Version 10.2.0 b27 (released August 11, 2022)

This beta version includes numerous bug fixes. For Panorama Server users, there is a new option to monitor and automatically relaunch if the server stops running for some reason. There is also a new diagnostic tool to double check that synchronization is working, and a new option for web only databases, which allows rapid bulk data modification to a web published database on the server.

For standalone Panorama users, Panorama now has the ability to play sounds in the background. The techniques for creating and modifying custom statements and custom functions is now documented, and slightly improved. There is also a significant change in how code is run after a field has been edited. Hopefully you won’t notice this change, other than possibly you may find that mysterious weird behavior has now disappeared. In related news, the new showlater statement will in most cases be an easier to use method for eliminating extra display than the noshow and endnoshow statements. There’s no reason to rewrite existing code with these statements, but for new code, showlater is probably easier.

- New Auto Relaunch option in server preferences. This option monitors the server and automatically relaunches it if it crashes or stops responding.
- Allow Panorama to ask for permission to control other apps using AppleScript (this was a new bug in b26).
- Added new Check Synchronization command to the pop-up sharing menu. This is a diagnostic tool that can be used to double check that the most recent database sync worked correctly. There is also an option to do this automatically after every synchronization.
- Added a suite of statements and functions to allow Panorama to play sounds asynchronously, see playsound. You can now build your own iTunes or podcast player in Panorama X!
- Function-Up Arrow/Down arrow no longer cycle thru cell values if the text editor has a scroll bar. If there is a scroll bar, these keys are interpreted as page-up/page-down.
- Image Display colors and gradients now work again in View-As-List forms.
- New DeleteObject statement, deletes a single object from the current form.
- New server feature – the “No Synchronization (Web Only)” database option. This option allows a web published database to perform the kinds of wholesale data changes that can be made in a single user database, but losing the ability to synch up the database with Panorama clients.
- Fixed problem between tabbing in a form and automatic code. When tabbing from field to field, Panorama now makes sure that any automatic code has finished running before starting editing of the next text editor object. (In the past, if the code did multiple assignments (or any display of data), the code following the assignment or display would run after the editing had already started, possibly causing incorrect operation.)
- Added the showlater statement to defer display of database changes until procedure code is finished. This is also done automatically for certain implicitly triggered procedures, which was how the fix above this was acheived.
- Fixed display of non-colored Action menu items when using Dark mode. (If the menu color is pure black, it is assumed to be non-colored, and will be displayed using the system default color. If you want it to always be black, you must use 000001 instead of 000000.)
- New .InitializeHotKeys procedure in custom libraries.
- Custom statements and functions are now documented.
- New View Organizer menu commands to reveal the custom library folder in the Finder.
- The Lock Record menu command now displays the correct alert if the record can’t be locked. (This used to display the standard error alert or open the Error Wizard, but this situation isn’t really an error.)
- Fixed spurious error that occurred when manually deleting a summary record from a shared database.
- Fixed naturaldate( crash that would occur if less than 3 patterns were supplied for the second parameter. Now this returns an error instead of crashing.
- Fixed Panorama X Server error handling of malformed URLs (without a valid database name).
- Error messages returned by web server to browser are now correctly HTML encoded, so special characters in the error message will be rendered correctly.
- The GoForm statement now stops any secret windows before running, and the partially implemented DATABASE option was removed (it didn’t work).
- Text Editor object now triggers procedure when exiting even if using pop-up editing and there is a choice list.
- Fixed Software Update window to make sure it NEVER appears when starting Panorama Server, only client.
- Fixed ability to set custom button names in the SuperGetPassword statement. (In previous versions of Panorama X you could not change it from Ok;Cancel.)
- Fixed alert error when clicking on a notification that reported a server error.
- Fixed crash in runningappinfo( if a process id is supplied that doesn’t correspond to an actual running process.
- Fixed crash that could occur if a parameter to a call( function results in nil.
- Added extra error checking in zlog. Don’t want ZLOG to EVER cause a procedure to abort.
- Reset the database faux TS number when first uploading or doing a new generation of a shared database.
- Removed link to outdated Denali FAQ page from release notes.
- Panorama 6 Installer window no longer reports that 10.14 and earlier are not compatible with Panorama 6.
- Fixed help markdown generation so that styles in the first paragraph of each topic render properly. There were hundreds of help pages with incorrectly rendered first paragraphs (mostly showing bare asterisks instead of italic text).
- Incorporated user documentation corrections into help file. Thanks to Peter Newble, Thomas Cooper, Robert Ameeti, James Cook, David Thompson, Craig MacPherson and David Scott.