file: NEWNEWS.TXT	G. Moody       23 April 1997
			Last revised:  22 May 1997
Very recent changes in the DB Software Package

Copyright (C) Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1997. All rights reserved.

This file summarizes changes made to the DB Software Package since the first
release of the current minor version.  For less recent changes, refer to
`NEWS.TXT' and `OLDNEWS.TXT'.

The first release of the current minor version is 9.7.0.

The current release is 9.7.1.

========
Contents
========

A. Changes in the DB library
 9.7.1: Win32 DLL compatibility fixes (other platforms unaffected)

B. Other news
 WVIEW/wvscript

C. Future news
 New DB library name
 New mail address

============================
A. Changes in the DB library
============================

Changes in version 9.7.1
------------------------

lib/db.h, lib/dbio.c, lib/signal.c
  Minor changes (FLONG changed to FLONGINT in db.h and signal.c, wgetenv now
  compiled for 16-bit MS-Windows DLLs only) for Win32 compatibility.  A bug in
  the internal function isgsetframe (now fixed) caused strtim("i") to return
  an incorrect value if the most recently read samples were from the second or
  a later segment of a multi-segment record.  Thanks to Bob Farrell for
  suggesting and testing Win32 compatibility changes, and for pointing out
  the incorrect behavior of strtim.


=============
B. Other news
=============

WVIEW, which is not part of the DB Software Package but is available in
precompiled form for MS-Windows, has several new features in version 1.03 alpha
(released at the same time as DB Software Package version 9.7.1).  These
include the option to specify the starting time of the first display from the
command line, a wider range of time scales (to match those available in WAVE),
and an option to display absolute time if available (elapsed time can still be
displayed if you prefer).  WVIEW now comes with a `wrapper' application, called
`wvscript', that can interpret a `wavescript' script file and launch WVIEW
so as to open the record and annotator specified in the script at the time
also specified there.  `wvscript' can be set up as a Netscape helper
application, permitting not only UNIX but also Windows users to follow links
to DB records found in (for example) the hypertext version of the MIT-BIH
Arrhythmia Database Directory.

==============
C. Future news
==============

The news in this section is so new that it hasn't even happened yet!

The next major revision of the DB library will have a new name (see LINUX.TXT
for the reason).  My choice is `wfdb' (WaveForm DataBase), although `awful'
(Annotated WaveForm Utility Library) is tempting.  Suggestions are welcome.

I expect to move to Building E25 at MIT sometime around the end of 1997,
ideally before Building 20 is demolished.  Please check the web site
(http://ecg.mit.edu/) or send e-mail (to george@hstbme.mit.edu) for my new
address before sending any postal mail to me after the end of 1997.