Wednesday, December 03, 2003
New Build Refresh Posted: 281
Build 281 has a number of small fixes that haven't been fully tested yet but are up here because of some testers needed.
Things to note:
- changes in captions in the Filters screen
- changes to the Related Data (Join) option in Filters
- added (hidden) caption to hidden fields
- some fixes when doing new groups in the live design area
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Tuesday, December 02, 2003
New Build Coming
Users who have downloaded the latest beta: make note that there is a new build coming to resolve many of the bugs that were occurring in Build 279. This build was missing some internal files so you'll be able to download just the refresh.
A note will be posted here when it's ready.
Also, do you think it would be better to have a forum available on www.micromegasystems.com/foxfireforum for issues related to the beta?
Let us know by clicking comments below!
Thanks
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Monday, December 01, 2003
VFP 8 Runtime Required
The current shortcut provided with the Install (ffstart8.exe) uses the VFP 8 runtime.
If you want the VFP7 Runtime, just run FFSTART.EXE. The splash screen will be the old one but you will be running the new version.
The current build of Foxfire! 8.0 is listed on the top of the system. The current version is Build 8.0.279.
Thanks
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Hot Features in Foxfire! 8.0
Here is a summary of just some of the hot features in Foxfire! 8.0:
1. Live Design surface area that previews your entire report instead of just the columns.
2. Drag and Drop fields into the detail area for adding new fields, sort orders and group breaks and re-ordering.
3. Report-specific settings. Change headers and fonts for individual data items on specific reports. You can even create new data items while building a report!
4. The Request Editor Workbench can be un-docked off the main preview page for easier previewing.
5. More group options including hiding automatic subtotals, custom formatting.
6. Data Item property sheets so changes can be made while looking at the report.
7. Support for Distinct Counts when building summary requests.
8. Our Distribution Utility makes it easier than ever before to integrate Foxfire! into an application!
9. The Import/Export and Batch features are directly built into the Request Manager so you don't have to leave what you're doing to get work done. You can even export a request directly to email to send it to others!
10. Powerful object model that makes it easier to do everything in Foxfire!
In fact, the object model is what was used to create Foxfire! 8.0's new live design surface area! Want to create your own User Interface? Just point it directly to the new Foxfire! Request object and away you go!
11. Fantastic new Expression Builder makes it easier to see what your data item will look like when it's being built!
We'll be drilling into this features more as the months go on. But try out Foxfire! 8.0 and you'll see why the world's easiest report writer just got a lot easier!
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1. Live Design surface area that previews your entire report instead of just the columns.
2. Drag and Drop fields into the detail area for adding new fields, sort orders and group breaks and re-ordering.
3. Report-specific settings. Change headers and fonts for individual data items on specific reports. You can even create new data items while building a report!
4. The Request Editor Workbench can be un-docked off the main preview page for easier previewing.
5. More group options including hiding automatic subtotals, custom formatting.
6. Data Item property sheets so changes can be made while looking at the report.
7. Support for Distinct Counts when building summary requests.
8. Our Distribution Utility makes it easier than ever before to integrate Foxfire! into an application!
9. The Import/Export and Batch features are directly built into the Request Manager so you don't have to leave what you're doing to get work done. You can even export a request directly to email to send it to others!
10. Powerful object model that makes it easier to do everything in Foxfire!
In fact, the object model is what was used to create Foxfire! 8.0's new live design surface area! Want to create your own User Interface? Just point it directly to the new Foxfire! Request object and away you go!
11. Fantastic new Expression Builder makes it easier to see what your data item will look like when it's being built!
We'll be drilling into this features more as the months go on. But try out Foxfire! 8.0 and you'll see why the world's easiest report writer just got a lot easier!
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Sunday, November 30, 2003
New Build Posted.
New updates posted including a number of new features including a functioning import/export and batch and summary calculation settings.
We're still finalizing the user interface on the import/export and may still change it some but the new post makes a lot of things work considerably better.
While you may be able to use the refresh post (http://www.foxfirereporting.com/livedesign/ff80.zip) I advise grabbing the full install - http://www.foxfirereporting.com/livedesign/ff80setup.exe
More details will be posted a bit later as I walk through these features but:
a) you can drag/drop requests onto the Export folder, then click Export to export them.
b) you can select the Import option and import in existing exported entries.
c) drag and drop items into the Batch folder (you may need to drag lower onto the tree than the New Batch folder - try right below the Previous batches) - if you click on Run Batch, then you can run them right away.
d) Summary calculations may be added and changed (but there may be some bugs there).
e) The Output screen is now ready for Report usage. We're still finishing off items like Style and support for the other report types.
f) The Filter screen is much more solid but is still missing things like Ask At Runtime control support in the designer itself.
g) You can use the built-in Styles for features like Show Comments on Header or Footer.
h) the Cross-tab is working fairly well but will be updated further this week.
i) the new Output dialog is getting there so you can view the SQL and edit the layout while previewing the report.
j) the filter screen now has a Replicate button which copies the currently selected filter and a ( ) button which wraps the selected item with open and closing parentheses. (we're still finalizing this)
Some Bad things to be aware of:
1) When coming back to the Request Manager, it sometimes highlights multiple requests instead of the current one.
2) When creating a new cross-tab, it doesn't show the full cross-tab yet. Modify it in the Data Item tab and then close and re-open the request.
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New Fixes for Summary Calculations
A new post will be made shortly with fixes for summary calculations. Amid all the new features, the ability to manage summary calcs was lost.
Summary Calculations are easily maintained from the Sorts collection.
Example (using the Object Model)
loReq = loFF.Requests.Items("INVENTRY")
IF loReq.Sorts.Items(1).Grouped
loReq.Sorts.Items(1).Calculations.AddItem("Min","Cars Mileage")
ENDIF
? loReq.Update( )
Also, check out our new Object Model blog http://www.foxfirereporting.com/ffom.htm!
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