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'The Electronic
Newsletter For Users
Volume VIII #12 |
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SAFE 8: Modifying Reports
With The Report Object Editor!
There are a
number of new ways to modify reports on the fly using the new Report Object
Editor or 'ROE' (Everything needs an acronym these days.) This lets each SAFE
operator modify the look of each report quite dramatically. In previous versions
of SAFE, many of these changes would have required our Forms Design Service, but
no longer. So it's worth studying the ROE not only for it's flexibility, but
also to save some real money!
You
activate the ROE in the Advanced tab of the Print Options Window as you see at
left and then proceeding to Print.
Instead
of the report immediately printing, the ROE then opens. You'll see a typical
Simple Accounting browse box with one line item for each object on the report
(things that print.) Figuring out what the vast majority of these do should be
pretty easy to figure out.
The simplest, and perhaps most useful, thing you can do with an object is to hide it. You do so by double clicking on the Hidden column.
There are then several columns which control the look of each object. Double click on the Color, Font, Style or Size columns to bring up a Windows Font Selector box. For example, this would let you change a column to print in red or perhaps in bold type.
Geting 'Er Done
Now, if you want to make wholesale changes to a number of objects you do not
need to tediously click on each object individually. That's what the Tag
Column at left is for. Double click on each object you want to affect in a
particular way, then click and edit the column once. The change you make will be
applied to all tagged objects.
Tips
There are a few tips to make this process even faster.
Remember: You can use the super-cool new Invert Tag function of the Tag
All button to tag everything that isn't tagged and untag everything that is
tagged.
If a column has no Color or Size or Font Name, it will print with the defaults for the report.
If you get too <ahem> artistic, you can always right click to Restore Defaults (just in case that script font doesn't look as good as you thought on the Balance Sheet.)
If you create a masterpiece that should become the standard for all users, you can right click on Copy To All Users (you must have this function enabled in your Security Template).
But Wait, There's More!
For you advanced techno-pros, there's
even more we can do with the ROE, including:
Rule-based objects (eg. 'Print the line item in red, but only if the customer's balance is past due'.)
Object positioning (change the location of objects on the page---maybe you'd like to change the order of columns for example!)
...but this is enough to get you started. Have a play and we'll get to these other functions next time.
Til Then!
Important Windows
Services You May Not Be Aware Of!
We tend to think
of 'Windows' as simply 'Windows' or 'Office'. But Microsoft has been quietly
(intentionally or not) rolling out more and more products and services that are
apparently designed to make Microsoft your one-stop software shop. Which is
another way of saying that Microsoft is creating their own versions of utilities
that were traditionally handled by third parties. Microsoft argues that these
'services' are slowly but surely being drawn into the core OS. However unlike
past efforts by Microsoft to 'embrace' other programs into Windows, these new
offerings are largely not free of charge.
Nevertheless, these new programs are very useful and fairly close to being best of breed apps. For many of you they may indeed be easier to obtain and manage than dealing with many obscure vendors. Caveat: Microsoft likes to tout their long-term commitment to their products as an advantage over smaller vendors who could be out of business next year. Let us point out that over the years M/S has had no problem cancelling any program that didn't attain critical mass. So such claims need to be taken with a grain of salt.
Virtual Server 2005 (Free with Windows Server---but not Small Business Server) This is a very useful program that can save your company a lot of money if you have more than one server. Basically, it does what it sounds like---converts a single physical server into multiple 'virtual' servers. A virtual server boots and looks and feels just like any server, but you can have many running on the same machine at the same time. Each instance is completely independent so none can bring down the entire computer. Further each instance can run different operating systems! So one instance could be running Linux while others could be running Windows Server.
Performance is far better than you might first imagine. The fact is that the newer CPUs (especially dual-core) are usually quite under-utilised. You can typically run two or three virtual servers for Ollie or WebSAFE with no apparent degradation in performance.
And that brings us to the application that seems tailor-made for Virtual Server: web servers. Web servers typically have fairly low CPU requirements, but traditionally you'd often set up individual machines for each main site. But with Virtual Server 2005, you can have the equivalent of three or four web servers running on the same machine; for free!
Windows Defender http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx Currently this is free in Beta2, but eventually M/S has indicated they will charge for it. This has been shown to be a quite capable anti-spyware program. Not the greatest, but adequate. Most people are using it now because it's free, but it will likely remain an OK choice even after it costs money simply because it's convenient.
Windows OneCare www.windowsonecare.com ($49.95/year for 3 PCs). This is M/S attempt at a one-stop PC maintenance solution (..er... except for anti-spyware which we consider to be the most pressing problem for most users!) It consists of
All these utilities are pretty good. Each addresses the main beef reviewers have with the 'free' versions included in Windows: The firewall monitors outbound as well as inbound traffic; the backup program actually works; and the defragger can handle the main types of files that the Windows defragger simply ignores. The pricing is typical for competitors like ZoneAlarm, TrendMicro, Norton and McAfee.
Shared Computer Toolkit (free!) This is actually a very useful program included on your Windows CD. It allows you to set up your computer in a secure fashion for use by multiple users. This is quite different from simply creating different Windows Logins. What it does is make each user into a virtual user. After each user logs in, it appears that the entire PC is just for them. They can't see (or change) anyone else's files or settings; it truly is their PC. The magic is done with hidden files which store an image of each person's virtual PC so you need plenty of empty disk space, but since hard drives are so cheap nowadays, that's probably not a big concern for most of you. The toolkit takes some time to install and configure but except for determined 'hackers' it does provide a way to share your computer and feel quite secure that your information will remain private.
Vista Imaging Services (included in the Vista Beta 2 release). This is a program that allows your administrator to create the perfect Windows installation on a desktop and then create an 'image' that can then be copied to other user PCs so that they have exactly the same installation. This makes installing Windows a no-brainer and makes certain that each user has exactly the same configuration (security, desktop, shares, etc.) The great thing about Imaging Services in Vista is that you can create that image on one PC and then copy it to another PC even if it's a different make or model (In the past, companies could only perform this trick if each PC was exactly the same brand.)
Til Next Time!
Ciaran's
Corner: Q/A Calculate Usage: Thorough vs. Quick!
Q: How is the
Thorough option different from the Quick option in Calculate Usage?
A: A bit of history: When we created SAFE/6 we changed the inventory
control to provide complete Lot Control. That was a big problem for some
customers who had, over the years, not exactly been rigorous in setting up
Linked Sites and Default Shipping Addresses and so on. Many of you complained
that you were simply too busy to do all that 'setting up defaults' and would
never need any of that fancy inventory stuff. So we made SAFE/6 very
forgiving--we didn't require users to do things like make sure products were
linked to Sites and so on. And life was good for those who didn't use inventory.
That is, until the customer decided they wanted inventory control. Then
another type of complaint would come in, 'Our inventory doesn't work!' (Moral of
the story: NEVER 'suggest' customers do something. Either force them to do it,
or don't require it at all!)
So in SAFE/7 we introduced the Thorough and Quick modes of Calculate Usage which we dubbed internally 'Bad Boys' and 'Good Girls'. Thorough was for 'bad boys' who hadn't properly set up their Products, Customer and Vendors according to our recommendations. Quick was for 'good girls' who had done the necessary preparations. Thorough would rigorously check each product to make certain that all the defaults are set up and, if it can, fixes anything it can. Quick, on the other hand, assumes that all setup for the Product is correct. Since it doesn't have to do all that checking, it can operate much faster.
We recommend all
customers run Quick for a few reasons unless advised otherwise:
1. It is much faster.
2. It is far less server intensive. Thorough is a real CPU/Disk hog and can slow
other users' performance significantly!
The Exception That Proves The Rule...
If you change the Ownership or Usage Calculation Method for a Product
you may want to use the Thorough Mode. In Quick Mode, Calculate Usage
ignores any product that does not have a Usage Calculation Method or Owned By
value which requires inventory control (N/A for example). So if you change
either of these fields in the Product Master and then run Calculate Usage in
Quick Mode you may see that the totals are not properly re-set to zero.
Conversely, if you accidentally change either of these fields to 'N/A' and then
change them back to what they are supposed to be, you may not get the
original results unless you use Thorough Mode. (Note this is not guaranteed to
work---changing the Ownership to de-activate inventory control for a product is
not designed to be 'undoable'. But it's worth a shot!)
Til Next Time!
Ciarān Marron
Technical Support Manager
cm@suntowersystems.com
End of E-News From The Suntower, Volume VIII #12
