Method Community

Sam,

I've seen other behaviour in the grid that seemed to require me to put a "0" into a numerical field, not the price field though.  For example I have some logic that runs on "Lose Focus" for calculating weights, or pricing etc. and for some reason I've seen the grid get a little finicky about having Null instead of "0" in a numerical field.  Kind of like it get stuck in an edit state, not ready for update or entry of values from the action sequence.  Not sure if this is related, but I find it odd that a "0" in a numerical field would satisfy a validation rule.  It looks more like my weird Null versus 0, 0.0, 0.00 behaviour that appears to hang the grid.

Just an idea, it might not be a content requirement of the field at all, but an error in the state management (edit, update, save, etc. based on cursor position, click sequence, action sequence etc.) of the grid that gets hung.  There's a lot going on behind the scenes to maintain that nice grid on screen.

James

@James - I saw this comment you wrote to Paul yesterday:

jnoneiliv1:

I don't see the fix to SalesOrder_CreateInvoice though?  My account shows the Full Blown Method version of this screen as April 13, 2011.  Maybe there's an update to this screen that I don't have?

I think I know why you don't see the latest and greatest screen.  Last summer we released Method CRM with our new look and screens.  At that time we sent an email to all our users letting them know to upgrade to the latest version of Method CRM or CRM Pro.  In your case, you'd want to upgrade to CRM Pro since you have Full Blown.  We also let everyone know that from now on we'd be updating the new CRM with the latest screens.  Since your account is managed by an MSP (Method Solution Provider), he/she would have needed to give you a heads up.

The upgrade is free and can be done from the Customize > My Account area.  You'll see you can switch to Method CRM Pro.  Your old screens will still work but you'll now get the latest screens and updates we push out. 

Hope this helps!

Danny

Thanks Danny.  That explains a lot.  I'd rather be on the bleeding edge with everyone else.  Of course I might be in the wilderness with my customizations, but at least I'll have the latest defaults to test and compare.

Cheers,

James

James: I haven't encountered issues with 'types' of null values, ie 0 vs 0.0 yet. So far my issues on this topic has been limited to a field having any value at all, even the value is null. 

This side topic is interesting. James, how do you ensure that your customized screens keep abreast of the latest Method updates? Do you constantly check for changes in the default screens and copy changes over to your custom screens?

The "Release Notes" section of the Community page seems to give a pretty good indication of updates to Method as a whole. Are there any other resources along these lines for a guy who does a lot of customization then doesn't touch anything for a few months? 

smohyee-

smohyee:

The "Release Notes" section of the Community page seems to give a pretty good indication of updates to Method as a whole. Are there any other resources along these lines for a guy who does a lot of customization then doesn't touch anything for a few months? 

You can subscribe to the RSS feed for the Release Notes, that way as soon as there is a new entry you will get notified.

-Michael

Sam,

For the most part any change in Method shouldn't affect a customized screen.  This would only occur if there was a bug in the new code, and most of the changes that would impact the custom screen functionality have been bug fixes, performance improvements, or more lately some validation rules for logic.  All of these just make the customized screens run better and easier to implement.

The release notes are not really detailed enough to track bug fixes or minor tweaks to performance, but it doesn't make sense to publish that information since Method takes care not to change any of functionality and makes all changes backward compatible.

It's really not something I would worry about, since all the screens in Method, custom and new default screens use the same core functionality and library of functions etc. there would be little tendency for changes to impact a custom screen.  There have been major improvements in performance and grid functionality and none of them had any apparent impact to the configuration of a custom or default screen.

Paul confirmed that the validation rules also run on all the default screens, so when a Method developer or business consultant developes a new screen they are using the same screen development tools we are including the Screen Designer, Table Customization, and Actions.  This is an incredibly strong paradigm because it tends to mean that the tools used to develop the polished products of Method like the CRM screens are built using the same tools we can use for our customized screens.

I was very curious about this in the beginning, but after reverse engineering several Method default screens, I coudn't find a single bit of functionality that wasn't created using the same tools we can use when customizing.  Pretty amazing actually.  I've only recently seen some html code used in some screens, which I don't agree with, but it's just for making the screens pretty and doesn't add any functionality to the screens not available in the configuration tools.

The Actions Guide in pdf format is the current best source for seeing all the logic you can use.  It's not very detailed in usage explanation but the Method folks on the forum have always been very responsive in explaning how to use certain Actions and helping to troubleshoot customization, even though it might be technically reasoned that support should be purchased.

This forum and the community of Method users, etc. is really the best place to get a lot of knowledge or help.  There aren't many of us users doing a lot of solution posting yet (maybe a good thing to limit bad information), but the Method folks stay on top of the postings.

The value added resellers can also be a good resource for Method support.  I purchased a good portion of services from my local reseller to get some help with customization and to keep a formal connection back through a paid support channel in case I got in trouble, but I haven't had to really use it for support as the folks like Michael Melo and the other folks have done such a fantastic job staying on top of all the forum questions and problem reports.

Cheers,

James

@James - thanks for the kind words.

Just wanted to point out one thing.  The future of all documentation is going to be the Method CRM Help Center, which is gradually filling up with content.  You can see all actions and objects on there, which will be the most up-to-date documentation:

http://www.methodintegration.com/method/kb.aspx?folder=methodcrm&id=133

Paul

Paul, you're most welcome.  Is there a place I can submit some suggestions for updates to the guide?  There are some usage details of the actions that I've learned either in experimentation or with help from Michael and Valbon, and some questions I have still on some actions even though I'm using them successfully, that don't rise to the level of a forum question posting.  They'd be no response required suggestions, questions of clarification.

James - for now......the forum is still the best place.  

What we do know is that the Help Center will be interactive.  But what we haven't decided is how we're going to do it.  If we just do comments, then the articles will become a nightmare of Q & A, rather than helpful tips.  But Q & A has its value too since someone reading the article might benefit from someone else's question.

My current thought is that articles can have comments and questions. But when the questions are answered it opens up a forum post or a discussion, outside of the article.  That way it stays social, useful and non-cluttered.  

The idea is to build all this out using the same Method tools that all Method users available in their accounts (i.e the current Method CRM Help Center is built using the Knowledge Base tool you have available in YOUR account under Integration Tools > Knowledge Base).

Once we have everything built out more, it'll be the ideal place for what you are asking.

Paul

I'm glad you're making plans for interactive help pages, and I'm with James on wanting to submit user content!  

Just throwing this out there: have you considered a Wiki-style format, to editing of articles directly, maybe through some limited form where Alocet employees preview and approve changes before they are effected? This would be in addition to the Q&A/comments section at the bottom of each article that you just described, which could used as a staging ground for people to discuss changes and submissions to articles.

I have a strong urge to "pay it forward" after all the help I get on these forums, and I bet I'm not the only one who feels that way. ESPECIALLY when I go check out some of those customization help pages that basically just list the options available (that you can figure out just by looking at your screen!).

Edit: Oh, oh, and how to guides. I've just about finished with the customer "Shipping Address List" feature that I added through customization, and since this is a standard feature of Quickbooks I know there are going to be other people who'd want it. I'd happily post a step-by-step guide on how to create such a custom screen, with screenshots and all, which would both be a way for people to access that feature, and a useful tutorial on understanding Method customization. 

Paul,

That all makes sense to me.  I have a lot of questions about the use of some of the Actions, many of which are somewhat theoretical in nature as I can usually get everything to work, but I'm not sure I'm really taking proper advantage of the intent AND functionality of an Action.  For example there are still several advanced configuration aspects of Loop through Table and Loop through Grid that I don't understand.

I think I have "good" questions and I've done my homework to try not to be obtuse, but they aren't really high priority since I haven't become stuck, so I try to hold some things back from the forum.  You're probably thinking "not enough, James:)"

Like Sam, I'd like to "pay it forward" but I'm concerned that without validation by Method technical folks I might just cause more trouble than really help, whereas if my question prompts a clarification in the official documentation, my understanding would improve AND the knowledge could be shared in a reliable way that your developers could agree is in line with the "intent" of the tools and hopefully prevent future "how to" questions to the forum moderators.  As "power users" we could refer folks back to the documentation.  I don't feel confident doing that now.

I'd also like to post some of my "solutions" to the board.  For example I have a Bill of Lading report that I developed that is mostly compliant with the published VICS standards http://www.vics.org/guidelines/bol/, but there are some technical issues with just importing a screen, etc.  But, I could at least detail how it would be done, screen shots, etc.

And finally, maybe even most importantly I'm really wanting the support mechanisms to be efficient and profitable for Method, since I want you guys to be around for a long time.  If we can leverage the community and the value added resellers to keep your headquarters costs down, I think it's best for all of us.

It is very difficult to provide customized IT solutions to small businesses and make money doing it.  Method is an amazing tool for the small business, in my opinion, ranking up there with QB, and I think "crowd sourcing" the support could be a way to make sure you guys are properly rewarded for building such a poweful platform.

Enough rambling from me, thanks for sharing your ideas about how to make the "how to" guides social and explaining how we can leverage the tools you already have in place, like the forum, and blog, etc.

Cheers,

James