Translate

Friday, August 28, 2009

Version 1.1.3 Released!

Changes to Literature Room Organizer include:

  • New Feature: Duplicate order check. This will check the previous orders (up to 12 months ago, based on your settings) and will warn on duplicate orders. Current LRO users will need to turn this on under Settings.
  • New Feature: Notes on orders. You can add a note on an order if needed.
  • Added: You can now edit orders on the Publisher Search screen (the one you see when looking up a specific publisher's orders)
  • Added: Any order highlighted in yellow now appears in yellow on reports as well.
  • Fixed: Pre-order allowed exiting when incomplete. It will now warn if you forgot to complete an entry and try to exit.
  • Fixed: Literature List allowed exiting when incomplete. It will now warn if you forgot to complete an entry and try to exit.
  • Fixed: Automatic backup to a removable drive that had no media entered did NOT give an error. Now it does.
  • Fixed: Backup settings did not carry over after an upgrade or restoration. Now they do.
  • Fixed: Changing a publisher's name will now update all of their orders to reflect their new name.
  • Fixed: Clearer error message if you remove the Date Placed data when editing an order.
  • Fixed: Quantity allowed less than 0 values on the Unordered Items screen when editing.

Alrighty all...this is the last major update.  I'm officially out of ideas for improvement, and so all further releases will be bug fixes or minor adjustments.  I still want to recreate the S-14 & S-28 form, but I don't think that will happen until 2010.  It is going to take a LOT of work, and I don't want to put forth the effort only to have it used for a few months.

So...relax a bit...I know I will.  It may be a while for the next LRO release (this time I'm serious! lol) unless bugs are discovered, or someone sends me another cool idea.   Now that LRO's changes (cosmetically & functionally) have reached their peak, it's time to write a user guide.  I'll bet several of you will appreciate this...and will learn things you didn't know LRO could do...or better ways of using it.

Till next time. ;-)

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Support Site down

Howdy all!

I don't know what happened to my support site...but it disappeared!  No sign of it at all...and what's worse...there is absolutely NO WAY I can get in touch with any of the support personnel at the phpbb3now.com site.  So...no more support forum.

Considering I only have a small audience at the moment, I'm not gonna sweat over finding a new one.  Mr. El Cheapo here doesn't want to pay for a nice ad-free one...at least not until I get a larger audience.

So...I've included my contact information in the menu to the right (literatureroomorganizer@gmail.com).  And if you would like to have a discussion about a release or any of my blogs here...feel free to leave a comment!  You do NOT have to sign up to leave a comment...it can be totally anonymous or you can enter your name (or whatever).  I think this will be sufficient until I get more LRO users.

Sorry for any inconveniences.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Version 1.1.2 Released!

Changes to Literature Room Organizer include:

  • New Screen: Other Tools
  • New Feature: Blank Forms...printable forms that are blank and can be used at the hall to take down orders and then later easily transfer into LRO.
  • New Feature: Manual & Automatic Backups. It is recommended (but not proven to be an issue) that you backup the LRO's .MDB file manually instead of using these tools...however these tools are now available for those who don't know how to do that.
  • New Feature: Download New Items, on the Literature Items List screen. This will allow you to download the latest Literature Items to be added to the system.
  • New Feature: Rapid Ordering...after placing an order, the order information is retained for the next order.
  • Changed: When placing an order, Quantity will automatically have "1" filled out for you.
  • Fixed: New Congregations will now get the Inventory Management settings properly.
  • Fixed: Types of Items that have NO ACTIVE items assigned to them will not be available to choose from when placing an order.
  • Fixed: If "Item Number" is shown on the Order Form screen...it could be cleared and the order could be submitted without the number.
  • Several cosmetic changes.

Howdy all!  This time...the cosmetic changes are a little more significant.  I am not the best at choosing colors...or making things pretty.  And so I sought the advice of a co-worker, and the ASP.Net instructor of the training class I went to last week.  They both agreed that I should settle on a color scheme and stick to it, and they liked the one I chose.  I'm sure you all will too, just give it a little time.  It looks much more professional...if I hadn't changed it, eventually LRO's Main Menu would look like a rainbow. ;-) Everything is in the same place though...except for Inventory Management.  I moved it to the other side.

New literature items have been added to LRO!  And a new update feature...the button "Download New Items" on the Literature Items List screen can be used to download new literature items as I make them available.  No need to have a full LRO update to get them (although you can easily add new items yourself if needed).

Last but not least, an issue was fixed with the Inventory Management & IM Automation settings.  If you added a new congregation...it might have missed receiving these settings.  To fix this (and ensure any new congregations you add in the future receive the settings), all current LRO users should turn Inventory Management off and then back on (if you're using it of course). Turning IM on and off does NOT affect your data.  All it does is hide/unhide IM.

More to come in the next release!  But I think I'm gonna take a week off. ;-)

Friday, August 14, 2009

Version 1.1.1 Released!

Changes to Literature Room Organizer include:

  • New Feature: The ability to EDIT orders that have been placed. You can edit orders ONLY on the Unordered Items screen.  Note the button in the bottom-right corner entitled "Allow Editing".  I designed it like this to prevent accidentally changing an order's information.
  • Fixed: Access 2007 ribbon is shown when viewing a report (for Access 2007 users only, of course).
  • Fixed: Behavior of orders whose literature items were marked "Inactive". If "inactive", an order cannot continue to be processed (ordered, received, or delivered).
  • Fixed: Reports used to ALWAYS take up 2 lines per entry, whether needed or not. Now reports will use 1 line, and only use more IF NEEDED. It can take up more than 2 lines too, if it is needed. This will save space, and allow for orders with large names (be it publisher name, literature name, etc) will always have enough space to show everything.
  • Removed: Original Quantity feature. Deemed not useful.
  • Several cosmetic changes and fixes.
  • Several additional validation rules to ensure data is entered properly (won't affect existing data).

And still on the To-Do list is:

  • Literature Updates (so you can update your available literature items without updating the entire LRO program).  NOTE: You can add/change/delete literature items at any time using the "Literature Modification" screen.
  • Attach Notes to orders.
  • Regular automatic backups
  • Manual backups
  • Printable forms (for those who only use LRO at home, these forms can be used to take down orders at the Hall)
  • Reminders
  • Recreate S-14 & S-28 forms.

I may be renaming some of the things on the Main Menu for the next update.  It won't be a MAJOR facelift, but do pay attention to the Main Menu in the next update and watch for any changes (which I will mention here of course).

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Support Forum is moving & got a poll for everyone!

A reminder to those who heard, and an FYI to those who haven't:

LRO's support forum is MOVING to an ad-free forum.  Although I had a lot of power with the forum at freeforums.org, some of the advertisements were objectionable.  And since I'm unwilling to pay $5 a month, they could not be removed.  The support forum at freeforums.org will be CLOSED this-coming Friday.

The link to the support forum on this blog page has been updated with the new forum, which will be at: http://literatureorganizer.noadforums.net/ I've lost a lot of functionality moving to this one, and it isn't as pretty...but I'm stingy with money and so I'll stick with the free stuff. ;-)

I've started a poll at the new forum regarding a feature in LRO.  I'm updating LRO with the ability to edit an order you submitted (only on the Unordered Items screen) and I'm thinking about removing the Original Order feature.  Check out the poll for details & please vote.

http://literatureorganizer.noadforums.net/viewtopic.php?f=4&p=3#p3

Friday, August 7, 2009

Version 1.1.0 Released!

Changes to Literature Room Organizer include:

  • New Feature: The ability to have LRO automatically resize to fit your computer's screen resolution!!! Current LRO users must turn this on under Settings for your congregation. New users to LRO will have this on by default.
  • Added: Progress bar when closing LRO (just to show you it's actually doing something, rather than hanging). Also progress bar when importing data after an upgrade.
  • Added: Restrictions that prevent the use of certain symbols when entering Congregation, Publisher, Item Names, & Item Symbols. This restriction will ensure no one enters something that could cause issues with code. Item Name & Item Symbols are more lenient, but none of these can accept the following symbols: ~`#$%^*+={}\|;/<>
  • Added: Custom toolbar when viewing reports.
  • Fixed: Reports now open maximized.
  • Fixed: Better error messages here and there.
  • Fixed: The method the System-understood Stock "person" is created and used. This fixed an issue where only about 120 publishers would be available to choose from on the screens that use the publisher list.
  • Changed: Maximum order quantity is now 99,999.
  • Removed: Feature where Stock items are automatically Received & Delivered. I decided this would be too confusing of a feature.
  • Minor cosmetic changes and fixes.

LRO is designed for a computer resolution of 1024 x 768.  With the new Rezise feature, it will fit no matter what kind of resolution you have!  However, it does not look as good when on a smaller resolution (shrunk down) and may even be hard to read, but everything will fit on the screen.  If you don't like this, it can be turned off via Settings.  For users who have screens larger than 1024 x 768, it should look fantastic!  Widescreen monitors work as well, though if you see anything that seems "offset" a bit, that's a consequence of having widescreen and can't be fixed. Current LRO users must turn this ON under Settings.  New users will have it ON by default.

I've been doing a TON of programming at my place of employment.  I have been working on 7 DIFFERENT programs at the same time. Due to that fact, I'm very worn out right now!!  You can imagine the potential for confusion and such, though I've been very careful with LRO and tested it well.  But I must cut back and take a break for a little while...probably a week.  And if I continue with heavy development at my job, then LRO's updates may get skimpier OR further apart.

As always, let me know if you find any bugs or have suggestions for improvement! :-)

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Version 1.0.9 Released!

Changes to Literature Room Organizer include:

  • New Feature: Request Month (for those who like to manually specify what month an order falls under). Turn it ON under Settings.
  • New Feature: Inventory Management Automation (automatically add orders to inventory when they are Received, and remove them from stock when delivered). Turn it ON under Settings.
  • New Feature: System-understood "Stock" person. Orders by "Stock" person automatically disappear after being Received (No point in delivering an entire stock order of 200 Bible Teach books, right?)
  • Added: New reports under Reporting Tools (1 by publisher, 1 by Request Month...if this feature is turned on).
  • Fixed: Greater compatibility with previous versions of LRO. Should not encounter any issues with upgrading, no matter what version you are on!!
  • Fixed: Calendar on Reporting Tools is hidden after clicking a date.
  • Fixed: A congregation with no publishers could get into the Order Form screen if another congregation had publishers. Now it accurately detects when a congregation has no publishers and prompts to add some before going to the Order Form screen.
  • Other behind-the-scenes fixes & optimizations.

Note on Inventory Management...if you were using it, please turn it OFF and then back ON.  Turning it OFF/ON is handled differently behind the scenes, and this needs to happen (fixes a problem if a new congregation is created).

I also want to stress how this new "Stock" person behaves.  When you Receive an order for them, it is ALSO automatically Delivered for them.  Because it is a Stock order, it is immediately "Delivered" when it is received.  Don't be alarmed when you mark it Received and then don't see it on the Undelivered Items screen...that's suppose to happen.

Next version will improve upon current reports, fix any bugs, improve certain error messages, and add a reminder (or Tip of the Day kinda stuff) system. :-)