OSPInSight OSPM-Edit 6.52 Release Notes

30/Mar/2006


NEW FEATURES

1- On the Options->Display Options form, on the Treeview tab, there is now an option to export the original line colors to Google Earth.

 

2- The Export to Google Earth feature now has the option to export data from only a certain region of the network, rather than the entire network.  Select your regions (if you are drawing them, we suggest using the Cosmetic layer) on the map, then open the Export to Google Earth form, select the Export Region checkbox, then click Export.  Note that you can select multiple regions by holding the Shift key when you click the regions.

 

3- An Export Map Selection to Google Earth option has been added to the Tools dropdown menu, that will export whatever is selected on your map.  You can use the Select tool to highlight multiple objects (on only one layer at a time) by holding down the 'Shift' key while you click.  Alternatively, you can use the SQL Select... feature under the Query menu, in combination with the Data Linker to create complex selections and export them to Google Earth.  This feature will give users quite a bit of flexibility on the data they can provide to third parties.  The export information will be logged in the log file (accessible through the Export to Google Earth form), and you can cancel the process click pressing the 'ESC' key.

 

4- The Data Linker tool has been updated to allow users to create linked layers with points and regions, as well as create a linked layer for only a specific region.  There is also a log file.

 

5- A 'Disabled' checkbox has been added to the setup, allowing users to disable the workspace without removing the path.

 

TIPS

1- If you have a large amount of data to export from OSPInSight to Google Earth, it exports somewhat faster in OSPInSight View, due to using MapX rather than MapInfo Professional.

 

2- If your 'Map' dropdown menu disappears, click the map for it to reappear.

 

3- You can have the coordinates of the cursor location displayed in the status bar, whenever you move your mouse.  In the status bar below the mapper, you can display your Zoom Level, your Map Scale, or your Cursor Location.  To select which information to display, click the Map dropdown, then Options.  In the Options window, there is a section called "Display in Status Bar".  If you want to see your coordinates on the status bar, select the "Cursor Location" radio button.  Also note, on that same Map Options form, there is a "Display Coordinates" section, where you can set your coordinates to display in Degrees Decimal, or Degrees Minutes Seconds.

 

 

ERRORS RESOLVED

1- Edit was calling MapX code when performing a Push or a Pull in the MapPoint View.  This would cause an "ActiveX component cannot create object" error.

2- The Hardware/Materials editor will now verify that cable types have more than 0 fibers.

3- If there was no slack at a frame, enclosure or slack in the spanlength section of a cable span (if the 'in' and 'out' values were the same on a row), a message would indicate that the slack amount was zero, and wouldn't update the totals.

4- The splice schematic was showing incorrect information if a spliced cable didn't end in a slack, enclosure or a frame.



OSPInSight OSPM-Edit 6.5 Release Notes

8/Feb/2006

 

 

NEW FEATURES

 

1- Export OSPInSight layers to Google Earth

OSPInSight layers can now be exported to a .kml file, and then opened in Google's satellite photo application, Google Earth.  Simply select the layers you want, click export, and they will open in Google Earth.

Usage

a. Install Google Earth.  You can get it from here: http://earth.google.com/downloads.html

b. Load your network in OSPInSight

c. Right click a category or individial object in the Treeview and select "Export to Google Earth", or click Tools-> Export to Google Earth

d. Right-click the grid to invert which layers are selected.

e. The Export to Google Earth form shows how many objects are on each map layer.  After the export, it also shows how many were successfully exported.  Any that failed to export correctly will be listed in the log file. 

f. Click the 'Save Settings' button to save the path for the KML file, as well as the layer selection.  You can save the layout (window and column size, and position on screen) by pressing ctrl+s.

g. The "Open KML in Google Earth" button will open a previously exported .kml file in Google Earth, making it so you don't have to wait through the export process again.

h. During the export process you can click the 'Quit' button, to skip to the next layer, or to quit the export process altogether.

i. When you close Google Earth after loading your OSPInSight layers, you will receive the message 'You have unsaved items in your "Temporary Places" folder. Would you like to save them in your "My Places" folder?'  We recommend always responding  'No' to saving the exported layers in Google Earth.  If you have a large network, and it takes a significant amount of time to export your network data to Google Earth, you can simpy use the "Open KML in Google Earth" button to open a previously exported KML file.

j. Google Earth can be run in DirectX or OpenGL mode.  OpenGL is the default mode, but requires more graphics memory, and a more powerful graphics card.  On the Google Earth support page they have the following note: "DirectX users will not be able to view line width." In other words, all lines will appear to be 1-pixel thick, even if you change the display options to thicker.  You have to go to Tools->Options->View (in Google Earth) and select OpenGL as the Graphics Mode in order to see thicker lines.

k. After your selected layers have been exported successfully to a .kml file, if Google Earth fails to open, or gives an error, then it isn't necessary to wait through the export process again.  In the "Google Earth Export" form in OSPInSight, click the button to the right of the file path, that shows the tooltip "Open KML file in Google Earth".

l. You can increase the zoom speed in Google Earth, as by default it zooms to view your network rather slowly.  In Google Earth click Tools->Options->Control, and alter the Speed slider.

 

2- 'B' checkbox column added to the Display Options->More, so you can highlight certain fields in editors.  The 'V' column determines if that field is visible.

 

TIPS

1- MapInfo has added a couple of very useful features as of MapInfo Professional version 7.5. 

a. The first is the ability to modify the Snap Tolerance, which is how near your cursor needs to be to an object before it will snap to it.  The default is 5 pixels, and as you increase it, the circle around the tip of your tool will increase to show you the snap area.  Turn your Snap tool on or off by by selecting the map and pressing the S key.  Modify the snap tolerance by clicking Options->Preferences->Map Window, and changing the value for Snap Tolerance.

b. The second is the Crosshairs feature.  This feature will give crosshairs that extend to the edge of the map, making it very easy to line things up while drawing.  To turn your crosshair feature on or off, make sure the map is selected, and press the C key.

 

ERRORS RESOLVED

1- Document/Relationship editor's browse buttons weren't disabled before clicking 'modify'

2- Clicking Open for a Document object that was related to a folder (rather than a file) would give an error, and open the wrong folder.

3- Messages have been added to the setup to make it more apparent how the Golden and Backup directories are used.

4- The equipment attached to a jack now displays in the Fiber Panel/Info tab, in the 'patch' field

5- The pwr.loss field in the database was an integer field; thus, if a user input non-integer values for the 'loss' in the Fiber Panel->OTDR tab, they would be saved incorrectly.  OSPInSight will now convert the field to a 'double'.

6- Relations for Rings (cable span) were showing only one span, regardless of the number of spans that were actually part of that ring.

7- The columns were offset when exporting the splice spreadsheet report to Excel.  We recommend using the Excel 8.0 (XLS) format when exporting from Crystal, rather than the Excel 8.0 (XLS) Extended.

8- While terminating fibers, a message saying: "Choose a different value, not enough positions" would sometimes innappropriately appear

9- The variable that stored the number of layers when printing was previously a BYTE, causing an overflow error if there were more than 256 layers open.  The variable has not been changed to an Integer

10- A "Key is not unique in collection" error was displayed when finding relations on a cable span that was attached to a pole

11- In the Query form of the Installed Materials/Hardware report, selecting specific columns rather than using an asterisk in the Select field would generate an error: "Item cannot be found in the collection corresponding to the requested name or ordinal."

12- If no specific layer was specified as the text layer, OSPInSight would by default use the *TXT.tab layer for text, but wasn't showing that in the Edit Options->Misc Options tab.  Also a tooltip was added to that field.

13- OSPM Edit failed to give a message when there were more terminations for a frame than there were ports.  It now gives a message when you open the fiber panel.

 

 

OSPInSight OSPM-Edit 6.07.1 Release Notes

07/Nov/2005

 

ERRORS RESOLVED

1- On some computers the 6.07 executable would fail to load any networks, due tof an issue with OSPInSight looking for MapX

 

OSPInSight OSPM-Edit 6.07 Release Notes

02/Nov/2005

 

NEW FEATURES

1- A pole attachment editor has been added, that will add one attachment record at a time to all poles in a selected region.  Be careful with it, as there is no roll-back feature at this point.

In order to use the Pole attachment feature:

                a- Open a pole editor

                b- Select an existing, or create an attachment record you wish to add to other poles

                c- Draw a region on the map around the poles you want to update, I would suggest on the animosp layer

                d- Select that region

                e- Click the Region button in the Pole editor, then click Attach

2- A Plant Layers tab has been added to the display options, so that users can specify which layers they would like to have visible or invisible when loading a network, without adding them to a workspace.

3- The Display Options->More tab has had an additional column added to it, so that users can now see both the display captions and the database field names simultaneously.

4- When orphan objects on a map layer conflict with new database object input, the input is rolled back, a new more informative message is displayed, and the orphaned object, that needs to be taken care of, is mapped.

5- An option has been added to the Splice Key editor, that allows users to hide fibers that are part of an existing Ring (Termination) record.  Hence it is easier to avoid breaking existing records if you have some conflicting data.

6- A Midsheath Integrity/Rollback feature has been added

7- Per customer requests, the scale factor is now only automatically changed to be '1' if it is left at zero.  If a user has some specific reason for entering 0.92 as the scale factor, that is now possible.

8- Case sensitivity for user names has been dropped

9- Print Options have been added to the Taper report, so now instead of only having the option of printing through Crystal Reports, you can also print to a generic grid or export all the data to a TAB-delimited text file (which you can then open in MS Excel, or other applications).

 

 

TIPS

1- It is possible to section your network map into a grid, and print the entire grid, 1 section per page, from OSPInSight.  With the OSPInSight data linker you can add labels also.  Below are steps that would include layers for access points and cable.

                a. Use the Map->Data Linker tool to create thematic layers for Access Points & Cable

                b. Move the layers to the appropriate position in the layer control

                c. Configure labeling options for those two thematic layers

                d. Zoom to the area you want to print

                e. Click Window->New Layout Window, select One Frame, and OK

                f. In your layout window, use your zoom tool to zoom out to the paper size you want on the rulers

                g. Resize the image to correspond to your paper size

                h. Click File->Page setup, and change the paper size to match your printer paper.  Select your orientation        too...landscape or portrait, if applicable.

                i. Print from the file menu.

2- You can add new rows to the database through the lists...by typing in information in the bottom row except for the primary key.  When you hit 'update' the primary key field should auto-populate based on a trigger or autoindex, if it is numeric.  In the Slack Loop/Lines list you can actually edit the objectid field.

3- The backup feature in OSPInSight has been modified somewhat.  The following is a summary of the actions of the backup utility in each folder:

*working directory - OSPInSight copies *all* files from the folder where you edit your network, to the backup directory

*backup directory - OSPInSight will now zip only the network database files in this folder, and place them in the archive folder before overwriting them with the new backup.  The archive feature will now ignore other files

*Archive directory - OSPInSight will place zip files in the Archive folder that contatin *only* the network database files.

 

ERRORS RESOLVED

1- IMPORTANT: Inserting a slack object into the middle of an existing cable (midsheathing) would generate an incorrect distance for one of the new shorter cable segments...leaving it the length of the entire previous segment, but only if you are using the Map Distance.   If you believe this has introduced incorrect distances into your network database, contact Advance Fiber Optics technical support department, and we will help restore the correct cable distances.

2- Deleting terminations with an apostraphe in the Group field was unsuccessful, usually with an error about attached equipment

3- If the 'opticallength' field was not checked as visible in Options->Display Options->More->Cable Spans, then the field was not populated at all when inputting Spans.  If your database has 0 as a value for records in the span.opticallength field, contact Advance Fiber Optics Technical Support, and we will provide a utility to update the span.opticallength field based on the span.total field for that span.

4- When opening tables from a microsoft access database (such as the .ntk) in MapInfo, MapInfo will sometimes add a MapInfo_ID field to those tables.  Modifying the data structure causes problems on insert, update, select and other statements.  OSPInSight now automatically checks for and removes the MapInfo_ID fields in tables where they will cause errors.

5- A difficult-to-resolve midsheath error, that caused splicing on one end of the cable to not be updated, has been fixed.  A pre-midsheath span integrity check has been added, that checks splicing on both ends, as well as on all the map items, has been added.  A post-midsheth integrity check has also been added.  If any integrity problems are found or introduced, the entire operation will be rolled back.

6- Unique constraint error generated when updating fields in the Fiber Panel rapidly has been resolved.

7- The Equipment.endq fieldsize has been increased to 20, to avoid certain migration errors.

8- Labeling database objects (buildings, access points etc.) with the getinfo tool where one the fields being labelled had a null value caused an error.

9- Mapping Rings (Terminations) from the Relationships window would give a 'no items selected' message, and not map the ring

10- Grouping the Ring (Terminations) by any field, then finding relations for a frame or span or termination in the treeview related to any Ring(Termination) gave an index out of bounds error.

11- Leased Path Editor was failing under certain circumstances, due to ordering in the database.

12- When using the Change Group form in the Terminations list, if you leave the Start # field blank or with a 0, the 'fiberid' field for those terminations remains unchanged.

13- Editing a field then using the arrow keys in the spanlength grid in the Cable span editor would lose focus up to the top section of the cable span editor.

14- If new fields had been added to the database with spaces in the field name, using the Quick Add feature would fail on those tables.  OSPInSight now automatically adds brackets around any field names with spaces in them.

15- New layout window form was cut off.

16- Midsheath operations were being queued, rather than immediately committed.  Hence if OSPInSight crashed after midsheaths, the map changes were retained, but the non-map (database) edits were lost, causing orphan and incorrect map objects.

17- Select getinfo tool, click an enclosure, when it asks if you would like to label splicing, select another application that is running...then switch back to OSPInSight: Run-Time Error was generated, and the application would crash.

18- After performing a midsheath with an enclosure, the 'Tray' field was left null...which caused errors when attempting to run the splice spreadsheet.

19- Rings (Cable Spans) weren't correctly captured when manually selecting spans on the map.

20- Printing from the fiber panel would give incorrect Status values

21- Using the quickadd feature for duct left the temporary polyline style, rather than the defined duct style

22- Attempting to perform a midsheath directly over a node would cause this error "Found [,] while searching for [A string constant]. Alter Object Node Add failed."  Now a message appears saying that a midsheath cannot be done right on top of a node, and to retry.

23- An aggregate function error occurred if you selected EA1 as the 'Display field' for "Ring (Terminations)" In Options->Display Options, on the Treeview tab

24- Changing a customer name from 'cust:1' to anything else changed the name of a different existing customer

25- In the Lit fiber length report, there was a math error when you switched units

26- Initiating an enclosure midsheath in Oracle, then canceling when the editor appears left the new enclosure record in the enclosure table, though the cable was not split, nor was the map object left on the ENC layer

27- Attempting to map a document from the treeview generated a "Object variable or With block variable not set" error.  Now the associated database objects are mapped sequentially.

28- When opening the lists a “disconnected from client” error or "Automation error The object invoked has disconnected from its clients"would frequently appear. OSPInSight will re-establish the database connection now.

29-  Changing the capitalization only of an object name (building, enclosure, etc.) would fail; a message would say that that object was already in the database.  For example, if a user accidentally named an enclosure or a frame something like

'FRame-1' or 'ENclosure-1', and wanted to change it to 'Frame-1' or 'Enclosure-1', it was necessary to rename the object some intermediate name.

 

KNOWN ISSUES

1- When printing the map from View with MapPoint as the background, the printout is dark.  Also, the print form takes a long time to close

2- Some forms when closed return focus to a different application, other than OSPInSight.  It is necessary to re-select OSPInSight

3- When using Microsoft Mappoint as the background, the Back and Forward functions on the map don't always work the first time

                Solution: Sometimes the Back & Forward entries on the right-click menu must be clicked twice to do anything

4- Any Equipment records that have an invalid TypeID value (such as 'none' when that is not in the TypeID list) will not show up in the "Customers/Equipment Report". 

                Solution: If you suspect that the report is not displaying all of your customers or equipment, open your Equipment List or Equipment/Customer Editor in OSPM-Edit and update the TypeID values such that they all correspond with an entry from the TypeID list (from the Hardware/Materials Editor)

6- Currently in the schematics, the Span/LocateID text dynamically resizes to fit the "span" field and not overrun the "fiber" field.  However, it still isn't perfect, and depending on how big the form is, it will still run into the next column a little.

                Solution: If there is some text overlap, simply resize the form until the text in the span column is not conflicting with the text in the fiber column.

7- When using MapPoint as a background (or when any Raster image is loaded in MapX), zooming in past 0.1 miles will typically invert the mapper.  Labeling will also behave oddly at this zoom level with any raster images displayed.

                Solution: There is currently no known resolution to this issue.

8- Sometimes you will see odd window/column behavior in the Ductbank Cross section editor.

                Solution: Reset the layout for that editor:       

 

 

OSPInSight OSPM-Edit 6.06 Release Notes

24/Jun/2005

 

 

NEW FEATURES

1- The Setup form has been updated to make it's use more intuitive

 

2- The Route highlight has been moved from the animosp layer to a new layer called 'mapping', allowing users to click objects, open editors, map items, etc. without losing route or cable highlights.  By default the route/line highlight is yellow, however this can be changed.  Open your layer control, select the "Mapping" layer, click "Display",  and change the Style Override to be the color, thickness and line-style you want for your route highlight.  To save this change for other sessions, exit your layer control, click the Options->Display Options dropdown, and on the Treeview tab, click the "Save Highlight Style" button. (Note: you must map a cable or ductbank before you can set the Mapping layer display style)

 

3- It is now possible to designate any layer open in the session as your "Text Layer", which will be made editable when the Text tool is selected.  In order to define a Text Layer, open the Edit Options dialog, select the Misc Options tab, then choose your text layer in the Text Layer dropdown.

 

4- In the Editors, users have the option to cycle through either the fields or the sections when pressing the TAB key.  This behavior can be changed by pressing Ctrl+t, but by default the focus in Editors will be moved from field to field by using the TAB key.  The same option has been implemented with lists, where the focus also goes from field to field by default.  **Important** After you change the TAB key behavior in a list or an editor, you must press CTRL+s  to save that behavior, in each list or editor.

 

5- The "Create Multiple Pole" feature now allows you to create multiple poles along a polyline that are all an equal distance apart, or at a specific distance from the previous pole.

 

6- When you use the GetInfo tool to label map items you now have the option to display field names as well as the field value.   This can be turned on in the Options->Labeling... form by selectiong the "Label Fields" checkbox.

 

TIPS

1- If you are required to enter a password to get into your setup but would like to remove it, the setup password can be disabled by clicking the "Choose Setup.mdb or Admin.mdb" button in the setup, then clicking the "Change Password" button, and selecting "OK" while the form is still blank.

 

2- If a list is not saving changes, or a report is not displaying correctly, or an editor is missing a field, then reset the Layout for that form.  Click Options->Display Options, then click the Layout tab.  Find the checkbox for the form that you wish to reset, check it, then click the "Reset Layouts" button.  Use this form to reset the layout of lists, reports or editors where you see any behavioral problems as a first troubleshooting step and possible resolution.

 

3- Microsoft MapPoint maps can only be used as the background in OSPInSight if the network layers (CAB, BDG, POL etc.) use NAD83 as the projection, because MapPoint uses the NAD83 projection.  If you attempt to use a different projection, the MapPoint background typically won't display at all.

 

4- If you are using MapPoint as the background and it doesn't display, or the Visible check mark is pink in the layer control, then there is likely a MapInfo option that is interfering with the MapPoint display.  In the dropdown menus click Options->Preference->Map Window.  In the Map Window Preferences, uncheck the option "Automatic Raster Zoom Layering"

 

5- Remember that after performing a find route or highlighting a span, in order to get rid of the highlight click the Red 'Unselect All' button on the toolbar, or click 'Map->Clear AnimOSP Layer'

 

 

ERRORS RESOLVED

1- Changing the name of an enclosure during a midsheath operation caused the error "You cannot add or change a record because a related record is required in table 'enclosure' " to appear, and the midsheath to fail

2- Tools->Tool Manager now stores records and paths for each user, rather than overwriting other users entries.  This allows multiple users working on the same network to use the same MapBasic tool

3- The End Point schematic was displaying incorrect SpanID's.

4- The 'Change View' form wasn't opening when selected from the Map dropdown menu

5- Displaying the LocateID in the Endpoint Schematic was not very legible.  It has been improved but you still might see some overlay.  See Known Issue #6 below

6- The 'ea6' field was not included in the default query for the Building List

7- Reordering lists by a column would reset the horizontal scroll bar back to the left, forcing the user to relocate the column

8- If a user opened a fiber panel, made the form wider and closed it without saving the layout, then the next time it opened the columns would be incorrectly sized

9- The Taper Report's layout was not resetting correctly when Options->Display Options->Layout->Taper Report was selected and the 'Reset Layout' button was clicked

10- The option to map innerducts from the relations window was removed, as selecting it generated an error

11- Clicking in the Relationships section of Treeview caused a Run-Time Error if no Relationships were displayed yet in that session

12- The "Lit Fiber Report", which calculates the length of fiber attached to equipment, was giving an incorrect, and sometimes inconsistent result.

13- The Legend and Port colors for the Fiber Panel Graphic tab are working.

14- The "More Info" section of the Treeview displayed incorrect data in the n_superducts and n_innerducts fields

15- In the Regional and Language Options form for Windows, if your 'Standards and formats' selection was set to Portuguese (Brazil), and your 'Location' selection set to Brazil, the slack midsheath function failed in OSPInSight

16- Using the getinfo tool or the Edit Items tool to click on a group of objects that included a DOC layer object would display incorrect results. The DOC layer object did not have it's own row in the "Multiple Objects Selected" window, but the objectid of that DOC object would be appended to another object's entry.

17- When creating a new Reel, ReelID changes were not permanently saving

18- In the Display Options->Layout tab, there was an entry "enclosure key editor" that was changed to "splice key editor"

19- If an older version of a hardmatdata.ini existed in the settings folder, adding a new cable type and typing in the 'typeid' field would cause OSPInSight to immediately crash.

20- In the Hardware Materials editor, the Reel Testdate field Date select utility was super sensitive and inconsistent.  It has been updated to use the same utility as all the other date selects in the application.

21- In Options->Display Options->Layout, resetting the layout for the Termination Assignments report wasn't functioning correctly.

22- The color and style of slack objects was not consistently changing as it should have to the custom style associated with certain placements.

23- In Oracle networks, using an apostraphe ( ' ) in the "User" field would cause an Oracle error: Error Message: Ora-01756: quoted string not properly terminated. Continue?

24- Renaming a Customer that was named 'cust:1' caused a previously entered customer record to be renamed

 

 

 

KNOWN ISSUES

1- When printing the map from View with MapPoint as the background, the printout is dark.  Also, the print form takes a long time to close

2- Some forms when closed return focus to a different application, other than OSPInSight.  It is necessary to re-select OSPInSight

3- When using Microsoft Mappoint as the background, the Back and Forward functions on the map don't always work the first time

                Solution: Sometimes the Back & Forward entries on the right-click menu must be clicked twice to do anything

4- Click 'Print' in the Fiber Panel, and export the data from Crystal to Excel.  Note that the data in the last few columns is offset from the headers.

                Solution: Select the offset data, and move it so it matches the headers, or vice versa.

5- Any Equipment records that have an invalid TypeID value (such as 'none' when that is not in the TypeID list) will not show up in the "Customers/Equipment Report". 

                Solution: If you suspect that the report is not displaying all of your customers or equipment, open your Equipment List or Equipment/Customer Editor in OSPM-Edit and update the TypeID values such that they all correspond with an entry from the TypeID list (from the Hardware/Materials Editor)

6- Currently the Span/LocateID text dynamically resizes to fit the "span" field and not overrun the "fiber" field.  However, it still isn't perfect, and depending on how big the form is, it will still run into the next column a little.

                Solution: If there is some text overlap, simply resize the form until the text in the span column is not conflicting with the text in the fiber column.

7- When using MapPoint as a background (or when any Raster image is loaded in MapX), zooming in past 0.1 miles will typically invert the mapper.  Labeling will also behave oddly at this zoom level with any raster images displayed.

                Solution: There is currently no known resolution to this issue.

8- Sometimes you will see odd window/column behavior in the Ductbank Cross section editor.

                Solution: Reset the layout for that editor:       

 

 

OSPInSight OSPM-Edit 6.05 Release Notes

04/Nov/2004

 

NEW FEATURES

1- Cable and Slack can now have their Map Style based on the value of the 'placement' field.  Use the Custom Objects editor under the Map dropdown menu to capture styles for various placements

2- The highlight has been moved from the animosp layer to a new layer called 'mapping'

3- The Reel length-usage message will now only display when more reel length is used than is available.  Using a ReelID of 'unk' will prevent that message from displaying, or you can also disable that message in the Options->Edit Options->Misc Options form

4- The application will now prompt users to click and drag to draw a building if they attempt to simply click one spot on the map, which makes an invisible building object

5- When inputting cable spans, the 'Use Map Length' option will be checked by default now, meaning that the cable length value will be based on the length of the MapInfo line object itself.  If you would rather enter a 'total' distance for cable objects, or use sequentials, click Options->Edit Options->Misc Options and uncheck the 'Use Map Length in cable editor' option

 

 

TIPS

1- Sometimes lists can have problematic display characteristics.  For example, if your "Types of Enclosures" list is opening with colors that make it difficult or impossible to read (such as black text on black background), simply reset the layout for that list.  To do so, open the Display options by clicking Options->Display Options, then click the Layout tab.  Find the checkbox for the "Enclosure Types" list, check it, then click the "Reset Layouts" button.  Use this form to reset the layout of lists, reports or editors that have similar problems.

2- Another possible issue with lists is that if you highlight the data in a cell, and then press the Delete key on your keyboard, you might be prompted to delete the entire row, rather than only deleting the data in that field.  In order to resolve this problem, simply reset the Layouts for your lists.  Go to Options->Display Options, select the Layout tab, click the "ALL Lists" box, then click "Reset Layouts"

3- After installing OSPInSight, if you are unable to drag the map to the right or down with a polyline (cable or duct object) but are able to do so to the left or up, simply resize, then maximize the application.  Finally, press ctrl+q to save that setting.

 

 

ERRORS RESOLVED

1- Selecting map objects on the DOC layer with the GetInfo tool would highlight incorrect documents in the treeview

2- The 'Change View' form wasn't opening when selected from the Map dropdown menu

3- Select an existing cable span and open the editor, select a cable segment in the spanlength grid, click the "Add Duct Bank" button. The Duct Bank Length field was not populating correctly. This is now an auto-calculated length using the map distance.

4- 'Owner' field now shows up in the Display Options and Edit Options->Defaults for building objects.  Previously the Owner field was only available in the Building List, but not the editors

5- While a network is opening if the File menu was clicked an error message appeared: Index out of bounds

6- The 'ea6' field was not included in the default query for the Building List

7- Using the Enclosure tool to replace a slack with an enclosure when there was another slack object nearby would cause both slacks to be deleted, rather than only the one that was clicked

8- Hardware Materials Editor, Reelid was not updating in Oracle networks

9- Open a fiber panel with terminations, click the "Edit On" button, click the 'Reserve' button in the notes section.  In the "Reserve Current Jack" form, click the Initiator dropdown, then select 'Edit Items'.  A "Run-time error '383'" used to appear, then the application crashed

10- Updating values in the lists that had more than ~32,768 records would generate overflow errors

11- The Display Options->Autozoom option was affecting the Fiber Panel->Find Route function, whereas they are now completely independent.  The Find Route options now determine the find route mapping

12- When running an SQL Query on a mapinfo table and viewing the results as a table called SELECTION, sometimes SELECTION was not an option in the Browse Table window.  Also, if I SELECTION was available, using the scroll bar in it would cause the list to go blank

13- Deleting a Frame with related terminations is now a more straight-forward.  Also, orphan termination records will not be left in the list

14- Midsheathing (splitting) a cable that loops over itself with an enclosure or slack loop would cause graphical distortion

15- Copper cables with a placement of 'underground' were not being created with the correct style, based on the Default style entered

16- Patch editing in Fiber Panel updated only one side of the patch.  It will now update both sides of the patch

17- In the Schematics, the Print Setup button was not working.  The VBPrnDlg.dll had to be placed in the system32 directory and registered

18- LocateID value was displaying incorrectly in the Splice Key editor

19- Colons ( : ) have been restricted as input in the Group field for terminations as well as the Equipment ID field for equipment. Colons are used as delimiters and they cause errors if they are present

 

 

KNOWN ISSUES

1- The Custom Objects style is still a little inconsistent for Slack objects.  If it fails the first time, just retry it

2- Appending the color code information to fibers in editors will slow the load time for dropdown lists that show those fibers.  For example, with the Edit Options->Misc Options->"Append locateid to spans in editors" option checked, the Termination editor will load a little more slowly.

 

 

 

 

-------------------OSPInSight OSPM Edit 6.04.3 Release Notes--------------------------

27/Jul/2004

 

 

******** NEW FEATURES ********

 

1- Print ability has been added to the Leased Fiber report

2- Layouts for Editors, Reports and Lists can now be reset in the Options->Display Options->Layout form.  If there is a third column in the editors, or if you are getting errors or strange behavior in a certain report, editor, or list, simply reset the layout for that form

3- Press Ctrl+t to change how the 'Tab' key behaves in editors.  The options are to tab from field to field, or from section to section.  By default the Tab key will go from field to field

4- When performing a Find Route, Mapping a ring, or mapping a Cable, the 'highlight' is not simply a selection now, but objects copied to the animosp layer.  This means that when a ring is mapped, you can select and work on your network without losing the ring highlight.  In order to clear the animosp highlight, click the Red 'Unselect All' button on the toolbar, or click 'Map->Clear AnimOSP Layer'

 

 

 

+++++++++ ERRORS RESOLVED +++++++++

 

1- Relate a MapInfo object (on the DOC layer) to a Document in the Document Relationships editor, then use the OSPInSight GetInfo tool to click on the MapInfo object.  In 6.04.1 doing this would fail to highlight the related document in the Treeview

2- Installed Material/Hardware Report, when run in an Oracle network, would not allow the user to re-order by any column

3- MapPoint background layer didn't stay hidden when disabled in layer control

4- Changing a Frame name failed when there was a frame 'none' in the installed frames list

5- When selecting cable spans from the map with the Leased Path Editor, the conflicts didn't show the first time 'Show Spans' was clicked

6- Poles added to a network database with the 'Create Multiple Poles' feature were not immediately added to the Treeview

7- If the Enclosure Types list was empty in the Hardware Materials editors, the modify button would not enable for any hardware profiles

8- The Find Route options have been updated and streamlined in the Fiber Panel

9- An integrity function has been added that will verify that the scale factor (helix factor) for all cable spans input is greater than or equal to 1, because previously OSPInSight allowed scale factors that were less than 1

10-OSPM would allow slacks enclosures and frames to be placed on top of existing slacks enclosures and frames.  That has been prohibited now, except for replacing a slack with an enclosure

11-The 'Browse MapInfo Table' (F2) function would fail with MapPoint as the background

12-After the MapPoint control had been opened in OSPInSight (when using MapPoint as a background) forms would disappear behind the main window

13-Customized column names in lists would be lost after reordering the list

14-Equipment Type list and PlaceobjectID list ordering options have been added to Options->Edit Options->Defaults->Equipment

15-In 6.04.1 the route highlight was STILL lost when zooming or panning sometimes.  This has been resolved by changing the way OSPInSight 'highlights' work.  See New Features above

16-Mapping without Autozoom selected in the Display options did not change the viewable area to include the mapped object

17-Changing the type for a pre-existing object (building type for example) would not consistently update the map object appropriately, based on custom objects

18-Right-click menus in the 'Relations' section of the Treeview often had disabled options...such as 'Map' or 'Edit'

19-Performing queries in the lists using the Date columns use # instead of '  This has been updated in the lists

20-Apostraphes (') caused errors in many parts of the application.  Most, if not all, of these instances should be resolved

21-Deleting a Frame with terminations in an Oracle network generated a 'table does not exist' error or an 'ORA-00918: column ambiguously defined' error

22-Couldn't set order for object (AP, Bldg, etc) dropdown list in doc/rel editor

23-General Status now says 'Application expired' when the application is expired, rather than saying 'Ready'

24-'--Use last input' option wasn't functioning in the Hardware Materials Editor->Equipment types

25-The Schema Generator would sometimes fail to create the SEQ_REL sequence

26-Adding multiple document relationships in an OSPInSight Oracle network gave the following error: ORA-00904: "VAL": invalid identifier

27-When inputting an Access Point and clicking OK in the editor on Windows NT, OSPInSight would lock up

28-Opening a Ring(Termination) editor, and clicking 'OK' or 'Refresh' would lose the span and termination records for that ring

29-The placement selection was not always retained for cable segments and slack loops in the Cable Span editor

30-When working with an Oracle database a MapInfo Resolve Conflicts window would appear fairly frequently.  The majority of these occurences should be done away with because now the editors save the corresponding layers and then force a layer refresh

 

 

 

!!!!!!!!!! KNOWN ISSUES !!!!!!!!!!

 

1- When using Microsoft MapPoint as background data, the map does not refresh as you drag the screen by drawing a polyline or other objects.  This makes it impossible to drag a line off the screen and see the streets as you draw.

                -WORKAROUND: This can be worked around by drawing a cable stub, doing your edits in and closing the editor, and then reshaping and lengthening the cable to match the route.  It might be necessary to add rows to the spanlength section manually, in the cable span editor, such as Frame and Enclosure rows

 

2- When an object type is selected (such as Access Point type) that is associated with a custom map object, the map is updated but the map object will move slightly. 

                -WORKAROUND: Move the object back to where you would like it.  This is simply a limitation of MapInfo, since information about the centroid of an object is unavailable we have to work with the minimum bounding rectangle, which will be different for different shapes.

 

3- OSPInSight Oracle schemas created before 6.04.3 are possibly missing a sequence used by a trigger called TR_REL to create document relationships.  This error "ORA-04098: trigger '[schema].TR_REL' is invalid and failed re-validation" may appear when you attempt to update a new document relationship.

                -WORKAROUND: Create the sequence on that schema using the following command: CREATE SEQUENCE SEQ_REL START WITH 1

 

 

 

 

-------------------OSPInSight OSPM Edit 6.04.1 Release Notes--------------------------

3/May/2004

 

 

******** NEW FEATURES ********

 

1- A comments field has been added to the Leased table so information such as the lease expiration date can be added

2- The Splice Spreadsheet crystal report is now automatically populated with the In, Out and Typeid values for each span

 

 

 

######## TIPS ########

 

1- The columns in the spanlength section of the cable editor (the middle section) can be confusing if they are not set in the following order: ord, typ, objectid, lengthin, lengthout, totallength.  We also suggest you change the display names for these columns to: Order, Type, Objectid, In, Out, Total.  The order and display names can be modified in Options->Display Options->More->Cable Span Length. There are other fields in the Display options that are displayed only in the Cable Span Length list, but you can ignore those fields, as long as the above six fields are in that order.  Also keep in mind that once the columns are in the order you want, you can resize them right in the Cable Span editor, and save that layout by pressing Ctrl+S

 

 

 

+++++++++ ERRORS RESOLVED +++++++++

 

1- A 'Syntax error' or an 'Ora-00936: missing expression' error was generated when using the Leased Path editor with the 'locateid' appended to the spanids

2- Printing schematics to printers other than the default would fail

3- Attaching documents to MapInfo objects on the DOC map layer would sometimes fail

4- In lists, queries in the Where condition field were ignored when the 'From Map Region' button was clicked

5- After performing a Find Route, the highlight was sometimes lost when panning or zooming

6- In the lists, custom field names would revert to the original after queries

7- 'Invalid view layer' error message should no longer appear when loading networks

8- Pointing to an html or url file in the Document Relationship editor would cause a program crash

9- When adding documents in the Document Relationship editor, the final backslash was left off of the path value

10- An error loop occurred when 'Edit Options...' was left as a priority or status in the fiber panel

11- When right-clicking column headers to minimize those columns in the lists a right-click menu inappropriately appeared, in reference to whatever row was highlighted

12- The 'Owner' field is now available in the Building editor, as well as Options->Display Options->More->Buildings, if you click 'Reset'

13- The Pole attachment template selection, as well as the Ductbank cross section template selection, were lost after updating any pole or conduit Edit defaults

14- When querying a list based on a map region and updating values for an entire column, clicking the Update field would make the original values, rather than the new values display in that column until the list was closed and reopened

15- Certain workspaces would take an inordinate amount of time to load in OSPInSight, hence in 6.04.1 the entire workspace opening process has been handed back over to MapInfo, which makes it much quicker.  Please be aware, however, of Known Issue #2 below

16- Splitting duct bank with an Access point would generate errors if Quick Add or Custom objects were being used

 

 

!!!!!!!!!! KNOWN ISSUES !!!!!!!!!!

 

1- The tilde (~) is used as a field delimiter in the OSPInSight editors and report forms, hence using the tilde in any field will cause problems.  Most fields do not allow the tilde as input, however there are still some fields that do allow it.  If you run across a field with a tilde, please delete it using the lists, as the ~ character is visible in the lists, but not in the editors.  If you receive a "Syntax error in UPDATE statement" message, or find a field that you are having difficulty updating, find the corresponding record in the lists and delete any tildes you see.

 

2- OSPInSight Edit is only compatible with workspaces that open one map window.  In OSPInSight versions 6.0 - 6.04 OSPInSight would control the workspace opening process, and restrict the number of mappers to one.  Versions 6.04.1 and newer will let MapInfo handle the workspace opening process.  Therefore, When saving workspaces in MapInfo for use with OSPInSight please verify that only ONE mapper is open

 

3- Older .ini files will sometimes cause problematic display characteristics.  For example, if your "Types of Enclosures" list is opening with colors that make it difficult or impossible to read (such as black text on black background), open your \OSPInSight\OSPM\Edit\Settings\Lists\ folder, find the enclosuretypedata.ini file and delete it.  Other lists, editors and reports have corresponding .ini files in the settings folder, that have names based on some derivation of the form name.  Deleting the .ini causes the related OSPInSight form to open with size and fields arranged based on the programmatic defaults, but to customize these attributes and recreate the .ini's simply press CTRL+S in any of the forms

 

4- Conflicts arise when performing a find route where the route has an enclosure and a frame with the same name.  Typically the termination in the panel will not be recognized, but there can be other symptoms.  In order to work around the error, rename either the conflicting frame or the enclosure in the editor.  For example, if you have a frame named "Plaza1", and an enclosure named "Plaza1", then you could rename the frame to "Plaza1 (frame)"

 

5- Sometimes a message appears after updating to 6.04.1 when attempting to load an Oracle network in OSPInSight that says 'MapInfo DBMS is not installed'.  To resolve it, go into the setup and click the 'Users' button. Remove the row referencing the user who is getting the error, and re-add that user

 

 

-------------------OSPInSight OSPM Edit 6.04 Release Notes--------------------------

9/March/2004

 

 

******** NEW FEATURES ********

 

1- When performing a Backup or Restore, before OSPInSight network files are overwritten a zipped copy of those files will be created, thus allowing for an easier recovery in the event of the wrong files being replaced

2- Prompt for golden directory download and for automatic backup when exiting - enable in the Setup

3- The Treeview Search allows partial-string searches within the selected folder...type your string and click the binoculars

4- Support for operating system large fonts has been added

 

 

 

######## TIPS ########

 

1- The LocateID and colorcode can be displayed with all spans and fibers in report forms and editors.  To see them in editors click Options->Edit Options->Misc Options, and check the options for appending the colorcode and locateid.  To see them in reports click Options->Display Options->Treeview, and check the options for appending the colorcode and locateid

 

2- The fields displayed in editors and lists can be customized.  Go to Options->Display Options->More, then choose your editor.  You can uncheck the fields you don't wish to see, reorder the fields and rename them

 

3- If you are a network editor you SHOULD NEVER overwrite the database you are editing with the copy of the database in the Golden directory.  In your case you would use the "Golden/Backup Directory" path in Setup to create a backup copy of the database files you are editing.  Click the checkbox for "Prompt to backup when exiting network." if you wish to be prompted to perform the backup each time you exit.  When you close the network a prompt appears, asking "Do you want to backup the database?"  If you select 'Yes' your network will be copied to the backup location.