v0.5.8: Enhanced Message Display (March 24, 2024)

Version 0.5.8 focuses on improving the message display system and fixing visual bugs in the punch card visualization.

Key Features

⚡ Message Display Enhancement

• Improved message timing control for better readability
• Smoother animations when displaying punch card patterns
• Added configurable display duration for messages
• Implemented message queuing system for sequential display
• Enhanced visualization clarity for punch card representation

🔄 Complete Widget Refresh

• Switched to repaint() for complete widget refresh
• Eliminated partial update artifacts in GUI mode
• More consistent rendering across different platforms
• Reduced flickering during animations and transitions
• Better synchronization between GUI and hardware displays

🖥️ Visual Bug Fixes

• Fixed misaligned punch holes in the card visualization
• Corrected color inconsistencies in dark mode
• Resolved rendering issues on high-DPI displays
• Fixed gaps in animation sequences for smoother transitions
• Improved spacing consistency in the punch card grid

🧹 Code Structure Improvements

• Refactored display code for better organization
• Separated rendering logic from data processing
• Improved code reusability with helper functions
• Better encapsulation of display-related classes
• Enhanced comments for improved code readability

Technical Details

The core improvement in this version is switching from partial updates to complete widget repainting:

# Old approach (partial updates)
self.update(QRect(x, y, width, height))

# New approach (complete repaint)
self.repaint()

This change resolves several rendering artifacts and ensures consistent display across different operating systems and screen configurations.

Installation Notes

This update is primarily focused on display improvements. To update:

git pull origin main
pip install -r requirements.txt

No configuration changes are required to benefit from the enhanced display system.