Quadrant Systems RASWIN - Release Notes 2020
1.0.5996 2025-09-10 12:00
December 12, 2020
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In the past we
have had many issues with our clients running multiple
incompatible versions of RASWIN on the same database. This
typically manifested itself in critical views needed for reports
and inquiries get created in the format needed by a newer
version of RASWIN, then clobbered by an older version when it
started an saw the view was not what it expected.
There have been many attempted solutions but we now think
there is a workable version that will force the views to be
compatible with updated versions, even if an older version
replaces the view. This is a two-pronged approach that works as
follows:
1.
First we have renamed the two most critical views used
by reports and inquries.
The old names were detail_view_deptcode
and payment_view_deptcode.
The new names are detail_view_deptcode_2020 and payment_view_deptcode_2020.
This will prevent older versions from replacing the needed
views with those in older format.
2.
The potential still exists for versions released
subsequent to this new view renaming strategy to be in conflict with
each other for the same reasons as before ... that is, an older
version set to use the new names could still clobber the updated
view created by a more recently released version. Since changes
are continuous, the renaming of the view is not in itself enough
to prevent these conflicts.
Starting 12/28/2020, the view will be built in such a way
that a RASWIN version number will be included in the view itself.
When RASWIN starts it will check its internal version value against
the value in the view and if it is greater than the version
defined in the view, it will recreate the view
automatically,
and place the proper release number in the view. This does not
consume more memory or diskspace, since a view is just a
collection of data from actual tables. An example of how this
looks is shown below:
September 22, 2020
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RASWIN has been modified to utilize more stored
procedures
(code that will run on your server), especially in the areas of
inserting and retrieving data. This is part of an ongoing effort
to improve performance.
When the first workstation that runs the updated RASWIN
is
started it will check to see if changes to views, tables, stored
procedures, and user defined function have been made. If the
database indicates these changes have not been made, the RASWIN
program will automatically make them and document that the
changes have been made in a table within the database. This
prevents them from being needlessly made multiple times. This
process replaces the older
QS_MAKE_DB_ADJUSTMENTS.EXE program that
was required to be run when an update is done, and insures that
the changes are made.
During startup you will see a series of changes scroll
by
on the login screen. During our testing these updates take less
than one or two minutes, however, it is not possible for us to
test on a heavily loaded server so it make take a bit longer in
a production environment or on a test server with few resources
allocated to the sever (e.g, memory, fast disks, etc.)
8/13/2020
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The logic associated with printing a receipt for
sending via
email or printing on your local or network report printer has
been changed. Previous versions of RASWIN created a very simple
HTML file for display in your browser. Starting with version
1.0.5557 the html created is more refined and displays the
receipt in a more readable format. This is the option on the
receipt print screen which says "send via email".
7/20/2020
-
Corrects field name error related to using the
File⇒ Export/Import Transaction Data⇒Export
Transaction Data
Menu Option.
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The PASSWORD RESET function now checks to make
sure the
currently signed in user cannot reset their own password. If a
user wants to reset their password they should use the CHANGE
USER PASSWORD menu option.
4/29/2020
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With the recent work-at-home requirements due to
COVID-19, it
has been difficult to remotely print some reports. There are
work-arounds involving changing your default printer to a PDF
output, then copying the file from to your remote (office)
computer to your work-at-home computer, and printing there. This
is probably the easiest way to handle this situation. However,
if your remote access supports printing to your local (home)
computer by defining a remote printer in your home office as an
available windows printer you might be able to configure it see
that printer as the default report printer.
We have added a new function which allows you to set the
default printer from within RASWIN itself. This option will
appear on the reports menu, towards the end of the list, as
shown below:
All you need to do is select an alternate printer and click
on set default printer.
The CASH RECAP REPORT screen also has a link to the printer
setting screen as well.
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In prior versions, RASWIN automatically adjusted the
GROUP_CODE field in the
MISCPARMS table to make it
easier to find records, such as Exports
settings, ENDORSEMENTS
settings, etc., as opposed to having to locate these records
with a much larger set of ALL the records in the
MISCPARMS table. There can be
thousands of these settings,
depending on how many workstations you may have. The
GROUP_CODE is a filter for the
MISCPARMS records that are loaded into
the
grid during table maintenance. These are defined as the portion
of the
TABLE_NAME field in the
TABLENAMES Table. For example, here's a
screen shot of some of these records:
When you select one of the items displayed on the Table
Maintenance menu, such as "Function Keys" only the records in
the
MISCPARMS table with
fkeys as
the
GROUP_CODE will be
displayed....e.g.,
The logic associated with automatically setting the
GROUP_CODE was becoming a problem
due to
the number of
MISCPARMS records and in
some cases, this logic set the wrong values. In addition,
checking the settings each time the program started took up
an
extra few seconds, which created an unpredictable startup
time.
The
refore, the automatic setting of these values has been
removed from the RASWIN program. If you find that the
records
you expect to show up, e.g, ENDORSEMENTS do
not show
up,
it is a two step process to correct the settings. First,
check
TABLENAMES table to see what the
proper
GROUP_CODE should be, e.g., the
setting
for FKEYS will be found in the
TABLENAMES table record
MISCPARMS-FKEYS
Onc
e you know this value, you can select the
MISCPARMS table, and locate the
records
related to the FKEYS....these will contain the value
FKEYS, as
shown above. You can quickly filter the entire set of all
MISCPARMS by simply typing
%-FKEY-% in
the search box at the lower left and hitting enter. Then
make sure than any records that appear have FKEYS set as the
GROUP_CODE. As noted earlier, the
program logic that automatically adjusted the
GROUP_CODE values has been removed.
If you have questions regarding this subject please
don't hesitate to contact us and we can help.
Note that if you begin editing a set of records that have a
specific
GROUP_CODE value, any new records
you
add
will automatically be assigned to that same GROUP_CODE.
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A minor change was made to the SCHEDULED
MAINTENANCE screen.
This option appears on your MAIN MENU⇒MAINTENANCE
menu...
The default values for the
EFFECTIVE WHEN field were setting to a date
in the past. This has been changed to be the current date, however,
the entire purpose of using the Schedule Maintenance function is to
defined maintenance actions that are to occur at a future date, for
example, changes to prices, check endorsements, etc. The program has
been modified to use the current date as the default but you will
almost always want to change it to a future date.
Per
the discussion in the previous release note item, regarding
MISCPARMS GROUP_CODE,
the center section of the scheduled maintenance screen relies on the
GROUP_CODE being set to specific values.
3/29/2020
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Recently, we had a customer request a feature to modify RASWIN to
permit the user to identify the 'source' of transactions, for
example, MAIL, WALK-IN, etc. We have completed this adjustment in
this most recent version. Use of this functon is completely optional
and is controlled via a MISCPARMS setting to
turn if off if you don't want to use it. The new receipt screen will
have an additional selection window at the center top as shown
below:
A short list of options will automatically be created
when
you first run the new version of RASWIN. You can edit it to
contain any values you want, or add new ones if needed.
These
parameters will be found on the Table Maintenance Menu,
under
SOURCE_CODE.
The choices shown are the default ones. You can edit or
add
to these as needed. For users that have automated interfaces
(e.g., CRW, Tidemark, HDL, Duncan Parking, etc.) a suitable
TRAN
SOURCE will automatically be added as transactions are added
via
those interfaces.
The option can be turned on or off via this MISCPARMS setting, which will
be
automatically created on first run. If you turn it off, none
of
the changes noted in this release note will be displayed.
Obviously, the TRANSACTION SOURCE option will only record
data
starting when this version of the program is first
installed.
Along with the change, the receipt printing function
will
show the source on the receipt, just below the receipt
header
section that shows the location name and above the area that
shows the receipt number, date, time, etc.
Additionally, the cash recap report will show the
transaction
source in a little space we found otherwise unused.
Also, at
the bottom of the cash recap, just below the summary totals
section, a TOTAL BY TRAN SOURCE will be shown, indicating
the
source name, count, dollars, and the percent of the total
transactions by source (both item count and dollars).
2/12/2020
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The receipt printing function has been modified so that if a series
of line items each contain the same reference number or comment they
will not print on subsequent lines. This can save a bit of receipt
paper. Here's an example showing how this appears now.
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Normal logging has been modified in the following way: In the past,
RASWIN would check the size of the logfile (on the local hard
drive) for size every time before writing anything to it. When it
reached approximately 3mb it would close out the existing file and
start a new one.
This has been modified so that during some longer operations
such as imports/exports/reporting it skips these tests to speed
things up a bit.
