News from TopSpeed

by Danielle Guzzetta

Published 1997-09-01    Printer-friendly version

TopSpeed ODBC Driver Now Shipping

The TopSpeed ODBC driver (16- and 32-bit versions) for the TopSpeed file format is now shipping. For the first time, end users can access TopSpeed databases using database and reporting tools from other vendors. The TopSpeed ODBC driver works like any other ODBC driver. You or your end users set up the data source name using the ODBC administrator, and connect to it just like any other ODBC data source.

More and more, end users are getting sophisticated at sharing between applications, and users want access to data in custom applications. Sometimes, the need is for custom reporting that goes beyond basic reporting tools capabilities: such as pivot tables, scientific graphs, or complicated data warehousing/data modelling analyses. Other times, some simpler, one-shot tasks, such as data export to different platforms for use by service bureaus, or one time mail-merge use in a Microsoft Office Wizard, is more sensibly handled at the end user level rather than building various export procedures in the application. That is what the TopSpeed ODBC driver is for -- tasks that are more appropriately handled by the end user than a task that belongs in a program developed by a professional developer for the end user.

The TopSpeed ODBC driver is available now. Pricing is based on a "per user" basis. The price of the driver is $199 for an initial 5-pack, $299 for a 10-pack and $499 for a 20-pack. Call 800-354-5444 for pricing on higher volumes or to place an order. For orders outside the United States, contact your local distributor.

DevCon

You'll find all the information you need to make your decision to attend this year's event, just by visiting www.topspeed.com/dc-sched.htm. Once you see what TopSpeed has in store - General Sessions, Breakout Sessions and Post-Conference Seminars - you'll want to reserve your spot TODAY!

Contact DCI at:
Phone: (800) 767-2336
Phone: (508) 470-3880
Fax: (508) 470-0526
Email: ConfReg@dciexpo.com or see DCI online registration

Internet Connect To Ship August

Clarion Internet Connect -- TopSpeed's Internet Solution -- brings Internet-based, distributed, transactional database technology to businesses and business programmers of every size and ability.

Internet Connect, a single-source development tool for 16-bit, 32-bit Windows and the Web, allows database developers to create interactive, data-driven Web applications, in minutes, that can run inside a browser with a similar look and feel as the desktop version of the application. Design it once, use it anywhere. Other tools allow developers to reuse components, Clarion lets them reuse entire applications.

Clarion Internet Connect is a unique way to easily deploy real applications over the Web or Intranets, building far more complete solutions than competitive HTML authoring systems with script or applet add-ins. Developers are now able to quickly deploy full-featured applications on the next big platform: the Web.

Clarion Internet Connect is scheduled to ship in August. It is currently available in Beta. For further information or to place an order, please contact TopSpeed Sales at 800-354-5444, or your local distributor.

New Accessories

TopSpeed has added a number of accessories since the catalog was printed. The Clarion Accessories Program now includes more than 40 products, offering everything from word processing and e-mail, fax and serial communications to charting, help authoring, backup, and security utilities, and so much more. Save time and money and learn the benefits of these products on www.topspeed.com/accessor.htm.

TopSpeed's Clarion Products are Fully Millennium-Compliant

Clarion, since its inception, has always been millennium-compliant when it comes to four-digit-year dates, because dates in Clarion applications are most commonly stored in a form of Julian date known as a "Clarion Standard Date." A Clarion Standard Date is the number of days that have elapsed since December 28, 1800. The current range of accessible dates is from January 1, 1801 (standard date 4) to December 31, 2099 (standard date 109,211). Clarion Standard Dates automatically adjust for leap year.

Clarion Standard Dates also store two-digit-year dates. In order to be precise about the specific century at data entry time, a feature called "Intellidate" has been added to Clarion for Windows, release 2.0 (and above) and Clarion for DOS, release 3.102. Intellidate solves the Year 2000 problem by providing smooth rollover support for two-digit-year date data entry fields. With Intellidate, all two-digit-year date data entry fields, by default, assume that the correct century for the date entered is in the range of 20 years in the future to 80 years in the past (+20, -80). In other words, if the current system date on the computer is 02/20/1997 and the user enters "01/31/15" into the data entry field, the date is stored as 01/31/2015-if the user enters "01/31/87," the date is stored as 01/31/1987.

In addition to the standard default (+20, -80) setting, Intellidate is fully configurable on a per-entry-field basis to allow the developer to correctly store any two-digit-year dates within any 100-year range. The developer could, for example, specify 60 years in the future to 40 years in the past (+60, -40). Thus, when the end user types "05/01/40" Intellidate handles the date as 05/01/2040. Similarly, for "05/01/60" the program interprets the date as 05/01/1960. You can specify (+1, -99) to easily store birth dates, or (+99, -1) for lease expiration dates.

TopSpeed's Clarion products have always been four-digit-year compliant, and now with Intellidate support, all of TopSpeed's Clarion products are also two-digit-year compliant. In all cases, the actual data is stored as a Clarion Standard Date, and the year 2000 compliance issue only applies to data entry for dates that are entered with only two digits specified for the year.

Printer-friendly version

Copyright © 1999-2008 by CoveComm Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in any form without the express written consent of CoveComm Inc., except as described in the subscription agreement, is prohibited.

Clarion Magazine ISSN 1718-9942