Eurotrace 3.4.7 Patch Note

(This note summarises all changes applied from version 3.3.28 to version 3.4.7)

General bug resolutions

• Installation procedure:The installation process was thoroughly reviewed. The new setup is expected to resolve the random issues encountered when installing Eurotrace on a new computer, particularly those linked to incorrect access or SQL Server client drivers when running Eurotrace on an SQL Server domain.
• Screen resizing bugs:Screen resizing resolution bugs were corrected. However, resolution issues may still occur when a beamer is connected to the target computer.
• Removal of the “Flow” tab in Dataset Management: The unused “Flow” tab was removed to improve the performance of the importation process.

International Support

• Version 3.4.7 now manages Cyrillic and non-Latin characters: A new scrolling menu box next to the "Interface language" box allows users to select the desired encoding (e.g., Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Cyrillic, Greek).

Access Database Storage (2GB Limitation)

• Updated of the default database format: Eurotrace 4.4.7 generates now only Access databases in the 2002–2003 format fully compatible with all versions of MS Access. 
• Conversion tool allowing to upgrade the format of existing Eurotrace databases: The convertET add-on tool was designed to convert all or selected Eurotrace database files from any former Access format to Access 2003 format. Eurotrace’s databases will then be in MDB format with a full 32bits support which enable their compatibility with 64Bits versions of MS Access (previous formats relied on 16-bit support)
• Temporary table Improvements: Temporary tables created during the importation process now use the Access 2002–2003 format, allowing to manage bigger file by increasing the database size limit of the temporary tables from 1GB to 2GB (both in access and SQL server). 

Excel and Text data Importation

• Excel worksheet importation: Direct worksheet importation for Excel source files is now enabled (no need to define ranges). Previously, this was only available for dictionary importation, not datasets.
• Unix file support: Files containing Unix end-of-line separators now import correctly.
• CSV file importation: CSV files can be directly imported into Eurotrace without requiring a “CSV to TXT extension conversion” step, as the Text Driver supports now any file extension.

Changes in dataset storage location priority order

• Eurotrace offered the  option of  saving datasets outside the domain folder(containing the configuration .Dom file). This feature was used in the past when the computer storage space was very limited and may introduce nowadays issues linked to the pointing to the right dataset.  The decision method was reviewed to remove this risk:
  • New datasets now default to the folder containing the .dom configuration file.
  • A revised search order prioritises locating datasets in the following order:
  • The domain folder containing the .dom file.
    • A customised folder, if previously registered.
    • If the dataset cannot be found in the above locations, the user is prompted to specify the location.
  • Note that users can manually move .dta files stored in a customised folder to the domain folder to ensure the correct .dta is used.

Eurotrace error management wizard

• Correction of a bug when the algorithm used for data validation (leading to the generation of errors ) was suppressed or replaced before errors correction.

Eurotrace validation system

• The use of patterns (DIC/REL/DAT) in Eurotrace's rule synthax is now correctly managed.
• Unlinked field values are now properly managed during importation.
• Eurotrace rules containing INSERT INTO can now be tested correctly using the “Test Rule” functionality.
• The “Keep Existing Value for Empty Importation” parameter now functions as intended.
• Parameters for “Import Distinct Records” and “Aggregate Before Importation” now work correctly.

Derived dataset

• The feature allowing to enable "default value setting for linked key using transcodification" is now fully functional 

Improvement of SQL Server features

• A bug occuring when using French version of the Windows platform, which prevented domain creation (linked to TRUE/FALSE translations), was corrected.
• Dictionary sizes can now be adjusted in SQL Server even after the dictionary is filled in.
• Files to be used in Eurotrace Editor can now be properly extracted from Eurotrace SQL Server databases, as is already possible with Access.
• SQL Server support was fully redesigned, including domain migration tools.
• Dictionary hierarchies can now be organised in significantly less time (approximately 1 minute).
• Constraint rules for exclusive (e.g., embargoes) or mandatory (e.g., office/mode of transport) combinations of codes now function as expected.
• The feature allowing to create additional columns in a dictionary is now supported in SQL Server.

Note

Win11 Currency Symbol Issue: On Windows 11, when the currency symbol “K” (e.g., Zambian Kwacha) is set in "system settings" parameters, the OS automatically converts the string to a number, interpreting “K” as “thousand.” This bug has not been corrected, but the workaround is to change the currency symbol in Windows "system settings" to another option (e.g., “$”).