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The 2010 calendar year encompassed an array of milestones for our company. From settling in to our new building to our unprecedented 2010 AVAproject update, the 35th Annual DHI Conference and Exposition in Chicago and a host of backend improvements and upgrades (allowing us to better support our growing customer base and team), it was a very fast-paced, productive year.
Typically, we package one major release of the AVAproject Suite in the late spring of each year. A single annual release simplifies the task of deployment for our clients, reducing the work required to update computer systems, revise processes and procedures, etc.
This year we are more ambitious than ever with new features and projects in development! AVAproject 2011 boasts so many new features, capabilities and user interface enhancements, we are splitting it into two separate releases!
The first, scheduled for release later this month, will include a number of new tools, options and improvements, while also laying the foundation for the spring release. This first release will set the groundwork for spring release capabilities, as well as provide support for AVAproject Fusion, our premiere data mining and reporting system. Additionally, the first release is packaged with a number of new features and enhancements
The Catalog Viewer
A new visual Catalog Viewer is now available from the Catalog Browser. Each catalog in the Catalog Browser can be double-clicked to open an on-screen "Binder". This Binder displays all catalog cut pages. Pages can be "turned" by clicking to the left or right of the Binder spine.
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The Catalog Binder, Catalog Cuts Section
The Catalog Viewer also displays any available release notes for the selected catalog. The release notes provide chronological documentation of catalog changes, additions and discontinuations - information that is otherwise difficult to obtain or even unavailable from the manufacturer(s) directly
Project Templates
AVAproject now supports Project Templates which act as a quick starting point for a new project and are no different from existing AVAproject files. In fact, templates can be created from any existing AVAproject file. A Project Template typically contains information that is common among many projects, such as company information or a default hardware list. Project Templates allow new projects to start with such information already present, saving time re-entering this data.
The Project Template List
Project Templates can be used to create new projects through the "New Project" button's new drop-down list. Additionally a default Project Template can be specified through the Tools menu, which
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AVAproject will use automatically when creating a new project.
User Interface Enhancements
Several changes have been made to the AVAproject user interface. Recently open project files are now listed as a sub-menu of the "Open Project" menu option, providing quick access to the 10 most recently open projects.
The Recent Projects Sub-Menu
Treelines (or Guide lines) have been added to the Project Bar to represent the hierarchical nature of the various sections. Although seemingly a small change, treelines illustrate the inheritance of different menu items, simplifying project navigation.
Additional Features
A new option for Partial Hardware Schedules (hardware schedules for individual hardware groups) allows for the inclusion or exclusion of miscellaneous hardware items, providing much more control over the appearance of the Hardware Groups report. An auto-complete feature has been added to every cell that employs a pull-down list, and the product search feature within the Product Builder has been updated, allowing results to be returned that match any part of the search term, not just the beginning.
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