Summary of Changes in PC Access for Windows 4.0

New Features

Build 93: Wednesday, December 27, 1995

Problem Fixes

• In Agent version user could get a 3001 error message (indicating no installs left) when first starting the program on user's second PC. Error occurred if the key disk (ie. Disk #1) was already in the drive when the program first starts. Workaround was to not insert Disk #1 until requested, or simply click on the "No" button when error occurred.
• Under some circumstances that generated a 7155 error during installation of the User Authorization files, the error code was being stored instead of the serial number. When this occurred, the Registration Code would not work and the user could not finish the registration process. A simple workaround was available via a phone call to MFM.
• We found that on some PCs the system fonts were larger than they were supposed to be and the Registration Code would not physically fit in the entry blank. A workaround was available via a phone call to MFM.
• If the user switched printing resolution while on-line with the MLS, PC Access was not changing the font to account for the new resolution.
• We think we have a work-around for the Packard Bell Legend PCs that have the internal FAX/Modem/Voice Mail/Sound Card combo. See below.

New Features

• We added a Test button to the Edit Printer window. This button invokes a new window that allows the user to test several different printing capabilities while off-line. This should save quite a bit of time during tech support calls that involve printing problems.
• Added a checkbox to the Modem Setup window . To get to it, go to Setup Menu | Advanced | Modem and then click on More. The checkbox is labeled "Disable Comm Events". Selecting this checkbox will turn off the Comm Event notification feature in MS Windows. We suspect that Microsoft's bugs in this part of the Windows communication code *might* be causing reboot problems on some computers. We were able to test this on a Packard Bell Legend Pentium and found that it did indeed correct the problem. The only visible effect of using this setting is less smooth video updating while online with the MLS. On fast PCs it probably won't be noticeable enough to bother anybody. On slow PCs the user may notice that the text appears in blocks instead of a smooth flow of characters.

Build 92: Monday, December 11, 1995

Problem Fixes

• A resource leak in PC Access was causing GDI failures on some PCs. The problem occurred during photo printing. On some computers the GDI failure would occur after only 30 to 40 photos, while on other computers the error wouldn't occur until PC Access printed more than 400 photos.
• Fixed a small resource leak in the code that handles Fast Photo Printing MFM knows of no reports of problems from this bug.
• Fixed a small resource leak in the code that checks the printer driver version number during startup. MFM knows of no reports of problems from this bug.
• Fixed a problem that caused some configurations of PC Access to print Fast Photos. In these cases, PC Access ignored the setting in the Fast Photo Printing checkbox.

New Features

• None.

Build 91: Monday, December 4, 1995

Problem Fixes

• On systems that were incompatible with the User Authorization we were supposed to automatically invoke the Alternate User Authorization process, but we were accidentally looking for the wrong error code, so the user had to manually invoke the Alternate User Authorization.

New Features

• None.

Build 90: Wednesday, November 29, 1995

Problem Fixes

• If PC Access Broker Versions used the Alternate User Authoriztion, PC Access would not prompt the user to select an agent from the Agent List.
• When using the Alternate User Authorization we were not always displaying the serial number correctly on the registration window.
• When using the Alternate User Authorization we were always requiring the user to enter a Company information regardless of whether they had the Agent or the Broker version.

New Features

• None.

Build 89: Tuesday, November 28, 1995

Problem Fixes

• None.

New Features

• Added a Demo mode to the program.

Build 88: Sunday, November 19, 1995

Problem Fixes

• Changed the Fast B&W Photo Printing setting to Fast Photo Printing. If this flag is set, we now process color photos as 8 bit data instead of 24 bit data. This will significantly speed up color photo printing on slower PCs or PCs that have limited memory.

New Features

• None.

Build 87: Thursday, November 16, 1995

Problem Fixes

• If the user didn't have an agent selected, clicked on File Manager, and then canceled the Select Agent dialog, PC Access would GP Fault.

New Features

• None.

Build 86: Monday, November 13, 1995

Problem Fixes

• If the user tried to use the keyboard to select the emulation on the Phone Book Setup window PC Access would get caught in a loop. This was not a problem when selecting the emulation with the mouse.

New Features

• None.

Build 85: Thursday, November 09, 1995

Problem Fixes

• On a small number of older Master Systems a host report relied on the ESC P command to print the character that is under the cursor when the cursor was in the upper left corner. PC Access was instead skipping the character directly under the cursor. This prevented the page from ejecting at the right time.
• Updated the Help topics to catch up with some of the latest program changes.
• Sometimes cancelling a dial to the MLS would cause a GPF.
• On some PCs the Quick Photos on pages 2 thru the end of the report would get overwritten with blank bands corresponding to the position of the text to the right of the photos.
• PC Access would not print color photos correctly. The problem occurred with some color printers; the HP Desk Ject 1600 is an example. Symptoms included blank areas or blocks of color in place of the photos. The problem occurred on any color printer that treated the color data as 3 bit data instead of 8 bit (or more) data.

New Features

• None.

Build 84: Thursday, November 09, 1995

Problem Fixes

• PC Access had a problem in the trap file portion of the Photocom emulation code.

New Features

• None.

Build 83: Wednesday, October 18, 1995

Problem Fixes

• Updated the Help topics to cover some of the latest program changes.
• A user could type something other than A: or B: on the window that asked them to put their floppy in the disk drive. Now we filter the input to only allow valid floppy drive letters.
• If the user cancelled printing from the Amortization window, a GP Fault would occur.

New Features

• None.

Build 82: Thursday, October 12, 1995

Problem Fixes

• Fixed some mouse cursor locating for the West Penn emulation.
• We weren't blocking an ENQ request from the keyboard.
• When the User Authorization was failing to install, the user would get to the Registration window without the program having a valid serial number. This was difficult to diagnose in a support call because the user would often times already be at the Registration window and would not remember any of the previous error messages. We added the serial number to the information displayed on the Registration window to help diagnose these problems.
• The "new" Photocom font selection code for Maestro systems has proven to cause printing problems on some Windows computers. MFM removed the new code until MFM devises a replacement.
• Label printing on some Master systems is causing problems with some Windows printers. We added a new setting on the Edit Printer window that allows the user to tweak the page height to allow labels to align correctly. This is only affects on Master hosts.
• The West Penn emulation contained a bug in the Copy Text & Photos option. The bug caused PC Access to copy the data incorrectly to the Windows clipboard.
• There was a bug that allowed the user to move the Speed Button bar to the bottom of the Terminal window, but not back to the top again.
• We had some PCs that had problems where text and photos overlapped on the printouts (i.e. text would bleed through the photo).
• Some Master system reports printed incorrectly when they included photos. The user would get extra blank pages or not enough form feeds.

New Features

• None.

Build 81: Saturday, September 23, 1995

Problem Fixes

• Corrected a problem that prevented photos from printing on some printers.

New Features

• None.

Build 80: Tuesday, September 19, 1995

Problem Fixes

• None.

New Features

• Added a SITE.INI file that will allow us to make customizations on a site by site basis. Useful for adding features to the program that not all users should see.
• Changed Agent Setup Assistant window to ask for Agent ID if the SITE.INI file contains the AGENT_ID=1 setting in the [SETUP] section. The feature was required to Cincinnati customers.

Build 79: Saturday, September 16, 1995

Problem Fixes

• None.

New Features

• None.