Hello there SimplyPrinter!
We're letting you catch a break this summer; the update streak continues! Our team is hard at work on a bunch of things (some of which you can follow the progress of over at our Suggestion Box), and today we're unveiling some of it!
What's changed? TLDR;
- New "Farm Overview" feature for the printer overview!
- Quickly see the status of your farm like "When is the next printer done?" and "How many printers are ongoing?"
- Gcode Macros rework
- This one is a bit more nerdy, but while it's probably the most advanced feature in SimplyPrint, it's an important one that was overdue for an update!
- Gcode Macros no longer need to consist only of snippets; each Macro can have custom Gcode written right into it without the use of snippets
- Auto-Gcode-completions for hundreds of Gcode commands, with a description of what the command does and a list of supported parameters
- SimplyPrint Gcode variable- & slicer logic auto-completions
- UI cleanup; printer overview & control panel buttons-row
- Bug fixes & small quality-of-life changes
The "Farm Overview" feature
The flagship addition of this update is the "Farm Overview" feature, is here to help those of you with a bunch of printers get a clear overview of your farm in an instant, always.
The newly-added row of information includes;
- When the next print finishes, along with the name of the printer
- How many printers are idle and ready to print
- Amount of paused printers
- Printers Awaiting bed clear
- Ongoing printers
- Printers that are offline or not connected
The information cards automatically show on larger (non-mobile) screens if you have more than 3 printers, and - as the name of the feature suggests - it's locked to the "Print Farm" plan.
You can toggle (open/close) the row with the new arrow-button below the cards on the right side, and this choice is remembered on your next visit!
Gcode Macros rework (nerdy)
While the Gcode Macros page is one of the least visited pages in SimplyPrint, it's a quite important one!
Gcode Macros helps you define what should happen when; "When a print is cancelled, what should happen?". You can learn all about the specifics of the feature here; https://help.simplyprint.io/en/article/gcode-macros-snippets-ivtt41/
Defining Gcode without snippets
Before, you were tied to using one or more snippets to define what Gcode commands should execute in a Macro, but now, each macro card presents you with a fully editable field, where you can type in any Gcode commands you want, without having to create snippets!
Snippets are still super useful if you want to re-use Gcode commands in multiple different Macros, but now, you have a choice!
Auto-completions & tooltips
It's now easier than ever to write your Gcode scripts, snippets & Macros in SimplyPrint, as we now auto-complete Gcode commands for you!
What does this mean? It simply means, that if you type "G", we'll present you with a list of all the Gcode commands that begin with a "G", alongside with a description of what each command does, and a list of supported parameters.
Hopefully this means less time being spent going to various Gcode documentation sites to figure out "What was it this command did again...?".
You can also hover your mouse over a Gcode command to see a description of what it does.
Auto-completion also works for SimplyPrint variables, such as "{bed_x}", which - when sent to your printer - is replaced with the X width of the given bed. It also works for slicer "IF" statements & conditional logic, which you can read more about here; https://help.simplyprint.io/en/article/simplyprint-slicer-variables-15y9md9/
This is possible thanks to the awesome open-source Marlin Firmware documentation (https://marlinfw.org/meta/gcode/), which allows our auto-completions to always be up-to-date 💪
UI cleanup, bug fixes & smaller changes
- UI cleanup:
- We felt that the top-button-bar, where you find the Print Queue among other actions, was getting a bit too messy, so, it has now been updated, both in the overview and on the printer control panel
- Added special icon for "1-click print" and "quick queue" buttons (the print queue icon with a little "start" icon inside), to better differentiate between the queue "start" actions, and just the print queue
- Fixed "Print done" timer sometimes galloping out of control (visually)
- Fixed bug where print progress might be "0" when you initially load the page, then update to the correct progress
- Added message to "Filament brand" field in filament spool creation to better indicate that you can choose any brand name you'd like - even if it's not on our list
- Fixed bug where the "News: Load more" button for in-panel news just re-fetched the first 5 articles
- For those of you in the Auto-print closed beta: a BIG update was pushed for this - more on this in our next blog post!
- OAuth2 "Login with SimplyPrint" is now finished (going to be used with integrations such as our upcoming Cura plugin) - we're keeping a low profile on this, but if you read this and wish to integrate SimplyPrint into your application (or the other way around); message us
- Removed "Beta" badge from "Tags" feature - it's stable and you guys seem to love the feature!
- Added space for more setup guides; Direct Prusa integration (coming soon), Bambu Integration (coming soon) & more, and improved the OctoPrint setup guide with SSH settings information
- Added "Printer compatibility" pages; printers in our compatibility list are now clickable, and show which platforms the specific printer is compatible with, along with printer specifications and setup guides for SimplyPrint and OctoPrint - also now shows printers we know to not work with SimplyPrint, but with a message stating the lack of support (added a couple of weeks ago*)
- Hub:
- Removed a few old unused Hub settings; "Allow preheat", "Allow feedrate change" and "Allow Gcode preview" - all have permissions deciding whether a user can use them instead, and the settings haven't been implemented in the Hub since November 2022
- Fixed Hub dark mode setting
- Fixed missing translation in Hub settings
- On use of the "Temporary login" Hub setting, the printer overview and control panel now "refresh" on login and log out, to properly reflect the user's permissions (hide buttons they can't use, and re-show the buttons on log out to present all possible options)
- Some more all-around "Hub" bug fixes
Coming soon...
- Cura plugin - send your file from Cura directly to SimplyPrint! (https://suggestions.simplyprint.io/7)
- Full Auto-print feature release (we're excited to release this one!!)
- Bambu Lab printers integration
- Direct Prusa MK4, XL / new Prusa main board integration; no Pi needed!
As always; hope you like the changes! If you do - or if you don't - please let us know in our live-chat! Your feedback is what helps make SimplyPrint great 🙌
- Albert & the rest of the SimplyPrint team