Migration Guide

Most changes to CalcpadCE are additive, and documents written for an earlier version keep calculating unchanged. Changes that alter how existing code is interpreted are listed here. These sections also note how to migrate to supported syntax.

Migrate from 7.x.x

#input is deprecated

#input rendered an input form at a breakpoint and waited for the user to resume. UI mode replaces it.

What breaks

#input still parses without errors but has no effect. The linter flags it as a warning under CPD-3420. It will be removed in a future update.

How to update

Declare the inputs with #UI and replace #input with #pause where needed. In the UI mode input form, #pause ends a step that the user moves past with Next. See #pause in UI mode.

?{} Input syntax is deprecated

UI mode replaces the two places a document used to keep its own input values — a ?{6} field, and the #{2; 3} list that fed those fields into an #include:

L = ?{6}m
#include beam.cpd #{2; 3}

What breaks

Both forms still parse without errors, but the values are ignored and no input fields get created. The linter flags them as warnings — CPD-3419 for a ?{} field, CPD-1103 for the #include list. This syntax will throw an error in a future update instead of being ignored, so it is recommended to migrate to the new #UI syntax.

How to update

Declare the input with #UI and give it an ordinary value:

#UI L = 6m

Entering a value in the input form is stored in a uiOverrides entry on the first line of the CalcpadCE file, so the file keeps its own default values and they stay unchanged when input fields are updated. You never have to write that entry yourself, but it is plain text if you ever want to edit it.

%u in comments is removed

A %u in a comment used to be replaced with the document's length unit, and a m / cm / mm combo box was added to the input form so the reader could switch every occurrence at once. The Default Input Length Unit setting that drove it, and the Units variable holding the matching conversion factor, are removed with it.

What breaks

%u is no longer substituted and renders literally as %u in the output, and no unit combo box is added. #settings {"units": "..."} is now an unknown key, and reading the Units variable is an undefined variable error.

How to update

Replace each %u with the unit the document actually uses.

Where an equation used Units as a conversion factor, write the factor itself instead based on what %u was replaced with.

This is a temporary loss of functionality. Dynamic input units are coming in a future version via string variables, where the unit can be picked from a dropdown and assigned to a string variable you can reference anywhere else in the document. There is also an option to input units with the number by setting "forceUnits:false" or "allowExpression:true", see UI mode

The report font changed from Georgia Pro to DejaVu Serif Condensed

Georgia Pro could not be redistributed, so it was not ideal as a font that needed shipped over the web. Output now uses DejaVu Serif Condensed, which ships with CalcpadCE and is embedded in every report.

What breaks

Only the report appearance changes, nothing about the calculation process is different. Equations are about 1% wider and lines 3% taller. DejaVu Serif also has no Light or SemiBold, so bold text and ∑, ∏, ∫ render heavier.

How to update

To restore the old look where Georgia Pro is installed, insert the Report Fonts snippet — Insert panel, under CSS:

That snippet also contains examples to change font sizes, so here is a condensed version that just changes the font back if you have it installed already:

#val
'<style>
'  .eq, input[type="text"], table.matrix,
'  .eq small var, .eq small i {
'    font-family: "Georgia Pro", "Century Schoolbook", "Times New Roman", Times, serif;
'  }
'  .nary { font-family: "Georgia Pro Light", "Georgia Pro", serif; font-weight: 300; }
'</style>
#end val

Dots are no longer allowed as part of a variable name

A dot after an identifier is now always element access. Names can no longer contain a dot.

Previously the meaning of the dot depended on what happened to be in scope. If the name to the left of it already held a vector or a matrix, the dot was element access; in every other case it was absorbed into the name. This produced unpredictable behavior in certain cases, which is why this change was made.

What breaks

Only documents that used a dot inside a variable name. The errors are reported on the part of the name that follows the dot:

Code	Before	Now
F.max = 10	Defines a variable named F.max	Undefined variable or units: "max".
a.1 where a is a scalar	Reads a variable named a.1	Index target must be vector.

Function names follow the same rules as variable names, so a definition like f.g(x) = x is no longer valid either.

How to update

Rename with an underscore or a comma, both of which are still valid variable name characters:

F_max = 10
a,1 = 4