Has anyone downloaded and used build 374? I am holding off on installing it in our training install as we have been referring back to it for things we did during beta testing, though such use is minimal of late.
Anyway, we have had some issues with printing. Occasionally the logo we added on our forms doesn't print or prints a solid color rather than our logo. I wonder if others have had similar issues and if so, did build 374 address the problem?
I like the idea of a database optimizer, enhanced item lookups, and the GL elimination of year end journal.
I hope to download the update soon and will post my findings. If you have any insights in the meantime, post away.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Thursday, January 24, 2008
DGA users group
A more appropriate forum for sharing ideas may be a google group http://groups.google.com/. I could carry content over. Let me know if you have interest. If we can get ten users I would say that will be useful. Until then....
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Queries, queries vs. reports
I have created several queries over recent days. One will serve to allow us to accrue and calculate a commission based on information entered on the sales order. Another is a log of daily shipments cross referenced with the sales order terms. This latter query cross references information from the SHIPMASTER,SHIPDETL, and JOBS tables.
I have found several SQL query commands not listed in the DBA tutorial that actually are supported in the system, or I guess I should say, are supported by Firebird. This includes "group by" and features to extract and use dates. I have also created column headers which I can't remember whether that was documented.
Still, while queries are useful, the average user doesn't want to have to fiddle within the structure of the SQL query. It would be better if I could create a report that allowed users to specify a date range from a table and out comes the results ina user friendly format, along the lines of how the spreadsheet generators work in the utilities menu. A report would also allow the query to extract the information into a customized format rather than into a simple spreadsheet format. I am not sure if DBA has any built in facility to accomplish this (add spreadsheet generators), but I haven't seen it. My only thought is to add an ODBC driver and create reports outside the system that will extract the information, using Excel or Crystal reports. I'm not now using and not looking forward to having to purchase and use Crystal reports or setting up special spreadsheets for this purpose. I have become quite familiar with the report writer supplied with DBA, but this seems like a rough cut tool to use for the purposes outlined above, and again, I don't see any ready way in the system to utilize the report writer for this purpose. Perhaps time and imagination will provide some ideas or inspiration, or perhaps a poster here.
I have found several SQL query commands not listed in the DBA tutorial that actually are supported in the system, or I guess I should say, are supported by Firebird. This includes "group by" and features to extract and use dates. I have also created column headers which I can't remember whether that was documented.
Still, while queries are useful, the average user doesn't want to have to fiddle within the structure of the SQL query. It would be better if I could create a report that allowed users to specify a date range from a table and out comes the results ina user friendly format, along the lines of how the spreadsheet generators work in the utilities menu. A report would also allow the query to extract the information into a customized format rather than into a simple spreadsheet format. I am not sure if DBA has any built in facility to accomplish this (add spreadsheet generators), but I haven't seen it. My only thought is to add an ODBC driver and create reports outside the system that will extract the information, using Excel or Crystal reports. I'm not now using and not looking forward to having to purchase and use Crystal reports or setting up special spreadsheets for this purpose. I have become quite familiar with the report writer supplied with DBA, but this seems like a rough cut tool to use for the purposes outlined above, and again, I don't see any ready way in the system to utilize the report writer for this purpose. Perhaps time and imagination will provide some ideas or inspiration, or perhaps a poster here.
Custom menus?
I notice there is no information on the custom menus feature in either DBA help or the DBA support knowledge base. I may experiment with it, though I think other priorities exist.
GL reference information
It seems to me I should be able to adjust the transaction information captured to the GL to customize it to our operations or to simply make it more meaningful. For example, when a part is picked to a job, I'd like to distinguish between a backflush and manual picking. I'd like to know what location it was picked from, the job it was picked to, and the quantity picked. For invoices generated, I'd like to know the sales order, the invoice number, perhaps the customer name or account number. For shipments, I'd like to track the sales order number, the item shipped, the quantity.
I don't expect DBA programmers to precisely pick the information that I find most relevant, but they overlook most of the useful information that could be captured. DBA does not have to think this all through. DBA should set up reasonable defaults and let users customize the information captured.
I don't expect DBA programmers to precisely pick the information that I find most relevant, but they overlook most of the useful information that could be captured. DBA does not have to think this all through. DBA should set up reasonable defaults and let users customize the information captured.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Screen/grid configuration options
I don't understand why there are only two options for screen/grid configurations. We need all users accessing the sale order list to see certain fields, such as the order status and a field we added, released (as in released for shipment). At the same time we'd like to make certain fields more prominent to draw users attention to them while also eliminating unnecessary white space. So, I'd like to be able to change grids at an administrative level for all users, not have to choose between users freely editing their grids or keeping DBA defaults. Ideally, I'd like a hybrid where the administrator can enforce some fields being viewed while allowing users to customize from there.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
DBA Manufacturing recently deleted from access the user group. I've created this independent users blog so that users may post programming suggestions and laments, feature requests, questions, and generally seek and share help, share experiences and get advice from other users. I'd also like to get an idea of the user base of the software to gain insight on the resources available DBA Software Inc. as they support and develop this software.
Cheers
Cheers
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