Wednesday, December 31, 2003
Build 293-Cosmetic Updates
A minor update with various fixes put in.
The workbench can now be rolled up again. A Minimum height setting was causing the problem here.
Some minor updates were made to the captions on some dialogs and labels.
Both the refresh and Full Install have been updated.
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License Update
Please download the following file to update your Foxfire! 8.0 Beta License. This will allow your beta license to run for another 30 days.
Thank you.
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Beta License Expiration
If you have tried using Foxfire! 8.0 in the past few days, you will note that the beta license has expired. A new post will be updated today that extends the beta for another 30 days.
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Tuesday, December 23, 2003
Build 292 - Updated Filter
The Filter tab in the Request Editor now supports dynamic filter controls. Try building a filter on Cars Make or Cars Date of Sale to see how it works.
There's still something I'm looking at in there with relation to tracking data items and resizing. Sometimes the currently highlighted filter duplicates itself in the filter below it but I'm chasing it so don't tell me about it just yet.
Both the Refresh and the full Install have been updated so check them out.
Finally, as we get closer to release, we're limiting the new features being added in. Why? Because I want to ship this thing and we want to put more work on these.
For example, I'd love to re-design the Relationship Editor to work more like the Relationship Finder but it's so easy to get caught up on redesign that you lose scope of what's really important - shipping!
For example, I'd love to re-design the Relationship Editor to work more like the Relationship Finder but it's so easy to get caught up on redesign that you lose scope of what's really important - shipping!
The changes will be focused on updating utilities under the Administrator menu that need a lot more work but here are the key new features in Foxfire! 8.0:
a) Distribution Builder
b) FFCONFIG Builder (although expect some re-design in 8.1)
c) Relationship Finder
d) Live Design / Request Editor
e) New Import/Export/Batch Builder process
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Sunday, December 21, 2003
Build 291 - Relationship Finder
This build is ONLY available by downloading the Beta Refresh.
A new Developer tool called the Relationship Finder has been added to the Relationship Editor.
This tool is similar to the one found in the Setup Wizard but is far more dynamic and hopefully, useful. You can drag and drop files on top of each other to create relationships or let the AutoJoin (working on a better name) find them for you. When using AutoJoin, you can specify what fields should be ignored or what type of key you use to identify the ID fields. We are still building support for other naming conventions.
Perhaps the cool part here is that if it can find a single key that links two tables, it uses it but if it can't, it will prompt you and you can choose the correct relationship. This should make setting up relationships between even "unknown" tables faster and easier than ever before!
To see it, select Relationship Editor in the System Admin menu and then click Find.
Now, if you are using the Cars file, this may not immediately appear useful so try selecting Upgrade from Previous Version under the Tools menu and specify your original Foxfire! 6.0 directory. Select the Preference set you want to move over and then your other joins should be available .
One thing to be aware of: When it shows you all of the potential joins, they are ALL assumed to be valid. Be sure to hit the Clear All unless you want to add them all in.
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Wednesday, December 17, 2003
Build 287 - Fixes and UI Updates
1. When right-clicking on a data item in the Preview area, you can choose Group which will automatically do a Sort, Group and Hide on the selected data item.
2. Fix in the Request Manager when you select a folder that doesn't have any requests in it.
3. Removed Today's Exports from the list of exports so it is easier to manage.
4. The Request Tab for Special Processing only appears if the user has the security access for it.
5. Some of the items on the Change Appearance Dialog have been copied to the Edit Data Item dialog. Not sure if the dialog is now too big. Please let us know.
6. When hiding automatic summary totals, the fonts reflect the proper "hidden" look and feel (they previously weren't)
7. You can now add a new summary total by right-clicking in the Group footer.
8. The Close button on the Right-click dialogs (Change Appearance and Edit Data Item) has been named to Cancel.
9. If you download and install the Full Update, you should be able to see the new Distribution Utility and the FFCONFIG builder tools.
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Tuesday, December 16, 2003
Build 8.0.286 - Revised User Interface for Relationships and Cross-Tabs
Only the Refresh has been updated with this one.
Minor UI updates and various internal changes.
1. Email Options now available in Output screen.
2. Cross Tabs - the UI has been updated but don't do a calculated cross-tab yet - still working on some items there.
This update is primarily a visual one for demonstration purposes. The interface is pretty much completed except for some small wording changes and possible re-alignment of items.
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Thursday, December 11, 2003
New Minor Post
If you were having problems running ask at runtime requests with the last build, download the beta Refresh. There was a bug with the FFLIB.APP.
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Tuesday, December 09, 2003
New Post: Updated Dialogs for Relationships and more
There will be another new post shortly but I wanted to get a more recent post up there with the new dialog and some new screens designs.
It's a lot more solid from an overall build and both the refresh and full install have been updated.
Enjoy!
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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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