Heard it through the Bit-vine - Notes and News about the products you use

by Tom Hebenstreit, Review Editor

Published 1998-10-01    Printer-friendly version

Heard it through the Bit-vine...

Notes and News about the products you use

By Tom Hebenstreit

Ok, back from DevCon and trying to catch up!

By the way, if you have never been to one of these affairs, let me strongly suggest you start saving your pennies and attend one. Lots of good information, some of the brightest minds in the Clarion world, and a whole lot of good company to boot. If you'd like to see some of the visual highlights (or lowlights, depending on your viewpoint), be sure to take a trip over to Troy "I wanna see my data" Sorzano's great CW SuperPage site. He had an amazing digital video camera that was causing severe gear-envy in every techno-weenie at the conference, and will be putting images (and even presentation materials from many speakers) up at the site as time allows. See what you missed! Http://www.cwsuperpage.com

C5EE Beta News

Well, the past month saw not only Beta 3 released, but Beta 4 as well. Lots of cool new stuff in the IDE, fixes, etc. The updates can be downloaded (sorry, no CD-Rom for these) from http://www.topspeed.com. Note that you must install Beta 3 before installing Beta 4 -- you cannot just install Beta 4 over Beta 2. Well, actually you can - it's just that nothing will work right after that...

VCS Installer Update

Just wanted to let everyone know who read last month's column on the problems installing the C5EE Version Control System, that Beta 3 (and up) have a new install which actually WORKS! Woohoo! Guess third time is the charm.

Can you keep a secret?

Bruce Barrington, CEO of TopSpeed gave a presentation he entitled 'Clarion Confidential'. During it, he detailed many of TopSpeed's plans for the future, categorizing them as 'Done Deal' (stuff that is happening soon), 'Under Construction' (stuff that is being worked on, no guarantee when it will appear), and 'Under Consideration' (stuff that they are thinking about, and may never appear).

He made everyone sign a non-disclosure agreement in blood (just kidding!!)... well, ok, he just asked that the info not be repeated outside the conference, but as your intrepid reporter, I'm going to spill the beans in a very general fashion. Indeed, some of this stuff was already public knowledge anyway...

• C5EE is getting very close. I'd be rather surprised if there is another public beta.
• There WILL be a C5 Professional Edition (PE), so please stop repeating rumors to the contrary. They expect it to be about a month or two after the release of C5EE (remember, this is an ESTIMATE!). Update price will be roughly on par with past PE upgrades (gosh, I have to be sooooo evasive!).
• C5EE will ship with a beta of one of the Wizatron components (there will eventually be three components). Additional component betas will be released as needed with the final expected next year (end of Q1 or Q2).
• All of the components of EE will be available as add-ins to PE (eventually). The price of doing it piecemeal that way, though, (buying all the EE components as separate products) works out to about two and a half times as much moola as just getting the EE upgrade. Your call, my friends.
• Clarion 6 (eeeek!) will be along in 12 - 18 months (whew!). In other words, no more of these back-to-back type releases ala C4 and C5. TopSpeed is going back to what they call their standard release cycle, which they say should help everyone (i.e., their user base) get back on the same page (i.e., the same -read 'current'- version).

So what else did he say? Well, let me just hint this about that. Plans for the future (in other words: absolutely not in C5, maybe not even C6!) include:

• A flatter, less modal, 32-bit IDE with many more ease of use improvements (yay!)
• Major changes under the hood so as to ensure compatibility with all major Microsoft technologies like COM, DCOM, etc.
• More enhancements to ABC
• Possibly some major new classes which would expose more of the internals of CW and add a host of new really cool features that I can't talk about (aren't I mean? See, you should have been there!)

Ok, that's it for this time. For next month, I'll see if I can get clearance to be more specific...

And now for something not so secret...

Online Publications, the parent of Clarion Online, announced at DevCon that they will be publishing a new series of books on Clarion (four are already planned at the moment). Each book will cover a number of topics in depth, with topics to include: the basics of using Clarion, ABC, OOP, writing Templates, using Clarion on the Internet (both with and without Internet Connect), the Windows API, multi-application development, using the debugger, client/server, SQL, and a volume on using the C5 various Enterprise tools and features. Anticipated date for the first volume is January of 1999. More info on this later...

Making it all fit

Here's a handy bit of info from Peter Gysegem, he of the mellifluous voice and detailed answers. Someone on a forum asked:

"What are the EXACT settings you should use in the window formatting dialog box's "position" tab to insure you are developing a screen that will run in 640x480 full screen, maximized? I assume this is how you develop in 640x480 and place the controls in the appropriate places..."

His reply:

I created a small test app with a toolbar. For the child screens I got the following results:

Screen Size vs. Resolution using 8 pt MS Sans Serif
Resolution Font     App Frame  Max Stretch Maximized
-------------------------------------------------------
1024 x 768 small    683 x 436  677 x 394   683 x 411
1024 x 768 large    512 x 327  500 x 282   512 x 301
800 x 600  small    533 x 311  528 x 266   533 x 285
800 x 600  large    400 x 243  396 x 199   400 x 217
640 x 480         >>427 x 259  417 x 216<< 427 x 233

Good info, especially if you don't have C5 (it has screen size guides built into the Window Formatter now). Thanks, Peter!

Zipping along

Linder Software has finally released their much-anticipated LSPzip 2.0 Data Compression Toolkit. It gives complete control over creating, accessing and managing ZIP files, and supports all of the expected features that standard supports (disk-spanning, etc.). Also included in the package is an updated LSPack library (the new version 2.0). Now you can have the best of both worlds: access to industry standard ZIP files and a proprietary compression format if you want to be a bit less public. Choose whichever works for your application, or use both. Price is $169 USD.

By the way, LSPack 2.0 is also available as a free update to all existing LSPack 1.x owners. You will need to contact Linder Software for a new password to install it, though. More info, demos and the updates are available at http://www.lindersoftware.com .

Other news

Here are some tidbits and announcements gleaned from the TopSpeed forum and elsewhere over the last couple of weeks. If you see any products here that you would like to see scheduled for a full review in Clarion Online, let us know!

• Carl 'TipMeister' Barnes announced a public beta of his new Clarion Source Search product. This cool little tool searches Clarion source code (CPD 2.1 through C5) and tells you the Procedure name, Method name and/or Routine name where your text was found so you know where to go in your App. When searching template code it tells you the template name and type. It also knows Clarion code, so it can do things like skip !comments -and- it also knows OOP. I've been testing earlier versions and I can vouch that this is a really nifty tool. The beta can be downloaded from http://www.carlbarnes.com (about 45k). Check it out!
• Tom Moseley of The Moseley Group let it be known that the C4/C5EE Dictionary Enhancement Foundation Templates (DEF) are in final beta, and they expect to release the final whenever TopSpeed actually releases C5 Enterprise Edition. Part of the delay is the usual story - C5EE Beta 4 broke lots of code that worked with previous betas, so nothing can be released until they have final code to work and test DEF with. For more info, read on...
• The Moseley Group also announced that their web site should be back in business by mid October. Check there for all the latest and greatest news on DET, DEF and other Moseley Group happenings: http://www.moseleygroup.com
• James Katz has released a beta of a new product called the ABC DLL Toolkit. It looks to deal with many common issues involved with creating and using DLLs in your ABC applications, using classes and using multiple dictionaries. For more information or to download the beta, go to: http://www.iag.net/~jimkatz
• Nice Touch Solutions has released an update of their popular Query Wizard product (v4.15). It adds C5 support, expanded examples, some new features and a few fixes. The update is free to current QW 4.x owners, and can be obtained at: http://www.nicetouch.com/clarion
• In another announcement, Nice Touch Solutions has released a new member of their 'Wizard' family: The Crosstab Wizard. Priced at $169 USD, they say it "allows the developer to empower the application end-user with the capability to intuitively summarize large amounts of information. The user can customize their needs in a dynamic way and maintain saved versions of their defined requirements for future use.". You have to see this kind of product to understand what it really offers you, so I'd suggest going to http://www.nicetouch.com/clarion and checking it out. They have screen shots, downloadable demos and a lot more there.
• JazzAge Software announced they have a free, complete and new JazzAge ActiveX factory 2.0 'Client Edition' for CW Open Beta3 on their web site: http://www.jazzagesoft.com. To quote: "JA 'CE' gives CW developers an immediate and complete access to the latest and most advanced technologies, only provided as ActiveX object models: ADO (OLE-DB), Office suite (Word, Excel), Outlook/Exchange, MS Agent, etc."
• Resolute Solutions announced a new product for $99 USD called NetUpdate, which lets your programs update themselves or data via FTP across the Internet. It also offers a mechanism for you to control updates on a license basis. One note though: this product uses the Catalyst SocketTools libraries, and you must purchase that separately in order for NetUpdate to work (SocketTools is normally $247, but is on sale now at http://www.catalyst.com for a limited time for $99). For more info or to download a demo of NetUpdate, go to: http://www.bugsbugme.com/netupdate/
• Sable Software has released some updated betas of their CW Xref tool for Clarion Developers. Find out Which Files, Fields, Globals are not used in your App, and also see where they are used to see what the impact of a change may be. Betas can be downloaded from: http://www.clarion.org.au/app-ref
  

Can't beat that price...

One of the really nice things about using Clarion is the overall generosity of the user community. (Go ahead, all of you give yourselves a pat on the back!) Often, this manifests itself in truly useful templates or tools that the authors have made available to the rest of us for that most favorite of prices: FREE! Each month, this column features a handy free template or tool that you might want to add to your bag of Clarion tricks.

Note: If you decide to download and try out any free items mentioned here, please remember that you get what you pay for - don't expect support from the author like you would from a commercial product. While most of them are generous to a fault (as witnessed by their giving away the tool), they are NOT obligated in any way, shape or form to you because you want to use it. Be nice to them!

This month's jewel (or tool) is:

Frank Piscopo's Dictionary Print Utility

Yup, Frank is back again this month with another freebie gem. (Last month the Bit-vine featured his Report Writer Interface Templates.) This time, Frank is here to help us all out with viewing and printing any dictionary from either a TXD or, if you have C4 or above, DCT files.

Seeing as how I hate the way that CW prints its Dictionaries, this utility is clearly a winner in my book! I swear, whoever designed the TopSpeed dictionary print must own stock in a paper company. Frank's utility not only does a good job of fitting information efficiently and clearly on the page, it is also handy for simply viewing a dictionary.

Excellent stuff - thanks again for sharing, Frank!!

His description:

To download it (the file is about 468K) or to simply get more info, go to: http://members.xoom.com/fpiscopo/downloads/

Note: You will need a ZIP compatible program to extract the template and its instructions. Also, like any template, don't forget to register it.

Next month: Who knows? You'll just have to come back and find out!

About the Bit-vine

Each month, this column will provide you with the latest in Clarion news, tips, rumors, freebies and basically anything else that seems interesting about the going's on in the Clarion world.

So, who determines what's most interesting? YOU DO!!

Are you a vendor? Let me know about new releases, updates, betas, product plans or anything else you think Clarion Online readers might want to know about.

Are you a user (and who isn't)? Drop me a line about any cool nuggets of information you come across, free templates or examples worth sharing, or anything else that other readers might find useful.

What do you get for contributing? Well, you'll see your name up in lights (phosphor, to be accurate) here in the Bit-vine credits. For especially useful bits, you may even win an autographed GIF of an official Clarion Online shirt or other similarly valuable prize. Come on, how can you resist?

Let me hear from you! The magic address isTomH@ClarionOnline.com

The disclaimer

Everything in this column is the sole opinion of me, the author, and does not necessarily reflect the views of this magazine, its publisher, or even my pet frog Carmine. Don't bet the farm on anything you read here: consider it a starting point for your own inquiries and research. The point here is that this column is intended to both enlighten and entertain, and that in the fast-moving world of software development this month's truth (or product release date) is often next month's "oops, did I say that...?".

'Nuff said!

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