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

by Tom Hebenstreit, Review Editor

Published 1999-01-01    Printer-friendly version

A Happy (and prosperous) New Year to you all! Hope you all didn't get too carried away making New Year's resolutions…

TopSpeed Stuff

First off, everybody should know that Clarion 5 Professional Edition is now shipping. Upgrade price is the usual $199, and you can get a whole lot more info on the various add-in options for it at http://www.topspeed.com (if you can get there, that is -- their servers seem to be having some problems lately). TopSpeed sales can be contacted at 1-800-354-5444.

In any case, the options are basically all the bits and pieces that are bundled with C5 Enterprise, so you can pick and choose which ones you want or need. Bear in mind, though, that the total cost of doing it in pieces is much higher than just springing for a C5 EE upgrade. Your call.

Next biggest news is that Roy Rafalco, current President of TopSpeed has been promoted to CEO (the 'Big Kahuna'). He will also retain his position as President, with former CEO (and company founder) Bruce Barrington remaining as Chairman of the Board.

(Editor’s Note: See "News from TopSpeed" for further information.)

Congratulations, Roy!

Saddest news is that Richard Taylor (Director of Communications) has left TopSpeed. Best of luck, RT, and thanks for all the hard work, great docs and DevCon jam sessions!

Doing the Y2K thing

Y2K? Who needs to worry about that?

Well, unless you and all your users are running the latest versions of everything, here are a couple of interesting products which might be helpful your older programs, or, more specifically, your clients who DON'T want to upgrade, but still need a fix (don't you just hate those types?). We're talking DOS (CPD, CDD and CFD) and Windows 3.x here, or even old hardware where things can screw you up even if your programs are compliant.

But what about TopSpeed's Intellidate handler, you say? Well, keep in mind that corrects date ENTRY problems. It won't you help if, for instance, the today() function is given bad data by the underlying systems. And, of course, it doesn't even exist in older CPD and CDD programs.

A bit of background. First, remember that there are three places where you can get tripped up: The hardware real time clock (RTC), then the BIOS (Basic Input Output System) which gets its time from the RTC, and then the operating system (which gets its time from the BIOS).

On the software side, you can find quite a few programs that will monitor the clock and correct the system date, compensating for an old RTC or BIOS. To a great extent, their success depends on whether or not programs get their date information from the OS, the BIOS, or the RTC itself.

For a more integrated solution, IBM has released PC-DOS 2000, a complete operating system that doesn't require fixes to handle dates of 2000 and beyond. It also corrects the century information returned by Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) for many machines that have problems with the century rollover. Other features include support for the Euro currency symbol and all the usual goodies which later DOS systems need (memory management, Stacker disk compression, anti virus programs, etc.). Details can be found at: http://www.software.ibm.com/os/dos/

To get even closer to the metal, you can check for motherboard BIOS updates. These will correct problems in the BIOS itself, and thus the operating system. A great resource for this is 'Wim's BIOS Page', on the web at http://www.ping.be/bios/. This site has links to a huge number of motherboard manufacturers, and lots more information on determining motherboard manufacturers, BIOS versions, etc. Keep in mind, though, that these solutions will only work in systems that have a 'flash' BIOS (one that can be re-written or updated via a small software program.

By the way, most motherboards made in the last few years do have a flash BIOS – but DON'T count on them being Y2K ready. Download one of the myriad Y2K test programs and make sure for yourself.

The final solution for older systems where none of the software solutions work is to get a new RTC card that will override the one on the motherboard.

Good luck, and don't wait until next December to start testing this stuff!

You talking to me?

James Fortune recently did all of us a service when he pointed out that some third party vendors were not using a DLL naming convention that distinguished between C4 and C5 versions of their products. This can be a very difficult problem to track down, with symptoms ranging from random GPFs to subtle memory corruption. It occurs if you have both C4 and C5 installed, and, for example, a C5 program calls a C4 version of a DLL. Getting bitten by this depends on which Clarion version you are working in, and how the search order for your Clarion \BIN directories is set up in your path

Some of the culprits included ProDomus and Software by Ragazzi. To their credit, both vendors released new versions within days of James pointing out the problem, so be sure to check for the update if you use these products. I'd recommend checking out your other third party products as well, and make sure that they incorporate the Clarion version in their DLLs (if they use them).

Another TopScan tip

If you have C5 installed under Windows 9x or NT, you should associate your TPS files with the new TopScan database scanner utility. Here's how:

1. Open the Windows Explorer. Find and double click on a TPS file. This will bring up the 'Open with' dialog.
2. Enter 'TopSpeed Database' as the description of TPS files, then click on the 'Other' button. Navigate your way to your \Clarion5\Bin directory and choose Topscan.exe.
3. Press Open, then OK to save the new association.

Now you can click on any TPS file and instantly bring it up in TopScan. By the way, you can use the same procedure to associate your DAT files with the old CPD scanner program (CSCN.EXE), if you have it.

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!

• CapeSoft released WinEvent 2.45, a minor bug fix release. Check at http://www.capesoft.com for the update.
• From ProDomus: "The following updates were posted to our web site December 7th:
  PD Translator (C5EE) - Includes library names revised and fixes a menu translation regression. PD Translator (C4) - Fixes menu translation regression. There is a patch that contains this change. PD Worldwide Address Formats (C5EE) - Contains library name changes. PD Fin (C5EE) - Contains library name changes."
• From Gitano Software: " Just in for the Holidays we have a couple of freebies: G-Notes for CW Editor - A small utility to make your life a little easier. Keep all your application notes and code right where you needed. CONCENTRATION - A fun game for the little ones. This game was completely done in C5 and will keep the kids entertained for a while. Match colors, letters and numbers, shapes, Sesame Street characters, food and Christmas symbols." These items can be downloaded from: http://bizweb.lightspeed.net/~gitano
• Dave Troxell of Encourager Software announced a new release of their Clarion Profile exchange. What is it? Here's how he describes it: " What is the Clarion Profile Exchange? Although there are a number of resources available to obtain Clarion third-party add-on products, there is no centralized single source available to obtain such information. For the benefit of the Clarion Community, Encourager Software has established a central source for exchanging and viewing third-party add-on product profiles. The Clarion Profile Exchange is for INFORMATION purposes only. We are not distributors nor do we sell any third party accessory products. Encourager Software only endeavors to help inform the Clarion development community of what is available". Visit their web site for more info or to download it. http://www.encouragersoftware.com/
• Software by Ragazzi has released an update to their suite of tools with name changes for C5 versions. More info is available at: http://www.Software-By-Ragazzi.com.
• In another announcement from SBR, they will not be monitoring the CompuServe Forums anymore, nor will they offer support through that address. Use the TopSpeed third party news group, their web site (listed above) or Support@Software-By-Ragazzi.com from this point forward.
• Linder Software pre-announced a cool sounding new product based on their LSPack and SFX-Builder products: the SFX Development-Kit. This tool will allow you to create self-extracting install packages directly from within your applications. Stay tuned to http://www.lindersoftware.com for more info.
• Linder Software also released LSZIP 2.04, a free minor bug fix update to their LSZip compression libraries. It can be downloaded from their web site (listed above).
• Hanspeter Stutz announced the second release of the ARCO Word Reporter. New features include: No multi DLL application needed anymore, you receive the full source, new manual and step by step tutorial, printing in a thread is now possible, syntax is much more user friendly (Class syntax) and more. Note that if you are a current customer, the update is free. More information and a demo can be downloaded at: http://www.cccc.ch/devtools/devtools.html
  (Watch for a review of ARCO Word Reporter in the next issue!)
• Tinman Development has release a bug fix for their popular Tintools free template set. The update can be downloaded from http://www.thetingroup.com.
• Allerup has released version 2 of their Allerup Report Designer. New features include import existing reports from your applications, variable file names for the databases, control and field toolbox window with drag/drop, easier translation of the Report Designer and more. More information, the update and a free downloadable demo are available at http://www.allerup.com.
• Pea Brain has released another bug fix for the C5EE Data Modeller. The new version is designated as 5.1000c, -- check the 'Help|About' option to see what your current version is. The update or sales and product info can be found at: http://home.global.co.za/~peabrain/
• Stealth Software has released the initial version of a new product they have dubbed the 'Modulizer'. What does it do? They say it will give you: "Snap in plug and play support for Clarion, Merge ABC Modules and Legacy modules into one interface without having to port all of them to ABC, No need for a Data DLL, No need to recompile all DLLs, Complete dynamic module support (ship only the modules needed, no need for stub DLLs), plug add-on reports and extra functionality neatly into your already shipped exe, the Interface dynamically configures itself at runtime based on the DLLs and procedures available." It is based on a Lib that is compiled into your app, so no extra DLLs need to be shipped. For more information, contact Joe van Niekerk: at joe@topspeed.co.za
• Jim Katz has uploaded an updated version of DEF to the Mitten ftp site (http://www1.minn.net/~mitten/FTP.HTM). It contains fixes for a problem with CALC fields, a couple of problems with POOL fields and more.
• Jeff Jones has released a C5 version of his free Registry Function library that gives you easy access to reading and writing to the Windows Registry. Info and a download can be found at: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/jeffnjones/
• CFC Computer Consulting proudly announced the availability of their Win95 Sort Template. If offers a whole lot of browse options for sorting on any column, moving the sort field to the first column and more. You can download the demo at http://www.CFC-Computer.com/demo.html, and it includes a Word document explaining how to use the template and the pricing information.
• Paragon Software has released a series of updates for their UltraTree Pro product during December. Check for the latest at: http://www.paragondandd.com.

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 template. Be nice to them!

This month's jewel is:

Mike Hanson's Public Domain Templates 4.14 (for ABC)

This collection of ABC based templates has been tweaked and several new ones added since the last time they were featured here in the Bit-vine. If you use ABC, you should definitely have these very useful tools in your box.

The templates come wrapped in a professional installer, and can be downloaded from Mike's web site at: http://www.boxsoftdevelopment.com.

One tip – if you want to use the pop-up calendar, you'll need to import the calendar procedure from a file called 'calendar.txa' which the installer places in your \libsrc directory.

Like any templates, don't forget to register them.

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 is TomH@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 of myself (hey, I can change my mind, too!). 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