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Release Notes |
  
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Release Notes |
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This section describes changes in specific releases which are likely to affect your existing command files or procedures. For more details of these and all other significant changes and fixes, please consult the CopiaFacts Change History database using the FFCHANGES utility.
Configuration changes introduced with versions 7.200+ are described separately in Upgrading from Release 7.1 and earlier.
Note that the version number shown for FF7 (the CopiaFacts engine) is that shown in the top right box of the COPIAFACTS display, which will match the Windows version property of the principal F7xxx engine DLLs such as F7MAIN. This is not the same as the Windows version property of COPIAFACTS.EXE. This convention matches those used in the Change History database.
The CopiaFacts Engine, Document Converter, and Job Admin installers will place in your Program Files\Copia folder a file named CopiaVersionList.html which contains a table of current version numbers for all CopiaFacts executables and DLLs. Appendix M shows the same information as it was when this edition of the documentation was generated.
Preliminary Unicode Support - October 2008
UTF-8 Unicode encoding is now supported in CopiaFacts command files. Release builds after 10/10/2008 of most CopiaFacts applications allow UTF-8 encoding in all command files, with or without an initial byte-order mark (BOM). Because the initial implementation does not preserve the byte-order mark, you must choose between Windows default encoding and UTF-8, and if you choose the latter you must for example ensure that accented names that appear in command files are also encoded in UTF-8. Broadcast lists can optionally be converted to UTF-8 to facilitate this.
Command files can contain UTF-8 strings for use in sending e-mail, personalizing graphical cover sheets and other customizations. CopiaFacts applications in general are not yet Unicode-enabled, and cannot display Unicode text on the screen; full Unicode support is planned for a future release. For further information, see Using Unicode.
Custom Job Reports - October 2008
The optional Job Administration feature for designing and generating Custom Job Reports is now available. It is described briefly in the sections for JOBREPORT and $custom_report in this document, and in the separate help file for the report designer which is accessible from the JOBREPORT help menu. A PDF version of the Job Reporting documentation is available in the DOC folder on the CopiaFacts CD, and at the Copia FTP site.
SMS Messaging Framework - October 2008
A framework for SMS messaging has been implemented, which will allow the implementation of support for specific SMS providers by means of plug-in libraries (DLLs). The framework is implemented in Job Administration and in the CopiaFacts engine. It is described in Sending SMS Messages.
Brooktrout TR1034 and Trufax API 5.4 Support - September 2008
Engine release 7.328 adds support for Dialogic Brooktrout TR1034 API release 5.4 (SDK 5.2.2) in F7BM.DLL. To use API release 5.3 instead, move F7BM53.DLL to F7BM.DLL. To use API release 5.2 instead, move F7BM52.DLL to F7BM.DLL. API releases 4.9 and earlier are no longer supported.
Enhanced Fax Annotation Formatting - September 2008
In FFVIEWER release 7.234 and F7GCOVER release 7.256 we have added the ability to include a small subset of HTML syntax in annotation text, to provide bold, italic and underline formatting within an annotation. This is documented under the $style command.
Chaining Sequences of Infoboxes - August 2008
A new feature in CopiaFacts Engine release 7.327 allows multiple individual infoboxes, or sequences of infoboxes, to be chained together and processed in turn while at the same time allowing them to be processed individually if circumstances require this. This feature is particularly intended to allow separate pre- and post-processing sequences to be chained together, but can be used in other ways also. See the descriptions of the new $set_chain and $chain commands for more information.
COPIAFACTS Engine and PIN.EXE NDX Maintenance - August and September 2008
PIN.EXE versions 7.2xx had a serious bug where a key deletion could on rare occasions silently delete a different key from the one requested. Upgrading to PIN release 7.3xx is therefore strongly recommended for all users who make use of NDX do-not-send lookups, and the PIN topic gives further information about migrating to this release. A further problem affected the engine interface with files created by PIN 7.3xx and CopiaFacts Engine release 7.323 or later is now a required update if you use PIN 7.3xx and the NDX indexes it creates.
New License Keys - July 2008
Because of new licence options being introduced, and other configuration changes, release 7.3xx of the FFHWL configurator may in some cases generate a different licence key if you use it to modify settings in an existing FAXCOUNT.HWL file. The fact that the key has changed will prevent saving the file. If this happens, a pop-up will appear to advise you to use an earlier release of FFHWL, with a download link in case you no longer have the older version available. At your next maintenance renewal, or if you upgrade your licence to use specific new features, a new key will be issued which will avoid this issue.
Vista, Server 2008 and 64-bit support - June 2008
CopiaFacts programs now fully support Vista Business and Vista Ultimate (without Aero), and Windows Server 2008, in both 32-bit and 64-bit editions. CopiaFacts printer drivers, including Document Converter, are not currently supported under Windows 64-bit editions: however it is possible to run one or more Document Converter sessions in 32-bit virtual machines under Hyper-V on 64-bit Windows Server 2008, supporting a CopiaFacts server installation on the host machine.
To implement Vista and Server 2008 support, and to enable the 64-bit support option there is a new CDAUTO program, a new CopiaFacts Server installer (replacing all the separate IFF... installers) and a new version of the FFHWL license configurator. There is also a new version of FFTRACE which is required for collecting trace information from CopiaFacts print drivers under Vista and 32-bit Server 2008.
E-Mail Retry Delays - May 2008
From engine release 7.316, separate retry delay sequences and outcome class names can optionally be specified for e-mail items. FF7.SMR has been updated with new outcome classes for many of the e-mail outcome codes, and you may want to merge the changes into your own custom retry parameters file, if you have one. To match the new outcome class settings, the suggested default $email_retry_delays settings should be copied into your FAXFACTS.CFG file before you bring up release 7.316 or later.
Recursive Variable Expansion - March 2008
From engine release 7.306, the operation of variable expansions while defining variables with $var_def commands has been enhanced and clarified. Several special syntax solutions had been implemented over a number of years to make it easier to define one variable that references another, and while these have been retained to avoid breaking existing applications, a new explicit syntax has been introduced which is clearer and safer and which should avoid some of the more complicated constructs. The Expansion of Variables documentation has been rewritten to clarify this.
Document Converter - December 2007
Prior to CVSINGLE release 7.259, conversions for which a method cannot be determined were passed to be opened in Internet Explorer. Since this was only rarely beneficial, the default has now been changed to fail such conversions. If your application relied on the old method of operation it can be restored by means of the new $convert_options keyword 'DftIE'.
DKIM - September 2007
With effect from engine release 7.278, F7EMAIL 7.235 and F7SECURITY 7.206, the DomainKeys implementation has been updated to generate DKIM signatures. See Signed and Encrypted E-Mail for more information. The command keyword DomainKeys is still accepted as a synonym for DKIM.
ASCII Annotations - August 2007
With the addition of the ASCII_WRAP variable the default handling of over-length text in annotations changed from wrap to truncate. The change was originally intended for processing ASCII templates only, but affects all multi-line annotations.
Call Counts - August 2007
With effect from engine release 7.275, the FAXCOUNT.DBF file is no longer used for line control or for maintaining call statistics. This eliminates a number of problems with sharing this file on large systems. Instead there will be a new nodename.lock file for each node, a NEXTCALLNO file to provide a unique call number for each inbound call, and new nodename.stats files to record counts per line of faxes, emails, and inbound calls. These files will reside in the \FaxFacts\System folder. The current 'call number' will be transferred from FAXCOUNT.DBF to NEXTCALLNO on the first CopiaFacts engine run of the 7.275 version, leaving a 'gap' in the numbering in case other nodes continue to use an earlier release. A new CALLSTATS program will replace CALLMON to display the data from the nodename.stats files.
Excel Broadcast Lists - July 2007 (modified January 2008)
The default for processing broadcast lists in Excel format has changed so that the Excel file is read directly instead of requiring Excel to be present to load the list. This avoids problems with different versions of Excel being installed, and is faster and more robust. However it is possible that if your broadcast list contains fields formed from a very complex formula, the results may not match those from Excel. The direct read function also does not support XLS files from Excel 95 and earlier. You can restore the use of Excel in FFBC by setting an environment variable USE_EXCEL to a non-empty value, and in Job Administration by defining a variable USE_EXCEL as a non-empty value in the UJP file. Excel 2000 or later is now required. This change is in FFBC 7.247, JOBADMIN 7.280 and F7JOBADM 7.335 and later releases.
F7DOMAINKEYS - July 2007
The F7DOMAINKEYS dynamic link library has been replaced by F7SECURITY.DLL, which supports S/MIME signing and encryption in addition to DomainKeys signing. The $email_keyfile command has also been replaced by the $email_dkim_keyfile command (see DKIM above). This change is implemented in FF7 engine release 7.275 and F7EMAIL.7.233, and is described in more detail in Signed and Encrypted E-Mail.
Engine versions 7.275 or later require F7EMAIL 7.233 or later, and vice-versa. In addition a license key update is required to use the new F7SECURITY.DLL. This license key will require FFHWL release 7.253 or later to apply it.
IFFCF72, IFFDOCCONV, IFFJOBADMIN installers - May 2007
From versions dated 23rd May 2007 or later, these installers will schedule startup options to use STARTCOPIA when the checkbox 'Start xxxx when Windows starts' is checked. The new installers will also remove any direct shortcuts to COPIAFACTS, FFEXTERN or JOBMON which were installed by an earlier installer release. If you have manually added STARTUP shortcuts for these programs they might not be removed automatically. You should delete the direct shortcuts to avoid attempts to start multiple copies of these programs.
FF7 7.268 - May 2007
Until the above releases, conversion of received TIF files to PDF e-mail attachments has incorrectly created A4 PDF output instead of US Letter size whenever a "name=" clause was specified in the content type field which contained an upper-case .PDF filename. This has been corrected in engine release 7.268, which prevents truncation of the image on the right as a result of the narrower width of A4. Faxes converted using "application/pdf", in lower case, and without a "name=" clause, were correctly converted to a US Letter size PDF.
Unfortunately correcting this problem will result in the output PDF being made shorter when a "name=" clause is specified (11 inches instead of 297mm, or 11.69 inches). It is therefore important to ensure that any fax header line present on the incoming fax is stripped off before the image is converted to PDF, especially if you expect to receive faxed US Letter size documents which contain text in the bottom three-quarters of an inch. The new STRIP_TOP system variable implemented for F7GCOVER 7.248 can help with this.
Hardware Manufacturer Names - 2006-2007-2008
This documentation has been changed (back) to replace 'Cantata' with 'Brooktrout' throughout (the 'Cantata name seems to have been dropped and these boards are now referred to by Dialogic as "Dialogic Brooktrout boards'). In addition, where just 'Trufax' boards are mentioned this refers to the older Trufax boards which use the TR114 API. Modern '1034-based Trufax' boards will be described as such where appropriate.
Boards formerly described as 'Eicon' are now also described as 'Dialogic Diva' boards. Where only 'Dialogic' appears in the text, this should be taken to refer to former Intel-Dialogic hardware and also pre-Intel Dialogic hardware.
Boards described as 'Gammalink' remain so described, though they have now reverted to being Dialogic boards.
Boards formerly described as 'Intel (Dialogic)' are now described as 'Dialogic'.
Inside CopiaFacts applications, former names for these boards have been retained in some contexts. This is to avoid the need to change system variable names and command files in customer applications. In addition there are no plans to replace program and DLL names (for example F7EN.DLL for the CopiaFacts engine Dialogic Diva interface).
FF7 7.267 and COPIAFACTS 7.218 - May 2007
These releases introduce a feature which allows the relative priorities of TOSEND1 through TOSEND9 to be changed (by dragging the folder names on the pulldown on the COPIAFACTS Queues page). On a single node, you must update both the COPIAFACTS program and the engine DLLs (from the same installer). Nodes still running earlier releases will be unaffected by the folder priority changes and will maintain TOSEND1 as the highest priority (after TOSEND) down to TOSEND9 as the lowest.
CVSINGLE 7.246 and FFEXTERN 7.312 - January 2007
It is necessary to upgrade to these two versions at the same time. Upgrading only one of them may cause incorrect operation. If you are calling CVSINGLE directly, the resulting Windows errorlevel will normally contain the number of pages converted, instead of 0 for successful conversions. Please contact Copia for more information if you are using the CVSINGLE return value in your own applications.
FFVIEWER 7.215 and F7GCOVER 7.244 - June 2006
To fix some discrepancies between annotation positioning in FFVIEWER and F7GCOVER, small changes have been made to how both programs use the $position coordinates and dimensions. It is possible that a very few annotations may end up in different positions as a result, but hardly ever more than one or two pixels away. The most an annotation could move is of the order of a millimeter (which takes 7.7 pixels on a fax). If your annotation positioning is really critical, you may need to load annotations into FFVIEWER, check and adjust them, and then save out the modified GCT or GTT files.
F7JOBADM 7.291 - June 2006
Where job template phone numbers, email addresses, and receiver names are specified as a single 'broadcast field' (for example "@BCF3") the variable is expanded prior to launch instead of at transmission time in the COPIAFACTS engine. This makes for example "@BCF3" on a $fax_phone template item identical to the alternate "?3" specification style. Some advanced users may be relying on the fact that the variable is not expanded before launch. This change does not affect the similar syntax used by FFBC.
FF7 7.162 - April 2004
Changes have been made to the syntax used to specify fax header text on Gammalink fax boards. This removes many of the limitations that formerly applied, but will usually require changes to $fax_header command parameters. Please see the details of these changes in the Gammalink Hardware section.
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