New Features in Release 20.002

Last week, release 20.002 went online including two major new features:

1. A new data provider for Google Spreadsheets. Similar to our existing provider for Microsoft Excel, we now have a new way to directly connect to Google Spreadsheets data. Google Spreadsheets is a cloud spread sheet service that allows to enter or import data and run calculations on it.
   
   The new provider complements the Google Big Query provider we've released in version 20 and allows to easily bind directly to data in the Google cloud. If your file is published on the web (File > Publish to the web" in Google sheets) you can just use:
   
   

   var provider = new GoogleSpreadsheetsDataProvider("<Table ID>", true);
   LL.DataSource = provider;
   

   
   If the data is not published, you need to enable access via the Google Developers Console. Then, you can use the provider like this:
   
   

       
   var provider = new GoogleSpreadsheetsDataProvider("<Table ID>", true,
   "<refreshToken>", "<clientID>", "<clientSecret>");
   LL.DataSource = provider;
   

   
   The refresh token can be created with our token generator app that comes with List & Label.

2. Supporting PDF as field type. Also in 20.002, we've added a new field type "PDF". This enables easy drag and drop from the Variables-/Fields tree. No more hassle with choosing the correct path, using the correct object etc. Your application can now simply pass all PDFs that are to be available. A sample code would look like this:
   
   

       
   using (ListLabel LL = new ListLabel())
   {
         LL.DataSource = <Your Datasource>;
         LL.Variables.Add("Documents.GTC", @"c:\users\public\gtc.pdf",
             LlFieldType.PDF);
         LL.Variables.Add("Documents.Prospectus",
             @"c:\users\public\prospectus.pdf", LlFieldType.PDF);
         LL.Design();
   }
   

   
   Which gives you the following structure in the field tree:
   
   
   
   From there you can drag and drop the documents to the workspace directly. Also, the PDF object offers a new content mode:
   
   
   
   This makes it much easier for the end user to work with PDF content.
   
   
    

Author: Jochen Bartlau
Head of Development List & Label

Jochen Bartlau leads the development at combit as Managing Director. He's a Microsoft .NET enthusiast driving innovation & agile project management. The mobile devices geek who used to be a physicist in his first life loves to spend his spare time with his family.