Asprova Ver.18.2
Ver.18.2 Release date: September 18, 2026
Ver.18.2 adds the following features.
- 1. Online license authentication support for NLS/DS –You can use NLS/DS without issuing a protector
- 2. Reported sub resource / User specified sub resource –Sub resources can also be assigned according to results and specifications
- 3. Combination group expression –Speeds up worker assignment
- 4. Resolution of cases where file import/export partially fails –Changed the timing of opening files during file import and export
- 5. Object combo box sort expression –You can set the sort order of the pull-down list
- 6. Time chart left part text color expression –You can set the text color of the left part of the chart (resources, orders, etc.) by expression
- 7. Selectable white outline rendering method for chart bar text –You can customize the white outline of text to your preference
- 8. Use MERGE/UPSERT command –Prevents INSERT/UPDATE failures during differential export
- 9. MySQL bulk export support –Enables faster OLE DB export
Users running a version earlier than Ver.18.2 must have a maintenance contract in order to use the “Version Restriction Function”.
1. Online license authentication support for NLS/DS
When using NLS/DS, online license authentication for NLS/DS itself is now supported.
When NLS/DS starts, it obtains multiple sublicenses in bulk from Asprova’s online license server, and each user can log in to NLS/DS as before and use Asprova.
USB Protector and e-Protector only support some execution environments, but with online license authentication, you can use any environment as long as the Internet is available.
The Centralized management option is required to use online license authentication for NLS/DS.
For how to use it, please see Chapter 7 of the NLS Manual.
For guidance on choosing a license authentication method, please see the Guide to choosing a license authentication method.
2. Reported sub resource / User specified sub resource (Version restriction function)
Until now, resources that could be fixed by results or user specification were limited to the main resource (Reported main resource / User specified main resource), and sub resources were automatically selected from master candidates. In the field, operations are sometimes carried out on a different sub resource (such as a worker) than planned, and there was a request to reassign to that sub resource even after results are imported.
In Ver.18.2, the following properties were added to operations.
- Reported sub resource … Specifies the sub resource that carried out the operation as results. Applied when assigning result operations such as Frozen, Started, and Completed.
- User specified sub resource … Specifies the sub resource to which you want to assign at planning time. Narrows resource candidates during normal assignment.
Input examples:
- S1,Worker A … Fixes the sub resource of instruction code S1 to Worker A
- ,Worker A … Fixes all sub resource instructions to Worker A
- S1,Worker A;S2,Worker B … Specifies a different sub resource for each instruction
This feature is a Ver.18.2 version restriction function.
3. Combination group expression (Version restriction function)
When an operation has multiple sub resources, resource candidates for master use instructions by master may overlap. For example, a work is performed by 5 different workers out of 12 workers.
Previously, Asprova could not search with combinations taken into account, so it also explored duplicates and combinations that become identical when swapped. For this reason, existing versions either required a long reschedule time or could only produce a compromised plan using the Maximum number of resource candidates.
In this feature addition, a new property “Combination group expression” was added to the process class. You can display it by configuring the display columns of the Integrated Master, or by navigating Master use instruction → Process.
This expression is evaluated for each master use instruction, and for master use instructions that return the same group number of 1 or greater, combinations of resource candidates such as {M,S0}={Person A, Person B} and {M,S0}={Person B, Person A} are treated as equivalent to make the search more efficient. If the expression is not set, or if the evaluation result is 0 or less, equivalency is not applied, as before.
When the group expression was set on the sample above, the number of combinations to search was reduced from 12^5 (=248832) to 12C5 (=792). Also, on another user’s data, reschedule time was shortened from 22 minutes 21 seconds to 1 minute 28 seconds.
For details on how to use it and how it interacts with other features such as Group Assign, please see the Help.
4. Resolution of cases where file import/export partially fails
When the data source type of a Data I/O object is “Text file” or “Text file(Unicode)”, the following problems occurred when importing, exporting, or synchronizing files.
1. The export destination file name could not be changed within the scheduling parameter
2. Files created midway through the scheduling parameter could not be imported
To resolve these problems, the timing of opening files was changed as follows.
Before Ver.18.2: At the start of scheduling parameter execution (reschedule), all files used within that scheduling parameter were opened together,
and they were closed together when execution was fully finished.
From Ver.18.2: For text files, each file is opened immediately before the command runs, and closed immediately after that command finishes.
●What this change resolves
Example 1: You can now change the export destination file name within the scheduling parameter
Perform the following steps.
1. Within the scheduling parameter, change the export destination file name (e.g., add the execution time to the name)
2. Write out with the export command
Previously, because files were opened at the start of the scheduling parameter, changing the file name after opening was not reflected, and data was written to the file with the name before the change.
From this version, because the file is opened immediately before the export command runs, data is correctly written under the new file name changed just beforehand.
Example 2: You can now import files created midway through the scheduling parameter
Perform the following steps.
1. Within the scheduling parameter, a command creates a text file (another export, shell execution, etc.)
2. A subsequent import command imports that file
Previously, because import target files were checked and opened at the start of the scheduling parameter, if the file did not exist at that time it was excluded from import targets
and was not imported even if created midway through the scheduling parameter.
From this version, because the file is opened immediately before the import command runs, files created midway through the scheduling parameter can also be imported correctly.
For details, please see the Help.
5. Object combo box sort expression
In object-reference cells such as the Item column of the Order table, you can select a value from the combo box pull-down list. You can now set the display order of objects in this pull-down list by expression.
It can be set from “Object combo box sort expression” in Property definition. You can set multiple pairs of a sort-key expression and ascending/descending order. If no expression is set, objects are displayed in ascending code order as before.
The following is an example of setting ascending order of FindNumberL(ME.Code,1) for the Item column of the Order table. Before the setting, Item 10 appears before Item 2 because of ascending code order; after the setting, items are ordered by the numeric value within the code in ascending order.
This feature is a Ver.18.2 version restriction function.
6. Time chart left part text color expression
In time charts such as the Resource Gantt chart and Order Gantt chart, you can now set the text color of the left part (vertical axis) by expression.
Until now, customization of the left part color was limited to the background color (left part color expression), and text was always displayed in black. From this version, you can set a text color expression for each row type. The settings are on the Table tab of the chart display settings, and the following properties have been added.
- Resource left part text color expression
- Item left part text color expression
- Order left part text color expression
- Operation left part text color expression
- Task left part text color expression
- Summary line left part text color expression
- Input Instruction left part text color expression
- Output Instruction left part text color expression
- Use Instruction left part text color expression
- Peg left part text color expression
- Pegged order left part text color expression
If no expression is set, text is displayed in black as before.
Combined with the left part color expression, you can make rows of interest stand out with both background and text.
This feature is a Ver.18.1 version restriction function.
7. Selectable white outline rendering method for chart bar text
From Ver.17.0, a white outline is drawn on bar text when the text is not black. However, depending on the combination of bar color, text color, and font,
there was feedback that text was hard to read with a white outline, so the rendering method can now be selected.
The “Bar text rendering method” property was added to the Bar tab of the Gantt chart display settings.
This allows you to change the white outline rendering method for text displayed on bars of the Resource Gantt chart, Order Gantt chart, and Operation Gantt chart.
You can select from the following rendering methods.
・Do not draw white outline on text
・Add white outline to text
・Add white outline to text (when text color is not black)
・Add translucent white outline to text
・Add translucent white outline to text (when text color is not black)
The default remains “Add white outline to text (when text color is not black)” as before.
* This setting affects screen display only. As before, white outlines are not shown in print results, so the printed appearance is unchanged.
8. Use MERGE/UPSERT command (Version restriction function)
For OLE DB differential export, it is no longer necessary to switch between INSERT and UPDATE depending on whether the record exists in the external database.
“Use MERGE/UPSERT command” was added to Data I/O. When set to “Yes”, new and modified data can be written with a single type of command, so export is less likely to fail even if Asprova and the external DB are out of sync.
It is valid only when the data source type is “OLE DB”. For details, please see the Help.
This feature is a Ver.18.2 version restriction function.
9. MySQL bulk export support
Bulk write for OLE DB export is now also available for MySQL / MariaDB (ODBC).
Previously, bulk export was supported for SQL Server, Oracle, PostgreSQL, and others, but from this version MySQL can also be written in bulk, so export time can be shortened when there are many records.