XFRX version 12.0, Release notes

Release date: 17 August 2006

Installation note: The XFRX previewer component requires FOXTOOLS.FLL library if used in VFP 6.0.

New features / Updates

• New output types
  
  
  • Flow layout Open Office Writer document (FODT)
  • Absolute layout Open Office Calc Spreadsheet (ODS)
  • Flow layout Open Office Calc Spreadsheet (FODS)
  
  

  Since 12.0, the Writer and Calc outputs are supported, both of which can be generated either using the absolute or flow layout format (please see chapter "Flow layout document option" in the Developer's guide for more information about the flow layout options).
  
  

  To generate the OpenOffice document, use the following codes as the 7^th parameter (targetType) of the SetParams method:

   

  Document type	targetType
  OpenOffice Writer document with absolute layout	ODT
  OpenOffice Writer document with flow layout	FODT
  OpenOffice Calc spreadsheet with absolute layout	ODS
  OpenOffice Calc spreadsheet with flow layout	FODS

  
  

• XFRX Advanced Previewer
  
  The displaying component was completely reworked, result of which is:
  
  
  • Significant speed increase
    The previewer is now about 50 times faster in displaying the page content and moving from one page to another
  • Unicode support
    The previewer now supports Chinese and Japanese code pages, correctly displays Hebrew and Arabic and supports multiple code pages within single report (new feature in VFP 9)
  • Better rendering
    As the XFRX previewer in previous version was using GDI, text with small font sizes was displayed slightly wider, which was causing various layout discrepancies. These problems are now gone as the new previewer is using GDI+.
  • Rotated text
    Rotated labels and fields are now supported in the previewer
  • Searching
    Searching in the previewer is now significantly faster. The whole document is searched, all found occurences are listed in a side panel (as hyperlinks/bookmarks).
  
  
• PDF Output
  
  Unicode is now supported in the PDF output type. This allows for converting of multi-byte code pages (Chinese, Japanese) as well as supporting multiple code pages withing one report / document.
  The demo forms that come with XFRX do not yet contain samples of this feature. At the moment, you can download samples from here: http://www.eqeus.com/files/xfrx12_demos.zip

• Printing and export to pictures
  
  
  • These output types now also support unicode and multiple character sets.
  • When exporting to pictures, the 7th and 8th parameters can specify a DPI or a zoom factor of the picture 

    Example:

    loXFF.SavePicture("output.bmp","BMP",1,1,24,,"DPI",300) && saves the picture as 300 DPI
    loXFF.SavePicture("output.bmp","BMP",1,1,24,,"ZOOM",150) && zoom to 150%
    						

Bugs fixed

• Occasionally, pictures stored in relative paths to the FRX file locations were not correctly displayed.
• Font subset embedding didn't work correctly with true type fonts with short "loca" table adressing.
• Occasional crashing when converting reports to pictures.
• If the datasession Init method returned .F., the report was not properly cancelled.
• Pictures with zero height or width were causing a corrupted PDF
• When PictureDPI property was set, "stretch picture, retain shape" wasn't working correctly in PDF
• The layout of printing / previewing / generating pictures was improved - "cleaner" lines, proper handling of transparent / invisible rectangles

XFRX version 11.3, Release notes

Release date: 14 March 2006

New features / Updates

• XFRX Advanced Previewer
  
  
  • Tabbed interface
    The advanced previewer can now preview multiple documents using the popular tabbed interface approach.
    
  • Custom event hyperlinks (drill-down)
    

    XFRX now recognizes two types of hyperlinks:

    • “normal” hyperlinks (printed in blue), which navigate to other places in the report or to an external web address and
    • “custom event” hyperlinks (printed in green), where XFRX allows for assigning a custom VFP code that will be called when users click the hyperlink.

    This “custom event” hyperlink feature can be used to invoke application specific actions (information forms, custom processes, etc.) or for implementing drill-down functionality – invoking detailed report where the field user clicked on is taken as a parameter for the report (for example, clicking a customer name in the report listing all customers can run a report with detail information about this specific customer). The new report can be directed to a new page of a multipage previewer, which could provide a comfortable environment for “drilling down” specific information – with the ability to go back to the original report without closing the current one, side by side report comparison, exporting / printing selected reports, etc.
    
    Please find more information about this feature as well as a step-by-step example in the Developer's guide, "Implementing custom event hyperlinks (drilldown) in XFRX previewer" chapter.
    

  • Fake toolbar option
    The previewer can now optionally replace the default toolbar with a toolbar-like control placed above the previewer control. This option can be very useful if the previewer form is not inside the main VFP screen.
    
  • New toolbar icon - "Export"
    If the user clicks at the new Export icon, a dialog with the output type and the file name selection is displayed and the output document is generated based on options selected.
    
  • Previewer extension handler
    The extension handler allows for extending the functionality of the basic classes without need of creating subclasses. All you need is to create a custom class, which implements certain methods. The custom class is registered with the XFRX previewer class (using SetExtensionHandler method) and the previewer calls the extension methods on appropriate events.
    
  • The previewer instantiation is now significantly simplified
    A complete standalone-window previewer is now shipped with XFRX - all you need to do to make it work is to instantiate a class and call one of its methods with an XFF file to preview as a parameter. Alternatively, you can use the prepared single document or multiple documents (tabbed interface) controls to your forms.
    
    Please find more information about the advanced previewer in the Developer's guide, "XFRX previewer" chapter.
    
  • German localization is now available
    
• PDF output format
  • Hebrew code page (cp 1254) is now supported
  • Pictures are binary comparised to reduce the size of PDF documents with repeated pictures
  • VFP 9: DynamicLineHeight property is used to control if the text field background color should fill the whole textbox (VFP 9 default behavior) or only the actual text printed (VFP 8 backward compatibility behavior)
    
• General
  • Target image DPI can be specified (large pictures can be downsampled to reduce the result document size)  [see PictureDPI property for XFRXListener and XFRXSession classes at Developer's guide, "Properties and methods common in XFRXListener and XFRXSession classes" chapter].
  • Image quality can be specified for ActiveX objects [see DefaultPictureFormat property for XFRXListener and XFRXSession classes at Developer's guide, "Properties and methods common in XFRXListener and XFRXSession classes" chapter].
    

Bugs fixed

• Strikethrough font attribute is now correctly recognized
• Exporting to image formats was crashing in VFP7.
• XFRX Previewer
  • SetLanguage method was modifying the actual SELECT area

Evaluation package note: The Prevdemo directory with the XFRX previewer implementation sample has been removed as the same functionality is now supported by the "native" class frmMPPreviewer of XFRXLib.vcx.

XFRX version 11.2, Release notes

Release date: 6 December 2005

New features

XFRX version 11.1, Release notes

Release date: 7 September 2005

New features

Bug fixes

• General issues
  • XFRX now supports using THISFORM in before/after band expressions
• VFP 9.0 related issues
  • RANGE clause is now supported
• RTF issues
  • The problem with long text being wrapped too early has been fixed
• DOC issues
  • A bug in rectangle transparency/back color calculation has been fixed
• XFRX previewer
  • Right aligned labels position shift has been fixed
• Print engine
  • A bug in rectangle transparency/back color calculation has been fixed
  • TABs are now supported in the printed output
  • Problems with early wrapping and stretched text being too high have been fixed.

XFRX version 11.0, Release notes

Release date: 2 June 2005

New features

Bug fixes

• General issues
  • Striked font style is now supported in all output formats (except plain text :) )
  • If a report didn't exist, the warning message was not suppressed in the silent mode
  • SavePicture method was crashing when the page range was specified with string value (e.g. "4-5")
• VFP 9.0 related issues
  • The problems with XFRXListener initializations when the support libraries were not in the default directory have been fixed
• FRTF issues
  • The document was displayed in CP 1251 (in cyrilic) when opened in Open Office.
  • Page size calculation problem (long pages were wrapping to a new page) has been fixed
• XLS issues
  • Transparent textboxes are now correctly converted as trasparent
• XFRX previewer
  • Problems with line colors have been fixed
  • The printer selection dialog box is now localizable

XFRX version 10.2, Release notes

Release date: 20 April 2005

New features

Bug fixes

• VFP 9 related issues
  • SetOtherParams method is now correctly implemented
• PDF issues
  • 8-bit grayscale JPEG pictures are now supported in PDF
  • XFRX now saves repeated pictures more effectively (reduces the size of the final document)
  • If the PDF file could not be created, wrong return code was returned (-1 instead of -3). This problem has been fixed.
• XLS issues
  • rectangle background color is now supported
  • XFRX is now able to generate multiple sheets for a single report run, in two modes: sheet-per-page or sheet-per-group
  • The sheet names can now be defined as an expression evaluated for each sheet
  • The grid can now be hidden in the generated XLS documents
  • By default, the content of non-stretchable fields is cut according to the size of the field. XFRX can now optionally leave the full content of the field in the Excel cell.
• XFRX Previewer
  • The problem with searching with "Use Wildcards" and "Search Backward" flags has been fixed
  • "Search Next" was not working correctly if searching conditions where modified
  • The found expression was not correctly highlighted if "Use Wildcards" flag was on
• Reporting engine
  • Pictures stretching across multiple bands should print once per page
  • XFRXLIB.FLL version checking has been added
  • Various layout problems in FDOC and FRTF output targets have been fixed