Releases/Autumn 2022
The Autumn 2022 release (15.2) was released on September 27, 2022.
- Update preview Blog
- Autumn update Blog
Dynamics: Daily control over audit log maintenance
Auditing logs can get large... fast. Woodford administrators on Dynamics have now more control over how often the system checks the total volume of audit data. The data can now be evaluated on daily basis: Set Run Every to "1 day".
Use button to trigger commands
You can now bind commands (both built-in and custom) to form buttons. Tapping the button on the form triggers the command. In these scenarios, you don't need to specify button click rules.
This feature used to be available on select platforms and apps; with this release, it is universally available. Also, the configuration parameters in Woodford now offer tooltips to help you configure buttons.
Resco Mobile CRM - required Windows version
The UWP version of Resco Mobile CRM available from the Microsoft Store now requires Windows 10 build number 17763 (October 2018 Update) or later.
The desktop application version of Resco Mobile CRM continues to work even on older Windows builds.
New browser component in UWP app
The UWP version of the app now supports an alternative web browser component, i.e., the engine responsible for rendering HTML content in iframes.
UWP WebView which is the default browser for Windows Store (UWP) apps is based on Microsoft Edge v18 JavaScript engine. This engine is fairly old and doesn’t support many modern JavaScript APIs. That’s why we decided to adopt Microsoft Edge WebView2 as an alternative browser. Edge WebView2 is typically a part of the Windows 10/11 operating system and it’s automatically updated by Windows Update. It’s based on the latest MS Edge Chromium engine (v103 or newer).
To opt-in for this new browser, open Woodford Configuration and set Use Edge WebView2 to "true". Save configuration changes and publish the project. The new browser will be activated after users synchronize with your mobile project. If users lack the WebView2 system component, a warning is displayed after sync. Users will need to download and install the WebView2 component.
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Improved MDM support
Many customers use third-party mobile device management tools. In this release:
- We have streamlined the process of requesting a custom build for some MDM tools. You can now use the existing Woodford interface for requesting custom-built mobile apps.
- We now support key-value MDM configuration for Android devices for Intune MDM via the Intune MAM SDK.
- We now support Citrix Xen Mobile.
Also, the documentation for Mobile device management, Enterprise deployment on iOS, and Custom mobile apps has been refreshed and expanded.
Resco Cloud
API changes
Due to Resco Cloud migration, the URL for API is changing.
- Old:
https://{organization}.rescocrm.com/rest/v1/data - New:
https://{organization}.app.resco.net/rest/v1/data
Also, the following methods are now available:
- POST GetRecordCount - Get the number of entity records.
- POST Export - Export the organization data and metadata.
Blob storage
Database space can be expensive. With this release, you can use external storage for binary documents to save database space and money. Your files (or even large text fields) can be stored for example in Azure Storage or Amazon S3. This feature is available in preview quality and is configured in the Admin Console. See Blob storage for Resco Cloud for more information.
Send SMS via AWS
Before this release, sending out SMS from the Resco Cloud server was possible only by using a web request from server processes to access an external SMS gateway. With this release, you can set up Amazon Web Services (AWS) as your SMS provider in the Admin Console and then use a simple SendSms function in server processes. See SMS integration for more information.
SMS authentication
If you set up AWS for outgoing SMS, you can also use them for authentication to Resco Cloud. In the Authentication settings of your organization in the Admin Console, you can select a phone field (from the User entity). When logging in to the Resco Cloud backend, a code is sent to your phone via SMS.
Use Exchange for outgoing mail
If you need to send mail from your Resco Cloud server, you now have an additional option: Microsoft Exchange. All mail is sent out from a single Exchange account. To enable this option, start the Admin Console, select Settings > Organization from the menu and click Configure Organization Email Integration. As Outgoing Email Mode, select "Exchange (User)". You will need to log in as that Exchange user as part of the configuration. Save all changes.
New C# SDK
We have released a new version of our C# SDK. Consider updating to the latest version, particularly if you're encountering fetch failures.
- https://app.resco.net/docs/RescoCRM.SDK.zip - source code for Visual Studio
- https://www.nuget.org/packages/Resco.Cloud.Client/ - library with regular updates
Alternatively, you can edit the file WebServiceBase.cs and change the line
if (readResponse != null && webResponse.ContentLength > 0)
to
if (readResponse != null && (webResponse.ContentLength > 0 || webResponse.Headers["Transfer-Encoding"] == "chunked")).
Guides
If a picture is worth a thousand words - then what about a video? Guides can now include videos. Guide editors in the office can upload videos or embed videos from YouTube. Users with the mobile app can record videos on their devices while drafting a guide.
Schedule Board
Live location of resources
People responsible for scheduling tasks for workers in the field can now see the immediate location of their field staff. This allows them to quickly locate a nearby technician with the right skill for priority jobs.
This feature uses location tracking for gathering real-time location information of your field staff. Schedule Board then uses the data to calculate the distance between the person and the job.
See Live location for more information.
Scheduled task remains selected
Even small improvements can sometimes make a big impact. When you schedule a task on the Schedule Board, it now remains selected. This makes it easier to double-check if the field worker and time slot are correct.
Syncing layouts with Salesforce
When user permissions are changed, the permissions to see Record Type values change. This information must be propagated to the mobile app to make sure that users can access the intended records. The only way how to get info on which Record Types are available to the current user is from Salesforce layouts.
Before this release, the app used to refresh layout configuration only in case the mobile project was changed. I.e., a Woodford administrator had to republish the project.
In this release, we're introducing a new Woodford Configuration setting Refresh layouts and Record Type mapping on first sync. With this setting, the new record type mapping caused by permission set change becomes available either after updating the mobile project or on the first sync after the app is restarted.
This option is disabled by default: layout sync can be quite demanding in terms of time and API call consumption. Enable it if you rely on reassigning Record Types by permissions sets (and change these often).
Inspections
Improved grid layout editor
Last year, we introduced the option to display multiple questions in one row. In this release, the configuration user interface of this feature received a badly needed refresh in the Questionnaire Designer. Most notably, there's now a visual indicator in case you have overlapping fields and you can easily select such fields now.
Restrict image/media actions
Designers of the questionnaire templates now have even finer control over how their users can answer image/media questions. For example, you might decide to disable some/most of the options to make sure that your inspectors answer the questions in the right way. Eliminate unnecessary options to reduce user errors.
Restrict image/media display size
You can limit the display size of image answers in the app. For example, you can set an image height limit to ensure that tall images don't cause inspectors to scroll needlessly.
Smart styles for yes/no questions
Smart styles offer an easy way to change the visual (color, font, ...) of a question depending on an answer. For example, when a question might light up in red when the inspector reports an error. In this release, smart styles are enabled for yes/no type questions.
Select language for questionnaire reports
If you are using localization of questionnaire templates, the same languages are now also available for your reports.
Dynamics backend integration improvements
The default view and form of the questionnaire entity on Dynamics backend have been redesigned. The Questionnaire Player is now accessible using the Run Player button. See Questionnaire list, form, and player for more information. The original method for adding Questionnaire Player as a tab is now redundant but remains available, mostly for older Woodford versions.