Bonsai 2.7-rc5

The latest release candidate for the next feature release, with support for built-in documentation, improved interoperability with hardware protocols, improved UI for replacing and renaming operators, and updated APIs for creating custom visualizers.

Full-list of closed issues: https://github.com/bonsai-rx/bonsai/milestone/5?closed=1

What's Changed

• Load package manager dependencies without assembly lock by @glopesdev in #1049
• Add netstandard build target for core assembly by @glopesdev in #1052
• Refactor namespace organization for reactive operators by @glopesdev in #1046
• Disable modifier keys for docs and rename actions by @glopesdev in #1061
• Ensure nested mashup sources are always serialized by @glopesdev in #1065
• Finalize reorganization of reactive namespace by @glopesdev in #1064
• Align semantics of Slice operator with Take by @glopesdev in #1067
• Add support for finding toolbox elements by @glopesdev in #1074

Full Changelog: 2.7-rc1...2.7-rc5

Bonsai 2.7-rc1

The release candidate for the next feature release, with support for built-in documentation, improved interoperability with hardware protocols, improved UI for replacing and renaming operators, and updated APIs for creating custom visualizers.

Full-list of closed issues: https://github.com/bonsai-rx/bonsai/milestone/5?closed=1

Bonsai 2.6.3

This service release fixes several pending critical issues with package management, editor and core compiler edge cases. It also adds minor features to the shaders package and support for drag-and-dropping multiple workflows into the editor canvas.

Full-list of closed issues: https://github.com/bonsai-rx/bonsai/milestone/6?closed=1

Bonsai 2.6.2

This maintenance release fixes a couple of critical issues with custom scripts and visualizer table layouts. It also fixes small usability issues with the editor open file dialog.

Full-list of closed issues: https://github.com/bonsai-rx/bonsai/milestone/4?closed=1

Bonsai 2.6.1

This maintenance release fixes a couple of updating and reporting issues in the bootstrapper package manager, and introduces a new command-line flag --visualizer-layout which allows selecting arbitrary layout files to use when running a workflow in headless mode.

Full-list of closed issues: https://github.com/bonsai-rx/bonsai/milestone/3?closed=1

Bonsai 2.6

Bonsai 2.6 moves us further along the roadmap for cross-platform support. The NuGet package manager is now updated to the latest client version, and editor code has been refactored to allow replacing the editor UI frontend in the future. New language features allow more flexible declaration of subjects and a new "Go to definition" context menu allows browsing the C# declaration of all workflow nodes, bringing a new way to inspect available input and output types directly.

The new default Bonsai executable is 64-bit, and Bonsai64.exe is no longer available. For 32-bit support, please use the new Bonsai32.exe.

This release series will be the last release using .NET framework. The first major release next year, and onwards, will move the development stack to .NET 5, which will lay the final foundations for cross-platform execution of workflows.

Full-list of closed issues: https://github.com/bonsai-rx/bonsai/milestone/1?closed=1

Release highlights

• Default bootstrapper is now 64-bit
• Update NuGet client to latest version
• Allow stacking multiple visualizers into a single window using the new TableLayoutPanel operator
• Support for OSC arrays in ReceiveMessage
• New operators: ToDictionary, ToLookup
• Allow passing inputs to workflow and generic workflow inputs during build
• Allow creating standalone subject sources
• Add key modifiers to Windows.Input mouse and keyboard operators
• CsvReader now allows scanning files line-by-line triggered on external input
• Allow overriding sample rate in AudioReader
• Add support for video textures
• New package for rendering complex 3D scenes (Shaders.Rendering)
• Add "Go to Definition" context menu
• New package template for VS code
• Many editor improvements and bugfixes
• Update IncludeWorkflow to use ungroup action to make it read-only (for consistency with other group nodes)

Bonsai 2.5.1

This is the first maintenance update for Bonsai 2.5. You can install it from this release, or in the package manager for download as an update. Updating is highly recommended as this release fixes a number of issues with 2.5.0 and is the first release with mono compatible bootstrapper and editor support.

Release highlights

• Mono compatible bootstrapper and editor tested on Ubuntu 18.04 and 20.04
• Improvements to scripting compatibility and support for winform visualizers
• Fix path assignments when running workflow projects from the command-line
• Allow zero-delay timers in Shaders package

Bonsai 2.5.1-preview

Mono compatible bootstrapper and editor tested on Ubuntu 18.04 and 20.04.

Bonsai 2.5

The new Bonsai 2.5 moves us along our roadmap for cross-platform Bonsai. All project development has been moved to GitHub, and this will become the central hub for all development for the foreseeable future. The new build pipeline brings us very close to migration to .NET Core which will allow Bonsai workflows to run anywhere.

For this release we have fixed a number of nagging usability improvements that have accumulated over the years. We are also launching a preview of the new DeepLabCut module which brings real-time markerless pose estimation for Bonsai video workflows.

You can install Bonsai 2.5 from this release (recommended), or in the package manager as an update. Updating is highly recommended as this release fixes a number of issues with 2.4.0 and brings several performance improvements and usability improvements to the editor and other packages.

Release highlights

• Improvements to OSC client/server over TCP: for several years the TCP support for OSC was limited to a single peer-to-peer connection. Now it becomes possible to host a number of clients over TCP using the server configuration;
• Added Format and Parse nodes to the OSC package so that it becomes easy to send OSC messages over any transport protocol (e.g. WebSockets);
• The Arduino nodes now initialize asynchronously so that your workflow does not have to block waiting for the board to come online;
• Added operators for controlling the OS cursor position (SetCursorPosition) and generating virtual key presses (SendKeys) to the Windows.Input package;
• Rounded up several edge cases with data types and conversions on the Vision package;
• Reimplemented the "hidden" FileCapture editor as a visualizer so it is much easier to find and can now be launched directly as the workflow opens for quick file scanning;
• Added support for saving/loading camera extrinsics calibration to YAML;

Improvements to installer

• Bootstrapper now runs on .NET 4.7.2;
• Code templates now target Visual Studio 2017 onwards using the new csproj project format;

Bonsai 2.4.1

Just in time before 2020, we have uploaded the first maintenance update for Bonsai 2.4. You can install it from this release, or in the package manager for download as an update. Updating is highly recommended as this release fixes a number of issues with 2.4.0 and brings several performance improvements for the editor and the shaders package.

Release highlights

• Improvements to C# scripting: if you had problems integrating scripting with Visual Studio Code, it should now be easier to get this to work;

• Performance improvements to editor when dealing with multiple levels of nesting, and other edge cases;

• Fixed several loading issues with the new workflow format: if you were having issues saving and restoring some workflows, you might want to try again with this new version;

• Updated Bonsai.Shaders package: the new Bonsai.Shaders 0.20.0 updates OpenTK to the latest 3.1.0. This version significantly reduces the latency for visual stimulus presentation, by allowing to remove one extra frame of lag from the double-buffered render loop. It is also more stable on average and will form a solid basis for visual stimulus packages such as BonVision.

Improvements to installer

• 64-bit executable now associates by default and should be listed on Windows when you right-click on a Bonsai file and select "Open With";
• Code templates for Visual Studio 2019;