Bug fixes with 4.509 :  calibrate label printer had a couple of bugs:

• Label list would show wrong printer selection
• Could not access print test page, would show error message about wrong label offsets.

Includes database changes. You'll need to log all terminals out during upgrade

• Bugfixes with recent changes to cash till report. Department tally was not resetting, changing dates did not refresh screen. Both issues now fixed
• Overhaul label printing to make it easier quicker
  • Introduce notion of having multiple printer targets. So you can have two or more label printers, or mix report/label printing to avery paper without having to reconfigure stuff
  • Configuration should now be hopefully simpler
  • Disable preview screen and just print the labels (save keystrokes)
  • Ability to print a detailed shipping label (shows shop name + phone  + email of customer)
• Workshop jobs now track estimate job is based on. Reports to come shortly.
• Manage website : include tools to manage image menu thingo

• Redesigned workshop dashboard list works when highlighting items to deal with performance and selection reliability issues with using remote access
• Fixed control order for browse dealer units so newly added new/used filter does not receive focus when window is initially opened
• Bugfix with counting sale history for reserved/layby items. Was double counting sale in 12 month figures (full history though works correctly).
• Bugfix with adding parts onto workshop estimate/job : was adding parts as GST exempt if F9 was pressed in point of sale screen : should never do this
• Reports that require date range :redesigned data inputting of these screens so date entry is integrated with other report filters to make reports easier to use. Affects:
  • Workshop: profit, warranty, promise, staff
  • Unit: profit
  • Spares: variance, received orders
  • Other: cash till
• Workshop profit report: option to group report based on mechanic
• Website freight options : ability to enable/disable based on initial spend. i.e. Free freight only available for spend >$50

• Units
  • Dealer units : show and style new/used units. Also permit filtering of new/used
  • Sale : show deposit and changeover on confirmation screen
  • Setup option to disable duty on spares/workshop line items added onto a sale (works globally)
  • Allow deifnition of liability line items in unit costs
• Spares
  • Restore ability to delete account records for spares sales
  • Receive spares : redesigned printout so it is blindingly obvious which items are for spares or workshop or units/sales
• Workshop
  • Hot key on (S)pares in add parts/labour

Encountered enough of these to make it worth while adding a page on them. Also the manual is 400 pages long, which is a bit excessive to work through for simple, common task of adding STX, so here is a cheat sheet:

Adding STX/ETX

Step 1 - set Barcode Structure as Prefix + Data + Suffix

Read more...

Bugfix with emailing some reports: does not set email subject correctly, sets subject to blank were previously it was something useful.

Redesigned orderbook slightly, removed 'merged' view on status/order number views. Also allow parts to be added/modified for sent orders. (i.e. last minute order tweaks phoned through)

Print barcodes, access F6=view part from here

Usability issue/bug with last version.

Newly added 'do you want to close' nag screen on recieve orders was also popping up after receiving an order, misleading the operator into thinking the receive was not processed, clicking on F10 would double receive the order. Smartened things up so it only nags when something was likely modified and never nags after a successful receive.

Includes database changes. You'll need to log all terminals out during upgrade.

• Spares
  • Allow 100% discount on invoices
  • allow change description on parts on invoice (affects invoice only, not price/master file)
  • Receive order : permit setting of daily or stock, system will default buy price for newly ad-hoc added items accordingly
  • Reserve/Pickup later : make it obvious on pointout whether or not money is still owing.
  • Bugfix: under some usage scenarios invoivling ad-hoc parts ordering it was possible for parts to be added into stock without a description, system was unable to utilise description keyed into the ad-hoc order item. Now fixed
  • Bugfix : pressing enter on qty req on edit in point of sale would erroneously show qty info that is only relevant when doing customer pickup. Now fixed.
  • Improved fuzzy part matching logic to simultaneously cope with both zero trimming and with configured prefix trimming, correctly selecting correct part number (especially useful for dealers migrating from biscount to c9)
  • Warn user when closing spares receive screen with parts on it, to help protect against accidental loss of work while receiving orders
  • Stock types : permit blank stock type for purposes of clearing a parts type
• Units
  • View all units : show customer name as well
• Workshop
  • Overhauled how workshop invoices are tallied so they are easier to interpret.  Spares/Labour/Other are separated into sub totals with line items for discount + final price for each sub group.
• System
  • Disallow user to key in date beyond 9999
  • Store dates beyond 9999 in database correctly. Previously would store '20150'  as '0150' truncating extraneous leading digits
  • Change workshop browsing to not throw errors on screen when jobs have ridiculous dates attached to them (i.e. 150 B.C. causing int32 numeric overflow error on the database).
  • Fixed annoying usability issue with scrolling lists. Some lists when scrolled to the right, would reset to the far left if you tried to then scroll the list up and down.  Now when lists are scrolled up and down the system should retain the horizontal offset of the scrolled list.
  • Very technical tweak relating to graphics subsystem required to make tweaks to point of sale to allow modification of part description. (after window is opened, wait until graphics operations have processed before continuing application logic behaviour so that any behaviour that relies on widget sizing information has access to size information after window resizing actions etc have completed, previously AWT event loop and clarion event loop would race and AWT event loop would usually lose that race).

A few minor tweaks and tidies in this version

• Dropped TeamViewer as our preferred remote support tool, now using Single Click Ultra VNC.
• General
  • new setup option to control whether system defaults to secure or reprintable gift cards
• Workshop
  • Select job type: now implements incremental search. i.e. type in 'MAJ' will search/jump to MAJSERV for example
  • Create new job from estimate, system gives option to use either pricing on the original quote or to use latest prices. (Previously would always use pricing on original quote)
  • Job locking, system no longer jobs job for stuff unrelated to modifying the job itself, i.e. view modify/customer, view unit etc, view the job (without modifying)
  • Job locking,  system allows you to goto modify job screen for a cancelled terminal lock, but you cannot modify/save changes made here. (c9 warns you of this)
  • Parts on order :changed nag screen on complete/pickup job to reflect what really happens when you finalise a job with parts on order. (Customer is billed for those parts)
  • Fixed some screen refresh bugs with warranty payment management
  • Fixed recently estimate move line item buttons, was appearing on every tab, not just cost/tally tab
• Spare parts
  • Import parts from  workshop estimate asks whether or not to use pricing on estimate or current pricing

Alot of helpdesk/support problems are typically solved over the phone using tooling within c9 itself. Though occasionally we need to take full control of a computer in order to help resolve some issues.

TeamViewer seems to be the standard toolset used by most IT support people in the industry.  Though ongoing dispute with TeamViewer over their deceptive pricing model has marred our experience with them and attempts to get them to provide the service that c9 paid for have been fruitless.

I've finally moved onto a new toolset, the new toolset has a number of advantages.

• Download from our website is >10 times faster
• No longer require ID or Password from teamviewer to work
• No longer tripping over incompatible versions of teamviewer, which can be a real pain when teamviewer is installed as a windows service