County Links Require Vigilance

In the past couple of months at least three different counties (Hamilton, Lake and Erie - all in Ohio) have changed the layout in their web sites and broken the links used by the Internet Link scripts in ZonePro. For better or worse, that's normal for internet links. It takes constant vigilance to stay on top of ever-changing web sites. We're guilty of that ourselves, having switched to an all new web address in 2007. Fortunately, it's no big deal to figure out the new script and get it posted, but I have to be aware of the problem first. Let me know anytime your Internet Link script stops working. The fix will benefit you and any other ZonePro customers in your county. I've just posted a new "Custom Link Scripts" document on the Scripts page of our web site. It includes the new scripts for the counties mentioned. Some of the others listed may already be obsolete but I won't know that unless you the customer helps keep us informed. Thanks!

New Release One in 2008

A new release of ZonePro is available now. New features include a maintenance screen that tells you what modules you have installed. Another new maintenance screen takes the database upgrade function that used to rely on a separate program and folds it into ZonePro so that users can get to it more easily when it is needed. The ZP Toolbox modules was expanded to include a new e-mail screen allows you send e-mail directly from within ZonePro and has several cool options to take advantage of that interconnectivity. The Contact File module saw several enhancements mainly focusing on better ways to help keep the information up to date. Last but not least are the new runtime files I wrote about in an earlier post. As always, contact us when you are ready for the new release and we'll get it to you.

Don't Forget the Aerials

I recently added a training video on the use of the Internet Link button to our web site but I forgot to mention the usefulness of the aerial overlays for the mapping sites. All three of the mapping sites we use with the left-click option offer aerial images overlaid on the map so that you can see the buildings and yard layouts. Even though these views are dated they are useful for evaluating violations and permit requests, etc. They're also useful for figuring out which property you were looking at during drive-by inspections and getting a feel for how that property intersects with the neighboring lots. All in all it's worth the click.

New Service Pack for Visual FoxPro

Microsoft has released a new service pack for Visual FoxPro, the development tool we use for ZonePro. All of the application files have been recompiled using the new service pack. This should take care of any lingering hiccups with Windows Vista, etc. The new run time files will be included with the next upgrade of ZonePro (which is imminent). Because of the size of these files the upgrades will have to go out on CDs.

Numbering Permits for the New Year

Every year at this time we get lots of questions about how to change the numbering sequence for a permit database. These questions almost always come from customers who incorporate the year into their permit numbers and now they want to switch to "2008". The solution is simple, each time you issue the first new permit (or violation) in a database you just over type the suggested new permit number to enter the one you really want. For example, if ZonePro suggests "2007-0354", you can over type it with "2008-0001". ZonePro will pick up the numbering again from there. It is a common misunderstanding that users expect ZonePro to change the year automatically. But because ZonePro does not require a specific permit numbering scheme, it doesn't know whether you have a year in yours or not.