2012. A client, Academy Press Specialised Print Services, had requested for the installation of the Flexo upgrade for their Printwiser Estimating software some days ago. Preparations began with putting up the database update script and was finalized the next two days, revising and testing the script for corrugated packaging calculations, including a sample estimate, creating and testing the database update installer, finally revising and printing the documentation for the upgrade.
2045. Visited APSPS for the Flexo upgrade; while the update installer ran smoothly it turned out they didn’t actually do carton estimates that needed the corrugated calculations. We will need to go back with a different calculation and format for the sort of label-type work they handled on their Flexo machine, as the paper formula for cartons gave a result that was 20 times higher when they did a test label estimate.
2056. We examined the database from APSPS, did some testing and revision of code, and created a new job type and estimate format called “Flexo Packaging” with the standard paper tonnage calculation rather than the one for corrugated cartons. The users had also talked about calculating the paper in reels rather than tons but we had to discard the idea as it would involve altering a number of reports and so be more time-consuming.
2060. 7zip File Manager reported corruption on the 64 GB flash while copying the EPPMS backups to it and we eventually had to format it again, a quick format as exFAT when slow format as NTFS failed after about two hours. We later checked the web and saw that the exFAT filesystem was notorious for getting corrupted and the file manager in use didn’t seem to be the cause. We later observed that even using commandline to copy files to the exFAT flash didn’t stop the drive getting corrupted.
We finalized work on the Flexo Packaging job type and format and calculations with the creation of the update installer, including addressing the non-display of the “Need varnish” prompt on one of the estimating data entry forms, that we saw was because the value of the job type fell into the “business forms” range. For the prompt to appear we made the code for the Flexo Packaging job type not to fall within that range.
2071. Visited APSPS to install the new Flexo Packaging update. The estimator was happy with the new Flexo Packaging format as it gave the right paper tonnage for their label estimate, and furthermore they now had the varnish prompt so varnish quantity in kg could be estimated and not just the amount.
2082. An associated client Pyrre Vortica sent new website design documents—webpage layouts in a pdf document as well as images—with a plea for any “shortcut” method of making the design “live” by the following day so the the website owner could use it for a presentation. We quickly set to work, putting up the new home page slider images as well as the new menu bar. By the break of dawn the next day, we were able to quickly put up image-only mock-ups of the remaining pages of the new PSO Foundation website design and upload to the server then test things out.
2104. Worked on our 64 GB flash trying to see how we could stop it from getting corrupted, copying files to it individually with corruption still happening, later formatting it in a command box (format f:/fs:ntfs) that took about two to three hours to end with the message “The second NTFS boot sector is unwriteable. Format failed.” and only changing the filesystem to NTFS. Web search with this unwriteable message got us to a forum discussion and downloading a tool called KillDisk so as to “wipe” the drive before attempting another format, only that the “wipe” option wasn’t enabled for the drive.
2126. We began looking on the web for how to replace the exFAT filesystem on the 64 GB flash drive, now that it was clear that was the problem and not the file managers that copied to it. We successfully used a disk partition tool called AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard to format the flash as NTFS. We test-copied a few files to it and afterward when the flash was inserted instead of the “need to format” dialog, Windows just displayed the Autoplay dialog for it.
2174. We made the first of two technical support visits to NRC this month. EPPMS support work done included importing and posting IPPIS payroll for January, and programmatically assigning districts to some 30 newly-activated employees. A request for implementing the A4 IPPIS payslip format in EPPMS was made.
2185. Because a user didn’t play HIDDEN yesterday the 17th (local date) but after midnight today that was still yesterday SFI date, when the user began playing later today after SFI date had moved up to the 18th, Gerian was calculating 0 as the streak. We had to spend over an hour tweaking the calculation logic to get it right, forcing it to temporarily convert recorded dates it was checking against for the last streak to SFI dates.
2196. We began work on the next EPPMS version 5.3, addressing the challenges of manually updating districts (allocations) of the IPPIS-employed people, then allowing aborting of IPPIS payroll import from the window where new pay items were added, before finally starting work on the IPPIS A4 format payslip implementation, completing the upper and middle sections of the report.
2200. EPPMS 5.3: For the A4 IPPIS payslip, we set up the coat of arms image at the top of the page from a bitmap file we used for another application VATinfo long time ago, then completing the lower portion of the A4 payslip summarized content.
2211. We completed initial design of the A4 IPPIS payslip and began linking up the design to the payslip report generation parameter window. APSPS called to report they were unable to “download” Printwiser after changing their Windows version and we made preparations to visit.
2222. We finalized the implementation of the A4 IPPIS payslip format in EPPMS, remaining to compile and test. This was done the next day including building and testing the executable and actually printing a sample payslip, then implementing needed changes. We visited APSPS to re-install and upgrade their Printwiser. Their IT Unit that had formatted the hard disk in the process of replacing the Windows had not remembered to backup their Printwiser data but luckily for them we’d gone with the backup we made before the Flexo upgrade on February 4 and so this became their saving grace.
2233. A call came from the estimator at APSPS to report that Printwiser was “tripping off” on the PEF form. It sounded like a known issue so we advised that their IT Unit should change the Windows short date format to d/M/yyyy (day before month) via Control Panel.
After recording three short videos with a phone, we needed to see how to merge them using VLC. The tutorial we saw on the web about how to merge video files using VLC noted that it was possible VLC would refuse to merge the files, which we experienced when we carried out the steps. The alternative was to use VLC in commandline mode. So we created and executed a batch file to merge the files. Eventually though, we had to use VideoProc after the VLC product had no sound on the second and third files during playback; the individual files were 318.6 MB, 130.1 MB and 182.6 MB in size, and what VideoProc created was just over 90 MB in size (of 4m 22s duration) compared to the over 600 MB of VLC.
2244. EPPMS 5.3: We visited NRC to install the EPPMS upgrade which went well. A user was amazed to see EPPMS generating the IPPIS A4 payslip format. A couple of issues were noted that might require further program revision.
2266. We investigate why Gerian was still calculating HIDDEN streak 0 recently, but only on the HIDDEN Form when the database function was called from Gerian at the end of a new game and not when the same function was called outside Gerian from the Interactive SQL tool. The reason had to do with a NULL value for stop time; this existed during a new game when Gerian called the database function, but not after, so we created a fix for the issue.
2270. We completed work on the revision of the A4 IPPIS payslip format in EPPMS, and also implemented the Allocation Lookup Form to make searching for the right allocation easier. After files were copied to and from the 64 GB flash (that had the exFAT filesystem changed) a number of times on two different computers, it again became unreadable by Windows. Windows was also unable to reformat it as NTFS. We successfully reformatted it as NTFS using AOMEI Partition Assistant, though henceforth we won’t be putting much hope on the flash any longer as the generic brand hardware itself was likely at fault as well.