What's New in Version 13.0 - August 2012

This topic lists the additions and improvements incorporated in InfoAsset Mobile version 13.0 which were not available in previous versions.

Please note that this new version also includes various enhancements and bug fixes that are not described in detail here.

General

Application and form history now available to Administrators and System Administrators

Enhancements have been made to the Manage Application and Manage Forms dialogs so that they now include a History button.

When an application or form is highlighted and the button clicked, the history of the relevant item is obtained from the server and displayed in either the Application History dialog or the Form History dialog. History information for applications includes the last user to have edited the application, the user currently editing the application and the last upload date for that application version. For forms the history information includes the last published date and the last user who has edited this version of the form.

Ability to customise dynamic data sources

In previous versions of InfoAsset Mobile only collection and distribution InfoAsset Manager choice lists could be used as dynamic data sources. In the latest version dynamic data sources are fully customisable. Administrators and System Administrators can create, edit, copy and delete dynamic data sources in the new Manage Dynamic Data dialog. This dialog is available via the Manage dynamic data... option of the Tools menu. Customisation is implemented in the Setup Custom Dynamic Data dialog and simple values or expressions can be used to generate combo box values.

Improvements to user pin number

The user pin is no longer limited to 4 numbers. It has been enhanced so that it can now contain a maximum of 100 alphanumeric characters, making it more of a password. Please refer to the Log In dialog for more information.

InfoAsset Manager prefix now user-definable

InfoAsset Manager data flags are a powerful tool for recording the source and integrity of data. Please refer to the InfoAsset Manager help for more information. In InfoAsset Manager, fields that originated in InfoAsset Mobile are assigned a special flag. Most of the time, this flag consists of a prefix and the user initials (See InfoAsset Mobile data flags in InfoAsset Manager and User dialog for more details). In this version of InfoAsset Mobile, the prefix character can be changed from the default asterisk character (*) using the Configuration Tool located on the server. Any character can be used apart from the hash character (#) which is reserved for InfoAsset Manager built-in flags.

New keyboard shortcuts available

Keyboard shortcuts have been implemented to capture map images and copy coordinates in the Map View, and open InfoAsset Mobile views. This allows users to access quickly existing functionality that was only available previously via toolbars and menus.

Ability to print the map displayed on the Map tab

The Print... and Print preview options of the File menu are now enabled whenever the Map View is the current view, allowing users to print the map displayed in the Map tab.

Improvements to layer configuration

The Configure Map Layer dialog has been redesigned. The Projection section has been moved before the Configure Symbol dropdown list and now contains a Use the default map projection check box. This means that users can now associate the default map projection system with layers or, as it was previously possible, select a projection system of their choice.

Also, when configuring a local dynamic layer it is now not possible to set a projection system anymore. This is because local dynamic layers now use the default projection specified for the application. If none has been set, a warning will be displayed to users, offering them the possibility to do so.

Finally, the option to select the fields to include in a local dynamic layer has been removed from the Configure Map Layer dialog. Now InfoAsset Mobile automatically includes all the fields used as column headers in the Saved and Completed tabs, as well as any optional items such as scheduling details and work order approval data.

Performance enhancements for report bulk deletion

The Clean up tool available from the Tools menu has been improved so that the process is quicker and more efficient for the deletion of large numbers of reports.

Improvements to error handling process

When an exception occurs in InfoAsset Mobile, a message with a More information link is now displayed to the user. Clicking on the link shows the stack information generated by the exception. The message can be copied or captured by right clicking. This can be useful for diagnostic purposes.

Application

New application setting allowing Administrators to restrict report download

ScheduleDownloadOnlyAllocatedReports is a new property of the application that has been added to the Application dialog. When this property is enabled, users at the level specified in the ScheduleFilterByAllocatedReports property or below are not allowed to download other users' reports. The Download current users reports only option, usually accessible via the Reports menu, the Download Schedule toolbar button () or the Options dialog, is not available to such users. This is particularly useful in instances where InfoAsset Mobile is being used by several contractors performing work on the same network. . It may not desirable for each contractor to have access to work other contractors are carrying out.

When the ScheduleDownloadOnlyAllocatedReports property is disabled, no download restriction is applied.

Forms

In Development flag for forms

Forms now have a flag called In Development. This flag affects ALL versions of the form and so any report generated using any version of the form. The purpose of this flag is to mark forms created for testing purposes before they are deployed to all users. In Development forms are hidden from the New tab to any non-Administrator users, therefore no reports can be generated by these users from these forms.

The flag can be changed at different stages of the form lifecycle:

• At form creation. Newly created forms are marked by default as In Development before they are first saved. At form saving time, the user is given the choice to keep the flag or clear it. 
• At form saving and editing time. The status of the In Development flag can be modified for an existing form when it is first saved after being edited.
• When an application is published. InfoAsset Mobile checks it for In Development forms at publishing time. If any are found, the user is offered the option to clear the flags before publishing or keep the flags as they are.

Additionally, when an application is loaded (which occurs at login time or when the user changes application), if the user is a System Administrator or an Administrator and there are any In Development forms, a prompt is now displayed informing the user of the presence of such forms.

The introduction of this flag for forms has an impact on associated reports. Non Administrators can only view (not edit) existing reports generated from In Development forms and cannot download such reports, either explicitly or as part of the schedule download.

Please refer to the In Development Form Flag topic for more information.

New ValidationRules property

A new ValidationRules property has been added to the Validation section of the form designer for text, numeric, combo, date and time controls. This allows users to implement validation rules at field level, as well as cross field validation.

Clicking the button adjacent to the property displays the Validation Rules Editor that allows the user to specify one or more rules for the selected field. The button inside the dialog can be used to set up rule expressions. The editor that gets subsequently displayed depends on the field type (Related Date / Time Validation Editor for date / time controls or numeric / Text Validation Editor for numeric / text box / combo box controls). In these, users can specify the date, time, value or string to compare against. Date and Time fields can be compared to other fields of the same type, a specific date/time or the current date / time. These can also have an offset applied as days, hours, minutes and seconds (for time). Numeric fields can be compared directly to a value, a field or an expression. Text and combo boxes are simple equal (=) or different from (<>) case-insensitive comparisons.

Rules are validated against when a report is saved or completed, and can be tested against an unpublished form. Each rule is evaluated and if fails then InfoAsset Mobile warns the user. The user then has the choice between continuing with the save and cancelling. The offending field is highlighted in the error message that gets displayed.

Static data filtering now available

Static data can now be filtered at run time by network and related field values. The Combo Box Editor has been enhanced to allow users to enter filter information (Filter box) as well as network restrictions (Network box) if required. As part of these improvements, the combo box / list box property previously known as DynamicContentsKeyField has been renamed to ContentsFilterField as it now applies to both dynamic and static data. Additionally the FilterDynamicData and FilterDynamicDataCharacters properties have been added to combo boxes. These properties can be used for lists with a large number of entries and allow values to be filtered by the user typing the first N characters (N being defined in FilterDynamicDataCharacters).

Enhancements to control dragging and dropping in the form designer

When a user drags an item or control onto a form and that there are more items below/above the visible area, the form designer window is now scrolled to bring the area of interest into view. This is particularly useful for large forms or when adding controls to the top or bottom of a form.

Improvements to the deletion of empty rows / columns in the Designer

The prompt asking for confirmation is no longer displayed when empty rows or empty columns are deleted in the form designer making the process easier.

Enhancements to GPS coordinate

GPS Coordinate values can now be inserted into report grids. The GPS Button Editor has been improved to allow the user to select either the form (similar behaviour to forms pre-version 13.0) or any report grid present in the form as a target for the GPS values. The individual target fields are then set as for forms, using the bottom part of the GPS Button Editor, except that the available fields are report grid fields whose type is compatible with the GPS parameter to configure.

In reports, when the GPS button is clicked, a row is automatically inserted at the end of the report grid (before the empty column) with the selected GPS values.

InfoAsset Mobile will assume that the form is the target for forms and reports generated before version 13.0.

Reports

Ability to search for reports

A Search tab has been to the InfoAsset Mobile Main Window allowing users to search for reports for viewing or editing purposes. This tab can be open by clicking on the Search tab, clicking on the Search reports toolbar button ( ), selecting the Search reports option from the File menu or pressing the F7 key. The search may be conducted on one or several filters, based on report title, last saved date range, schedule date or resource, report status and a restricted number of fields inside reports.

Please refer to the Searching for Reports topic for further details.

Additional options available on the View menu and the Saved / Completed tab context menu

Enhancements have been implemented for the View menu of the Schedule, Saved and Completed tab views to list the available filters and to include a filter management tool.

The new Filter by | Manage filters option allows user-defined filters to be set up so that only reports meeting specific criteria are displayed on the views. Selecting the Manage filters option displays the Manage Filters dialog that allows users to add, edit and delete filters with the exception of the system Allocated filter which is read-only. These filters are user-specific and are saved with the user login, which means that they will be available no matter what system the user logs into. Filter configuration occurs in the Setup Filter dialog, which is accessible via the Manage Filters dialog.

Views can be filtered directly from the View menu, by using the Filter by option and then selecting the filter of interest in the list.

The None sub-option of the Filter by menu entry is only available to users whose user level is above the user level specified for the ScheduleFilterByAllocatedReports property of the application (see Application dialog for more information). When a user at the application configured level or below logs on, both the None filter and the option to select users to filter on (Resources tab of the Setup Filter dialog) are hidden. Any filters then set will be restricted to reports allocated to that user, unallocated or unscheduled reports.

Other improvements have been made to the Saved and Completed tabs. The following grouping options - Group by Scheduled date, scheduled resource, last saved date, type, task phase and work order approval - have been added to allow users to use a wider variety of criteria to sort reports by. These are accessible via the tab View menu or context menu.

Ability to move reports directly on the map

Point-based map-aware reports can now be moved directly on the map as well as be edited in the traditional way. The new Move report on map button () of the Map toolbar can be used to enable the Move report on map mode. In this mode users can select a report on the map and move it to a new location on the map. See Moving Reports on Maps for further details.

Option to copy fields from map layers onto report fields

The Select an item to use in a field button () has been added to the Map toolbar and the Use map item option has been added to the View menu to allow users to copy any map information from dynamic and static layers (this functionality is not applicable to local dynamic layers or images) onto open reports. This functionality is primarily intended for copying node or manhole IDs onto reports but can be used on any object present in dynamic and static layers. Please note that users must open reports for editing prior to using the toolbar button or the menu option. See Copying Map Information to Reports for more details.

Changes to the drawing of CCTV Surveys in the Map View

Up to now, unsurveyed CCTV reports would have a zero length geometry and therefore could not be shown on maps in InfoAsset Mobile. To work around this, CCTV surveys in InfoAsset Mobile are now shown differently to InfoAsset Manager. When a CCTV survey report is created in InfoAsset Mobile, it will be represented on the map over the whole length of the related pipe, not with the exact length surveyed as it is the case in InfoAsset Manager. In other terms, a line is rendered on the map between the pipe DS node and US node regardless of the length surveyed. This requires the used map to have a dynamic pipe layer for the network. If the pipe layer is added after the reports have been downloaded then these reports will need to be deleted and re-downloaded to update the geometry information.

When an InfoAsset Manager CCTV survey is downloaded from the server, InfoAsset Mobile will find the relevant pipe and use this to replace the geometry from InfoAsset Manager. Similarly, when a CCTV survey generated in InfoAsset Mobile gets uploaded onto the server and then imported into InfoAsset Manager, the related geometry will be regenerated by InfoAsset Manager.

Reports can now be filtered for schedule download

A new Download with restricted forms option has been added to both the Download Schedule toolbar button () drop down menu and the Download schedule option of the Reports menu. When enabled, this new functionality allows users to restrict the reports to download whenever a schedule download is invoked. This is achieved by selecting the new option on the toolbar or the menu and selecting forms in the subsequently displayed Restricted Forms dialog so that only the reports derived from these forms will be downloaded. These settings are saved in the user profile and will therefore be enforced regardless of the system the user is logged into.

Improvements to the resubmitting of failed reports

It is now possible to re-submit several failed reports at the same time for upload to the server. In previous versions only one failed report could be re-submitted at a time. Selecting a form parent node in the Manage Failed Imports dialog will re-submit all of its child reports. Refer to Managing failed imported InfoAsset Manager reports or more information.

Enhancements to report grids

Report grids have been made more flexible in this version of InfoAsset Mobile. To edit reports users can now insert new rows above or below the selected row of a horizontal report grid. Similarly new columns can be inserted to either the left or the right of the selected column in a vertical report grid. This is achieved thanks to the new button. In addition, the position of rows & columns can be moved either up/ down or left/right depending on the report grid orientation (See Orientation attribute of Report Grids), thanks to the and buttons or and buttons, respectively. Finally, row or column content can be copied either into a new position at the bottom or right hand side of the grid (depending on the orientation) or on either side of the copied row / column by respectively using the button and the button.

Server Status and Log Files

Improvements to error reporting in server management functionality

The Server Management dialog has been enhanced to provide simplified monitoring of the different server components (InfoAsset Mobile Server, InfoAsset Manager Interface and E-mail Server) and a simplified but more extensive range of features that can be used to control and diagnose common problems. Additional logged information and events relating to a specific service or to all services can now also be displayed in the dialog.

As part of these improvements, the status bar now indicates if there are warnings or errors with the server and provides a quick shortcut to the Server Management dialog where more detailed information can be found. Also, regular automatic server health checks can be set up by Administrators and System Administrators by using a new option of the Communications page of the Options dialog.

Error and communications logs can now be uploaded onto the server or e-mailed

InfoAsset Mobile has been enhanced so error and communications log files can be uploaded to the server or sent by e-mail to our Support team. The InfoAsset Mobile Help menu and the Log In dialog Help menu have both slightly changed. The View error log option has been removed from both menus and the Clear error log option has been removed from the menu on the Log In dialog. Two new options, Upload logs to server and Email log files have been added to the main Help menu. The first one allows users to upload the log files onto the InfoAsset Mobile server whereas the second saves the log files as a single compressed file on the user's desktop so it can be e-mailed to Innovyze for diagnostics.