PerfectTablePlan v3.0.2

This release adds a lot of new features to v2 and fixes a few bugs in v3.0.1. You will require a version 3 licence key to unlock the full functionality.

We recommend you only upgrade from v3.0.1 to v3.0.2 only if you have had problems with either of the following bugs:

• random captialisation of letters typed in (Windows only)
• crashes when changing tables from one shape to another (Windows and MacOSX)

We recommend that you back-up any important plan files before installing any new release.

The download links are at the bottom of the page.

Backward/forward compatibility

3.0.2 can read plan (.tp) files saved by any earlier version of PerfectTablePlan.

Reading 3.0.2 plans into versions of the software before 3.0.0 may lose some data (e.g. relating to stationery).

v3 and v2 can be installed in the same “Program files” folder on the same PC. If you uninstall v2 from Windows after installing v3 it may remove file associations (i.e. for the .tp file). You can fix this by reinstalling v3 or manually re-setting the file associations.

System requirements

PerfectTablePlan runs on Windows 98 or later and MacOSX 10.3.9 or later. It has been successfully tested on the new Windows Vista operating system. More detailed system requirements are here.

Enhancements

The following enhancements have been made since version 2.1.5:

Windows and Macintosh

1. The Stationery pane has been added. This allows you to easily create place cards, invitations, address labels, thankyou letters etc from your table plan data. [Added in 3.0.0]

2. The Import data window has been simplified and extended. Some common import file formats are now available through the File type drop-down list. [Added in 3.0.0]

3. Previously the title, first name and last name of guests had to be supplied in separate fields of an input file, e.g. “Mr, John, Smith”. Now PerfectTablePlan will try to intelligently set the title, first name and last name fields from a single full name field, e.g. “Mr John Smith”, if that is all that is available. [Added in 3.0.0]

4. PerfectTablePlan can now handle multiple guests stored in a single line of an import file. It will attempt to intelligently create these as multiple guests in one group. For example it can handle all of the following:

5. The number of additional guests accompanying a named guest can now be imported. [Added in 3.0.0]

Mr Smith has 2 (unnamed) guests

6. The Import data window now sets a sensible default value for the number of header records to ignore. [Added in 3.0.0]

7. A data file to import can now be specified on the command line. For example:

tableplanner_3_0_0.exe -import export.csv -import_type theknot

See ‘Integrating PerfectTablePlan’ in the help for more details. [Added in 3.0.0]

8. The VIP status of a guest can now be imported and exported. [Added in 3.0.0]

9. Guests titles appearing in the Title drop-down can now be configured in the Preferences window. These titles are shared between all plans on a given PC/Mac. This can be very useful for adding non-English titles, military ranks, masonic titles etc. You can also set a default gender, age and VIP status for each title and specify the default titles to use for couples. The titles are also used to make guest import more intelligent. [Added in 3.0.0]

10. Proximities can now by displayed one group at a time in the Proximity pane. If you select by group+ you can view a group and all the guest who have a non-neutral proximity to one or more guests in the group. If assignable guests only is checked only guests who can be assigned to seats (due to their RSVP and locked status) will be displayed. [Added in 3.0.0]

11. Proximities are now updated in the Proximity pane as soon as they are selected from the drop-down list (previously you had to then click on another cell). [Added in 3.0.0]

12. The Guests, Groups and Schematic panes can now be set to drag and drop or edit modes. Edit mode allows you to easily change the properties of item without opening a Properties window. Drag and drop mode allows you to drag and drop items without accidentally editing them. [Added in 3.0.0]

13. The Guest chart and Table chart panes can now optionally display a group per line (as an alternative to a guest per line). [Added in 3.0.0]

14. Tables can now be sorted alphabetically in the Table order window. The sort is intelligent enough to place ‘table 2’ before ‘table 10’ (even though ‘table 10’ comes first in a strictly alphabetical ordering). [Added in 3.0.0]

15. A whole table can now be unassigned in a single operation using Edit|Unassign or the equivalent context menu. [Added in 3.0.0]

16. ‘banquet table’ has been added as an additional table type for convenience. A banquet table is equivalent to a rectangular table with 0 seats along 2 sides. [Added in 3.0.0]

17. Some information on table shapes, sizes and numbers is now included in the Statistics pane. [Added in 3.0.0]

18. The number of attendees and budget can now be estimated in the Numbers and budget window. Minimum, average and maximum numbers of guests and costs are calculated from their RSVP status and associated chance of attending. The Information window has been simplified accordingly. [Added in 3.0.0]

19. Tables can now be separately coloured in the Floor plan and Table plan panes. [Added in 3.0.0]

20. Guests can now be displayed by first name and the initials of their last name in the Floor plan, Table plan, Schematic, Table Chart and Guest chart panes. [Added in 3.0.0]

21. The Special req. field is now a drop-down list instead of an edit box. This allows previously entered special requirements to be selected, instead of re-typing them. [Added in 3.0.0]

22. The guest Meal, Special req or Notes can be displayed instead of their name in the Floor plan and Table plan panes. [Added in 3.0.0]

23. The Table plan legend header can now be shown or hidden using the header check box. [Added in 3.0.0]

24. Tables names can now optionally be hidden in the Guest chart pane. [Added in 3.0.0]

25. The tooltip shown when hovering over a table in the Floor plan or Table plan panes now has more details. [Added in 3.0.0]

26. PerfectTablePlan now remembers the main window size and position when the application is exited and restores them when the application is re-started. [Added in 3.0.0]

27. PerfectTablePlan now remembers which panes are at the front when a plan is saved, e.g. whether the Guests or Groups pane was displayed, and restores them when the plan is re-loaded. [Added in 3.0.0]

28. PerfectTablePlan now remembers the folder you open/save plans in between sessions. [Added in 3.0.0]

29. The group a guest belongs to can now be changed by selecting Edit|Change group. Changing group by dragging and dropping in the Groups pane is still available. [Added in 3.0.0]

30. You can now find a guest seat in the Table plan pane by right clicking on the guest in the Guests or Groups pane and selecting Show guest seat. Previously this only worked for the Floor plan and Schematic panes. [Added in 3.0.0]

31. The Floor plan pane can now be printed across multiple pages. [Added in 3.0.0]

32. The Print window has been re-written, including improved control over scaling, Horizontal fine adjust and Vertical fine adjust controls and improved multi-page navigation. The fine adjust controls can be used to ensure that multi-page prints are correctly paginated (e.g. a line of text does not get split by a page boundary). [Added in 3.0.0]

33. Titles and footers for the Guest chart and Table chart panes can now be set in the panes (rather than in the Print window). [Added in 3.0.0]

34. The user interface for importing and exporting has been simplified. [Added in 3.0.0]

35. Technical support can now be emailed from Help|Technical support. [Added in 3.0.0]

36. The online help is now also shipped in PDF format. [Added in 3.0.0]

37. Guests can be added to and removed from the Insert family and Insert group windows using the Insert guest and Delete guest buttons. [Added in 3.0.0]

38. You can now select Edit|Unassign for a group of guests where some of them are locked or unassigned. Only the guests who are unlocked and assigned will be unassigned. [Added in 3.0.0]

39. A Stamp button is now available for adding time and date stamps to Notes in the Guest properties, Group properties or Table properties windows. [Added in 3.0.0]

40. The Guest properties, Group properties and Table properties windows now prompt the user if edits will be lost when the Cancel button is clicked. [Added in 3.0.0]

41. You can now select Help|Check for updates to find out if you are using the latest version of PerfectTablePlan. [Added in 3.0.0]

42. Guests who could be seated (e.g. not locked without a seat and RSVP=Accepted) but aren’t, are now penalised -100 by the automatic seat assignment. This ensures that all possible guests are seated, unless they are really unpopular! [Added in 3.0.0]

43. Performance improvements to the automatic seat assignment. The improvements are most pronounced for plans with large numbers of tables. [Added in 3.0.1]

44. Performance improvements to Edit|RSVP, Edit|Unassign and Edit|Locked. The improvements are most pronounced for plans with large numbers of guests. [Added in 3.0.1]

45. Added information about the number of Assigned guests to the Status bar and Insert table window. [Added in 3.0.1]

46. Improved the user interface of the new Numbers and Budget window. [Added in 3.0.1]

47. Added {group_tables} substitution text. Its use is illustrated in the new escort card stationery samples. [Added in 3.0.1]

48. Some changes to keyboard accelerators. [Added in 3.0.1]

49. Many other minor improvements.

Windows only

1. Some changes have been made to the installation and set-up for compatibility with Windows Vista. In particular plan (.tp) files are now stored by default in My Documents\tablesplans rather than c:\program files\perfecttableplan\plans. [Added in 3.0.0]

2. PerfectTablePlan is now attempts to exit gracefully when there are insufficient system resources for it to run. [Added in 3.0.0]

Macintosh only

1. Some improvements have been made to the Macintosh Aqua ‘look and feel’ of PerfectTablePlan. [Added in 3.0.0]

Bug fixes

The following bug fixes have been made since version 2.1.5 (NB/ bugs introduced in the 3.0.0 beta and fixed in 3.0.1 are not listed):

Windows and Macintosh

1. When dragging a vCard file (e.g. from Apple AddressBook or Microsoft Outlook) PerfectTablePlan is no longer confused by ‘.’ characters in the name, e.g. “Mr. Smith”. [Fixed in 3.0.0]

2. Fixed an occasional crash in the automatic layout related to VIP tables and locking. [Fixed in 3.0.0]

3. Fixed left margin of Proximity pane becoming too large for very long guest names. [Fixed in 3.0.0]

4. Fixed bug exporting formal names from File|Export|Guest data (it sometimes only exported the first name of a group). [Fixed in 3.0.0]

5. Fixed bug that caused tables clicked in the Table plan pane to sometimes be moved to the top-left of Floor plan pane. [Fixed in 3.0.0]

6. Fixed bug that caused fred’s guest to be capitalised as Fred’S Guest. [Fixed in 3.0.0]

7. Fixed printing problems that sometime causes unecessary blank pages to be output. [Fixed in 3.0.0]

8. The Print preview is now more accurate (although it can’t be guaranteed to be exactly the same as what the printer will produce). [Fixed in 3.0.0]

9. The Statistics pane defaults to one page wide at 100% size. [Fixed in 3.0.1]

10. The seat assignment score is now updated when new guests are added. [Fixed in 3.0.2]

11. A crash that occurred sometimes when changing an existing table to a custom table has been fixed. [Fixed in 3.0.2]

12. Other minor bug fixes.

Windows only

1. A bug that causes text to be rAndoMLy CaPiTalised on some PCs has been fixed. [Fixed in 3.0.2]

Macintosh only

1. The / (slash) character is no longer permitted when saving plan file names. [Fixed in 3.0.0]

Known issues

The following are known issues in version 3.0.2:

Windows and Macintosh

1. In version 2 it was possible to add headers and footers in the Print window. This approach didn’t work well and has been removed. Headers and footers can now be added ‘properly’ in the Table chart and Guest chart panes. We haven’t yet been able to add headers and footers for the Floor plan and Table plan panes. This is currently planned for version 3.1.

Windows only

1. If you uninstall version 2 after installing version 3 it may remove the associations between PerfectTablePlan and .tp files and remove the themes data file. You can fix this by re-installing version 3 again. This shouldn’t affect your plan files, but you should back-up important plan files first anyway.

Installation and use

 Windows

Download PerfectTablePlan_3_0_2.exe for Windows 98/98SE/2000/ME/XP/Vista (5.2 MB)

1. If you are already running PerfectTablePlan, close the application now.
2. Ensure that you are logged on to Windows with Administrator or Power User privileges, otherwise you won’t be able to install software.
3. Right-click on the link above and select Save Target As... (IE), Save Link As... (FireFox) or Save Link Target As... (Netscape).
4. Select a convenient location on your PC to download the file to (e.g. the desktop).
5. When the file has finished downloading on to your PC, double-click on the PerfectTablePlan_3_0_2.exe file to install it. If a Do you want to run this file? window is displayed click Run.
6. Follow the installer instructions. We recommend installing the software into the same folder as any previous versions (usually C:\Program Files\PerfectTablePlan). If you have any problems with the installation please consult the Windows installer troubleshooting page.
7. To run the new version double-click on the shortcut (optionally) added to the Windows Desktop or select the shortcut added to the Windows Start menu.

If you want more help read our step-by-step instructions for download, installation and start-up.

This installation does not overwrite earlier versions, which will still be available until uninstalled through Start|Control Panel|Add or remove programs.

 Macintosh

Download PerfectTablePlan_3_0_2.dmg for MacOSX 10.3.9 or later (6.2 MB)

1. If you are already running PerfectTablePlan, quit it now.
2. Click on the link above, the disk image file should start downloading.
3. If the warning “PerfectTablePlan_3_0_2.dmg” contains an application appears, click on Continue.
4. Click on the Agree button of the licence agreement widow to continue.
5. A PerfectTablePlan_3_0_2 image should now have been downloaded (probably on to your MacOSX desktop). If it isn’t open already, double click on the downloaded image file to open it.
6. Drag PerfectTablePlan.app to your Applications folder (you can use the shortcut in the install folder). If you don’t want to overwrite an existing PerfectTablePlan.app then rename it or move it to another folder. 
7. The Samples folder contains some sample table plans. Optionally copy them to your Documents folder (you can use the shortcut in the install folder).
8. To run the new version double-click on the PerfectTablePlan.app icon in the Applications folder (or wherever you installed it to).
9. If you have any problems please consult the MacOSX troubleshooting page in the first instance.

Support

Please notify any bugs or problems in as much detail as possible to support.