Dalby Source Printer v2.11 - by Dalby Data

Posted September 1 1998

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An indispensable tool?

Here's a little $39 gem that could be, well, indispensable. The Dalby Source Printer does what you've always wanted to be able to do-- print. Let me explain that. I often have the need to print some of my source code. Typically I need to print one or more embeds. Sometimes my embeds have source code that is very long and some of what I print gets truncated. So what do I do? I print landscape. I turn it on its side and try again, and it works -- sometimes. But sometimes I wish there were a tool that would just make it easy. Enter Dalby Source Printer (DSP).

Installation

I began by running the EXE I had received. This install program worked flawlessly. It created a group that included the program, a help file, a request for suggestions document, and finally, a link to the Dalby web page.

Getting started

If you are like me, you want to dive right in. So I did just that. The DSP program looked deceptively simple. There are only three buttons. One to open a file; the print button; and a help button. In addition to the Standard menu items (File, Window, Help) there are choices for Setup and Print mode.

I decided to use the Dalby product to help me solve a problem with one of my applications. I have a process that has a lot of calculations built into the activity for next record embed. I also have a form where I have to run the same calculations as I update individual fields. While I was convinced the two were identical I was getting different results from each. This was a perfect test for the Dalby Source Printer.

There are two modes of operation for the Dalby source printer. Click on file and you will find that you can either open (file) or open project. Understanding the difference helps you understand the power of this simple utility. Open project allows you to open the 'project name.clw' file. Once opened you can print any or all source code from your project. I chose the open file option because I only had two procedures I wanted to work with.

I began by examining the menu option print mode. I found two options interesting. The first would print full source code for the procedure. This mode works procedure-by-procedure, so first I chose my process and from the print mode option selected the second option window/reports and embeds. I then pressed the print button and waited to see the results.

The results were wonderful. Using 7-point Arial type (which DSP allows you to change) I received a lovely three page report. A highlighted heading named: the report, the directory from which it was printed, and a page number. The highlighted footer showed: the modified date and time for the file, as well as the date and time of the printing. At the top of the first page was the source code for the progress window. Then there was a highlight for each embed used. The first in my case was activity for each record. Following the highlight was a nicely formatted print out of my source code (with my comments). Each embed followed the same pattern. Very nice!

I closed that procedure and opened the next (later I noticed that I could have had up to 12 files open at the same time). This second file (my form procedure) printed equally nicely. Now I could sit down, at my leisure, and look for my mistakes. I did notice one DSP error (a minor one). If your source code line is too long DSP nicely wraps the text. However if the line that is too long is the last line on a page then DSP wraps the line onto the footer, making it hard to read.

While I was at it I took a look at the Open Project option. This option has a layout that looks very similar to the open file layout. The top half of the screen shows all of the files in the project. The bottom half shows all procedures in the project. When you click on open for any procedure you now have a window divided in half just like you would have had if you chose the open file option. It seems to me that for Clarion for Windows projects you'll probably be using the Open Project choice unless your application is all hand coded in which case perhaps the Open (file) option would be preferred.

A more detailed look at DSP

Let's take a better look at Dalby Source Printer. You can download the product from the DSP website: http://home3.inet.tele.dk/dalbydat . What you can download is the shareware version installation program. On receipt of payment Søren Dalby will send you a registration file which removes the annoying messages that appear in the shareware version and automatically upgrades the product to the full version.

Documentation

Documentation is in the form of a help file. For most products I downgrade the rating if there isn't documentation separate from the help file. However this is the exception that proves the rule. The product is so easy to use that the help file is really all you need. There is one minor deficiency in it but more on that later.

[Review Editor's Note: At press time, Dalby Data informed me of an undocumented feature whereby DSP can be invoked from the command line. It will print whatever filenames are passed to it and then automatically shut down. This feature also supports being passed a 'master' file - a file that just contains a list of other source files to print. An additional capability not really highlighted in the help is a feature that will print only those files that have been changed since the last printout.]

Modes of Operation

As I previously indicated there are two modes of operation for this product. Lets look at each.

Project Mode

Here is the project mode screen showing a project I was working on.

This mode shows a window that is horizontally divided in two. The top half is labeled List of files in project and shows each filename included in the project. Notice the first file name (FILEUPG.CLI). This effectively illustrates that it includes all project source files not just those with CLW extensions. To the right of the file names are the file dates but of most interest is the information found immediately below the top half.

You see an entry field labeled filter and two buttons: Edit and Open. Suppose you wanted to see a list of files that had the extension CLI. You could type this into the filter. The Edit button allows you to open the default editor so you can edit the file, and the print button allows you to print selected files. (Yes, you may highlight those files you want to print.)

The bottom half shows the procedures in your app. This should make it quite easy to examine your procedures, since you probably know their names but might not know the names of the corresponding CLW files. Again, Filter, Edit, and Print serve the same functions as above.

File Mode

The file mode screen looks just like the project mode screen, except the top half is labeled List of Embed points and the bottom half is labeled List of Units. By the way, DSP defines a 'unit' as a set of lines that are logically connected, such as procedures, functions, routines, classes, and many other structures. So you might open a project, then double-click on a file, thereby opening a file mode window, which would then show you the various used embeds and the various included procedures, functions, routines, etc.

This means you can print a whole project (every file), one or more individual files, one or more individual embeds, or one or more individual routines (units). Very nicely done!

Configuring your preferences

As I previously said there are two menu options of interest. These are Setup and Print mode. Setup has two options: Printout and Window font. The Window font option lets you choose the screen font. While nice, the Printout option is much more interesting. Let's take a look

From this screen you see that you can set the following options:

• General printing settings - portrait or landscape plus the possibility of printing multiple columns and some additional details.
• Syntax highlighting - where you define whether built-in functions are italic or bold, whether comments are italic or bold, etc. and, for each category, what color is to be used.
• Options - where you can cause long lines to be wrapped; embeds be emphasized, etc.

You can even ask for a binding area to be left for hole punching if you're planning on putting the listings in a binder.

You can see what I meant by a deceptively simple program.

Room for improvement

By now I'm sure you know I like the program. It has a simple elegance. The price is right and best of all it doesn't require sitting around reading manuals. Well, almost...

Earlier, I said that there was a deficiency in the documentation. There's one thing not clearly stated in the documentation that you need to know before you first try to use the product. This involves a compile option for your project that you must set for you to get the most out of DSP.

• Clarion 4 -Go to the Setup|Application option. Select the Generation Tab and make sure that the Enable embed commenting checkbox is selected. Do not confuse this with the embed options on the Editor tab, which is something else.
• Clarion 2 -In the project window, press the Global button. Select the General tab (default) and make sure that the Generate EMBED Comments checkbox is selected.
• Then compile your app

This is taken directly from the DSP help. However, you need to know about it to know you want to do this. It would be better if this information were included in a read me file that popped-up during installation so that you would immediately be aware of it. If you don't do this, DSP will not be able to detect embed points.

The second suggestion is that it would be nice if there were one more button so that you could open project as well as open file. Using the current button to open the projectname.clw file will cause an unsatisfactory experience. But frankly both of these are minor blemishes on an otherwise absolutely wonderful product!

Tech Support

Tech support is via email and while Søren Dalby lives in Denmark I found his ability to respond remarkable. I had one or two questions that were answered shortly after I sent an email. I do wonder if Søren sleeps much. You probably will find little need to ask for help but its still nice to know it is quickly available.

The ratings

Its almost easier to rate a product with lots of negative features but here goes.

Category	Product Score
Ability to do the task	Excellent
Ease of use	Very Good
Ease of Installation	Excellent
Documentation	Good
Technical Support	Excellent
Modifies Shipping Templates	No
Black-Box DLLs/LIBs	No*

* DSP is a standalone utility program, not a LIB or DLL. Source code is not included.

Vendor comments from Dalby Data

Since Dalby Source Printer for Clarion 1.00 was released last summer, a continuous flow of releases has been shipped to registered customers without extra charge. The tool has a small group of enthusiastic hard-core users and it has been in order to meet their requirements that the tool has been improved, even though the commercial success has failed to appear. DSP is being improved continuously and is now being ported to a 95/NT version. The future of DSP may point in different directions. While an ability to print template-code, dictionary contents and painting the layout of windows in the 'Print Windows and embeds' are natural extensions to the existing product, the future may also include the ability to gain a general view of a Clarion project in other ways than printing. With the project feature I began to move the product towards the Clarion Explorer that I envision could emerge from DSP. User input will decide which road to take.

The Dalby Source Printer v2.11 costs US$ 39. The fully functional shareware version can be downloaded from http://home3.inet.tele.dk/dalbydat, and can be registered there or by phone. US customers can call 1-800-903-4152, available 24 hours a day. European orders can be placed via phone at +49 221 2407279. Payment can also be made using any major credit card via the Dalby internet site using a secure transaction.

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