Thursday, August 18, 2011

Stonefield Query for Sage Pro ERP version 4.1.4246

We have released version 4.1.4246 of Stonefield Query for Sage Pro ERP. This is mostly a maintenance release but does have one new feature: The new Value on Hand field in the Inventory Master File (ICITEM) displays the total on hand value for the inventory item.

Stonefield Query for Sage Accpac ERP version 4.1.4246

We have released version 4.1.4246 of Stonefield Query for Sage Accpac ERP. This release has several new features:

  • You can now report on Orion Point of Sale (POS) data (http://www.odiglobal.com).
  • You can now define security for individual databases in the Maintain Users and Groups dialog so only certain users can access certain databases.
  • A new AR Combined Documents & Adjustments table combines records from AR Documents (AROBL) and Receipts and Adjustments (ARTCR), making it easy to create a listing of all AR transactions for a customer.
  • A new Earning/Deduction YTD Amount field is now available in the Canadian Payroll Cheque Details (CPCHKD.YTDAMT) table. New YTD Earnings, YTD Net Pay, Current Earnings, Current Deductions, Current Taxes, and Spelled Out Amount fields are now available in the Cheque Header table. These fields were also added to the U.S. Payroll Check Details and Check Header tables. These fields make it easy to create a payroll advise report (see the next point).
  • New Cheque Advice (Canadian Payroll) and Check Advice (U.S. Payroll) sample reports make it easy to email payroll advices for a specific pay period to employees. These reports require Sage Accpac ERP version 5.5 or later.
  • New Total for Year calculated fields, such as Total Quantity for Year and Total Cost for Year, were added to the Project Costing Budget Detail (PMBUDD) table because the existing Accpac totals fields are always zero.
  • New Unisales Combined Invoices & Credit/Debit Notes (UXINVHCRDH) and Combined Invoice & Credit/Debit Note Details (UXINVDCRDD) tables are available, making it easier to show invoices, credit notes, and debit notes from Unisales on one report.
  • Lot tracking tables are no longer available if you're using Accpac 5.6 or later since Sage removed those tables. Unfortunately, that means that reports using those tables have to be recreated from new lot tracking tables in Inventory Control.
  • A new Certified Payroll Report Jobs (UPCPRJ) table is now available in U.S. Payroll.
  • Performance was improved for some types of calculated fields.
  • You can now turn on the "Suppress repeating values" setting for the last row field in a cross-tab report if desired.
  • You can now specify CC and BCC email addresses when emailing different pages in a report to separate addresses (which you do by turning on "Output each group as a separate file" and setting "Get email address from" to a field).
  • Date/time fields with the "Display date only" setting turned off can now be used in the row of cross-tab reports.

If you are using an earlier version 4.1 build, you can install the update using the Check for Updates function in the Tools menu of the Report Designer.

Stonefield Query SDK version 4.1.4246

We have released version 4.1.4246 of the Stonefield Query SDK. This is a maintenance release fixing minor or obscure bugs. If you are using an earlier version 4.1 build, you can install the update using the Check for Updates function in the Tools menu of the Report Designer.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Stonefield Query SDK Version 4.1.4171

Version 4.1.4171 is mostly a maintenance release but there are some new features.

Report Designer
  • You can now turn on the "Suppress repeating values" setting for the last row field in a cross-tab report if desired.
  • You can now define security for individual databases in the Maintain Users and Groups dialog so only certain users can access certain databases.
  • You can now specify CC and BCC email addresses when emailing different pages in a report to separate addresses (which you do by turning on "Output each group as a separate file" and setting "Get email address from" to a field).
  • Date/time fields with the "Display date only" setting turned off can now be used in the row of cross-tab reports.
  • You can now pass default values to the GetValueForParameter and GetValueForField functions.
SDK
  • A sample ASP.Net web application is now available.
  • You can now check for updates in Stonefield Query Studio using the Check for Updates function in the Help Menu.
  • Stonefield Query Studio's title bar now shows the version number.
  • An option defined in an Options.Settings script can now have the "restart" attribute even if no "key" attribute is provided.
  • The new Application.SetupMenu script allows you to customize the Stonefield Query menus.
  • The new OutputOptions.Settings script allows you to define custom file output types.
  • The Table and Field drop-down lists for Display Field from Related Table now display table and field captions.
  • If you have certain tables you want ignored when you refresh a database, add a [NoRefresh] section to SFQuery.INI.
  • Stonefield Query Studio now automatically delimits table and field names that have mixed case in Firebird databases because Firebird requires it.
  • You can now specify that Stonefield Query uses case-insensitive joins when it performs joins by adding CaseInsensitiveJoins=Y to an [Options] section in SFQuery.INI.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Stonefield Query for Sage BusinessVision Version 4.1

We are pleased to announce the immediate release of Stonefield Query for Sage BusinessVision version 4.1. There are lots of new and improved features in version 4.1.

New Features
  • You can now define dashboards using the new Dashboard Wizard. A dashboard is a set of chart reports that displays on your desktop in its own window. These charts automatically refresh at an interval you specify so you can always see the most current data.
  • Stonefield Query now supports Windows 7:
    • When you run a report, the taskbar button shows a moving green bar indicating something is happening.
    • You can now right-click a report and choose Pin to Taskbar to pin it to the taskbar; choosing that item in the taskbar launches Stonefield Query and previews that report (this obviously works best when Stonefield Query itself is pinned to the taskbar).
    • Stonefield Query report files, which have an SFX extension, now display a nice report icon in Windows Explorer. Double-clicking an SFX file launches Stonefield Query and previews that report.
  • You can now create a desktop shortcut for a report. Right-click any report in the Reports Explorer and choose Create Desktop Shortcut. This will create a shortcut on your desktop with the same name as the report. Double-clicking this shortcut previews the report without opening Stonefield Query, which is handy if you just want to run one report without having to find it in the Reports Explorer.
  • Usage statistics are now maintained for reports, and the new Usage Reporting function in the Tools menu allows you to report on these statistics. This allows you to determine which reports are actually being used, how often, and by whom.
  • A new type of display for date fields is now available in the Field Properties dialog: "Month/Year". This displays the month and year part of the date, which the "Month" option formerly did. "Month" now outputs only the month part of the date, which is handy, for example, in cross-tab reports where you want to show the date in the rows and the year in the columns to compare sales by month and year. Reports you created prior to version 4.1 using "Month" are automatically changed to use "Month/Year" so they work as they did before.
  • You can now configure how much memory Stonefield Query reserves for itself at startup. This is especially useful in Windows Terminal Server environments where multiple users run Stonefield Query on the same server at the same time.
  • The new built-in GoMonthDay function makes calculating dynamic dates, such as the first day of the previous month, much easier.
Charts
  • Multi-page charts are now supported. In the new Size/Paging page of the Chart Wizard, turn on Paging and set the number of points you want on each page.
  • Linking, such as drilldowns, from charts is now supported. The Properties dialog for the Category (X-axis) field has a Link page that works the same as other report types. This allows you, for example, to display a chart showing sales by salesperson and click a certain salesperson to drill down to a report showing individual sales for that salesperson. Linking even works in charts displayed in a dashboard. To support this feature, a different preview window is used for charts. It has the same features as the preview window used for other report types but cannot used tabbed pages showing other report types, only other charts.
  • Charts now use the Segoe UI font for text in Windows Vista or later because it looks better, especially when rotated.
Cross-Tab Reports
  • Cross-tab reports now support displaying the amount and/or percentage change between columns. The Display page of the Properties dialog for a data field has new "Show difference from previous column" and "Show percentage change" options. You can turn on one or both of these.
  • You can now specify whether cross-tab reports include row and column totals using new options in Step 5.
  • The Select only top option in a cross-tab report now applies to the totals for the first row field rather than the row field itself. For example, setting "Select only top" to 10 now displays the top 10 values rather than the top 10 alphabetically.
Other Features
  • Emailing now supports SSL/TSL for SMTP, which means you can now email using Gmail or Hotmail accounts or other SMTP servers that require SSL/TSL. Also, emailing using MAPI with Microsoft Outlook as your email program no longer displays the dreaded Outlook security dialog.
  • Certain characters that weren't allowed in the name of a report, such as a period, comma, question mark, slash, and so on, are now allowed. The only character you can't use is a backslash ("\").
  • Certain characters that weren't supported in the body or subject of an email, such as "&" or ">", are now allowed.
  • You no longer have to contact us if you have to activate the program on a different computer than it was originally activated on. Online activation will automatically activate this computer and deactivate the license on the other one.
  • Output to text, comma-separated (CSV), table, and XML files is now faster.
  • Exclusion conditions now work faster than before.
  • The Preview window now remembers the setting of the zoom option. If you run a report and change the zoom to 200%, the next time you preview a report, it'll be at 200%.
  • The Ask At Runtime filter and report progress dialogs now always appear on top of any other windows so they can't get lost behind something else if you click on a different window.
  • The Setup dialog has a new page (page 2) for contact information.
  • The activation process is now simpler. Clicking the Click here to activate the program now link in the Welcome dialog (displayed when you're running an unactivated version) now displays the License Manager dialog where you can add as many licenses as you need rather than bringing up a Registration dialog that only allows one license to be activated.
  • New templates are automatically imported when you run Stonefield Query.
  • The OnSelect script for a report can now access the report using the Report object. This is useful if, for example, you want to change the default filter for a report when it's selected.
  • You can now use the built-in RunSQL function in formulas.
  • It's easier to work with the Dynamics tab in the properties dialog for Pictures and Rectangles in the Advanced Report Designer. You no longer have to enter values in 960th's of a inch; instead, you can enter value in inches or centimeters, depending on how your system is configured.
  • File dialogs, such as those displayed when you output to file or export a report, now support Windows Vista and later features, such as search and recent places.
  • The ask-at-runtime filter dialog now appears on top of the report progress window so it doesn't get hidden behind other windows.
  • The new GetValueForParameter function is like the existing GetValueForField but allows you to specify the caption, data type, and size of the parameter being requested from the user.
  • You can now filter on the Source Database field. This allows a report to drill down based on a data source. For example, suppose you have a cross-tab report that retrieves data from multiple data sources and it has Source Database as the column field. Clicking a specific data source should drilldown and run a detail report for that data source only, so the linked report has a filter on Source Database.
  • The progress dialog that appears when running a report that retrieves data from multiple databases now shows the name of the database the data is currently being retrieved from and the number of records retrieved.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Lost in Translation

Here is a recent press release we sent out about the latest version of Stonefield Query.This one is the same press release that was obviously translated to another language and then back to English, I suspect by an automated rather than human translator. The translated version is hilarious. Here are some of my favorite quotes:

“Stonefield Software today declared the stylish promulgation of its database news code tool, Stonefield Query 4.1”

“The newborn edition includes over 30 newborn enhancements – the most momentous existence the Dashboard Wizard”

“As a result, they never intend the flooded benefits of what Goldmine CRM crapper do for them and their business.” (Um, we didn’t really call GoldMine “crapper”. It looks like “can” became “crapper” in the re-translation.)

“They woman opportunities and that effectuation forfeited sales.” (“Miss” became “woman”.)

“The stylish edition provides an ad hoc news resolution that crapper be utilised direct by modify users as substantially as IT staff.” There’s that word “crapper” again.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Stonefield Query for Sage Pro ERP Version 4.1 Released

We are pleased to announce the immediate release of the Stonefield Query for Sage Pro ERP version 4.1. There are lots of new and improved features in version 4.1.

New Features
  • You can now define dashboards using the new Dashboard Wizard. A dashboard is a set of chart reports that displays on your desktop in its own window. These charts automatically refresh at an interval you specify so you can always see the most current data.
  • Stonefield Query now supports Windows 7:
    • When you run a report, the taskbar button shows a moving green bar indicating something is happening.
    • You can now right-click a report and choose Pin to Taskbar to pin it to the taskbar; choosing that item in the taskbar launches Stonefield Query and previews that report (this obviously works best when Stonefield Query itself is pinned to the taskbar).
    • Stonefield Query report files, which have an SFX extension, now display a nice report icon in Windows Explorer. Double-clicking an SFX file launches Stonefield Query and previews that report.
  • You can now create a desktop shortcut for a report. Right-click any report in the Reports Explorer and choose Create Desktop Shortcut. This will create a shortcut on your desktop with the same name as the report. Double-clicking this shortcut previews the report without opening Stonefield Query, which is handy if you just want to run one report without having to find it in the Reports Explorer.
  • Usage statistics are now maintained for reports, and the new Usage Reporting function in the Tools menu allows you to report on these statistics. This allows you to determine which reports are actually being used, how often, and by whom.
  • A new type of display for date fields is now available in the Field Properties dialog: "Month/Year". This displays the month and year part of the date, which the "Month" option formerly did. "Month" now outputs only the month part of the date, which is handy, for example, in cross-tab reports where you want to show the date in the rows and the year in the columns to compare sales by month and year. Reports you created prior to version 4.1 using "Month" are automatically changed to use "Month/Year" so they work as they did before.
  • When you install a new version of Stonefield Query over an existing one, if there are any new or modified sample reports, a dialog appears telling you that and allowing you to select which of those to import. You can also choose the Check New or Updated Sample Reports function in the Tools menu.
  • You can now configure how much memory Stonefield Query reserves for itself at startup. This is especially useful in Windows Terminal Server environments where multiple users run Stonefield Query on the same server at the same time.
Charts
  • Multi-page charts are now supported. In the new Size/Paging page of the Chart Wizard, turn on Paging and set the number of points you want on each page.
  • Linking, such as drilldowns, from charts is now supported. The Properties dialog for the Category (X-axis) field has a Link page that works the same as other report types. This allows you, for example, to display a chart showing sales by salesperson and click a certain salesperson to drill down to a report showing individual sales for that salesperson. Linking even works in charts displayed in a dashboard. To support this feature, a different preview window is used for charts. It has the same features as the preview window used for other report types but cannot used tabbed pages showing other report types, only other charts.
  • Charts now use the Segoe UI font for text in Windows Vista or later because it looks better, especially when rotated.
Cross-Tab Reports
  • Cross-tab reports now support displaying the amount and/or percentage change between columns. The Display page of the Properties dialog for a data field has new "Show difference from previous column" and "Show percentage change" options. You can turn on one or both of these.
  • You can now specify whether cross-tab reports include row and column totals using new options in Step 5.
  • The Select only top option in a cross-tab report now applies to the totals for the first row field rather than the row field itself. For example, setting "Select only top" to 10 now displays the top 10 values rather than the top 10 alphabetically.
Other Features
  • Stonefield Query now works with Sage Pro 2011.
  • The new Sales Order Commission Header Current + History table combines current and history sales order commission records.
  • Many date fields are now available as "YM" (year and month) versions. For example, the Check Date YM field in the Accounts Payable Master File displays the year and month of the check date. In addition, numerous other calculated fields and more relationships between tables were generously provided by Philip Borkholder of Automation Plus Inc.
  • The new Always Union Current and History Tables Before Join option in the Options dialog allows you to decide when multiple "current + history" tables are used in a report whether it should do individual queries on the separate tables (which is slower) or queries with set of current tables and the set of history tables (which is faster but may not have matches).
  • The IC Items and Item at Location tables now also appear in the Order Entry module.
  • Emailing now supports SSL/TSL for SMTP, which means you can now email using Gmail or Hotmail accounts or other SMTP servers that require SSL/TSL. Also, emailing using MAPI with Microsoft Outlook as your email program no longer displays the dreaded Outlook security dialog.
  • Certain characters that weren't allowed in the name of a report, such as a period, comma, question mark, slash, and so on, are now allowed. The only character you can't use is a backslash ("\").
  • Certain characters that weren't supported in the body or subject of an email, such as "&" or ">", are now allowed.
  • You no longer have to contact us if you have to activate the program on a different computer than it was originally activated on. Online activation will automatically activate this computer and deactivate the license on the other one.
  • There's better support for adding images stored in your database to reports.
  • Output to text, comma-separated (CSV), table, and XML files is now faster.
  • Exclusion conditions now work faster than before.
  • The Preview window now remembers the setting of the zoom option. If you run a report and change the zoom to 200%, the next time you preview a report, it'll be at 200%.
  • The Ask At Runtime filter and report progress dialogs now always appear on top of any other windows so they can't get lost behind something else if you click on a different window.
  • The Setup dialog has a new page (page 2) for contact information.
  • The activation process is now simpler. Clicking the Click here to activate the program now link in the Welcome dialog (displayed when you're running an unactivated version) now displays the License Manager dialog where you can add as many licenses as you need rather than bringing up a Registration dialog that only allows one license to be activated.
  • New templates are automatically imported when you run Stonefield Query.
  • The OnSelect script for a report can now access the report using the Report object. This is useful if, for example, you want to change the default filter for a report when it's selected.
  • You can now use the built-in RunSQL function in formulas.
  • It's easier to work with the Dynamics tab in the properties dialog for Pictures and Rectangles in the Advanced Report Designer. You no longer have to enter values in 960th's of a inch; instead, you can enter value in inches or centimeters, depending on how your system is configured.
  • File dialogs, such as those displayed when you output to file or export a report, now support Windows Vista and later features, such as search and recent places.
  • The ask-at-runtime filter dialog now appears on top of the report progress window so it doesn't get hidden behind other windows.
  • The new GetValueForParameter function is like the existing GetValueForField but allows you to specify the caption, data type, and size of the parameter being requested from the user.
  • You can now filter on the Source Database field. This allows a report to drill down based on a data source. For example, suppose you have a cross-tab report that retrieves data from multiple data sources and it has Source Database as the column field. Clicking a specific data source should drilldown and run a detail report for that data source only, so the linked report has a filter on Source Database.
  • The progress dialog that appears when running a report that retrieves data from multiple databases now shows the name of the database the data is currently being retrieved from and the number of records retrieved.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Stonefield Query for GoldMine 4.1

We are pleased to announce the immediate release of Stonefield Query for GoldMine version 4.1. There are lots of new and improved features in version 4.1.

New Features
  • You can now define dashboards using the new Dashboard Wizard. A dashboard is a set of chart reports that displays on your desktop in its own window. These charts automatically refresh at an interval you specify so you can always see the most current data.
  • Stonefield Query now supports Windows 7:
    • When you run a report, the taskbar button shows a moving green bar indicating something is happening.
    • You can now right-click a report and choose Pin to Taskbar to pin it to the taskbar; choosing that item in the taskbar launches Stonefield Query and previews that report (this obviously works best when Stonefield Query itself is pinned to the taskbar).
    • Stonefield Query report files, which have an SFX extension, now display a nice report icon in Windows Explorer. Double-clicking an SFX file launches Stonefield Query and previews that report.
  • You can now create a desktop shortcut for a report. Right-click any report in the Reports Explorer and choose Create Desktop Shortcut. This will create a shortcut on your desktop with the same name as the report. Double-clicking this shortcut previews the report without opening Stonefield Query, which is handy if you just want to run one report without having to find it in the Reports Explorer.
  • Usage statistics are now maintained for reports, and the new Usage Reporting function in the Tools menu allows you to report on these statistics. This allows you to determine which reports are actually being used, how often, and by whom.
  • A new type of display for date fields is now available in the Field Properties dialog: "Month/Year". This displays the month and year part of the date, which the "Month" option formerly did. "Month" now outputs only the month part of the date, which is handy, for example, in cross-tab reports where you want to show the date in the rows and the year in the columns to compare sales by month and year. Reports you created prior to version 4.1 using "Month" are automatically changed to use "Month/Year" so they work as they did before.
  • You can now configure how much memory Stonefield Query reserves for itself at startup. This is especially useful in Windows Terminal Server environments where multiple users run Stonefield Query on the same server at the same time.
  • The new built-in GoMonthDay function makes calculating dynamic dates, such as the first day of the previous month, much easier.
Charts
  • Multi-page charts are now supported. In the new Size/Paging page of the Chart Wizard, turn on Paging and set the number of points you want on each page.
  • Linking, such as drilldowns, from charts is now supported. The Properties dialog for the Category (X-axis) field has a Link page that works the same as other report types. This allows you, for example, to display a chart showing sales by salesperson and click a certain salesperson to drill down to a report showing individual sales for that salesperson. Linking even works in charts displayed in a dashboard. To support this feature, a different preview window is used for charts. It has the same features as the preview window used for other report types but cannot used tabbed pages showing other report types, only other charts.
  • Charts now use the Segoe UI font for text in Windows Vista or later because it looks better, especially when rotated.
Cross-Tab Reports
  • Cross-tab reports now support displaying the amount and/or percentage change between columns. The Display page of the Properties dialog for a data field has new "Show difference from previous column" and "Show percentage change" options. You can turn on one or both of these.
  • You can now specify whether cross-tab reports include row and column totals using new options in Step 5.
  • The Select only top option in a cross-tab report now applies to the totals for the first row field rather than the row field itself. For example, setting "Select only top" to 10 now displays the top 10 values rather than the top 10 alphabetically.
Other Features
  • Emailing now supports SSL/TSL for SMTP, which means you can now email using Gmail or Hotmail accounts or other SMTP servers that require SSL/TSL. Also, emailing using MAPI with Microsoft Outlook as your email program no longer displays the dreaded Outlook security dialog.
  • Certain characters that weren't allowed in the name of a report, such as a period, comma, question mark, slash, and so on, are now allowed. The only character you can't use is a backslash ("\").
  • Certain characters that weren't supported in the body or subject of an email, such as "&" or ">", are now allowed.
  • You no longer have to contact us if you have to activate the program on a different computer than it was originally activated on. Online activation will automatically activate this computer and deactivate the license on the other one.
  • Output to text, comma-separated (CSV), table, and XML files is now faster.
  • Exclusion conditions now work faster than before.
  • The Preview window now remembers the setting of the zoom option. If you run a report and change the zoom to 200%, the next time you preview a report, it'll be at 200%.
  • The Ask At Runtime filter and report progress dialogs now always appear on top of any other windows so they can't get lost behind something else if you click on a different window.
  • The Setup dialog has a new page (page 2) for contact information.
  • The activation process is now simpler. Clicking the Click here to activate the program now link in the Welcome dialog (displayed when you're running an unactivated version) now displays the License Manager dialog where you can add as many licenses as you need rather than bringing up a Registration dialog that only allows one license to be activated.
  • New templates are automatically imported when you run Stonefield Query.
  • The OnSelect script for a report can now access the report using the Report object. This is useful if, for example, you want to change the default filter for a report when it's selected.
  • You can now use the built-in RunSQL function in formulas.
  • It's easier to work with the Dynamics tab in the properties dialog for Pictures and Rectangles in the Advanced Report Designer. You no longer have to enter values in 960th's of a inch; instead, you can enter value in inches or centimeters, depending on how your system is configured.
  • File dialogs, such as those displayed when you output to file or export a report, now support Windows Vista and later features, such as search and recent places.
  • The ask-at-runtime filter dialog now appears on top of the report progress window so it doesn't get hidden behind other windows.
  • The new GetValueForParameter function is like the existing GetValueForField but allows you to specify the caption, data type, and size of the parameter being requested from the user.
  • You can now filter on the Source Database field. This allows a report to drill down based on a data source. For example, suppose you have a cross-tab report that retrieves data from multiple data sources and it has Source Database as the column field. Clicking a specific data source should drilldown and run a detail report for that data source only, so the linked report has a filter on Source Database.
  • The progress dialog that appears when running a report that retrieves data from multiple databases now shows the name of the database the data is currently being retrieved from and the number of records retrieved.
  • Stonefield Query is now smarter about locating the GoldMine database information for GoldMine versions 7.0 and later, when installed on Windows Vista or later.
  • In the case where Query has no GoldMine databases available for reporting, it now gives an informative message about this, with instructions for resolving the problem.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Stonefield Query for ACT! 4.1

We are pleased to announce the immediate release of Stonefield Query for ACT! version 4.1. There are lots of new and improved features in version 4.1.
New Features
  • You can now define dashboards using the new Dashboard Wizard. A dashboard is a set of chart reports that displays on your desktop in its own window. These charts automatically refresh at an interval you specify so you can always see the most current data.
  • Stonefield Query now supports Windows 7:
    • When you run a report, the taskbar button shows a moving green bar indicating something is happening.
    • You can now right-click a report and choose Pin to Taskbar to pin it to the taskbar; choosing that item in the taskbar launches Stonefield Query and previews that report (this obviously works best when Stonefield Query itself is pinned to the taskbar).
    • Stonefield Query report files, which have an SFX extension, now display a nice report icon in Windows Explorer. Double-clicking an SFX file launches Stonefield Query and previews that report.
  • You can now create a desktop shortcut for a report. Right-click any report in the Reports Explorer and choose Create Desktop Shortcut. This will create a shortcut on your desktop with the same name as the report. Double-clicking this shortcut previews the report without opening Stonefield Query, which is handy if you just want to run one report without having to find it in the Reports Explorer.
  • Usage statistics are now maintained for reports, and the new Usage Reporting function in the Tools menu allows you to report on these statistics. This allows you to determine which reports are actually being used, how often, and by whom.
  • A new type of display for date fields is now available in the Field Properties dialog: "Month/Year". This displays the month and year part of the date, which the "Month" option formerly did. "Month" now outputs only the month part of the date, which is handy, for example, in cross-tab reports where you want to show the date in the rows and the year in the columns to compare sales by month and year. Reports you created prior to version 4.1 using "Month" are automatically changed to use "Month/Year" so they work as they did before.
  • You can now configure how much memory Stonefield Query reserves for itself at startup. This is especially useful in Windows Terminal Server environments where multiple users run Stonefield Query on the same server at the same time.
  • The new built-in GoMonthDay function makes calculating dynamic dates, such as the first day of the previous month, much easier.
Charts
  • Multi-page charts are now supported. In the new Size/Paging page of the Chart Wizard, turn on Paging and set the number of points you want on each page.
  • Linking, such as drilldowns, from charts is now supported. The Properties dialog for the Category (X-axis) field has a Link page that works the same as other report types. This allows you, for example, to display a chart showing sales by salesperson and click a certain salesperson to drill down to a report showing individual sales for that salesperson. Linking even works in charts displayed in a dashboard. To support this feature, a different preview window is used for charts. It has the same features as the preview window used for other report types but cannot used tabbed pages showing other report types, only other charts.
  • Charts now use the Segoe UI font for text in Windows Vista or later because it looks better, especially when rotated.
Cross-Tab Reports
  • Cross-tab reports now support displaying the amount and/or percentage change between columns. The Display page of the Properties dialog for a data field has new "Show difference from previous column" and "Show percentage change" options. You can turn on one or both of these.
  • You can now specify whether cross-tab reports include row and column totals using new options in Step 5.
  • The Select only top option in a cross-tab report now applies to the totals for the first row field rather than the row field itself. For example, setting "Select only top" to 10 now displays the top 10 values rather than the top 10 alphabetically.
Other Features
  • Emailing now supports SSL/TSL for SMTP, which means you can now email using Gmail or Hotmail accounts or other SMTP servers that require SSL/TSL. Also, emailing using MAPI with Microsoft Outlook as your email program no longer displays the dreaded Outlook security dialog.
  • Certain characters that weren't allowed in the name of a report, such as a period, comma, question mark, slash, and so on, are now allowed. The only character you can't use is a backslash ("\").
  • Certain characters that weren't supported in the body or subject of an email, such as "&" or ">", are now allowed.
  • You no longer have to contact us if you have to activate the program on a different computer than it was originally activated on. Online activation will automatically activate this computer and deactivate the license on the other one.
  • Output to text, comma-separated (CSV), table, and XML files is now faster.
  • Exclusion conditions now work faster than before.
  • The Preview window now remembers the setting of the zoom option. If you run a report and change the zoom to 200%, the next time you preview a report, it'll be at 200%.
  • The Ask At Runtime filter and report progress dialogs now always appear on top of any other windows so they can't get lost behind something else if you click on a different window.
  • The Setup dialog has a new page (page 2) for contact information.
  • The activation process is now simpler. Clicking the Click here to activate the program now link in the Welcome dialog (displayed when you're running an unactivated version) now displays the License Manager dialog where you can add as many licenses as you need rather than bringing up a Registration dialog that only allows one license to be activated.
  • New templates are automatically imported when you run Stonefield Query.
  • The OnSelect script for a report can now access the report using the Report object. This is useful if, for example, you want to change the default filter for a report when it's selected.
  • You can now use the built-in RunSQL function in formulas.
  • It's easier to work with the Dynamics tab in the properties dialog for Pictures and Rectangles in the Advanced Report Designer. You no longer have to enter values in 960th's of a inch; instead, you can enter value in inches or centimeters, depending on how your system is configured.
  • File dialogs, such as those displayed when you output to file or export a report, now support Windows Vista and later features, such as search and recent places.
  • The ask-at-runtime filter dialog now appears on top of the report progress window so it doesn't get hidden behind other windows.
  • The new GetValueForParameter function is like the existing GetValueForField but allows you to specify the caption, data type, and size of the parameter being requested from the user.
  • The "Add Report to ACT! Menu" screen now includes an option to output to the Stonefield Query preview window.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Stonefield Query for HEAT 4.1

We are pleased to announce the immediate release of the Stonefield Query for HEAT version 4.1. There are lots of new and improved features in version 4.1.

New Features
  • You can now define dashboards using the new Dashboard Wizard. A dashboard is a set of chart reports that displays on your desktop in its own window. These charts automatically refresh at an interval you specify so you can always see the most current data.
  • Stonefield Query now supports Windows 7:
    • When you run a report, the taskbar button shows a moving green bar indicating something is happening.
    • You can now right-click a report and choose Pin to Taskbar to pin it to the taskbar; choosing that item in the taskbar launches Stonefield Query and previews that report (this obviously works best when Stonefield Query itself is pinned to the taskbar).
    • Stonefield Query report files, which have an SFX extension, now display a nice report icon in Windows Explorer. Double-clicking an SFX file launches Stonefield Query and previews that report.
  • You can now create a desktop shortcut for a report. Right-click any report in the Reports Explorer and choose Create Desktop Shortcut. This will create a shortcut on your desktop with the same name as the report. Double-clicking this shortcut previews the report without opening Stonefield Query, which is handy if you just want to run one report without having to find it in the Reports Explorer.
  • Usage statistics are now maintained for reports, and the new Usage Reporting function in the Tools menu allows you to report on these statistics. This allows you to determine which reports are actually being used, how often, and by whom.
  • A new type of display for date fields is now available in the Field Properties dialog: "Month/Year". This displays the month and year part of the date, which the "Month" option formerly did. "Month" now outputs only the month part of the date, which is handy, for example, in cross-tab reports where you want to show the date in the rows and the year in the columns to compare sales by month and year. Reports you created prior to version 4.1 using "Month" are automatically changed to use "Month/Year" so they work as they did before.
  • When you install a new version of Stonefield Query over an existing one, if there are any new or modified sample reports, a dialog appears telling you that and allowing you to select which of those to import. You can also choose the Check New or Updated Sample Reports function in the Tools menu.
  • You can now configure how much memory Stonefield Query reserves for itself at startup. This is especially useful in Windows Terminal Server environments where multiple users run Stonefield Query on the same server at the same time.
Charts
  • Multi-page charts are now supported. In the new Size/Paging page of the Chart Wizard, turn on Paging and set the number of points you want on each page.
  • Linking, such as drilldowns, from charts is now supported. The Properties dialog for the Category (X-axis) field has a Link page that works the same as other report types. This allows you, for example, to display a chart showing sales by salesperson and click a certain salesperson to drill down to a report showing individual sales for that salesperson. Linking even works in charts displayed in a dashboard. To support this feature, a different preview window is used for charts. It has the same features as the preview window used for other report types but cannot used tabbed pages showing other report types, only other charts.
  • Charts now use the Segoe UI font for text in Windows Vista or later because it looks better, especially when rotated.
Cross-Tab Reports
  • Cross-tab reports now support displaying the amount and/or percentage change between columns. The Display page of the Properties dialog for a data field has new "Show difference from previous column" and "Show percentage change" options. You can turn on one or both of these.
  • You can now specify whether cross-tab reports include row and column totals using new options in Step 5.
  • The Select only top option in a cross-tab report now applies to the totals for the first row field rather than the row field itself. For example, setting "Select only top" to 10 now displays the top 10 values rather than the top 10 alphabetically.
Other Features
  • Emailing now supports SSL/TSL for SMTP, which means you can now email using Gmail or Hotmail accounts or other SMTP servers that require SSL/TSL. Also, emailing using MAPI with Microsoft Outlook as your email program no longer displays the dreaded Outlook security dialog.
  • Certain characters that weren't allowed in the name of a report, such as a period, comma, question mark, slash, and so on, are now allowed. The only character you can't use is a backslash ("\").
  • Certain characters that weren't supported in the body or subject of an email, such as "&" or ">", are now allowed.
  • You no longer have to contact us if you have to activate the program on a different computer than it was originally activated on. Online activation will automatically activate this computer and deactivate the license on the other one.
  • There's better support for adding images stored in your database to reports.
  • Output to text, comma-separated (CSV), table, and XML files is now faster.
  • Exclusion conditions now work faster than before.
  • The Preview window now remembers the setting of the zoom option. If you run a report and change the zoom to 200%, the next time you preview a report, it'll be at 200%.
  • The Ask At Runtime filter and report progress dialogs now always appear on top of any other windows so they can't get lost behind something else if you click on a different window.
  • The Setup dialog has a new page (page 2) for contact information.
  • The activation process is now simpler. Clicking the Click here to activate the program now link in the Welcome dialog (displayed when you're running an unactivated version) now displays the License Manager dialog where you can add as many licenses as you need rather than bringing up a Registration dialog that only allows one license to be activated.
  • New templates are automatically imported when you run Stonefield Query.
  • The OnSelect script for a report can now access the report using the Report object. This is useful if, for example, you want to change the default filter for a report when it's selected.
  • You can now use the built-in RunSQL function in formulas.
  • It's easier to work with the Dynamics tab in the properties dialog for Pictures and Rectangles in the Advanced Report Designer. You no longer have to enter values in 960th's of a inch; instead, you can enter value in inches or centimeters, depending on how your system is configured.
  • File dialogs, such as those displayed when you output to file or export a report, now support Windows Vista and later features, such as search and recent places.
  • The ask-at-runtime filter dialog now appears on top of the report progress window so it doesn't get hidden behind other windows.
  • The new GetValueForParameter function is like the existing GetValueForField but allows you to specify the caption, data type, and size of the parameter being requested from the user.
  • You can now filter on the Source Database field. This allows a report to drill down based on a data source. For example, suppose you have a cross-tab report that retrieves data from multiple data sources and it has Source Database as the column field. Clicking a specific data source should drilldown and run a detail report for that data source only, so the linked report has a filter on Source Database.
  • The progress dialog that appears when running a report that retrieves data from multiple databases now shows the name of the database the data is currently being retrieved from and the number of records retrieved.

Stonefield Query for Sage Timberline Office 4.1

We are pleased to announce the immediate release of the Stonefield Query for Sage Timberline Office version 4.1. There are lots of new and improved features in version 4.1.

New Features
  • You can now define dashboards using the new Dashboard Wizard. A dashboard is a set of chart reports that displays on your desktop in its own window. These charts automatically refresh at an interval you specify so you can always see the most current data.
  • Stonefield Query now supports Windows 7:
    • When you run a report, the taskbar button shows a moving green bar indicating something is happening.
    • You can now right-click a report and choose Pin to Taskbar to pin it to the taskbar; choosing that item in the taskbar launches Stonefield Query and previews that report (this obviously works best when Stonefield Query itself is pinned to the taskbar).
    • Stonefield Query report files, which have an SFX extension, now display a nice report icon in Windows Explorer. Double-clicking an SFX file launches Stonefield Query and previews that report.
  • You can now create a desktop shortcut for a report. Right-click any report in the Reports Explorer and choose Create Desktop Shortcut. This will create a shortcut on your desktop with the same name as the report. Double-clicking this shortcut previews the report without opening Stonefield Query, which is handy if you just want to run one report without having to find it in the Reports Explorer.
  • Usage statistics are now maintained for reports, and the new Usage Reporting function in the Tools menu allows you to report on these statistics. This allows you to determine which reports are actually being used, how often, and by whom.
  • A new type of display for date fields is now available in the Field Properties dialog: "Month/Year". This displays the month and year part of the date, which the "Month" option formerly did. "Month" now outputs only the month part of the date, which is handy, for example, in cross-tab reports where you want to show the date in the rows and the year in the columns to compare sales by month and year. Reports you created prior to version 4.1 using "Month" are automatically changed to use "Month/Year" so they work as they did before.
  • When you install a new version of Stonefield Query over an existing one, if there are any new or modified sample reports, a dialog appears telling you that and allowing you to select which of those to import. You can also choose the Check New or Updated Sample Reports function in the Tools menu.
  • You can now configure how much memory Stonefield Query reserves for itself at startup. This is especially useful in Windows Terminal Server environments where multiple users run Stonefield Query on the same server at the same time.
Charts
  • Multi-page charts are now supported. In the new Size/Paging page of the Chart Wizard, turn on Paging and set the number of points you want on each page.
  • Linking, such as drilldowns, from charts is now supported. The Properties dialog for the Category (X-axis) field has a Link page that works the same as other report types. This allows you, for example, to display a chart showing sales by salesperson and click a certain salesperson to drill down to a report showing individual sales for that salesperson. Linking even works in charts displayed in a dashboard. To support this feature, a different preview window is used for charts. It has the same features as the preview window used for other report types but cannot used tabbed pages showing other report types, only other charts.
  • Charts now use the Segoe UI font for text in Windows Vista or later because it looks better, especially when rotated.
Cross-Tab Reports
  • Cross-tab reports now support displaying the amount and/or percentage change between columns. The Display page of the Properties dialog for a data field has new "Show difference from previous column" and "Show percentage change" options. You can turn on one or both of these.
  • You can now specify whether cross-tab reports include row and column totals using new options in Step 5.
  • The Select only top option in a cross-tab report now applies to the totals for the first row field rather than the row field itself. For example, setting "Select only top" to 10 now displays the top 10 values rather than the top 10 alphabetically.
Other Features
  • Emailing now supports SSL/TSL for SMTP, which means you can now email using Gmail or Hotmail accounts or other SMTP servers that require SSL/TSL. Also, emailing using MAPI with Microsoft Outlook as your email program no longer displays the dreaded Outlook security dialog.
  • Certain characters that weren't allowed in the name of a report, such as a period, comma, question mark, slash, and so on, are now allowed. The only character you can't use is a backslash ("\").
  • Certain characters that weren't supported in the body or subject of an email, such as "&" or ">", are now allowed.
  • You no longer have to contact us if you have to activate the program on a different computer than it was originally activated on. Online activation will automatically activate this computer and deactivate the license on the other one.
  • There's better support for adding images stored in your database to reports.
  • Output to text, comma-separated (CSV), table, and XML files is now faster.
  • Exclusion conditions now work faster than before.
  • The Preview window now remembers the setting of the zoom option. If you run a report and change the zoom to 200%, the next time you preview a report, it'll be at 200%.
  • The Ask At Runtime filter and report progress dialogs now always appear on top of any other windows so they can't get lost behind something else if you click on a different window.
  • The Setup dialog has a new page (page 2) for contact information.
  • The activation process is now simpler. Clicking the Click here to activate the program now link in the Welcome dialog (displayed when you're running an unactivated version) now displays the License Manager dialog where you can add as many licenses as you need rather than bringing up a Registration dialog that only allows one license to be activated.
  • New templates are automatically imported when you run Stonefield Query.
  • The OnSelect script for a report can now access the report using the Report object. This is useful if, for example, you want to change the default filter for a report when it's selected.
  • You can now use the built-in RunSQL function in formulas.
  • It's easier to work with the Dynamics tab in the properties dialog for Pictures and Rectangles in the Advanced Report Designer. You no longer have to enter values in 960th's of a inch; instead, you can enter value in inches or centimeters, depending on how your system is configured.
  • File dialogs, such as those displayed when you output to file or export a report, now support Windows Vista and later features, such as search and recent places.
  • The ask-at-runtime filter dialog now appears on top of the report progress window so it doesn't get hidden behind other windows.
  • The new GetValueForParameter function is like the existing GetValueForField but allows you to specify the caption, data type, and size of the parameter being requested from the user.
  • You can now filter on the Source Database field. This allows a report to drill down based on a data source. For example, suppose you have a cross-tab report that retrieves data from multiple data sources and it has Source Database as the column field. Clicking a specific data source should drilldown and run a detail report for that data source only, so the linked report has a filter on Source Database.
  • The progress dialog that appears when running a report that retrieves data from multiple databases now shows the name of the database the data is currently being retrieved from and the number of records retrieved.

Stonefield Query for AccountMate 4.1

We are pleased to announce the immediate release of the Stonefield Query for AccountMate version 4.1. This release includes both Stonefield Query for AccountMate SQL and Stonefield Query for AccountMate LAN. There are lots of new and improved features in version 4.1.

New Features
  • You can now define dashboards using the new Dashboard Wizard. A dashboard is a set of chart reports that displays on your desktop in its own window. These charts automatically refresh at an interval you specify so you can always see the most current data.
  • Stonefield Query now supports Windows 7:
    • When you run a report, the taskbar button shows a moving green bar indicating something is happening.
    • You can now right-click a report and choose Pin to Taskbar to pin it to the taskbar; choosing that item in the taskbar launches Stonefield Query and previews that report (this obviously works best when Stonefield Query itself is pinned to the taskbar).
    • Stonefield Query report files, which have an SFX extension, now display a nice report icon in Windows Explorer. Double-clicking an SFX file launches Stonefield Query and previews that report.
  • You can now create a desktop shortcut for a report. Right-click any report in the Reports Explorer and choose Create Desktop Shortcut. This will create a shortcut on your desktop with the same name as the report. Double-clicking this shortcut previews the report without opening Stonefield Query, which is handy if you just want to run one report without having to find it in the Reports Explorer.
  • Usage statistics are now maintained for reports, and the new Usage Reporting function in the Tools menu allows you to report on these statistics. This allows you to determine which reports are actually being used, how often, and by whom.
  • A new type of display for date fields is now available in the Field Properties dialog: "Month/Year". This displays the month and year part of the date, which the "Month" option formerly did. "Month" now outputs only the month part of the date, which is handy, for example, in cross-tab reports where you want to show the date in the rows and the year in the columns to compare sales by month and year. Reports you created prior to version 4.1 using "Month" are automatically changed to use "Month/Year" so they work as they did before.
  • When you install a new version of Stonefield Query over an existing one, if there are any new or modified sample reports, a dialog appears telling you that and allowing you to select which of those to import. You can also choose the Check New or Updated Sample Reports function in the Tools menu.
  • You can now configure how much memory Stonefield Query reserves for itself at startup. This is especially useful in Windows Terminal Server environments where multiple users run Stonefield Query on the same server at the same time.
Charts
  • Multi-page charts are now supported. In the new Size/Paging page of the Chart Wizard, turn on Paging and set the number of points you want on each page.
  • Linking, such as drilldowns, from charts is now supported. The Properties dialog for the Category (X-axis) field has a Link page that works the same as other report types. This allows you, for example, to display a chart showing sales by salesperson and click a certain salesperson to drill down to a report showing individual sales for that salesperson. Linking even works in charts displayed in a dashboard. To support this feature, a different preview window is used for charts. It has the same features as the preview window used for other report types but cannot used tabbed pages showing other report types, only other charts.
  • Charts now use the Segoe UI font for text in Windows Vista or later because it looks better, especially when rotated.
Cross-Tab Reports
  • Cross-tab reports now support displaying the amount and/or percentage change between columns. The Display page of the Properties dialog for a data field has new "Show difference from previous column" and "Show percentage change" options. You can turn on one or both of these.
  • You can now specify whether cross-tab reports include row and column totals using new options in Step 5.
  • The Select only top option in a cross-tab report now applies to the totals for the first row field rather than the row field itself. For example, setting "Select only top" to 10 now displays the top 10 values rather than the top 10 alphabetically.
Other Features
  • Emailing now supports SSL/TSL for SMTP, which means you can now email using Gmail or Hotmail accounts or other SMTP servers that require SSL/TSL. Also, emailing using MAPI with Microsoft Outlook as your email program no longer displays the dreaded Outlook security dialog.
  • Certain characters that weren't allowed in the name of a report, such as a period, comma, question mark, slash, and so on, are now allowed. The only character you can't use is a backslash ("\").
  • Certain characters that weren't supported in the body or subject of an email, such as "&" or ">", are now allowed.
  • You no longer have to contact us if you have to activate the program on a different computer than it was originally activated on. Online activation will automatically activate this computer and deactivate the license on the other one.
  • There's better support for adding images stored in your database to reports.
  • Output to text, comma-separated (CSV), table, and XML files is now faster.
  • Exclusion conditions now work faster than before.
  • The Preview window now remembers the setting of the zoom option. If you run a report and change the zoom to 200%, the next time you preview a report, it'll be at 200%.
  • The Ask At Runtime filter and report progress dialogs now always appear on top of any other windows so they can't get lost behind something else if you click on a different window.
  • The Setup dialog has a new page (page 2) for contact information.
  • The activation process is now simpler. Clicking the Click here to activate the program now link in the Welcome dialog (displayed when you're running an unactivated version) now displays the License Manager dialog where you can add as many licenses as you need rather than bringing up a Registration dialog that only allows one license to be activated.
  • New templates are automatically imported when you run Stonefield Query.
  • The OnSelect script for a report can now access the report using the Report object. This is useful if, for example, you want to change the default filter for a report when it's selected.
  • You can now use the built-in RunSQL function in formulas.
  • It's easier to work with the Dynamics tab in the properties dialog for Pictures and Rectangles in the Advanced Report Designer. You no longer have to enter values in 960th's of a inch; instead, you can enter value in inches or centimeters, depending on how your system is configured.
  • File dialogs, such as those displayed when you output to file or export a report, now support Windows Vista and later features, such as search and recent places.
  • The ask-at-runtime filter dialog now appears on top of the report progress window so it doesn't get hidden behind other windows.
  • The new GetValueForParameter function is like the existing GetValueForField but allows you to specify the caption, data type, and size of the parameter being requested from the user.
  • You can now filter on the Source Database field. This allows a report to drill down based on a data source. For example, suppose you have a cross-tab report that retrieves data from multiple data sources and it has Source Database as the column field. Clicking a specific data source should drilldown and run a detail report for that data source only, so the linked report has a filter on Source Database.
  • The progress dialog that appears when running a report that retrieves data from multiple databases now shows the name of the database the data is currently being retrieved from and the number of records retrieved.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Stonefield Query for Sage Accpac ERP 4.1 Released

We are pleased to announce the immediate release of Stonefield Query for Sage Accpac ERP version 4.1. There are lots of new and improved features in version 4.1.

New Features
  • You can now define dashboards using the new Dashboard Wizard. A dashboard is a set of chart reports that displays on your desktop in its own window. These charts automatically refresh at an interval you specify so you can always see the most current data.
  • Sage Accpac ERP 6.0 is now supported.
  • The US Payroll Check Details and Canadian Payroll Cheque Details tables have new user-definable calculated fields that contain the amounts for certain earning and deduction types. For example, the Earnings Gross field contains the gross earnings amount and the Pension Employer field contains the employer portion of the pension deduction. These fields make creating payroll reports much easier, especially summary reports showing employee total amounts by deduction type. You can define the fields you want to use in the Options dialog.
  • The AR Documents table has a new Starting Balance field that shows the starting balance for the fiscal period the record is in.
  • Stonefield Query now supports Windows 7:
    • When you run a report, the taskbar button shows a moving green bar indicating something is happening.
    • You can now right-click a report and choose Pin to Taskbar to pin it to the taskbar; choosing that item in the taskbar launches Stonefield Query and previews that report (this obviously works best when Stonefield Query itself is pinned to the taskbar).
    • Stonefield Query report files, which have an SFX extension, now display a nice report icon in Windows Explorer. Double-clicking an SFX file launches Stonefield Query and previews that report.
  • You can now create a desktop shortcut for a report. Right-click any report in the Reports Explorer and choose Create Desktop Shortcut. This will create a shortcut on your desktop with the same name as the report. Double-clicking this shortcut previews the report without opening Stonefield Query, which is handy if you just want to run one report without having to find it in the Reports Explorer.
  • Usage statistics are now maintained for reports, and the new Usage Reporting function in the Tools menu allows you to report on these statistics. This allows you to determine which reports are actually being used, how often, and by whom.
  • A new type of display for date fields is now available in the Field Properties dialog: "Month/Year". This displays the month and year part of the date, which the "Month" option formerly did. "Month" now outputs only the month part of the date, which is handy, for example, in cross-tab reports where you want to show the date in the rows and the year in the columns to compare sales by month and year. Reports you created prior to version 4.1 using "Month" are automatically changed to use "Month/Year" so they work as they did before.
  • When you install a new version of Stonefield Query over an existing one, if there are any new or modified sample reports, a dialog appears telling you that and allowing you to select which of those to import. You can also choose the Check New or Updated Sample Reports function in the Tools menu.
  • You can now configure how much memory Stonefield Query reserves for itself at startup. This is especially useful in Windows Terminal Server environments where multiple users run Stonefield Query on the same server at the same time.
Charts
  • Multi-page charts are now supported. In the new Size/Paging page of the Chart Wizard, turn on Paging and set the number of points you want on each page.
  • Linking, such as drilldowns, from charts is now supported. The Properties dialog for the Category (X-axis) field has a Link page that works the same as other report types. This allows you, for example, to display a chart showing sales by salesperson and click a certain salesperson to drill down to a report showing individual sales for that salesperson. Linking even works in charts displayed in a dashboard. To support this feature, a different preview window is used for charts. It has the same features as the preview window used for other report types but cannot used tabbed pages showing other report types, only other charts.
  • Charts now use the Segoe UI font for text in Windows Vista or later because it looks better, especially when rotated.
Cross-Tab Reports
  • Cross-tab reports now support displaying the amount and/or percentage change between columns. The Display page of the Properties dialog for a data field has new "Show difference from previous column" and "Show percentage change" options. You can turn on one or both of these.
  • You can now specify whether cross-tab reports include row and column totals using new options in Step 5.
  • The Select only top option in a cross-tab report now applies to the totals for the first row field rather than the row field itself. For example, setting "Select only top" to 10 now displays the top 10 values rather than the top 10 alphabetically.
Other Features
  • Emailing now supports SSL/TSL for SMTP, which means you can now email using Gmail or Hotmail accounts or other SMTP servers that require SSL/TSL. Also, emailing using MAPI with Microsoft Outlook as your email program no longer displays the dreaded Outlook security dialog.
  • Certain characters that weren't allowed in the name of a report, such as a period, comma, question mark, slash, and so on, are now allowed. The only character you can't use is a backslash ("\").
  • Certain characters that weren't supported in the body or subject of an email, such as "&" or ">", are now allowed.
  • You no longer have to contact us if you have to activate the program on a different computer than it was originally activated on. Online activation will automatically activate this computer and deactivate the license on the other one.
  • There's better support for adding images stored in your database to reports.
  • Output to text, comma-separated (CSV), table, and XML files is now faster.
  • Exclusion conditions now work faster than before.
  • The Preview window now remembers the setting of the zoom option. If you run a report and change the zoom to 200%, the next time you preview a report, it'll be at 200%.
  • The Ask At Runtime filter and report progress dialogs now always appear on top of any other windows so they can't get lost behind something else if you click on a different window.
  • The Setup dialog has a new page (page 2) for contact information.
  • The activation process is now simpler. Clicking the Click here to activate the program now link in the Welcome dialog (displayed when you're running an unactivated version) now displays the License Manager dialog where you can add as many licenses as you need rather than bringing up a Registration dialog that only allows one license to be activated.
  • New templates are automatically imported when you run Stonefield Query.
  • The OnSelect script for a report can now access the report using the Report object. This is useful if, for example, you want to change the default filter for a report when it's selected.
  • You can now use the built-in RunSQL function in formulas.
  • It's easier to work with the Dynamics tab in the properties dialog for Pictures and Rectangles in the Advanced Report Designer. You no longer have to enter values in 960th's of a inch; instead, you can enter value in inches or centimeters, depending on how your system is configured.
  • File dialogs, such as those displayed when you output to file or export a report, now support Windows Vista and later features, such as search and recent places.
  • The ask-at-runtime filter dialog now appears on top of the report progress window so it doesn't get hidden behind other windows.
  • The new GetValueForParameter function is like the existing GetValueForField but allows you to specify the caption, data type, and size of the parameter being requested from the user.
  • You can now filter on the Source Database field. This allows a report to drill down based on a data source. For example, suppose you have a cross-tab report that retrieves data from multiple data sources and it has Source Database as the column field. Clicking a specific data source should drilldown and run a detail report for that data source only, so the linked report has a filter on Source Database.
  • The progress dialog that appears when running a report that retrieves data from multiple databases now shows the name of the database the data is currently being retrieved from and the number of records retrieved.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Stonefield Query SDK Version 4.1.4063 Released

We released version 4.1.4063 of the Stonefield Query SDK today. This is mainly a maintenance release (see Release History.txt for details after installing) but does have one new feature: you can now replace Report.ICO in the Stonefield Query program folder to use your own icon for desktop shortcuts to Stonefield Query reports.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Stonefield Query for Sage BusinessVision Version 4.0

We are pleased to announce the immediate release of Stonefield Query for Sage BusinessVision version 4.0. In addition to all the new and improved features listed below, version 4.0 includes support for the new version 7.4 (2010) of Sage BusinessVision.

We have a video covering some of the new features in the Report Designer.

Report Wizards
  • You can now customize the relationships between tables in a report without having to edit the SQL statement for the report.
  • You can now turn on the Show percentage of total option when you use the Count and Count Distinct summary types in Quick and Cross-Tab reports.
  • You can now use the Highest and Lowest summary types on all fields, not just numeric ones.
  • You can now create a filter condition that compares a field in one table to a field in another table by using an expression condition.
  • Creating a formula by clicking the Formula button in Step 2 of the report wizards now automatically adds the new formula to the report.
  • The list displayed when you click the Values button in Step 2 of the report wizards or the Expression Builder now displays two columns of information for certain fields: the value displayed in reports and the actual value stored in the database.
  • If Stonefield Query closed due to a problem and you were in the middle of editing a report in a report wizard, the next time you start the program, it prompts if you want to recover and continue editing that report. Choosing No abandons the recovered report so the changes are lost.
  • You now have finer control over the placement of a report's filter in a custom SQL statement.
Quick Reports
  • You can now group on a field even if the Display this field in the report option is turned off. This is useful, for example, if you want to group on customer ID but display customer name in the group header.
  • You can now create bookmarks on fields that are included in the group header of another field.
  • You now get a warning in the Field Properties dialog if you turn on the Include this field in group header for option and select a grouped field in a different table than the current field.
Charts
  • New options in the Chart Wizard allow you to stack series in area, bar, and column charts and combine smaller slices into one "other" slice in pie charts.
  • You can now specify whether a chart added to a quick or cross-tab report appears at the top or bottom of the report using the new Position on report option.
  • The Total type option in the Field Properties dialog for the Chart Wizard has a new Count Distinct setting.
  • The Summary report option in Step 4 of the Chart Wizard has been removed. Instead, set Total type in the Field Properties dialog to None, meaning you want individual values plotted rather than summarized values.
  • The Multi-line option in the Labels page of Step 4 in the Chart Wizard is no longer available for Windows XP since that option is only supported in Windows Vista and later versions.
  • You now receive a warning if you create a quick or cross-tab report, add a chart to it, then remove one or more of the fields used in the chart.
  • Outputting a chart report to an image (such as GIF) now outputs just the chart, not an entire page with the template.
Cross-Tab Reports
  • You can now specify how a date field used in the row of a cross-tab report is formatted: as a date, hour, week, month, quarter, or year.
  • You can now specify the width and what to do if the width is too narrow in row and data fields in the Cross Tab Wizard.
  • The Field Properties dialog now has a Suppress repeating values option for row fields. If this option is turned on (which it is by default) and several records in a row have the same value in this field, only the first occurrence is printed; the field in subsequent records appears blank.
  • A new _TOTAL value is True only for the grand totals line in a cross-tab report, so you can use that in, for example, the Print When expression of an object in a template to output that object only for the totals line. Similarly, _SUBTOTAL can be used to output an object only in a subtotals line.
Preview and Output
  • A new file output type is available: Microsoft Excel PivotTable. This type, which is only available for cross-tab reports, creates an Excel PivotTable formatted the same as the cross-tab report, but you can use Excel to change or pivot the report as necessary.
  • You can now output cross-tabulation and advanced layout reports to more file types, including Microsoft Excel data-only and delimited.
  • The Embed fonts in the file option on the Output page allows you to embed the fonts used in the report, such as a barcode font, in a PDF file.
  • The Preview window now supports the same types of output types as the Output page of the Reports Explorer.
  • When you run a report, the Reports Explorer and any open report wizard windows become dim and a progress window appears, showing you the progress of the report process and allowing you to cancel the process before it finishes. You can turn this off if you wish by turning off the Display progress during report runs setting in the Options dialog.
  • You can now configure Stonefield Query to retrieve records from the database in batches (also known as asynchronously). This gives you the ability to stop a long-running report while records are retrieved rather than having to wait a long time for retrieval to be complete.
Advanced Report Designer
  • Several of the object property dialogs in the Advanced Report Designer have some changes. The Rotation option no longer appears on the General page but on its own Rotation page because it now shows a sample of how the rotation will look. The properties dialogs for field, picture, rectangle, and line objects have a new Dynamics page that allows you to conditionally alter the appearance of the object. Because the conditions on the Dynamics page are more flexible than dynamic font and color settings, those two items have been removed from the Style page for field objects.
  • You can now use gradient colors for rectangles in the Advanced Report Designer, both for reports and templates. A couple of new sample templates, Gradient Template and Valencia Orange, show how these can be used to produce nice, professional effects in your reports.
  • If you use Windows Vista or later, you can now change the printer used for an advanced layout report in the Page Layout page of the Report Properties dialog (this option was previously and is still available for Windows XP and earlier).
Other Features
  • Stonefield Query for Sage BusinessVision now supports BusinessVision version 2010 (7.4).
  • You can now use fields from tables involved in the report for exclusion conditions. This means you can create a report that, for example, shows all customer who bought something last year (using a filter condition of sales date is between January 1 and December 31 of last year) but didn't this year (using an exclude condition of sales date is between January 1 and December 31 of this year).
  • The performance of certain types of formulas was improved.
  • The Formulas dialog now has a Copy function to make it easier to create a formula similar to an existing one.
  • The Formula Editor now has a Data group option so you can select the data group the tables in the Tables list are from.
  • The default name when you copy a report is now the existing report name with a "1" suffix; in previous versions, the default name was blank.
  • The login dialog now has a link to the Setup dialog. This is useful if you need to change something about the Stonefield Query setup before logging in.
  • You cannot schedule reports if you are running Stonefield Query on Windows Terminal Server or Citrix since those environments don't permit it.
  • The version number now displays in the Reports Explorer title bar so you can quickly see which version you are running.
  • You can now specify carbon copy (CC) addresses when sending emails.
  • If you're using Microsoft Outlook or some other MAPI email program, you can now enter the name of a distribution list in the To, CC, and BCC options to send the email to a group of people.
  • Importing several reports that use formulas at one time is now significantly faster than before.
  • Specifying "ALLOWDIALOGS" when running Stonefield Query from another application or the command line now causes a progress dialog to display as the report runs.
  • Diagnostic logging is now always performed. A file called Diagnostic.TXT is created in the Data subdirectory of the program folder and is overwritten every time you start Stonefield Query. This file is very useful for tracking down errors or performance issues, and previously was only created if a file named Log.TXT existed.
  • Stonefield Query now displays a message that it's retrieving news items while it does that task so you can see what's going on.