TFORMer Designer: Version History

Fixes:

• ODBC DB2 (On importing data - an ODBC table - using the Data Import Wizard errors have been displayed: Tables couldn't displayed with the Wizard. Just a empty list was displayed).
• Computer crashed on generating PDFs with enlarged/scaled down images.
• Computer crashed on generating PDFs with fonts (65536 character sets).
• Problems with center justification in PDF.

Removed:

• UPS Labels from Templates (available to licensed UPS end users on request).

Bug-Fixes:

• On Windows Vista and Microsoft^® Windows XP SP3 printing on network-printers is now possible. This big-fix affects both the report designer as well as the reporting SDK.
• The PDF output generator was improved to generate correct justified text output in all situations (the problem happened on unlicensed TFORMer installations in conjunction with bar-codes).

New Features:

• UNICODE: TFORMer now supports UNICODE and therefore covers almost all scripts in current use today. Examples are Chinese (汉语 / 漢語), Japanese (日本の), Hebrew (עברית), Arabic (العربية) or Russian (Русский).
• Direct Image Output: TFORMer is now able to print directly to image formats like BMP, GIF, JPG, PCX, PNG, TGA, TIF and multi page TIF.
• ZEBRA^® Printer Support: On demand TFORMer now generates ZPL-II compliant output. This feature is available on Microsoft Windows®, Linux® and UNIX®.
• Simplified use of Expressions and Data-Fields, expressions and data-fields can now be inserted into text elements much easier.
• Syntax Highlighting: The Expression Editor now supports syntax highlighting, auto-completion and call tips.
• Save as ZIP: Stand-Alone form layouts may be saved as ZIP-file from within TFORMer Designer.

Improvements:

• PDF Output with Embedded Fonts: Embedded fonts in exported PDF files produce less overhead.
• Performance: The performance of the .NET API of TFORMer Runtime was improved when retrieving form information.
• QuickPrint: The tool QuickPrint for fast and easy on-demand printing offers a better user interface.
• Serial Number Support: QuickPrint now supports printing of unique serial numbers. This also works in a multi-user or networked environment.

New Barcode Types:

• Aztec Code: 2D symbology with binary encoding support
• DPD Code: Linear symbology in use by "Deutscher Paket Dienst GmbH & Co. KG"
• Italian Postal Code 2of5
• DAFT Code: This is not a bar-code by itself. It allows low level (bar by bar) encoding of several postal codes.

COM / ActiveX Control Security Improvement:

In combination with Microsoft Internet Explorer the security of the COM version of TFORMer Runtime was significantly improved: TFORMer Runtime is now "site locked" as well as marked as "safe for scripting". Thus TFORMer Runtime V5.1 can be safely installed on any machine.

By default only the following zones are allowed to script TFORMer Runtime as part of web pages: local computer, intranet and trusted zones. All other zones are locked out. If you need to enable the full functionality of TFORMer Runtime within web pages please check out the documentation for details.

We recommend you to update all existing TFORMer Runtime installations as soon as possible!

New Features:

General:

• Windows^® Vista^® is fully supported. TFORMer is now compatible with Microsoft^® Windows^® 2000 or higher.
• Terminal Server is supported.

Design Features:

• Improved text capabilities: The text element is now able to mix arbitrary fonts, colors and styles within one element and can be formatted using the graphical user interface or directly using HTML syntax (e.g. Bold Text).
• Better support for special characters, especially when using Eastern European character sets.
• Embedded expressions: Expressions and data-fields are now embedded directly into text elements using the placeholders [ … ] and < … >. This feature simplifies form design substantially.
• Improved barcode engine: TFORMer 5 utilizes the latest version of TBarCode 7. EAN.UCC composite symbologies as well as RSS codes are supported.
• Additional barcode settings in TFORMer Designer: Bar-width reduction (“pixel shaving”) and optimize resolution for output device (better readability).

Output Features:

• PDF output performance improved, http-links to external sources are supported.
• The performance of the PostScript output was improved.
• The accuracy of HTML output was improved.
• Transparency is now supported for image files.
• Adobe^® Type 1 fonts are supported under Linux and UNIX.
• The error-handling of TFORMer Runtime was improved and may be configured via TFORMer.xml (ignore, abort, print errors).

Smart Reports:

• Auto font-size for text: The font-size of a text element is automatically adapted.
• Dynamic size of picture and text-elements: The bounding box of such an element adapts automatically to the content.
• Shiftable elements: Elements adapt their position within the layout automatically.
• Simplified multi-column reporting.

Software Developers:

• Application Programming Interface (API) revised.
• New .NET and COM support: TFORMer Runtime is now available as .NET 2.0 component, as COM component, as DLL, as shared library (on Linux^®/UNIX^®) and as command-line application.
• TFPrint now supports ODBC connectivity.
• Minimized dependencies: ImageMagick dependencies were removed from TFORMer Runtime – thus reducing setup and maintenance efforts on Linux and UNIX platforms dramatically.

Additional Tools:

• A new tool for fast manual data entry and instant printing of arbitrary forms (“QuickPrint”) was introduced. This tool is available with source code.