Recent changes to STARS for Windows

Until now, all previous versions of STARS for Windows were written in Visual Basic 4.0 as a 16-bit application. Starting with version 2.00, STARS is a Visual Basic 6.0 32-bit application. The switch to 32-bit eliminates our support for Windows 3.1 and below. From this version forward, STARS can only be installed and run on Windows 95 and later. If any of the computers in your office or network are (still) running Windows 3.1, you must use version 1.0xx on all workstations for data integrity and compatibility. If you decide to upgrade to STARS version 2.xx, we recommend that you also purchase and install Access 2000 so that you can create add-on reports and queries and use Access's database utilities as necessary.

2.19 -- 2003/11/10

Version 2.19 corrects a printing problem with the CommLog in which page breaks were not always formatting properly.
The "Received How" check box on the Incident Report did not always print the X in the correct box until this version.
The 2003/11/10 update fixes a problem in which no more than 9 traffic citations could be printed for an individual.

2.18 -- 2002/07/07

Version 2.18 fixes a numbering problem in the Desk Journal. In STARS version 2.17, the numbering of the Desk Journal did not sequence properly between page breaks.
Per new instructions from NCIS, an ICR's Date Submitted field is intended to indicate the date on which the final version of your Incident Report is submitted to your legal department or to the FBI. Therefore, starting with this version of STARS, when an Incident Report has a Date Submitted entry which is prior to today's date, then the Incident Report cannot be edited by anyone except for the Admin user or a member of the Admins group. Note: This program change may require you to change your security department's procedures. Do not use the Date Submitted field to indicate when an Incident Report is submitted to your supervisor for review.
This version also introduces new options in the export tools for CommLog and Desk Journal: Export to webSTARS file format. When you go to the CL and DJ export tools, you'll see a new check box. This is an option that will be useful for those commands that use both webSTARS and winSTARS in the PacNorWest region. Later, this webSTARS export function will be used throughout all U.S.Navy commands. In the event that your connectivity to webSTARS is lost, either as a matter of routine (ships at sea, mobile data gathering devices, etc) or a matter of circumstance (weather, terrorism, etc.) you will need to switch from using webSTARS to using winSTARS. While using winSTARS, you will be able to make entries into your CommLog or Desk Journal. When intranet connectivity is restored, you will use this export function to create a text file that can be imported into your webSTARS data. In later releases of winSTARS, we will include similar winSTARS->webSTARS export functions for the ICR and Pass & ID data.

2.17 -- 2002/05/04

Version 2.17 enables a new feature in the control of the CommLog and the Desk Journal. On the configuration form found under Configure / Program Defaults / CommLog and Desk Journal Defaults, there is a new check box labelled Prevent changes to CL and DJ date/time? Check this box to prevent users from editing the date and time fields in your CommLogs and Desk Journals. This will ensure that entries in your CommLog and Desk Journal are never backdated or entered out of sequence. The default value for this configuration option is unchecked, which means that if you install version 2.17 and don't need this feature, then you won't notice any change in STARS's functionality over version 2.16.
Version 2.17 also fixes a minor bug in the printing of the Desk Journal. Previously, if a user did not have edit rights to the Desk Journal, he could not always print the Entry numbers on the Desk Journal properly. This problem has been fixed so that users without Desk Journal edit rights will see the Entry numbers on their printed journals.

2.16 update -- 2001/12/01

This update corrects a problem related to the printing of the Arrestee info on the top of the fourth page of the Incident Report.

2.16 -- 2001/07/19

Version 2.16 corrects a bug in the printing of the CommLog. Prior versions did not allow the From/To query within the CommLog print function to work properly.
The Incident Report form has been officially renumbered from OPNAV 5527 to OPNAV 5580. The form number at the bottom of all the Incident Report forms has been revised.

2.15 -- 2001/07/04

Version 2.15 corrects a bug in the Incident Report. Starting with this version, when an Incident Report has a Date Submitted entry which is prior to today's date, then the Incident Report cannot be edited except by the Admin user or a member of the Admins group.

2.14 update -- 2001/05/18

Added validity check on Incident Number to ensure uniqueness for Initial report.

2.14 update -- 2001/03/23

Expanded the maximum limit on the record ID numbers within the ICR modules. There is no longer any limitation on the value of IncidID field in tblICR or any of its related subtables. This program modification is minor. Thus, we have not changed the version number of STARS. To make use of this update, just download and unzip the Quick Update file for version 2.14.

2.14 -- 2000/10/13

Fixed bug in ICR Reviewing Comments. Prior to this version the Reviewing Comments records did not always link properly to the specific ICR records to which they were associated.

2.13 -- 2000/07/17

Reworked Desk Journal Search function, which was not working properly in earlier versions.
Adjusted the ICR Suspect Description form (the yellow one with all the check boxes) so as to center properly independent of screen settings.
Fixed bug in ICR Complainant detail, in which the complainant's middle name was being copied to the Branch of Service 'Other' field if the Other box was checked. (2000/09/27)

2.12 -- 2000/07/10

Process for inputting Traffic and Parking citations has been redesigned to allow for wider range of user actions, to ensure that citation data is saved properly.

2.11 -- 2000/06/29

Now data is saved by clicking the “OK” button or “Xing” out the window.
Corrected color and make of vehicle appearing in the wrong field.
Sort order of ICR’s upon initial opening of form is now descending.
Corrected Offense Detail where alcohol was being saved as Drugs/narcotics.

2.10 -- 2000/06/20

Correcting the record locking function within the table Personnel was our primary focus in this revision.

2.099 -- 2000/06/02

An increase in speed was our primary goal in this release. Now with ADO 2.5 STARS is faster.
Enabled relationship between victim and suspects.
Added pop-up to tell user when spell check is finished.
Fixed offense detail error.
Now multiple ICR windows are not possible. (Previously a click on the ICR button would open a new window.)
US & possessions prints in correct block on form.
In the Personnel table the Enter key will now move cursor between city and state.
Cleaned contaminated data from Quick Text which was causing erratic printing behavior.

2.08 -- 2000/04/05

Modified the default sort order of ICR records so as to be always in descending order by year and incident number.
Enlarged the column width of the offense description on the case control screen.
Removed the OK/Cancel buttons on ICR form and subforms such that now, when the user closes the form, all data is saved automatically.
Modified the functionality of the subtable grids so that data entered will be consistently saved -- no matter what the user does.
Enabled the US & Possessions check box so that it retains data.
Cleaned up a dataSuspect control that appeared intermittently on ICR data entry form.
Fixed alignment problem in Suspect/Arrestee Description page (Dress, Speech, Demeanor and Hands blocks)
Corrected formatting problems with ICR Reviewing Comments module to include comment author and date.

2.07 -- 2000/03/14

In this version, the Incident Report prints the incident number properly on pages 2, 3 and 4. Also, a problem reported by NS Ingleside with entering data on the property sheet has been corrected.

2.03-2.06 -- 2000/03/01

These intermediate versions were test versions in which different printer API calls were used in order to find universal solutions to problems with printing the Incident Report correctly on all printers.

2.02 -- 2000/01/25

Version 2.02 fixes a sorting problem in which the ICR case control screen was not resorting itself correctly by incident number when the user clicked on the column header labeled Incident #.

2.01 -- 2000/01/24

Version 2.01 corrects a bug in assigning permission rights to users. In version 2.00 it was not possible to create a "custom" permission group with tightly limited rights, such as a group of users having view only persmission rights for a single module.

2.00 -- 1999/12/15

Version 2.00 is the first version of STARS to use an Access 2000 compatible database. Prior to this release, the STARSDB.MDB file which stored all the STARS data was an Access 2.0 file. From this version forward, you can now use Access 2000 to perform maintenance functions on STARS's database tables.
Because of all the changes involved in this new release, we anticipate that there may be problems installing and running 2.00 due to installation and configuration glitches. Do not use this version with live data until you have verified that all of the workstations that are to use STARS can successfully SETUP and run the program. If you encounter any errors during SETUP or start up, please notify us via email of any errors or problems.