Vitalware 2.4

Details

Release Date: 8th October 2013

Requirements

Download

Download a PDF document containing these release notes and associated documents: pdfInternational English or pdfUS English.

Please see the latest version of the Vitalware Help for the most up to date version of this documentation.

New Features

Edit in a Single Language

Edit in a single language functionality allows users with a multi-lingual version of Vitalware to use the system in either a single language or all languages. Full functionality is provided regardless of the language(s) selected. A number of extensions have been added that provide a more flexible mechanism for displaying and altering data within a single language:

  • When the All Languages option is selected, users may now select the order in which languages are displayed. This allows users who are dominant in a particular language to display this language first with other languages following:

    options

  • Users may now alter data while a single language is displayed. Any data entered into a field will only update the value of the language selected.

  • When displaying data in a single language and where a value does not exist in that language for a given field, the value of the first filled language may be displayed. The text is shown in a user selectable colour (grey by default) to indicate that the value is not associated with the current language. When the field is entered, the text is removed, allowing data to be input:

    filled

  • A number of data entry helpers always display values in all languages in the user defined order to assist data entry. For example, if a Lookup List is displayed, all languages are always shown so that users may select the correct entry based on context. This is particularly important where one term in a given language has multiple terms in another language.

A complete description of the support for editing in a single language can be found in the How to edit in a single language documentation.
   

Improvements

Support of pop-up calendars

 

Date fields may now have a pop-up calendar associated with them. The calendar may be used to select a date or view the day on which a particular date falls. Users can step backward and forward a month at a time as well as select a specific month or year:

calendar

Please contact KE for information on how to make the pop-up calendar available for use.

Static groups display Summary Data

 

The grid containing the list of IRNs making up a Static group has been extended to include the Summary Data for each IRN. The grid now provides an easy way to see what records are part of the Static group:

groups

Clear group command

 

A new command has been added to the Edit pull down menu allowing all the controls in a Group box to be cleared. The command is available while entering search terms and inserting or editing records. A keyboard shortcut (Shift+Ctrl+Del) has also been made available:

cleargroup

Autofill Lookup Lists

 

The Vitalware autofill feature that provides a mechanism to add values into a hierarchy where a unique combination is specified has been extended to function on single level Lookup Lists. The change means that when a value is entered into a Lookup List field via the keyboard, the value is replaced with the corresponding Lookup List value if a matching entry exists in the Lookup List module. For example, if a Lookup List contains the value IBM and a user enters ibm, the user's text (ibm) will be replaced with the Lookup List value (IBM). Institutions may use this feature to enforce consistent entry of values.

Scan multi-page documents

 

Vitalware now supports the scanning of multi-page documents where the connected scanner supports such functionality. Once the pages are scanned, a multi-page image format should be used to save the document (e.g. TIFF). If the selected image format does not support multi-pages, then only the first page is saved.

Scan from all modules

 

The ability to scan documents has been added to all Vitalware modules that allow multimedia to be displayed. The Multimedia pull down menu has two new commands:

  • Setup Scanner
  • Scan Image
Support for PDF images  

Support has been added to Vitalware for the display of PDF images.

Please note that in order to enable this functionality in Vitalware it is necessary to install the open source tool GhostScript. Details are provided in the Vitalware 2.4 installation notes.
Alter POS payment type  

It is now possible to alter a payment type when it is determined that an incorrect payment type has been recorded as part of balancing end of day. This may be done by using the new epos Change Payment Type admin task.
Error tracking with web orders   It was possible for erroneous web orders not to be loaded so that they appeared to be missing in the day’s sequence of orders. The processing of web orders now terminates so that erroneous web orders can be investigated. Additionally the original data from all web orders is now transferred to the POS order to better facilitate enquiries from customers.
Balancing end of day  

For balance checking a new parameter (-i) has been added to the endofday script which allows users to run end of day even if there are still some tills signed on.  
Work queues  

Work queues may now be defined by setting queue conditions in the Registry. See the latest Vitalware Help for details.
NRS schema validation  

Support has been added to the NRS export mechanism to validate exported records against defined schemas. To invoke this functionality xmllint (http://www.xmlsoft.org) must be installed on the production server and the NRSXSDVALIDATION environment variable must be set to a non 0 value. 
     

Issues Resolved

Issue Resolution
The Multimedia and Supplementary_tab fields may not appear in the list of fields available for selection when creating a report. In order to add the fields it is necessary to add Reportable Registry entries for each of the fields.   The Registry entries are no longer required as the Multimedia and Supplementary_tab fields are now shown in the field list (permissions permitting).
The auditserver may not complete processing the current record when it is terminated. When it is restarted it may then process the same record again, possibly resulting in two entries in the Audit Trails module.   The auditserver now finishes processing the current record before shutting itself down.
Admin Tasks that have specified input types of either number, date or time do not have values entered validated. Hence it is possible to enter a badly formatted number, date or time value that is not detected until the server-side script checks its arguments.   Numeric, date and time values entered as input values in Admin Tasks are now checked when the field containing the value is exited. If the value is not valid, a suitable message is displayed and the value must be amended.
The vwlutsrebuild server-side command does not load system based Lookup Lists when they are named on the command line. For example, vwlutsrebuild -t 'System Yes' does not add the Lookup List entry for the System Yes Lookup List.   System based Lookup List entries are now loaded correctly when named on the command line.
When selecting a file to import into Vitalware the file selection dialogue box restricts the file extensions that may be chosen. The list of possible files is restricted to those matching *.csv, *.tab, *.txt and *.xml. In some cases an Import file may not match one of the listed extensions, forcing users to rename files.   The file selection dialogue box has been extended to allow All Files (*.*) to be selected. The change allows any file to be chosen. Vitalware parses the first part of the file to determine whether it contains XML or CSV based data.
When copying a large number of rows from a list of matching records onto the Windows clipboard, the operation may take a long time. In particular, if the data contains values from other modules the time taken may be substantial.   The time taken to copy records onto the Windows clipboard has been reduced dramatically where a large number of records is involved.
The file permissions set on the Vitalware server allow access to server-side files for users registered in the UNIX group vwadmin. In general, user Vitalware is the only account that is part of the vwadmin group. If a system administrator chooses to add another user to the group, the user may be able to view information that is sensitive.   The Vitalware server-side permissions have been tightened so that only user Vitalware may view files containing information that may be sensitive.
The header displayed at the top of each column in List mode may not display the text correctly if the text contains extended characters (that is characters with diacritics).   The header text is now displayed correctly for extended characters.
The data shown in the Shortcut grid for a given record may not display correctly. The issue only arises for users with Unicode based data where the data contains extended (or non-ASCII) characters.   Unicode data is now displayed correctly in the Shortcut grid.
The message box displayed asking for confirmation for a new entry to be added to a Lookup List may not display the new value correctly for Unicode based systems where the value contains extended (or non-ASCII) characters.   The correct text for the new value is now displayed for extended Unicode characters.
When a series of rows in List mode is copied to the Windows clipboard the data copied may not display correctly if pasted into Microsoft Excel. The issue only arises for Arabic characters.   Arabic characters now paste correctly into Microsoft Excel.
The error message Cannot allocate memory may be displayed when copying a large number of rows from List mode onto the Windows clipboard. The issue only occurs where the number of rows is in the tens of thousands.   The error message no longer appears when copying a large number of rows onto the Windows clipboard.
An incorrect hint string is displayed when hovering over the Discard Record speed button. When a series of records is selected the Discard Current hint is displayed, rather than the Discard Selected Records hint.   The correct hint is now displayed when hovering over the Discard Record speed button.
The command to insert the current date (Edit>Date>Current Date) may insert the date for the previous day. The incorrect date, while consistent, will only occur spasmodically.   The correct date is now inserted.
The lutserver server-side load may fail with a Not enough space error message even though there is plenty of space available. The error occurs when the load has a large number of updates to process.   The lutserver load no longer fails with an Not enough space error message when processing a large numbers of updates.
The Column Access Modifier Registry entry may not be triggered until a record is saved. The issue only arises if the column being monitored for changes is not one of the columns used for tab switching.   The Column Access Modifier Registry entry is always triggered when the column being monitored is exited after being modified.
If text is entered into a grid control in Query mode and the Insert Record speed button is selected before exiting the grid, an Access Violation error message may be displayed.   The error message no longer displays when clicking the Insert Record speed button.
If an Admin Task is defined in a multi-lingual system where strings are provided for all languages as part of the Registry entry, then the strings displayed show all languages rather than the current language selected.   The Admin Task now displays strings in the current language selected, rather than displaying all strings.
If a user has defined a different font colour for data when editing or creating a record and a value in a computed field is modified, the record will stay in Edit mode after the save command has been invoked. The issue only arises where a special handler has been installed to handle a computed value (e.g. Currency conversion).   The record no longer remains in Edit mode for computed fields when saved.
The ICS files generated by Vitalware may not contain the correct format. The ICS files contain a list of notification dates suitable for uploading into calendar applications like Microsoft Outlook, etc.   The ICS files generated now contain the correct format.
The lutserver server-side load may create a new Lookup List entry for Unicode based entries that already exist where the entry contains extended (or non-ASCII) characters. The entry created may not contain the correct data.   A new entry is no longer created when the Unicode based Lookup List entry exists, even if it contains extended characters.
The lutserver server-side load may generate an error when checking whether a Lookup List value still exists. The Server error: Can't find "/home/Vitalware/client/data/column" directory. Unable to resolve "column" error message only occurs where the hierarchy contains a virtual column. In this case the Lookup List entry should not check the column.   A Lookup List hierarchy containing a virtual column is no longer checked by the lutserver when determining whether an entry is still valid.
An Access Violation error message may be shown when clicking on the After Export tab in the Export Properties dialogue box. The issue only occurs if no After Export scripts have been installed.   The error message no longer appears when clicking on the After Export tab in the Export Properties dialogue box.
If a Lookup List field contains a value consisting of punctuation characters only, then when the record is saved the user will be asked to confirm the insertion of a new Lookup List even if the value is already in the Lookup List.   The confirmation message for Lookup List values which consist of punctuation only is displayed once, rather than each time the value is encountered.
An Access Violation error message may be shown when copying rows from List mode to the Windows clipboard. The message is only displayed if one of the columns copied is a client-side column (DataLocal column).   The error message is no longer displayed when copying rows to the Windows clipboard where one or more of the columns is a client-side column.
If a new value is entered into a Combo Box and the record saved, the value is added to the Lookup List module but it may not be added to the Combo Box drop down list. The next time the list is dropped down, the value may be missing.   New values are now added to the drop down list when the record is saved.
The vwlutsrebuild server-side program may change the Hidden flag on a Lookup List entry from Y (Yes) to N (No) when rebuilding a Lookup List. The issue occurs only where the default Lookup List permissions for the column do not contain ReadIgnore, WriteIgnore or AutoWriteIgnore.   Lookup List entries with the Hidden flag set to Y (Yes) are no longer changed by the vwlutsrebuild server-side program.
If a report contains a reverse reference field, under certain circumstances the data associated with the field may not be included in the report. The issue only arises if the data for the field is a single value. Multiple values are reported correctly.   The data for single value reverse reference fields is now reported correctly.
Error messages generated by the Vitalware server are not displayed correctly if the text contains extended (or non-ASCII) characters. In particular, French and Arabic errors may display incorrectly.   Vitalware server error message now display the correct text for all languages including text with extended characters.
Under certain circumstances the last character in the Extended Data text may not be displayed as bold. The issue only occurs if the data contains more than one line of text.   All of the Extended Data text is now displayed in bold.
When copying data from List mode to the Windows clipboard and pasting it into Microsoft Excel using the Paste Special: CSV command, the pasted values may not appear in Excel.   Data pasted into Microsoft Excel via the Paste Special: CSV command now appears correctly. Due to limitations in Excel, Unicode based data may contain some question mark characters where Excel cannot map the character to its internal character set.
A System Error. Code: 1400. Invalid Window Handle error message may be displayed after a record is saved. The error only occurs if a default value is set on a Combo Box control that is only visible in Display mode (a very rare combination).   The error message is no longer displayed when saving a record.
If a drag and drop operation is used to add records to a grid control where the record has been changed by another user, then the record is refreshed and the drop operation removes the changes made by the previous user. The issue only occurs if the grid on which the drop operation is performed was modified by another user after the record was retrieved.   If a drop operation occurs on a grid that has been modified by another user, a message is displayed and the drop operation is aborted. The change ensures no data is lost.
Some currency based calculations may result in rounding errors. The issue only arises where the currency value is greater than seven digits of precision.   The rounding error no longer occurs where a currency value consists of more than seven digits of precision.
If data is copied from List mode and then pasted into Microsoft Word while keeping the source format, the data is no longer displayed in a table but rather as unformatted text.   If the Keep Source Format option is selected in Microsoft Word, the pasting data will now appear as a table rather than unformatted text.
The luts server-side audit handler generates an error when a name is not associated with a hierarchy. The error causes other audit handlers for the current audit record to be skipped. The issue only arises if a hierarchy has not been configured correctly.   An error is no longer generated if a hierarchy is not configured correctly. The hierarchy is skipped and all audit handlers are executed correctly.
An Admin Task may be executed inadvertently by displaying the list of available Admin Tasks and then double clicking anywhere in the Admin Task dialogue box. The issue only arises if a task is selected when the double click is executed.   An Admin Task is only executed if the double click occurs on the task selected, otherwise no action is taken.
If the vwlutsrebuild server-side command is executed with a Lookup List name supplied as a command line argument and the lookup name matches an existing Lookup List name but the character case is different, then the Lookup List entries for the existing name are deleted.   The Lookup List entries are no longer deleted if the Lookup List name supplied does not match exactly the character case of an existing Lookup List.
The Mandatory Modifier Registry entry may not be triggered when a dependent value changes in a nested column. The issue only occurs when the value to check is part of a nested column (a column name ending in _nesttab).   The Mandatory Modifier Registry entry is now triggered correctly for nested columns.
Under certain circumstances the value displayed in a query grid for an attachment query (e.g. <# 4 #>) may result is a search for the number of records (in this case 4) rather than the attached records. The issue only occurs if the cursor is placed in the query field after the attachment process is completed.   The attached records are always used as part of the query rather than the number of attached records.
Under certain circumstances the resolution height and width set on the Multimedia tab in the Report Properties dialogue box may not be honoured when the report is generated. The issue only arises if the Multimedia field is the last field listed in a report group.   The resolution height and width settings are honoured when the Multimedia field is the last field listed in a report group.
If a multi-page TIFF image is ingested by the Multimedia Repository, then the last page of the document is used to generate the thumbnail image rather than the first page. Since the last page may be a lower resolution image of the first page a blurry thumbnail may be produced.   The first page of a multi-page TIFF document is used to generate the thumbnail and resolution images.
The image types PDF and DNG are not recognised as image formats when producing a report with the Use first image only option enabled. As such, an image is not displayed in the report.   Both PDF and DNG are now recognised as image formats when generating reports.
The Summary tab in the Audit module may not display extended (or non-ASCII) Unicode characters correctly. Data stored as ISO-8859-1 (latin1) will be displayed correctly.   Unicode data is now displayed correctly on the Summary tab in the Audit module.
If a double click occurs on a row in List mode or on a cell in Contact Sheet mode and the mouse cursor is moved away from the row or cell clicked, under certain circumstances the record displayed in Details mode may not be the same as the record on which the click occurred.   The correct record is now displayed in Details mode based on the row or cell on which the double click occurred.
Dupping of data to a remote host fails when one of the dup files is not a database name.   Data is now dupped to the remote hosts irrespective of the dup file name.
It is possible to perform functions (Process Menu) on a record even though the record has a pending maintenance/amendment.   Functions from the Process Menu can no longer be performed if the record has a pending maintenance/amendment.
The POS module does not offer all of the visible fields for selection when defining a new List display.   All fields displayed on a tab are now available for selection for a List display.
For systems using Batch printing it is possible for the POS record to briefly go into Edit mode even when a certificate does not print.   The POS record no longer goes into Edit mode when a certificate does not print during Batch printing.
On rare occasions when using Batch printing for an individual record, certificates can still print even though the print lock could not be obtained.   Batch printing will not proceed until the print lock is obtained.
On rare occasions, missing stock returns an error Order Check Failed, leading the user to believe that the report has not run.   All error reporting has been moved into the report output ensuring that the user always sees the report complete.
When applying an amendment/maintenance it is possible for the PENDING record to be left in Edit mode if an unexpected error (Unique Number) occurs.   Rollback is correctly called when an unexpected error occurs during the apply amendment/maintenance process ensuring the user is returned to Display mode.
Occasionally when trying to save a POS record a Grid Index Out Of Bounds error would be shown.   The Grid Index Out Of Bounds error no longer displays when the record is saved.
When dropping a party record into a registration with an incomplete date of death and a date output format set to yyyy-MM-dd, a date decode error can occur.   A party record may now be dropped without a date decode error occurring.
An api error is shown when querying on the Table column in eweblog.   An api error is no longer shown when querying on the Table column in eweblog.
Running reportsupdate with the -t option does not add the paper size to the Report Registry entry.   Running reportsupdate with the -t option now adds the paper size to the Report Registry entry.
When processing matches through the Matchlist database it is possible to overwrite an existing link.   An error is now shown if an existing link is already in place for a list match.
When running overnight matching it is possible for the same match pair to be inserted in the Matchlist database multiple times.   The same match pair are only inserted once into the Matchlist database.
The email button does not refresh when changing rows on the Sales tab.   The email button refreshes when changing rows on the Sales tab.
Running reportsupdate in test environments may result in incorrect Registry entries being inserted.   Only correct Registry entries are inserted when running reportsupdate in a test environment.
The Sales and Payment grids in POS allow the movement of individual cells when only row movements should be allowed.   Individual cells can no longer be moved in the POS Sales and Payments grids.
In the NRS system there is an XML conversion issue with diacritic characters being read as HTML code.   The NRS system correctly handles diacritic characters.
On occasions the Communications module will not list all templates or load a template once selected.   The Communications module correctly lists all templates and loads each selected template.
When dropping a product into POS, the product is accepted even if the Sales row is read-only.   The product is only accepted if the row is not read-only.
A List Index Out Of Bounds error can occur in POS when keying a two part registration number.   A List Index Out Of Bounds error no longer occurs in POS when keying a two part registration number.
When issuing a credit card refund it is possible for the payment Till reference to be altered to the refund Till reference.   The payment Till is no longer altered when a credit card refund is performed.
When multiple users add notes to a record at the same time it is possible for notes to be lost.   Notes are no longer lost when multiple users add them at the same time.
It is possible for Audit records to be corrupted when dupping to multiple machines.   Audit records are not corrupted when dupping to multiple machines.
Certificate print statistics may not be correct.   Certificate print statistics are generated correctly.
On occasions the vwmaintenance script may not complete.   The vwmaintenance script now runs to completion.
Users with appropriate permission are able to go into Insert Mode in the Matchlists module even though they are unable to insert any record data.   Users are no longer able to go into Insert mode in the Matchlist module.

Upgrade Notes

See Upgrade 2.3 to 2.4 for details.