46 Support

Program Update: Report Defaults

Exciting News! TOPS Software is pleased to announce the release of an upgrade to our Report Defaults program:

• By default, all reports printed from Report Defaults will be in the standard report format. The advantages of running the standard set of reports will be apparent - not only in the look and feel of the new reports, but also the added functionality within Report Defaults.
   
• Report packages are now merged into a single PDF document. This means that instead of a series of individual reports, you will now have your entire report package available to you in one single file. This report package file may be printed, saved, sent in an email, or exported to a TOPS Community Web Site.
   
• You may now arrange the order in which your report packages will be generated using the new "Report Order" feature. This will apply not only to the order in which reports print out of the printer, but also to the order in which they will be combined in a PDF for email or archival purposes.
   
• Print to Printer, File, Web and Email functions have all been updated to more efficiantly generate reports.
  • Print to Printer (through Set Defaults window) will prompt for the filename of the merged document (so it can be changed if needed).
  • Print to File will generate the document in PDF format and then open it. It will not automatically print it.
  • Print to Web will generate the merged PDF report package, then upload it to the community web site (if one exists). Once completed, it will show a message box saying that the report has been uploaded.
  • Print to Email will open a field allowing the user to save the email address they want the reports to go to. It will not automatically send the email.
       
• Using Print Reports from the Report Defaults menu will use the printer specified in the Report Default settings.
   
  • The default filename of the merged document will be the description of the report default settings, followed by the current date in brackets, with a file extension of .pdf.
  • The default file path of the merged document is in the Report_PDF folder inside of the community ID folder. (C:\TOPS2000\XX\Report_PDF)
  • To accomommodate for automatic scheduling of report defaults through Job Streaming or Calendar there is little user interaction. Therefore, by design, running a job more than once on the same day will overwrite the original file.
     
    
• For those of you who prefer the classic report format, a new option to 'Use Classic Report Mode' has been added. This option will not allow you to select Print to Email or Print to Web, nor will it allow you to set the Report Order. You may still Print to File in Classic Report Mode. This option will generate a seperate file for each report, which may be accessed under File, Previous Version Filed Reports. For full Report Defaults functionality, we recommend that you keep the option to 'Use Classic Report Mode' turned off (unchecked).
   
• An automated conversion has been written for the Report Default settings, so you will not lose any report defaults packages you had previously created.
   
• While we expect that these changes will have a dramatic effect on Job Streaming, testing the interaction of Report Defaults with Job Streaming is still underway. We will keep you up to date as we progress with this testing.

We are excited to present the updated Report Defaults program to you. The changes that have been made to this program represent a number of suggestions we received from our customers, combined with a great Development team and extensive and thorough testing from our Quality Assurance department. We know you will be pleased with the results.

If you have any questions about this change, our Support Technicians are always happy to help you with all your support needs. You can contact the TOPS Support Department at (800) 899-5689, or e-mail to support@topssoft.com.

by Tony Mechas,
Quality Assurance Manager

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