Automata Lab 1.8.0

Fix message (M), warning (W), and error (E) badges that could be squeezed into ovals beside longer dialog text or in narrow windows. Shared badge sizing now preserves the circular shape in modal dialogs and the Console, including the Loaded and Hosted Models Differ warning.

Application and documentation versions are 1.8.0. Model file format 1.4.0 and server protocol /2 are unchanged.

Launch Automata Lab · Documentation

Automata Lab 1.7.0

Automata Lab 1.7.0 makes the Console easier to scan and navigate.

• Sticky Time, Severity, Code, Source, Message, and Goto headers, with draggable and keyboard-adjustable column widths. Code defaults to 250px; narrow layouts retain every column through horizontal scrolling.
• Concise, equally sized destination buttons that select, focus, and reveal the affected state, event, action, or transition when its reference is still usable. Older messages continue to open the relevant page safely.
• Shared application button palettes, optional Green/Blue/Red severity matching, corrected Light-mode Gray/White choices, consistent borders, and clearer resize grips.
• Gray Console buttons by default with matching unchecked; existing saved preferences and the manual-color option remain supported.
• Updated User and Developer Guides, five refreshed screenshots, and two new figures covering entity navigation and Dark severity matching.

Model file format 1.4.0 and server protocol /2 are unchanged.

Launch Automata Lab · User Guide · Developer Guide

Automata Lab 1.6.0

Automata Lab 1.6.0 adds optional terminal-state execution and clearer editing and print output.

• Mark terminal states in Editor or Chart, with synchronized indicators and exact Undo/Redo.
• Enable terminal stopping in Application Settings → Simulator → Model Parameters. It defaults off; Start or Reset captures the setting for that execution.
• Finish terminal entry actions, preserve traces and remaining events, and stop Run/Step until Reset or a new session. Console and status explain the stop once per execution.
• Read legacy models and migrate configured terminal connections. Canonical Save now writes format 1.4.0 with explicit terminal flags; application, file-format and model metadata versions remain independent.
• Include terminal flags in States CSV and printed reports, and preserve notation in image exports. Solver Apply discloses removed terminal markings; Undo restores them.
• Add a current-format terminal-state example and updated User and Developer Guides. Built-in sessions use protocol automata-lab-server/2.
• Clarify Add/Edit dialog titles for entities, transitions and sequences, and fit printed table columns to their headings in both print styles.

Launch Automata Lab · Documentation

Source ZIP and tar archives are available below.

Automata Lab 1.5.0

Automata Lab 1.5.0 refines Application Settings and adds practical Solver and Simulator preferences.

• Give Settings group boxes equal left and right clearance, group every page control, and center checkboxes with their labels at desktop and narrow widths.
• Organize General into File Saving (Save Backup) and Console (Follow Tail). Remove the separate Editor and Console categories. The final order is General, Appearance, Chart, Server, Solver, Simulator, and Print.
• Place the server URL and a right-aligned Test Server button in Built-in Server.
• Add rounded group-box corners throughout the workspace and application dialogs, with a central developer setting for the corner radius.
• Add Solver → Results → Default Results Tab. Choose Summary, State Chart, States and Actions, Transition Table, Trace Coverage, Inference Report, or Comparison. Summary remains the default; each new candidate opens the chosen view while an existing review keeps its current tab.
• Add Simulator → Traces → Follow Trace Tail, enabled by default for transition and action traces and independent of Console Follow Tail. Disable it to preserve the reading position. When enabled, scrolling away pauses following and returning to the end resumes it. Re-enabling after rows arrive preserves the current reading position.
• Reset virtual trace scrolling correctly after clearing traces, and update the application and developer documentation.

Existing saved preferences remain compatible. Model file formats and dependency versions are unchanged.

Launch Automata Lab · Documentation

Automata Lab 1.4.0

Automata Lab 1.4.0 standardizes workspace and dialog spacing and keeps action buttons visible while pane content scrolls.

Open Automata Lab · Documentation

• Apply consistent content insets across Editor, Chart, Solver, Simulator, Settings, confirmation dialogs, and editor dialogs.
• Keep pane and dialog button bars outside scrolling content, including aligned States and Entry/Exit Actions buttons in short windows.
• Add equal gaps around splitters while preserving divider thickness and resize limits. Normalize scrolling clearance, keep tables flush with vertical scrollbars, and preserve bottom spacing, trace rows, and Follow Tail during resizing.
• Standardize every group-box title to the Initialization font and add independently adjustable spacing outside group borders. Improve Settings field layout on narrow screens.
• Open the documentation home from Help → Documentation, with Launch Automata Lab returning to the application.
• Make deletion of selected Chart items reliable when an asynchronous redraw temporarily moves keyboard focus.

Compile-time defaults are 8px page/dialog insets and 4px splitter/scroll gaps. Additional group-box margins default to 0px top/bottom and 4px left/right. These presentation settings do not change model content or file formats.

Existing model files using formats 1.0.0 through 1.3.0 remain compatible. Save continues to select the minimum format required by the document.

Automata Lab 1.3.0

Automata Lab 1.3.0
Released 8 September 2026
Palette transition indicator connections

• Add a GitHub project link beneath the description in About Automata Lab.

• Connect a new Palette transition to initial and terminal indicators in either
  endpoint order, using the existing behavior without an Event dialog.

• Reverse the line immediately when the wrong end is dropped onto an
  indicator, even with its other end free. Keep both physical endpoint
  positions and follow the moved grip with keyboard focus.

• Clear both initial-state references when deleting their connection, and
  allow reconnection to repair models affected by an earlier deletion.

• Keep Save and Save As available for open models. Explain blocking validation
  errors when selected, and retain Save Anyway for incomplete projects.

• Finish a new line over an existing identical state/indicator connection
  without an error or duplicate line; keep the connection and remove the draft.

• Draw a visual connection directly from an initial indicator to a terminal
  indicator without changing the model's initial state.

• Keep unfinished indicator attachments and direct connections through
  Save/Open and Undo/Redo, and include them in the printed Chart Projection.

• Read and write file format 1.3.0 for the new indicator data while continuing
  to use earlier file versions when the document does not need the extension.

Automata Lab 1.2.0

Automata Lab 1.2.0
Released 7 September 2026
Chart authoring and application appearance

Appearance and layout

• Wrap release notes at 79 characters with 79-character release separators.
  Widen About to show 80 monospace characters without horizontal scrolling on
  desktop while fitting smaller screens.

• Use black outlines, text, transitions, indicators, and grip outlines in Light
  charts while preserving light interiors and gray state-selection halos. Give
  state height resize grips 2-pixel borders in both themes, matching state
  borders.

• Choose Blue, Gray, Green, Teal, Purple, Red, Orange, Yellow, Black, or White
  independently for Title Bar Color, Application Buttons, and Console Message
  Buttons in Application Settings -> Appearance -> Application Colors.

• Default application buttons to Blue with 1-pixel black borders. Use slightly
  darker, muted pastel button colors, except for lighter theme-specific Gray.
  The retained manual Console color defaults to Gray; Console title-bar Clear
  uses the application color.

• Enable Match Console Message Color by default for first-time users,
  preserving existing saved choices. Enabling it uses the shared Green message,
  Blue warning, and Red error palettes, including darker hover and pressed
  shades, in both themes and disables the Console color dropdown while
  retaining its selection. Unchecking restores that color.

• Keep menu items, settings group and other list items, tab-page tabs,
  Transition Table dropdown controls, and Chart Palette tiles independent of
  button colors. System colors take precedence in forced-colors mode.

• Use white text on Dark-mode Console inline buttons, with a subtle dark text
  edge on manually selected Yellow/White fills for readability. Matched
  severity buttons use white text and icons without a shadow.

• Add Title Bar Color, default Blue, for the main application and every modal
  title bar, with darker palette shades in Dark mode and readable title text.

• Remove the master Model tree close button and retire its saved hidden state,
  restoring navigation and the Editor workspace while retaining responsive
  region switching.

• Distinguish active tab pages with a slightly lighter tab in either theme.

• Reduce panel and modal close controls by 20 percent to 24 by 22.4 CSS pixels,
  right-aligned with equal top, right, and bottom insets. Transition Table
  dropdown controls match panel close-control sizing and margins.

• Allocate one third of the combined Name/Description width to Name and two
  thirds to Description in States, Events, and Actions; preserve the
  independent States page splitter.

• Add a Palette title bar matching the State Chart header height and color.

• Keep the Chart Palette vertical beside the Canvas and size it to its longest
  unwrapped icon label plus 4 pixels on each side. Restore its original theme
  appearance.

Chart authoring

• Restore keyboard focus after routed Chart elements finish rendering.

• Use circular transition endpoint grips matching the state fill independently
  of button colors, 4-pixel outer gray state-selection halos that use lighter
  gray in Light and darker gray in Dark while preserving normal state borders,
  and doubled 6-pixel selected-transition strokes that retain their normal line
  color in Light mode.

• Remove horizontal resize lines and enlarge selected-state grips by 4 pixels
  in each dimension. Mirror the top grip above the state while retaining the
  bottom position.

• Create a self-transition by selecting a state and Shift-selecting it again,
  including with Shift+Enter.

• Attach draft transition endpoints in either order, including to the same
  state. The second attachment opens configuration; Cancel keeps both
  connections.

• Keep attached endpoints connected as states move or resize. Save/Open and
  Undo/Redo preserve unfinished connections.

• Detach an existing transition into free space while retaining its event and
  remaining connection. Reconnect it to restore the transition automatically;
  conflicting connections leave the previous model and draft unchanged.

• Use the same routing, boundary grips, parallel lanes, and self-loop geometry
  for drafts and configured transitions. Selected drafts use a thicker curve
  without a rectangular selection border.

• Drag smooth 32-pixel Palette glyphs with matching icon-only feedback.

• Preserve pan and zoom during editing, Palette placement, and navigation away
  from and back to Chart. Fit once on the first Chart visit after Open or
  Server Pull; Automatic Layout and Fit Chart also fit explicitly. New empty
  files start at 100 percent.

• Default to a 50-pixel grid, 300-by-100 collapsed states, and 300-pixel
  expanded width with a 100-pixel minimum height. Existing valid saved
  preferences remain in effect.

Files and output

• Read strict file formats 1.0.0, 1.1.0, and 1.2.0. Save uses the minimum
  version required by draft attachments or remembered events.
• Include retained draft state names and events in Chart Projection reports,
  and use the document's required file version in print metadata.

Known limitations

• Endpoint jumping during obstacle routing remains under investigation.
• Dense charts can still take longer to route.
• Opera may not render the Light theme correctly. Use Dark theme, Chrome, or
  Microsoft Edge until this is corrected.

Automata Lab 1.1.0

Automata Lab 1.1.0
Editor catalog improvements

Highlights

• View Name and Description columns together in the States, Events, and Actions catalogs.
• Use one consistent accessible table style and keyboard model across all three catalogs.
• Start the States page with 60 percent of its width for the state catalog and 40 percent for the Entry Actions and Exit Actions tabs.
• Keep the Entry Actions and Exit Actions lists compact, showing action names in assignment order.

Known issue

• Opera may not render the Light theme correctly. Use Dark theme, Chrome, or Microsoft Edge until this is corrected.

Automata Lab 1.0.0

Automata Lab 1.0.0
Initial public release

Highlights

• Author and validate deterministic Moore-machine-inspired state transducers.
• Edit one shared model through structured Editor and interactive State Chart workflows.
• Infer reviewable models from partial observations with the Solver.
• Host immutable revisions and run pinned Simulator sessions through the built-in browser server.
• Import and export JSON and CSV data, print configurable reports, and export State Chart images.
• Use bundled documentation, local search, accessible themes, keyboard workflows, and responsive layouts.

Known issue

• Opera may not render the Light theme correctly. Use Dark theme, Chrome, or Microsoft Edge until this is corrected.