NewViews 2.16
Released - December 8, 2009
This is a version change, not just a service pack. The service pack number is reset to zero. After installing this version, each workstation, server, or application database will be automatically processed the first time you open it. You will be asked for confirmation before any processing is performed, and as a precaution, a backup is made automatically before each conversion.
What's New
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User's guide (manual)
The NewViews user's guide (manual) is now online.
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Email
NewViews can now create and directly send electronic mail, with PDF and xls file attachments. Send email with mail-merged form letters, purchase orders, sales invoices, customer statements, and more.
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Mail Merge
Mail merge data from NewViews with MS Word templates.
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Print as PDF documents - including Totalto Graphs
With this version we add the ability to print directly to PDF (Portable Document Format). Also, Totalto Graphs can now be saved as pdf files. You may then use Adobe Reader to view and print the graph.
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Multiple Bill to and Ship to Addresses
Multiple Bill to and Ship to Addresses have been added to AR accounts.
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Updated Database Utilities
The nvcheck and nvreorganize utilities have been replaced by a single database utilities script. Like the nvcheck and nvreorganize scripts, database utilities can be run from the Windows start menu or by using a command line such as:
c:\nv>nv2 .script c:/nv/nv2.exe/system/database_utilities.qw_script
In addition, database utilities operations can be performed directly from DOS command lines or batch files, without bringing up the database utilities window. This allows database utilities operations to be scheduled using the Window Task Scheduler. Also new is a log file that tracks all database utilities operations to report success or failure as well as all errors encountered.
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Schedule Database Checks
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Command line options .script and .file added
The command line options -script and -file were used to specify a script to run or a workstation file to open. These are replaced by .script and .file. Other arguments passed on to scripts use a dot, not a hyphen, so this change was made for consistency. The hyphen arguments are retained for backward compatibitlity but their use is deprecated.
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US Payroll October & November 2009
New state income tax tables for New Jersey and Wisconsin effective October 1, 2009. New state income tax tables for California and Connecticut effective November 1, 2009.
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Canada Payroll New T4 electronic filing requirement
Note: Starting January 2010, if you submit more than 50 original T4s, you will be required to file electronically using the Internet. This means that if you previously filed returns on paper, DVD, CD, or diskette, you must now file over the Internet.
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Additional AR account fields
NewViews will soon be able to create EFT Debits, often called Direct Debit, Direct withdrawal, Pre-Authorized Debit or Pre-Authorized Fund Transfer. EFT Debits let your organization receive payments from customers/donors/members electronically and directly from their bank accounts or credit cards.
This version only adds the required additional fields to Customer Accounts Trade/Tax Info. Many users are facing a mountain of data entry and want to get started now. A future release will provide the remaining functionality.
Behavior Changes
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Checksums are now processed before converting a database.
Although a database is automatically backed up before it is converted to a newer version, it's checksums were not checked during the backup. Now checksums are checked before the backup is created. If bad checksums are detected, the database is not backed up and the database is not converted.
Additional note: The File>Backup command also checks the checksums and it does not create a backup if any bad checksums are detected. This prevents the backing up of "garbage" and also provides the benefit of early detection of problems. When you use a program outside of NewViews to create a backup, say Windows Explorer or a specialized backup utility program, then the checksums are not checked. This allows integrity problems to reach the backup copy and it also misses a chance to detect problems earlier.
If you don't use the File>Backup command to back up, then be sure to use database utilities to check your databases often, especially before backing up. The most important check to run is the first one, check_block_readability. It is very fast and detects the worst kind of low-level integrity problem: the one most often caused by hardware failure, especially memory, or by network malfunctions.
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Some print prompt windows "hide" irrelevant field values depending on output destination.
As the number of print destination/features increases (e.g. email, PDF files), the prompt windows become more elaborate. The relevance of several fields changes depending on the output destination, so only the values of the relevant fields are displayed.
For example, you may setup all 15 fields for a mail-merge operation with destination set to email. If you change the destination from email to display, all but 3 or 4 field values are hidden. When you change the destination back to email, all irrelevant fields that were hidden are displayed.
The idea is to keep the number of option setups to a minimum (i.e. you don't need 4 different setups just because there are 4 different destinations). Hopefully, this change makes option prompt windows easier to use.
NOTE: This change has only been applied to 5 prompt windows: Mail Merge, Print Invoices, Print Statements, Print Checks and Print AP Checks. Future releases with include the remaining prompt windows.
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Customer Statement dunning message selection respects customer's terms.
Prior to this release, the customer statement dunning message selection was based on the "true" age of the invoice (i.e. the number of days from the invoice date to the statement date). This release instead selects the dunning message based on the customer's "terms" age of the invoice (i.e. the number of days from the invoice due date to the statement date).
Problem / Bug Fixes
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Installing on Vista or Windows 7 left a bogus transient start menu item
Apparently something changed in Vista and Windows 7 because after installing NewViews, there were two NewViews items in the main Windows Start menu instead of the usual single item, i.e. for NewViews 2.0. The second item was a "transient" item that was supposed to disappear after installing, but which instead remained visible. This release fixes the problem.
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Deleting distribution items sometimes corrupted account history
This happened under relatively special circumstances. In particular, you add a transaction to an account ledger, add a distribution item to the transaction, issue the file save command, delete the distribution item, and then change the journal in the transaction header.
Note that the account history can be reorganized (rebuilt from scratch) at any time to fix any corruption. From the Window Start menu run NewViews 2.0>Database Utilities. When the database utilities window appears, pick the database you want to fix and isuue the Reorganize>Account History menu command. You can also issue the Reorganize>Database command but that reorganizes the entire database (including the account history) and it takes much longer to perform.
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Semiloops were sometimes incorrectly detected
When re-parenting an account (i.e. moving an account from one folder to another), the total structure is being modified and NewViews must check to ensure that the change does not introduce a semiloop in the new totaling structure. However, on rare timing-related cases, NewViews could report that a semiloop would be introduced when this was not the case. This release fixes the problem.
NewViews 2.16 - Service Pack 3
Released - January 6, 2010
What's New
January 2010 Payroll
Payroll update is the primary reason for this service pack
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Includes Delaware, Kentucky and Oklahoma January 01, 2010 tax calculation updates.
All Delaware, Kentucky and Oklahoma payroll users will require this version to process payroll after January 1st, 2010.
Problem / Bug Fixes
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Deleting a transaction sometimes corrupted account history.
This happened under relatively rare circumstances. In particular, in the bottom pane add a distribution item, or change the amounts of an existing item, and then click on the transaction header in the top pane and quickly delete the transaction. If you examine a report containing accounts posted from the transaction header, these amounts were out by the amount of the change. Note however, this problem did not occur unless you deleted the transaction header "quickly enough". This release fixes the problem.
If any report amounts are in fact incorrect due to this problem you may not have noticed it. The quickest way to find out is to check if the proof of your books is non-zero, say on the trial balance report. If there is any question about it, run the database utilities and issue the Reorganize>Account History command. This will ensure that all report amounts are correct.
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Some workstations could not be converted.
The workstation convert crashed with a "Could not load object from arguments..." error. This release fixes the problem.
NewViews 2.16 - Service Pack 2
Released - December 17, 2009
What's New
January 2010 Payroll
Payroll update is the primary reason for this service pack
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Includes Canadian January 1, 2010 tax calculation update.
All Canadian payroll users will require this version to process payroll after January 1st, 2010.
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Includes United States January 1, 2010 tax calculation update.
All United States payroll users will require this version to process payroll after January 1st, 2010.
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Added application database description (i.e. company name) to the about box.
It could be difficult to determine which database you were working on when your access was limited by the security system. The company name of the database is generally placed in the description of the root account and might not be available because of security. So it has been added to the about box, right under the database id.
Behavior Changes
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Processed payrun diagnostic Notes display four post decimal digits.
You could be confused when manually checking the logic of a payroll calculation which involves rates with three and four post decimal digits. This release displays two additional post decimal digits.
Problem / Bug Fixes
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Could not import from NewViews 1.
An inadvertant bug introduced in the previous release prevented importing from NewViews 1. This release fixes the problem.
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Could not convert a database if it had spaces in it's path.
A database could not be converted to 2.16 if it had spaces in any folder in the path to the database file. Prior to converting a database, version 2.16 performed additional checks on the database. This problem was introduced then these checks were added. This release fixes the problem.
As a result some server databases could not be converted. This release fixes the problem.
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Confirm window associated with expanding the object manager cache kept popping up.
A confirm window with the message "Expanding object manager object cache" would pop up, sometimes quite often. This message was simply a diagnostic intended only for Q.W. Page customer support staff, but due to a minor oversight was active while in general use. This problem was annoying but otherwise caused no actual harm. This release fixes the problem.
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Tools>Pay Account choked on undated transactions.
Accounts with ledger items with no date specified could, in some circumstances, cause an error. This release fixes the problem.
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Tools>Pay Account improperly offered to take discounts for invoices on *HOLD*.
Accounts with invoices dated prior to the discount period end, but placed on hold, where offered with a discount taken value. This release fixes the problem.
NewViews 2.16 - Service Pack 1
Released - December 9, 2009
Problem / Bug Fixes
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Install did not remove nvcheck and nvreorganize from start menu.
Version 2.16 replaced nvcheck and nvreorganize with a single script called database_utilities. Like nvcheck and nvreorganize, database_utilities is run from the Windows start menu but the installation did not remove nvcheck and nvreorganize. This release fixes the problem.
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An error could occur while converting a server database.
As a result some server databases could not be converted. This release fixes the problem.