New: Highlights of Axiell Collections Version 1.12

The Maintenance menu option will automatically show for Admin users when Journaling is enabled.

Deleted records can be viewed and filtered in a list. The highlighted record can be viewed in detail.

 

When one or more records in the list have been selected, clicking the Undelete button will restore these records.

 

Persistent Search Filters

 

Persistent search filters are useful when a user only needs to work with a subject of data that exists in the collections management system. Users now have the option to set a filter on a dataset that is always applied to any search that is performed. This filter is pinned and stays in place until it is removed or changed. These filters are personal and remain in place even after a new logon.

 

Each dataset can have its own filter. For example, this feature comes in handy in the V5.0 application that has one dataset for all objects records, both internal and external. With this new filter option, the user can set a filter to see only the internal objects. As another example, a user that only needs to work with objects with the object name ‘painting’ can add this to the persistent filter so they don’t have to think about adding this to their queries all the time.

 

Setting the filter is very easy. The option is automatically shown in the Standard Search Form after installing Version 1.12. Clicking the Filter button shows a search form for which the same fields can be configured as for the Standard Search Form. The user can enter search words in this filter form that will act as the filter for any search that is done in the dataset.

This screen capture shows the Search Filter form that appears when the user clicks the new Filter button in the Standard Search Form. After entering your filter criteria and clicking OK, the filter will show in the Standard Search Form as well as in the Advanced Search.

An active filter will also show in the main window to remind users that a filter is in place. Hovering the mouse over the filter icon will show the active filter in the tooltip.

 

More widely available multi-field searching (simple search)

 

The option to perform a search on multiple fields at once has been available in the Quick Search function in the toolbar of the Result Set List and is called Simple Search. This search function allows users to search across a host of (pre-configured) fields in one go. In release 1.12, however, this Simple Search function can now be added to the Standard Search Form via the Settings of this form.

 

This enables the user to search multiple fields at once when they don’t know exactly in which field a piece of data sits. As this Standard Search Form can also be called from a link screen when looking for records to link to the current record, this makes finding those records much easier. The fields that Simple Search uses for its cross-field search can be configured by the administrator in Axiell Designer.

The Standard Search Form with Simple Search added.

This is an example of a link screen that is shown when linking records from the database to the current record; for instance, to link a related object to the current object record. The button ‘Extend search’ will call for a Standard Search Form to search in the linked database. This Standard Search Form can now also have the Simple Search option added so that cross-field searching is now available. This will make it much easier to find records.

 

Note that the name of the ‘Extend search’ button used to be ‘Filter’. This has been changed in release 1.12 to avoid confusion with the new Filter button as described earlier in this article.

 

Record Merging

 

The new Record Merge function enables users to merge multiple records into one destination record. This function will come in very handy when duplicate data needs to be cleaned up in a smart way. What’s smart about Record Merge is that it allows the user to pick and choose field content from multiple records that need to move to the destination record. This means the user can ‘cherry pick’ the data they want to keep from multiple records.

 

The Record Merge function will not automatically show after installing release 1.12. A so-called method needs to be added by the administrator to the configuration of the dataset with Axiell Designer. This also means that access restrictions can be applied to this feature. When the method is added and the user has permission to use this function, a new button will show in the toolbar of the Result Set List View.

 

When two or more records are flagged/marked, the Record Merge button will become active and clicking it will show the merge dialogue popup.

In this example three similar object records have been selected and are shown in the first stage of the dialogue screen. Here, the user will highlight/select the destination record that will receive selected field content from the other two records. After selecting a record, object number 1 in this case, the user clicks OK to continue.

The merge dialogue will show the destination record in the left column and the data from the other record in the right column. Fields are grouped conveniently so their content can be easily compared to decide which content to keep and which content to merge. In the example above, a description group of fields is flagged to be merged into the destination record while its current content for those fields has been deselected. This means that in this case, the content of the destination record will be replaced with the flagged content from one of the other recorders. It is certainly possible to add information to existing fields in the destination as well.

 

After clicking OK the merge process starts and only the destination record remains in the database. The other records will be deleted.

 

Security Improvements

 

In release 1.12 we have applied tighter security rules as part of an ongoing security hardening process. Part of this process is a regular pen-test that is performed by an independent specialised company. The new release includes a remediation of vulnerabilities identified in the pen-test. We recommend that customers keep up to date with the latest security patches, just like with other software, and install version 1.12 of Axiell Collections and the latest release of the WebAPI if it is used.