Softpedia >Windows >Office tools >Other Office Tools >MARS >  Changelog

MARS Changelog

What's new in MARS 7.0 Build 20180517

Feb 28, 2019
  • Issues Resolved:
  • Trial pop up when manually executing schedules
  • Additional performance improvements & minor bug fixes
  • Enhancements:
  • New user interface when executing schedules manually

New in MARS 5.6 Build 20080320 (Mar 22, 2008)

  • Removed some irrelevant menu items from MARS.
  • On some systems the error log does not show any entries.
  • Custom action deletions are not being committed
  • You may wrongly get a prompt requiring you to upgrade to a higher edition even though your edition should have the required feature already included.

New in MARS 5.6 Build 20080319 (Mar 20, 2008)

  • Added a new option to set a priority for event-based schedules.
  • Added a new option to allow the user to choose not to group reports by email for data-driven schedules.
  • Issue Resolved: MSAccess instances are not closed when multithreading is used. This eventually causes the PC to hang/crash

New in MARS 5.6 Build 20080312 (Mar 12, 2008)

  • Autokill Access setting was not being saved in Options.
  • Adding a new report to event-based schedules would ask for a Crystal Report instead of an Access report.
  • Email address inserts into Data driven schedules did not reflect all the data that matched the email address.
  • Added ability to open emails in the Email Log/Queue using MS Outlook. There is a new setting in Options -> System Paths.
  • File locking was occurring with some Event-based schedules based on unread emails.

New in MARS 5.6 Build 20080306 (Mar 7, 2008)

  • MARS temp database files are not being deleted causing disk full errors
  • Error when loading email log
  • Error when entering Customer Number in Options

New in MARS 5.6 Build 20080305 (Mar 5, 2008)

  • New "Outlook" tab allowing users to view and manipulate schedules based on a calendar view instead of folders.
  • New Gantt Charting allowing for planning of schedules.
  • If a schedule fails it is now possible to delay the retry so that it doesn't happen immediately after the failure.
  • If there is an interruption (e.g. a power failure) whilst a dynamic schedule is running, the schedule will now resume from the where it left off, instead of running all reports again.
  • MARS will now auto-calculate the amount of time that should be used for the option "Treat As Failed if not completed in x minutes".
  • Introduced the Process Watcher. Users can now execute multiple reports and watch them executing. Users can also perform other functions whilst the schedules are executing.
  • Schedules can be cancelled directly from the Process Watcher at any stage of execution.
  • Introduced Data-Driven schedules. This schedule type allows users to define multiple parameter and destination requirements in a database table and then use MARS to produce multiple reports based on the defined definitions. (Enterprise Pro Plus and Corporate Editions only)
  • The ability to append to an existing file (for text-based exports only).
  • Added Standard Dates e.g Christmas, New Year etc for greater ease of Custom Calendar setup.
  • New right-click context menu which allows the user to run certain actions on multiple selected schedules: - execute, refresh, move, change properties, convert to package. For example, it is possible now to select multiple schedules and change the Next Run time for all of them.
  • It is now possible to drag and drop a report from one package to another.
  • You can now move multiple single schedules into an existing package (Right-click->Move To Package)
  • Event-Based schedules: Database record has been modified: If a record has been/not been modified in x minutes.
  • Event-Based Schedules: Added IMAP support so that users can choose to poll specific email subfolders instead of just the Inbox.
  • Event-Based Schedules: User can now specify a different polling interval for event-based schedules.
  • Event-Based Schedules: User can specify a set of "Operational Hours". The schedule will only run during these hours.
  • Event-Based Schedules: For Unread Email event can now save attachments from the email to a defined folder on the PC.
  • Event-Based Packages now appear in SmartFolder results.
  • Event-Based schedules can now be fired by a custom task.
  • Increased the speed of event-based schedules which utilize a large number of data items by caching all the data once instead of making multiple calls to the database
  • Enhanced scheduling functions for scheduled backups (in System Monitor). User can also select to zip the backup before delivery if wished.
  • Added a new option to delay the Scheduler startup when opening the editor.
  • Added the ability to stop and start all schedules from System Monitor.
  • Added a Refresh Interval to Schedule Manager in Systrem Monitor.
  • Added Instant Search to the Email log in System Monitor
  • Added ability to run System Monitor as stand-alone application (from Start Menu and from scheduler system tray icons)
  • Added right-click context menus options to entries in the System Monitor to perform common tasks on schedules without having to leave System Monitor (Properties, Show schedule in Explorer)
  • Backups and Event-Based schedules are now shown in the system monitor as they are processing. Schedule execution status are also more detailed.
  • Emails in email queue can be opened and viewed (SMTP users only) and modified & resent if required
  • Added the ability to open and view emails sent from the email log (path can be set in options).
  • Added a new error log reader to system monitor. This should make it easier to track errors that have occurred. The error log is now also stored in a database table instead of a flat file.
  • Added grouping to system monitor.
  • User is now able to enable and disable tasks in a custom task list.
  • Added Custom Task: Send an SMS (Cellphone text)
  • It is now possible to define multiple destinations for Dynamic Schedules and Packages.
  • Increased the speed of report export for schedules with multiple destinations.
  • Enhanced system reporting (System->Export System Data) allows for full reporting of all constituent data parts of all schedules.
  • Support for Relative Time Zones: User can select whether timings should be displayed and saved in the time zone of the scheduler or the time zone of the user (if they are different).
  • SMTP users can now opt to use POP before SMTP (where your SMTP server requires this method of logon).
  • Ability to determine what port number to use for SMTP mail.
  • Organization of Package history has been improved to enable easier "at a glance" tracking.
  • Improved the application speed for users whose schedule database is stored in a SQL/ODBC backend.

New in MARS 5.0 Build 20080117 (Jan 19, 2008)

  • An additional delimiter is added to the email address of custom task "Send an email". This can cause a problem if an inserted email list already ends with a delimiter

New in MARS 5.0 Build 20071002 (Oct 2, 2007)

  • added schedule name to errors in the error log.
  • added some resilience to the DB Record Exists event-based schedule so that if db connection fails it retries 3 times before giving up.
  • fixed bug when saving copy file custom task if using SQL/ODBC backend.

New in MARS 5.0 Build 20070828 (Aug 29, 2007)

  • Issues Resolved: Error -1090 appearing randomly

New in MARS 5.0 Build 20070806 (Aug 8, 2007)

  • Errors when exporting some schedules from one installation to another

New in MARS 5.0 Build 20070724 (Jul 28, 2007)

  • When exporting to PDF with images, MARS may occasionally print the dashboard or menus instead of the desired report/query.

New in MARS 5.0 Build 20070719 (Jul 20, 2007)

  • Added "PDF With Images" as an export type for Queries. It was previously available for Reports only.
  • It is now possible to print Queries directly to a printer
  • Error when exporting Passthrough queries to Excel.
  • Excel exports are no longer formatted after upgrading to Build 20070626.

New in MARS 5.0 Build 20070712 (Jul 16, 2007)

  • Error: Conversion from type 'DBNull' to type 'String' is not valid when executing Excel Export query schedules and packages in some environments

New in MARS 5.0 Build 20070711 (Jul 16, 2007)

  • Parameters are not saved for constituent reports of packages in some environments.
  • Excel Output sheet name is incorrect in some circumstances.
  • Packages may fail if they contain Excel export queries.

New in MARS 5.0 Build 20070709 (Jul 16, 2007)

  • Existing Excel Output schedules may fail after upgrading to Build 20070626

New in MARS 5.0 Build 20070626 (Jun 27, 2007)

  • Added Print Quality, Page Range and Collation options to Printer Destinations
  • A data item will not be saved if the DSN, Username and Password add up to more than 50 characters.
  • Users of Office 2007 are unable to successfully preview a query-based schedule.
  • Excel sheet name and other properties are not successfully updated in an Office 2007 environment.
  • CSV exports may error wit a "Too many rows" error.

New in MARS 5.0 Build 20070604 (Jun 5, 2007)

  • When using workgroup security the Run a Macro/Query custom task may hang when the "Connect" button is clicked.
  • When using workgroup security the schedule wizards may hang when the "Connect" button is clicked.
  • Error when running a "Before" type Macro custom task in packages.

New in MARS 5.0 Build 20070530 (May 31, 2007)

  • When exporting to PDF it is now possible to choose the compression level you wish. Choose a lower compression level if you have reports with fine detail which you would like to be retained.
  • The "Run Macro" Custom Task now allows database logon for linked tables. Database logon credentials required by Macros which run queries or other processes can now be entered in the task.
  • The "Run Macro" Custom Task has been enamed "Run Macro or Query" as it will also execute action queries as well as Macros.
  • Excel export now provides options for Data Only. When Data Only is selected, the user can also choose the version of Excel the report should be exported to.
  • Errors when exporting to PDF "With Images" when multi-threaded mode is selected
  • Schedules run more than once on some occasions when Multi-Threaded mode is selected

New in MARS 5.0 Build 20070502 (May 3, 2007)

  • Errors connecting using MAPI through MS Exchange on some systems

New in MARS 5.0 Build 20070123 (Jan 23, 2007)

  • Added Snapshot Format (.snp) output to Packages
  • Added CSV format (Enterprise & Above). This includes character separation, delimiting and tab separation
  • Added an option in System Monitor to show schedules for the next 24 hours
  • Further enhancements to track and automatically close "hung" instances of msaccess.exes
  • System Monitor queue can now be sorted by clicking on the column headers
  • The name, description and keywords of a Dynamic Package Schedule cannot be saved/applied if changed via properties.
  • MS Access workgroup Security settings in Options are not being saved.
  • The default database details in Options >User Defaults > Database Defaults are not being saved after clicking on Apply and OK.
  • Schedule may fail if a "Run a Macro" custom task is set before report execution
  • In some environments MARS snapshots did not work

New in MARS 5.0 Build 20061207 (Dec 8, 2006)

  • Added Exception Handling to "un a Macro" custom task.
  • Added the ability to schedule the deletion of orphaned msaccess.exes in Options->Housekeeping

New in MARS 5.0 Build 20061206 (Dec 6, 2006)

  • Error when using the "Check for updates" facility
  • When selected exception calendar during wizard no exception calendar appears in the properties section
  • After creating a new folder on the desktop the right hand side of the screen does not refresh itself automatically
  • When multiple pdf exports are merged, the Append date/time option is ignored
  • "Repeat Every" defaults to .25 and changes are not saved
  • In certain environments the AutoCompact facility causes the application to close down every polling interval
  • You may be unable to delete from the queue a schedule with "repeat until" options

New in MARS 5.0 Build 20061205 (Dec 5, 2006)

  • "On error retry x times" was not effective in some environments
  • If you schedule multiple macros in a custom task MARS now waits for the first macro to finish before starting the next. There is no need to manually put in a "Pause".
  • "Repeat Until" time fails to save.

New in MARS 2.7 Build 20061025 (Oct 25, 2006)

  • Username and password requested when you compact a database using a custom task even when the database is not secured

New in MARS 2.7 Build 20061023 (Oct 23, 2006)

  • "Invalid database format" when connecting to databases for Access 2000 users

New in MARS 2.7 Build 20061013 (Oct 13, 2006)

  • Error when you run macros using workgroup security in some environments
  • If a macro custom task is entered BEFORE the report, the report will not execute till the Macro has completed

New in MARS 2.7 Build 20061010 (Oct 10, 2006)

  • Error when using workgroup security in some environments

New in MARS 2.7 Build 20060719 (Jul 20, 2006)

  • In Dynamic schedules, it is now possible to right-click and insert constants into the parameter selection query
  • Custom task "Print a document" now accepts wildcards so that it is possible to print multiple documents that way.
  • New notation to force MARS to recognize parameters e.g if you wish to force MARS to recognize a parameter in a query called [EmailID], change your parameter to [EmailID] if its a text column or [EmailID] for numeric or [EmailID] for datetime field
  • It is now possible to insert constants into to, cc, bcc, and attachment fields of an email
  • Compact a database custom task doesn't work if you are using workgroup security
  • When running a dynamic schedule sometimes the output file locks and this fails the schedule

New in MARS 2.7 Build 20060704 (Jul 4, 2006)

  • Access 97 users receive the following error: "Could not load file or assembly 'DAO, Version=4.0.0.0..." when writing a schedule

New in MARS 2.7 Build 20060626 (Jun 27, 2006)

  • MARS' aggressive housekeeping of the windows Temp folder causes problems with other applications
  • Requirement to activate on every upgrade is annoying and unnecessary

New in MARS 2.7 Build 20060620 (Jun 20, 2006)

  • "You entered an expression that has an invalid reference to the property Visible." error in some environments
  • "Object reference not set to an instance of an object." error when using workgroup security in some environments
  • MARS hangs when executing a report when using workgroup security in some environments