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

by Tom Hebenstreit, Review Editor

Published 1998-12-01    Printer-friendly version

Gosh, has it been a month already? Wait a sec while I rummage around in my notes – I know they are around here somewhere buried under the pumpkin pie and turkey bones…

Ok, here we go!

C5EE News

First off, TopSpeed has released Clarion 5 Enterprise Service Release 1 (EESR-1), the first bug squasher for C5. It can be found under downloads at http://www.topspeed.com.

Also available there is a corrected LRM PDF (the shipping one has a corrupted page), the real C5 tutor app (the one on the CD was from C4 – OOPS!), and a separate update for VCS (the Version Control System).

Be forewarned, though. Unlike all previous updates from TopSpeed, this one doesn't seem to manifest itself in any way (at least that I've found), so you don't know when/if it is installed. In other words, whereas past updates would modify the splash and about screens, e.g., C4b or 2.003, this one applies without a trace. Not a good move, TopSpeed!!

PeaBrain Software (authors of Data Modeller) also released DM EE 5.1000b, which contains half a dozen new features and fixes for all reported bugs to date. It can be downloaded from: http://users.iafrica.com/p/pe/peabrain/

Couple other PeaBrain notes: Version 5.1000a of DM is included in the TS EESR-1 patch. You can tell which version you have via the DM Help/About screen. If you downloaded 5.1000b right after it was released, please download it again. It had a bug has since been fixed.

Easter Eggs

I know it’s a bit early for Easter, but here are some fun little nuggets for you.

When you're talking software, Easter Eggs are little hidden bits of code in your applications (or, in the case of Microsoft, BIG hidden bits) which don't serve any purpose other than to be found. They are normally put there by programmers with too much time on their hands (from management's perspective, at least!), so obviously none of TopSpeed's products have them, right?

WRONG!

In Clarion 4, go to the Help/About option in the IDE. Hold down Ctrl-Alt-Shift, then left click on the left side of the running man's mouth.

In Clarion 5EE, go to the same place, hold down Ctrl-Alt-Shift, then drag the Enterprise logo over and drop it on the running man.

No, I'm not going to tell you what happens, you'll have to try it for yourself. I will say, though, that they are rather discreet – unlike Microsoft products like Excel where the Easter Egg is an entire little Doom-like first person world. In it, you have to very carefully tip-toe your way across a narrow zig-zag path where, if you fall off, you are trapped forever and must start the whole thing over again. Wait a minute… that sounds suspiciously like using any Microsoft product!

Dalby Data News

This is one of those bad news/good news items. Due to a lack of sales, Soeren Dalby announced he is giving up on his really nifty Dalby Source Printer product. This inexpensive and handy utility was reviewed with great marks in a previous issue of Clarion Online, and really is well done.

The good news? He is releasing it now as freeware. Personally, I think it should be 'ThankYouWare' where, if you use it, you send a note to the author to say 'Thanks!'. C'mon, folks – if you won't send them money, at least make them feel good!

I also liked a suggestion Soeren made regarding putting it on Clarion CDs. Why not have the best of the free utilities there? Sounds great to me.

DET and DEF move to Mitten

Here's a flash for you: All rights to the Moseley Group's popular Dictionary Enhancement Toolkit (DET) and new Dictionary Enhancement Foundation (DEF) products have been sold to Mitten Software.

Mitten will now be handling all further development, support and sales, with Jim Katz as their point man. He is, according to the announcements: "…a Certified Clarion Developer, CTO for iTradeZone, Inc, author of ABC DLL toolkit, very active in newsgroups and all around good guy." Well, all right Jim!

They say they are now shipping the following:

DET2011.EXE - $199 (C4 and C5 Legacy), upgrade for existing DET owners $25
DEF300.EXE - $249 (C4 ABC and C5 ABC), upgrade for existing DET owners - $100
DEF with the ABC DLL Toolkit Professional Edition.- $398

You can call Mitten Software at 800-825-5461 or 612-745-4941 for additional information.

From what I gather, Tom Moseley, the original author, is no longer involved with the products. To see the announcement, go to http://www.mittensoftware.com and follow the "What's New" link.

CompuServe News

Like many people, I have depended on the TopSpeed CompuServe forum over the years to help with questions and, incidentally, meet many of the wild and crazy bunch known as Clarion users. Seems like big changes are coming down the road there, though, especially since they were bought by everybody's favorite ISP, America Online. At the same time, traffic on the TopSpeed forum there has been dwindling as people move to the Internet-based TopSpeed newsgroups, and I am starting to see more and more comments wondering about the future of the forums.

Well, here are a few of the things I've seen lately, with the biggest being from a post by the esteemed Stamos D. Fafalios: " I am a Beta tester for the new CompuServe 2000 software. It is AOL with CompuServe clothes on. IT HAS NO FACILITIES FOR ACCESSING THE COMPUSERVE 'GO' FORUMS AT ALL! If any CompuServe Forum sites wish to be accessed, they must create Internet Equivalent Sites and register with some sort of CIS GO list filter which scans the internet address line for a recognizable GO word."

Ouch. Seems a pretty strong statement to me when your own latest, greatest software doesn't support what has been the prime attraction of your service.

From a post by Roy Brubaker at TopSpeed (the new forum sysop): " We're currently looking at _possible_ alternatives to CI$ that would include file upload/download areas. We haven't abandoned CIS yet, we're just trying to make some informed/good/??? decisions on where we need to be. Since CIS is moving from the per-minute charge scheme to the more standard monthly pricing policy this is going to affect the nature of this forum. We're looking at this very carefully to make sure we improve the access to TopSpeed resources worldwide."

Also, if you use or intend to use CompuServe's Shareware registration program (better known as SWREG), be aware that they have announced that they are pulling the plug on it as of December 31^st of this year according to Friedrich Linder.

I hate to say it, but it seems that the CompuServe we've come to know and (fill in your own word here) is becoming a thing of the past, one way or another… *sigh*

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 which you would like to see scheduled for a full review in Clarion Online, let us know!

• Mike Hanson of Boxsoft Development has now updated and released his Super Invoice and Super Dialer products for the C4/C5 ABC templates. More information can be found at http://www.boxsoftdevelopment.com or at http://www.mittensoftware.com. If the pages there haven't been updated yet, just give them a day or two.
• If you are planning to use the Socket Tools internet libraries from Catalyst Development, prototypes for CW are now downloadable there courtesy of Mark Geisinger. Thanks, Mark!! http://www.catalyst.com
• AppMan Pro 2.0 is now available. According to the author: "Define Projects to contain your Applications, Generate Custom Code, Batch Compile, Analyze Your Apps, Create Bevels, Design Custom Messages, Create Custom Macros, Print Detailed Reports, Backup". Download at http://www.pointofsale.com/developer.
• Also from POSitive Software: They have launched a new web site called Clarion Central. It contains information about their TimeSavers line of products, plus several free template sets available to all Clarion users, including DPL Helper, Internet Link Template, and LHArc Prototypes. There's also a helpful-hints section, and links to many major Clarion sites. Check it out:http://www.clarioncentral.com
• Ragnar Hellspong has released version 3.91 of his ForKeeps program. New features include enhanced messages status update, revised task manager, revised user interface and enhanced support for long file names. More info at http://www.fkeeps.com
• Jeff Slarve has a free update to C5 for all registered J&S Software Mail Merge customers. It can be downloaded from http://www.jssoftware.com.
• Sable Software has released beta 6 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. The Beta (which has a 45-day timeout limit) can be downloaded from: http://www.clarion.org.au/app-ref
• New features have been added to the ABC DLL Toolkit since its intro a month ago, according to Jim Katz (all around nice guy). Visit http://www.iag.net/~jimkatz to see what's new in the updates.
• From L3 Technologies: "[We have] today made available for download BETA 3 of the new dBASE File Driver for Clarion. The driver may be downloaded from our web site at   http://www.l3.u-net.com . This is the final beta of the driver. The driver is code complete and has completed validation; however, minor additions and modifications will be made to the documentation and accompanying utilities before the final release." They are also offering special introductory pricing if you buy before final release.
• From Paragon Design and Development: "UltraTree Professional Edition is fully ABC-compliant and completely C5EE-ready, *now*. UltraTree Professional Edition is fully compatible with all ABC compiler versions." For people not on ABC yet, it also includes a license for the older version of UltraTree which works with the Clarion template chain. A new demo (compiled with C5 gold) is available at: http://www.ParagonDandD.com/utprodx.htm. (Look for a review in an upcoming issue of Clarion Online)
• From Software By Ragazzi: "Please visit our website for the C5EE-Gold compile of our templates and Developer's toolkit. Visit the 'Orders' page for upgrade pricing information and the 'Downloads' page for access to the download files." Their web site is at: http://www.Software-By-Ragazzi.com
• Mike McLoughlin (Sterling Data) announced version 3.6 of the BackFlash data backup module. This version is compatible with all versions of CW from 2002 to C5EE (ABC and legacy), 16-bit and 32-bit. The upgrade is free of charge to customers who have version 3.0 (released March 97) or later. The site to d/l from is www.sterlingdata.com.
• From Nice Touch Solutions, makers of the Wizard line of products: "All of our Clarion Wizard Products (Query, Report, Spreadsheet, and CrossTab Wizards), designed to empower the end user, were updated to Clarion 5EE Gold and were available for download to registered users on November 2, 1998." Note: this update is my favorite price: FREE! Download updates and demos from: http://www.nicetouch.com/clarion.
• Also from Nice Touch: "On November 4, 1998, we introduced two new powerful developer's utilities -- Dictionary Assistant and Application Assistant. These are query and reporting tools were designed for documentation, analysis, and quality control of Clarion applications and dictionaries. For details, please visit our web site at http://www.nicetouch.com/clarion". They are also offering a special introductory pricing as follows: "Purchase either product for the pre-release price of $59 or both for $99. For a limited time, we are offering a courtesy copy of either product to any customer who purchased three Nice Touch Solutions (NTS) Wizard products. At the conclusion of this limited offer on December 15, 1998, the retail price will be $79 each or $129 for both." If you own three of their products, by all means hustle on over there and pick a free one!
• JazzAge Software announced that JazzAge ActiveX 2.0 'Client Edition' is shipping. According to them, "JA 'CE' gives 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, DHTML" More info can be obtained at http://www.jazzagesoft.com
• Gitano Software announced that C5 versions of their software is available, and offers a peek at their upcoming G-Cal calendar product (and more) at their web site: http://bizweb.lightspeed.net/~gitano/calendar.htm
• Linder Software needs a few good beta testers for the next version of their cool SFX-Builder product (v3), with testing set to commence in December. It will be a free upgrade to existing v2 users, so if you purchase LSP SFX-Builder now ($69) or within the next weeks you can save $30 off the new v3 price of $99.

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 template), they are NOT obligated in any way, shape or form to you because you want to use the tool. Be nice to them!

This month's jewel is (surprise, surprise!):

The Dalby Source Printer, by Soeren Dalby

How could I pass this one up? It's a steal! To download it, go to:

http://home3.inet.tele.dk/dalbydat/clarion.htm

Note that the web pages have not been updated to reflect its new status as freeware. Just download it from there, download the DSP registration file here from Bit-vine, and then put the registration file (named 'windsp.reg') into the same place that you installed the DSP program files.

And don't forget to send that 'Thank you' to Soeren.

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 my Norwegian Blue parrot (though he hasn't said anything for a while). 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!

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Clarion Magazine ISSN 1718-9942