GAGEpack release history

• GAGEpack release 8.0.8
• GAGEpack release 8.0.7
• GAGEpack release 8.0.5
• GAGEpack release 7.5.16
• GAGEpack release 7.5.15
• GAGEpack release 7.5.14
• GAGEpack release 7.5.13
• GAGEpack release 7.5.11
• GAGEpack release 7.5.10
• GAGEpack release 7.5.09
• GAGEpack release 6.5
• GAGEpack release 6.0.24
• GAGEpack release 6.0.22
• GAGEpack release 6.0.20
• GAGEpack release 6.0.19
• GAGEpack release 6.0.18
• GAGEpack release 6.0.17
• GAGEpack release 5.5.9
• GAGEpack release 5.5.8
• GAGEpack release 5.5.07
• GAGEpack release 5.5.05

These changes and corrections were made after the 8.0.7 release and are contained in the 8.0.8 release.

• The ‘adjustment made’ flag did not get set for any attribute steps in a calibration.

• Leaving the status or location field empty during a quick check-in or check-out is now interpreted as “leave the setting alone”. Previously, the result was that the corresponding field in the gage record was set to <blank>.

• Added the ability to set the mail server Username and Password for users who need to perform server authentication. The default values are NULL, but may be changed by adding the following lines to the [Genera] section of the GAGEpack configuration file (GpWin80.INI):
  SMTPUser =<username>
  SMTPPassword=<password>

• Displaying a vendor name on the gage list then applying a filter caused some strange behavior with the gage list scroll bar and gage count.

• Updated the Espanol section of the language database.

• Closing a gage database then opening another did not set the status of the File menu item ‘Refresh due dates’ back to ‘available’.

These changes and corrections were made after the 8.0.5 release and are contained in the 8.0.7 release.

• Changing the language from English worked for that session but was forgotten on re-entry to GAGEpack.

• Added the ability to import a series of External Calibrations where a file is provided by a calibration vendor or lab. For further information, please see the document “Importing external calibrations into GAGEpack”, located in the same folder as the GAGEpack executable file.

These changes and corrections were made after the 7.5.16 release and are contained in the 8.0.5 release.

• Added PM (Planned Maintenance) tasks to the list of items that can be imported under File > Utilities > Import GAGEpack objects.

These changes and corrections were made after the 7.5.15 release and are contained in the 7.5.16 release.

• Printing a non-layout report with groups on a PC where the regional settings were ‘non English’ cause the group headers to be repeated on each line, rather than when the group changed.

• Fixed an issue where the overdue flag was not reset until the next day when a period was a period was based solely on usage.

These changes and corrections were made after the 7.5.14 release and are contained in the 7.5.15 release.

• When a mass calibration was performed, GAGEpack did not save the details for the calibration steps, resulting in errors if the event was subsequently edited.

• A text section in a report was restricted to 255 characters in length since that was the maximum line length allowed by the report file. This has been corrected by allowing the text to flow over many lines.

• In the reports section, using ‘%10’ in an SQL substitution failed.

• When a report used the Group feature to collect like items into several tables AND those tables included a total, then those totals were not being reset after each table was printed.

These changes and corrections were made after the 7.5.13 release and are contained in the 7.5.14 release.

• Users with 1000s of parts found that opening the gage form for viewing or editing took several seconds. This has been fixed and as a result the means of selecting parts on the Parts tab of the gage edit form has changed slightly.

These changes and corrections were made after the 7.5.11 release and are contained in the 7.5.13 release.

• A user with view-only rights for vendors could not access the vendor list.

• When importing gages from a text file: if the final field of the import was NULL, the contents of that field were inherited from the last imported gage.

These changes and corrections were made after the 7.5.10 release and are contained in the 7.5.11 release.

• Opening a stability study event from the history list caused the wrong gage number to be shown on the event.

• Passing or failing an external calibration did not reset the ‘Failed Last Calibration’ flag.

• User-defined field names for Purchase vendor, Service vendor and Calibration vendor were not being displayed on the vendor tab of the gage.

These changes and corrections were made after the 7.5.09 release and are contained in the 7.5.10 release.

• Restored some hotkeys to the calibration form.

• Checked-out gages were not being highlighted in the gage list.

• Updated the document barcodes.

• Omitting either the user views or user reports items from the toolbar caused an error on shutdown.

• The default setting for a new gage has been changed from inactive to active.

• The file credits.txt should have been included in the Calendar Images folder has been restored.

• Identified all known conditions under which the Alarms list can get out of sync with the list of gages and handle accordingly.

These changes and corrections were made after the 6.0.24 release and are contained in the 7.5.09 release.

• Added the clock to multiple-calibration form so the exact time of the events may be set if required.

• Restored the gage count at the end of the printed gage list.

• The calculation of Number of Distinct Categories in an R&R ANOVA study used the average-range method of computation instead of the values from the ANOVA calculations. When the Appraiser-Part interaction is not significant GAGEpack now pools its effect with the GRR term, as per MSA edition 3.

• By default, the new barcode component prints codes without parity, unlike the earlier versions of GAGEpack.

• A new folder, Sysdata is created beneath the executable folder for GAGEpack and any writable files required by the program are stored there. This is so that the executable folder can be made read-only for a Standard user under Windows Vista.

These changes and corrections were made after the 6.0.24 release and are contained in the 6.5 release.

If you have earlier versions of GAGEpack you will notice many changes when you start GAGEpack EZ version 6.5. Some of the major changes are:

• Maintenance event. Maintenance activites can be recorded like other events and will appear on the calendar. The maintenance due date is updated whenever the event occurs.

• Any reports can be placed on the toolbar for easy access - now your favorite reports are just 2 clicks away!

• Each user can create his or her own ‘views’ of the data - this comprises a layout of the gage list columns together with a filter. Now it is possible to create views such as ‘My gages’, ‘Due this week’ and ‘Vendor information’ and switch quickly between them.

• Color-coded gages in the gage list. Gages can be highlighted when they are past due for calibration, R&R and maintenance, when they are inactive or checked-in (or out). The colors used and their priority order are controlled by the user.

• Gages can be flagged as ‘past due’ however their periods are measured (time, uses, both, or manual) - previous versions of GAGEpack could only show time-based gages as past due.

• The report designer is now even easier to use and is fully drag-and-drop.

• The popular calendar feature has been enhanced to allow inactive gages to be excluded and also to display 52 weekly photographs, as well as the 12 monthly images supplied with the software.

• A new user right to VIEW only has been added. Previously a user who had the right to view an item also had the right to edit it. In GAGEpack EZ 6.5, these are now separate rights.

• The enhanced ‘Procedures’ tab on the gage form allows easy access to procedures or procedure files for calibration, R&R and maintenance. As well as conventional filenames, the files may contain hyperlinks to web addresses.

• Several new reports have been added. Any report may now contain a footer.

• Due dates now respect the time period used - for example calibrating a gage whose interval is 3 months will ALWAYS result in a calibration due date that is in the month 3 months after the current one.

• Managing multiple databases is easier since GAGEpack remembers the last 4 databases that were opened and stores them under the ‘File’ menu. Furthermore, Filters, Vendors and Views can all be imported from another database using the new ‘Import GAGEpack objects’ menu item.

These changes and corrections were made after the 6.0.22 release and are contained in the 6.0.24 release.

• Changed the login to require one less <Enter>, so GAGEpack is now consistent with earlier versions.

• Where an attributes study had total agreement for all values (unlikely, but possible) kappa should be 1. Fixed.

• Fixed an error on the Report Categories edit screen whereby it was not possible to exit without cancelling any changes.

• When a calibration result of 0 was entered, it was being saved with a format that was unsuitable for redisplaying the value. Fixed.

• Fixed an error whereby existing calibration results seemed to 'disappear' if all the calibration steps were deleted for a gage. The results were not deleted, but were simply not displayed.

• Under certain circumstances the Device option under Calibration and R&R did not initialize correctly. Fixed.

• The 'Display previous calibration data' option was so strict about formatting that some results were not being displayed. Fixed.

• Loading a R&R template into a study with less parts or operators caused an 'Invalid property array index' error. Fixed.

• Viewing a past calibration event where no steps are recorded caused a 'No current record' error. Fixed.

• Fixed a small error in the automatic calibration adjustment message.

• Fixed an error in the import routine whereby a field longer than allowed by GAGEpack was being imported as empty whereas it should have been (and now is) truncated to fit.

• Changed 'pass/fail' to 'not significant/significant' in the Linearity study.

• Some users who DO NOT wish to follow the requirements of MSA Edition 3 asked that the number of sigma used to represent the specification spread be 5.15 instead of 6. This version allows the value of sigma to either of these values - the setting applies to all studies in the database. (See Setup -> Preferences -> Options 2)

These changes and corrections were made after the 6.0.20 release and are contained in the 6.0.22 release.

• On certain days, displaying the month view in the calendar caused a 'Invalid property array index' error. Fixed.

• When job or part numbers were assigned during a GROUP check in/out, only one gage was receiving the data. Fixed.

• Fixed a minor issue when converting 5.5 databases.

• Printing a R&R report with data where the R&R study had no defined numeric format caused an 'Invalid token %f in SQL' error. This has been fixed by substituting a default format for the report where there is none.

• In previous versions of GAGEpack, when the gage form was visible, performing a calibration left the form on the screen [ie in front of the main GAGEpack form]. This behavior has been restored.

• Deleting more than 32,000 events under File -> Utilities caused an Overflow error. Fixed.

• Previous versions of GAGEpack included a 'Data coding' feature to enable the rapid entry of calibration data - this has been removed from GAGEpack 6.0. To assist customers who need the ability to enter calibration data easily, this version includes a new feature which should prove faster and less confusing.

• On the tab 'Calibration steps' there is a new 'Increment' field. If this is left blank, GAGEpack behaves as before and to enter a calibration result the user must type the full value. If an Increment value say, of 0.01 is chosen then pressing Page Up or Down in one of the 'Result' columns will initially insert the target value there. Subsequent presses will vary that value by the Increment amount. In this case, pressing Page Up will add 0.01 to the value currently on display and pressing Page Down will subtract 0.01 from it. Data can still be typed into this field in the usual way.

• Some users with very large numbers of events (>100,000) reported a delay in saving calibration events. This version includes a small speed improvement.

• When creating calibration steps, the target, units, plus/minus, format and master gage are all copied from the previous step to speed up data entry.

These changes and corrections were made after the 6.0.19 release and are contained in the 6.0.20 release.

• Uncertainty studies required a reference value before computing Sigma(r). Fixed.

• Fixed an issue where it was not possible to type job or part numbers into a check in/out event if there were entries in the corresponding choice lists.

• The 'Calibration worksheets - per number' report gave an error message with databases converted from GAGEpack 5.0. Fixed.

• If a user does not want the automatic certificate numbers to appear on a calibration event, this is now possible by clearing the 'Next certificate number' field under the Admin menu option.

• The language database (GpLang.mdb) now includes Spanish.

These changes and corrections were made after the 6.0.18 release and are contained in the 6.0.19 release.

• If the 'word for gage' was not 'gage', then the Gage menu was not displayed. Fixed.

• Fixed some small errors in R&R charting.

• When a R&R study was based upon Process Parameters the TV was not computed
  correctly. Fixed.

• The language database (GpLang.mdb) now includes Italian.

These changes and corrections were made after the 6.0.17 release and are contained in the 6.0.18 release.

• Fixed an issue that prevented barcodes from printing properly.

These changes and corrections were made after the 5.5.07 release and are contained in the 6.0.17 release.

• GAGEpack now allows two independent views of the data on separate tabs. These are the classic view of the (filtered) gage list and a new list of all history events - this can be filtered and ordered in various ways.

• GAGEpack is now fully locale-independent with regard to number and date formats. Also, there is now a language database which is the source for all text appearing in the software. Currently the only available language is English but Spanish and Italian will be ready soon. An easy to use Language Editor is available for anyone wishing to translate GAGEpack.

• Added an option to print a new gage label immediately after calibrating a gage. This label shows the updated status of the gage.

• The plus/minus value in a calibration step may be entered as a percentage of the target by appending a '%' sign. Without the '%', this quantity is still interpreted as an absolute value.

• Multiple gages can be deleted simultaneously by selecting the new option 'Delete multiple...' on the Gages menu

• GAGEpack can manage an unlimited number of named 'calibration templates'. This makes it very simple to create a new gage and add a complex set of calibration steps by selecting one of the templates.

• GAGEpack now includes a 'Tip of the Day' feature.

• FDA regulations require certain security features that are now included in GAGEpack. These are: (i) User names should remain unique (so once a name has been used it cannot be used again, even if it is deleted). (ii) Any passwords should time-out after a set period. The requirement to maintain an audit trail was met in GAGEpack 5.0. As a consequence of (i) GAGEpack no longer manages a separate user database and so all features relating to the management of this database have been removed.

• The time-out period defaults to 180 days but can be changed from the Admin menu

• User login and logout activities have been added to the audit trail (where activated).

• A new login option allows a user to login with any name and no password. This user name will be used as the default for many activities (e.g. gage check out) and in the audit trail. Any such user has full SUPERVISOR rights. With this new option, user names are remembered between sessions so the default name will be the same as the one used last time. Note that the login options are accessed from a new tab under the 'Admin' menu, not from the SUPERVIOR user form, as before.

• Nearly all sections of GAGEpack where the user was required to type a date have been modified to select a choice from a drop-down calendar instead.

• Previous versions of GAGEpack 2000 allowed reports to be saved as text - this facilty has been replaced by the ability to save in HTML so the report (mostly) retains its formatting.

• The toolbar for the (report) print preview now includes a button to copy an image of the current page to the clipboard as a metafile.

• There is a new Report Designer feature. Basic reports can be conveniently constructed by clicking 'New' on the Reports list, then building the report with the easy-to-use designer. Any reports created this way become standard GAGEpack reports that appear on the reports list. See the file 'Sample user-designed report' for an example.

• The menu options 'Convert data from DOS GAGEpack' and '(View) Gage List' have been removed.

• Added an option to import the contents of a user database under the File - Utilities menu. Note that the users are now stored in the gage inventory database (see earlier). This process is also triggered when a database is converted from an earlier version of GAGEpack.

• Added a new option to import vendors from another GAGEpack databases. The actual records imported can be selected individually and there is an option to overwrite (update) existing vendors or ignore the new record.

• Added an 'Edit' button to the Advanced Find form. Clicking this button opens the selected gage for editing.

• GAGEpack now includes a Calendar/Diary feature offering day, week and month views. The diary shows gages due for R&R and calibration together with the users own notes and alarms. Due gages are shown as hyperlinks and clicking on them opens the relevant form to carry out the operation. Diary notes and alarms that are designated as 'personal' can only be seen by the user who enters them. Notes can be set to recur for a fixed period (eg for staff holidays) or at regular intervals.

• When the Month view is displayed, the calendar can display an image, in the manner of a real calendar. The images are numbered 01-12 (one per month) and stored in a folder that can be edited under Setup -> Preferences -> Databases/paths. Thus the user can supply his own images in place of the ones provided with the software.

• Added an 'Adjustment made' check box to the External Calibration event.

• A certificate number can be added to the (internal) calibration event. GAGEpack completes this field from an automatically incrementing value, but this can be over-ridden. Supervisor can set the format and starting value via the 'Admin' menu.

• All charts now show a context (right-click) menu allowing the user to Zoom (or unzoom), edit the chart definition and copy the chart to the clipboard as a bitmap. As a result of this change the form for editing the chart definition has altered in appearance, but retains the original functionality.

• A number of new reports have been added. Some changes have been made to the reporting section and users interested in creating their own reports (or editing the existing ones) should consult the latest version of the file GAGEpack Reporting Scheme.doc, supplied with GAGEpack. Reports that refer to dates can use 'date macros' to generate special dates (for example, %W means 'the end of this week') - this scheme has been expanded to allow a + or - number to be appended to the date. For example, %w-1 means 'the beginning of last week'.

• Each report can belong to several 'categories' and the report list can be filtered by category to show, for example, just the reports relevant to calibration. The default action is to show all reports. Six categories are pre-defined by GAGEpack but the user can create up to 14 more categories from the menu option 'Report categories' under 'Setup'.

• The form for editing Linearity events has been amended to include some new fields so it is now more like the other events - it also includes a 'Report' button and some statistics.

• To ease the entry of attributes data there are buttons to set an entire row to 'good' or 'bad'. Also, the checkbox entry has been replaced by a traditional '0' and '1' keyboard entry.

• GAGEpack now manages a 'Maintenance due date' with the same characteristics as the existing Calibration and R&R due dates. As a result the 'Due dates /Intervals' tab on the gage edit form has been redesigned. There are nine new reports relating to this activity.

• In any R&R study the combination of parts and operators (appraisers) may be changed by toggling items on and off using the checkboxes on the Study names tab of the study. The resulting partial studies are used for both R&R statistics and charts.

• The Uncertainty Study form now has a Print button to generate a printed report of the study and also some new statistics.

• If warnings are issued at startup, there is a new option to create an 'offset' whereby gages due for calibration or R&R within the offset period are also displayed. The default offset is 7 days so any gages due for (say) calibration in the next week will also be displayed as a reminder that they should be calibrated soon.

• R&R study worksheets can now be printed in either randomized order (as before) or in data entry order by selecting an appropriate menu option.

• R&R chart preferences have been expanded to include a page for titles. As well as predefined title macros (such as @D for the current date), GAGEpack allows an additional 50 macros (@1 - @50) which can contain any text the user desires. These can be printed on R&R charts in headers and footers.

• A barcode scanner can be used to trigger certain key events in GAGEpack - for example, editing a gage or checking in or out. GAGEpack has an option to print a sheet of the available commands. The label printing feature has been expanded to allow barcodes to be placed on labels so each gage can be identified with its unique code. Thus it is now possible to check a gage in simply by scanning the sheet then the gage - there is no need to use the mouse or keyboard.

• Number formats: The handling of numeric output for calibration and R&R study results has been greatly improved. Each calibration result has its own format inherited from the corresponding step. If this does not exist, the format is based upon what is typed - for example, typing '0.200' ensures that this number (0.2) is always displayed with 3 decimal places. The R&R reports have been amended to use the numeric format that is stored with the R&R study and which can be configured on the 'General' tab of the study.

• When GAGEpack converts an existing database to version 6.0, it tries to assign numeric formats to all existing calibration results (since each result now MUST have a stored format). The attempt is based upon its view of your data and may or not be exactly what you want. Any unsuitable value can be edited to display the number in a different format.

• All future calibrations will have their formats defined by those in the
  corresponding step, or by what is typed if no format is specified.

• The entry of attributes steps and calibration results has been improved and simplified.

• Improved navigation and program flow. A number of small changes have been made (for example, all GAGEpack forms and dialogue boxes now have a closing 'X' icon).

• Fixed an issue with re-saving R&R data. If the data format was changed, ALL of the data was re-saved with the new format. Now only edited data is saved while the other original data is retained.

• Fixed a minor problem with report dates. If the regional settings for the computer were US format (or similar) and the prompted dates were left blank, the report heading would show the actual dates used instead of 'All dates'.

• Performing an attributes study now updates the R&R due date.

• If the Validation Criteria require calibration results to be entered, both the 'before' and 'after' columns may be selected separately. This means that users who only require (say) a 'before' value can still use the validation criteria without entering a matching 'after' value. The settings can be found under Setup -> Preferences -> Options 1

• If a gage fails a calibration, there is an option (defaulted to ON) that prevents the calibration due date being updated, so the gage will still be overdue. This option is per database and can be found under Setup -> Preferences -> Auto intervals.

• Service vendor and Purchase vendor (names) can now be displayed on the Gage List and used as parameters in filters.

These changes and corrections were made after the 5.5.8 release and are contained in the 5.5.9 release.

• Fixed an issue whereby new gages that were checked in or out before they were calibrated would have their (user-entered) calibration due date deleted.

These changes and corrections were made after the 5.5.07 release and are contained in the 5.5.8 release.

• The best fit line did not clip correctly on some linearity charts.

• Editing an uncertainty event for Bias caused an "Invalid use of Null" error.

• Pasting data from Notepad to an R&R study grid failed if the selection did not include a trailing carriage return.

• The FailedLastCalib flag wa not displayed when a gage failed an external calibration.

• The report Cal-res.jas now correctly displays attributes steps.

These changes and corrections were made after the 5.5.05 release and are contained in the 5.5.07 release.

• Increased the maximum file name length when opening a GAGEpack database from 256 characters to 1024.

• AIAG's Measurement Systems Analysis Third Edition now uses one sigma for R&R calculations. GAGEpack has been modified so where a study is based upon specifications, the specification width is divided by six to maintain the correct percentages.

• If a master gage was ' ' (Space) GAGEpack would hang when you tried to calibrate the gage. This Master Gage setting cannot occur but may arise if the database has been converted from some earlier version.

• It was sometimes not possible to edit the calibration procedure for a new gage until it was saved and re-opened.

These changes and corrections were made after the 5.5.03 release and are contained in the 5.5.05 release.

• Group check in/out. This feature allows you to check a set of gages in or out by filling out a single form. GAGEpack will report any discrepancies (such as a gage already being checked out) and allows you to continue or abort. This action creates an identical check-in or check-out event for each gage in the group.

• Some reports allow you to form feed pages between section for the report. Many reports allow you to insert a page between divisions such as types or locations. In addition, several new reports have been added and you can set report line spacing in the INI file.

• The Admin form includes an 'Alarm Manager' tab that allows you to remove alarms from the pending list.

• The Admin form also includes a 'Gage Import' tab which allows you to import gage records directly from another GAGEpack database.

• A Calibration History chart displays the last N calibrations. The number of calibrations is set up on the Preferences form.

• In addition to the standard R&R charts, each R&R study can display up to 6 charts as a Multi-chart.

• The Linearity plot has been enhanced by including confidence limits in line with AIAG's Measurement Systems Analysis Manual, Third Edition.

• A randomized worksheet can be printed for any R&R study by clicking the new 'Worksheet' button on the study form.

• R&R templates allow users to store and recall common R&R configurations including study parameters, process parameters, names and true values. This enables you to set up popular R&R studies quickly. Create and study templates through the R&R study form.

• Gages can now be designated 'calibrated externally'. When they are calibrated, a simplified calibration form is shown with options to record a certificate number and a calibration file. This file can be view through GAGEpack and some reports accommodate this feature.

• R&R study data can be copied to and pasted from the Clipboard via a pop-up (right-click) menu in the data grid. The Filters function now allows up to 8 conditions to be included.

• Individual users can be given the right to edit 'Preferences' through the User setup form.