands and icons, where appropriate
      • Improvements to context menu tooltips: word wrapping and limited width, and so separators appear correctly
      • Rename command is now enabled in context menu for table column and package project parameter
      • BimlScript Designer Input Editor's context menu now has undo / redo commands
  • Project and Logical View
    • In Project View, selecting a file and typing ctrl-c, ctrl-v now copies and pastes the file
    • In Project View, right-click and copy will add the name of the file to the text copy and paste buffer
    • In Project View, Context Menu no longer strips out the first underscore in asset's name
    • In Logical View, "Add Root Folder" is disabled in the logical context menu
  • Project Designer
    • Textboxes now extend the width of the designer
    • The command line options textbox is now multi-line. It accepts returns and a vertical scroll-bar will appear as needed
  • Biml
    • Biml files produced during import tables or import packages dialogs are now auto-formatted
    • Biml files and Mist project files are now saved in UTF-8 format
  • BimlScript: Language, Formatting, and Intelliprompt
    • Added BimlScript annotation directive, including updates to intelliprompt to support it
    • Fixed autocomplete errors with BimlScript directives where an extra '=' would be added in some cases
    • Fixed some other minor Biml Intellisense issues
    • Added error squiggles to BimlScript code editor
    • Intellisense autocomplete list for tier property is now sorted numerically, not alphabetically
    • Intelliprompt no longer activates when declaring variables and within lambda expressions
    • In BimlScript Library Designer's Input Editor, the context menu's Format Biml command now performs the same operation as the Format Document ribbon button
  • Package Designer
    • Variable type items in Add Variable context menu are now sorted in ascending order, but with Empty as the first type listed
    • Various consistency fixes based on a full audit of all details panes
    • New ability to move Toolbox items to other groups within the Toolbox - stored in user settings
    • When deleting a package, if the user pressed cancel in the confirmation dialog, we previously cleared aspects of the package UI
    • The SendMail Package Details designer now display working UI for attachments
  • Script Tasks / Components
    • Undo, ctrl-z now works in the Script Code Editor
    • The Script Source and Transformation Components now include boilerplate code for public override void CreateNewOutputRows() in Main.cs
    • ScriptComponentSource/Transformation/Destination now display ribbon buttons in package designer
    • Source Script Project: Context menus added for Output Buffers
    • Mist no longer crashes when changing the OutputBuffer Name in a biml File
  • Focus / Navigation
    • An icon now appears to the left of a property grid identifier, indicating the control that contains the property grid's selected item.
    • The property grid title's background now becomes a light pink color if the selected item is not in a designer.
    • Added tooltip text when property grid's selected item has pink background
    • Added pink shading and icon display to the Annotations tool window
  • Infrastructure
    • Notifications, of changes to files outside of Mist, have been improved for Windows 8 and SVN Revert
    • Exceptions produced on load of plugins are handled better and reported in detail to the user
    • SyntaxEditor context menu items are no longer disabled after a project is built (using the Build ribbon button or Build & Run)
    • Context menus now clear when build is running
    • AstTableNode.GetTableSQL() now works on a lowered AST
    • References to abstract types are no longer broken by built-in lowering transformers
  • Setup
    • Mist can now be installed side by side with older versions
  • Miscellaneous
    • Adding a Table View in Mist now adds the view portion to the table