ChemFinder 7.0.3 Features
ChemFinder 7.0.3 Features
updated 10 May 02
This page describes new features appearing in ChemFinder versions 7.0.1 through 7.0.3.
Subform Linking Subforms - Table View Upgrade Suppress Relative Stereochemistry Print Selection Auto Frame Labels SQL Debugging Text Searching Reaction Parsing Text Styling
In ChemFinder 7.0.1, we added a feature to permit more precision in storing and searching stereoisomers: the ability to specify relative stereochemical relationships. For details, see the attached documentation.
In ChemFinder 7.0.3, the Subform Properties dialog has been simplified. This dialog is presented when you right-click the header of a subform box and choose Properties. Its purpose is to allow you to specify which columns link the main table with the selected subtable.
In ChemFinder 7.0.3:
You can choose the main-table column either from the tree control or from a new dropdown. When you change the selection in one place, the other changes to match.
Box labels are more consistent than in 7.0, and now also include table names.
As an added bonus: you are not allowed to select anything in the tree control except a column from the main table. Clicking on anything else has no effect, nor should it (you can still expand and collapse nodes, you just can't select any other column or table).
- The version information displayed in About Box, Splash Screen, and File Properties are more correct and consistent, not just for ChemFinder but also for MolServer, ChemFinder for Word, and other ChemFinder components.
- A new checkbox on the Form Properties dialog (see picture) is Open database read-only. Check this box, then save the form, and subsequently when you open the form it will open in read-only mode.
- ChemFinder 7.0.3 can open a formfile with any extension; it need not be .cfw. This is true when opening via File Open, via drag-and-drop from Windows Explorer; or when running the program from the command line.
- Structure scaling choices now apply to both ChemDraw-style and ChemFinder-style structures. Fit to Box makes the structure as large as possible within the form box, leaving a small margin on all sides. Uniform Bond Length scales so that bond lengths are the same from one structure to the next, where 100% gets you a bond around half an inch on the display screen; however, the structure is never allowed to extend beyond the bounds of the form box; if the current choice causes the structure to be too large, the choice is disregarded and the structure is scaled to fill the box.
In ChemFinder 7.0.3, you can suppress the alert asking if you wish to upgrade a database to the latest version. You do this on a form-by-form basis, using a new checkbox on the Form Properties dialog:
For a form attached to an old-format database, check Do not ask to upgrade if you do not wish to be prompted about upgrading every time you open the form.
You must save the form after checking this box. The feature takes effect the next time you open the form.
Prior to 7.0.3, when you chose File Print, the default action was to print the entire current list, which often meant the entire database. In 7.0.3 there is a new option and a new default. When you choose File Print, the Print dialog shows a new Selection radio button under Print range:
Print Selection means: print one page starting from the current record, taking into account the number of records per page as established in Page Setup. This works in either form or table view. It is the default option, chosen automatically every time you bring up the Print dialog.
Note: the default is All, not Selection, when printing from Table View.
Also changed in 7.0.3: if a subform is active when you choose Print or Print Preview, the program no longer prints just the contents of the subform. The entire form is printed, regardless of which is active when the command is chosen.
ChemFinder 7.0.3 offers a new feature for diagnosing database problems. You can choose to collect in a file all the SQL strings generated by ChemFinder. These can then be submitted to Access or SQL*Plus for testing or verification.
To output SQL to file:
Under HKCU\Software\CambridgeSoft\ChemFinder\7.0\Pro\Debug, set the key DBG_SQL to 1. (If you don't see this key in the Registry, start ChemFinder, exit, then look again.)
When the DBG_SQL key is on (set to 1), all generated SQL statements are written to the file c:\cf_sql.txt. New statements are appended to the file, so it will continue to grow as long as the DBG_SQL switch is on. Set the key back to zero when you are finished, or periodically erase the file contents, so the file doesn't balloon out of control.
Each execution of a statement opens the file, appends the statement, and closes the file. This means you can inspect c:\cf_sql.txt after each search and see the new statements just executed.
ChemFinder 7.0.3 has a revamped mechanism for searching text. Here is the documentation from ChemFinder 7 Help, with 7.0.3 modifications in color:
- When searching a normal text field, a plain text string is taken as an "anchored substring," which hits any string starting with the indicated substring.
- When searching a memo field, a plain text string is unanchored, and hits any string which contains it anywhere. The reason for this behavior is that a memo field may contain formatting information surrounding the text you see, so, for example, a search like "= benzene" may not hit what looks like "benzene.".
- Text strings may contain wild cards or Boolean operators. Wild cards are "%" and "*"; these characters are equivalent and hit any string. Other wild cards are also possible for a local ChemFinder (.mdb) database: ? or _ hits any single character; # hits any single digit; [charlist] hits any character in a list (for more information, see Microsoft Access help). If wildcards are present, they override the above defaults; for example, 'benz' alone will hit both Xbenz and benzX, but 'benz*' hits only the latter.
- Boolean operators are "OR" and "AND." They may be used to combine search terms within one field.
- If the text query has a "=" in front (=toluene), then the search requires an exact text match.
- A new checkbox in the Search Preferences dialog allows you to request a full-word match. When this box is checked, a hit must contain the query as a complete word, not embedded within a larger string.
Text Search Examples
Given the following records in a database:
- abc
- abcx
- xabc
- xabcx
- abc x
- x abc
- x abc x
Here is the table of hits:
query type full-word hits does not hit comments abc text off 1,2,5 3,4,6,7 anchored match text on 1,5 2,3,4,6,7 anchored match memo off 1-7 floating match memo on 1,5,6,7 2,3,4 floating match abc* text off 1,2,5 3,4,6,7 memo off no hits* text on 1,5 2,3,4,6,7 memo on no hits* *abc text off 1,3,6 2,4,5,7 memo off no hits* text on 1,6 2,3,4,5,7 memo on no hits* *abc* text off 1-7 memo off 1-7 text on 1,5,6,7 2,3,4 memo on 1,5,6,7 2,3,4 = abc text any 1 2-7 = abc memo any no hits* *These memo searches found no hits because this particular entry is stored in rich-text format. For example, "abc" is stored as:
{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0\deflang1033{\fonttbl{\f0\fnil\fprq2\fcharset0 MS Sans Serif;}}
\viewkind4\uc1\pard\f0\fs15 abc
\par }Note: you can see the raw (rich-text) data by exporting records to SDFile and examining it in Notepad.
When you draw a reaction, you typically draw two or more molecules, at least one arrow, maybe some plus signs, and you expect the program to figure out which molecules are reactants and which are products. ChemDraw and ChemFinder have different mechanisms for doing this, and the two methods can give different results. For example:
The correct interpretation of this reaction has three reactants and one product. Until recently ChemDraw thought it had two of each, and so did ChemFinder, and they both got it wrong in different ways. This has been a problem for E-Notebook, which uses the ChemFinder interpretation (via MolServer).
In ChemOffice 7.0.3, both programs still have their own mechanisms for doing the interpretation (we hope to correct this in 8.0) but both have been improved. ChemDraw 7.0.3 considers any molecule under the arrow to be a reactant. Here is how ChemDraw interprets reactions:
arrowhead. Every fragment whose center is on one side of the line is a reactant; every fragment whose center is on the other side is a product. This works appropriately for non-horizontal arrows, too.Draw a line perpendicular to the arrow passing through the tip of the
ChemFinder 7.0.3 now uses ChemDraw's interpretation for one-step reactions. If you draw a reaction with exactly one arrow, then ChemFinder takes the reactant and product info from the ChemDraw structure delivered to it. In other cases (multiple arrows, inability to interpret), ChemFinder uses its own interpretation scheme as usual.
Note sneaky trick: if you are curious, you can compare how the two programs interpret the same reaction. Draw it with a single arrow and bring it into ChemFinder. If you are using ChemFinder-style display, you will see how ChemDraw interpreted the reaction -- it becomes a linear sequence, A + B + C -> D. If you want to see how ChemFinder would have interpreted it, go back and add a second arrow.
Note: If you are using ChemDraw-style display, you will see the reaction exactly as you drew it. The same is true if you double-click to edit in ChemDraw --- the original is what you edit, regardless of your display choice in ChemFinder.
In ChemFinder 7.0.3, we haveaddressed a major inconvenience for form builder, the inability to set text properties over multiple form boxes. Previously, the Text menu and Text Format toolbar were available only when editing a memo field in a rich text box. To set the font for a regular data box, you had to bring up Box Properties and click the Font button, and this had to be done individually for every box.
In 7.0.3, the Text menu and toolbar are now available:
- When you are editing a memo field in a rich text box, as before. In this case, font changes apply only to the current selection within the text.
- When you are editing in a regular data (or structure) box. Font changes apply to the entire contents of the box.
- When you are in form edit mode, with the selection tool active, and one or more boxes are selected. Font changes apply to all selected boxes (except frames around data boxes). The illustration shows this case:
Text format applied to selected boxes
In all these situations, the toolbar shows the current font(s) of the selection, and any changes you make apply to the entire selection. Most changes are multi-level undoable (the exception is when you are working in a rich text box, undo is only one level deep).
In ChemFinder 7, we added the ability to display subform data in Table View, but the feature was controlled by an unintuitive general preference called "Export subform data." In 7.0.3, we no longer consult this preference; instead, we have added a checkbox to the Subform Properties tab, "Show in table view." Check this box to have a given subform displayed (in condensed format), as shown here:
Each subform can be marked independently, and the settings are saved in the formfile.
Form builders have requested that framed data boxes be easier to create. This is fixed in 7.0.3 as follows: when you right-click on a databox and choose a fieldname from the drop-down list, then if the box has a frame, the frame label is automatically changed to display the fieldname.
To create a new framed box showing a given data type:
Activate the Framed Box tool.
Draw a framed box on the form.
When prompted to add "label" to the frame, just click OK or press Enter.
Right-click in the center of the data box, and select a field from the drop-down list. (This assumes you have already opened a database.)
The label changes from "label" to the chosen fieldname. (To change it to something else, right-click on it and choose Label or Properties.)
Note: changing the field in any other way, such as in Box Properties, does not automatically update the label. This works only when you choose a fieldname from the drop-down list.
