Vectra Software Release Notes
Software Version: 2.0.8
This file provides information about Vectra software, version 2.0.8. Please read this information
carefully as it supersedes all printed material or online help.
Overview:
Vectra software provides the interface to running the Vectra slide scanning hardware. It allows
multispectral slide scanning in both brightfield and fluorescence. Installing Vectra 2.0.8 will not
uninstall previous versions of Vectra. However, we suggest removing any previous versions before
installing Vectra 2.0.8, so only a single version is present.
System Requirements:
 U.S. English Version of Microsoft© Windows 7 64-bit
 .NET 4.5
 Minimum monitor resolution: 2 1600x1200 monitors at 96 DPI
 Minimum RAM: 4 GB
Software Installation:
To install on Windows 7:
1. Log in as an administrator
2. Close all open software programs
3. Double click on Vectra’s Setup.exe
4. Follow the installer’s instructions
Software Activation:
The Vectra license must be activated before use. Start the Vectra software and follow the prompts
to activate the license.
Vectra Version 2.0.8
New Features:
 Add AQUA Support for more than 3 fluors (ticket:1178)
Resolved Issues:
 None
Known Issues:
 Vectra systems that shipped with 6GB of RAM may run out of memory when acquiring 4x4
sized operator-selected regions. Increasing the RAM is highly recommended if this workflow
is necessary. (ticket:1252)
 Need to clear all before loading slide after batch scan (ticket:1207)
 Vectra cannot start while post-processing is running (ticket:1227)
 Clicking in cassette view can increment slide to load (ticket:1229)
 Multiple sectors can occasionally be drawn in AQUA TMA scans (ticket:1178)
 Exception (with simple recovery) thrown when loading a new prescan protocol after a halted
TMA protocol (ticket:1306)
Vectra Version 2.0.7 Rev 1
New Features:
 None
Resolved Issues:
 Install the Vectra Production Helper with a fix for setting the stage origin. (ticket:1299)
Known Issues:




Vectra systems that shipped with 6GB of RAM may run out of memory when acquiring 4x4
sized operator-selected regions. Increasing the RAM is highly recommended if this workflow
is necessary. (ticket:1252)
Need to clear all before loading slide after batch scan (ticket:1207)
Vectra cannot start while post-processing is running (ticket:1227)
Clicking in cassette view can increment slide to load (ticket:1229)
Vectra Version 2.0.7
New Features:
 Provide access to auto-focus rules in details settings (ticket:1101)
 Log Olympus traffic in failure events (ticket:1230)
 Write full band acquisition information to the data (ticket:1233)
 Write objective information to the data (ticket:1234)
 Provide workflow for manually choosing HP field locations (no grid) (ticket:1252, 1262, 1263,
1264, 1267)
 Provide larger TMA regions (ticket:1253)
 Merge adjacent HP fields into one image for large cores / selected fields (ticket:1254)
 Provide prescan only mission (ticket:1257)
 Provide offline annotation of prescans (ticket:1258)
 Record slide on stage to the log (ticket:1259)
 Update Prior dlls (ticket:1260)
 Take all LP fields within a TMA sector bounding box
Resolved Issues:
 Slides view dropdown no longer requires a triple click to make it work (ticket:1094)
 Notify the user before removing TMA prescan information (ticket:1152)
 Lock the joystick out during objective selection (ticket:1183)
 Remove the joystick interlocks for GUI-driven slide load and unload (ticket:1205)
 Alter how we move to load point to avoid backlash issues (ticket:1210)
 Only update HP selection during the selection step (ticket:1231)
 Update the HP acquisition times to be more accurate (ticket:1238)
 Correct how home zero is established when stage is moved without power (ticket:1255)
Known Issues:
 Vectra systems that shipped with 6GB of RAM may run out of memory when acquiring 4x4
sized operator-selected regions. Increasing the RAM is highly recommended if this workflow
is necessary. (ticket:1252)
 Need to clear all before loading slide after batch scan (ticket:1207)
 Vectra cannot start while post-processing is running (ticket:1227)
 Clicking in cassette view can increment slide to load (ticket:1229)
Vectra Version 2.0.6
New Features:
 Display the cassette number in the control panel along with the slide number (ticket:1185)
 Additional post-processing options unmix for Vectra Review, run an inForm procedure and
run a specified batch file added (ticket:1186)
 Added the ability to select a slide and rescan its bar code (ticket:1187)
 If there is a failure from inForm in batch mode, do not show error dialog (ticket:1188)
 Improved protocol selection in the slides view (ticket:1189)
 Vectra can now write transaction information to a database and/or a file (ticket:1191)
 Have logging the transaction information retry 3 times if the first time fails (ticket:1193)
 Have a dedicated unmix for Vectra Review check box in post-processing (ticket:1194)
 Update Prior software to accommodate new stage inserts (ticket:1212)
Resolved Issues:
 In the slides view, don't allow the resizing of the rows (ticket:1190)
 Fix for the Lab and Slide ID having a ":" in the name in batch mode (ticket:1201)
 Lock out joystick during load and unload of slide (ticket:1203)
 Slides cannot be rescanned after a batch scan has completed (ticket:1204)
 Refactor XY and Z movements (ticket:1211)
 Post processing not waiting for previous post processing to complete (ticket:1218)
 Batch unmix for Vectra Review fails when no HPFs are acquired (ticket:1221)
 Logging fixes or additional logging (ticket:1208, ticket:1209, ticket:1216, ticket:1217,
ticket:1219)
Known Issues:
 None
Vectra Version 2.0.5
New Features:
 Enable prescan of TMA cores so TMA protocols can be run in batch (ticket:1143)
 Change default number of rows and columns when doing TMA pre -scans (ticket:1160)
 Add support for writing compressed TIFF files (ticket:1167)
 Validate presence of AQUA spectral library in batch (ticket:1168)
 Add Unselect All button to cassette view (ticket:1169)
 Add Clear All Slides button to slides view (ticket:1170)
Resolved Issues:
 Help text in Create Default Band dialog gets tab (ticket:974)
 Correct Home Z when set with the HP objective (ticket:1013)
 Correct data storage error by removing trailing spaces (ticket:1044)
 System hangs after exposure-setting in FL (ticket:1045)
 Don't append images to the archive path in the installer (ticket:1140)
 Remove trailing spaces from component names in spectral library (ticket:1144)
 Settings dialog grows, but doesn’t shrink (ticket:1145)
 Mono images are saved with 15 gray-scale levels not 255 (ticket:1147)
 New reference not applied until Vectra app restarts (ticket:1148)
 Set Exposure crashes when autoexpose is below .4ms (ticket:1150)
 Correct sample image acquisition and saving (ticket:1151, 1153)
 FL references use exposure time of 10.0 ms after Mono scan taken (ticket:1154)
 No warning if FL references are auto-exposed (ticket:1155)
 GUI is very sluggish when FL stream is active (ticket:1156)
 Vectra hangs at Mono step (ticket:1157)
 Make Slides view -- and the slides list within it -- resize sensibly (ticket:1159)
 Bar code pre-scan misreads (ticket:1161)
 Pre-scan of bar codes don't update the slide list (ticket:1163)
 Batch scan stops on data storage step failure (ticket:1164)
 Cancel scans correctly (ticket:1173, 1175)
 Update the scan status for interactive scans and extra slides (ticket:1174, 1180)
 Force entry of a LabID (ticket:1181)
Known Issues:
 On the Find TMA Cores step, when changing rows or columns after moving the cores an
Index out of bounds error is thrown. (ticket:1176)

Sector number error occurred in post-processing of an AQUA TMA scan. Only occurred
once and could not reproduce. (ticket:1178)
Vectra Version 2.0.4
New Features:
 Enable use of high-power objectives with magnifications other than 20x
 Added option to use two or more classifiers to choose HP fields
 Rework review panel for HP field selection for clarity
 Provide option for HP color image rendering by visual rules or equal RGB rules (FL)
 New HP field selection options: top N, or above threshold (all, top N, randomly select N)
 Support operation with inForm 2.0 Tissue Finder
 Allow band selection for brightfield, and add low spectral-definition band
 Indicate number of HP fields and estimate of time to acquire.
 Added right-click option to show fiducial at live-image center as aid for HP offset setup
 Enable pre-scan of bar codes while slides are still in cassette
 Updated Prior installer to 1.73 and added support for Mini-Hawk bar-code reader
Resolved Issues:
 There was a problem with automatic exercise in BF mode after 8 hours
 Various TMA interface problems were fixed
 Various image-rendering and wording bugs were fixed
 The FL shutter stayed open or closed when not appropriate
 Slide status report during batch was confusing or wrong
 The mosaic size reported in the metadata file was calculated incorrectly
 Loading a new protocol wrongly cleared the home Z status display
 The XYZ location offset was applied twice when taking sample images
 It was hard to discern LabID from SlideID if either included an underscore, since the file
name used these two, joined by an underscore; now it uses two underscores.
 The inForm algorithms used for example slides in manual were incorrect
 Data storage failures weren't always trapped
 Hitting the <Enter> key caused one to leave the Set Exposure dialog, and others
 Fields were not cleared if the classify failed
 Account for new location of inForm (PerkinElmer folder)
 There could be a null reference exception in HP field selection
 If Z offset could not be applied, the error message was shown too soon
 The slide list was not always cleared when it should be
 The joystick was not locked out while the tunable filter was being moved
 There could be a null exception when using a newly chosen band.
 Super-short exposures (0.4 ms or less) caused errors
 The installer did not handle upgrades cleanly.
 There was no way to take sample images without auto-focusing
 Band selection was not restored after sample imaging
 HP/LP field selection steps chose fields outside the safe scan area, causing errors
 Mouse-wheel was wired to combo box selection of objective
 Using UNC paths to specify archive folder led to errors
 If trailing slash was missing from archive path, LP mosaic was not found by AQUAduct
 Pre-flight check logic was broken for post-processing of non-AQUA protocols
 Set or revise barcode timeout in Prior .ini file during installation.
 Saving protocol with Slides view visible led to many error messages
 Selected row in Slides view was not updated when Apply First is hit
 In batch mode, continue to image remaining slides if no high power fields are found
 In batch mode, continue to image remaining slides if the exposure time hits the min. limit
 It is now possible to create more than one sector in a non-AQUAduct TMA protocol
 Loading a TMA protocol where Monochrome step was run caused an exception
Known Issues:
 None
Vectra Version 2.0.3
New Features:
 None
Resolved Issues:
 Batch scan used the current, rather than assigned, protocol (ticket:1004)
 Selected protocol was not applied (ticket:1005)
 Brightfield TMA mosaic being displayed as fluorescence (ticket:1012)
 Second entry in slide list uses protocol from first in list (ticket:1016)
 Null reference exception was thrown when setting exposure times (ticket:1025)
 An error was shown when loading a slide after the slide ID was cleared (ticket:1026)
Known Issues:
 None
Vectra Version 2.0.2
New Features:
 Metadata support for the Vectra Review application.
 Saves reduced resolution jpegs of the low-power and high-power imagery.
Resolved Issues:
 None
Known Issues:
 None
Vectra Version 2.0.1
New Features:
 Massive speed improvements
 Configuration application to allow for custom fluorescent epi-filter cubes
 Configuration application to allows for complex multi-spectral fluorescent experiments
 Automatic compensation for bright high powered fields
 Separated operator controls from setup controls
 New UI
 Support for AQUA
Resolved Issues:
 Out of memory errors are no longer present (ticket:265, ticket:384)
 The logging is threadsafe and logs by date (ticket:237, ticket:258)
 Multiple draw errors have been corrected (ticket:105, ticket:118, ticket:198)
 Data storage now has consistent naming and checks for duplication in interactive mode
(ticket:152, ticket:220, ticket:135)
 Hardware issues are now detected (ticket:170, ticket:148)
 Multiple GUI update errors have been corrected (ticket:97, ticket:189, ticket:194, ticket:198,
ticket:207, ticket:299, ticket:308, ticket:337, ticket:339)
 The stage goes to home position after every slide load (ticket:212)
 The scan area no longer has a half-field offset (ticket:222)
 One can now acquire a single low-powered field (ticket:233)
Known Issues:








Windows 7, 64-bit only: Vectra software cannot be activated via the internet on 64 bit
machines.
The software must be shut down before the hardware is powered off (ticket:963)
If the TMA core bounding box is drawn vertically first, the rows and columns are switched.
(ticket:854)
If the loader is not connected or has the wrong COM port at startup, the system will state
that the stage is not connected. Please use the device manager to learn the loader’s COM
port by unplugging/plugging in the loader. (ticket:907)
When a slide is loaded on to the stage, it appears “empty” in the cassette view. (tick et:937)
The system cannot handle fluorescence exposure times of less than .4 ms for 4x imagery.
(ticket:906)
Nuance is unable to tell if a Vectra process is running; please do not start Nuance if Vectra
is running. (nuance ticket:871)
The system cannot detect a slide mishandling if the power is shut off during slide
load/unload (ticket:965)
Documentation:
 Complete documentation is accessible by selecting HelpHelp within the Vectra software
Support:
Contact Technical Support by phone, fax, or email:
Phone:
+1 203.925.4602
Toll Free (US only): 800.762.4000
Fax:
+1 203.944.4904
Email:
[email protected]
Support Website:
http://www.perkinelmer.com/tools/technicallibrarylandingpage.aspx