Version 3.20

New Features

• The Filter page has a new Exclude button that allows you to specify which records to exclude from a query. We call this a "negative" query because it looks for the absence of data, such as all customers you didn't contact last year or all customers who didn't buy a certain product. Previously, you had to customize the SQL statement for the report to achieve this. Now you simply specify how to exclude certain records using the same dialog you use to create a filter on a report. See the Selecting Which Records to Exclude topic for details.

• Stonefield Query no longer has a background screen. All dialogs now appear directly on your Windows desktop and can be moved around independently.

• The report wizards are no longer modal. This means you can modify more than one report at a time if desired.

• You are now prompted for all ask at runtime filter conditions in a single dialog rather than one dialog per condition when you run a report.

• If you turn on the Include all fields in same table in group header setting in the Field Properties dialog, you can now specify that all fields in the group header should appear on the same line rather than each on its own line by turning on the new Place all fields in group header on same line setting.

• You can now specify that a field should go into the group header for another field. For example, suppose you group on City from the Customers table but want to show the Region in the group header as well. If you turn on the Include all fields in same table in group header option in the Group page in the Field Properties dialog, all fields in the Customers table will appear in the group footer, which isn't what you want. Instead, turn the new Include this field in the group header for setting on and select City from the drop-down list to place just City and Region in the group header. Since all fields that appear in group headers now appear in summary reports, Region will no longer be excluded from such a report.

• The Cross-Tabulation, Label, and Chart wizards now have an Advanced button that, like the Quick Report Wizard, brings up the Customize Report Wizard so you can specify top values, customize the SQL statement for a report, or specify code to execute at certain places for the report.

• The Field Properties dialog for the Label Wizard has a new Display this field in the report setting. Turn this setting off if you want the field included in query (for example, you want to sort on it) but not display it in the report.

• You can now specify multi-line headings for a field in the Field Properties dialog.

• You can now press the Esc key to stop a report run at any point rather than just while the pages are being rendered as was the case in earlier versions.

• Templates can now specify the paper size and source (such as a certain bin) so you don't need to use the Advanced Report Designer to, for example, output a report on legal paper.

• The Preview window has a new Email button allowing you to send an email directly from the window.

• You now get a warning if you run a report that has no filter, with an option to run the report anyway. This prevents a long-running report because you forgot to create a filter. An new setting in the Options dialog allows you to turn this warning off.

• A new Include database in header option adds the database name to the report header.

• The Options dialog has a new Locations page where you can easily change the location where reports are stored.

• You can now drag a Stonefield Query import file (an SFX file) from Windows Explorer to the Reports Explorer to import that report. You can also drag an FRX or RPT file from Windows Explorer to the Reports Explorer to bring up the External Report Wizard for that report.

• The Setup dialog now prompts you for your email settings. These are needed to email reports. However, many people don't realize they need to set these settings in the Options dialog so they can't email reports.

• You can now select specific reports to export or export all or some of the reports in a specific folder. The Export All Reports function in the File menu was renamed to Export Reports; selecting it now displays a dialog from which you can select which specific reports or folders to export. The Export Report function in the File menu was renamed to Export Selected Report.

• You can now edit the security properties of a folder by selecting the folder and clicking Edit in the Reports Explorer.

• The Information page in the Reports Explorer now shows what groups have access to the selected report or folder.

• New Create/update column heading and Adjust field width automatically options in the Field Properties dialog of the Advanced Report Designer provide you with more control over what Stonefield Query does automatically when you save a field.

• You now get a warning if you have a custom SQL statement for a report and filter on a field in a table that isn't specified in the SQL statement. The reason is because the filter condition can't be just added to the WHERE clause of the SQL statement since its table isn't specified in the FROM or JOIN clauses.

• The Login dialog no longer displays a choice for the database to query on if the database is specified as a command-line parameter.

• The Login dialog now shows the default user name and password (ADMIN and ADMIN) when the program hasn't been activated so new users don't have to guess or (heavens!) read the help file.

• Multi-page TIFF files are now supported for report output.

• Stonefield Query now looks in the Windows Registry for the location of the help file if the UseRegistry setting in Data.INI is Yes.

• Stonefield Query now returns error code -27 when called from another application and it cannot locate its resource file.

• You can now select more than about 20 files at a time when importing reports.

• You can now specify an expression for a chart title.

• The Expression Builder now has a Test Syntax button.

• A new built-in GetConditionValue function returns the value of the filter condition for the specified field. This can be used, for example, in the header of a report or a chart title to display the selected filter value.

• The Reports Explorer and Field Properties dialog now load faster when there are lots of reports. Also, the report drop-down list on the Link page of the Field Properties dialog no longer displays folders that have no reports.

• You can now tell Stonefield Query to ignore an ask-at-runtime filter condition in a report run from another application by specifying "Value=" (that is, with no value specified) in the command line parameters.

• The performance of some reports was improved, especially when there are lots of records in the table. Specifically, if you use an OR condition in the report but it isn't between different tables (for example, condition on Table1 AND (condition on Table2 OR condition on Table 2) AND condition on Table 1, the performance improvement applies.

• If you had multiple fields in the Row or Data lists in Step 3 of the Cross-Tabulation Wizard and wanted to rearrange them, you previously had to drag them all out of the list and then drag them back in the desired order. You can now rearrange them by dragging a field up or down in the list.

• The Add License dialog has a new Copy button which places the license information on the Windows clipboard.

• The Use old engine setting in Step 5 of the Quick Report Wizard is now always enabled, not just when Advanced layout is turned on. Turning this on allows the Preview window to appear more quickly, especially for very long reports, but the Preview window used when this is turned on has fewer features and some advanced options, such as dynamic formatting and rotation, aren't supported.

• Multiple filter conditions on the same field are now supported in linked reports as long as each condition uses a different operator.

• Deleting a folder now deletes all reports in that folder rather than giving you an error message and requiring you to manually delete all the reports.

• The AfterRun code for a report can now change something about how a report is output and re-run the output. An example in the related help topic shows how this can be used.

• Places in Stonefield Query that support expressions (such as the report header or footer) now support non-character expressions such as the current date.

• A new GetReportFilter method of the loReport object can be used to display the filter conditions for the report.

• The Commonly Used Expression drop-down in the Expression Builder now only shows common expressions that match the data type of the expression being built. For example, the common date expressions now only appear for date expressions. Also, a new First Day of Previous Month expression was added.

• A new field, Transaction Amount, is available in the GL Transaction table. This field contains the amount of both debit and credit transactions in the same column.

• A new function, GetAgingDate(), is now available. This function helps make creating an aging report easier, by prompting the report user for a date, and then evaluating to that date for the report run. The function can be used in expressions in the advanced report designer to set up the various aging columns.

• Several new cross-module relationships are now available, which include AR Customer to Billing Invoice, and Job Cost Job to Project Manangement Job.

• You can now decide whether or not you want to be prompted for which field you want to join to the GL Account table on, in cases where fields from GL Account are involved in the report. You can set this preference in the Tools->Options dialog.

• You can now decide whether you want to see Account Numbers instead of Account Descriptions. You can set this preference in the Tools->Options dialog.

Bug Fixes

• A problem that caused advanced layout reports to have too long of a page length when previewed or printed from the Preview window, resulting in some records not being displayed, was fixed.

• Under some conditions (sorting on a certain field data type when at least one record has a null value in that field), a single character was displayed rather than the entire contents of a field. This has been corrected.

• Charts now display correctly when there's missing data in some categories for some series.

• The correct controls are now displayed in the Options page of the Reports Explorer when it is the current page and you change from a Label report to a different type or vice versa.

• The Selected Field list in Step 2 of the report wizards now shows real table and field names correctly when you edit an existing report with the Display real table and field names option turned on.

• Renaming a report in the Reports Explorer didn't change the report header like renaming it in a report wizard; this was fixed. Also, copying a report now also changes the report header.

• The bookmarks panel in the Preview window is now sized correctly when clicking a field that runs a linked report and that report has bookmarks.

• A problem with not saving the email settings in the Options dialog was fixed.

• Specifying a period for the "CommonFiles" entry in Data.INI now means Stonefield Query's data files are located in the same folder as Data.INI rather than SFQuery.INI. Other types of relative paths are now handled correctly as well. Also, the program does a better job of handling Data.INI and its data files in "legacy" locations (locations other than the Data subdirectory of the application folder), and handles the case where its resource file (SQResource.DBF) exists in both the application folder and the Data subdirectory.

• Stonefield Query no longer exits with an error code when a report that has no records is run from another application; formerly, this prevented the rest of the reports from running if multiple reports were specified.

• The size and position of the Reports Explorer are now saved when you choose Exit from the File menu.

• A problem with entering too long of a contact name in the Registration dialog was fixed.

• A problem with selecting the wrong database when reporting on more than one database at a time under some conditions was corrected. Also, an issue with similarly named data sources (for example, "Company" and "Company Database") was fixed.

• The cause of a rare "invalid index key" error when running a cross-tabulation report was fixed.

• An error caused by sorting on a field that exists on a report but doesn't appear when Summary Report is turned on was fixed.

• The numeric part of image file names created when a report is output to an image now have zeros for place holders (for example, Report0009.GIF and Report0010.GIF rather than Report9.GIF and Report10.GIF) so they appear in the correct sorted order in Windows Explorer.

• Line spacing is now correct in labels that have fields in larger fonts.

• You no longer get an error if you choose Copy or Edit from the File menu when the Template Editor is open.

• You can no longer open multiple instances of the Template Editor.

• A bug that prevented sorting on a grouped field if you created a variable in the Advanced Report Designer on that field was fixed.

• HTML, Word, text, and table output now work correctly for chart reports. You can no longer output charts to RTF because the results aren't very good.

• Clicking the Values button in Step 2 of the report wizards nows displays an empty list of values rather than no list at all if the selected table contains no records.

• The Filter Condition dialog now shows the correct list of tables and fields in the Cross-Tabulation and Chart Wizards for new reports.

• Linking to another report on certain types of fields now works correctly.

• Stonefield Query now properly handles a table or field that has "SELECT" at the end of its name (for example, "TaxSelect").

• Failure to connect to the update Web site when checking if a new version is available no longer causes an error message to be displayed.

• A second error that occurred while displaying the error message for a first error that may have occurred in the Preview window (for example, when running a linked report that had a problem) was resolved.

• The report drop-down list that appears on the Link page of the Field Properties dialog now shows the correct icon for chart reports.

• In previous versions, if you created a report but didn't go to Step 6 of the report wizard, everyone could run the report but only you could edit it. Now, the default is that everyone can both run and edit the report. You can, of course, change this in Step 6.

• A problem with the Chart Wizard hanging up after previewing a chart report that had no data in it was fixed.

• There is no longer a problem with displaying reports created by users with user names longer than eight characters.

• Pressing the Esc key while a report is running from one of the report wizards no longer causes an error.

• A problem with a filter condition containing an apostrophe under certain conditions was fixed.

• The Import Reports function now displays a proper error message if you select an empty file to import from.

• Clicking in one of the activation code boxes in the Registration dialog or Add License dialog after activating the program online added spaces to the activation code, making it invalid. This has been fixed.

• Changing the parameter information for a linked report caused the wrong information to be stored. This was corrected.

• An issue with the automatic update mechanism on Windows Vista systems was corrected.

• The Page Up and Page Down keys no longer move you from one page to another in a wizard; this feature prevented these keys from being used in other controls, such as drop-down lists. Instead, use Shift + Page Up and Shift + Page Down.

• An issue with the Login dialog sometimes appearing off-screen (and thus not visible, leading you to think the program had hung up) was fixed.

• Email addresses selected in the Select Email Addresses dialog are now separated with commas rather than semi-colons to prevent an issue with some email programs.

• The New Folder function in the File menu is disabled for runtime licenses, since it doesn't make sense to create a folder if you can't create any reports in that folder.

• Stonefield Query now respects changes to the font style for a field in a report (for example, making it bold).

• The Ignore this condition choice in the Conditions list of the Link page in the Field Properties dialog acted like None (that is, you were still prompted for an ask-at-runtime condition); this now works properly.

• The Advanced Report Designer no longer sizes a field past the right edge of the report when it automatically determines the size.

• Using the RunSQL function in the Advanced Report Designer with a SQL statement containing a join now works correctly.

• You can no longer resize the Reports Explorer window so small that the reports list is hidden.

• The Registration dialog now gives you a warning if you click the Print button without first filling in the serial number, and the prompt in the dialog tells you that value is needed.

• The hotkey for the Advanced Layout function in Step 5 of the Quick Report Wizard was changed from "V" to "D" so it doesn't conflict with the Preview function.

• A bug that prevented case-insensitive filters when the filter Compare to setting is set to Field was fixed.

• A bug that sometimes caused the login dialog to appear off-screen so you couldn't see it was fixed.

• Importing a report that uses a module that doesn't exist any more (for example, it was renamed) no longer makes the report invisible but instead resets the module to All.

• Grand totals at the end of the report no longer appear on a second line if they will fit on the first one.

• Renaming a user in the Maintain Users and Groups dialog automatically moves all their reports to the new name.

• A bug that sometimes caused a filter condition to be mangled if it contained a single quote (for example, SomeField = 'Barney's Store') or a pair of empty quotes (for example, SomeField = '') was fixed.

• The cFilter property of the loReport object is now set to the filter for the report.

• Fixed a bug where, if two different databases had identical paths, but different drive letters, Stonefield Query would skip one of them.

• Deeply nested databases no longer cause a crash.

• Added a missing relationship in the Job Cost module (Job to Commitment).

Version 3.10

New Features

• A new report type, Chart Report, allows you to create charts and graphs of your data. You can even include charts in Quick and Cross-Tabulation reports.

• Stonefield Query now supports live links on reports. This allows you to create reports that drill down to other reports (for example, clicking on a customer name to show the sales for that customer) or automatically bring up someone's email address in your email program or Web site in your browser.

• Stonefield Query now keeps track of your software maintenance expiry date: the About dialog and License Manager both show the date. Stonefield Query reminds you when your software maintenance is due for renewal and prevents you from running a newer version of the program if your software maintenance has lapsed.

• It's now much easier to discover when new versions are available and to install them. By default, Stonefield Query automatically checks our server once a day to see if a newer version is available. If so, a dialog describing the new features displays and you have the option of downloading and installing that version. Note that updates are only available to current subscribers. You can turn off automatically checking or change how often checking is done with settings in the Options dialog. You can also manually check for updates with the new Check for Updates function in the Help menu.

• Stonefield Query is now fully compatible with Windows Vista. It takes advantage of Aero Glass and the new system Segoe UI font for a more attractive, modern appearance, scheduled reports work correctly, and there are no errors during installation as there was with the previous release. In addition, files which Stonefield Query needs to write to, such as the license file and users table, are no longer stored in the program folder, which is by default read-only, but instead in a Data subdirectory of that folder for new installations (the location hasn't changed if you upgrade from an earlier version). You can change the location of this "system" file folder with a setting in Data.INI.

• Stonefield Query has a more modern icon:

• The new Preview Window has several new functions, including the ability to output to file and better control over printing options.

• Many new file output formats are available, including OpenOffice Calc and Writers, XPS, and several image file types.

• Professional licenses are now called Report Designer licenses to make it more obvious what they are for.

• You can now sort summary reports on fields other than the grouped fields. For example, to display sales by product, with the biggest selling items at the top, select the product name field and group on it, select the sales amount field and sum it, on the Sort Options page, sort on the sales amount field, and on the Formatting Options page, turn on the Summary report setting. In addition, you can use the Customize Report dialog to display only the top 10 (or some other number) selling items. In earlier versions, you needed to write AfterData code for the report.

• Turning off the new Display this field in the report setting (which is on by default) in the Field Properties dialog includes the field in the query but not in the report. This is useful if you want to sort or link on the field but not display it.

• You are now prompted if you wish to discard your changes when you click Cancel or press Esc in the report wizards. This prevents accidentally losing any work you've done on a report.

• The Email Properties dialog now supports a lot more email addresses, plus you can click a button to display a dialog to select from a list of email addresses. The new Import Email Addresses function allows you to bring email addresses from other applications such as Microsoft Outlook into Stonefield Query.

• Many windows are now resizable.

• Multiple monitors are now supported.

• Advanced layout reports can use a new built-in function called RunSQL. This function executes a SQL statement at report run time, so it can do complex calculations without requiring a user-defined function.

• AfterData code can now be simpler. A new variable called ResultSet contains the name of the result set so you can SELECT from it. Also, any result set created and selected in the code is automatically used by the report without you having to change the name of the result set normally used.

• The Summary option is now disabled for advanced layout reports, since those two features don't work well together.

• You can no longer change the Format or Style properties of a column field in a cross-tabulation report because the template used for the report determines those properties.

• The reports table is now compacted every time you exit Stonefield Query. This can reduce the size of this file considerably.

• The Report Date setting on the Options page of the Reports Explorer is now a drop-down calendar, making it easier to select the desired date.

• All of the sample report templates we provide are now automatically imported and available for use without you having to use the Import function in the Template Editor.

• You can no longer use a comma in a report name because commas cause problems in some areas, such as being able to email a report; many programs treat a comma as a special character such as a separator.

• Changing the name of a report now also changes the report header as long as it wasn't manually changed (that is, if it was the same as the report name before, it's changed to match the change in the report name).

• Stonefield Query now supports the "File Location" feature in Timberline Office, which allows you to change the location and name of a particular table. You can continue to report on tables that have been moved and/or renamed using this feature.

• GL Account lookups in various tables now show account title instead of the account number. Also, when reporting between a table with multiple GL Accounts and the GL Master Account table, you can choose which field you would like to perform the join on.

• Custom Fields of type 'Miscellaneous' are now supported (i.e. Checklist1, Checklist2, Text1, Text2). When you rename a field like this in Timberline Office, you will see it represented this way in Stonefield Query as well.

• Added two new command line parameters (TIMBERUSERNAME, TIMBERPASSWORD) to handle logging in to the database from the command line.

• Improved the speed of table discovery. This will decrease the startup time of Stonefield Query for Sage Timberline Office, especially when opening a database for the first time.

• Various enumerated types in the SM module have been changed to enumerated types in Stonefield Query. This means that you will see what each field represents (i.e. "Closed" or "Pending") instead of the numeric value actually stored in the database (i.e. 10 or 20).

Bug Fixes

• The Count button in the Filter dialog now works correctly when a report involves two or more tables.

• Reports with ask-at-runtime filter conditions being previewed when called from another application now prompt the user for the values for these conditions rather than failing to run. They will continue to fail if called for any other type of output (output to file, email, or printing).

• Right-clicking in a code window (displayed, for example, when you select the AfterData page in the Customize dialog, right-click in the code text box and select "Zoom") and choosing Build Expression no longer gives an error.

• Moving a field to the data area and then dragging it to the column area in Step 3 of the Cross-Tabulation Wizard no longer formats the field as a numeric value.

• A common cause of an "insufficient rights" warning received when importing a report was fixed.

• Images referenced in an advanced layout report as an expression are now handled properly. Also, multiple images stored in tables in an advanced layout report are now handled correctly.

• The Advanced Report Designer no longer automatically changes the width of a column heading for a field when you change the width of the field.

• Fields defined with zero width are no longer removed from the query when you make the report into an advanced layout report.

• A bug in handling the ACTION command-line parameter was fixed.

• An issue which gave incorrect results when previewing a report in the Quick Report Wizard, then removing a field from one table and adding a field from another table was fixed.

• A bug which didn't size certain fields wide enough when Auto-fit is turned on was fixed.

• An issue which caused groups to be repeated under certain conditions was fixed.

• An issue with selecting a field after choosing a new table in Step 2 of the report wizards not resulting in the mover or Values buttons being enabled was fixed.

• A bug in adding new groups in the Maintain Users and Groups dialog was fixed. Also, the Duplicate function was removed from the shortcut menu for this dialog.

• Adding a GROUP BY clause in a custom SQL statement for a report now works correctly. Also, subqueries are now handled properly.

• Selecting a report now resets the Use same filter next time report is run, Use same sort next time report is run, and Use same options next time report is run settings.

• Date fields now work correctly when used in the rows of a cross-tabulation report.

• A bug which caused certain fields added in the Advanced Report Designer to be sized with zero width was fixed.

• The Test function in the Email page of the Options dialog now works properly when MAPI is selected.

• You can now blank the Report Header option if you wish. Formerly, doing so caused it to revert to the report name.

• Outputting to text files now properly handles memo fields.

• Renamed SM "ServiceSite" table caption to "Location" to reflect what it is called in Timberline Office.

• Added a missing relationship between Job Cost Job and AP Distribution to facilitate Job Cost reports that use AP.

• Fixed a bug in the 'GetNonexistantTables' script where some special characters like '&' in the database name caused a crash.

• Fixed a bug where Stonefield Query for Sage Timberline Office would crash on startup if the GL tables were missing.

• Job Cost - Cost Codes are now padded so they sort properly.

• Made minor changes/fixes to various captions to better reflect the way they appear in Timberline Office.

Version 3.04

This is the first release of Stonefield Query for Sage Timberline Office.