Generating Reports

technopak

Hi,

I'm sure we all use reports from Aware at some time.

Something I've noticed when you are generating a report from a significant amount of data - the UI behaviour is a bit odd.

When I click on my button to Create Document, the report generator works away gathering the data etc before producing a nice PDF on screen. The problem is that there is no indication that the PC is actually doing something while the data gathering is going on. Usually this means a user clicks multiple times on the Create Document button causing a system error.

Does anyone know how to indicate the progress of a report being generated to the user ? A recognisable timer widget which indicates that something is going on would be really useful.

Any suggestions ?

Peter

himanshu

I agree with peter, if there could be similar animation like when we hit any process it shows, it would be nice.

aware_support

Version 4.8 will have some improvements in this area

PEFS

Hi Support,

That is very exciting. Can you elaborate on the changes that are coming in 4.8?

Thanks!!

aware_support

It's not a major version, but it will have a few significant improvements. This is an extract from our change log for this version:

Improvements:

Ability to refer to images in tags to use in e-mails
DISPLAY MESSAGE ASYNCH option
Save form when selection changes option for controls with choices
EXEC_SP action
NMB_OF_SESSIONS function
CURRENCY_SYMBOL function
CLEAN action
Ability to concatenate PDF reports in one PDF (MERGE INTO ONE in DISPLAY DOCUMENT for reports)
Export of locale
10.MAKE DIRECTORY action

New features:

Background processes for visual perspectives
Auto-refresh for queries
3, Queries implemented as stored procedures
Recurrent appointments
Handling of long processes in the background

Bryan

Sounds awesome. When can we expect 4.8?

aware_support

Most probably early next week.

technopak

Hi,

Maybe it's just on my system, but I can't see any change in this area -

When you Create Document directly from a menu option, there is no indication to the user that the system is processing data. A report will appear when the required processing is complete, but a period of inactivity onscreen occurs.

A workaround that I've discovered is to Create Document from within a process. Then the 'Executing' message appears giving the user some comfort that something is happening.

Anyone with similar experience ?

Peter

aware_support

A change for background processing only applies to processes and only if you specify the time after which the system should switch into the background mode. If you have a long process (doing, for example, large import or performing queries and processing large quantities of data) you can specify the time after which the process will switch into the background mode.

Let's say you specified 1 min. When the user runs the process he will see the "Executing" icon for 1 min. During this time the user will not be able to do anything with his system. If the process finishes within 1 min, the user can continue. If the process takes longer, after 1 min. the "Executing" icon will disappear, so that the user can continue working with the system. The process will continue to run on the background and its progress will be reported on the status line. When the process finishes, there will be a quiet notification message to the user about this fact.

technopak

Thanks support,

That's a very useful improvement to the system.

My issue was when you assign the Create Document action to a menu item in a Visual Perspective - there is no 'Executing' message for such document generation.

A simple workaround is to Create Document within a process - and use the new background process feature to provide processing information to the user.

Peter