SuperBeam 4

Missing GDIPLUS.DLL error message

Windows 98/ME/2000 users: You may get an error message relating to a missing GDIPLUS.DLL file. To update your system click here

Windows 98/ME users: Current releases to October 2008 will run on Windows 98 and ME systems as long as the GDIPlus.DLL is installed. From November 2008, new releases will not run on these systems.

New Part A from 1 Dec 2004

The new 2004 Part A Approved Document came into force on 1 December 2004. As expected BS449 was withdrawn from the list of Standards and Codes. For a further discussion of the implications of this see our page on The future of BS449. In the medium term we plan to release a Eurocode-based program, EuroBeam™ and would expect this to replace SuperBeam. See the Eurocodes Expert website for more information on the Eurocode programme.

Joist hangers: SCOSS warning

SCOSS issued (31 July 2006) an alert relating to the use of timber joist hangers in housing construction. A number of accidents have occurred as a consequence of incorrect installation. View the full alert at: http://www.scoss.org.uk/publications.asp

K8=1.1?

From time to time we get asked why SuperBeam has applied a K8 factor of 1.1 to a built-up timber beam?

Loft conversion structural design courses

One-day courses on the structural design of domestic loft conversions are run by ABE. For detailsclick here (scroll to end of list). ABE tell us that these courses are very popular and book up quickly.

askTRADA timber information now available to non-members

Release 4.52g, 18 Nov 2008

Users of releases 4.20a and later who have been sent and entered a valid activation key ending in 809 or greater can download this release using the Miscellaneous, Check SDA Website for Updates option within the program. How to use the web updates facility

There are no functional changes in this release. Our new business name, Greentram Software Pty Ltd has been substituted for Survey Design Associates Ltd in copyright and disclaimer messages, and on first-time installs folders are now named Greentram rather than SDA (e.g. default install folder becomes C:\Program Files\Greentram).

If you install this release or future releases as an update, the previous folders will be used. The program configuration files will continue to be called SDA_Apps.ini. The location of this/these file(s) will be retrieved from registry keys HKLM/HKCU Software\Greentram if present, otherwise HKLM/HKCU Software\SDA. If the last sentence means nothing to you, then you don't need to know it!

Release 4.52f, 16 Sept 2008

1. Beams can now have up to 50 (was 25) loads on them (problem with this in Sept 15 release, fixed in Sept 16 build)
2. If you used a channel as a column with the load being applied in position 4 (i.e. offset from the flange end of the web), the resulting moment was miscalculated (too high) - fixed.
3. Entering a negative value in a calculated field (e.g. a point load of -5.0) gave an 'expression cannot start with an operator' error - fixed
4. The number of decimal points shown each column of the beam analysis reflects the maximum value in the column.
5. The Check Website for Updates dialog now has an extra button that lets you download an update using your default web browser - this should help some users with firewall problems, but you still need to have internet access to check on which updates are available
6. If your activation key validity expired some months ago, you may be offered a release which is not the most recent, just the most recent one you're entitled to as determined by your activation. Previously you might be unaware that a later version was available: now you are explicitly told when this is the case.
7. Menu options that accessed sda.co.uk are now directed to superbeam.co.uk.
8. If you are running SuperBeam on a Windows/95/98/ME system the disclaimer and licence screen shows an warning message stating that support for these platforms will be withdrawn before too long. SuperBeam is written using CodeGear Delphi and the latest version, just released, builds programs that will only run on Windows 2000, XP and Vista. We do need to make the change once we have tested and approved the new version, as it takes advantage of features that are in current Windows releases but not earlier ones.

Release 4.52e, 24 June 2008

1. If a member fails, this is now noted in the Project Summary
2. Load expressions containing a comma are now handled: previously if such an expression found its way into a project file (it shouldn't have) the file could not be read in.
3. A lower case 'l' in load expressions is now uppercased if it precedes a '/' (e.g. l/2 is turned into L/2) or follows a number (e.g. 0.5l is turned into 0.5L). Before this change 'l' was discarded, possibly leaving an invalid expression.
4. Additional moments on columns can now be entered as expressions.
5. Where the vertical height of the Project Manager and number of items was such that the item list finished with an incompletely displayed row, clicking on the last (part) row displayed the wrong item. Now only whole rows are shown.
6. For some while there has been an option to right-click on the Project Summary and select 'Copy to Clipboard' from the popup menu: the copied text included some extraneous formatting characters that should have been stripped out - fixed
7. A basic standard notes file is now installed in the program folder on new installs. If the file shown in Configuration > User Setup is not found, the default file will be copied over to the user's data folder (the file name and location is shown in Configuration > Information and in the notes edit dialog). Obviously the intention is that users will modify the default notes to suit their own needs.
8. A new option on the Help menu takes you straight to our support forums - please use these where possible for your questions, feedback and suggestions. Our previous website helpdesk is no longer in use.

4.52d, 3 April 2008

Release 4.52c, 26 March 2008

1. Some additional error checking has been added which should make it easier to diagnose startup and shutdown problems.
2. An extra option on the Miscellaneous menu takes you to a page on our website http://www.sda.co.uk/renew which lets you renew your update cover online. From the end of April we will not be taking credit card payments ourselves. This option is greyed out until 45 days before your update cover expires.
3. 4.52d fixes a problem with page heading column widths: on accessing the heading editor the widths were lost and could not be reset.

Release 4.52b, 6 March 2008

This release incorporates various changes required to make it work in countries that do not use a period, '.' as the decimal separator