For AviSys 5, we compiled the new AviSys Help file in the newest Windows Help format. Nothing could go wrong -- right? Strangely, it works in all versions of Windows except the newest, XP and 2000. So we've recompiled it in the old format and it now works in all versions of Windows. Go figure. That new (old format) Help file is included in this update.
Fixes a problem with Palm support data download in some environments.
Because of some unusual color schemes available in Windows XP, the following improvements have been made in AviSys:
* The captions in the "Fix" buttons turn red when the buttons are in the down, or "on," condition.
* In the master list, family names are no longer dimmed when in Checklist Mode.
* In the master list, a different "gray" color is used for "dimmed," non-checklist species.
* In sighting file record listings, the comments are displayed in a different "gray" if another color has not been specified in Options.In the master list, dark artifacts at the bottoms of character descenders of "dimmed" species names have been eliminated.
During a Find | Next operation, the cursor now stays on the "Next" button after it has been clicked.
In World Mode, when a checklist is invoked, if a band code is entered, species not in the invoked checklist are not considered in the decision to create and/or populate a collision list.
In the Places Tables, alpha jumps now operate properly with numeric characters.
In a sighting file record listing, a Place expansion (Site, City, County, State, Nation, Continent) for the highlighted record is displayed at the bottom of the listing window.
See Adobe Acrobat PDF Support, below.
AviSys now opens in full screen mode by default, with the desktop covered by a gray panel in resolutions greater than 800x600. The AviSys window can be restored to a smaller size.
If not maximized, AviSys no longer jumps to the upper left screen position in some operations as happened in some environments.
AviSys restarts with the main window in the condition it was last used.
The Print Preview window is now wider, providing a full page-width view on most systems.
The Prior Year and Current Year buttons on the Date Entry dialog now display, for example, 02 and 03 instead of 2 and 3.
When the List Records criterion of Species is set and then cancelled, the dialog entry now reverts to "All" instead of "None." The function worked properly, just the display was wrong.
See RTF Support, below.
Version 5.00B and later now support output from reports and listings to an Adobe Acrobat PDF document. AviSys has always had the highest quality, and most flexible, output for reports and listings. With this feature, AviSys now jumps another long mile ahead of the competition.
Adobe Acrobat PDF (Portable Document Format) files are the worldwide standard for high quality documents that can be distributed easily and safely over the Internet via email or the Web. These days, most people who use the Internet have installed a copy of the free Acrobat Reader and can read and print PDF documents.
With this AviSys facility, you can produce any of your reports or listings in PDF and attach them to email messages or place them on your web site for download. The recipients will see them, and be able to print them, in the same high quality and form as you see them in Print Preview or as printed output, including fonts, character styles, and exact formatting. You can even send the document to a professional printer for high quality printing.
In Verison 5.00C and later, all reports and listings can now be exported to an RTF format file, enhancing AviSys' document interchange capability. On the Print Preview menu, there is now an RTF button. Clicking it produces an RTF file from the current report and prompts you to provide a name and, optionally, a path.
Currently, the only word processors that handle complex RTF files properly are Microsoft Word 97 or later. Further, Word will display RTF files properly in View | Print/Page Layout mode only.
This feature provides an alternative means (in addition to Text File and Adobe Acrobat File) of sending your AviSys reports and listings, via email or other media, to correspondents who use Microsoft Word.
See the update detail description included with the update.
In Version 5.00C, we introduced a Print Options Dialog function of "Print Pages" | "Defined" (in addition to Odd, Even, or All) where you could use standard page selection definition, such as 1-3, 5, 7, 10. Unfortunately, a typo in the code specifically disabled any page number definitions with a 0 (zero). We've fixed that. As a reminder, to select pages you need to do a Print Preview first, to actually see the pages, then back up to the Print Options Dialog and make the page selection.
When printing a Checklist (invoked from the Checklist menu) if ' and '' sighted markers are selected, the printout will now include Seen in Checklist Area, Seen Anywhere Else, Endemic Count, and Endemics Seen species count totals.
AviSys normally runs with the main screen at a width of 800 pixels, which is very satisfactory at 1024x768 and 1280x960 resolutions on normal desktop screens of 17", 19", or larger.
However, recently produced laptop computers are now coming standard with ludicrously high resolutions for 13", 14" and 15" screens, which makes reading text uncomfortable. (It's a marketing battle-of-the-numbers thing.) In order to be able to read the text under icons, users immediately jump for the non-standard "Large Fonts" setting, which is only a partial fix for the problem and which causes other problems.
There is now a "enlarge/reduce" button at the bottom of the AviSys main screen only when the computer has a video resolution of 1024 x 768 or higher. Clicking that button will scale the AviSys main screen to a larger size, improving readability on small screens. (Clicking it again will restore the original window size.) Correspondingly, the Sighting Record Listing, Journal, List, Places, and Trip Log screens are also enlarged. While this is helpful with small laptop screens, you will find that the normal scaling is most readable on desktop screens -- bigger is not always better, especially when working with a list of items.
See the update detail description included with the update.
Version 5.00E also fixes a problem with the Trip Log where, in some environments, if the date portion of an existing trip record is edited, the displayed date will be updated, but the report date will remain the same.
Version 5.00F provides support for AviSys Palm Support with J-File Version 5. IMPORTANT: If you are a Palm Support user, it is required that, after installing this update, you also update your Palm Support via a free update download from our web site -- click the Updates and Downloads button on the first page.
Version 5.00F provides an enhanced method to produce “AOU Area” reports for submission to the ABA. A new continent, [AOU], is added to the Places Tables. Reports run for this Place conform to the new ABA definition of the “AOU Area.”
If you use the Nation Checklist Add-On, this new [AOU] Place can also be used to create and invoke an AOU Checklist.
Version 5.00F provides an option, when producing a Species Seen or Checklist report to Text File, to have the Latin names on the same line as the English names, in the form:
Jerry’s Bobolink (Bobolinkus jerryii)
Version 5.00F adds a, larger, more visible Dot as an endemic marker in checklists when the Nation Checklist Add-On is used. See Options | Endemic Character.
Version 5.00F provides an updated Help facility, with an enhanced description of the process to back up to CD-R or CD-RW.
Version 5.00F provides improved Find-Next operation.
NOTE: The documentation provided with this update requires that you have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed. If you don't already have it, download and install it, free, from www.adobe.com Click the button "Get Adobe Reader."
Caution: this download is not an installation of AviSys 5 -- it is a patch to an existing AviSys 5 installation. It will do absolutely nothing if you don't have an existing copy of AviSys Version 5. There will be drastic consequences if an attempt is made to apply this patch to Version 4.x or earlier.