Using Picasa for On-line Photo Storage

After I started talking about the on-line photo storage option we are offering for ZP SQL, I had a few customers ask me if they could use some other service for on-line photo storage and link it back to ZonePro. I decided to experiment with my own Picasa account and found a way to do it. To use this approach you just create a photo album for each property and store the name of the album in a Property field so you can append it to a script on the fly. First I created a new album in Picasa that I named "LOWELL584" after the property record I wanted to link. Then I uploaded a few photos to that album. Next I put the value "LOWELL584#" in the User3 field of the property record. You could store this value just about anywhere in the database. Next I added a script to the the Left click option of the User Script button (the one that looks like an open book). The script I used was: GoURL("http://picasaweb.google.com/zonepro32/"+property.user3). This script launches the web site. The first part of the script is the generic address needed to get to the web site and then I tack on the specific album I want to open, which I have saved in the User3 field. It works like a charm and it's absolutely free! Give it a try yourself.

Find Other ZonePro Users

I just added a new page to the Customer Support Web Site that lets you easily find other ZonePro users in your area. The "Find Users" option maps all current ZonePro customers by state or you can type in a location and find every customer with a certain radius. The radius options go from 25 miles to 300. The radius search works best in Ohio and North Carolina where we have most of our customers. This is a fun little tool to find other users to network with. It also is a great example of how we can take advantage of the Google mapping application in ZonePro web sites.

Special Pick Box for Scripts

Once again an idea that originated in ZP SQL makes it way to ZP 32. This time the new feature is a special Pick Box that can be easily called by any script. It will be useful anytime you want to present the user with a list of choices as part of a script function. Unlike other Pick Boxes in ZonePro that create their list from field values, you pass the list of choices you want displayed in the special Pick Box when you call it. The list can originate from almost anywhere. I have an example posted in the Tutorials section of our web site where the list is stored in the Formula Editor Notes field. In this example, I'm using the Pick Box to present different fee types. Once a choice is made, the script calculates the fee based on the choice.

Backup Lessons

In the past week I heard from a customer who lost their ZonePro system when a hard drive crashed. They had almost eight years of data that was lost forever when they could not find any kind of backup. This type of disaster does not happen often, but it does happen! Backup your ZonePro data! It's easy to do. One solution is simply to copy your whole ZonePro installation folder to a writable CD.  Another solution for Zonepro 32 customers is to opt for our on-line backup service and use the built-in ZonePro Backup Wizard to store your backups on the internet. With these two options, once weekly backups are enough to save you from disaster. Another solution to consider is switching to ZonePro SQL where all your data is stored on the internet and you no longer have to worry about backups.

Old Document Editor Videos Resurface

Long-time customers may recall that we initially introduced a batch of training videos that were only available on CDs we sent out from our office. I took four of these old videos and converted them to on-line videos that you can now watch from the Training Videos page of our web site. Although these videos are dated, they cover the basics of using the Document Editor; a topic that every user needs help with. Most of the material is still relevant in today's version of ZonePro. All four videos can be found in the "Document Editor" section of the Training Videos page. The sound is a little rough, they are longer than the newer-style videos, and the screens have changed a bit but the overall message is still very useful. I actually found it kind of fun to get a peek at how ZonePro looked back in the early part of the century!

Version Info Added to Web Site

A new page has been added to our Customer Support Web Site that makes it easy for customers to check on the latest available modules from ZP Systems. The "Version Info" link added to the opening page will display a listing of all the latest module versions available for download for ZP 32 or ZP SQL. The listing shows the module name, the version number and when it was posted for downloading.