When a major release like Workgroups 2010 R2 comes along, a lot is made about major feature enhancements. There are the dashboards, a new Advanced Workflow and Scheduling, an embedded web browser, and lots of other sexy features. All of these things are great for the developer, but many times, it’s the new "little things" about the product that can make the developer’s life easier when working to build or expand a system. Workgroups 2010 R2 has several of these features.
Form and Find Administration
Have you ever created a form that started out as a test which turned into something great that you wanted to use in Production… except it had an un-related name, such as "Test"? Or maybe you have wanted to create a new form that is based on an existing form. In both of these cases, you could create a new form and copy the original form contents from your form. That’s not very productive. In Workgroups 2010 R2, you have the ability to duplicate forms and rename existing forms. Duplicating a form is as simple as right-clicking any form and choosing the Duplicate option from the menu. Forms that have been duplicated take on all of the privileges which existed for the source form. Changing your form name can be done by typing a new name in the form name field in the File Cabinet and clicking Save. Plus, all of the Finds which were mapped to the original form name will be updated to reference the renamed form. Simple, right?
Form Library Import and Export Changes
Exporting forms and scripts from one system to another is as crucial to a developer as any other feature in the system. While the library import and export capabilities have been available since the beginning of Virtual Ticket, there are several new things related to the library import and export which can save you time. For example, did you know?
- Double-clicking a Virtual Ticket OSF or new VTL form library file will automatically start the process of importing the forms into Virtual Ticket. This is especially helpful when you want to download and install form libraries from the Developer Center. You no longer need to manually locate and load the library file in VT. The library import process is just a double click away.
- User Groups and Permissions can now be exported with the corresponding forms, finds, etc. If you have spent the time configuring your group permissions in your test system, this will be a huge time saver for you.
MetaScript Editor Changes
Have you ever been writing large amounts of code and then realized you needed to find something you referenced 200 lines up in your code? The MetaScript Editor has a new Find and Replace functionality that allows you to quickly search your code for the snippet you’re looking for. Simply press Command-F (on Mac) or Control-F (on PC) to bring up the Find controls and search to your heart’s content. Find controls also exist in the Edit menu of any MetaScript editor window.
Easy Access to the Developer Center
Looking for a toolbox snippet, knowledge base article, or info on how someone else tackled a particular development task? The Administrator has quick access to these topics and more via the new Developer Center menu in Virtual Ticket. Find the answers you need quickly and move on to your next development task.
While these may not be the sexiest of features, enjoying these little things can mean big things when it comes to developing quickly and efficiently. What little things do you enjoy in Workgroups that help make your development process quick and efficient?