• Xero changes
• Originally xero would try to sync records in bulk.  There are technically good reasons for wanting to do this (Xero has strict limits on # of requests per month and syncing in bulk substantially circumvents these limits) but there are technically good reasons for not wanting to do this: if a single operation in a bulk fails then the overall sync is problematic and the nature of the OAuth libraries c9 uses to access Xero means we are unable to pinpoint specific invoices that failed.  To deal with this c9 syncing works in two modes.  Normally it runs in bulk but if during bulk sync it encounters an error it flags that the next run will be done in single step mode.  In single step mode user gets information on failed sync operations and has option to abort/retry/skip individual items.  Once a successful run in single step mode is completed Xero will revert again to the more efficient but more error prone bulk mode.
• Sync received items : originally would use the invoice number keyed in. This can be a problem if there are duplicate invoice numbers. To cope with this a unique number generated by c9 is also added to the invoice number.
• Xero integration now contains the ability to sync entire business  activity/cash till report into c9.  This functionality is experimental and beyond the ability of a non-programmer to manage the configurations of this: as every different shop will have different information they want to sync, in different aggregate forms into different chart of accounts.  In coming weeks I will include some additional website posts that explain how to setup a basic archetypical configuration.
• Label printing:  added further changes to now hopefully get Dymo printer working.  Originally thought this was working but only tested it under Linux.  Now confirmed it can work under Windows 7 as well.
• Profit summary report : include entry for unit sale line margins.

• Tweak unit invoice so 6 digit invoice number prints without overlapping
• Receive orders : display list price, list*qty, daily and stock discount.  Useful for receiving Kawasaki orders, as invoices from Kawasaki show list price on line items
• Receive Order : view part. From here you can now access price file record; so you can tweak incorrect discount/list price values for example.  Again to help out with receiving Kawasaki orders

The following page describes how to setup c9 to work with zero.

Firstly in c9, goto:

• business
• synchronize

Select the option Xero, and click Synchronize.  (Also note that on completion this will cause last 30 days of invoices to sync to xero so you may want to adjust this)

Read more...

Includes notion of laybys for spare parts point of sale.  They behave almost the same as reserve, though are treated as separate from reserves.  Differences in behaviour:

• You cannot order parts on layby. Only stocked items can go on layby
• There is a new menu option in c9 that lists all open laybys. Looks similar to reprint invoice. From here you can finalize,cancel or add more deposit onto active laybys.

Other tweaks and fixes:

• Account tax exempt flag: would be ignored on invoice spares sales; but work correctly for all other sale types. Now fixed
• HTML email from miner can crash. Relates to recent changes where c9 will try to analyse <style> blocks in HTML content and apply them inline to actual html body items. Reason for doing this is that some email clients, like gmail ignore <style> blocks but majority of email clients work with inlined style="" statements.  Recent versions of c9 added intelligence to deal with this. But it fails under following circumstances:
• system is configured to route email via dealer's ISP's mail server; not C9's
• HTML contains style blocks
• Those style blocks contain comment blocks.

The following post explains how to setup google analytics and webmaster tools on your c9 powered website.  It does not provide a tutorial on how to effectively use these products. Only how to get them up and running.

Read more...

Includes database changes you will be forced to log all terminals out during upgrade

• Integrates into Xero Accounting system.  At this time only received spares orders are synced (Same as MYOB and Quickbooks)
• Export order : option to export order directly to other c9 dealers that have online shopping
• Reserve invoice : option to print as a docket (previously could only print A4)
• Unit invoice.  Some invoice configurations would look crap: printing header on page one and printing first unit on page two.  Tweaked logic for orphaning print items (i.e. items that must appear on the same page and not print on a new page if close to one another)
• Stock order : option to generate stock order for all suppliers. Also print total line
• Bug Fixes and Tweaks
• Send Email/SMS notification on received spares where mobile number was embedded into the customer order number.  The SMS would be sent correctly to the correct person but c9 would record the customer the SMS was sent to incorrectly under some circumstances.  Not a functional bug, but makes tracking down notifications very confusing.
• Phonebook: print supplier list would crash c9.
• Sales history report: option to filter by location as well
• print preview: option to jump to first or last page. Often want to look at last page for total lines
• Print preview: remove email padlock.

Bugfix with receive orders.

If you receive backordered parts for an accessory supplier, c9 would import parts on back order for all accessory suppliers, not just the accessory supplier selected.

If you receive parts for an accessory supplier.  C9 will consider all parts currently on order from all accessory suppliers for purposes or reassigning parts. Not just the selected accessory supplier.

Under almost all use cases this does not cause a problem for c9 (and in fact can be desirable behaviour for some users).   But if you use c9 to sync received orders into MYOB/QB then this is a bug.  C9 thinks that the received order contains a mix of parts form different suppliers, even though it may not.  As such the order is flagged in such a way it will not sync back into your accounting system.

Fixed so when receiving accessory parts c9 restricts part selection to only parts that belong to the same accessory supplier.

This bug in no way affected franchise suppliers. Only accessory suppliers were affected.

Includes database changes. You will be forced to log all terminals out during upgrade

• Regression bug fix : modify account. Could not set default discount for cash customer.
• Honda Dealer.NET integration.  Honda recently moved their website around, breaking C9's integration. Functionality to check part availability and order status within c9 is now restored.
• Receive order.
• Recently removed ability to set retail price on order items not on stock file.  Turns out alot of c9 users rely on this even though it does not work as you would intuitively expect under many circumstances.  Reverted and improved functionality
• Receive order : set retail price will override retail price set at point of order for customer ordered parts, if either of the following conditions are met
• Retail price on original order invoice is zero. (i.e. unknown)
• Option in setup 'Use latest retail price on pickup' is set
• Receive order.  Set retail price on backordered parts is memorised so when parts finally arrive there is no need to rekey retail price.  (Be careful though, as price is 'sticky'.  Subsequent changes to stock file price for example will not override retail price set when backorder was recorded)
• Automatically invoice cash orders on receive order. Logic has changed slightly.
• Will not do this is any part on order has a retail price of zero
• Will not do this is no deposit was taken on the original order invoice
• Xero accounting integration: this version of c9 rolls out with integration into Xero accounting package.  At the moment the integration is incomplete and non-functional.  All that rolls are dependant libraries and some non-functional code that demonstrate capability to login to xero via c9.

C9 powered websites allow account customers to request parts ordered are placed on account; making online shopping experience for them very easy.

The website previously would do the following:

• Display their account limit and balance due # of days limit
• Prevent them from using on account payment if they have exceeded their account limits

Just deployed some changes that allow the above to be configured.  Default settings are as follows:

• Do not display account/day limit on checkout
• Do not allow customer to use 'on account' as a payment method if they have exceeded their limits.

If you want to tune these settings for your website, contact Barney and he will arrange it.

Bug fixes

• Bulk stock take import.  UI changes damaged this function in an unexpected way.  You could not click on the (...) button to select Excel file. You had to key in file path manually. Now fixed
• Edit web order email template. Clicking 'save' would save template changes but not close the window: creating confusing behaviour
• Web order email template. Contained a subtle bug where certain custom email header templates would not render. Could be worked around by adding {''} at the bottom of the template. This version fixes the problem without requiring workaround/hack.  (Reason: html style blocks like { border: 1px solid } would try to convert as a placeholder; failing because they are not valid expression statements and loading global error variable with an error code. import bound function would see an error and although the evaluate() function yielded content assume the evaluation failed. Adding {''} would clear global error variable working around the problem. Fix involves explicitly calling clearError() inside the bound import function ).