Work is starting on Schedule XP v7

No release date is set. More details soon. Upgrades from version 6 purchased in the 6 months prior to release will have a free upgrade.

Math Einstein is ready

Math Einstein is now ready. It is version 3 of the software. Thanks for you patience.

Math Einstein is almost ready.

The last 2 months have been very busy for me. Math Einstein which is the follow up to Math Challenge has been the center of my attention. It is starting final beta testing now. There are so many cool features that I will have to list in a later post. Math Einstein will get it’s own web site which will look similar to Schedule XP but is still under construction.  More details to come.

Some users requesting smaller Fee Tickets

I am working on some ideas to shrink the Fee Ticket size. It would be nice if we could fit 3-4 on one page to conserve paper and ink. I don’t have a solution yet because I would like to keep the full page Fee Tickets in addition to adding the smaller ones. I am looking at ways to give you the option of one vs the other.

Schedule XP version 6.58 released

Changed the way main forms are displayed. Common forms now resize to different screen resolutions. I may do some additional tweaking later now that more information can be displayed on larger screens. Download Site

Form Resizing

Several users have asked why the forms don’t automatically resize in version 6 like they did in version 4 & 5. The simple answer is that we now use a Tabbed form interface in Access 2007 instead of the Overlapping Windows view. Users have loved the Tabbed interface even at the expense of form resizing. With monitors getting bigger and bigger the form resize code was making the controls on the forms cartoonishly large.  Access 2007 uses a different method of stretching controls to fit screen resolution. Initial testing of this feature provided unpredictable results on complex forms.

Recently I have begin searching for solutions to this issue. Results have been more promising using the default Access form resizing tool. See for yourself.

  This is what the Schedule form looks like on a 23in monitor

The resized form on the same monitor.

 

So far I like what I see but further testing is needed.

Can’t find backend database message when installing/upgrading to newer version

If you get this error message when installing a new version or patch:

1. You have your Schedule_be600.accdb file in a location that currently isn’t accessible such as a shared drive
2. You are missing the schedulexppath.mdb file from the c:\worldpt directory which tells the patch where to re-link to your data

In situation 1, you will not be able to connect to your data until it is made accessible. In situation number 2 your data will display provided it is stored in the c:\worldpt of the current computer which is the default location.

Solve problem 1 by making sure the computer where the backend database is stored is not in sleep mode or turned off. If the shared drive is available but you still can’t see your data then attempt to re-link to your backend database.

Re-link the database by selecting the Utilities ribbon menu and then the Re-link button. You will see the network form below.

Check to see that the database is in fact link to the correct location and if not use the browse button to select the Schedule_be600.accdb you need to link. After re-linking is complete you should see your data.

If you can see your data but get the Schedule XP could not locate error then you are missing the schedulexppath.mdb which stores the location of you data file. You can download the file below.

In situation 2 the error is followed by the log on form which takes you to your data. This situation ONLY occurs when you install a patch for the first time or re-link to your backend database.

Solve problem 2 by downloading the schedulexppath.mdb file here and extracting it to the c:\worldpt directory. Schedule XP stores the location of your data so that you do not have to manually re-link to it when you upgrade or install a new patch.

Schedule form Date Selection Calendar

 

You can choose where the pop up calendar shows on your screen by clicking of the properties menu. There are several other options available such as how many months to show and other display parameters.

Here are the keyboard shortcuts for the Date Selection Calendar

The following keyboard commands can also be used to change the current month.

PAGE UP (VK_NEXT) Move to the next month.

PAGE DOWN (VK_PRIOR) Move to the previous month.

HOME (VK_HOME) Move to the first day of the current month.

END (VK_END) Move to the last day of the current month.

CTRL + HOME Move to the first visible month.

CTRL + END Move to the last visible month.

Selecting a nonadjacent month

When a user clicks the name of a displayed month, a pop-up menu appears that lists all months within the year. The user can select a month on the list. If the user’s selection is not visible, the month calendar control scrolls its display to show the chosen month.

Selecting a different year

If the user clicks the year displayed next to a month name, an up-down control appears in place of the year. The user can change the year with this control. The month calendar control updates its display for the selected year when the up-down control loses focus. The related keyboard commands are:

CTRL + VK_NEXT Move to the next year.

CTRL + VK_PRIOR Move to the previous year.

Selecting the current day

VK_LEFT Move to the previous day.

VK_RIGHT. Move to the next day.

VK_UP Move to the previous week.

VK_DOWN Move to the next week.

VK= arrow keys

Schedule XP Version 6.56 released

Changed the type of patch file that we use to update Schedule XP. Now the download is less than 3 meg. The file is a self-extracting archive. Simply download and run the patch.exe. You will be asked for a location to extract the files….Choose c:\WorldPT directory. Make sure Schedule XP is closed when you run the patch. Simply restart Schedule XP for the new changes to be implemented. The archive includes on front end file called ScheduleXP.accdr

This update slightly modifies the Appointment Type view on the Schedule form to be more user friendly.

Schedule XP version 6.55 released

Fixed a couple of situations where appointments could be scheduled where times didn’t exist. Revised the ‘Appointment Types” view on the Schedule form. The appointment times are now showing in the audit form. You can find the update here.