What’s New in Office Connector 2.02.0017

Posted 4/6/2009

  • Improved compatibility with Timberline 9.5 and above:  Non-administrative users can now access data folder paths longer than 68 characters in length.
  • Added the ability to suppress and re-enable optimization prompts for workbooks created using Office Connector between versions 2.01.0023 and 2.01.0033.
  • Minor updates to the look of various windows.

What’s New in Office Connector 2.02.0016

Posted 2/16/2009

Improved Network Connectivity

  • Adds the ability to use a Viewer license while connected on the network using a computer that does not have Timberline installed.
  • Resolves the issue where a mapped drive that is not actively connected causes an error message to be displayed "Unable to open the license file.  Please contact technical support."
  • Resolves the issue where a mapped drive that is not actively connected is not recognized by the setup program.  This update eliminates the need for the workaround of opening a subfolder of the mapped drive in Windows Explorer.

What’s New in Office Connector 2.02.0012

Posted 12/23/2008

Support for Timberline 9.5 and Windows Vista

This update is forward-compatible with Timberline 9.5 and Windows Vista.  Note that for Office Connector - Write users, this means that the location of the recap reports has moved.

Enhanced Licensing

Licensing functionality has been greatly streamlined by consolidating multiple windows and menu items into a single wizard that can handle all of your licenses at once.

  • New - Standard and Designer licenses for Office Connector Query and Write.  Standard licenses provide an affordable solution for users who only need to refresh or write data.  Designer licenses augment the Standard license feature set with design elements like the Query and Function wizards.  With Office Connector 2.02.0010 you can have any mix of these license concurrencies for your company.
  • Online licensing provides a greatly streamlined process to automatically request and enter multiple sets of license keys in a single step.
  • You can now release concurrencies without closing Excel.

All New Office Connector Administrator

The Office Connector Administrator program is not included in the standard setup package, but is available to administrators by request.  Click here to see a video tutorial.  Note that you will need to install the Camtasia codec to see the video; a link to the codec is displayed under the video player controls.

  • Control Office Connector toolbar visibility per Windows user.
  • Control access to Designer and Standard licenses for Query and Write per Timberline login.

Other Enhancements

  • The Save As Values feature now supports the new file extensions introduced in Excel 2007.
  • The function and query wizards now display internal field names along side the friendly names.
  • Online help was updated and expanded.
  • The HTML in the Write Results report was enhanced to support browsers other than Internet Explorer.
  • Validation checks and backward compatibility features were removed, resulting in lower memory requirements and a faster startup experience.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed the OCSetConnection macro so it now refreshes workbook functions when called from the WorkbookOpen event.
  • The focus is now restored to the table / field list after the user clicks the Preview button, so keyboard continues to navigate the list.
  • Fixed aggregate performance optimization to correctly handle filters that contain NULL.
  • Fixed a bug in the Write Results report where a null key in the first record would cause the report to be displayed catawampus.
  • No longer require the user to close Excel in order to free resources used by closed workbooks.

What’s New in Office Connector 2.01.0041

Posted May 30, 2008

New Features

  • Click on a query and then click the Edit Query toolbar button to edit using the wizard.  If the query has been customized in a way that is not compatible with the wizard then you will be given the option to edit the SQL instead.
  • When a workbook from a prior version is opened, you will be prompted to let Office Connector optimize it.  For compatible workbooks, this will automatically “fast forward” you to an optimized state.  For older workbooks, please contact our Services department for assistance.
  • There is now an SQL Monitor window that shows in real-time what data you have loaded and how long it took to load.  It also shows a history of table changes so you can see the self-optimization behavior in action.  This feature is enabled via the Advanced tab of the Preferences window.  Once enabled, the window will automatically pop up the next time a workbook function is evaluated.

Performance Enhancements

  • Filters in TSCount and TSSum functions are automatically converted to use “Where technology” whenever possible, resulting in HUGE performance gains for large data sets.
  • The method for reading data for workbook functions has been enhanced to be self-optimizing according to which columns are actually being used.
  • Templates now employ a faster technique to fix the #NAME? issue when opening a new workbook.
  • Load time for non-Office Connector workbooks has been decreased (actual speed up depends on your Timberline setup).

Other Improvements

  • The Add-in and the templates have been digitally signed to help take some of the pain out of dealing with the heightened security features in Excel.  If you opt to “Trust Event 1 Software”, then you will not receive macro warnings when opening our templates.
  • When using the wizard to insert a new query, existing data is always moved to make room regardless of the Move existing columns setting, which now only affects the subsequent behavior.
  • The Optimize Workbook Functions button has been added to the tech support toolbar so you can optimize a workbook without refreshing it.
  • The TSWrite wizard now checks to see if rows can be added to the selected table and uses that information to enable or disable the Create and Create or Modify actions.

Bug Fixes

  • The duplicate refresh of queries that would happen when the FirstRefresh property is set to “Manual” and the Refresh Timberline Data button is clicked has been fixed.
  • Eliminated the duplicate prompt for a data folder that would sometimes occur when the TimberlineDataFolder custom workbook property was set to “Prompt” and the user canceled the first prompt.
  • Zero and blank values are no longer being skipped by the TSWrite function.

Maintaining Compatibility

  • Timberline 7.5 has case-sensitive operator IDs, so the last used operator ID is no longer being stored as upper-case.
  • ADO behavior has changed to use NULL for blank dates, so the wizard now inserts NULL (it used to insert two single quotes).
  • Excel behavior has changed to automatically remove the named range associated with a query, so the Import feature has been modified so if a runtime error occurs when deleting the named range, it is ignored.

Technical Notes

  • In preparing for Timberline’s upcoming move to Vista, many files have changed locations.  Files that used to be stored under the Program Files or Windows directories are now located under Documents and Settings under Windows XP.  View the System Information report to see the new locations.
  • There is no longer any need to set the TimberlineDataFolder custom workbook property to “Prompt” in order to force a workbook containing only queries (and no functions) to prompt for a data folder.
  • Adding a custom workbook property LoadAllColumns and setting it to “1” will turn the self-optimizing behavior off.
  • Adding a custom workbook property UseFilters and setting it to “1” will turn the “Where technology” enhancement off for TSCount and TSSum functions.

 

Have an earlier version?  Click here to see the revision history for older releases.