2026-10-09 APP 2.0.0-beta48 has been released !
This is mainly a bug fix release for the reported bugs in beta47. In addition it has a significant User Interface performance improvement noticable when you need to process 1000s of images in APP.
2026-10-03 APP 2.0.0-beta47 has been released !
This is a very big release... many code optimizations/rewrites, many parts of APP are much faster and more precise, especially star analysis and registration are much faster ! Big mosaics will go much faster 🙂
And we introduce a new preview filter, which includes the new Adaptive Deep Sky Stretch and a General Levels Stretch, this has been long over due. The old preview filter (the panel on the right side to stretch and preview your data) has not been updated for a couple of years and it is a critical part of any APP session.
Adaptive Deep Sky Stretch or ADSS is a much more intuitive stretch algorithm. It is also color preserving (which is a great new addition in itself ! ) which means that the highlights are no longer bleached, color is maintained from the linear data while stretching. You can simply stretch your data using the sky background level and signal width sliders which work much easier and more intuitive. You no longer need to fiddle with the old complicated sliders with zoom buttons. All the zoom buttons for the sliders are made redundant. And you can enter slider values in the slider value fields yourself. I will make a youtube video in the coming days to explain and fully introduce ADSS. Once the video is ready, it will be highlighted on the forum.
RGB Combine upgrade !. The RGB Combine Tool has been rewritten mostly. The tool is faster and easier to use and most importantly, the Luminance slider to inject a luminance channel or channels into the RGB composite is now working correctly. It no longer bleaches the RGB colors. Combined with the new ADSS preview, you will get much better and easier great composites with great color! I will also explain this in a new youtube video.
Hi,
I am using APP on windows. The own (non windows standard) file open dialog used in APP is a little bit difficult to use:
- no "favorites" available, stored in Windows Explorer
- any little movement of the mouse during double click won't activate the double click action (in windows file dialog this is no problem), instead nothing happens
So my feature request is to replace the app own dialog box with the windows standard dialog to enabling the use of all the windows file explorer features.
The second thing is the start dialog box of APP for choosing the working directory: APP doesn't remember the working directory of the previous session, so you have to start over from scratch each time you start APP to find the desired directory. I am using a network drive on my NAS with some deep directory hierarchy, so it is a little bit annoying going into the right directory again and again...
It would help if APP offers the old directory of the previous session as a starting point.
Thanks,
Markus
@markusd112 Thank you for the feedback.
So my feature request is to replace to app own dialogue box with the windows standard dialogue enabling to use all the windows file explorer features.
To my best of knowledge, Java (the language in which APP is developed) doesn't provide such a functionality.
It would help if APP offers the old directory of the previous sessen as a starting point.
This and saving other user settings will be part of the next major release which currently is in preparation.
This is for swing and may not be part of the OpenJDK but this might help:
Â
try {
UIManager.setLookAndFeel(UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName());
} catch (Exception ex) {
ex.printStackTrace();
}
JFileChooser jfc = new JFileChooser();
jfc.showOpenDialog(null);@turtlecat1000 Thanks for your input. However, this is the look and feel. That doesn't mean that all the windows explorer features are used, does it?
@turtlecat1000 Thanks for your input. However, this is the look and feel. That doesn't mean that all the windows explorer features are used, does it?
No, not all the features as I understand it. But I think the similarity of the native OS would be a good middle ground.
