Calcpad roadmap or what should be the next features to be developed

[Proektsoftbg]

After the last big change (vectors and matrices) we had to stop for a while and pay more attention on quality: bug fixes, code refactoring, performance improvements and reporting. But the time to add the next bundle of new features is coming. Taking all recent suggestions and feature requests, I compiled the following list:

1. Reading and writing vector/matrix data from/to Excel and text/CSV files.
2. Advanced native data visualization/plotting with more chart types (bar, area, scatter, pie, doughnut, 3D, etc.), more options for line types, colors, widths, axis types (linear, log/Bode), labels, title, etc. Similar to what Excel and, say matplotlib includes.
3. Custom formatting of numbers in the report: engineering, phasor, comma separator, thousands separator - for a section or even individual values.
4. High performance vectors and matrices (hpVector and hpMatrix).
5. Multiple document tabs in one Calcpad window.
6. Native page header/footer support that provides appropriate UI to define and support for Html, Pdf and Word output
7. Function insertion wizard as in Excel and Mathcad and matrix insertion/editing dialog as table. Image insertion window with sizing and options.
8. "Table" data type that can hold 2D or 1D array of strings in a variable. It will display automatically as a table in the output.
9. List of all defined custom variables (with values) and functions with history.
10. Replace WPF with the multiplatform Avalonia UI to have a Linux GUI version.
11. Implement the fully featured and powerful AvaloniaEdit code editor instead of the current RichTextBox control.
12. Code navigation side menu (TOC).
13. Preferences dialog: font size and color, default image saving folder, page size, margins, header and footer.
14. Custom multiline compiled functions.
15. Allow for markdown in comments - headings, bold, italic, etc.
16. Add special math functions: gamma, beta, zeta, Bessel, Erf, Fresnel integrals, elliptic, etc.
17. Add functions to access CoolProp library from a Calcpad worksheet.

Etc...

If you have more ideas or suggestions, please feel free to share your opinion here. I will also rise a donation campaign about the new features. I also rely very much on your support to spend time and money on the development of Calcpad. It is a lot of work and I will really appreciate and support.

[sononicola]

• add a lateral tab with all variables and functions that are definided. And maybe a way to see if some of them are overwritten (for example "a=2 on line 5", "a = 7 on line 30 (current)" )

[Proektsoftbg]

Good suggestion, thank you. I added it to the list.

[idealkindom]

Suggestions:

1. add menu to go foward backward, and a main page, a collection menu just like the full web browser.
2. Let the UI support pop-up dialogue for #input and #pause etc.
3. Define a macro to generate matrix for structure described by easy functions of nodes and boundary conditions.
4. With every release, list all the language version and portable versions, which is the same for Calcpad's mainpage and sourceforge page.
5. As for raise donation, I suggest to use Wechatpay or Alipay to help this in China and Chinese area in the word.
6. Support some interface for AI to help with coding, maybe this could be first online with Calcpad's mainpage. Also, all the aforementioned work may be promoted with the help of AI.
   If I get more points I will supplement latter.

[Proektsoftbg]

Thank you for your valuable suggestions. I added all versions to the latest release. I also included other points into the wish list. About 6, I am not sure whether I can do it and how to do it, so I need to do some more research first. About 3, I hope some contributor can do it based on my FEA examples.

[Proektsoftbg]

Maybe for AI, you can Grammarly: https://www.grammarly.com/
Theoretically, it could work in any text window.

[Proektsoftbg]

I also forgot one important thing I have planned since we had the Linux version:

Replace WPF with the multiplatform Avalonia UI to have a Linux GUI version. Also implement the fully featured and powerful AvaloniaEdit code editor control:

https://github.com/AvaloniaUI/AvaloniaEdit

Unlike the RichTextBox we are using now, it has all source code editing features one could imagine. I can easily port the Calcpad language grammar to it.

[sdesprad]

Would be possible to consider a navigator tab, like a table of content, similar to markdown cells in Jupyter Lab? This would help us navigate through the left pane code. Thank you

[Proektsoftbg]

Yes, thank you. I added it to the wish list. There are also other similar requests.

[Cobse]

Would be nice to have auto update.

https://docs.velopack.io/getting-started/csharp

[Proektsoftbg]

Hi! Thanks for sharing. I will consider this option.

[jgagnonNT]

Suggestions:

1. Solver for multiple equations
2. Preference setting menu : font size and color, page size, default image saving folder, page headers
3. Interactive menu for image position and sizing when going over the images

[ralphinge123]

1. Input wizard for cpd-files like pdf
2. onthe numerickeypAD MORE OPTIONS.

a)[ ] brakets
b) |_sign
Bildschirmbereich.pdf

[Proektsoftbg]

Hi! Thank you for your suggestions. I find them very useful and I added 2 and 3 in the list. About 1, if you mean algebraic solver like in Mathcad, I cannot do it because it goes beyond my capabilities. I am only a structural engineer. But you can use Calcpad's linear solvers or the nonlinear solvers from this example:

https://github.com/Proektsoftbg/Calcpad/blob/main/Examples/Mathematics/System%20of%20nonlinear%20equations.cpd

For that purpose, you will have to express your equations in matrix form.

[jgagnonNT]

Hello! What I meant is a numerical solver exactly like the one in your example in the link but integrated in a function. Great tutorial by the way!

[sdesprad]

We also want to recognize the hard work of Ned, on developing this beautiful and unique product. And the best way to help him is providing support, and letting others know about this product.

[Geoff-Beca]

Yes, great work Ned - I'm really quite impressed.

Appreciate the list above, from my perspective #6, 1, & 8 are probably the highest priority items ..

One other thing to add to the wish list, would be the ability to separate input and code, e.g. to facilitate a 'locked down' calculation engine which has been verified (plus some form of version control/identifier), and then to be able to load a pre-prepared input dataset.

This would be very powerful in terms of robustness, 'batch-mode' operation, unit testing, etc.

Keep up the good work !!

[Proektsoftbg]

Hi! Yes, this is possible.
Calcpad.eu works in this way. The code for all worksheets is predefined and stored into a database. Then, the user input data is appended at the end of the code by concatenation. Data is divided from the code by vertical tab '\v'. Separate values are divided from each over by tabs '\t'.

[javila]

It would be nice if we were able to create custom functions using some programing features. Of course we could try to use some #def macros, but it's really limited and in fact it will insert extra content every time you use a macro. Maybe you could consider using ClearScript (or something like that)?

Another thing: would be possible to create a #clearvars command to "clear" all variables used before? This is useful (for me, as a professor) to solve multiple short problems in a single CPD document without accidentally using previous variables instead of defining new ones.

[Proektsoftbg]

Hi! Thank you for reminding me that. Custom (multiline) functions has been requested many times for several years. Maybe it is already time to add them too. Since Calcpad already has its syntax parser and compiler, it would be best to define it in Calcpad language and compile them internally to IL code to be executed. (Native code for the particular processor architecture is generated by the .NET JIT Compiler at runtime). We can use similar syntax to macros' #def - #end def. Maybe #defun - #end defun or #func - #end func.

About clear, it is a good idea too. Maybe we should allow it for all definable items: variables, units, functions, macros or all, e.g.:
#clear all
or
#clear variables functions

[javila]

Hi, Ned!

The #clear (with parameters) command would be great.

And about the multiline functions... I always wanted to be able to include functions like Roark's stress concentration factors (example below) or even some tabulated values I could do some interpolation and get a parameter.

[Proektsoftbg]

What do you think about some internal spell checker for the text in comments?
I know you could use Grammarly in any window, including Calcpad (I have tried myself) but...

[javila]

Hi! That could be cool, but I think it's low priority (IMHO).

I would prefer to see the option to use #, ##, ###, ... instead of <h1>, <h2>, <h3>, ... HTML tags... ; )

[Proektsoftbg]

Yes, you are right. Maybe we can implement even some Markdown into comments. also for bold, italic... A lot of users has been requesting that for a long time.

[GiorgioBurbanelli89]

But if you like it to also remain html so you can learn something from this code along with the changes

[FEA-eng]

I’d love some wizards/tools for easier input of complicated equations: #200

[abegertler]

A dark mode in the native IDE would be fantastic!!
(This would make the program nearly complete at least for me:)

Some users (such as myself, and I wonder what percentage we are), really struggle to use any program which does not have a dark mode, due to eye strain. Dark mode is generally more readable for many. I wouldn't bother putting advanced graphical outputs in dark mode, such as plots. Most important would be the editor to begin with. Even a basic global color invert of the current IDE would do 80% of what I'm looking for! I can attest to this as I've tested this by using Calcpad with my system colors globally inverted. (Unfortunately this is not a great solution, because this turns white all the rest of my applications which are already in dark mode)

[GiorgioBurbanelli89]

It would be interesting to use for example I have a function
#def f$(x$)
x$+1
#end defend
y=f$(2)';' z=f$(4)';' t=f$(3)
that it is on the same line to save lines space because it is currently like that
#def f$(x$)
y=x$+1
#end defend
f$(x)
and
I can't pick directly in macros it would be a great help to avoid being placing like this

[GiorgioBurbanelli89]

It would be interesting to add matrices within a matrix and to be operations with submatrices in itself. Calpad is very similar to Matlab or Octave. There has been a lot of progress with matrices and vectors. Many functions are similar to Octave, so a merit for that. I would appreciate in the future adding submatrix operations that Mathcad and Matlab have.

[imartincei]

I would add built-in macros for commonly needed functionality to make it easier to pick up CalcPad with less HTML knowledge (Maybe using built-in$$(var) syntax or something to avoid namespace cluttering). Also, the ability to input matrices with fixed or dynamic size. See idea #519 for more thoughts on this.

Of those currently on the list, I agree with @Geoff-Beca that 1, 8, 9, and 14 are highest priority for me.

[strsthapa]

1, 8 ,9, 12, 14 are the priority. But may it will be easy for you to rank the proposed/required features from the community members and implement it once there is enough interest. Also, an idea/thought regarding sketch options such as https://excalidraw.com/ , I know we do have svg support which is great for standardized templates or figures but for quick sketches(with no svg coding itself) which are not repetitive it might be helpful.

[AlexDrake75]

Point 1 for me is the priority. Processing the results of other software often requires updating the starting data, which the designer has in tabular formats (csv or similar).

[abegertler]

Logical or vector indexing, or a vector replace function!

Logical indexing would say operate on the elements in A for which the elements of the same index in B (or even another row of A) meet some condition, like this:

A = [1; 2; 3] ',' B = [10; 20; 30]
B<25                                         ' -> [1 1 0]
A.(B<25) = 0                                 ' -> A = [0 0 3]

Vector indexing would do the same but instead of using logical indices, it would use vector indices:

A = [1; 2; 3] ',' B = [10; 20; 30]
find_le(B,25,1)                              ' -> [1 2]
A.(find_le(B,25,1)) = 0                      ' -> A = [0 0 3]

Currently there is extract, which is a vector/multi-index extraction function.
But there is no vector/multi-index replacement function that I can find.

I think in general being able to index a vector by a vector is extremely powerful, and useful.
Vector indexing and vector replacement is used constantly in matlab.

If there is some funamental barrier in the language to indexing a vector with another vector, a replace function could be implemented that could be used like this:

A = [1; 2; 3] ',' B = [10; 20; 30]
' logical indexing
replace( A ; B<25 ; 0 )                      ' -> A = [0 0 3]
' vector indexing
replace( A ; find_le(B;25;1) ; 0 )           ' -> A = [0 0 3]

Matlab is the queen of languages for this kind of thing. For example, if you're computing friction factors and need to use a different expression for pipe resistance in the laminar regieme of Re<2000), you can write in a very neat form: "For any element whose Re is < 2000, replace the friction factor (Fr) with the expression 64/Re":
Fr(Re<2000) = 64 ./ Re(Re<2000)

If the function "replace" existed, this could be written in calcpad as:
replace( Fr ; find_le(Re; 40000; 1) ; 64/extract(Re; find_le(Re; 2000; 1)) )
which replaces the elements in Fr only at the indices indicated by find_le(Re; 40000; 1), with the values returned by 64/extract( Re ; find_le(Re; 2000; 1) )

You can write this with a long #Repeat loop, but it's not as elegant or clear I believe, as this feels like a fundamentally vector/matrix operation. Unfortunately you can't even write this with a $Repeat , or a #For, because neither of these allow custom vector indexing in the range of iteration! You are limited to an integer series, and cannot type for example:

#for k = find_le(Re; 200000; 1)
    Fr.k = 64/Re.k
#loop

(Actually, I could mention, that this results in an errant behavior. For some reason writing any vector at all after #for k = "a vector" , behaves as if you've entered #for k = "7:7", very strangely the number 7 appears!)

It's not so bad to write it in calcpad, it's just not so good, for an operation that is very general, and could be quite elegantly written otherwise:

#for k = 1 : len(Fr)
    #if Re.k < 2000
        Fr.k = 64/Re.k
    #end if
#loop

Thank you in general for this beautiful program and for the consideration of this topic!

[imartincei]

A lot of the development of CalcPad is centered around building functionality from existing features, which is what makes it such a powerful program. It does make it hard for new people to get into sometimes, which is why we really need help building out examples and macros like this and documenting it so it is easy to find.

[abegertler]

Thank you for this rather general and powerful macro!

I suppose I should write one to make a generic "replace" function as well.

To my end, to use this macro for the pipe friction factor calculation, I end up having to call it with a slightly funny looking implementation where I have to reference the index variable i within my argument list:
logical_indexing$(find_le; 2000; =64/; Re.i; f; Re)

There is probably some more elegant way to do this than I have implemented.

[abegertler]

Also, a just a little typo in your macro to correct (in case someone tries to use this later):
on the last line you wrote "logicial_indexing" with an extra i after the c

[abegertler]

And while this mostly solves my problem, I still think the language could be significantly improved with real vector and logical indexing as suggested

[abegertler]

I just remembered a better solution to my problem, another style of logical indexing, just using element wise multiplication with logical matrices.
I think it's actually much more clear than either method.
Curious what you think:

So in the calculation of flow friction factors you might do something like:

f_turbulent = 1/(-1.8*log(((relativeRoughness/3.7)^1.11 + 6.9/Re)))^2
f_laminar = 64/Re
f = f_laminar*(Re < 4000) + f_turbulent*(Re ≥ 4000)

Which creates an output for each operator (laminar and turbulent friction factor calculations), and then multiplies those outputs by the logical matrices created by (Re < 4000) and (Re ≥ 4000), to assign the operator to the proper

I think it's probably applicable to many similar problems.
Just make logical matrices for each condition, and multiply your operators by the logical matrices.
What do you think @imartincei ?

[TopographyMap]

It would be great if we could call Windows Component Object Model(COM) from within Calcpad.
I want to import STAAD analysis results to Calcpad using OpenSTAAD API.

Thank you for this powerful program.

[GiorgioBurbanelli89]

I have reviewed FreeCAD, it is in C++, although I know a bit about that language. The advantage is the storage pointers and memory reduction, but it must be compatible with WPF and C#. NET. @imartincei I will check it out when I have my computer handy. It uses OpenCASCADE, also based on C++. The CAD engine is in C++. Well, let's see. Do you have any idea how to add c++ to C# WPF?

[imartincei]

I mean there might be interop options, but is there a significant difference between using FreeCAD as a separate app and using it from within CalcPad? Seems like a lot of complex coding for not much reward.

I recommend the workflow of draft in FreeCAD, then export the file to svg or an image, then load that svg/image into CalcPad via the existing methods. Yes it is one extra step, but saving that step is not worth the time it would take to implement it in my opinion.

[GiorgioBurbanelli89]

I'll try it, I'm interested in everything being from Calcpad, there are more ways to see if they work from C++ to C#
I want it to be as fast as possible, I'll check, calcpad has to have everything for engineering
@imartincei Have you tried the Python integrations I made with Telegram's in the group calcpad?
There is pythonNET ;NET core and Net framework
also iron Python
For interoperability with calcpad

[imartincei]

I am curious what others in the community think about this. I would be more open to adding "Add-ins" to Calcpad if you want an "all-in-one" solution, but I think most people would not want all of that functionality as part of the base program. We want to avoid software bloating and keep it as a light and quick software.

If you want to work on Python interoperability with various tools, I would recommend making that as a separate project entirely. Has a lot of potential so I see why you are interested in it, but that is not going to be what most people are looking for Calcpad to do in my opinion.

[GiorgioBurbanelli89]

You mean plugins, well I don't know how it would be but I only have an idea like smathstudio did it, something similar to mathcadprime with customfunction but more advanced, well my idea is to just use calcpad with all the free tools and another option with API of commercial programs but I liked calcpad to integrate it with bim, structural calculation, finite elements, CAD graphics, no longer use anything external and only leave an option if someone wants it, calcpad has everything to be the perfect program, with a cad, interoperability with openesees, freeCAD, python, you would no longer need any other software, the blender mcp has excited me with an implementation to calcpad that generates drawings like the LinkedIn one of the bridge with pure orders to the AI, I will try it, now if you want something simple with plugins you have to listen to other ideas, not yet how would the management of plugins be, I understand how smath does it from there on I do not know.
@imartincei

[GiorgioBurbanelli89]

A mobile version of CalcPad wouldn't be bad. I'm going to try it @imartincei until I connect in 8 days

[imartincei]

I think the web version is good enough for that. Once we update from WPF to Avalonia an Android/iOS version will be more feasible. Kinda low on the list for me tho as most people doing calcs will be on a PC.

[devem-software]

Implement webview2 in HTML rendering

[Proektsoftbg]

Thank you for your suggestion. This is 99% ready, but I have one problem that I cannot solve yet. It is that showing print preview in a system dialog does not work:
webView.CoreWebView2.ShowPrintUI(CoreWebView2PrintDialogKind.System);
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/webview2/how-to/print?tabs=dotnetcsharp

It does not show the preview of the document. This area is empty.
It works in Browser:
webView.CoreWebView2.ShowPrintUI(CoreWebView2PrintDialogKind.Browser);

But it appears nested in the output window on the right and does not look very well in this way.

[imartincei]

This looks like it could be used for more dynamic UIs as well. Seems fairly trivial to pass data from UI elements to the C# MathParser, so the hardest part would be building the UI parser.

My workaround of being able to read all JS variables as JSON data is good enough for now to open up all of Vanilla JS UI functionality and pass it to CalcPad vars, but I can see that having performance issues vs making a more direct data transfer been the UI and MathParser.

[devem-software]

Add support for dark theme in CalcPad software and syntax highlighting

[devem-software]

Add commenting and uncommenting code functionality with a keyboard shortcut

[Proektsoftbg]

Hi! This is already completed and will be soon available in version 7.2.0. Also, there is a 'Paste as comment' command.

[devem-software]

Add support for entire projects.
Where you can navigate between files

[abegertler]

Better handling of the physical unit of temperature (Celcius , Kelvin , Fahrenheit).
Temperature is difficult to handle. And it is handled in a way that could be dangerous in many cases in Calcpad.

Take this for example:

If ever you implement an equation or relationship which uses temperature, Calcpad will assume that the relation will hold in any temperture units. But in the case of temperature this is often not true. For example you may have a relation such as the following for the density of a fluid, which is a y intercept plus a slope, where the slope is expressed in density / Kevlin.
Like density = intercept + slope * temperature
But implicitly, all these relationships assume the temperature input is degrees K, which is equivalent to "degrees K above absolute 0".
But if you input Celcius, which is sometimes very convenient to do, because we work more often in celcius in the human world, you will get the wrong result. Because 20 Celcius is not equivalent to 20 degrees K above absolute 0. So there is a problem.

It would be really nice to work with Celcius for scientific calculations in Calcpad.
But it is generally dangerous to do so as implemented! It would be so easy to make a mistake by inputting a number in Celcius which must be input in Kelvin - which kind of brings us back to in this regard, a calculator which does not handle physical units, and you have to perform conversions yourself, and be careful not to input something into an equation with the wrong units.

Does anyone have any ideas for how this could be handled seamlessly in Calcpad??

Thank you

[abegertler]

Oh, I have not.
I will now.
Thank you <3

[abegertler]

Oh actually, I should have searched the issues!! Somehow I forgot to.
It is here: #317 (comment)
Seems the issue is still open?
But is a confirmed issue.
I will add link to this discussion in comments in case helpful.

[imartincei]

Yup this should for sure go onto the roadmap

[Proektsoftbg]

I know that Mathcad (and SMath in its turn) internally converts everything to Kelvins and then operates with Kelvins only. But Calcpad is different. This is not so easy to implement here because of variable substitution and other things.

In Calcpad, if you want to enter degrees, but your equations expect Kelvins, the best and simplest way is to convert them explicitly:

t = 20°C|K

Then you will input degrees and calculate in Kelvins explicitly which is clearer and easier to check than the implicit approach in Mathcad.

[Proektsoftbg]

That is a good issue to be aware of. A macro like this could be a workaround until this is fixed:

#def CtoK$(t) = (t + 273.15)*1K
p(t) = 1.58g/cm^3 - 4.62*10^-4g/cm^3/K*t
p(CtoK$(600))
p(873.15K)

I think instead of macro, we can simpl create a function uses the built-in convertion to Kelvins:
K(t) = t|K

Please, theck my answer to issue #317.
What do you think?

[abegertler]

Perhaps it's somewhat up for debate as to which approach is clearer and easier.. or safer in terms of preventing mistakes in calculation, which is I think paramount. Maybe the most obvious thing in any case is that at a minimum there should be a clear description of the implementation in the documentation, and perhaps a warning of the tradeoff made. From: Ned Ganchovski ***@***.***> Sent: Friday, April 25, 2025 2:10 PM To: Proektsoftbg/Calcpad ***@***.***> Cc: Abraham Gertler ***@***.***>; Comment ***@***.***> Subject: Re: [Proektsoftbg/Calcpad] Calcpad roadmap or what should be the next features to be developed (Discussion #487) CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. I know that Mathcad (and SMath in its turn) internally converts everything to Kelvins and then operates with Kelvins only. But Calcpad is different. This is not so easy to implement here because of variable substitution and other things. In Calcpad, if you want to enter degrees, but your equations expect Kelvins, the best and simplest way is to convert them explicitly: t = 20°C|K Then you will input degrees and calculate in Kelvins explicitly which is clearer and easier to check than the implicit approach in Mathcad. - Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub<#487 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe<https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AZOFXE2NUI4SCS2YZBGVBRL23KQCRAVCNFSM6AAAAABWYTQE3CVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTEOJVGEZTKMQ>. You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: ***@***.******@***.***>>

[Proektsoftbg]

OK, thank you. . I see. I will think deeper about that and will try to find a solution.

[Proektsoftbg]

Please, check my answer to issue #317.

[abegertler]

Thank you, you are so kind! 😊

[yaditio]

hi ned first i want to say thank you for developing such great software, i use calcpad since about last year until now since it gives me such beautiful report calculation sheet for my daily work.

maybe i want to give some feedback based on my experience

1. the exporting feature to pdf and .docx is great, but maybe can you consider to add latex format?
2. im happy to hear you develop linux version since im using linux in my home pc. hope it will be released soon. tried the sublime method but it think i wait till GUI version release :)
3. sometimes i work with statistic and spreadsheet and chart feature would be great. (i think the chart already on calcpad roadmap)