Selling an Item into a Negative Quantity

Selling an Item into a Negative Quantity on Hand in Big Business Version 2.0 may result in incorrect values in the Item's Average Cost and Total Cost.

See Solution#3052 (Adjusting for Incorrect Item Average Costs) for details and a fix. (3025)

Big Business 2.5 improves your ability to sell Items into negative Quantities on Hand. Item Preference settings, also found in the Customer Prefs, enable warnings or prevent the save of transactions which overdraw your inventory. If your operation requires the ability to sell inventory not yet received on a Bill, though, Big Business 2.5 provides new features to minimize problems.

• New Prompts help keep your Cost for an Item current, even on Built Items.

• Selling Items into negative quantities on hand use appropriate costs.

• If replenishing the Item yields a cost difference a correction is made automatically.

• This correction no longer locks the purchase transaction

• The correction is available for editing as an Item Adjustment.


  Changing the Amount on a Misc. Bill

Big Business provides a Misc. Bill tool for entering Vendor Bills without Line Items. Use this tool for entering Bills that do not pertain to Item Cards. When creating a Misc. Bill, the Expense Category on the History tab of the Vendor Card is used. For example, for the telephone company, you might enter your Telephone Expense Category. Then when you create Misc. Bills for the phone company, they are automatically posted to Telephone Expense. If you have special requirements you can manually override this selection by using the Posting button on the Misc. Bill tool.

Throughout Big Business, you can double-click on a Posting or Transaction in a list to view the original transaction. When you double-click a Misc. Bill, it opens in to the regular Bill tool, and lists the Misc. Bill as a Line Item. If the Amount of the Misc. Bill is modified, this "Line Item" will be reloaded and the Expense Category will default to the Default Item Expense Category listed in the Item Prefs. So, by changing the amount of a phone bill, for example, may change the posting from Telephone Expense to Supplies. (3200)

If a Misc. Bill has an incorrect amount, Delete the incorrect Bill and reenter it using the Misc. Bill tool.


  Automatic Quantities for Line Items

Auto-Enter Quantity (3345)

Big Business 2.5 implements new Automatic Quantities for Line Items, saving you time when entering transactions. Previous versions of Big Business defaulted to a quantity of zero (0) for any new Line Item, requiring that you enter the quantity. New Default Quantities use the following methods:

• The first Line Item added is automatically assigned a Quantity of one (1).

• Subsequent Line Items added to a transaction are assigned the last Quantity entered or one (1) if no Quantity has been modified.

In the pictured example, line one was assigned a quantity of one (1) and not modified. Line two was assigned a quantity of one (1), which was modified to 20. When line three was added it was automatically assigned a quantity of 20.


  Vendor P.O. QuickSearch, "Ship To" Searches "Mailing Address"

Versions of Big Business up to 2.5.1 do not allow easy searching for Drop Shipments. A QuickSearch of Purchase Orders for "Ship To" information (normally your address, but in the case of a drop ship, the recipient's address) actually searched the Mailing Address (i.e. the Vendor's). (3476)

Big Business 2.5.2 corrects this search.


  Data File Locked Alert

Big Business (Server) shows an Alert when your Data File is Locked, saying, "You cannot open this database because the data file (or one of its segments) is locked."

This Solution provides a quick overview of why the Data File might be locked if you encounter this alert. (5886)

Big Business shows an alert when attempting to open a data file that is locked.

Common causes of a locked data file include:

• The data file is Read-Only because it was copied from a CD, or other Read-Only media. Windows preserves this attribute, so when you copy from a CD, you need to right-click on the copied file, choose Properties, and uncheck the Read Only attribute.

• The User does not have write permission on the data file. If you have logged on to the computer as a Guest or non-Admin level user, this may be the problem. Check with your System Administrator or try a higher level logon.

• The data file is already in use by another application. If another copy of Big Business, Big Business Server, Big Business Tools, etc., is already using the data or the operating system is moving or copying the data it may be locked until the other program or operation is terminated.



  Server Process Window Shows Full Path to the Data File

Prior to Big Business 5 the path the data file listed on the Server Process Window was truncated to 32 characters. As a result, it was sometimes necessary to Search (or Find) for all Big Business Data Files (*.4dd in the Search) and determine the correct file by Size and Modified Date.

This Solution describes how to view the full path to the data file in Big Business 5.0 and higher. (5887)

Big Business Server shows the full path to the data file in the Server Process Window. If you cannot read the full path, resize the window, making it wider, until you can read the name of the data file.

Running Big Business Tools, and some backup procedures, will create a copy of the data file. It is essential to know which file is the current file, to verify the backup.


  Blank Report Description causes a Runtime Error

In Big Business 5.0.6 and earlier, if a Report Description is missing or unavailable when the report is selected, a runtime error occurs.

The error message is, "A runtime error occurred... while executing the method XGETTEXT. Array range check error."
(5919)

This problem is fixed in Big Business 5.0.7


  Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard

This Solution provides compatibility information for Big Business and Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. (6099)

Big Business 7 uses a new database engine that is certified compatible with Snow Leopard. Big Business 7 requires Mac OS X 10.4.11 or higher.

Big Business 6 is not supported on Snow Leopard.

Big Business 8 is is certified compatible with Snow Leopard. Big Business 9 requires Mac OS X 10.6.8 or higher.

Big Business 9 is certified compatible with Snow Leopard. Big Business 9 requires Mac OS X 10.6.8 or higher.


  About Big Business Server

Big Business Server displays Version information about the database engine in the Server Administration Window. For information about the Version of Big Business, choose About Big Business
• the Help menu in Windows
Application menu on the Mac. (6104)


  Error Using SSL for ODBC / SQL Access

Big Business 7 includes an SSL option to encrypt the connection when using the ODBC Add-On.

In Big Business 7.10 and earlierm, this option does not work and results in errors:
Failed to start listener.
Failed to launch SQL Server.

(6119)

This is a bug which is fixed in the database used in Big Business 7.1.1 and higher.


  Item Transactions Report Error

The Item Transaction Report does not run correctly and may show Dates as 00/00/00 or not show all Items in Search results. (6272)

The Item Transaction Report is fixed for Big Business 8.5.1.


  Import Changed

Big Business provides an Alert if a Memorized Import is different than the current list of Fields availalable on the Import.

(6301)


  OS X Mavericks

This Solution provides compatibility information for Big Business and OS X Mavericks, the Mac OS upgrade released on October 22, 2013. (6312)

Big Business 9 is certified compatible with OS X Mavericks.

Big Business 8 is certified compatible with OS X Mountain Lion. Big Business 8 is not supported on Mavericks.

Big Business 7 is certifed compatible with Mac OS X Lion. Big Business 7 is not supported on Mavericks.


  Middleware Resize

Big Business 8.7 fixes a problem with Middleware that Sales Orders, Invoice, or Items may not appear in MySQL if they contain newer, longer entries.

This Solution provides details. (6316)

This problem occurs where Big Business fields have been increased in size in an Update and new entries using the new size cause an error saving to MySQL, so the record is missing. This problem is fixed in Big Business 8.7 by updating MySQL to accomodate the new size.


  Update On Server

Big Business 9 added the option to Update On Server. This feature tried to improve Client performance for Remote Clients by offloading updates to the server.

Unfortunately, this feature make errors possible, like making repeated changes before updates are processed.

This feature is being removed and its setting is ignored in Big Business 11.30.
(6330)

To enable Update On Server:

1. Open an Employee Card

2. Go to Access

3. Click the checkbox for Update On Server

This setting may be useful for employees connecting a Remote Client on a connection with slow upstream speed. For example with Asymmetric DSL the Client might be quick to fill in a Sales Order then slow to save it.

This setting assigns Updates, such as allocating items on a Sales Order, to the Server computer.


  Runtime Error, xSetStringsItem

If Big Business 9 Clients get a Runtime Error on startup saying, Error when executing the method xSetStringsItem at line number 13, Array Range Check Error, the problem may be running Big Business 9.2 Server on an older Mac OS, which can can modify a Resource File downloaded by Clients.

This Solution describes this option. (6456)

Big Business 9.3 solves this problem by locking the Resource File so it cannot be modified.


  Heartbleed Bug

Big Business is not vulnerable to the Heartbleed bug.

"The Heartbleed Bug is a serious vulnerability in the popular OpenSSL cryptographic software library."

Big Business can use OpenSSL when the following functions are enabled:
• Secure Passwords
• Secure Credit Cards
• Authorize.net credit card processing
• Encrypt Client/Server Connections
• Secure Server for iPad
• Secure Web Server

This Solution provides details. (6484)

Current and prior versions of Big Business use versions of OpenSSL that are NOT vulnerable to the Heartbleed bug.

Big Business can use OpenSSL when the following functions are enabled:
• Secure Passwords
• Secure Credit Cards
• Authorize.net credit card processing
• Encrypt Client/Server Connections
• Secure Server for iPad
• Secure Web Server

For example, Secure Passwords, can use:
• OpenSSL 1.0.0 - branch is NOT vulnerable
• OpenSSL 0.9.8 - branch is NOT vulnerable


  OS X: Set Default Printer

Big Business automates printing--to allow you to select printers, send to iPad or Email, or include a PDF--and relies on a Default Printer being properly configured.

This Solution provides brief instructions for creating a Default Printer. (6491)

To set a default printer:
1. Go to the Apple menu to System Preferences and select Printers & Scanners
2. Create a new printer if needed
3. Control-click on a printer and choose, Set As Default
There is also a pulldown menu at the bottom to select the default printer.


  OS X Yosemite

This Solution provides compatibility information for Big Business and OS X Yosemite, the Mac OS upgrade to be released Fall 2014. (6395)

Big Business 9 is certified compatibile with OS X Mavericks. Big Business 9 is supported on Yosemite.

Big Business 8 is certified compatible with OS X Mountain Lion. Big Business 8 is not supported on Yosemite.

Big Business 7 is certifed compatible with Mac OS X Lion. Big Business 7 is not supported on Yosemite.


  Import Errors

Big Business Imports check for errors, such as missing or mismatched data. Because you may be importing hundreds or thousands of entries, if there are any errors from an Import, you will have the option to save them as a text file for review.

This Solution provides examples. (6522)

Big Business Imports check for errors, such as missing or mismatched data. Because you may be importing hundreds or thousands of entries, if there are errors from an Import, you will have the option to save them as a text file for review.

Click Save and save the error file to a convenient location such as your Desktop. Open the file in your favorite text or word-processing program to review.

Each Error is reported on a new line and gives a simple explanation of the problem and outcome. Here are some examples, where _____ is the imported entry:

_____ found more than one Customer Listing match; using first match.

_____ found more than one match; attempting to update first match only.

Customer: _____ found more than one match; attempting to update first match only.

Date (_____) was invalid and could not be added.

Exchange Rate (_____) was invalid and could not be added.


  Invalid Alert

Invalid is an error indicating a required entry is missing or not valid, such as not having a Customer on an Invoice.

This Solution provides details. (6523)

Invalid is an error indicating a required entry is missing or not valid, such as not having a Customer on an Invoice.

Some required entries are essential to the transaction. For an Invoice, these are Customer, Date, and Terms. And there are many more that may be optionally required, set by Preferences such as Credit Verification, Sell Into Negative Inventory, or Department Mandatory.

When Invalid applies to Line Items, such as Entry Verification for Warehouses (pictured), the first error is reported. If you correct the first error, then the second error may be reported.


  Reported Alert

Reported indicates a message that would normally be displayed as an Error dialog. For Imports or other automated tasks, "Reported (6524)" tells you that the source of the message may be the Database, a Component or Plugin, or the Operating System.

This Solution provides an example. (6524)

Reported indicates a message that would normally be displayed as an Error dialog. For Imports or other automated tasks, "Reported (6524)" tells you that the source of the message may be the Database, a Component or Plugin, or the Operating System.

As an example, a problem saving to disk would show "Reported (6524)" as its source and may generate several texts, such as:
[1046] Cannot save record...
[1153] Not enough temporary space...
and so on.


  Asserted Alert

Asserted indicates a message that would normally be displayed as an Assertion dialog. For Imports or other automated tasks, "Asserted (6525)" tells you that the source of the message is Big Business.

This Solution provides details. (6525)

Asserted indicates a message that would normally be displayed as an Assertion dialog. For Imports or other automated tasks, "Asserted (6525)" tells you that the source of the message is Big Business.

An Assertion warns of an unexpected condition. There are a few hundred assertions in Big Business. If you encounter an Assertion it is best to contact Support. Email the exact text or a screen shot to support@bigbusiness.com.

Since an Assertion is an unexpected condition, the results may be unexpected. If the operation completes any resulting entries should be double-checked for completeness and accuracy.


  Confirmed Alert

Confirmed indicates a question that would normally be displayed as a dialog. For Imports or other automated tasks, "Confirmed (6526)" tells you that the source of the message is Big Business and that a default choice was automatically selected.

This Solution provides an example. (6526)

Confirmed indicates a question that would normally be displayed as a dialog. For Imports or other automated tasks, "Confirmed (6526)" tells you that the source of the message is Big Business and that a default choice was automatically selected.

Big Business includes a few hundred confirmations--whether you want to use quoted pricing, automatically update costs, and so on.

When you see Confirmed as the source of a message you can decide if you need to follow up. If the question is about quoted pricing, this means your Preferences are set to check Quotes for special pricing. The Confirmed message also tells you that the default choice was used--in this example Regular Price.


  Conformed Alert

Conformed indicates a message from an Import or other automated task where the data was changed. "Conformed (6527)" tells you that the source of the message is Big Business.

This Solution provides an example. (6527)

Conformed indicates a message from an Import or other automated task where the data was changed. "Conformed (6527)" tells you that the source of the message is Big Business.

Typical messages are that an entry was too long to fit,or that an invalid date was replaced with the current date.

In this example, "date_created" was mis-mapped to the Sales Order Number (SONo) field which holds only ten characters. The resulting exceptions include the original data for reference (line 14, line 18, etc.) and repeat for each line item processed.

When mapped, Sales Order Number is used to group line items into orders. So, the original "date_created" is included in the API Response to identify each order (line 5, line 23). And, the resulting "SONo" is included in the results of successfully created orders (line 8, line 26).