OpenAVC v0.5.0 - Changelog

Built-in device simulator for testing without hardware, major Driver Builder expansion, and a comprehensive driver system audit.

Simulate devices directly from the Programmer IDE without any real hardware connected
Simulator runs as a managed subprocess that intercepts device connections and responds like real equipment
Interactive Simulator UI with device-specific control panels for projectors, displays, switchers, audio DSPs, and cameras
Auto-generates simulator controls from driver state variables when no custom controls are defined
Inject network conditions (latency, jitter, packet drops) and device errors to test edge cases
Auto-syncs simulated devices when the project changes so new devices appear without restarting
Simulator badge in the Browse Drivers view shows which community drivers support simulation
Validation tool checks driver-simulator compatibility (command coverage, response parsing, type consistency)

New Device Settings tab for defining configurable hardware settings (labels, types, write commands)
New Discovery Hints tab for specifying ports, MAC prefixes, protocols, mDNS names, and hostnames
New Simulator tab for configuring initial state, response delays, error injection, and custom controls
HTTP transport option with authentication type, SSL, and certificate verification fields
Enhanced response pattern editor with value maps, regex quick reference, and clearer field labels
State variable improvements including renameable IDs, number/boolean types, and enum value editing
Inter-command delay setting and delimiter dropdown with common protocol options
YAML export and import support alongside existing JSON

Added Python builtins to the script namespace: range, list, dict, set, tuple, sorted, enumerate

Comprehensive audit fixing issues across the runtime, API, UI, and docs
Config values now substituted into response patterns before regex compilation, fixing drivers that use config in matching
Transport disconnect now properly triggers auto-reconnect instead of failing silently
Reconnect loop capped at 120 attempts with a reconnect_failed state to prevent infinite retries
Poll loop distinguishes connection errors from unexpected errors and stops polling before reconnect to prevent races
Type coercion now warns on mismatch instead of silently converting to zero
State validation and atomic batch updates via set_batch()
Structural validation for commands and state_variables at load time

Removed zeroconf dependency (mDNS handled by built-in scanner)
Updated FastAPI, uvicorn, aiohttp, and other dependencies to current versions
All deployment targets (Docker, Windows installer, Linux archive, Pi image) updated to build and bundle the simulator