Dodeca 6.6.0.4194 Now Available for Download!

This past Friday, November 22nd, we completed our work on the newest version of the Dodeca Spreadsheet Management System and made Dodeca 6.6.0.4194 available for download from our website.  This blog entry is a sneak peek at some of the new features in version 6.6, as well as 6.5, which was released to select customers with specific functionality requests.  There are a few features that are particularly useful for end users, so let’s start there.

More Excel Support

Dodeca has always been strong on Excel version support and this version delivers even more Excel functionality.  Internally, we use the SpreadsheetGear control, which does a very good job with Excel compatibility.  This version of Dodeca integrates a new version of SpreadsheetGear that now has support for 398 Excel functions including the new SUMIFS, COUNTIFS, and CELL functions.

Excel Page Setup Dialog

The new version of Dodeca includes our implementation of the Excel Page Setup Dialog which makes it easy for users to customize the printing of Dodeca views that are based on Excel templates.  Note that for report developers, the Excel Page Setup has also been included in the Dodeca Template Designer.

New PDF View Type

Customers who use PDF files in their environments will like the new PDF View Type.  In previous releases of Dodeca, PDF documents displayed in Dodeca opened in an embedded web browser control.  Beginning in this version, Dodeca includes a dedicated PDF View type that uses a specialized PDF control.

View Selector Tooltips

Finally, users will like the new View Selector tooltips which optionally display the name and the description of a report as a tooltip.

Performance

Performance is one of those things that users always appreciate, so we have added a new setting that can significantly improve performance in some circumstances.  Dodeca has a well-defined set of configuration objects that are stored on the server and we were even awarded a patent recently for the unique aspects of our metadata design.  That being said, depending on how you implement reports and templates, there is the possibility of having many queries issued to the server to check for configuration updates.  In a few instances, we saw that optimizing the query traffic could be beneficial, so we have implemented the new CheckForMetadataUpdatesFrequencyPolicy property.  This property, which is controlled by the Dodeca administrator, tells Dodeca whether we should check the server for updates before any object is used, as was previously the case, only when a view opens, or only when the Dodeca session begins.  We believe the latter case will be very useful when Dodeca is deployed in production as objects configured in production often do not change during the workday and, thus, network traffic can be optimized using this setting.  The screenshot below shows where the administrator can control the update frequency.

Though users will like these features, we have put a lot of new things in for the people who create Dodeca views and those who administer the system.  Let’s start with something that we think all Dodeca admins will use frequently.

Metadata Property Search Utility

As our customers continue to expand their use of Dodeca, the number of objects they create in the Dodeca environment continues to grow.  In fact, we now have customers who have thousands of different objects that they manage in their Dodeca environments.  The Metadata Property Search Utility will help these users tremendously.

This utility allows the administrator to enter a search string and locate every object in our system that contains that string.  Once a property is located, there is a hyperlink that will navigate to the given object and automatically select the relevant property.  This dialog is modeless, which means you can navigate to any of the located items without closing the dialog.

Note: this version does not search the contents of Excel files in the system.

Essbase Authentication Services

In the past, when administrators wished to use an Essbase Authentication service to validate a login against Essbase and automatically obtain Dodeca roles based on the Essbase user’s group memberships, they had to use an Essbase connection where all users had access to the Essbase application and database.  The new ValidateCredentialsOnly property on both of the built-in Essbase Authentication services now flags the service to check login credentials at the server-level only, eliminating the need for users to have access to a specific Essbase database.

New Template Designer Tools

Prior to Dodeca 6.x, all template editing was performed directly in Excel.  Since that time, however, most template design functionality has been replicated in the Dodeca Template Designer, and we think it is preferable due to the speed and ease of use with which users can update templates stored in the Dodeca repository.  We have added a couple of new features to the Template Designer in this version.  The first tool is the Group/Ungroup tool that allows designers to easily apply Excel grouping to rows and/or columns within the template.   The second new tool is the Freeze/Unfreeze tool that is used to freeze rows and/or columns in place for scrolling.

Parameterized SQL Select Statements

Since we introduced the SQLPassthroughDataSet object in the Dodeca 5.x series, we have always supported the idea of tokenized select statements.  In other words, the SQL could be written so that point-of-view selections made by users could be used directly in the select statement.  In a related fashion, we introduced the concept of parameterized insert, update, and delete statements in the same version.  While parameterized statements are similar in concept to tokenized statements, there is one important distinction under the covers.  In Dodeca, parameterized statements are parsed and converted into prepared statements that can be used multiple times and results in more efficient use of server resources.  The parameterized select statement was introduced in this version of Dodeca in order for customers using certain databases that cache the prepared statement to realize improved server efficiency on their select statements.

Workbook Script Formula Editor Improvements

We have also been working hard to improve extensibility for developers using Workbook Scripts within Dodeca.  In this release, our work focused on the Workbook Script Formula Editor.  The first thing we added here is color coding that automatically detects and distinguishes Excel functions, Workbook Script functions, and Dodeca tokens.  In the new version, Excel functions are displayed in green, Dodeca functions and parentheses are displayed in blue, and tokens are displayed in ochre.   Here is an example.

In addition, we have implemented auto-complete for both Excel and Dodeca functions.

New SQLException Event

Version 6.6 of Dodeca introduces a new SQLException event that provides the ability for application developers to customize the behavior when a SQL Exception is encountered.

XCopy Release Directory

Beginning in version 6.6, the Dodeca Framework installation includes a pre-configured directory intended for customers who prefer to distribute their client via XCopy deployment instead using Microsoft ClickOnce distribution.  The XCopy deployment directory is also for use by those customers who use Citrix for deployment.

Mac OS X Release Directory

The Dodeca Framework installation now includes a pre-compiled Dodeca.app deployment for customers who wish to run the Dodeca Smart Client on Mac OS X operating systems.  What that means is that Dodeca now runs on a Mac without the need for any special Windows emulators.  Dodeca does not require Excel to run on the Mac (nor does it require Excel to run on Windows for that matter), so you can certainly save your company significant licensing fees by choosing Dodeca for your solution. 

In short, you can see we continue to work hard to deliver functionality for Dodeca customers.  As always, the Dodeca Release Notes provide detailed explanations of all new and updated Dodeca features.  As of today, we have decided to make the Release Notes and other technical documents available for download to non-Dodeca customers.  If you are curious about all of the things Dodeca can do, and if you aren't afraid to dig into the details, you can now download our 389 page cumulative Release Notes document from the Dodeca Technical Documents section of our website.