Better Navigating & Sorting on Property Screen

Working on the Staff web site I figured out a better way to navigate from record to record in the Property Screen. I just applied the new technique to the Windows interface. After installing the latest Property update you'll see a new set of Navigation buttons. These will be the familiar 4 green arrows to those of you who came from ZP 32. Unlike before, the Navigation buttons are now always available, whether you have used the Locate Screen or not. Also you now have a First and Last button to jump to the beginning or end of the current sort. I have also added a Sort button, which again will be familiar to former ZP 32 users. This opens a screen that lets you change the way the Navigation buttons sort to determine the next or previous records. These changes should make the navigation options more smooth and useful.

Driving Directions Now Available

Another of the new Geo-coding  options on the Staff web sites is a page for Driving Directions. This page automatically displays a map showing the route from one location to another, along with written directions. You can save your From location, which I expect would be your community's office so that it defaults to that starting point each time. The To location defaults to the most recently selected property record. Of course you also have the option of typing in your own starting and ending locations.

Using Geo-coding to Find Neighbors

Each ZP SQL customer's Staff web site will get some new pages devoted to Geo-coding options. These are options that use the Latitude and Longitude fields to do mapping, etc. The most exciting page, I think, is the Find Neighbors page. This page uses the Latitude and Longitude fields to calculate distance between property records. It gives you the option to find neighboring properties around a starting property record and then uses the Tag field to mark these records. You can then print reports or labels for these records from the Mailing Label report screen. I've set up the Find Neighbors option to find properties at a radius of a tenth of a mile, a half a mile, or a mile. This option should be useful in many cases where you need to notify neighboring properties of a change a specific property wishes to make. This option only works if surrounding properties have their Latitude and Longitude values filled, so to facilitate that process another new page can be used to Map Streets. This page allows you to select a street name from a drop-down box and will then fill in the Latitude and Longitude fields for every property on that street that has a valid address. It's a quick and easy way to populate these fields.

On-Line Educational Meeting 8/19

I've been threatening to do this for a while but tomorrow I will host the first on-line educational meeting for ZP SQL customers via GoToMeeting.com. This meeting will demonstrate the recent changes to the Photo Module and show how it now supports the on-line storage of photos and PDF files. Space is limited for these on-line meetings but I expect there will be enough room for those who have the time and the interest. I hope to have many more such meeting if this one is a success. Details for the meeting are:

Thursday, August 19 at 10:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time.https://www1.gotomeeting.com/join/831437328

Adding and Deleting on Staff Web Sites

We're starting to enhance the Staff web site interface so that you can now Add and Delete records in some places. I recently wrote about the new Photo Module pages and the pages in support of the Tickler Message option. Both of these page sets offer the ability to Add and Delete records via the web site. I've also added those privileges to the Misc Fee page and the Contractor page. You can experiment with these options on our demo web site. 

Tickler Message Options for Staff Web Site

The Staff web site interface for ZonePro SQL now includes options for the Tickler Message feature. After you log in, the Main Screen will automatically show any unread messages pending for you. You can select a message to open it in its own screen. You can also add new messages to the system from the web interface. All of the main application screens have a "Tickler Message" button that will create a new message with references to the current record. This is the same as the feather button that appears throughout the Windows interface of ZP SQL. Once such a message is created you can then "jump" back to the referring permit record when you read the message. I think having a web interface access to the Tickler Message will make that feature even more useful because now you can check for pending messages from any web-enabled PC or device anywhere at any time.