History
 -  About BePDF
 -  Version History
 -  Acknowledgements
 -  Known Bugs
 -  Upcoming Features
 
 Program Requirements
 -  BePDF Requirements
 -  Asian Font Sets
 -  Ghostscript
 -  ZapfDingbats
 
 Installation
 -  BePDF Program
 -  Deskbar Replicant
 -  Base 14 Fonts
 -  ZapfDingbats
 
 User Interface
 -  Program Layout
 -  ToolBar
 -  Preferences
 -  Keyboard Commands
 -  Mouse Controls
 
 Printing
 -  General
 -  Font Renderer
 -  Page Size
 
 Localization
 -  Localization
 
 
 
  Notes for WebMasters
 
Version History

BePDF is an ongoing project. The following list details past improvements


BePDF Release 0.9.2
March 11, 2002

  • Some bug fixes.
  • Hide entered password in Password window.

BePDF Release 0.9.1
January 28, 2002
  • Added support for annotations and associated text
  • Added mouse scroll wheel zoom feature
  • Added a window for displaying error messages and warnings
  • Incorporated several bug fixes

BePDF Release 0.9
Novermber 25, 2001
  • Updated back-end to xpdf 0.93
  • Implemented PDF 1.4 (128-bit) decryption
  • Allows acceptance and verification of the document owner password; if the correct password is entered, BePDF makes all document actions available
  • BePDF now respects security settings for text/graphics copying and printing
  • BePDF allows user defined bookmarks (to a maximum of one per page) stored in file attributes, not in PDF file
  • Incorporated several bug fixes
  • Reformatted and extended documentation by Celerick Stephens
  • Added links to BePDF related sites to help menu
  • Separated packages for external libraries (libxpdf, libfreetype) to reduce the size of the BePDF distribution package

BePDF Release 0.7.11
September 9, 2001
  • Added options for FreeType 2 renderer
  • Implemented image memory size protection
  • Made handling of images/image mask similar to handling performed by xpdf
  • Added "Open in Workspace" option to preferences window
  • Fixed interruption of rendering process.

BePDF Release 0.7.10 Alpha 6
August 14, 2001
  • Replaced development version of FreeType 2 library with latest stable version 2.0.4. The development version caused a crash when rendering a page (thanks to Fabrice Guix for reporting the bug)

BePDF Release 0.7.10 Alpha 5
August 13, 2001
  • Vertical text positioning bug fixed by NAITHO Jun
  • Limited text selection rectangle to page
  • Fixed buffer overrun bug in printing progress window (BePDF crashed e.g. when Japanese language is selected). Thanks to Eberhard Hafermalz for reporting the bug

BePDF Release 0.7.10 Alpha 4
July 19, 2001
  • Added ability to reload the current file
  • Enter key now has the same function as spacebar
  • Changed behavior of tooltips

BePDF Release 0.7.10 Alpha 3
Localization Update 1
July 2, 2001
  • The following languages have been updated:
    • Finnish
    • French
    • Italian
    • Japanese
    • Slovak
    • Traditional Chinese
  • These languages were previously current:
    • English
    • German
  • These languages have not yet been updated:
    • Hungarian
    • Bulgarian
    • Spanish
    • Polish
    • Brazilian Portuguese
    • Russian
    • Swedish
    • Czechoslovakian

BePDF Release 0.7.10 Alpha 3
June 24, 2001
  • Ghostscript fonts can now be used for PDF base 14 fonts
  • Added option for gray scale printing
  • Fixed bug affecting handling of password protected PDF files
  • Corrected display of password protected files with Ghostscript renderer enabled

BePDF Release 0.7.10 Alpha 2
June 12, 2001
  • Improved speed up to 43% for rendering embedded fonts
  • Added sub-pixel precise positioning (2x2) of glyphs of embedded fonts
  • Disabled auto-hinter of FreeType 2 renderer
  • Fixed bug in Type 1 character code mapping
  • Implemented many other miscellaneous bug fixes

BePDF Release 0.7.10 Alpha 1
June 7, 2001
  • FreeType 2 is now used to render embedded Type 1 and TrueType fonts. This replaces the FreeType 1.x and Type 1 renderer
  • The decoding tables for Japanese, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese are moved to add-ons to reduce the size of the executable
  • Fixed bug to allow searching for Japanese or Chinese text all pages instead of only on the current displayed page

BePDF Release 0.7.9 Alpha 3
May 31, 2001
  • Updated Japanese font support
  • Added minor modifications to the Graphical User Interface

BePDF Release 0.7.9 Alpha 2
May 29, 2001
  • Added Chinese font support (traditional and simplified)
  • Added customization option for Japanese, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese fonts
  • Made widths of page list and bookmarks sidebars independent

BePDF Release 0.7.8 Alpha 5
May 22, 2001
  • Chinese by Chen Yi-feng
  • Fixed calculation of link rectangles

BePDF Release 0.7.8 Alpha 4
Localization Update 1
May 21, 2001
  • Added Slovak localization by Martin Paucula
  • Added Bulgarian localization by Philip Petev (MadMax)

BePDF Release 0.7.8 Alpha 4
May 9, 2001
  • Added options to preferences window to set fullscreen mode or quasi-fullscreen mode and to show selection rectangle as filled rectangle or as stroked rectangle.
  • Added shell scripts to add/remove a replicant to/from the deskbar
  • Added filter to file open window to show only PDF files
  • Added possibility to close sub windows using the escape key
  • Right clicking on link now allows copying the link text to the clipboard
  • Clicking on a link to another PDF file now opens that file in a new window
  • Status bar now shows more meaningful information for internal links
  • Disabled menu items and buttons in main window when they have no effect
  • Changed and added some keyboard shortcuts (fullscreen, fit to width, fit to page)
  • Bookmarks can now be displayed in place of page list

BePDF Release 0.7.7 Alpha 10
March 21, 2001
  • Added new translations of user interface strings to Brazilian Portuguese by Bruno G. Albuquerque
  • Disabled usage of SpLocale

BePDF Release 0.7.7 Alpha 9
March 1, 2001
  • Added new translations of user interface strings to Swedish by Daniel WesslĂ©n
  • Location and orientation of Deskbar is accounted for during zooming
  • Completed SpLocale integration. SpLocale is used when HAVE_SPLOCALE macro is defined at the time of program compiling

BePDF Release 0.7.7 Alpha 8
February 26, 2001
  • Added new translations of user interface strings to Russian by Oleg V. Kourapov
  • Fixed a bug which crashed the PPC version (thanks to Michael Pieper for submitting a bug report and testing)

BePDF Release 0.7.7 Alpha 7
February 20, 2001
  • New translations for Czechoslovakian by Jan Polzer
  • Fixed a number of major bugs

BePDF Release 0.7.7 Alpha 6
February 18, 2001
  • Updated Localization
  • Added minor bug fixes

BePDF Release 0.7.7 Alpha 5
February 14, 2001
  • Added dynamic loading of Ghostscript library if available. This should also work with the PPC version of Ghostscript when it is ported
  • Added minor bug fixes

BePDF Release 0.7.7 Alpha 4
February 6, 2001
  • Added quasi fullscreen/window mode and show/hide page list (the current implementation of quasi fullscreen mode does not allow opening of other windows in BePDF, e.g. opening a file, searching, etc. does not work; this is to be resolved in a later version).

BePDF Release 0.7.7 Alpha 3
January 28, 2001
  • Added new translations for Spanish by Carlos Hasan
  • Added new translations for Finnish by Jaakko Leikas
  • Added UI improvements; more buttons in toolbar
  • Bug fixed (opening a defect pdf file crashed BePDF)
  • BePDF now requires Santa's Gift Bag (included)
  • Features a 'Get BePDF' button for the web by Kevin H. Patterson

BePDF Release 0.7.7 Alpha 2
January 16, 2001
  • Updated backend to Xpdf 0.92
  • Updated localization

BePDF Release 0.7.7 Alpha 1
January 9, 2001
  • Added new toolbar button bitmaps by Adam Rosser
  • Added PDF doc encoding
  • Fixed some memory leak bugs (in Bookmarks window and Preferences window)
  • Added page list which shows page labels of PDF 1.3 files, if available
  • Reorganized preferences window and added some settings
  • Added 'Fonts' tab to file info window, which shows the fonts in the PDF file
  • Help documentation is now opened with the preferred application for HTML
  • (Experimental) BePDF now uses Ghostscript for page rendering. The following items do not work when the Ghostscript renderer is enabled
    • Printing (uses always the native renderer)
    • Rotation
    • Selecting & copying text (graphics works)
    • Links position is not always correct
    • Searching starts at the next page (not at the current page) and does not display the found text

BePDF Release 0.7.6 Alpha 3
November 25, 2000
  • Fixed a bug which caused BePDF to crash

BePDF Release 0.7.6 Alpha 2
November 25, 2000
  • Added localization. Translations for Japanese, Italian and German are included in this distribution
  • Added Drag and Drop support for copying text or images inside the selection to another application (including Tracker); works with Japanese text, also
  • Added zoom options: Fit to Page Width, Fit to Page, Zoom In and Zoom Out
  • The contents of the File Info and Bookmarks window are updated when a new document is opened
  • Color space for bitmap is now customizable
  • Update frequency is now customizable
  • Page number, zoom factor, rotation, window position, and window size are now stored in the file attributes of the PDF document
  • Line mode for drawing lines is now used when printing
  • Fixed some bugs

BePDF Release 0.7.6 Alpha 1
November 13, 2000
  • Fixed two bugs which crashed BePDF (switching between workspaces; opening a document which has no info dictionary)
  • Added tooltips to buttons in toolbar
  • Added a bookmarks window (this is experimental; the contents of the window are not updated when a new document is loaded; the window has to be closed and reopened)

BePDF Release 0.7.5
November 4, 2000
  • Reduced amount of memory used while printing (up to 400%)
  • Moved printer and display settings in to windows
  • Can display password protected PDF files (not tested)
  • UTF8 to ASCII conversion is done when necessary and vice versa (copied text; search text; password)
  • Application resources used for cursors and bitmaps
  • Added bitmap buttons to toolbar
  • Added file info window

BePDF Release 0.7.4
September 30, 2000
  • Fixed a bug which crashed BePDF after opening a file
  • Added go to next/previous page with mouse wheel
  • Added zoom to selection with third mouse button
  • Window size is now independent of page size
  • Type 1 and FreeType font renderers can now be disabled
  • Anti-aliasing is now disabled when printing
  • Page history stores zoom factor, position, and rotation

BePDF Release 0.7.3
September 25, 2000
  • Added printer settings (print odd/even pages, normal/reverse order)
  • Added a page rendering thread
  • A page is now rendered in its own thread and the rendering process can now be interrupted; this also allows faster navigation between pages

BePDF Release 0.7.2
September 21, 2000
  • Type 3 font renderer can now be enabled at runtime (Warning: Type 3 font renderer is very slow!)
  • Fixed some minor bugs (window size, file name in window title)

BePDF Release 0.7.1
September 19, 2000
  • Important menu settings and window position/size are now persistent.
  • BePDF now remembers path of last opened file in the file open dialog
  • Added encoding table for ZapfDingbats font
  • Fixed bug in true type font renderer
  • Added 'Find Next' menu item
  • Added Keyboard Shortcuts menu item

BePDF Release 0.7
September 3, 2000
  • Renamed PDFViewer 0.2.2 to BePDF 0.7
  • Added TrueType font support for embedded fonts for X86 only (uses FreeType 1.3.1; PPC Crosscompiler generates error messages when compiling FreeType, because of the old parameter declaration style used by the FreeType library)
  • Added menu item to change the DPI for printing
  • Fixed bug when printing with BinkJet driver
  • Separated BePDF source files from the required libraries

PDFViewer Release 0.2.1
August 27, 2000
  • Added Type 1 font support for embedded fonts (uses t1lib 1.0.1)
  • Fixed some minor bugs

PDFViewer Release 0.2
August 22, 2000
  • Japanese font support added by NAITOH Jun
  • Included first PPC release
  • Switched from xpdf 0.9 to xpdf 0.91
  • Added real time dragging of the view
  • Added searching for text
  • Added text copy
  • Fixed another image bug--hope this is the last :)

PDFViewer Release 0.1.5
August 15, 2000
  • Fixed masked image bug

PDFViewer Release 0.1.4
August 13, 2000
  • Added printing support
  • Added page rotation
  • Fixed image bug (image was not rotated)

PDFViewer Release 0.1.3
August 11, 2000
  • Added character decoding for Symbol font
  • Improved character decoding
  • Added an open dialog box
  • Added more navigation buttons
  • Added drag and drop support to open a document in the current window

PDFViewer Release 0.1.2
July 30, 2000
  • Added handling of document internal links and URL links
  • PDFViewer Release 0.1.1
    July 30, 2000
    • Fixed image color bug
    PDFViewer Release 0.1.0
    July 29, 2000
    • First release of PDFViewer which is based on BePDF 0.6
    • Fixed scrollbar bug
    • Added navigation with the keyboard
    • Added moving the view with the mouse
    • Added code for displaying masked images
    • Improved code for drawing images
    • Some special characters are now displayed
    • Fixed bug in stroke function (line width was not set correctly)
    • Added a status window


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