Starting today, the new DEVNET Property Search module is available!  Formerly known as either Parcel Search, Parcel Inquiry, Master Inquiry, etc. etc., the DEVNET Property Search module gives users one stop shopping for finding property and property information:

But This Looks the Same!

Oh, but it’s not!  A few new key features turn this from a simple search tool to a full blown query engine.  Let’s take a quick tour of the most noticeable features:

Flags!

Those of you who have used our new Parcel Maintenance application, or the newer versions of our Parcel Transfer application are accustomed to seeing these.  For those of you who aren’t, the flags appear on each tab in the Property Search window.  Tabs that have a green flag have criteria selected on them, and tabs with a red flag are still in their default state (no criteria entered).  This deviates (slightly) from the standards we set in other windows, where a green flag means there is data on the tab, and a red flag indicates no data is available on the tab.

So why does this matter? See the next new feature…

Saved Queries 

We’ve been asked for this a lot over the years. We listened and delivered!  You can now save your search criteria to a named query, and load it again for future use.  With proper security, you can even create searches that can be used by other users.

When you have a set of search criteria that you want to save off, clicking the Save Search button gives you the following window:

Simply enter a name for the search and click Save.  If you have the right security, you can optionally save the query for use by everyone, and not just add it to your personal list of saved searches.

When you want to reuse a saved query, clicking the Load Search button gives you the following dialog:

The list defaults to the current user (you!), but you can also select searches saved for everyone’s use (All Users), or with proper security, all searches for all users (All Saved Queries – includes personal saved queries from other users).  Just highlight the name of the search you want to use, and click the Load button.  The saved search criteria is restored to each tab in the Property Search engine (this will wipe out any search criteria you had already filled in, but you will be asked before this happens).

There is some ability on the load window to manage the list of saved searches.  Users can always delete their own searches.  If you are an administrator, you also have the ability to remove searches saved by other users.

Only the search criteria is saved, not the results.  

Other Goodies

Did you notice the Make Study button in an earlier image?  Good!  That button will help drive an important piece of new functionality coming in 2013, and that’s all I am going to tell you about it for now.

Also worth mentioning is that each tab now has its own Reset button, so you can revert each tab to its default state without resetting the search criteria on all tabs at once. 

Under the Hood

Under the hood, there have been a lot of tweaks and optimizations that make the Property Search module faster, more efficient, and scale better across larger datasets.  The module is also the first to make use of features exclusive to SQL Server 2008 and 2012 (when those features are available).

So What Are You Waiting For?

Want to give it a shot?  Contact the DEVNET Helpdesk today and schedule your setup!

We’re really excited about this module, and know you will be too.  The new Property Search module is the next in a long list of improvements coming to clients this year.  DEVNET is never complacent and always looking to deliver new features and new value to its customers.  

So, a couple of weeks ago, you probably started noticing something that looked a bit like this when you launched your DEVNET applications each day:

and wondered what we changed.  As it turns out, a whole heck of a lot! (though, to be fair, we had been meaning to update the splash screen for a while now, and what I am about to describe just proved to be the opportune time)

DEVNET recently upgraded its development environment, Powerbuilder, to the most recent version (12.5).  We’ve done this a couple of times now in the history of the company.  While each upgrade becomes potentially more problematic as the number of clients grows, we’d like to think that we’ve got a pretty good system in place for handling upgrades.  Disruptions from the client perspective were very minimal; the upgrade was performed over a weekend, and most clients came in Monday morning to business as usual.

So the big question is why?  From a business perspective, the version we had been running (11.2) was quickly approaching its end-of-life, and as a software developer, using an unsupported development tool is the technological equivalent of peeing into the wind. From a technical perspective, however, a world of opportunity opened up to us.  While out of the gate, the upgrade changed nothing, the things we can do for our clients now has vastly increased.  In no particular order, we get some great things with Powerbuilder 12.5:

• Digitally sign our applications. This sends a message to Windows and most virus scanners to say that our applications are what they claim to be, and from who they claim to be from.
• Consume web services.  There is a wealth of information available through web services, and it is a great way to tie different applications together, even if they are developed with different technologies.
• Publish web services. This allows other applications to become consumers of data from DEVNET applications.
• New graphing engine.  We can make prettier pictures now
• Lots of stuff under the hood that interests the programmers but not the clients
• A lot of bug fixes that we’d been waiting on.

We catch some gruff for using Powerbuilder for Windows development from time to time, but it’s been a great tool for us.  It’s easy to learn, stable, fast…. incredibly productive.  And with its low learning curve, even non-technical people at DEVNET can make reports, notices, and tax bills.  

This update will allow us to do some even more awesome things for our clients… and there are a lot of them coming in 2013!  Keep checking back and I will tell you all about them.