The latest major 8.0.2.356 update with a number bug fixes and a bunch of new features is now available for download (Aquabase will check for an update on start-up) and will require a password to complete the update process. This password is sent to users of the Aquabase Support and Development programme by email and you are encouraged not to share it with users that have not subscribed to the programme. If Aquabase cannot download the update automatically you can also get it from the Downloads section of this website, for which you have to be a registered user.
Please read the notes during installation for the latest exciting additions and bug fixes! We are constantly working on improving and fixing Aquabase functionality. Please let us know if you find any bugs and would like to make suggestions for new functions.
SO WHAT’S NEW IN THIS LATEST VERSION?
- The coordinate projection libraries (PROJ: https://proj.org) have been updated to version 6.x. With that came a whole lot of changes to the API, which caused some of the old Aquabase routines to become dysfunctional. The coordinate conversions in Aquabase are now done with the “cs2cs” command line program, which is a bit slower than the API, but is resilient to version changes. This may in future be changed back to the use of the API. But “cs2cs” and some other PROJ tools are now part of the Aquabase installation and can be used outside Aquabase for quick individual or batch file coordinate conversions (please refer to the documentation on their website). Version 7.x of these libraries will be available some time during April and will become part of the next Aquabase update.
- The Spatialite Libraries were also updated to the latest version. These are spatially-enabling SQLite databases for running spatial queries and calculations, e.g. distances or locations, in the databases. PostgreSQL/MySQL/MariaDB/M$SQL server are spatially enabled by default (built-in).
- The SQLite/Spatialite Aquabase database was upgraded to version 7.x. This means that you will get a message when opening a workspace with an “older” version of Spatialite that you should update your database to the newest version. While this is not compulsory at this stage it is always a good idea to have the latest versions of the databases so that they work optimally with Aquabase and also other applications like GISs to take advantage of the spatial functions. (Please also see 4. under the fixes).
- Creating a new workspace has been improved with a couple of checks, especially when selecting the database: YOU NEED TO TEST THE CONNECTION before the OK button will become active, which will make sure that the database selected is actually a valid Aquabase database.
- The “Apply coordinate system” tool is now fully functional to allow changing the stored X_COORD/Y_COORD coordinates to any other coordinate system, over and above the update of the WGS84 Longitude/Latitude and GEOMETRY fields.
- The Construction and Lithology Report now allows to split the log and depth-dependent charts over the first two pages of the report. This is helpful for very detailed lithology changes and therefore a lot of text. The resulting charts can also be saved automatically as bitmaps during report generation and then used in other applications. Please read the Help system under Construction and Lithology chart/report.
- The Construction and Lithology charts now also allow viewing different extents (sections) of the chart: full extent, upper and lower parts of the charts. Additionally the font sizes of the lithology descriptions can be increased/decreased to better fit into the available space. Right-click for a popup menu for all the options and shortcuts!
- When opening a workspace through browsing with the folder/file selection dialog the user is only able to select valid Aquabase workspace folders, w.o.w. folders that have a workspace.ini file in it. When these are selected (on some operating systems the workspace.ini file has to be selected) then a check is done whether the database the workspace points to does actually exist and is a valid Aquabase database.
- When opening a workspace the user is now informed about the active View: if it is not “allsites” the user is reminded that the active View (the last View when the workspace was closed) may show only a sub-set of the total sites in the database.
- The Start/End Dates/Times on the Pumping Test Report Settings have now been combined to date/time pairs so that it is easier to identify the individual test start and end dates/times. Recovery tests are also shown, but only if the recovery tests start exactly on the end of the multirate or constant rate end dates/times. So make sure your dates/times on the pumping test entries are correct!
- The Pumping Test Report now also allows Slug Tests in the “Constant Rate” Chart. Additionally the charts on the report now have titles that reflect what is displayed. So if you want to display recovery data/titles you should enter them as separate tests (Method tested = R) and not as part of the drawdown tests.
- Atmospheric Pressure units can now also be edited. A few more popular pressure units have also been added.
- The forms displaying the chemistry charts now have the name of the chart displayed in it.
AND WHAT HAS BEEN FIXED SINCE THE LAST VERSION?
- Changing axes fonts for charts did not work as expected when changed on the Chart Properties. This has been fixed.
- Some of the atmospheric meteorology readings did not show with fixed decimals depending on their values. This has been fixed.
- The combination of Aquabase workspaces (Append Aquabase Workspace) tool was broken due to the addition of new tables with BLOB fields in previous Aquabase updates and which were not catered for in the tool. This is now working again.
- The upgrade of the Spatialite database has brought with it the identification of a few bugs in the “Apply new SQLite Database” tool, which were fixed, but also the optimisation and fixing of a few triggers (“invisible” functions inside the database itself), which were repeating themselves. Therefore, if you use SQLite/Spatialite databases (most of you probably do), it is recommended to upgrade these as soon as possible.
- The automatic query building on the SQL Search and Create View forms did not work as expected with the Report Documents table “rprtdocs”, which is now fixed.
- The Pumping Test Report did not sort the data retrieved from the database correctly according to date/time and could therefore produce weird charts. This is now sorted!
- The selection of a Site identifier as oberservation boreholes on the Pumping Test entry form by pressing F9 or right-clicking did not work as expected. This is fixed.
- Many smaller bug fixes, optimisations and enhancements.