Each release of NewViews is uniquely identified by a release identifier. A release identifier consists of four numbers separated by dots in a form as shown below:
VersionMajor.VersionMinor.ServicePack.ReleaseDate
For example, the identifier "2.27.1.20140131" represents version 2.27, service pack 1, and it was released on Jan 31, 2014. We further describe the meaning of each component of the release identifier below.
2.27 - Major and Minor Version Numbers
The first two numbers are the major and minor version numbers so this example represents NewViews version 2.27.
The minor version number changes for relatively small changes to functionality and the major version changes for more significant changes. After downloading and installing a new version, some database processing may be required to upgrade a database to the new version. The processing occurs only the first time you open a database using the new version. The processing is generally automatic but you will be asked for confirmation before any processing is performed. After a database is upgraded to a newer version, it cannot be accessed using an older program version as NewViews versions only move forward.
1 - Service Pack Number.
This is the service pack number.
A service pack does not introduce any significant functionality changes and does not introduce any incompatibility in databases used with prior releases. Typically bugs are fixed, performance is improved, documentation and error messages are enhanced, or minor changes occur such as when tax tables are updated.
The service pack number is reset to zero whenever the major or minor version number changes.
It is Q.W.Page policy to release new service packs immediately when bugs are detected and corrected. The alternative is to accumulate a larger number of fixes until it is convenient to introduce a new release. Although the Q.W.Page policy results in a larger number of service packs, each containing fewer fixes, this makes the fixes available at the earliest possible moment. This policy is made possible largely because installing a new release is relatively fast and painless.
20140131 - Release Date
This is the date the release was added to the Q.W.Page web site for download. The date is in yyyymmdd format so the example was released on Jan 31, 2014.
You may have noticed that a NewViews installation program has a name such as the one shown below:
nv2.27.1.20140131-win32-ix86-nv2.exe
The release identifier is encoded into the program name for easy identification, and also provides the benefit that installation programs are sorted in the directory system according to the order released.
The installation program name includes additional information that identifies the hardware and operating system for the release. The same NewViews version or service pack may be released simultaneously on different platforms. At the time of this writing only the Microsoft Windows platform is available. When versions for Linux and Apple Macintosh are released their installation program names will identify them appropriately.