The best just got better!

 It's now become a bit of an annual ritual - a new version of Wessex Professional. This time it is version 4.4.16 (You can check your version by going to "Help" > "About", and view which version you have).

If you are new to Wessex Professional - welcome!

If you already use the program I would really encourage you to take the trouble to upgrade as this will give you a more reliable, user friendly experience. Also, it's free to upgrade! 

Go to the Wessex Pictures website and navigate to the Pricing Programs section . Select the Free 30 Day Trial and download. Your web browser will probably come up with various warnings, but have a look at this post to complete the download.

Before you start the new installation it's sensible to take a copy of your database file (V3.mdb) and the Labels & Values file (user.xml). These two file contain all your data, so treat them well!

Double click on the downloaded file (SetupWPP4_4_16.msi) and install. Run the program and check that all is well - and you're done!

Below is a screenshot of the changes -

When you have got Wessex Professional up and running, if you haven't done it already, set up a automatic backup - it could save a lot of frustration. Have a look at this post for more information.

Do it NOW!

All computers will, at some point, fail.
They won't start, they won't recognize the hard drive, they get infected with a virus to name just three scenarios. Often it's simply age - the components start to fail.
Think of your computer like your car, there comes a time when it's not worthwhile trying to keep the car going and it's time to get a new one. Of course you knew this and planned for it, so the change over is reasonably smooth.
It always surprises me how many people do not plan for their computers failing and leave their data at risk.

The Wessex Pricing Program has been around long enough for a number of computers that it is installed on to have failed. So, what happens?
In an ideal world you download the program from the Wessex website onto your new computer, get a new enabling code from Wessex Bournemouth branch, and import the 2 data files that you've backed up from your old system. About 10 minutes including the phone call.

The real problem comes when those 2 data files ("V3.mdb" & "user.xml") have not been backed up.
Is it possible to rescue the situation?
If you can access the old hard drive then you will find the 2 files in C:/ProgramData/WessexPictures/wpp4.
Copy them onto a usb stick and import them into your new set up.
If you can't get into the old hard drive then you are faced with starting all over again with a fresh database and trying to remember all the labels and their associated values you had - not good.

So how do you plan for your computer failing?
Simply by making sure there is a copy of your data somewhere other than on the computer.
One way of doing this is to keep a portable hard drive plugged into your computer and schedule a backup frequently.
Another way is to use cloud storage such as Dropbox, Onedrive or Google Drive.

So far as the Pricing Program is concerned I have tried to make it as simple as possible to create copies (backups) those all important two files, "V3.mdb" which contains the database of your mouldings, customers and worktickets, and "user.xml " which contains your labels and the values that go with them.
Ideally you will set an automatic backup, so everytime the program is shut down the two files are copied to your backup location (I have a usb stick always plugged in).
To set this go to "Setup" > "Options" and choose the "Netwk/BkUp" tab. Tick "Use automatic backup" and then set where you want to backup to.

Alternatively you can manually copy the two files. ("File" > "Export Database", and "Setup" > "Values" and click the "Export" button).

But whichever way you do it - DO IT NOW!

Can we fix it? - Yes, we can!

Just recently updates to the Windows and Android operating systems have caused "issues" with the Wessex Pricing Program and The Framers Pricing App. These have now been resolved, so now (and you guessed it) it's the turn of Apple.
Around Christmas there was a big update to the Mac operating system and also an update to Crossover for Mac. Together (and I'm not sure which one is to blame) it meant that if you were running the Wessex Pricing Program on your Mac using Crossover - it would no longer start (with an error message helpfully saying "Unknown error"!).
My solution is fairly drastic - delete the program and re-install it (it works, honest!).
"Ah!"I hear you say "If I can't start the program how can I make a copy of those 2 important data files (V3.mdb, & User.xml) which configure the program to my business?"
Fear not, the next paragraph will show you how to get to these, and so preserve your data.

Open Crossover and highlight the "Wessex Pr..." bottle (on the left hand side). Then click the little cog at the bottom left of the Crossover screen. This will bring up some options. Select "Open C: Drive" (see first screenshot).

Now you will see a screen with some folders (this is Crossover's emulation of Windows).

Open "ProgramData", then "Wessex Pictures", then "wpp4". Now the screen will show files including "V3.mdb", & "User.xml". Copy these and your data is safe!

(NB. Be sure to open the ProgramData folder NOT the Program Files folder.)

Now we can delete the program and re-install it.

Select "Wessex P.." again, and Right-click it (alien to Mac I know, but I could do it with the touchpad). This time click "Delete Wessex Pricing 4.x" and confirm.

The next job is to download the latest version of the program from Wessex Pictures to your Downloads folder.

When you've done that (back in Crossover) click "Install a Windows Application" and Type "Wessex Pricing 4.x" in the box, and click "Continue". Crossover will then install the necessary extra files. There will be various Licence agreements to accept. Finally the Wessex Pricing Program will be installed and you're good to go.

At the first run of the program you'll need to re-insert the Enabling code (get it from Wessex 01590 681681).

Now you can import the database ("File> Import Database") and the values ("Setup > Values" & click "Import).

All done, phew!

(NB. You can avoid the problem of finding your data files by using the automatic backup option ("Setup > Options" & select the "NtWk/BkUp" tab) which will make a copy of the two files each time the program is shut down).

Disaster(s) averted

"Not another update!" I can hear the cries now.
The main update for the year (version 4.4.2) was put on the Wessex website for download in March. This made the way the program works out the price much more flexible. Also, the way the program reads the xml User file was rewritten (you didn't really need to know that).

This upgrade (version 4.4.3) will hopefully prevent an overwritten database being completely irretrievable.
Up to now, if you imported a database (or User) file it was simply copied over the previous one. This didn't have to be a problem, because before you did anything as drastic as that you backed up all your data - you did, didn't you?

Of course that ignores the human factor - we're in a hurry, we didn't think things through, all sorts of reasons.
The solution must be easy, surely if a new database is being imported, simply copy the old one to somewhere on the computer?
Well, yes that could work, but it would also leave us with some potential problems. If it was copied to "My Documents" it could be quite easy to loose or delete. Copied to somewhere more obscure would mean that it was difficult to find.
The other potential problem is that copying the same file to the same place would mean overwriting the previous file. Potentially good data could be overwritten with bad data.

The solution - use the "Recycle Bin". Every PC has one, it's easy to access and will also take multiple copies of a file with the same title.
However, we could then be faced with a bin filled with files of the same name, not insurmountable (right-click and choose "Properties" to find out size, last modified, etc.) but a bit of a faff to sort out. Also, if the file was "restored" it would immediately overwrite the current database, even if the program was not running!

With a bit of nifty footwork we can get around all of these problems.
When you click "File" > "Import Database" the program checks the new database is compatible, then it warns you to check the dates of the old file and the new one to be imported.
When you tell it to continue it used to simply overwrite the old database.
Now, the old database file is copied to the "Desktop" with the date and time appended to its title. Straightaway it is then moved to the "Recycle Bin". So, if the file is restored, it is restored to the "Desktop" and can be dealt with from there. Clever eh?

If you peer at the above image of my Recycle Bin you will see that the database file is now labelled "V3_01052017_120726". To decipher that - "V3" is the database file, "01052017" is the date (01/05/2017) and "120726" is the time (12:07:26).
Then, it was easy to use virtually the same code to do the same thing with the "User" file (this contains the user's labels and values, which together with the database file made the program specific to a particular framer).
So, now the user will have to work a lot harder to lose their data!

NB. The above only works with the program's own internal database, so if you are using a networked database, you will need to make your own arrangements to copy and backup file.