Forensic Filer for Windows Revision History

• (02/05/2020) - Experimental - enable users to turn on application scaling which will make Forensic Filer screens and fonts larger on high resolution monitors. Feature is turned off by default. Users can enable it in the Options menu of the Login screen.
• (02/04/2020) - Updated FF Launcher to use local workgroup file in all cases to prevent slow network connections from corrupting the network file.
• (12/31/2019) - Modified FF User Management functions to operate on the a designated Workgroup file, instead of the current session Workgroup file, in preparation for changing which Workgroup FF runs under in runtime mode.
  

• (06/10/2019) - Implemented Expired Read Only - Now when a customer license key expires, the system will revert to Read Only mode by demoting ALL logins to View/Print status.
• (05/23/2019) - Implemented Extended Error Handling to help diagnose Windows 10 network communications issues / errors.
  

• (12/10/2018) - Fixed a bug in the Full Installer where LEXDIR is not initialized when restarting setup at Phase2 or Phase3
• (12/10/2018) - Fixed a bug in the Report by Specific Investigator. If the Investigator name has an apostrophe in it, the query gets an error because the string delimiters are unmatched. Specific Facility and Other County reports also updated.
• (12/07/2018) - Updated internal code to handle back-end file paths that are UNC paths instead of mapped drive paths. This was done to help with "Disk or Network Error" messages being received on Windows 10 computers where the mapped drive was being "timed-out" by Windows 10, causing problems in Forensic Filer.
• (08/29/2017) - Updated an internal variable that holds the ID for the Type of Case that was defined as an Integer and was too small to hold the ID's for custom Case Types for Sync customers where the assigned ID is random.
• (05/09/2017) - Modified the Web Remote Support options for the new SimpleHelp server that has been implemented.
  

• (02/15/2017) - Added the following additional fields to the Reports Excel Export - Law Enforcement Agency, Agency Contact, Agency Incident #
  

• (10/04/2016) - Fixed an issue with one of the Disposition Authorization reports. One was incorrectly getting the Date of Death from the Found Date when the "Based on Date Found" option was marked. Both reports now use the same Date of Death field.
• (09/29/2016) - Updated all reports and code for the custom Case Type field changes.
• (09/28/2016) - Fixed an issue with the Cremation Authorization report and the Disposition Authorization report not showing the Race correctly.
• (09/07/2016) - Updated Forensic Filer to allow custom Case Types. The Case Type is now a drop down field on the Case Screen, Demographics tab. There is also a Utility screen maintenance for Case Types.
  

• (08/31/2016) - Updated all reports, Death Certificates and code for the Race field changes
• (08/29/2016) - Updated the Race field choices to match the choices available on the US Standard Death Certificate (and many other state Death Certificates)
• (08/23/2016) - Added support for the PA 10/2015 Death Certificate.
• (05/01/2015) - Fixed an issue with Exporting a Report to Excel where a user with a Security Level of ViewPrint could View and Print the report, but they would get an error when Exporting the Report to Excel.
• (06/24/2014) - Fixed an issue on the Summary Case Report where an ampersand character (&) would not print if it was used in the Cause of Death field.
• (03/06/2014) - Added a context menu (right-click menu) to the Narrative text field, and to the new Comment field on the Witness tab that allows cut/copy/paste commands to be easily accessed.
• (03/06/2014) - Added the following additional fields to the Reports Excel Export - DOB, Military, Alcohol, BAC, Carbon Monoxide, CO Level, Drug Use, Substance.
• (03/06/2014) - Updated the Witness tab to more closely match the new layout and features of FF Online. Updated the Witness Comment field to be larger and to allow carriage returns. Added Spell Checking to the Witness Comment field.
• (12/05/2013) - Updated the FFLogin launcher to correct an issue where the password file would sometimes not get copied to the laptop for customers using the Sync module. This would then prevent them from using Forensic Filer in Remote Mode (when disconnected from the network).
  

• (09/24/2013) - Added logic to the Case Screen to check for and Warn about duplicate Case Numbers.  If a duplicate Case Number is entered, a warning will be displayed indicating the duplicate and the name of the other Decedent.
• (09/24/2013) - Updated the "About Forensic Filer" dialog on the Help menu to display the licensed program modules and expiration dates.
• (09/24/2013) - Added support for the PA 07/2012 Death Certificate.
• (08/30/2013) - Fixed a problem with the display of the pronounced date and time on Reports.  In some instances, it would show as blank on the reports. This is now fixed.
• (08/29/2013) - Added an Export to Excel option for all Reports.
• (07/02/2013) - Updated the Medications tab to allow a Drug Category of "None".
• (05/21/2013) - In the case screen, disabled the mouse wheel to prevent scrolling to a blank record, which can cause problems/errors.
• (04/11/2013) - Updated all Reports to include a Case Count at the bottom of the report
• (09/26/2012) - Fixed a bug in the Network Speed Test on the Utilities menu that was accidentally introduced in version 5.4.78
  

• (08/21/2012) - Added .Net Framework 2.0 runtime to installer to support new features in Forensic Filer.
• (08/21/2012) - Added support for the PA DOT Form AA-34 (1-12) (Coroner's Motor Vehicle Death Report).
• (08/16/2012) - Enhanced the Web Remote Support feature to use a background download method so that the User does not have to manually download/save and run the file.
• (08/15/2012) - Implemented an interface to allow Forensic Filer to fill in PDF Forms as an option for reports.
  

• (07/17/2012) - Enhanced the Sync module to allow the Direct Syncronization of a remote file with the server file even when the server file status has been demoted to a Replica.
• (07/17/2012) - Fixed an issue in the Sync module where a desktop would think that the server database was also the remote file, causing Forensic Filer to incorrectly prompt users to Sync on exit.  Then, when users answered "Yes", an error would occur because you can't sync a file with itself.  This is now corrected.
• (05/29/2012) - Fixed a cosmetic error on the Disposition Authorization and Cremation Authorization forms that would omit the display of the ampersand character in a funeral home name incorrectly if the name had an ampersand (&) in it.  For example, if the funeral home name was "Brown & White Funerals, Inc", it would be printed on those forms as "Brown  White Funerals, Inc".  This is now corrected.
  

• (01/27/2012) - Fixed a mistake on the PA 07/2011 Death Certificate in which line 33 (Time of Injury) did not print "Approx" if needed.
• (01/27/2012) - Fixed a mistake on the PA 07/2011 Death Certificate in which line 33 (Time of Injury) was printing "Unknown" even if the death was not related to an Injury
• (01/27/2012) - Fixed a mistake on the PA 07/2011 Death Certificate in which line 39b was not respecting the Print Options (Utilities, Death Certificate)
  

• (01/14/2012) - Fixed a mistake on the PA 07/2011 Death Certificate in which line 33 was omitted
  

• (01/12/2012) - Fixed an issue with the Cremation Authorization form that would cause an error when the Funeral Home listed on the Case had an apostrophe in the name.
• (01/12/2012) - Fixed an error on the Case Screen (You cannot add or change a record because a related record is required in table 'DECDemo') that would occcasionally occur under certain circumstances when the database record for a portion of a case (i.e. Injury tab, Scene tab, etc) would not get created correctly.
• (01/09/2012) - Added support for the PA 07/2011 Death Certificate
  

• (12/23/2011) Fixed a bug in the Photo Module that occurred when saving photos in a reduced resolution (see 07/12/2011).
  

• (09/13/2011) Fixed an error on the Comprehensive Report that printed a blank in the Date of Death field if the Date of Death on the Case was marked as Unknown.
• (09/13/2011) Fixed an error that can occur on the Cremation screen when adding a Funeral Home that contained an apostrophe (') in the name.
  

• (08/24/2011) Update Help/Web Remote Support link for enhanced LogMeIn Rescue.
• (08/23/2011) Redesigned the Office Staff List report.
• (08/23/2011) Updated the Office Staff print list to only print inactive staff members if the user chooses to include them.
• (07/12/2011) Fixed an issue with the "Receipt for Documents" form where it would print "#Error" for the Date of Death if the Date of Death was "Unknown".  The Date of Death now prints correctly.
• (07/12/2011) Updated the Photo Module to save reduced resolution copies of the images being stored.  Previously, the Photo Module was storing full size images and the files were getting quite large.  Now, images are resized to approximately 1800 pixels to save space, and increase performance.
• (07/12/2011) Updated the Photo Module zip file creation/update process to better handle networks with low bandwith and high latency between the workstations and the server.  This will fix issues that a few customers were having that would cause the photos to fail to be saved to the server, but no error message was logged or generated.
  

• (06/29/2010) Additional update of LA Death Certificate for printing on pre-printed forms.
• (06/18/2010) Support Feature - Added a Database Window that can only be accessed by support personnel to assist with problem diagnosis.
• (06/16/2010) Fixed a problem with the Spell Checker that would only occur under the Windows Terminal Server (or Citrix) environment.  If more than one user was in Forensic Filer under Terminal Server, the spell check feature would only work correctly for the last person to launch the program. This was due to certain settings for the spell checker being set globally for the machine instead of individually for the user.  This has now been fixed.
  

• (06/01/2010) Updated LA Death Certificate for printing on pre-printed forms.
  

• (04/02/2010) Added a Medications List Report to the "Print Forms" menu.  This report can also be printed directly from the Medications tab of the Case screen.
• (04/02/2010) Updated the Installation program to allow the user to map a network drive from within the installer so that users installing on Windows Vista and Windows 7 with UAC enabled can more easily get Forensic Filer installed in a network setup.
• (04/01/2010) Fixed a bug in the Select Decedent search dialog for Printing Forms that was not displaying the correct number of months of Recent Cases when the "Show Recent Cases" option was chosen.  (This value is a Program Option that is available under "Utilities", "Program Options", "Decedent Screen")  This would give the appearance that some cases were missing, which they weren't.
• (04/01/2010) Fixed an error that occurred when saving reports to PDF to a path that was more than 81 characters long.
• (03/12/2010) Added a Program Option to allow the "Generate Text" feature of the Narrative tab to be disabled.  Some Coroners do not want their staff to use this feature, so now it can be enabled and disabled globally by the administrator.  This option can be found under "Utilities", "Program Options", "Narrative".
• (03/12/2010) Fixed an issue with the "Generate Text" feature of the Narrative tab that caused the number "0" or "2" to appear in front of the statement "The body was released to the ...." if there wasn't an Autopsy on the body.
• (03/12/2010) Changed the order of the name fields on the Cremation screen to match the order on the Case screen, which is Last Name, First Name, Middle Name.  This way, the two forms are consistent.
• (03/12/2010) Disabled the use of the Ctrl-M key combination on the Cremation screen due to some users accidentally hitting it and causing a new line to be added to a field.  This would then manifest itself on reports where, for example, the last name would print, but the first name wouldn't.  This was due to an accidental entry of a Ctrl-M at the end of the last name.  So, when the last name and first name were concatenated for display on a report, the result was:
  
  Doe
  , John A.
  
  instead of:
  
  Doe, John A.
  
  and since the report was designed to only show one line of information for the name, all that you would see is "Doe".  The ", John A." portion was cut off.  (Note: This issue was previously fixed on the Case screen 12/07/2006)
• (03/12/2010) Photo Module - TIF images that were compressed using LZW (as opposed to Packbit, Fax Group 3 or 4, or uncompressed) were unable to be imported into the Photo Module.  Updated the TIF import filter of the image library being used to a newer version that supports LZW compression.
  

• (02/26/2010) Updated Forensic Filer and the Forensic Filer installation routine to enable support for 64 bit Windows operating systems.  Now Forensic Filer is compatible with and supported on the following versions:
  • Windows XP Professional 64 Bit
  • Windows Vista (any level) 64 Bit
  • Windows 7 (any level) 64 Bit
• (02/24/2010) Fixed a bug in the Photo Module that would prevent a photo from being saved if the file name contained more than one period in it. For example: "John E. Doe.jpg"
• (01/10/2010) Updated the Cremation screen to correctly fill in both the Name and Common Name of a Funeral Home when adding a new Funeral Home on the fly.
• (12/02/2009) Fixed a Sync problem that would generate Error -2147217887 under certain conditions even though the send and receive of data had already successfully occurred.
  

• (10/07/2009) - Corrected an issue with the new Force Indirect Sync option.
  

• (10/06/2009) - Added a new Forensic Sync option to allow forcing the use of Indirect Sync mode even when a system is connected to the LAN via fast ethernet. This is necessary when customers have networks that are very heavily loaded due to large numbers of users and/or VOIP applications.
  

• (09/01/2009) - Fixed a problem with the "Select Decedent" search list that appears when you click "Edit/View Decedent" that was causing an error message when the list was sorted by Case Number. This error was accidentally introduced in 5.4.55 (06/23/2009) when correcting the display of the Decedent name and Case Number on the Case screen. No data loss occurred, just an error message would display and the list of cases would then show blank until you chose to sort by Name instead of Case Number.
• (08/10/2009) - Fixed a logic error that caused Forensic Sync to not clean up old log files correctly. This error does not affect the operation of sync. It merely prevented log files older than 45 days from being deleted automatically.
  

• (07/22/2009) - Fixed a problem with the "Print Invoices" feature that would cause and error to occur when certain options were chosen.
• (07/22/2009) - Fixed a problem with the "Assisting Agencies" section of the Comprehensive Report that was not showing the "Contact" person for the respective agency chosen for the Case. Now the person chosen as the contact person on the Case correctly prints on the report.
• (07/22/2009) - Corrected an issue with the Photo Module Photo Re-Load feature that was assigning new catalog numbers to the re-loaded photos instead of keeping the existing catalog number as it should have.
  

• (07/06/2009) - (internal) Added ShowMyPC Support Application to Installer.
• (07/02/2009) - Fixed a problem with the Disposition Authorization report that prevented it from being Saved to PDF format. This is the report that is printed from the "Print/Save/Exit" button on the Cremation case screen.
• (06/23/2009) - Corrected a display problem on the Case Form that occurred when changing to a different Decedent by clicking the "Edit Another Decedent" button on the toolbar or pressing F5. The issue was that using this method did change to the newly selected Decedent, but it did not update the display of the Decedents name and case number at the top of each tab unless you were on the Demographics tab. The name and case number are now properly updated when changing cases.
• (06/17/2009) - Corrected an omission on the Cremation Authorization report. The line displaying the Funeral Home address did not display a comma after the street address.
• (06/10/2009) - Corrected the case of the "office type description" (i.e. Coroner) on the Invoice Reports to match the rest of the title. The title was showing as: "OFFICE OF THE Coroner". It now correctly shows "OFFICE OF THE CORONER"
• (06/09/2009) - Corrected the spelling of Homicide on the Media Release Report.
• (06/02/2009) - On the Comprehensive Report, Disposition section. If the disposition for the case is "Removal from State", the "Type of Dispo" line on the report would display "Removal from PA". Changed this to display "Removal from State".
  

• (04/17/2009) - Corrected a problem with the Public Review form that allowed users to view or print the form even if one was not setup for their state. The Public Review form is state specific.
• (04/17/2009) - Added the ability for only Administrators to re-load or change a photo on an existing photo module record for a case.
• (04/17/2009) - Expanded the lengths of the First and Last name fields for decedents to allow for longer names, especially hyphenated last names. The new limit is 25 characters for the First name and 30 characters for the Last name.
• (04/17/2009) - Updated the Photo Module to allow multi-selection of photos when loading photos on a case. Now, users can select multiple photos at one time and the Photo Module will load all selected photos onto the case in one step, instead of having to select one photo at a time.
• (04/16/2009) - Updated the installer to correctly apply the Microsoft Access 2002 Runtime Service Pack 3 patch. This patch provides additional compatibility for users who have Access 2007 installed on their systems to help prevent the Office Installation Repair wizard from appearing every time a user switches between Forensic Filer and Access 2007.
  

• (04/08/2009) - Added standalone, built-in spell checking capability. This means that Forensic Filer will no longer use the Spell Checker included with Microsoft Office. This is due to changes in Office 2007.
• (02/17/2009) - Fixed a bug in the Highway Deaths with 2 Decedents report that only showed up if the first Decedent chosen had an Injury time in the "AM". This did not occur if the first Decedent had an Injury time in the "PM".
  

• (02/16/2009) - Changed portions of the upgrade code so that computers running in remote mode can be more easily upgraded while out in the field, or at remote locations. If the remote computer has already synchronized the schema changes for the new version of FF, they will now be able to install the update while running remotly. They will no longer have to come back to the office and be on the LAN to install the update.
• (02/13/2009) - Corrected an error in the Comprehensive Report on the MVA Occupants section that caused occupants not to be listed. This error was accidentally introduced in 5.4.25 and not identified until 5.4.31
  

• (01/26/2009) - Corrected the PA Public Review Form - Place of Death, Date and Time of Death (unknown, approx, based on...).
  

• (01/25/2009) - PA Public Review Form (View of Form) added
  

• (11/20/2008) - AR Death Certificate, Field 3b, Time of Death will now print "Unknown" if the Unknown check box is checked on the Dates tab of the Case screen.
• (11/17/2008) - Corrected the following issues with the Arkansas Death Certificate: Injury Time and Cause of Death 4, removed HS/Coll Labels.
  

• (10/28/2008) - Added support for the MS 01/1989 Death Certificate
• (10/27/2008) - Added support for the AR 12/2007 Death Certificate
• (10/07/2008) - Fixed a bug on the Comprehensive report that would cause the "Investigating Coroner / Deputy Data" section to not print under certain circumstances if the "Investigating Coroner" on the "Final Info" tab was not chosen, or was spelled differently than what is found in the "Office Staff" screen.
• (10/07/2008) - Fixed a bug in the "Generate Text" feature of the Narrative case tab that would cause an error if the name of the Investigating Coroner had a double-quote in it i.e. John "Buddy" Jones
• (10/07/2008) - Fixed a bug in the display of error messages that would cause incorrect error information to be displayed if the description of the error contained one or more double-quote (") characters.
• (10/07/2008) - Made a change to the Narrative tab to help reduce accidental deletion of the Narrative text. Previously, if a case already had some Narrative text and you went to the Narrative case tab and used the "Tab" key to move the cursor to the Narrative field, the entire Narrative text would be highlighted. In this instance, pressing nearly any key on the keyboard would cause the highlighted text to be deleted an replaced by the key typed. This is normal Windows behavior, replacing highlighted text with what you type. This update causes the Narrative text to NOT be highlighted when you "Tab" into the field, thereby making it less likely to lose the existing Narrative text.
• (10/07/2008) - Increased the storage length of the "Specify Substance" field on the "Cause" tab from 50 characters to 255 characters.
• (10/07/2008) - Reviewed every report in the system to insure that any phone numbers being displayed were formatted properly, found several on various reports that were not being formatted properly i.e. (330) 555-1212
• (10/07/2008) - Updated the "Web Remote Support" item on the Help menu to use our new support provider ShowMyPC.com