December 2010 - Posts

• Charts in Method Report Designer

  Hello everyone, Today's blog entry is about using charts. Charts are a nice way to make an otherwise dull report look spiffy; the reports can also be embedded in a screen (Look at the Sales Center Dashboard). Now it's time to dive into creating a chart on a report. Here's the scenario - you want to print a chart that will display the sum of the customers with the top 5 invoice totals. Before we get into the details of how to create a chart, here are some definitions: Argument:  Is the X axis of a chart. In most charts, this axis represents categories, such as months, market segments, or other non-numeric data.  (The customers) Value: Is the Y axis of a chart. It is usually drawn from bottom to top and usually shows the range of values of variables dependent on one other variable.  (The sum of customer invoices) Qualitative:  Descriptions or distinctions based on some quality rather than on some quantity. In our case, a "John Smith" customer name would be a qualitative type value. Steps to create a Bar Chart Create a report based on the Invoice table (click here if you need help with this). Drag a Chart object from the Standard Controls tool box onto the report. The Chart Wizard will pop up, Select Bar. Click Next >>. Here you can select the colour Palette. Click Next >>. By default, 2 series are created.  In our case we only need 1 series, so select Series 2 and click Remove. Change the Series name for Series 1 to something meaningful, in this case I chose "Total Amount". Click Top N options tab. Check Enabled and change the Count to "5". This will display the top 5 values. Uncheck Show Others. Click Point Options tab. Change the Value Format To "Currency". Click Next >>. Select Series Binding tab. For Argument, select "Customer". For Binding mode, select "Summary function". Click (...). From the drop down list, select SUM. From the list tree on the right, select Amount located within Invoice. Click OK. Click on the Auto-created Series tab. For Argument, select "Invoice. Customer". For Binding mode, select "Summary Function". Click (...) for summary function. From the drop down list, select Sum. From the list tree on the right, select Amount located within Invoice. Click OK. Click Finish. Voila, you have created your first chart and it should look similar to the image below. Be sure to pat yourself on the back.     Before you continue onto the second chart, get up and stretch (if you were like me, the first time I created a chart it was not a simple task, then again I didn't have a wonderful blog entry to refer to . So this time around, instead of a breakdown by customer and invoice we want a breakdown by invoice item. We want to visually see a breakdown of our line items that are used on invoices and we are going to create a Pie Chart to display this information. Steps to create a Pie Chart Create a report based on the InvoiceLine table (click here if you need help with this). Drag a Chart object from Standard Controls tool box into the report. The Chart Wizard will pop up, select Pie.  Click Next >>. Here you can select the colour Palette. Click Next >>. By default 2 series are created.  In our case we only need 1 series, so select Series 2 and click Remove. Change the Series name for Series 1 to something meaningful, in this case I chose "Invoice Item". Click Top N options tab. Check Enabled and change the Count to "3". This will display the top 5 values. Uncheck Show Others. Click Point Options tab. Change the Value Format To "Percent". Ensure that Value as percent is checked. Click Next >>. Select Series Binding tab. For Argument, select "Item". For Binding mode, select "Summary function". Click (...). From the drop down list, select SUM. From the list tree on the right, select Amount located within InvoiceLine. Click OK. Click on the Auto-created Series tab. For Argument, select "Item". For Binding mode, select "Summary Function". Click (...) for summary function. From the drop down list, select Sum. From the list tree on the right, select Amount located within InvoiceLine. Click Ok. Click Finish.   Voila, you have created your second chart in Method Report Designer.   I hope these steps will come in handy when creating your next Method report. Regards, Michael   Posted Dec 29 2010, 08:36 AM by Method_Michael with no comments

• Ho! Ho! Ho! Method is open over the holidays

  'Tis the season!  It’s Christmas Eve, the spirit of the season is at its peak, and the malls are jam packed with last-minute shoppers (hopefully none of you will be one of them!).  The Method Team is excited to spend time with family and friends as we celebrate the holidays. With that said, I’d like to mention we will be working regular office hours, but with a skeleton crew.  So, if you need us, know that the office will not be closed on any business days over the next couple of weeks.  We’re here for you! As we reflect back on the Method developments of 2010, we’re pleased with all of our accomplishments, and we hope you feel the same way.  The New Year is just around the corner and we have ambitious plans for 2011, so you can look forward to many cool new features, apps, and great releases in the coming year We’d like to wish the entire Method Community a wonderful holiday season and a bright and prosperous 2011.  Make the most of the season, have fun, be safe, and enjoy! Happy Holidays! Katie Posted Dec 24 2010, 08:42 AM by Anonymous with no comments

• A Christmas Poem by a Method Developer!

  Below is a version of ‘A night before Christmas’ that Dave, Method developer sent around internally today.  It was so good that we had to share it to the full Method community.  Excuse the many inside jokes!   ‘Twas the night before xmas, and all through Method Not a server was down not even exchange A division had been sold off on a dare In the hopes that all support calls would go to the new owner's care The bsc’ers were just getting to bed Hoping the hangover from an Method team party would be gentle on their heads And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my black skull cap Had just settled little Hope down for a long winter’s nap (who’s daddy’s little girl...you are...yes...you are....wait a sec I’m getting off topic here) When from my Android there arose such a clatter I quickly opened Outlook Googleapps to see what was the matter It loaded my emails quicker than a flash And what’s this... there was a crash  The light of my phone screen could not show The crestfallen look on my face below When, what to my wondering eyes should appear, But a manager and 3 developers With a senior coder, so lively and quick, I knew in a moment it must be St. Manish Hopped up on guru, and coffee, and beer (hey on a developer the effects are all the same) He whistled, and shouted, and called them by name; "Now, Dave! now, Rich! now, Victor! Help Danny, Help Val, Help Denis and Igor! Here’s our list of Unfuddle tickets (my how small) "Now fix and test them all!” With St. Manish leading the way There was not an obstacle that could slow them down that day Oh how their fingers they flew Innovative code...and bug free too! And then, in a twinkling, at his behest There came a meeting request As I shook my head and rolled my eyes around, To the boardroom came St. Manish with a bound He was dressed all casually, from his head to foot Here’s one guy that was not a hard Method 2.0 convert From his bag he pulled a box of sesame snacks I wonder what else is in that knapsack? He then took a brief pause to grab a treat that Saudia gets to make us merry He especially liked the one with a cherry! His head was drawn up to the side as he gave full attention As from Wayne, Noel, and Katie came many a question You could see a smile form from his teeth As he showed them how to upload an image of a wreath He then rested his hands on his belly And offered them a bowlful of jelly He was explaining how to make Method work right off the shelf When I zoned out a little and lost myself I came to when with a wink of his eye and a twist of his head He let me know, from this hot-fix I had nothing to dread He went back to his desk and went straight to work He even fixed the latest Devx quirk  And laying his finger aside of his nose, And giving a nod from his desk he rose; He sprang for the washroom key And down the hall went he But I heard him exclaim, ere he was accidentally locked out for the night, “Now you should be able to customize them all-right” Posted Dec 23 2010, 04:34 PM by Method_David with no comments

• Your holiday gifts from Method: New Payments screen, new UI features!

  I started writing this blog post early last week.  At the time, I was just writing about some new user interface ("UI") features that came out.  But when I wrote the line "we haven't actually redesigned any screens - yet - but at least now we can." I woke up - it is certainly not in the holiday spirit to tease and leave Method users wanting more!! So a week later, here I am, back to finish my blog post, with more to announce. We now have a freshly redesigned Receive Payment screen! If you go to Customer Center > Receive Payment you'll see some new functionality, as well as an example of what is possible with some of the new design capabilities in Method.  Let me explain... New Functionality: Balance in Received From dropdown - In another life, when I used QuickBooks directly to enter payments instead of Method, it bothered me that I couldn't see what the outstanding balance was for the customer in the dropdown - so we took the liberty of adding that to Method's version of the Receive Payment screen.  Also, when you select a customer the balance outstanding automatically fills in the Amount field to save you time (which, of course, you can overwrite if needed).  Payment Gateway - You'll now see the Payment Gateway dropdown here.  This lists all the merchant accounts you have listed under Customize > My Account > Payment Gateways.  If you are not already setup, you'll have to first have an account with either Intuit Merchant Services, Authorize.NET (great for Americans) or PSIGate (great for Canadians).  You'll also notice that we tied a Payment Gateway to a QuickBooks A/R Account, Payment Method and Deposit To Account to speed up data entry. Process with payment gateway when saving? - Together with the Payment Gateway, when you save the payment you have the option to automatically charge the customer's credit card, give a "Payment Processed" or "Payment Declined" message, put the Order ID into the Reference # field, and send the payment to QuickBooks.....which I can report back as being *awesome* since we started using it internally a few days ago. Email payment notification when saving? - Selecting this will mean that when the payment is processed all contacts on this customer's account who are setup to receive billing notifications will receive an email.  The email template is something you can customize yourself, but you'll see the standard one already gives you a professional look.  Tip: edit the Payment Notification email template and add your billing email to the CC (optional) field, so that you can receive a copy of each notification you send. New User Interface: Labels support HTML - You'll notice that the "Process customer payments that sync to QuickBooks......" label in the image above has a backcolor, bold text and a border. How did I do that?  In the past, the labels were straight text. Now the labels support HTML content, and up to 4000 characters, so if you know a little HTML, or know how to copy and paste from an HTML editor, you have a lot of flexibility. Sections have background color, border color and cellspacing - when you click Edit on a section header in the designer, you'll see a lot more options for styling the section.  As you can see from the credit card information section above, it has been styled to have the same background as the inactive tab color, same border as the active tab color and some extra padding. Buttons can be big or small - previously buttons came in one size, take it or leave it.  Now you can adjust the font size of buttons to emphasize or de-emphasize buttons.  In the example above, you'll see Save & Close has a font size of 12pts making it bigger than normal, and Cancel is a link with font size 8pts, making it smaller than normal. Keep objects side-by-side - You'll see in the example above that Save & Close, or, and Cancel are all in the same cell, displayed side-by-side.  You couldn't do this before.  If you had fields and objects in the same cell you only had the option to stack them on top of each other.  Now you can set this by editing each object in a cell and choosing the "Keep this side-by-side other objects in the same cell" option. Note: some objects like dropdowns and datepickers don't yet support this feature. Objects can align left, right or center in a cell - Previously you could only adjust the alignment of buttons. Now you can adjust the alignment of most objects - which goes a long way when trying to match your design layout in Method to how you planned it in your head. Happy holidays, Paul Posted Dec 23 2010, 04:15 PM by Method_Paul with 3 comment(s)