Auto Shop Writer Bulletins

Your system has likely received an update. It is very important that you go to Tools, Index, Select All, and Index the files AFTER being sure everyone is out of Auto Shop Writer. Your workorder screen will act strangely if you fail to do this first.

1). When going into the order screen, you will see all active workorders. They are in workorder number order. If you click on the Company header (title ), you can then scroll the list by the client name in order. If you click on License, it will be that order.

 

2). Lookups may appear different but they are stronger. You will no longer see the set of boxes in the very first row. Now, just click on the column header for how you want to do the lookup, and start typing. when the ^ appears next to it’s name. You can select MOST of the columns now ( if they. have items indexed ) so more searches are possible.

 

3). In Workorder Reports, we have added a new filter to the Labor report. The 4th box is for a Technician code. If you leave it blank, it works as before, and gives you a report for all technicians, plus the totals page. If you put in a tech code, it gives you a report for just that individual.

4). As noted in the last bulletin, we do have some changes to the CARFAX lookup. All VIN and detail lookups are done via the internet. In the past, some people were still using the internal data file to get the information, but more recent models were not included. This update has uploaded two files with new data for you. In the Windows browser, look on the server in the ASW10s\MLS folder. You should have an evecfx.dbf and an evecfx.cdx, both dated April, 2021. You can highlight them, right click on the mouse, and select Copy. Then right click on the folder \ASW10s\Data and select Paste. it will ask you if you wish to overwrite the files. Say Yes.

These items were all requested by our clients.

We had to make another change to the Auto Updater for modifications on the CARFAX server. The new version should have been uploaded to your server. Here is how to install it. DO THIS ONLY ON THE SERVER.

1). On the server, on the lower right corner of your monitor, on the task bar, you will see the little island icon for the Auto Updater. If you don’t see it, click on the ^ symbol and it should be on the pop up box.

 

2). Right click on the icon and then click on the last menu item to Close the Updater.

3). Bring up the Windows Explorer. This is usually shown along the bottom of the screen ( a folder icon ), and clicking on it will open it up. If you don’t see the icon, then point to the lower left corner of the screen, highlighting the Windows icon, and right click, and select the menu item for the Explorer.

4). With this open, look for the ASW10s folder. It is usually on the C: drive, but perhaps you have a virtual network drive. In that folder, you will see an MLS folder. Click on that. On the right side of the Explorer will be a list of files. Look for the MLS10aus.exe which should be dated 3/17/21. Right click on it and select COPY.

5). Now, go back and click on the ASW10s root folder. With it highlighted, right click the mouse and select PASTE. It will ask if you wish to overwrite the existing file. Say YES.

6). Now look in the ASW10s folder to see the new MLS10aus.exe file. Double click on it to re-start the auto updater.

7). That’s all it takes … a basic Windows Copy. & Paste. If you have problems, call in and we can do it in just a couple of minutes. YOU DO NOT NEED TO HAVE EVERYONE OUT OF THEIR COMPUTER OR INTERUPT YOUR WORK.

Meanwhile, did you know that VIN decoding is done on-line with CARFAX to get the latest data ? When you Add a new vehicle, that is how it’s done. In the “old days” we had a database of vehicles and a parser that did it on your computer but it was hard to keep the data current. If you use the little maginfying class in the field next to the VIN number on the Vehicle screen, it stilluses that. We are in the process of updating that file, but CARFAX does not have it readily available since they switched to the online capability.

 

We did add a new option for those who 1) use something other than a valid license plate in the vehicle record, or 2). Those who have the VIN but not the data broken out. On the button bar of the Vehicle screen, there is a license plate. If you click on that, and have a valid license and state, it will get the VIN and all the decoded data. It shows a popup box with the current license, state, and vin fields. However, NOW we added a prompt asking if you wish to use only the VIN. If you say yes because you don’t have a valid plate, it will go online and get you the proper information for all the relevant fields on that vehicle.

 

Once we receive the newest data feed we will also re-construct the other data file and tell you how to load it.