Support Debugging Tool Build 15 update released
As mentioned in the post, Support Debugging Tool Build 15 released, the Support Debugging Tool for Microsoft Dynamics GP build 15 was released at the end of June with a build labelled as Last Modified: 28-Jun-2011.
This post is to announce that an updated Build 15 labelled as Last Modified: 22-Jul-2011 has been released for Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0 and Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010. This build has 3 bug fixes in it, one major fix and a couple of cosmetic ones (shown below):
Fixes
- Fixed ScreenShot processing dialog covering screenshot captured bitmaps.
- Fixed Menu Explorer button not repositioning correctly when Automatic Debugger Mode Setup window resized.
- Fixed initial position for Support Debugging Tool Main window not opening in bottom right corner.
Here is a quick explanation of the ScreenShot issue. There were two issues/changes from the previous Build 14 code of ScreenShot:
- The first issue was that it was possible for the emailing functionality of ScreenShot to attempt to create the email and add the attachments before the creation of the screenshot bitmaps had been completed. This "timing" issue would mean that not all of the screenshot bitmap files would be attached to the email. ScreenShot uses the built in Macro system to generate the screenshot bitmaps and so to resolve this timing issue the macro file ran by ScreenShot needed a button to press once it had finish creating the screenshot bitmap files. By "clicking" a button after creating the bitmap files, ScreenShot could ensure it did not try and create the email too early. This resolved the timing issue.
- The second change was that Build 15 added the ability for ScreenShot to be called as an Action from an Advanced Debbugger Mode Trigger. For this to work, ScreenShot needed to be able to work in "Silent" mode without opening any windows. Now if no windows are opened, where can I place the button required by the first issue? So this is when the code was changed to use a System Dialog (Dexterity warning command) while it was saving the bitmap files and then the macro clicked on the dialog's OK button.
Now, a couple of my beta testers did report some issues with the screenshot images, but we were never able to replicate the issue and the code was released using the System Dialog.
Since the release of Build 15, I have worked on a couple of support cases where we again saw the issue with ScreenShot and then it was also reported on a Community Forum post: SDT: Issue with screen capture in build 15.
The issue does not happen 100% of the time, but it was happening enough that it needed further investigation. The way the Macro system creates the screenshot bitmaps is by moving each of the windows into the foregound (so it is not covered by other windows) and then captures the area of the screen where the window is and saves it as a 4 colour (2 bit / pixel) bitmap. The problem was that the System Diaog is modal and was preventing the other windows moving to the foreground. This meant that the captured images might have been overlaid with sections of other windows as well as the System Dialog itself.
The example from the forum post shows both of these issues. See how the Payables Transaction Entry window is covered by both the ScreenShot window and the System Dialog.
So the code has now been rewritten to not use a System Dialog, it instead uses a small window that will open in the bottom right corner of the screen while the screenshot bitmaps are being created and then close. This new window does have a hidden button on it for the macro to "click". The end result is that now ScreenShot works as desired with no "timing" issues and can work in "silent" mode when needed.
Please download this update and drop the contents of the archive folder into your application folder. There is no need to uninstall or remove the previous build.
Downloads
For downloads, please see the Support Debugging Tool Portal Page:
Support Information
The Support Debugging Tool is a custom built tool to provide additional capabilities to troubleshoot issues and is not part of the standard Microsoft Dynamics GP released application. Technical support for this tool is not handled via the standard support systems and instead is provided via the public Microsoft Dynamics GP Community Forum. You can use the link below to access the forum:
To assist the partners and Microsoft employees who monitor the forum for these questions, please prefix any subject lines with the initials "SDT: ".
More Information
For more information, please see the Support Debugging Tool Portal Page:
Please post your feedback on what you think of this build and what you would like to see in the future.
Thanks to Heather Roggeveen for reporting the issue with ScreenShot on the Community Forum.
David
16-May-2013: Updated More Information and Downloads to link to Support Debugging Tool Portal page.