SQL Sweeper Tweak for Apostrophes

One of the pitfalls of using SQL databases is that you have to be extra cautious handling apostrophes. Apostrophes (or single quote marks) are used by SQL to delimit field values so when a field value has an apostrophe as part of the value (e.g., O'Hara) it can cause problems. A customer found the latest example in the SQL Sweeper tool. He was unable to make changes to a field value that contained an apostrophe. I have fixed that issue and you can download the update but there may be other apostrophe issues still lurking in parts of the system that we haven't found yet. Always report any error messages to us so we can keep improving.

Faster Occupant Searches

A customer pointed out to me that their Occupant name searches took far longer to return results than their Owner name searches. Looking at the SQL tables used in the searches it seemed like the problem stemmed from the fact that a relatively few number of property records had Occupant names defined so the search had to wade through a sea of blank names before it got to anything meaningful. I changed the underlying search table so that now an Occupant search only searches through property records that have an Occupant name listed. Because of this you'll notice that the Navigation Screen will show a much smaller quantity of Total Pages when you do an Occupant search. You should also notice that those searches are much faster. This is a change I implemented to your SQL data behind the scenes so you do not need to download anything to get the new search process.

Understanding Local Copy Options

In several of the Maintenance screens there are "Create Local Copy" button which have led to some confusion among users. The purpose of these button is take maintenance data stored in remote SQL databases and create a local copy on your PC or server. Then when ZonePro later needs access to that data, it will pull it from the local copy rather than make a SQL call across the internet. It's just another way of reducing remote SQL calls and thereby speeding up your system. The problem is that you should only create a local copy if you are completely done editing the relevant Maintenance database. Once the local database is created, changes made in the Maintenance screen will update the SQL database but not the local copy; and since it is the local database that is being pulled by the application screens, etc., it looks like the changes did not take at all. To help alleviate this confusion I have added a new wrinkle to these buttons. Now when you go into a Maintenance screen, if a local copy of the database exists the "Create Local Copy" button will instead read "Delete Local Copy." Deleting the local copy reverts the button back to "Create Local Copy." If you need to edit a Maintenance database you should always be sure to delete the local copy first if one exists. You can always create a new local copy when you finish. Deleting the local copy is always safe because the real copy is the SQL one that is stored remotely. New updates are available for download that implement this change.

Notekeeper for Building Inspection Details Notes

The Notekeeper option has been added to the Notes tab of the Building Inspection Details screen. It works identically here as it would in the main permit Notes tab. In other words, to create a Notekeeper topic for an Electrical inspection you would define the topic in Maintenance first using the "Electrical" database. This topic would then be available for you to select as you enter notes in either the Electrical permit record itself or in the Inspection Details notes for an Electrical permit.