March 21 , 2007
The
SoftWorks Systems' team would like to thank everyone who visited
with us at PMA. Our booth was quite busy again, and as always the
feedback we received was very valuable. We look forward to seeing
everyone again at the RUG Meeting in June (details below), as well as next
year's PMA, in Las Vegas again beginning Feb. 1, 2008.
Today we
have released an updated ROES Client today that adds a number of new attributes
and features, detailed below. We will be releasing an updated ROES DP2
Server in the next few weeks, and a new Stand Alone Server will be
deployed Monday that offers a rendered items renaming option and a new
Render Direct printer type for Fuji PIC Pro. Both of these servers
will offer new reporting macros for Records and usage of
conditional statements inside reports. The updated User's Guides
will be available as well for each server. The current Template Tool
launch has the new attributes listed below in the selection lists as well
as the Help - Help window displaying definitions.
ROES
USER GROUP (RUG) Meeting - June 18th and 19th, 2007 - Rochester, NY
This year
we will be extending the annual user group meeting into 1 and a
1/2 days, and will be having the sessions ahead of the Kodak ProLab meetings
instead of after as in the past. The RUG will
begin approximately 1PM on Monday, June 18th, 2007 at the
Rochester Hyatt in Rochester, NY and conclude approximately 4:30PM
on Tuesday, June 19th. Kodak's reception is set for that
evening to kick off the ProLab Summit.
We have
secured a set room rate ($107/night) for Sunday and Monday nights at the
Hyatt Regency. You can make hotel reservations 2 ways:
1) Call
1-800-223-1234 and ask for the SOFT rate. Reservations for the Kodak days
will need to be made separately.
2) You
can access the Hyatt web site for the rate using this link: http://www.rochester.hyatt.com/groupbooking/soft2007
We
will sending out a full session schedule as we draw closer to
the event, expected to include:
Basic Template
Tool
Advanced
Template Tool
ROES
Client Updates
ROES DP2
Server
ROES
Stand Alone Server
Records
usage and processing
Pager
usage
Press/Book
Products usage
ROES
Retail featuring the new Pro-to-Retail client design interface
Report
templates and macros
ROES
Future Direction
Feedback
sessions
Please
advise via reply who will be attending from your lab at your convenience.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Windows
Vista
We have
done some Windows Vista testing as some studios will be getting new systems
with it pre-installed. Using Vista Business on a PC with a 3.4GHz
processor and 1GB RAM, the default ROES install loaded Java 1.4.2_13 (though
warned it would need to drop the interface to Vista Basic) and ran ROES well. I
was able to create an order using text, various colors, image tones, and
Pager-added nodes.
Under Java
1.5, the software did encounter issues - Java 1.5 versions should not be used
in Vista.
Under
Java 1.6, all of ROES seems to run smoothly. Pager and drop shadows, Presenter
using Render, and all basic operations worked fine. Font type changes
displayed fine for basic fonts, but Vista does not have a lot of the better
script fonts installed (in fact, only 2 were found when I used the upcoming
Pager Font Type selection ability, which offers use of every local font).
For
proper Java operation it is recommended that the Java 1.6 be used.
The Vista install for it is at: file://localhost/blocked/http/::java.com:en:download:windows_manual2.jsp
New/Updated
Client Attributes and Features
New
Attributes/Function :
promocode/code/discount - You can now have an Order Option that prompts for a
promotional code to be entered in a needs_text line. The u_id of the
option used for entry MUST be promocode and there are 3 attributes needed:
needs_text for the user entry, code for the value of the promo code(s) that the
text entry must match exactly, and discount for the amount to charge, i.e. .90
for a 10% discount on the order. To utilize multiple promotional
codes, simply use comma delimited lists in the code and discount fields, where
code could have value of 1234,2345,3456 and discount could have value of
.9,.75,.5 for 10% off, 25% off and 50% off for the 3 codes respectively.
The number of delimited entries must match between the code and discount fields
(5 in each, 10 in each, etc.).
New
Attribute: pricemultiplier and priceminimum - pricemultiplier can be set on an option with a
value of true along with a price attribute whose values can be used to add a
percentage to the product it is being applied to (i.e., 1.20 in price to add a
20% increase for printing an item on metallic paper). This allow you to
only alter the prices of the products themselves and not additional options the
totalpricemultiplier takes into account, like retouching services, mounting, or
sprays. The priceminimum attribute can be added onto options with
pricemultiplier to set a mandatory minimum charge for the selected option and
override the percentage calculation if greater. Using the previous
example, this would work as pricemultiplier set to true, price set to 1.20 for
a 20% add-on to the product and priceminimum of 1.00 so that it will always add
at least $1.00 to the item price if the option is selected and the 20%
value is less than 1.00.
New
Attribute: hidden
- For use on an Option, this can be used to hide an option you have set to
mandatory for the purpose of disabling another option. For example, you
offer an option set on an entire group to convert the image color, but one one
template in the group you wish for there to be no color options. On the
one item, add an option set with mandatory and hidden attributes set to true on
the parent, and disableu_id added on the sub or child option. Add
the u_id of the image color as the value, and when the one item is selected the
image color option will be disabled without the new option showing as
selected by default.
Drop
Shadows of pre-existing nodes - Pager can now add drop shadows to pre-existing
image nodes that are part of your templates in addition to Pager-added
image nodes. Please advise if you would like this feature turned
on as it is currently optional. You
should also be running the latest version of the ROES DP2 Server, 1.034,
or the newer March 2007 version of the Stand Alone Server, to
properly process these.
Updated
Attribute: totalpricemultiplier changes - The totalpricemultiplier attribute is added
directly on an overridesadd off an Order Option. This
calculation will now be pre-tax and also can be before any shipping amount, if
the u_id of the Shipping option being selected starts with shipping (i.e.
u_id's of shipping_usps, shipping_ground, shipping_2ndday, etc.) .
Updated
Attribute - needs_text - You can now require an entry in
this field by leaving the value in Template Tool blank. For template
& item options, the Add to Order button will be disabled, just like when an
image node isn't filled on a product. For an Order Option, the user is
blocked with a dialog telling them to fill in some text.
Updated
Attribute - needs_file - When an option with needs file is
selected, the Client will not allow the order to complete unless a file has
been attached to the order. A dialog box informing the studio that a file
is needed will pop up.
New
Preference: Remember last folder between launches - This preference (selected by
default), if unchecked, will clear the last used thumbnails folder for
Presenter, Records, and main client. This
is ideal for large proofing environments.
Wider
pane dividers -
The pane dividers in the main client area and Presenter are wider now, allowing
easier access to the collapse/expand arrows.
New
Credit Card Window
Report Macros
- The ROES Pro and Retail Clients have a new credit card entry window across
the board (for standard card data collection and immediate e-payments), with
all fields required. Selection of the Use Bill To Address for Shipping
Address will collapse the shipping address areas, so no entry will be required.
This new
window also has new report macros to be used:
[PAYMENT_CREDIT_CARD_NAME]
[PAYMENT_CREDIT_CARD_ADDRESS]
[PAYMENT_CREDIT_CARD_CITY]
[PAYMENT_CREDIT_CARD_STATE]
[PAYMENT_CREDIT_CARD_ZIP]
[PAYMENT_EMAIL]
[PAYMENT_PHONE]
[PAYMENT_SHIP_TO_NAME]
[PAYMENT_SHIP_TO_ADDRESS]
[PAYMENT_SHIP_TO_CITY]
[PAYMENT_SHIP_TO_STATE]
[PAYMENT_SHIP_TO_ZIP]
Coming
soon: New
attributes/functions to disable a product or products when a product or
option is selected and ordered (so a catalog could have multiple products/sizes
and allow only 1 size to be ordered from it, ideal for albums and proof
prints), new text rendering in Pager utilizing fonts from the Client
system, and restricting orders by number of images (image minimums).
Reminders/Tips
:
rotationallowed Attribute
This
attribute can be added on a template and set to false to disable the
Rotate Layout button.
Attribute
with Linknodes: stripextension
When used
on a text node that has been linked to an image node node via
Linknodes, the file name appearing in the image node will be listed
without the file extension. Remember when using Linknodes that all
nodes in the product must have u_id's assigned
newlines
Attribute
This
attribute can prevent users from
creating multiple text lines where a single line is desired. Adding
newlines set to false will force just single line entry into the node; coupled
with the characterlimit attribute can allow you to control the amount of text
each node receives for better rendering.
Change
to autorotate Attribute
The
autorotate attribute in Template Tool, when set to true, will activate the
Autorotate button on the pro toolbar. After being turned on, the button
will remain selected until it is manually de-selected or a product with a
false flag is chosen.
addenabled
Attribute
Be sure
to add the addenabled attribute on multi-image proof sheets (set to true)
and informational/advertisement products used as the first template in a group
(set to false). For the proof sheets it will allow customers to add the
item to an order with empty nodes (whereas before they had to hold the ALT
or OPT key to Add with Empty). For the informational items it will prevent
the item from being added and causing an error upon receipt at the lab.
Use
tooltips on products
If you
want to be able to convey additional information about a
product to studios, try adding an attribute of tooltip to the
item and enter text you want them to see pop-up when they mouse over the
product in the Sizes palette. This could be used to add reminders
to look at mounting, sprays and other upsell options, to inform
customers if an item is Pager editable, or available quantity discounts.
Image
Names Can Be Linked Into Text Nodes
You can
use Linknodes in a composite product to create a text entry of an image name
into a text node upon adding the image to the matching image node. For
example, a 6 up proof sheet starting with node id/u_id of 10000 for the first
image node and node id/u_id of 10006 as the first text node you would add
Linknodes to the product for each pair of nodes to connect and enter the u_id's
as 10000,10006 in the field provided. If the nodes do not have u_id's,
simply highlight all of the nodes in the product, then right-click and select
Copy node id to u_id. Remember when using Linknodes that all nodes in the
product must have u_id's assigned
Linknodes
update: Linking text nodes
You can
use Linknodes to duplicate text entered in one node to another text
node(s). This can be handy for trader cards where a player name, team or
year may be entered more than once, especially when displaying the front and
back of the card as one item via a DP2 Package. Remember when using
Linknodes that all nodes in the product must have u_id's assigned