[NSRCA-discussion] New PACSS Release Available

[Gene Maurice]

All,

A new release of PACSS is available on the web site at
http://home.comcast.net/~pac-ss. Bigger, better and still free.

New in Version 3.1.01

The Registration process is now imbedded into the application. By simply
filling out a form that pops up automatically, your registration will be
sent to PACSS and the serial number will be returned and updated.

There is now a built in process to download and apply program updates. A
button on the "Welcome" screen will check the PACSS Web site to see if a new
version is available and download it automatically.

A function has been added to the People Maintenance screen to automatically
download any updates from the PACSS Web site.

A new function has been added to the Contest Tab, "Upload Contest". This
will upload the current database to the PACSS Web site. With this data,
updated People information will be made available to all other users. In
addition, it is hoped that in the future the districts and NSRCA will be
able to use this to accumulate district points, etc.

The People file contains all of the current and former members from the
NSRCA Member Database (as of 7/06). Because of the increased size of this
file, a search by name function has been added to all People selection
screens. Additional changes have been made to the system to accommodate the
increased number of records.

The Backup / Restore facility has been changed from an internal "Vision"
backup to using PKZIP. This will make it much easier to move backups from
user to user. 

In order to allow users to share data with another user, under the System
Maintenance tab, the "Import from Backup" function will allow you to select
and load a complete contest from any PACSS ver3 Backup file.     
A number of changes have been made to support this year's NATS, including
the ability to "seed" a round of contest from the results of a different
contest.

Error messages have been enhanced to make problem resolution easier. Every
error messages will include the program name, Font errors contain the name
of Font in error, etc.    

The installation process no longer store any information in the System
Registry. Everything is now stored internally. This eliminates all of the
Registry problems reported and allows you to move the system to a different
computer by simply copying the entire PACSS folder.

Schedule Maintenance includes a function to update your schedule files to
the AMA 2007-2009 schedules. Go to the "Systems Maintenance" tab, "Schedule
Maintenance" button, click on the "AMA 2007" menu item. 

The "Schedule Type" has been removed from Schedule File. This means that
Schedules are now keyed simply by Schedule Number and Effective Date. This
simplifies the Schedule maintenance function and the relationship to
contests.

Any questions or problems please contact me


Gene Maurice
gene.maurice at comcast.net
Plano, TX
AMA 3408, NSRCA 877