ACAT Developer Preview Beta 1

[michaelbeale-IL]

ACAT Developer Preview Beta - Release Notes

Comprehensive Feature and Architecture Changes

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📊 Release Summary

This Developer Preview Beta represents a major architectural evolution of the Assistive Context-Aware Toolkit (ACAT), transitioning from version 3.12 to a modernized 4.0 foundation. The release includes:

• 1,423 files changed with ~80,000 lines added and ~3.6 million lines removed
• Complete restructuring of the build system and project organization
• Major refactor and reorganization of the code to make it easier to navigate and extend
• Enhanced BCI capabilities with the addition of support for Unicorn Hybrid Black BCI Devices
• Modernized installer and deployment system

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🏗️ Major Architectural Changes

1. Build System Modernization

MSBuild Centralization

• New: Directory.Build.props and Directory.Build.targets

  • Centralized build configuration for all 150+ projects
  • Standardized assembly versioning and output paths
  • Global LangVersion configuration for C# language features
  • Unified ProduceReferenceAssembly settings
  • Platform target standardization (x86/x64)

• Project Reference Refactoring

  • Migrated from $(SolutionDir) to $(SolutionRoot) across entire solution
  • Consistent relative path resolution for all project references
  • Removed redundant Debug|x64 property groups
  • Streamlined dependency management

• Strong-Name Signing Infrastructure

  • New STRONG_ASSEMBLY_CHECK configuration flag
  • Replaces legacy SIGNED_RELEASE approach
  • Support for Debug_signed build configuration
  • Enhanced signing certificate management (added to .gitignore)

Post-Build Automation

• Enhanced PostBuildSolution.csproj
  • Automated dependency unzipping
  • Improved file filtering in build targets
  • Streamlined content file handling for localization resources

2. Extension Framework Architecture

New Modular Extension System

• ACAT.Extensions.UI Project (NEW)

  • 141 files, comprehensive UI extension framework
  • GenericScannerForm - Base class for scanner forms
  • GenericUserControl - Extensible user control foundation
  • ScrollingText - New scrolling text control
  • KeyboardUserControl - Enhanced keyboard functionality
  • FontUtility (2,107 lines) - Comprehensive font management system
  • Window management extensions:
    • WindowMoveResizeScannerForm - Window manipulation UI
    • WindowsExplorerContextMenu - File explorer integration
    • WindowsExplorerClipboardMenu, FileOpsMenu, NavigateMenu

• ACAT.Extensions.Onboarding Project (NEW)

  • 118 files, complete onboarding wizard system
  • Pluggable Onboarding Architecture:
    • OnboardingExtensionBase - Base class for custom onboarding flows
    • OnboardingWizard - Wizard orchestration engine
    • OnboardingSequence / OnboardingSequenceItem - Configurable sequences
  • Pre-built Onboarding Steps:
    • OnboardingWelcome - Welcome screen
    • OnboardingLanguageSelect - Language selection (UserControlLanguageSelect)
    • OnboardingSwitchSelect - Input device selection
    • OnboardingKeyboardConfigSelect - Keyboard layout selection
    • OnboardingHardwareSwitchSetup - Hardware switch configuration
    • UserControlHardwareSwitchTest - Switch testing UI
    • UserControlScanTimingsConfigure - Timing configuration
    • OnboardingFinish - Completion screen
  • Multi-language support (English, Spanish resource files)

Extension Loading Architecture

• Moved onboarding logic to AppCommon class
  • Better organization and reusability
  • Removed deprecated onboarding methods from ACATApp and ACATTalk
  • New interfaces: IOnboardingExtension, IOnboardingUserControl, IOnboardingWizard
  • Actuator management updated to support onboarding extensions

3. Configuration System Redesign

ACATConfigNext (NEW)

A next-generation configuration application:

• Modern UI Framework:

  • CustomControls.cs (894 lines) - Custom control implementations
  • SettingsForm.cs (644 lines) - Main settings interface
  • GroupedSettingsPanel - Hierarchical settings organization
  • SettingsPanel - Individual setting panels with Save method exposure
  • ISettingsBinder interface - Pluggable settings binding

• Enhanced Preferences Management:

  • Refactored to use PreferencesBase type
  • Streamlined preference saving logic
  • Better settings validation and error handling

Panel Configuration System

• New Panel Configuration Files:

  • Windows Explorer integration panels (Clipboard, Context, FileOps, Navigate menus)
  • Enhanced keyboard panel configurations
  • Letter-specific menus (LetterA, LetterE, LetterI, LetterN, LetterO, LetterU)
  • Language-specific settings (LanguageSettings.xml)

• PanelConfigMap Enhancements:

  • New method to retrieve panel configuration entries by name
  • Flexible panel initialization in ScannerCommon
  • Checks for specific panel configuration before falling back to panel class
  • Enhanced PanelManager to create panels from configuration entries

• StartupArg Class:

  • New PanelConfig property for detailed panel initialization

4. Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) Architecture

BCI Actuator Refactoring

• Exposed BCI Settings API:

  • BCI actuator settings now accessible externally
  • Panel class configuration methods exposed for extensions
  • Changed default BCI actuator naming conventions to match code

• Enhanced BCI Logging:

  • BCI scan logs now saved in dedicated EEG and Logs folders
  • Improved log structure for signal analysis
  • Better error tracking and diagnostics

Signal Processing & Device Management

• g.tec Device Support:

  • Refactored DAQ_gTecBCI to default to GTecBCI
  • Cleaned up unused hotkey functionality
  • Enhanced gTecDeviceTester with proper device closure
  • Added Debug_TestGTEC configuration
  • Removed ambiguous MicroSecondTimer definition

• BCI Signal Check UI:

  • Enhanced descriptions and layout adjustments
  • Overall signal quality now dependent on railing test results only
  • Removed optical sensor and impedance test references
  • Streamlined electrode name handling
  • Restart testing process from bluetooth error screen
  • Initial delay for device connection screen
  • Updated cap background image

• BCI Calibration System:

  • Refactored calibration parameter classes with auto-implemented properties
  • Improved BCIError initialization using object initializer syntax
  • Added missing properties to BCI calibration settings
  • Initialized properties with default values for stability
  • Enhanced calibration mismatch status handling

• BCI Control Classes:

  • Major refactoring for improved structure and maintainability
  • Removed optical sensor UI references
  • Disabled sensor usage flag for testing purposes
  • Enhanced initialization methods

New BCI Device Support

• UnicornDotNet Integration (NuGet 1.24.0, 111KB)

  • Support for g.tec Unicorn Hybrid Black EEG headsets
  • Native .NET integration

• BrainFlow Synthetic Board Support

  • Added for development and demonstration purposes without physical BCI hardware

• Camera Actuator Updates:

  • Updated AcatCameraNative package (reduced from 99.7MB to 84.8MB)
  • Removed obsolete Camera Actuator binaries
  • Updated actuator loading logic

5. Localization & Internationalization

Spanish Language Support

• Comprehensive Spanish Resources:

  • Keyboard layouts: KeyboardAbcUserControl.xml, KeyboardQwertyUserControl.xml
  • Letter menus: LetterA, E, I, N, O, U with Spanish diacritics
  • Punctuation scanner: PunctuationsScanner.xml (198 lines)
  • Language settings: LanguageSettings.xml

• Spanish ConvAssist Integration:

  • spanish_conversation.db (880KB) - Conversation database
  • spanish_shorthand.db (311KB) - Shorthand database
  • all_aac.txt (906 entries) - AAC vocabulary
  • sent_all_aac.txt (998 entries) - Sentence templates
  • filter_words.txt (1,195 entries) - Word filtering
  • stopwords.txt (313 entries) - Spanish stop words
  • Configuration files for all modes (canned phrases, sentence, shorthand, word prediction)
  • Personalized canned phrases support
  • Start sentences templates

• Culture Handling Refactor:

  • Replaced DefaultThreadCurrentUICulture with CurrentUICulture
  • Consistent culture handling across TTS and ConvAssist components
  • Added localized strings for keyboard hotkey and switch configuration prompts
  • Updated switch type selection to use localized string resources

6. Named Pipe Communication

Enhanced IPC Architecture

• NamedPipeServerConvAssist.cs improvements:
  • Better error handling and connection management
  • Enhanced logging for pipe operations
  • Improved client disconnect handling

7. Logging & Diagnostics

Structured Logging System

• Log Level Hierarchy:

  • Default log level set to "Verbose" in GlobalPreferences
  • Reduced log clutter with strategic level changes:
    • DirectoryWalker: Debug → Verbose for file discovery
    • UserControlManager: Removed debug logs for list modifications
    • AnimationPlayer: Updated logging levels for animation events
    • Fonts utility: Error → Info when no user fonts installed
    • FileUtils: Enhanced assembly resolution logging context

• Enhanced Logging Features:

  • WindowActivityMonitor: Replaced debug logs with verbose logs
  • Better exception handling in Layout class
  • Enhanced logging for scanner closure attempts
  • Improved error handling in panel management
  • Application manifest adjustments for debug log settings
  • Log.cs: Enhanced logging setup

8. Animation & UI Framework

Animation System Refactor

• Fixed Animation Behavior:
  • AnimationPlayer: Updated logging levels
  • UserControlManager: Prevent stopping top-level animations
  • Fixed onSelect behavior in ToolbarUserControl and ToolsMenuUserControl
  • AnimationManager: Correct Interpret instance initialization
  • DashboardAppScanner: Added pause and resume handling

Toolbar & Control Refactoring

• ToolbarUserControl Enhancements:

  • Removed unused button dictionaries
  • Consolidated button initialization
  • Dynamic button creation based on available buttons
  • Improved layout of ToolbarBox and DefaultButtonsBox
  • Better UI responsiveness

• UserControlContainerForm Refactor (279 lines changed):

  • Enhanced form lifecycle management
  • Better control initialization flow

• Generic Control Foundation:

  • Refactored user controls to inherit from GenericUserControl
  • Updated toolbar button creation for UI consistency
  • Overridden initialization and event handling methods for consistency

DPI Scaling & Multi-Monitor

• DpiScaling.cs (216 lines):

  • Comprehensive DPI awareness
  • Per-monitor DPI support
  • Scaling calculations for controls

• DualMonitor.cs (28 lines changed):

  • Enhanced dual monitor support
  • Better window positioning across displays

• Widget & Display Improvements:

  • WidgetAttribute: Default font properties set to null/zero to avoid unintended behavior
  • ScannerButtonBase: Font scaling only applied when font family is set (prevents null reference exceptions)
  • Updated default widget states and window positions for consistency
  • Signal quality gradient image references updated to correct namespace

9. Deployment & Installation

NSIS Installer System (NEW)

Replaced Python-based installer with native NSIS scripts:

• NSIS_InstallerScript.nsi (296 lines):

  • Production installer script
  • Registry entries for installation details
  • Shortcut creation options
  • Uninstall support with improved messaging

• NSIS_InstallerScript-DEBUG.nsi (284 lines):

  • Debug build installer
  • Points to Debug_signed output directory
  • Separate installation path

• Removed: installGenerator.py (609 lines) - Legacy Python installer

• Removed: ndp481-web.exe - Bundled .NET installer

Deployment Script Refactor

• deploy.bat Rewrite (292 lines removed, enhanced version):

  • Complete error handling overhaul
  • Configuration input validation
  • Missing source directory detection
  • ConvAssist conditional copying (only if executable doesn't exist)
  • Streamlined actuator deployment
  • Fixed directory path handling
  • Improved file copying logic

• Removed Legacy Scripts:

  • config.bat (3 lines)
  • deployRedist.bat (9 lines)

10. Dependency Management

Removed Binary Dependencies

Cleaned up redistributables in favor of NuGet:

• Removed Newtonsoft.Json.dll (711KB) - Now via NuGet
• Removed SharpDX libraries (1.6MB total):
  • SharpDX.dll, SharpDX.DXGI.dll, SharpDX.Direct2D1.dll, SharpDX.Direct3D11.dll
• Removed ColorSlider.dll (35KB)
• Removed System.Security.Cryptography.Pkcs.dll (22KB)

Removed Accord.NET Binaries

Deleted 100+ binary files from External/Accord.3.8.0 folders:

• All .NET 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 4.6, 4.6.2 builds
• Unity subset variants
• netstandard 1.4 and 2.0 builds
• Accord.Controls and Accord.MachineLearning binaries

11. Word Prediction & ConvAssist

ConvAssist Architecture

• Updated ConvAssist.zip with new file size and hash
• Enhanced named pipe server communication
• Updated Python dependencies
• Added ConvAssist submodule support

12. Preferences & User Data

New User Data Management

• shorthand_sqlite.db - User preferences database
• Added to .gitignore for per-user customization
• Enhanced Preferences.cs with better validation
• SystemPreferences updated for debug log settings

Widget Configuration

• Updated widget attributes:
  • Disabled SwitchWindow button
  • Disabled LaunchApp button
• Application manifest adjustments
• Contextual menu settings refinements in ACATTalk

13. Security & Compliance

Security Fixes

• Fixed symlink/junction file vulnerability (v3.11)
• Enhanced digital signature verification
• OSSF Scorecard compliance (added SECURITY.md)

Licensing & Attribution

• New License2.txt (166 lines) - Additional license information
• Enhanced license.txt (117 lines) - Updated Apache 2.0 license
• Third-party notices - Comprehensive attribution

14. UI/UX Polish

Splash Screen

• Splash.cs enhanced to display correctly and bring to front
• Fixed splash screen handling: Closes before post-initialization (Fix splash screen handling: ensure it closes before post-initialization #138)

Hardware Switch Setup

• Fixed incorrect WidgetAttribute value for SPLItem5 in SentencePredictionUserControl.xml
• Added Load event handler to UserControlHardwareSwitchSetup
• Moved initialization logic to UserControlHardwareSwitchSetup_Load
• Enhanced web browser event handling for document loading

Resource & Documentation Updates

• Streamlined instructional text in setup guides
• Removed video links from setup documentation
• Updated ACAT BCI User Guide.pdf
• Improved error messages in PreferencesEditForm initialization

15. Code Quality & Maintainability

Removed Legacy Code

• Removed HorizontalStripScanner2 (unused scanner)
• Removed unused IsForegroundApp() method in User32Interop.cs
• Cleaned up commented-out code across multiple files
• Removed unused onboarding code and resources

Cross-Thread Safety

• Fixed cross-thread invocation comments in Windows.cs
• Streamlined display state handling in ScannerCommon.cs
• Early return in ActiveWordPredictor_EvtModeChanged method

Using Directives

• Reordered using directives in UserControlKeyboardConfigSelect.cs
• Removed unused using directives in DashboardAppScanner.cs

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🔧 CI/CD & DevOps

GitHub Actions

• Updated workflows:
  • build.yml - Main build pipeline
  • debug-installer.yml - Debug installer builds
  • build-release.yml (created) - Release builds

Issue Templates

• Created issues_template folder with bug report templates
• Improved community contribution workflow

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📈 Version History Context

Building on releases:

• v3.13 (April 2025): Assembly versioning, deployment improvements
• v3.12 (March 2024): Security fixes, version logic removal
• v3.11: Symlink vulnerability patch
• v3.10: BCI logging enhancements
• v3.00 (December 2023): Major release with ConvAssist

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👥 Contributors

• Michael Beale (Lead)
• Sai Prasad
• Oscar Olmedo Garcia
• Celal Savur
• Sangita Sharma
• Robert Dower

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🎯 Breaking Changes & Migration Notes

For Developers:

1. Build System: Update project files to use $(SolutionRoot) if custom
2. Onboarding: Old onboarding code deprecated; migrate to new extension system
3. Logging: Review log levels; default is now "Verbose"
4. Dependencies: Remove local binary references; use NuGet packages

For End Users:

1. Installer: New NSIS-based installer replaces Python installer
2. Configuration: New ACATConfigNext application (legacy ACATConfig still available)
3. Onboarding: Enhanced wizard with language selection
4. Spanish Support: Full Spanish UI and word prediction available

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🔗 Resources

• Repository: github.com/intel/acat
• Project Website: intel.com/acat
• Contact: ACAT@intel.com

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⚙️ System Requirements

• OS: Windows 10 (20H2+) or Windows 11
• .NET: Framework 4.8.1
• Development: Visual Studio 2022
• Git: LFS support required for cloning

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🚀 What's Next

This Developer Preview Beta establishes the foundation for ACAT 4.0. Future releases will build on this modernized architecture with:

• Additional language packs
• More BCI device support
• Enhanced machine learning word prediction
• Cloud-based preference synchronization
• Cross-platform support exploration

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Note: This is a Beta Release intended for developers and early adopters. Some features are subject to change based on community feedback.

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This discussion was created from the release ACAT Developer Preview Beta 1.