JBCL Menu Help
JBCL General Information:
JBCL Program Information:
Overview
JBCL Software
A suite of programs
1 - General programs useful for anyone
- Professional Time Recording
- Miscellaneous Notes keeping and searching
- Automated Time recording
- Event scheduler for commands and reminders
- A good Calculator
- Desktop Clocks
- Interscreen messaging system
- Automated backups
2 - A wonderful modern addon to the classic Beyond (BCL)
software.
Like the Beyond menu, the software in controlled
from a
main menu:
This adds some extra screens to the JBCL menu (more buttons on the left)
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Altering Setups
How to Change Main JBCL Setups
Click the button "Show Setups" . This will show you the main
settings for where the JBCL files are. Usually installing
JBCL
and running it will set these up automatically.
How to change JBCL setup
If you click "No" to are these settings OK, then you see:
The defaults shown are designed to fit the great majority of
sites.
If you are on a Network then the drive letter of the Beyond
Folder will usually be different, eg F:\SB or M:\BEYOND.
The drive letter can be found by looking at the properties of
the
shortcut used to start Beyond, or in the Beyond Administration menu
look at the top right of the screen.
Note for Network
Administrators
Like the Beyond Software, the JBCL software is a breeze to
administer. All the files reside in one folder on the server.
The only thing that is installed on the individual PC's is
the
shortcut to start JBCL, which points to the startup program on the
Server.
Note that to further streamline JBCL and to minimise the load on the
network, when JBCL starts it automatically copies working programs to a
folder on the individual PC and runs them from the local PC.
This
means that they run even faster. However nothing needs to be
installed or updated on the individual PC's by you. The JBCL
startup does this automatically (This is what happens when
you
see the brief display checking files with you click on the JBCL Start icon).
Also the registering of programs is also centralised on the server.
If you wish to check what JBCL programs you are registered
for, click
the "Registered Info" button which will show information like:
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How to Use JBCL
The programs are divided into sections, each
section is
selected by a button on the left. Click this to see the page
of
program options on the right.
Main shows a screen with the main administration and
general programs
Extras has
some useful extra programs, such as calculator and options to lock or
turn off the computer etc
Time Programs
has a clock, time recording programs, scheduler
The buttons below that are for specific JBCL programs
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The Sections below describe some
of the main programs
JBCL Contacs Inquiry
The Contacs Inquiry has its own help system. A small excerpt
is shown here:
Using this program is very similar to the old Classic Inquiry, even if
it looks quite different. You can enter a Name or Code, and a list will
appear below of the matching names if there are more than one. Click on
the match you want, or arrow down and press Enter.
If you know the Code you can also enter it directly.
-a Client code will take you to the Client Details screen
-a Matter code will take you to the Matter Details screen
For example,
Search Options:
Search Client Surnames: If you type SMITH all
SMITH's and SMITHSONS and any surname beginning with SMITH will be
shown.
Search All Client Name: SMITH anywhere in the name
will be shown, eg JONES AND SMITH PLUMBERS
Search Client/Matter Name: Surname SMITH will also
match PURCHASE OF SMITH STREET if that is in the Matter description.
Order of names
You can change the order of names by clicking on the title bar of the
top of the list. By default the order is by name, you can also sort by
Code or Partner Code (and name).
See
More Help for the JBCL Contacs
Inquiry
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JBCL Hawk backup
This program comes in two flavours - both look similar but do
different types of backup:
JBCL
Hawk Offsite Backup
for general users (Can be used for backing up BCL,
JBCL or any folders you wish to use it for - it is customisable)
JBCL
Hawk Backup
(For users of BCL software only, as it is highly
tailored to how the BCL software operates)
Hawk Offsite Backup (for General Users)
This program can be used to make lightning backups of
important folders to a USB drive.
- The
idea for this program came from some users of JBCL software after the
Christchurch earthquake of 22 Feb 2011 where offices with tape or
internet backups were left with no accessible backups that were up to
date.
- Tape backups made nightly were not of much use as
the tapes were available but the tape drive was inaccessible on a
server in a damaged office that could not be accessed
- Restoring
tape backups usually involves not only access to the tape drive, but
also the tape backup software (which is usually expensive and licenced
only for the server) and often the network providers to run the
restore. In some cases many or all of these were not
available.
- Offsite backups on external drives or CD's or DVD's were a
week or more old
- Some
sites with offsite backups made over the internet to a network
providers server also found these were inaccessible as both offices
were damaged and inaccessible.
- The
JBCL Hawk Backup program (the sister program to the Offsite backup
program) makes multiple snapshot backups during a day but these backups
are on the server
- In
all cases sites eventually recovered servers and resumed work, but
having an external drive with a backup from the same day or day before
would have been a great advantage.
The idea of this program is
to allow a very quick backup of important folders to an external USB
drive - a pen drive or external hard disk that an operator or owner can
take home from the office each day.
- This backup can be
tailored for any site - they can set up several different backups and
choose themselves how quick or comprehensive each one is
- When
first run, the program automatically sets up Full and Quick backups for
JBCL and BCL files - these give excellent examples how to set these up
- The
backups are manual - that is an operator can run this quickly when they
know they have finished work for the day before leaving the office with
the external drive.
- The backups are very quick to run and require just 2 or 3
clicks.
- An operator can run a comprehensive backup eg once a week
or once a month, and a quick important data backup daily
- The
backup is compressed using the standard ZIP format, so that
it
can be opened and used on any computer running Windows XP, Vista or
Windows 7
- Doing a backup will keep the previous backup, renamed with
a
-OLD filename so that even if the current backup fails the previous
backup will be present.
- The program comes with easy options to
do two kinds of backups - either a full backup of a folder, or just a
quick backup of core data files and settings.
- The idea is that
in case of fire or emergency, the USB drive can be grabbed while
running from the office, and will contain a very recent backup.
- It
would be possible to have these backups run automatically as well (eg
at 4:50pm) - however being quick and simple to run manually
this may be preferred as the operator still needs to take the
drive with them ideally which cannot be automated!
- To be added
will be an extra option to copy backup files to a remote server out of
town - this requires a licence to store files on a secure server farm
eg in the North Island and might cost a site around $75/month.
(We will be looking for best deals on this). Contact JBCL if
you
are interested in this option.
Main screen:
To do a backup you select one from the left hand list, and then click
"Do Backup"
After a backup has run:
Notes:
- The
files backed up are shown in the list on the screen. The
right
two columns are the uncompressed size and the compressed size.
- The summary shows the number of files and the time taken.
- The
Windows Disk icon button will open the backup archive using Windows
Explorer or Winzip so you can check files have been backed up.
It is a good idea to check the files are being backed up!
- Click the Close button to close the information window and
do another backup.
Main screen after two backups have been done:
How
to setup a backup:
There are two main options in the program - backup everything under a
specified folder, or backup certain important files only.
When you first run the program, it will set up the first two backups as
a default set. You can add more yourself.
Here is an example of a full backup:
Explanation of the options:
Description
- This is the description that will be shown on the list on the left of
the screen, so make it clear and concise what it
backs up
Base Folder
- (optional) if set, the Filespecs that follow will be added
to
this, eg if the Base Folder is set to F:\Data and the first Filespec
is set to Fred-Data\*.* then
the files that will be backed up willl be F:\Data\Fred-Data\*.*
FileSpec
- you can specify up to 10 different file specifications.
Note
only one is usually needed if you are doing a recursive backup
You can use wild cards - eg *.DAT
in one and *.DBF in another.
Usually one file specification is enough
- only use as many as are needed
Each of these will be added to the Base
Folder to find the files to back up.
All sub folders
- set this to 0 to only back up the files speciified,
set this to 1 to backup all folders
below this one as well
Destination Drive
- this is where the backup zip file will be written to.
If you are not sure of the drive letter,
look at the small list at the top of the screen,
or click the Windows Disk button at the top of the screen, which will
open a "My Computer" window to show the drives attached.
Name of Zip file
- this must be a valid filename and must have a .zip extension.
To avoid ambiguities do not have spaces in the filename, use letters,
numbers and - or _ characters only (ie the usual rules for a valid
filename).
This will be combined with the
desttination Drive to give the final filename - eg
destination drive
G:\
and zip file name
JBCLMain-Full.zip
will create a zip archive called
G:\JBCLMain-Full.zip
Full and partial backups
- this is for future use (not implemented yet).
This could add the option to do
incremental backups so that files can be backed up even more quickly.
The current full and quick backup
options are already pretty fast so that this may not be needed.
Remote Site address
- this is for future use (not implemented yet).
This will add the ability to upload the
zip file to a remote web site (using FTP communication).
Hawk
Backup (for BCL Users)
The idea of this program is that you just run this program and do your
work, and it will keep snapshot backups as you work:
It will do needed backups automatically - all you
have to do is start the program.
- This program knows how the BCL system operates, and backs
up company files after they have been used
- The default settings are to do backups for BCL
Debtors,
Private Ledger, Contacs and Beyond Database/ (JBC Owl
Database)
- These backups are the same type as the BCL General
Backup/Restore
Program option "Backup ledger to Multiple Online", and are
interchageable with these.
- It will do backups at the end of any hour a ledger or
company has been updated in.
- The backups take from a few seconds to a minute to complete.
- The program monitors the amount of free disk space, and
tailors its operation to fit.
- Older Backups are deleted as newer ones are made,
so the disk space used remains fairly constant.
- The last backup for a financial period is retained.
- The program shows the numbers of backups stored and the
disk space used.
- Backups can be deleted manually using the
convenient "Admin" button.
- Backups can be made manually - click the "Manual Backup"
button.
- Backups can be restored using this program - click the
'Admin"
button. This will give a list of backups stored, and you can
right click on the one you want and restore.
- The restore also has a new option "Restore to
another
Company". This means you can restore a ledger to a different
company number while still continuing work on the original company.
Note this makes it very convenient to run reports again, or
look
at past information while the current work on the main company number
continues uninterrupted. This is especially useful for legal
sites where you or the Auditors may want to run reports again for a
previous period.
- You still need to do regular backups to either tape drives
or
CD's or DVD's as well, however this option is much easier to restore
from and gives many snapshots of points in between the backups.
Here are some screenshots.
1 - the program has been started, and work has been done on this or
other screens. So far the program has scheduled some backups
to
run. Note this happens automatically - the program has been
monitoring which companies have had input done to them.
2 - The backups above have been done:
Note the number of files changed since the last backup, and
the time
taken are shown in grey under the backup list for the last backup that
has run.
(In normal operations these backup would
have run on the hour at 16:00).
If
backups on the hour have been pending, you can make them run sooner by
clicking the "Run now" button, as above. This is useful if
you
want to shut the PC running the Hawk backup down without waiting until
the backup is done.
3 - How to administer or delete or restore from these backups:
This example shows how to pick and restore from one of the
Private
Ledger backups. You click on the "Admin" button next to
Private
Ledger, and the backups are shown. The names of each are the
dates - eg the one highlighted 07062904.JBC is for 29 June
2007,
and was number 4 for that day. Rightclicking on this backup
shows
the options below.
If you want to either delete or copy several backups, you can
click
on the "Windows Explorer" button, and this will open Explorer which is
a very convenient way to do this.
Some advanced features of
this backup:
There are some refinements in
the program to make it display how long it actually locks out the
ledger as it takes a copy of the data files. It only starts the backup when the ledger is not
in use - if it is it waits until the ledger is not in use. On a typical network you can expect the time you
are locked out for is only about 10-30 seconds - the program copies the
data files elsewhere before it compresses them so most of the backup
time is done not on the working copy, and the ledger is then again
available for input even before the backup is
completed. And the further advantage is that
an extra backup is left off the server - on the PC running the
Hawk Backup - as an extra backup.
The time and other details taken for the last backup is displayed in
light grey below the backup list.
Further smart features are planned to be added to this program to
backup logs and reports.
Note - Great ideas appear
in more than one place!
This backup idea seems to have become popular
now.
Since I wrote this program, Apple OSX Leopard has released an acclaimed
backup program Time
Machine with many similar ideas. Here are
comments from a review of the Leopard
http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=disaster_recovery&articleId=9044339&taxonomyId=83&intsrc=kc_feat
At
midnight, or as soon thereafter as your computer is on and the
backup drive available, the most recent hourly backup will be saved as
a daily backup, and earlier hourly backups will be deleted to save
space. Each daily backup is maintained for a month. After a month, Time
Machine converts one of those daily backups into a weekly backup that
it preserves indefinitely (or until your backup drive becomes full).
When
a drive becomes nearly full, Time Machine analyzes its backups
and deletes files in a method designed to preserve as wide a range of
backup dates as possible while still allowing you to have a fully
restorable backup of your current system. If you are concerned about
losing any potential backup files, you can configure Time Machine to
warn you when it runs low on disk space.
Time
Machine's approach of keeping frequent recent backups and fewer
older backups may seem unorthodox, but it really is brilliant when you
think of Time Machine as a safety net. If you want to revert to an
earlier version of a file you're working on or if you accidentally
delete something, you usually know it very quickly. Having hourly
backups means you can go back through your version choices easily -- it
functions almost like a universal-undo feature. It also means that if
you have a hard drive failure, you will have an extremely recent backup
to restore from, and there will be almost no data loss.
The balance to this is disk space and the ability to find files.
Sorting through hourly backups from six months ago would be like
looking for a needle in a haystack, and storing all those backups could
theoretically require several terabytes of disk space. Having a day's
worth of hourly backups, however, offers an incredible value and makes
Time Machine more useful in the daily use of your Mac. It really is
revolutionary to add this capability on top of the typical once-daily
(or less-frequent) approach of other backup tools.
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JBCL Printing
This is an equivalent to the Beyond "Operate Printer" program.
Most of the functions are present here:
To print, right click on a file and select one of the options:
View/Print/Delete/Email.
There are also options to see files in the report folder that
are
not in the Register. Often a file you are looking for which
cannot be found in the Register can be found this way.
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Advanced Options
Great features of the JBCL environment are:
- All programs and
settings are stored in a central place - in a network on the server.
This makes configuring and updating simple for the network
administrator.
- Programs do not have to be installed on each work station.
- Updates are loaded in one central place.
- Some
JBCL programs are unrestricted, some programs are licenced.
Licences are for concurrent access - that is in an office of
20
screens if only 3 will be using a certain program at once, then only 3
licences are needed, and these can be used by any of the computers on
the network, but only 3 at once.
- The JBCL programs work with
the same data as the older BCL programs. No
conversions are
needed. JBCL and BCL programs can be used at the same time
interchangeably.
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How-To and Common Questions
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JBCL Folders
Technical
reference for those installing JBCL
JBCL is normally installed into 2 folders, whether for a standalone PC
or a PC on a network. This applies to Windows XP, or Vista
or Windows 7.
(1)
JBCLUpd (or JBCLMain)
This folder is where shared settings and data files are stored, and
also a central place where program updates are loaded.
For a standalone PC, this folder will default to C:\JBCLUpd
If on a network, then put this on a drive that has the same mapping to
all workstations.
eg so setup a mapping of drive F to a data folder on the
server, and
create a JBCLUpd folder below this.
Example:
You may want to place the JBCLUpd folder on the server at D:\DATA so on the
server create a folder
D:\DATA\JBCLUpd
For all PCs, map drive F to the D:\Data
folder on the server
So if the shared drive is drive F:, then the
main JBCL folder
can be at F:\JBCLUpd
as seen from the PC's
JBCL Software is normally installed by running an
installer JBCLIns.exe after having saved it to this folder - eg
F:\JBCLUpd or C:\JBCLUpd
This sets up folders and copies base programs and help to where they
need to be.
For individual workstations all that has to be done is create a desktop
shortcut to a startup program:
For a network PC, setup a shortcut called "JBCL Start" to the
program "F:\JBCLUpd\JBCStart.exe" (if F is the mapped drive
letter)
(2)
C:\JBCL
This is the local working folder for one screen. The JBCL
startup program will create this and its folders automatically.
Features of this
setup are:
- JBCL installs nothing in the registry
- All settings and configurations are stored centrally in the
JBCLUpd folder, (and in the Settings folder below that)
- Individual screens need no installation - just creating a
shortcut to the startup program is enough.
- For a standalone PC, setup a shortcut called "JBCL Start"
to the program "C:\JBCLUpd\JBCStart.exe"
- For a network PC, setup a shortcut called "JBCL Start"
to the program "F:\JBCLUpd\JBCStart.exe" (if F is
the mapped drive letter)
- This startup program does all local folder setups and
copying of program updates as required.
- Program updates can loaded into the JBCLUpd folder even
while the JBCL programs are in use.
- Once JBCL is set up and running on a PC, an alternative
quick start shortcut can be set up to run the JBCL Menu program in the
local folder
- For this quick start this setup a shortcut called "JBCL
Menu" to the program "C:\JBCL\Prog\JBCLMenu.exe"
- (this quick
startup will tell you when program updates are available).
- Note - Set the "Start in" folder to be "C:\JBCL"
(not C:\JBCL\Prog)
- JBCL on a network can be migrated to a new server by simply
copying the JBCLUpd folder to the new server, and setting the same
drive letter (eg F:\) on the PC's to point to the new folder
- JBCL recommends you follow this twin folder setup even if
you are running only one or two programs, as it is simple to administer
and troubleshoot.
- All settings for for the folders are centralised in one
settings program call JBCLSets.exe. This stores settings in
files called JBCLMain.INI etc
- If a program stores data or settings, it is better to use
this folder structure.
- Some programs such as JBCLCalc or ATClock which need no
stored settings can be placed in any folder and run from there.
Other folders
Under the JBCLUpd folder there will be a few other folders,
such as Settings, Help, Data, Sounds, Images, Logs, Temp
These folders store shared resources used by all the screens
Under the JBCL folder there will be a few other folders, such as
Settings, Data, Cache, Log, Prog, Rep, Temp
These folders are used for files only for this PC.
In general if you upgrade to a new PC you will not need to retrieve or
copy anything from these folders.
Some of the settings files may be useful for individual preferences -
these are seen in the settings screens under a tab "Settings for this
screen"
Note - All of the "settings for this screen" settings and data files
used in About Time Professional (Time Recording) are stored on the
network or shared folder.
Advanced setup
By default all JBCL screens on a network have the same shared
folder - ie always the same drive letter and path (such as F:\JBCLUpd).
This is stored as the default setting called "JBCL Folder
Setup 1"
If you want to run JBCL from a remote
connection or direct from the server hard disk you may not
have the mapped drive, or different paths. In this case you
will need to use a different folder setup. JBCL caters for
this, but this should be used with care. Contact JBCL for
help on this.
JBCL on a network can be migrated to a new server by simply copying
the JBCLUpd folder to the new server, and setting the same drive letter
(eg F:\) on the PC's to point to the new folder
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Future Ideas
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