What's new in version 14.5 - January 2014

This topic lists the additions and improvements incorporated in InfoAsset Mobile version 14.5 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

Connectionless System Support

Connectionless systems / devices are now fully supported. Connectionless systems are devices used in the field to fill in the forms generated and configured using the InfoAsset Mobile Office version. They do not require a data connection and have the Field version of InfoAsset Mobile installed purely for data field collection purposes.

Administrators can now manage connectionless systems from within the Office version. Connectionless systems are set up using the Field version of InfoAsset Mobile. A DCSL.xml key file gets automatically generated in the chosen default save location. The directory selected as default save location and the key file should be copied onto a removable device, and the file should be opened in InfoAsset Mobile Office for validation. See Setting Up Connectionless Systems for more information.

The following new functionality is available to administrators of the Office version:

• The Field Licence Management dialog has been improved so it now allows users to validate connectionless system connections and to allocate licences to connectionless systems.
• The Tools menu has been enhanced with three new options:
  • Users can configure connectionless systems by using the Manage connectionless system… option of the Tools menu. This displays the Manage Connectionless System dialog where applications, networks, users and synchronization parameters can be set for the selected connectionless system. These settings:
    • define the applications and networks that can be accessed on the connectionless system.
    • control which users are allowed to log in.
    • specify the default synchronization behaviour.
  • Synchronization between a connectionless system and the InfoAsset Mobile server may be performed using the Synchronize connectionless systems… option. Synchronization should be implemented in the following instances:
    • to upload to the server data that has been collected in the field.
    • to transfer changes made on the server onto the connectionless system.
  • Connectionless systems can be viewed in a connected Office client by selecting the View connectionless system... option. This displays the View Connectionless System dialog. By clicking on the View button of this dialog, users can access the connectionless system and carry out further work on it (generating, editing, merging reports) from within the Office client.

Refer to the Connectionless System Management topic for more information.

Unit Conversion Enhancements

Improvements have been made to unit conversions. The overriding type available from the Options dialog has been removed as it was outdated and unused. This means that display units set at application level via the Application dialog can no longer be overridden by a global setting.

Instead, the override can now be implemented at form design time, directly on the numeric boxes involved, via the use of the DisplayUnit property. Clicking on the ellipsis button adjacent to this property displays the Display Unit dialog. This dialog allows users to specify custom display units for non-InfoAsset Manager numeric boxes and to override the system display units specified at application level for InfoAsset Manager numeric boxes.

Diagnostic Tool Set now available

A set of diagnostic tools is now available to all InfoAsset Mobile users via the Diagnostics option of the Help menu. These tools are meant to help with identifying the cause of issues that may arise when using the software. Available options are:

• Enable diagnostic information - Activates / deactivates the display of diagnostic information such as application id, network id and form / report id on the InfoAsset Mobile interface.
• View dynamic data... - Displays dynamic data for a selected choice list or custom data source.
• Open location... - Open a standard Windows Explorer dialog showing the current log file location.
• Open report location... - Opens a standard Windows Explorer dialog showing the current report directory.

Refer to the Using the Diagnostic Tool Set topic for more information.

Application

Forms

Grid report data entry made easier

It is now possible to specify at form design time how data is to be entered and edited in report grids. Report grids are controls can contain one or more check boxes, combo boxes, date pickers, FromToClock controls, image selectors, numeric, text and time fields. Report grids are identifiable in the various toolboxes by the icon . For example, Hyperlinks, Materials details and Resource details are grid reports belonging to the InfoAsset Manager CCTV survey object.

Users can now select whether report grid data is entered / updated in the grid itself or in a form. The use of forms makes the data entry significantly easier.

Behaviour is set at form design time by using the new UseFormToEdit property of the report grid control:

• No - no form, report grid data is entered / edited in the grid itself (similar behaviour to previous versions of InfoAsset Mobile).
• Yes - Report grid data is entered / updated in embedded forms.
• Popup - Report grid data is entered / updated in popup forms.

If using the embedded form option, users will be able to access an embedded form in a collapsible panel located at the bottom of the report grid control. When a row/ column (depending on the grid orientation) is added or edited the embedded form will become active and information can be added or updated there.

If the popup option is selected, clicking Add, Edit (See Report Control Buttons) or double clicking on a row / column (depending on the grid orientation) will result in a popup form being displayed. The information in the report grid can be added or edited in that popup form.

See Report Grid Edit Form for more information.

As part of these changes, the Button Editor has been enhanced with two additional options - CCTV or Manhole Survey Details with a video capture and CCTV or Manhole Survey Details with no video capture. Configuring a button using the first option will capture an image and time codes from the video (the video will be captured simultaneously) and add them to the Details grid. Selecting the second option will add a defect to the Details grid, but without an image.

Additionally, any Details report grid present on CCTV and manhole survey forms containing a video capture object and a video capture button configured will now only show a Delete button since entries should be made using the button object.

CodeLookup control now available

The CodeLookup control () is a new control destined to be used to define pipe defects for CCTV and manhole surveys. The control has been added to the Details report grid of CCTV and manhole survey reports. It is also available from the generic toolbox. Please note that only WRc standards are currently supported.

In reports where a form has been configured to help with data entry (UseFormToEdit property of the related report grid set to Yes or Popup), the CodeLookup control will be represented on the popup form by a text box and as many combo boxes as required. Users can either directly enter a defect code in the text box, or build the code from the combo boxes by selecting the desired option at each step. When an option is selected in the first combo box, the next combo box gets automatically populated with valid values. Select a value until a valid code is generated. Once a valid code has been generated any required fields will be highlighted in orange on the embedded or popup form. 

Further validation is implemented on the Details report grid. See Validation now implemented for defect codes in Details report grid of CCTV and manhole surveys for more information.

New Auto Map functionality available when linking forms

An Auto Map button has been added to the Link Forms dialog to allow automatic field linking based on name matching. It is still possible to manually link controls between forms / reports but this functionality has the advantage of allowing users to automatically and rapidly link fields that have the same LabelText.

Ability to empty the recycle bin from within forms

An Empty recycle bin context menu option has been added to the recycle bin object of the toolbox allowing users to empty the recycle bin from within the form designer. The user will be warned if there are non-InfoAsset Manager objects in the recycle bin, and offered two choices : delete all the objects present in the recycle bin regardless of their type or just delete InfoAsset Manager objects. 

As the information of non-InfoAsset Manager objects is retained (properties, links, etc) when they are sent to the recycle bin, this gives the user the possibility of keeping such objects in the recycle bin, so they can be re-used on the form at a later date without having to be reconfigured from scratch.

Improved validation of text and numeric properties of InfoAsset Manager objects

To prevent truncation from occurring during import to InfoAsset Manager, restrictions have been placed in the form designer on certain validation fields of text and numeric controls relating to InfoAsset Manager objects. The values of the Length, Maximum, Minimum and Precision fields have been set to the InfoAsset Manager default (maximum allowable value) in the property box of the related control and can only be changed to a value smaller than the InfoAsset Manager default.

Toolbox Multi Language Support

Network toolboxes (Collection toolbox and Distribution toolbox) now display network object information in the language of the user's locale. If no translation is available the default English description will be used and displayed.

Reports

Validation now implemented for defect codes in Details report grid of CCTV and manhole surveys

As part of the introduction of the CodeLookup control, the Details Report Grid control of CCTV and manhole surveys has been adjusted so that validation is performed according to the selected WRc standard. If any entry is invalid, an icon with an exclamation mark will be added to the side of the Details Report Grid, along with a tooltip containing a brief explanation of the encountered issue(s). The extra information provided by the tooltip should hopefully help users in the field when inputting code defect information. See Use of CodeLookup custom control to facilitate input of CCTV and manhole survey defect codes for further details.

Enhancement to FromToClock control in reports

As grid report data entry is now an easier process thanks to the new UseFormToEdit property of report grids, the FromToClock layout has been rationalised in reports and now shows two combo boxes (From and To) for generic report grids. The behaviour of the control has not changed for report grids relating to InfoAsset Manager objects (still showing two combo boxes).

Maps and Layers

Ability to set / clear layer visible extent and improvements to Configure Map Layer dialog

To improve overall performance and layer visibility on maps (this includes the Map tab and the Map Designer), options to set / reset layer and layer label visibility have been added to the Configure Map Layer dialog. Up to now, similar options were only available via the Map Designer and therefore could only be applied after layer creation.

If configured from the Configure Map Layer dialog, layer visibility and layer label visibility must be set for a layer prior to the layer being added to a map. Users have got the option of hiding the layer / labels at a zoom scale that is higher or lower than the current zoom scale. When the Configure Map Layer dialog is invoked for a layer for which visibility has been set, the Layer preview will show the layer zoomed into the set extent.

As part of these enhancements, a new option has been added to the Configure Map Layer dialog. The Use InfoAsset Manager configured field names option applies to dynamic layers and when enabled, indicates that user-defined field names that may have been specified in InfoAsset Manager will be used in the definition of the corresponding layer in InfoAsset Mobile, instead of the default InfoAsset Manager field names.

Server Management

Adding networks to InfoAsset Mobile is now simpler

The process of adding new networks so that they are available for selection by users has been improved. In previous versions, this process required various services to be restarted on the server, as well as the processing loop to be stopped and subsequently restarted. Now this is entirely manageable from InfoAsset Mobile, via the Server Management dialog. Please refer to the Server Management dialog topic for detailed instructions.

Support for basic maintenance of InfoAsset Mobile databases

For the purpose of basic index maintenance of InfoAsset Mobile Microsoft SQL Server Databases additional functionality has been added to the Mobile Data Server service.

Index maintenance is essential for optimised running of the database queries.

The following maintenance options are accessible from the InfoAsset Mobile Configuration Tool which is part of the InfoAsset Mobile Server Suite:

• Maintenance_Enabled - use to enable or disable this feature to enable / disable maintenance.
• Maintenance_Hour - use to specify the hour of the day to run maintenance tasks (if maintenance enabled).
• Maintenance_Period - use to define how often maintenance tasks are to be executed (if maintenance enabled) - Sub-options are daily or weekly on a specific day.

Please note that this new feature is not required if databases fall under external database management schedules.

Additions and enhancements for the 2021.5.1 patch - February 2014

Improvements to CCTV survey creation on map from pipe

The method for creating a CCTV survey directly on a map from an existing pipe has been improved. The message that gets displayed after the pipe is selected has been simplified and made clearer. It now contains the following buttons:

Upstream - select this option to survey upstream (upstream node will be the finish manhole)

Downstream - select this option to survey downstream (downstream node will be the finish manhole)

Cancel - select this option to abort survey creation

Selecting one of the two first options will pre-populate the survey's start and finish manholes accordingly.

See Creation on pipe in the Creating Reports on Maps topic for more information.

Ability to capture CCTV defects with no video running

The Button Editor has been enhanced with a an option allowing users to capture CCTV defects by using video capture for time stamping purposes only without any image or video being actually captured. This is useful for manned entries for which there is no video capturing device available. Please refer to the Button Editor and the Video Capture topics for more information.

Ability to capture camera meterage, including zeroing functionality

A Meterage / Chainage page has been added to the Options dialog of InfoAsset Mobile to allow users to switch the recording of meterage / chainage on and off. This is to allow for moving cameras into suitable positions before starting surveys. Often a camera will have to be moved down a pipe before it is in a suitable and stable enough location to start the survey. The survey will need to be recorded from that point and at a meterage of 0m although there may actually be a small distance down the pipe already.

Communication parameters can be set in the Configure Meterage Capture dialog, which is accessible from the Meterage / Chainage page of the Options dialog.

When meterage / chainage capture is switched on, CCTV/Manhole Survey reports that have a Details report grid in their layout will exhibit an additional button on the grid. This Zero Meterage / Chainage button () allows field users to apply an offset to the meterage / chainage value or to zero it.

Enhancements to input of Defect data in CCTV / Manhole Survey Details report grids

Each defect code requires certain values and some of these values are not permitted or applicable to other codes. In order to enforce accurate and efficient input of standards and to prevent incorrect and invalid data capture, the EnforceStandard property has been added to Report Grid objects.

When this property is enabled (set to True) on a Details report grid, the entry of fields that are required for a defect type is made mandatory. If these fields are not provided a Mandatory icon () will be displayed against the field or the defect row, and the report cannot be completed. Fields that are not required for a defect code become disabled or read-only. This way it is no longer possible to add defects without providing all the mandatory values.