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.

Photo Module Pages For Web Interface

Previously our web page interface for ZonePro SQL did not have any Photo Module pages because there was no way to view any of the images. Now the web interface will have a Photo Module section. You can only view photos and PDFs that have been copied to the internet database, but you can see the basic field information for all the photo records. We will also include an option to add photos and PDFs to ZP SQL directly from the web interface. In this case those images will be stored on the internet without a local path. The other limitation, at least for the moment, is that there is no Batch Loader option for the web. You have to add photos one at a time. With the addition of this feature we will be discontinuing our experiment with the Web Album internet option. Thanks to all the customers who helped test that feature.

Photo Batch Loader Redesign

In order to give users the option of storing copies of photos on the internet we decided to redesign the Batch Loader in the Photo Module. It now has a series of tabs that you move through; more like a wizard-style interface. On the opening tab there is a new check box option to "Save Image In SQL Database On The Web." This does just what you expect, saving a copy of the image on the internet. In the tab that has the global fields there is now an option to define an "Album" name for all of the moved images. One final change occurs when you use the Preview Pane option. I added a right-click option that allows you to move a file from one list to the other while previewing. This is a handy shortcut if you are being selective about which photo you want to place in the Images to Move category.

New Photo Module Fields

To allow for storing photo paths or storing a copy of the photo in an internet database, we've added some new fields to the Photo database. There is now a "Web Store" field which is either true or false. ZonePro takes care of this field itself. You cannot edit this field. Another new field is the "Folder Link" true or false field. There has always been an option to mark a record as a Folder Link when you were adding a new record, but previously that bit of information was not saved. And finally we have added a new field called "Album." This field was added for organization purposes. It gives you a way of creating subgroups of photo records within a given property. The idea is that any given property can have multiple photo "Albums" and you can easily view just the album you are interested in. When you click on the Camera icon on the Property Screen you are now prompted to choose the "Album" you wish to view. This should make it easier to find what you are looking for when a property has accumulated lots of photo links.

Photo Module Now Has On-line Option

One of the modules I have struggled with in the conversion to ZP SQL is the Photo Module. The problem is that we only store the path to a linked photo and that path is typically only valid on your local network. The great advantage of ZP SQL is that you can use it anywhere. You are no longer tethered to your local network. And that works great...except for the Photo Module. I have tried several solutions and none of them have been sufficient. This new option may not be perfect either but it is the best so far. The Photo Module has been enhanced so that it gives you the option of both storing a local path and storing the image in  a database on the internet. The copy that is stored on the internet is then accessible anytime you are not on your local network. You can even store copies of photos on the internet using the Batch Loader. There are some limitations we are imposing to keep the internet storage option from getting bogged down. You can only store JPG images and PDF non-image files on the internet. All JPG images are resized to no larger than 1024 x 768. Each customer is allotted 1,000 free photo records stored on the internet. This new approach gives you the flexibility of three storage options: 1) You can continue to use the Photo Module to store just the path of locally linked files; 2) You can store local links and place a copy on the internet for remote access; and 3) You can store a copy solely on the internet.