Diamond Developer Blog

This page (devblog.htm) contains the developer blog for Diamond. Although it has been dedicated to the upcoming version 4, it is called in general "Diamond Developer Blog" to cover several future aspects of Diamond software development.

All articles - unlike stated otherwise - have been written by the program's author Klaus Brandenburg (brandenburg@crystalimpact.de)

Table of created molecules and Atom list -- 14 May 2013, 21:30 UTC
The tables in the data pane right beneath the structure picture, such as the atomic parameter list, the lists of created atoms and bonds, rsp., have been extended for the table of created molecules, where every molecule in the structure picture is listed. Another, new kind of table is the "Atom list", which either shows the created atoms grouped for atom sites and atom groups, or arranged by molecules. More...

Connectivity dialog with additional pages for H-bonds and contacts -- 14 May 2013, 15:00 UTC
The Connectivity dialog now uses three pages, one for "Bonds" (i.e. strong connections), a second for H-bonds and a third one for non-bonding contacts. The "Bonds" page is in principle what already know from previous Diamond versions, whereas the other two pages serve to define H-bonds and contacts definitions between atom group pairs or atom site pairs or special element combinations. More...

Using bond, H-bond, and contact parameters -- 9 May 2013, 22:00 UTC
This article demonstrates several direct usages of connection parameters, i.e. usually basing upon _geom_bond_xxx, _geom_contact_xxx and _geom_hbond_xxx informations imported from a CIF file. More...

Expanding to and reducing from a molecule cluster -- 8 May 2013, 9:00 UTC
This article shows how to expand from a set of atoms or a molecule via neighbouring molecules to a cluster and to reduce that cluster back to a smaller ensemble of molecules again. You can do this with or without H-bond and/or contact definitions -- starting from a selected atom or a selected molecule or from the whole current ensemble in the structure picture. More...

Beta version still under approval for release -- 30 April 2013, 09:30 UTC
Now that April has come to an end, the beta version of Diamond 4 is still being checked for errors and cannot yet be released (as announced one month ago) before the end of this month. First beta version release is now expected during May 2013.

Beta version now being tailored for download in April 2013 -- 28 March 2013, 09:30 UTC
The set of commands and dialogs to come in the final release of version 4.0 is complete. The functions will now be checked for (severe) errors that could disable a reasonable user experience, some toolbar icons and other graphics will be polished, and a short documentation/tutorial will be written, so that the download of the first beta version should be available at the end of April 2013. 

Beta version postponed for late first quarter of 2013 -- 23 January 2013, 09:00 UTC
The release of the first beta version of Diamond 4 had to be postponed for late first quarter of 2013. The reason is that many of the new functions do not yet allow a smooth workflow, which means the first beta would either run too clumsy -- or I had to close the buggy functions giving you more the impression of a Diamond 4 preview rather than a Diamond 4 beta version! 

Season's Greetings -- 20 December 2012, 13:30 GMT
I am looking forward to continue developing of Diamond 4 beta during the Season. This blog will re-open on 2 January 2013. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and happiness, joy and prosperity in the next year.

Design schemes: Creating atom color, style and radii resources -- 13 December 2012, 14:00 GMT
The most convenient way to create a design scheme is from an existing structure picture. This article shows you how to derive a set of resources for atom main colors, atom styles, and radii. More...

Creation and application of design schemes -- 4 December 2012, 10:30 GMT
Make your structure picture settings (a rendered colorful screen plot or an ORTEP-like ellipsoid sketch on white paper) along with the designs of atom (groups, sites), bonds, polyhedra, etc. -- and simply call "Create Design Scheme" to create a design scheme from these current picture settings and save it under a title, so you can access this scheme whenever you later want to quickly re-design a picture from another structure. More...

About picture building and design schemes -- 28 November 2012, 11:00 GMT
A picture building scheme is a batch of functions to build up a structure picture. And a design scheme is its pendant referring to the picture's design and viewing properties -- somewhat like a style sheet in a word processing application for example. This article shows the application of building and design schemes to series of structure files, which significantly speeds up processing of crystal structures compared to the use of the manual functions from the "Build" and other menus. More...

The "Auto Picture Creator" -- 27 November 2012, 23:30 GMT
The new "Auto Picture Creator" window is usually docked at the left side of the Diamond application window and offers the most useful features in the categories picture building, design and viewing at a glance. Read about the automatic reflection of changes of picture building settings in the "Auto Picture Creator" docking pane with the structure picture -- and in parts also vice versa. More...

Developer blog has opened -- 20 November 2012, 14:00 GMT

Welcome to the Diamond Developer Blog!

As originally announced, the first beta version of Diamond 4 should come in October or November of 2012, with this blog to be started at the same time. Since the beta version is on the home stretch though, it will not yet be ready for download during the next weeks. Beta version 1 is now planned to come in late 2012 or in January 2013.

Nevertheless - and you unfortunately having nothing to play with - I will already begin to report about the development progress and demonstrate some outstanding new functions of Diamond 4 using this blog. The main focus will be on the new user experience with the new core functionalities, such as "Molecules and polymers" and "Automatic picture creation".

There will be some functions or commands in the beta version that are not yet complete or indicated as hull, but the beta version will show the above mentioned new core functions - though not absolutely bug-free - but already elaborated.