Editing Visual Process now that Flash is disabled

SUGGESTED

After installing all of the updates that are required (Sage 100 VPF Update PF6001T) to use Visual Process Flows now that Flash is no longer supported or functional, I noticed that  the tools for editing or creating new flows appear to be completely different from those that were used last year.  I have not been able to locate documentation for the new editor, and certain functionality does not appear to be working.  In particular links to URLs do not appear to work. 

Is there another tool for editing existing templates, or anything in development that might be comparable to the previous editor?  Linking to existing menu items seems to work, but any hyperlinking to files or websites does not.

Also is there any documentation for Sage 100 that explains the various icons and how the interface works?

Thanks in advance.

Sincerely,

Mike

Parents
  • 0

    Hi Mike,

    To access online help for the Visual Process Flows designer...

    1) Select Visual Process Flow Manager under the Setup Menu

    2) Click the question mark icon (?) at the bottom right of the screen and select "About this Window"

    3) When the Sage 100 Help window appears, click the "Visual Process Flow Designer" link under the Overview section

    You will need to use the Visual Process Flows Designer to edit existing templates.  I am looking into the issue with URLs not working.  Have you found any other issues?

    Thanks,

    Laura Dy

    Sage 100 Business Analyst, R&D Department

  • 0 in reply to Laura Dy

    Laura:


    Thanks so much for your response.  I did click on the link to the help, which does begin to explain some of the icons in the new designer.  The page https://help-sage100.na.sage.com/2019/index.htm#Subsystems/PF/PFConcepts/Visual_Process_Flow_Designer.htm is particularly helpful, but the hyperlink to "Linking Visual Process Flows to Screens and Other Elements" is a broken link.

    Is there a plan to update this editor to add more features similar to the previous editor?

    As requested to follow are couple of other issues that I have observed while using the editor:

    1.  The dialog box for the URLs is very small in both height and width, so that it can only display a small portion of the       hyperlink text.

    2.  The drop down list for Type of Hyperlink offers URL, ERP Link, Other Process, Inquiry, Report, BO Report, Statistics and Query, however if you select any other type of link other than URL or ERP Link you are prompted "Please use the ERP Link Type"

    3.  When editing a text box, the text typed in the box is only preserved if you hit enter after typing the text, even though the revised text appears after editing.

    4.  If I attempt to return to the editor after exiting the editor from a previous session I will sometimes get the "Unable to launch the Process Flow Designer.  Please be sure the Sage 100 Desktop is Visible with the Detail View Open".  Detail View is open but the Visual Process Flow does not appear.  Are there relevant Windows settings that are causing this?

    5.  When configuring URLs on Hyperlinks, if the URL that is provided is in the format file://server/share/MyWkbk.xlsx to open a file that would open if typed into the address bar in the Sage Menu, an error "Invalid Value" is returned.  In the former versions of Visual Process Flows this method had been supported and has been demonstrated in YouTube videos for Sage products before the end of flash.

    I hope these responses are helpful.  Please let me know if you need further supporting information or screen shots.


    Sincerely,

    Mike

  • 0 in reply to mhainesalt

    Thanks Mike.  I will look into the other issues you reported.

    There were plans to improve the editor, but I'll need to confirm the timeline.

    We have a fix for the URL which will be included in our next Product Update 7.00.2. Support will contact you shortly to send you the pre-release fix.

    Thanks,

    Laura

  • 0 in reply to Laura Dy

    Laura:

    Thanks for this info.  Will this functionality be available for any versions prior to the 2021/7.00.2?

    Thanks

  • 0 in reply to mhainesalt

    The fix for the URL will also be available in the next product update for the 2020 version (6.20.4).

  • 0 in reply to Laura Dy

    Laura:

    Thanks very much.

    Sincerely,

    Mike

  • 0 in reply to mhainesalt
    SUGGESTED

    Hi Mike,

    We will fix the broken help link in the next release. I pasted the details for that topic at the bottom of this reply.

    I have sent the issues you reported to the development team.

    • Issue #2 - Only the URL and ERP Link can be used for Sage 100 Visual Process Flows, so I've asked development to remove the other options to avoid confusion.
    • Issue #4 - I was unable to duplicate this issue, but they will look into what may be causing this situation.

    I will keep you posted and let you know if/when we will enhance the designer.

    Thank you for bringing these issues to our attention.

    Laura 

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Overview

    Follow these steps to link an element in a visual process flow to a Sage 100 task or URL.

     To create a link in a visual process flow

    1. In the Visual Process Flow Designer, select an element. A toolbar appears adjacent to the element.
    2. Click the Link () button. A window opens that you use to set up the link.
    3. In the Type field, select one of the following link types:
      • URL: If you select this type, enter the link in the URL field.
      • ERP Link: If you select this type, click the button next to the Function field to open the Task Selector window and enter task information.
    4. Click OK.

    The link is added to the element.

Reply
  • 0 in reply to mhainesalt
    SUGGESTED

    Hi Mike,

    We will fix the broken help link in the next release. I pasted the details for that topic at the bottom of this reply.

    I have sent the issues you reported to the development team.

    • Issue #2 - Only the URL and ERP Link can be used for Sage 100 Visual Process Flows, so I've asked development to remove the other options to avoid confusion.
    • Issue #4 - I was unable to duplicate this issue, but they will look into what may be causing this situation.

    I will keep you posted and let you know if/when we will enhance the designer.

    Thank you for bringing these issues to our attention.

    Laura 

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Overview

    Follow these steps to link an element in a visual process flow to a Sage 100 task or URL.

     To create a link in a visual process flow

    1. In the Visual Process Flow Designer, select an element. A toolbar appears adjacent to the element.
    2. Click the Link () button. A window opens that you use to set up the link.
    3. In the Type field, select one of the following link types:
      • URL: If you select this type, enter the link in the URL field.
      • ERP Link: If you select this type, click the button next to the Function field to open the Task Selector window and enter task information.
    4. Click OK.

    The link is added to the element.

Children
  • 0 in reply to Laura Dy

    Laura:


    Thanks for this reply.  We did find that the URL link would allow us to enter a valid URL in the designer, but that the URL would not open when clicked on in the saved process, either in the existing window or a new window.  Also, the designer would not allow URLs referencing file:// to use the URL to open a PDF or Excel file, although this was possible previously.  Such URLS are rejected as invalid.

    Thanks again.

    Mike

  • 0 in reply to mhainesalt

    Hi Mike,

    Happy New Year!

    Here are the new Visual Process Flow Designer features that will be available in the 2022 Release, scheduled for March/April.

    • Element Multi-Selection
      • 'Shift + Mouse Click' to add an element to a temporary group
      • Click the 'Group' button to create a group from the selection 
      • Click 'Ungroup' button to remove the shapes from the group
      • Selection of a shape that belongs to a group always selects the entire group 
      • Groups can be moved and resized
    • Copy and Paste of Single and Multiple Shapes
      • Copy and paste to/from the OS clipboard for both single and multiple element selections (replaces the previous within-process single shape copy/paste)
      • Shapes and their properties will be copied to the clipboard plus additional metadata to allow for proper parsing/validation
    • Alignment Guides
      • Provide dynamic alignment guidelines as the user moves a shape around the canvas
      • Top, Middle, Bottom, Left, Middle, and Right dashed lines to indicate various alignments with respect to adjacent/nearby shapes and center of canvas
    • Underlining of Links
      • Keep the default behavior of underlining of links by default (Note: In Sage 100, links will not be underlined by default)
      • Add a new Underline button to the text style toolbar
    • Return on Text
      • No longer need to press the <Enter> key to add the text into the shape
    • Action Pallet
      • By default, render the pallet in the upper portion of the screen
      • Add buttons to move the dialog down and/or across the canvas

    Please let me know if you have any questions.

    Thanks,

    Laura

  • 0 in reply to Laura Dy

    Thanks.  I will be exploring this shortly!