Squirrel Release Notes

We are regularly improving and adding new features to Squirrel

Version 1.13.11

  Hotfix to stop the designer crashing when adding a line component   Fixed an issue where the designer was crashing when adding a line component (only happened when adding it by drawing it to size) Drop down was not setting the selected item in preview (or...

Version 1.13.11

 

Hotfix to stop the designer crashing when adding a line component

 

      • Fixed an issue where the designer was crashing when adding a line component (only happened when adding it by drawing it to size)
      • Drop down was not setting the selected item in preview (or published output)
      • Radio button blocking selection in filtered rows mode.

Version 1.13.10

  Hotfix (optional) to fix legend colours on charts and a couple of minor issues   Series colours were not always updating properly in the legend Data table not honouring colours in the spreadsheet Fixed an error where deleting columns or rows could on rare...

Version 1.13.10

 

Hotfix (optional) to fix legend colours on charts and a couple of minor issues

 

      • Series colours were not always updating properly in the legend
      • Data table not honouring colours in the spreadsheet
      • Fixed an error where deleting columns or rows could on rare occasions break formulas
      • An issue with lowercase or mixed case named ranges not working properly in formulas
      • There was an issue with webi custom elements not handling single value parameters properly.

Version 1.13.6

 

Hotfix for an issue on import spreadsheet and charts flickering

 

      • There was an issue where users reported charts flickering after upgrading to 1.13.5
      • Fixed a prob where data was not coming into the Tableau extension properly
      • Importing spreadsheets could cause absolute cell references to be lost when importing a .xlsx if they were created with auto-fill (grab handle). Read more about this here.

Version 1.13.5

 

Hotfix for a few issues in 1.13

 

      • Some users reported blinking/wiggly charts after upgrading to 1.13, we’ve fixed this.
      • Fixed an issue where double clicking on a squirrel file to open the designer would open the wrong file if you already had the Squirrel designer open
      • Sorted a problem where external parameters with missing bindings would cause the designer to crash
      • Scorecard and datatable weren’t respecting column widths settings and column alignment was being ignored
      • Deleting a sheet could sometimes cause a crash>
      • Exporting as .xls where there was a #REF! in the spreadsheet would cause the file to be reported as corrupt.

Version 1.13

 

IMPORTANT ! – Sqrl file format change

As part of our spreadsheet engine improvements, the format of .sqrl files has changed between versions 1.12 and 1.13.

This means that a .sqrl file saved from 1.13 cannot be opened in 1.12 or earlier versions.

Before you start using version 1.13 we recommend that you take a copy of your sqrl files in their current format in case you need to revert to them at some point in the future. And if you are collaborating with other people on your Squirrel projects, all collaborators should upgrade to 1.13 at the same time so that everyone can open each other’s files without issue.
 

Launching locally published projects by double clicking on the index.html file will no longer work

In previous versions of Squirrel, locally exported projects could be run directly by opening their index.html file from disk directly in a browser. From 1.13 onward locally exported projects will only run when accessed from a Web server.

 

Chart improvements – Big changes under the hood

Charts have been updated. We’ve made some big changes behind the scenes which means that charts now draw or refresh faster. Great news for projects that are heavy on charts and it has also allowed us to add a few much-requested features:

  • Grouped bars (or clustering) – grouping series within a category to make charts easier to read
  • Overlay chart
  • Series re-ordering
  • value axis bands
  • log scale
  • legend reflects the series style

The charts have been given a slightly fresher feel by adjusting some of the default settings too. of course you can always style them however you like.

 

Smart Guides and snap-to

We’ve added Smart Guides (red lines) to help you line things up. Guidelines appear which show you when an object or group is aligned to the centre, top, middle, bottom, left or right of another object. The object will snap to edges and centres too.

 

Selection box and resizing

The selection box has been cleaned up a little to reduce clutter. When you select an object on the canvas just the corners of the object will have the resize handles but you can hover grab any part of the box (vertical or horizontal) to resize. When doing so a new size info box will appear to show you the dimensions making it easier to precisely size your components.

You might also notice that the components follow the cursor in full now when you drag them instead of only the outline box coming with you.

 

Groups get dynamic visibility

You can now set dynamic visibility on groups.

 

Multiple designer instances

We have added support for multiple instances of the designer (windows only).

 

We squished more bugs including:

      • COUNTIF() fixed to not treat blank as zero
      • Designer crashing in some cases when data insertion source bound to single cell
      • and 80 bugs relating to charts

 

Known Issue – zoom level reset

 

If you work with the canvas at a zoom level other than 100% then, when you come back to design mode from debug, you will find that while the canvas remains zoomed but the selection box reverts to a zoom level of 100%. This means that when you select an item its selection rectangle will not be in the correct place.

This can be fixed by reselecting the zoom level (tip: press Ctrl+ then Ctrl- to increase and immediately decrease the zoom level)

Version 1.12.9

 

Hotfix for an issue with number formatting (issue only present in v1.12.8)

 

      • Changing the number formatting option to Number, Percentage or Currency with 0 dp’s caused the decimal point to appear
      • Turning on the thousand separator option with 0 dp’s caused the value to disappear altogether.

Version 1.12.8

 

Hotfix for a few issues in 1.12

 

      • Fixed an issue with webi connector usage properties disappearing
      • Some people experienced issues changing the source on a webi connector
      • Bar charts had lost their tooltips. We’ve sorted that
      • Tooltips weren’t respecting number formatting with decimal places set to 0
      • Radio buttons were wrapping labels incorrectly in some cases.

Version 1.12

 

Quick Setup Properties – We’ve simplified setting up components

The new ‘Quick Setup’ panel is a curated set of properties that help you configure, and style, your component quickly and easily. No more wading through sections and subsections to complete the basic setup. Don’t worry though, all the fine control over how a component looks and behaves is still there under the ‘All Properties’ tab

The quick setup properties also include help on each section, accent colours (pick a colour and we take care of the rest including text colour contrast) and text styles.

 

More font choice and recent colours

We’ve extended the list of fonts available by adding popular google fonts such as Roboto, Montserrat and Ubunto. And the colour picker has been updated to include a list of recently used colours, making it easier to style your projects.

 

Object Browser – New and improved

When dealing with large numbers of components and groups, it could be hard to find the one you are looking for. We’ve added a search bar to make this easier.  While we were at it we flipped the order of the component list so it now works like other tools where objects at the top are the topmost layer. And a new right-click menu gives you access to perform common actions on one or more selected objects.

 

Chart enhancements – Abbreviate large numbers

Our new single tooltip cleans up your charts so that you don’t need a separate tooltip for every series. And we’ve added vertical gridlines too, giving you more control over how you style your charts.

 

We also squashed a bunch of bugs including:

 

      • Issues with some currency symbols in charts causing a crash
      • Fixed the border on/off property not working for label based menu
      • Up/down arrows not always working on border-width property

Learn more about the changes in 1.12 here.

Version 1.11.4

 

Hotfix for a few issues in 1.11

      • Problems with Auto Recover on mac after a crash
      • Deletion of original (dummy data) series in chart could cause Squirrel to crash
      • Scenarios sometimes do not load properly when inserted into a range referenced by a data mover.

Version 1.11

 

Scenarios – Save and retrieve snapshots of your published model

The new scenario component lets you define ranges in the spreadsheet that can be saved and restored by the end-user. Choose whether this should be saved locally (on the end-users machine) or in the cloud for all viewers of the published project to access.

 

New Help Centre – In product help…

Get access to help articles, tutorials and guides from within the Squirrel designer. Complete with a nifty search feature that lets you find the help you need.

 

Installer improvements – non-admin install and notarized mac installer

The Mac version is now fully notarized (great news for all the mac users out there!) and we’ve made it possible to install on windows without needing admin privileges.

 

Chart enhancements – Messy tooltips are a thing of the past

Our new single tooltip cleans up your charts so that you don’t need a separate tooltip for every series. And we’ve added vertical gridlines too, giving you more control over how you style your charts.

 

70+ bugs fixed including:

 

      • Delete and duplicate items went missing from the right-click menu after a datasheet was added
      • Spreadsheet export fails with an off-screen error when functions have the wrong number of arguments
      • Chart alerting colours not updating properly when bound to the spreadsheet
      • Date picker rendering issues
      • INT function does not treat Boolean values like Excel
      • Crash when data mover is bound to a single cell
      • Default setting not always working on Toggle switch
      • Value input does not display its value when selected and text colour bound to a cell.

Version 1.10

 

Datasheets – A better way to load data from Excel Online and Google Sheets.

We’ve been working on a new way to load data from your connectors. Datasheets are a new type of sheet that grow with your data — you no longer need to guess the size of your destination range. Making it quicker and easier to design and build projects. The datasheet option has been added to the Google Sheets and Excel Online connectors.

 

Load data at design time – Sync datasheets

Connectors that use Datasheets can be synced with their data source at design time. The sync option will grab the latest data and allow you to use it when designing your project. So there is no need to enter dummy/mock data when Datasheets are used.

 

Drop shadow

Get ‘arty’ with drop shadows.

 

Project Manager improvements

When working with large numbers of published projects you could find yourself waiting for the page to load. No one ikes to wait so we’ve sorted this out. Your project manager should now load superfast!!

 

70+ bugs fixed including:

 

      • Sliders not working on touch devices
      • Added a missing property for the background colour of the date picker input box
      • Backgrounds colours set at publish time were not extending to the full browser window size
      • Fixed an issue where the web view was not always loading properly if it was hidden initially.