XFRX version 12.2, Release notes

Release date: 5 December 2006

New features / Updates

• XFRX Advanced Previewer
  • Printer selection dialog enhanced
    The dialog contains new controls allowing for the following options:
    • The number of copies to print
    • Include odd / even or all pages
    • Zoom - printing multiple pages per sheet
  • Export dialog enhanced
    The dialog allows for the following new features:
    • Specify the export output targets that would be available for selection
    • When exporting to "Image" output formats, the following new options are available:
      • The number of copies to print
      • Include odd / even or all pages
      • Zoom - printing multiple pages per sheet
      • The DPI of the image created
  • Previewer extension handler
    The extension handler now supports two new events (PrintOptions and ExportOptions) - print and export events after the options dialog is selected and the user clicks [Ok]. The events receive two parameters - the XFF object reference and an object containing the parameters user selected.
    
    
    Example: Defining the export output options list, intercepting the XLS export
    

    USE invoices ORDER customer
    LOCAL loSession, lnRetval, loXFF, loPreview, loScripts
    loSession=EVALUATE([xfrx("XFRX#LISTENER")])
    lnRetVal = loSession.SetParams("",,,,,,"XFF") && no name = just in memory
    If lnRetVal = 0
    	REPORT FORM invoices OBJECT loSession		
    	loXFF = loSession.oxfDocument
    	*
    	* initialize the previewer 
    	*
    	SET CLASSLIB TO xfrxlib ADDITIVE 
    	loPreview = CREATEOBJECT("frmMPPreviewer")
    	loPreview.setExtensionHandler(CREATEOBJECT("MyExtensionHandler"))
    	loPreview.windowType = 0
    	loPreview.iBook = 0
    	loPreview.PreviewXFF(loXFF)
    	loPreview.show(1)
    ENDIF
    
    
    DEFINE CLASS MyExtensionHandler AS Custom
    
      PROCEDURE Export
        LPARAMETERS toXFF
    	IF USED("_xfExportTypes")
    		USE IN _xfExportTypes
    	ENDIF
    	*
    	* define my export options list
    	*
    	CREATE CURSOR _xfExportTypes (name C(50), extension C(4), targetCode C(10))
    	INSERT INTO _xfExportTypes VALUES ("HTML",	"html",	"HTML")
    	INSERT INTO _xfExportTypes VALUES ("PDF",	"pdf",	"PDF")
    	INSERT INTO _xfExportTypes VALUES ("Excel",	"xls",	"XLS")
      ENDPROC
     
      PROCEDURE ExportOptions
        LPARAMETERS toXFF, toOptions
    	IF toOptions.cTarget = "XLS"
    		*
    		* my own code to handle output to Excel
    		*
    		=MESSAGEBOX("exporting to "+toOptions.cOutputFile)
    		RETURN .F.   && suppress the default behavior
    	eLSE
    		RETURN .T.   && continue with the default behavior
    	ENDIF
    
      ENDPROC
    ENDDEFINE
    

  
  
• Printing and exporting to pictures
  The SavePicture and PrintDocument methods now have new parameters for controlling whether to include all pages, odd or even only, the number of copies and the number of pages per sheet.

Bugs fixed

• frmMPPreviewer class was missing the iBook property
• Private data session reports were causing crashes in previewer (VFP 9)
• Opaque colored backgrounds were not printing properly
• The report previewer wasn't sending the XFF file reference parameter to the extension hander events
• Displaying multiple pages at once in the previewer was not working correctly (old pages being left on the screen) if there were not enough pages remaining in the document
• XFRX was producing corrupted PDFs when fonts were included in the document (error 135)
• Appending to PDF was improved (more PDF document "subformats" are now supported)
• Wrapped lines were dropped in the previewer (in some scenarios)
• OpenOffice - the absolute layout output was not working correctly (blank textboxes) with the latest OpenOffice version
• The word wrapping algorithm was not respecting the current code page - Cyrillic texts having lines too wide
• VFP 8 engine - vertical lines are now properly wrapped to a new page when stretched bands wrap
• If the page range is not specified for SavePicture and PrintDocument method, the whole document is exported/printed

XFRX version 12.1, Release notes

Release date: 5 September 2006

New features / Updates

• XFRX Advanced Previewer
  
  
  • The previewer is now able to preview multiple pages at once
    A new selection control on the toolbar can now switch the previewer to display up to 8 pages at the same time
    
  • Displaying progress bar  
    A progress bar object reference can be sent to the previewer to show progress when exporting to PDF and other output formats 
    
    
    Example:
    
    loXFF = XFRX("XFRX#DRAW")
    loXFF.openDocument("output.xff")
    loProgress = createobject("progress") && this is a progress object that will be passed to the previewer
    loPreview = CREATEOBJECT("frmMPPreviewer")
    loPreview.oProgress = loProgress && set the reference
    loPreview.previewXFF(loXFF, "XFRX sample",1,"XFRX Sample Job name") && you can now also specify the printer job name
    loPreview.show(1)
    
    define class progress as custom
      procedure updateProgress
        lpara tnReport,tnPage,tnPercentage
        wait window nowait "Exporting page: "+allt(str(tnPage))+" (Press Ctrl+Q to Cancel)"
      endproc
    enddef
    
    
  • Exporting from the previewer can be cancelled by user action
    The TransformReport method now reacts to the gnStopXFRX public variable change so that the export in progress can be cancelled
    
    
    Example:
    
    PUBLIC gnStopXFRX
    ON KEY LABEL CTRL+Q gnStopXFRX = 1 && the subsequent report exporting can be cancelled by 
                                       && pressing CTRL+Q
    
    
    
  • Print job name can be specified for each previewing document
    A new (4th, optional) parameter of the PreviewXFF method specifies the printer job name. If the 4th parameter is empty, the 2nd parameter (report caption) is used as the printer job name. If both 2nd and 4th parameters are empty, the default printer job name "XFRX" is used.

Bugs fixed

• Bookmarks were not exporting to PDF
• OpenOffice output didn't work correctly with SET EXACT flag set to ON
• Memory leak problem in XFRXLIB.FLL was fixed
• RightClick and MouseWheel events are now properly handled in the XFRX previewer
• Flow layout options - bands wrapping on a new page were incorrectly rendered as page headers
  
  

XFRX version 12.0, Release notes

Release date: 17 August 2006

Installation notes:

• The XFRX previewer component requires FOXTOOLS.FLL library if used in VFP 6.0.
• XFRXLIB.FLL now also requires MSVCP71.DLL library to be installed (the previous version required GDIPLUS.DLL and MSVCR71.DLL libraries)

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 unicode samples can be downloaded from: 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