What's New WEBcnx 2024.2

Overview

The latest update to WEBcnx delivers powerful enhancements to the Design Library, making it more efficient and user-friendly than ever. This release introduces new Design Annotations, a revamped Design Dialog, and Configurable Rule Lengths, providing a more streamlined and flexible experience for managing designs. These improvements simplify collaboration, reduce approval cycles, and offer greater control over your design data, making the Design Library an indispensable tool for your workflow. Whether you’re managing complex projects or handling routine design tasks, this update ensures you can work smarter and faster.

Design Annotations

The new Design Annotations feature offers practical tools for managing design changes, integrating seamlessly with WEBcnx and Impact CAD. Designed to improve the design approval process, annotations allow team members to provide clear, precise feedback directly on design layers, helping to save time and reduce miscommunication.

Integration with Impact’s Updated Layer Revisions

With the latest updates to Impact CAD’s layer revisions, WEBcnx Design Annotations have been enhanced to tie feedback directly to design layers. This ensures that comments remain relevant as designs evolve. Impact users can view annotations linked to specific design versions, making it easier to track changes and approvals without relying on emails or printed reports.

• Layer-specific Annotations: Each annotation is linked to a specific version of a design layer for clarity and precision. An icon on the list of layer revisions indicates which have been annotated.
• Revision Tracking: Manage annotations alongside layer revision history to streamline workflows. Layer revisions now also include the Revision Comment added in Impact 2024.
• Designer Visibility: Designers can access annotations in Impact CAD via the WEBcnx plugin to quickly implement requested changes.

Annotation Tools

The Design Annotations feature includes a versatile set of tools to accommodate various feedback needs:

• Shape Annotations: Draw rectangles, ovals, or freehand shapes to highlight specific areas of the design.
• Sticky Notes: Add text comments for detailed instructions or feedback.
• Multiple Shapes per Note: Multiple shapes can be added to a single note, allowing reviewers to indicate multiple areas of a design that require attention. For example, a note requesting an increase in the size of various panels can include shapes highlighting all relevant panels. Additional shapes can be added later, and, if you are the owner, shapes can also be removed.
• Repositioning and Resizing: Your own shapes can be repositioned and resized as needed to ensure clarity.
• Colour-coded Comments: Each user’s annotations are colour-coded for easy identification of contributions. Annotations also display the name of the reviewer and the date and time they were added.
• Full-Screen and Compact Views: Design annotations are available in both the compact and full-screen viewer. The full-screen viewer allows users to view and manage annotations in greater detail.
• Non-editable by Others: Users can view but cannot modify annotations made by others, ensuring the integrity of feedback in multi-department workflows.
• User Permissions for Annotation Access: Only users with the appropriate privileges can create and view annotations, ensuring that annotation tools are restricted to those directly involved in the approval cycle. This maintains the integrity of the process by limiting access to authorised users.

These tools are user-friendly and designed for both technical and non-technical users, making collaboration straightforward for everyone involved in the design process.

The Design Annotations feature combines practical functionality with seamless integration to enhance collaboration and efficiency. Whether through its alignment with Impact’s layer revisions or the flexibility of its annotation tools, this update ensures feedback is clear, actionable, and effectively integrated into your design workflows.

References:

WEB-307152, WEB-307539, WEB-307579, WEB-307580, WEB-307600, WEB-307608, WEB-307618, WEB-307654, WEB-307684, LENS-491, LENS-492, LENS-493, LENS-494, LENS-495, LENS-497, LENS-519, LENS-581, LENS-583, LENS-585, LENS-599, LENS-608, LENS-610, LENS-645, LENS-646, LENS-647, LENS-648, LENS-649, LENS-650, LENS-651, LENS-653, LENS-654, LENS-660, LENS-663, LENS-664, LENS-665, LENS-666, LENS-674, LENS-680, LENS-681

Enhanced Design Dialog: Smarter, Faster, More Intuitive

Our latest release introduces significant enhancements to the Design Dialog, delivering greater efficiency, precision, and control across projects. These updates focus on streamlining complex workflows, improving data accessibility, and optimising user experiences for designers, administrators, and production teams alike.

From location intelligence for Exports and Reports, to improved layer organisation and granular user privileges, these enhancements empower users to work more productively, reduce repetitive tasks, and access the information they need with ease. Whether managing intricate designs or generating detailed reports, the new Design Dialog ensures every action feels effortless and impactful.

Custom Action Location Intelligence for Streamlined Exports and Reports

Exporting and reporting on multiple layers in a project just became more efficient with the introduction of Custom Action location intelligence. Previously, users needed to navigate between individual layers and the project to compile data, which could be time-consuming.

With the new Project location for Export and Report Template-type Custom Actions, administrators can configure actions to apply to all specified layers in a project. For example, a single Custom Action can generate a comprehensive multi-page PDF report for all One-Up layers in a project, regardless of the number of layers. The results can also optionally be zipped up to minimise the download size.

This enhancement significantly reduces repetitive tasks and streamlines workflows, making it faster and easier to compile and share design data across multiple layers. Whether exporting designs for tool makers or generating reports, users can now achieve more with fewer clicks, boosting productivity and improving user experience.

Intelligent Layer Ordering for Improved Project Viewing

Impact now features intelligent layer ordering to ensure users see the most relevant drawing layers first when opening a project. Previously, layers were displayed alphabetically, often causing less useful layers to load first or, in the case of complex 3D layers, slowing down the user's experience.

With this update, drawing layers are organised for optimal usability:

• System Layer Types First: Layers are prioritised in the order One-Up, Multi-Up, and then 3D, with each group displayed in alphanumeric order.
• Custom Layer Types Second: Any user-defined custom layer types follow system layers, also displayed in alphanumeric order.

This new ordering ensures that important layers, such as One-Up and Multi-Up designs, are displayed before complex layers like 3D, enhancing speed and usability. By reducing unnecessary delays and prioritising relevance, this improvement streamlines project workflows and improves the overall user experience.

Clear Design Lock Notifications

In the latest version of WEBcnx, users can now see at a glance when a design is locked by an Impact designer. The design dialog title will display "Locked by..." along with the designer's name, providing immediate clarity on why certain fields may be read-only. This enhancement prevents confusion by ensuring users understand when a design is being actively edited in Impact and why changes to editable fields are temporarily restricted.

New Design Placement Privileges for Enhanced Control

The Design Placements feature provides valuable insights into relationships between designs and their associated Master Layers. This includes showing all Master Layers inserted into a design, viewing all projects where Master Layers have been used, and understanding the connections between layouts and their featured one-up designs. These capabilities are particularly critical for managing large, complex designs with multiple components, ensuring users can assess the impact of any changes before making them.

To better serve customers who don’t require this level of detail, a new User Group Privilege - ‘View Master Project Details’ - has been introduced. This allows administrators to restrict access to detailed placement information for users who don’t need it, simplifying their experience and reducing unnecessary complexity.

This addition ensures the right level of detail is available to those who need it while keeping the interface clean and focused for others, improving usability across teams.

References

WEB-304272, WEB-304882, WEB-306308, WEB-307098, WEB-307099, WEB-307272, WEB-307277, WEB-307279, WEB-307283, WEB-307285, WEB-307286, WEB-307287, WEB-307302, WEB-307303, WEB-307304, WEB-307305, WEB-307317, WEB-307371, WEB-307376, WEB-307380, WEB-307386, WEB-307387, WEB-307389, WEB-307432, WEB-307438, WEB-307465, WEB-307472, WEB-307494, WEB-307498, WEB-307508, WEB-307519, WEB-307532, WEB-307547, WEB-307552, WEB-307608

Configurable Rule Lengths for Improved Tool Costing

The new Configurable Rule Lengths feature gives users greater flexibility and precision when reviewing palette data in the Rule Lengths page of a drawing layer. By allowing users to customise filters and grouping options, this enhancement helps focus on relevant information while ignoring unnecessary or irrelevant data like dimension lines, text, or specific hatch palettes.

Palette Type Filtering

Users can now filter by palette types to view only the data that matters. By default, all palette types are selected on upgrade, and the filter displays "All." Users can deselect palette types they are not interested in, such as "Other," which typically includes dimension and text palettes. When a subset of palette types is selected, the filter will display the number of selected types (e.g., "17 selected"), ensuring clarity. These preferences are persisted across sessions, making it easy to maintain consistency between uses.

Grouping Options for Greater Insight

A new "Group By" feature allows users to organise rule length data in ways that make sense for their workflows:

• None Selected: Displays a flat list of all palettes configured through the filter.
• By Rule Type: Groups palettes by their type (e.g., Cut, Crease), showing the total rule length for configured palettes within each type. For example, the "Cut" type would display totals for selected palettes such as "Cut 2pt" and "Cut 3pt."
• By Rule Width: Groups palettes by width (e.g., 2pt, 3pt, 4pt), showing total rule lengths for each width category.
• Both Rule Type and Rule Width: Displays a more granular breakdown, such as "Cut 2pt," "Cut 3pt," "Crease 2pt," "Crease 3pt," consolidating similar palettes under these headings.

This configurable approach empowers users to focus on the data they need for accurate tool costing while removing distractions from irrelevant palettes. By combining filtering and grouping with session persistence, the Rule Lengths feature becomes a powerful and user-friendly tool for managing palette data effectively.

References

WEB-302930

Task Management Enhancements

Archive Choice List Values for Enhanced Data Management

WEBcnx now allows administrators to archive choice list values in custom fields, offering greater flexibility in managing evolving data without compromising historical records. This feature is ideal for scenarios where certain choices are no longer valid but still need to be retained for reporting and historical reference.

• Improved Usability: Archived choices are no longer selectable by users when creating or editing tasks, ensuring that only current, relevant options appear in the dropdown. This streamlines task creation and prevents outdated data from being reintroduced.
• Preservation of Historical Data: Archived choices remain visible on tasks where they were previously selected, maintaining the integrity of historical records. Users can view these archived values when reviewing old tasks, ensuring clarity and context.
• Administrative Control: Administrators have full control over which choices to archive or unarchive, allowing flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances. If a previously archived choice becomes relevant again, it can easily be restored for future use.

This new functionality helps organisations maintain accurate and up-to-date choice lists while safeguarding historical data for reporting and analysis. The ability to archive and unarchive choices ensures long-term adaptability and data consistency.

Improved Clarity for Item Type Editing

To reduce confusion among administrators, the Edit tooltip in Item Types has been updated to Edit Properties, providing a clearer distinction between editing the properties of an Item Type and editing the design itself.

This simple but effective change helps users quickly understand the purpose of the tool, ensuring smoother workflows when designing or updating Item Types. By addressing a common point of misunderstanding, this enhancement improves usability and reduces errors in administrative tasks.

References

WEB-51328, WEB-307535, WEB-307624

Other Enhancements

• Rerun Standards - Users can now easily rerun a standard directly from the temporary drawing that running a standard creates, with the standard primed using the same board grade and variables selected during the initial run. This enhancement simplifies making adjustments by allowing quick changes without starting from scratch. Additionally, rerunning a standard automatically deletes the previous version of the temporary project, keeping workspaces tidy and reducing clutter.
  WEB-55522
  
• Browse Standards Dashboard Widget - A new 'Browse Standards' dashboard widget allows users to easily browse and access resizable common design styles. This addition is perfect for users who frequently run standards, providing quicker and more convenient access. Multiple widgets can be added to the dashboard, with each one configurable to display specific lists of standards or user favourites, offering a personalised and efficient experience.
  WEB-304129
• Notification Enhancements - A new section has been added to the user's notification preferences, 'Items assigned to one of my User Groups'. Similar to the existing option to control notifications when Items are assigned to a user, this new option extends this behaviour to also include user groups the user belongs to. Additionally, some of the notification options have been renamed to be clearer about what they control.
  WEB-303749, 
• Performance Improvements - There are performance improvements across various parts of the Directory functionality, including searching and filtering on users, features controlled by user group privileges and viewing site addresses. There are further improvements in the administration tools, including selecting scripts and displaying the server log in Oracle environments.
  WEB-306939, WEB-307049, WEB-307053, WEB-307193, WEB-307342
  
• Adding Users to User Groups - When adding a user to a new User Group, the list of User Group to select from now excludes those User Groups the User already belongs to.
  WEB-307195
• `[Me]` vs `Connected user` search inconsistencies- When creating a Task search, rather than searching for your own user name in the various user fields, you can simply select [Me] from the top of the list. Whilst users could choose [Me] for the Requested By and Created By fields, they couldn't select it for Assignee. This has now been added.
  WEB-307243
  
• Renamed Discussion 'Name' to 'Subject' - The previously used 'Name' of a discussion has always meant the subject but causes confusion. We've now renamed this to make it more obvious what sort of text to type in.
  WEB-307360
• Dedicated LiveProof Dialog for Enhanced Usability - LiveProof has been promoted from its previous embedded location within the full-screen design viewer to a dedicated dialog. This change provides a more spacious and focused workspace tailored to the needs of users interacting with LiveProof. By removing the constraints of the prior cramped environment, the new dialog enhances usability, making it easier to review and manage artwork with precision.
  WEB-307472
  
• Palette Text Visibility Option - For users that don't need or want to see the palette text (text labels alongside the lines and arcs on a design informing the user of what the palette is), there is a new visibility option to turn this display on and off. This is available in full screen mode via the Visibility option on the side-bar.
  WEB-307569
• Lens Viewer Updated to 2.0.0.9 -
  WEB-307347, WEB-307382, WEB-307527, WEB-307655, WEB-307695, WEB-307706

Administration Features

• Copy Action for Database Lists - To help build variations of existing Database Lists, a new 'Copy' action has been added to copy an existing setting.
  WEB-307215
• Web.config Options Migrated to Admin Features- To simplify the installation and upgrading of WEBcnx, and to provide administrators easier access to some configuration options (previously held on disk), the following web.config parameters have been migrated to the administration area in WEBcnx. This concludes the work that commenced in WEBcnx 2024.1
  • Arden.WEBcnx.Workflow - Controls whether Workflow is enabled for the site or not. This option has been migrated into Administration > Features > Workflow > Options
    WEB-307229
  • LoginCookieExpirationDays - Sets the number of days before a user is prompted to accept the cookie notice again. This option has been migrated into Administration > Configuration > Privacy Settings.
    WEB-307231
  • PasswordHelperTimeOutMinutes - When a user hits the "Forgotten Password" link on the login screen, they're emailed with a reset link. This option determines how long that link should be active for before expiring. This option can now be found in Administration > Configuration > Privacy Settings.
    WEB-307231
  • UploadFolder - The path to the folder on the server, used to temporarily store uploaded files. This has been migrate to Administration > Configuration > General.
    WEB-307236
  • ViewerCanvasColour - The background colour for Design previews. This should be a valid CSS colour value. This has been migrated to Administration > Environment > Layer View.
  • WEB-307236
• New Scheduled Task to "Resume WaitForDesign Activities" - The WaitForDesign workflow activity is used when the expected design doesn't yet exist in the database, usually in an Enterprise environment. Using this activity pauses the workflow until the design appears. The new Scheduled Task is responsible for repeatedly checking for the design to appear.
  WEB-307179
• Scheduled Service On/Off Button - This new administration option allows administrators to more easily turn off the Scheduled Services during maintenance. The option can be found in Administration > Features > Scheduled Tasks and in the Scheduler Options dialog here.
  WEB-307185
• Workflow Service On/Off Button - When upgrading or doing some complex administration, it's advisable to turn the workflow services off until that work has been completed. This new feature, available on the Options page of the Workflow dialog, allows administrators to turn the Workflow off with ease.
  WEB-307189
  
• "View Project Revisions" Has Been Renamed - This existing User Group Privilege also controlled the visibility of layer revisions and has therefore been updated for clarity.
  WEB-307278
• Lens Version in Health & Status - The version of Lens, the interactive viewer component, is now displayed in the Health & Status admin area.
  WEB-307412
• Scripts Admin Now Supports Search and Sorting - For installations where there may be many Scripts, new searching and sorting options have been added to make it quicker and easier to find what you're looking for.
  WEB-307419

System Requirements

All system requirements should meet the minimum set out in our hardware and software guide.

• Minimum Supported Version of Impact - Impact 2022 (v12.0)
• Minimum Supported Version of nServer - nServer 2022 (v12.0)
• Minimum Supported Version of Safari - Safari v15.8

Reported Bug Fixes

• WEB-304491 - Task "Design" Tab doesn't display properly if user doesn't have design library privs
• WEB-304904 - Detail View Header Borders disappear if we start (but then abandon) reordering them
• WEB-306392 - Task Template Dialog Issues
• WEB-306611 - CustomFieldRangeCheckingGene doesn't respect thousand separators
• WEB-307180 - Release database values incorrect
• WEB-307209 - Prevent Customer Group Custom Actions when Customer Groups are not enabled
• WEB-307225 - Double progress indicator running a workflow
• WEB-307226 - Inform user about missing user default values earlier
• WEB-307271 - Task Primary Info Separator disappears on resize
• WEB-307298 - Launch menu not showing in Plugin
• WEB-307306 - Exporting layer using plug-in results in "HTTP status 413" error. (Prime)
• WEB-307328 - Migrate ValueMappingVBScriptTimeoutSeconds out of web.config
• WEB-307329 - Migrate DefaultCultureId out of web.config
• WEB-307330 - Migrate ApplicationName and CompanyName out of web.config
• WEB-307339 - Custom actions missing Customer Group location
• WEB-307340 - UserGroupCreatorForm shows SSO Field when it shouldn't
• WEB-307349 - Obsolete Privilege Methods are still being used
• WEB-307355 - Standard Wizard doesn't support Read Only Variables
• WEB-307364 - Configuration > General dialog missing a help context
• WEB-307378 - Layout labelling MTS option needs to be controlled by licence module
• WEB-307383 - Hide script references when there are none
• WEB-307401 - User without design library privs may still be able to modify a Task's associated Design
• WEB-307411 - Quick Search for Project or Layer may take you to the old style of dialog
• WEB-307415 - Javascript error loading custom action references
• WEB-307423 - Sorting, Sub Search, Filters are not working in References under Scripts
• WEB-307437 - Uncaught TypeError: cannot read properties of null (reading 'displayName')
• WEB-307443 - Default column in the Working Calendars
• WEB-307449 - Duplicate design content
• WEB-307450 - Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'select') viewing a database layer preview in design view
• WEB-307451 - Remove service calls from LayerViewer.configure
• WEB-307460 - disableActions is not defined
• WEB-307463 - Changing layers incorrectly shows the edit cursor
• WEB-307470 - Unrelated custom action references are loaded in the script form
• WEB-307471 - Drop down menu breaks in the middle when the dialog is small
• WEB-307476 - Widgets seemingly failing to remember change of saved search when editing
• WEB-307481 - Error viewing Barcode page on the User profile
• WEB-307483 - Exception comparing Task when applying a template
• WEB-307484 - Task browser not saving custom field column selections
• WEB-307492 - Number of Templates from Address is not updated
• WEB-307494 - Design action inconsistencies in plugin context
• WEB-307500 - Workflow diagrams cannot be deleted
• WEB-307501 - Clicking save multiple times on the create template dialog creates multiple templates
• WEB-307503 - Inconsistent 'No items to display'
• WEB-307509 - Workflow stops after creation of Job that is not auto-published
• WEB-307516 - Experimental features are enabled when the privilege is disabled
• WEB-307530 - Design View Attributes page exception
• WEB-307531 - Layer ordering for revisions not being correctly applied?
• WEB-307534 - TransformConditions NRE viewing design
• WEB-307537 - Report Template configuration fails to load
• WEB-307549 - Unable to delete a separator
• WEB-307558 - Missing 'DOCUMENT' table and related Access Right settings in some cases
• WEB-307559 - Standards dashboard widget type incorrectly available for dialog custom pages
• WEB-307560 - Remove DesignViewCluster.revisionLayers
• WEB-307561 - Missing Help context for item type expressions dialog
• WEB-307563 - NOT operator not modifying search resuls
• WEB-307566 - Error testing WEBcnx database connection
• WEB-307573 - JS exception choosing layers in Design Selector
• WEB-307578 - Oracle exception on sign in
• WEB-307586 - Address Custom Field help page duplication
• WEB-307591 - Error loading recently viewed Layers
• WEB-307596 - Error Loading Task Templates
• WEB-307603 - Actions not collapsing in Lens
• WEB-307613 - Currency fields default to English(United Kingdom)
• WEB-307622 - Checkbox Boolean's incorrectly allow you to make them required
• WEB-307628 - Inconsistent labelling of Custom Field choice names
• WEB-307641 - Browser queries broken in Design Selector
• WEB-307645 - Custom Page form exception due to NRE
• WEB-307665 - Workflow custom action causes dialog to freeze
• WEB-307666 - Object dialog Icon needs padding at certain resolutions.
• WEB-307671 - Not Implemented Exception search on custom page 'Type' field
• WEB-307672 - Deleting a custom page breaks adding a custom page
• WEB-307673 - Error when viewing design view without a drawing summary dbw
• WEB-307677 - Cannot read properties of undefined error when changing tabs
• WEB-307679 - Object view contextual help refreshes the view content
• WEB-307693 - WidgetCache getWidgets NRE
• WEB-307698 - Scrolling through customer list causes error
• WEB-307700 - Global Attributes and Scheduled Tasks not associated with admin privs
• WEB-307701 - Error when navigating to Documents tab
• WEB-307702 - view.getDocumentImageFile is not a function
• WEB-307703 - Bonus non-existant layers appearing in my project
• WEB-307739 - Unable to edit value mapping items
• WEB-307752 - Project has no summary dbw when one is set but no general dbw set
• WEB-307758 - Horizontal scrollbar under design view summary dbw
• WEB-307759 - Mobile adhoc design view page inconsistencies
• WEB-307761 - Inconsistent spacing under summary dbw
• WEB-307764 - ValueMappingVBScriptTimeoutSeconds support for -1 missed when migrated from web.config
• WEB-307775 - Exception Ordering Dashboard Widgets
• WEB-307789 - Project Revisions can have missing layers
• WEB-307794 - Task Saved Searches fail to load in widget areas when CUSTOMER table relationships undefined
• WEB-307815 - WEBcnx Scheduler Service Setup Wizard ended prematurely
• WEB-307819 - Error with Separator fields
• WEB-307849 - JS Error Preventing Impact Configuration Loading
• WEB-307866 - Design View tabs permanently disabled when viewing a project with 0 geometry
• WEB-307867 - Incorrect Scheduled Task Start/Finish Time Values

Removed Features

• Report Template Privileges - Report Templates and their access controls have been part of Custom Actions for many versions, replacing the original functionality controlled by this outdated User Group Privilege. As users who have this privilege will no longer be able to create every Report Template in Impact, it's important to ensure that Report Template Custom Actions exist for all reports that users may want to use.
  The older functionality will be available as a legacy feature, providing some time to create any required Custom Actions before being removed in WEBcnx 2025. This legacy functionality still requires an Export format defining, which can be found in Administration  > Configuration > Impact Configuration
  WEB-307286, WEB-307380
• EnableRemoteAccess - This placeholder functionality has been removed from the web.config as it's no longer planned to be used.
  WEB-307350
• Search Constraint Timeouts - The options previously available in the Search Constraints settings are no longer used and the options therefore removed.
  WEB-307370
• Unused Search Constraints - The values for "Maximum Project or Layer Lookup Value Matches" and "Maximum Project Search Results" are no longer used and the options therefore removed.
  WEB-307367

Further Reading

• WEBcnx 2024.2 Release Notes
• WEBcnx System Requirements
• What's New in Impact 2024