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

by Tom Hebenstreit, Review Editor

Published 1999-05-01    Printer-friendly version

What a month for web sites. All month long I had problems getting to the TopSpeed web site, culminating in a period where http://www.topspeed.com worked, but took me to a cute little ‘My Home Page’ type site of the kind created by MS FrontPage. Yipes! Was this a new kinder, gentler (simpler, dumber) face for TopSpeed? Fortunately, it was not – it was just the DNS demons hijacking my browser somewhere between California and Florida.

In any case, the great Internet gods finally got their act back together and I made it to the real TopSpeed site to find that…

Clarion C5a officially released

TopSpeed has finally released the official ‘a’ patch for Clarion 5. You can find links to both the EE and Profession patches at: http://www.topspeed.com/tsprodupd.htm, along with a description of what’s new. The patch also contains a lot of fixes, fixes to fixes, and even fixes that were unfixed (i.e., fixes that were removed because they caused more problems than they solved).

If you use C5 Enterprise and don’t have a fast connection, better plan on either ordering a CD (when they are available) or being very patient. The EE patch totals about 20 megs. At least you don’t need to worry about which version of C5EE you are using, as it will patch C5EE Gold, SR-1, CR-1 and CR-2.

For C5 Professional users, the patch is around 8 megs.

I applied the patch to a copy of my production C5EE SR-1 setup, and lo, it worked perfectly. Amazing, I must say. Note that I said ‘copy’ of my production setup. As usual, be cautious when updating the stuff if your livelihood depends on it. However, if you are the adventuresome type or simply have to always have the latest, well, then, tally-ho, full speed ahead and damn the torpedoes! In my tests so far, though, things are looking good…

Reminder: If you use the TS Oracle or AS-400 drivers, you will also need to download C5a compatible versions of those products. Please note that those drivers are not finals as of this issue’s publication date - they are Candidate Releases.

And now the countdown begins for C5b…

Bye-bye CSi

Well, it not only became official, it’s already happened.

TopSpeed pulled the plug on the venerable CompuServe TopSpeed/Clarion forum, shutting it down as of April 30^th. A lot of virtual good times were had there, and a lot of heartfelt virtual tributes were made to its passing.

The king is dead, long live the king! Everybody aboard the newsgroups bus! (Now, if I could only find a decent newsgroup reader…)

An East Coast mini DevCon

Waseem Naik posted the following announcement:

I am pleased to announce Clarion Jersey DevCovey 99 on May 22, 1999. This exciting event is a joint meeting of The Long Island, NY User Group, Clarion New Jersey Group and CW SuperGroup of Pennsylvania.

"An all day event will be all about learning, teaching, swapping and testing. Major topics of presentation and discussion are COOP (Clarion OOP), CW Project Management, Internet Connectivity, OLE/OCX implementation in CW and 'C' projects in CW."

"Cost per attendee is $75.00. This includes breakfast, coffees, lunch and of course the entire day working with Clarion developers. "

"For additional details, please visit our web site often at http://24.2.81.219/cnjg We are updating this site every two days and there will be more details posted at the web site in the coming days."

Presenters listed by Waseem include: Mike Hanson (Box Soft, the Super Templates line), Phil Will (Prodomus – the PD and internationalization templates), Pete Halsted (Next Age Computing), Troy Sorzano (SQL guru and fellow founding member of the TopSpeed Prairie Fire Society), and Waseem himself.

If you are anywhere near that neck of the woods, it sounds like a happening place to be (and for a very reasonable price).

A fine bunch of detectives

From Jesus Moreno at Gitano Software, regarding the contest he has been running for his G-Cal product (rated ‘Excellent’ in a March Clarion Online review):

"IT'S AN EASTER EGG HUNT!! AGAIN"

"It has been over 2 months and no one has discovered the Easter egg in GCSetup yet. So we are going to up the prize."

"First one that finds it gets a license to one of the following:

1. GCal Pro, or
2. GCal - GCalc- GNotes Bundle, or
3. GReg Plus"

"Download GCal from our web site, while you are there download anything else you want and give it a try. While you are trying out this great utility you can be looking for the "Easter egg" and have a chance to win a free program!"

"You must find the right Easter egg. To make it more fun there are a couple of decoys. Happy Hunting, and Good Luck. (Hint, don't go for the obvious)"

Surely someone can find that puppy, hmmm?

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!

• Once again, in his never ending quest to build the perfect calendar tool, Jesus Moreno of Gitano Software announced the release of G-Cal 1.8e. The update is free. [Read the review of G-Cal in the March issue of Clarion Online.] Info, demos and more can be found at their web site: http://bizweb.lightspeed.net/~gitano
• Team TopSpeed member and CW Assistant author Carl Barnes posted this notice: "New Clarion Source Search at http://www.carlbarnes.com/CWAS.htm. Read about it, see sample screens, download it. It's only a 70k download and easy to use. It's free for now and completely unlimited."
  I have been using this myself, and can vouch for its usefulness. I definitely recommend that you download it and try it – you WILL like it!
• From Sean Wilson at L3 Technologies, an update on their dBASE & Paradox Database Drivers: "This has been a busy period for L3 Technologies and this update is intended to bring you up to alert you to the following recent developments:
  * L3 dBASE & Paradox Database Drivers for C5!
  * L3 Database Drivers now available in two flavours!
  * L3 software available for download and purchase via ESD!
  * Evaluate the L3 Database Drivers FREE before buying!
  L3 Technologies announces the availability of their dBASE & Paradox Database Drivers for Clarion 5. The Drivers are written using the TopSpeed File Driver Kit, ensuring complete compatibility with Clarion. Database access is achieved using the Borland Database Engine (BDE). This is the same engine that is used in the dBASE and Paradox Database systems, so full compatibility is ensured. Full details are available on our site at: http://www.l3.u-net.com/drv/drivers.htm "
  Note that they also have Standard and Professional version of the drivers out now as well.
• The wizards guys over at Nice Touch Solutions have released their newest product, called View Wizard. What does it do? "View Wizard facilitates access to on-demand custom list box formatting and browse sorting from within any application." They also announced a new package price for their Wizard line of products. Read up about all of their products at: http://www.nicetouch.com/clarion (*recommended*)
• Dave Troxell of Encourager Software announced the latest Clarion Profile Exchange update (a handy tool for getting some info on 3^rd party tools). Information, downloads and more can be found at: http://www.encouragersoftware.com/
• Friedrich Linder of compression experts Linder Software announced beta 3 of their upcoming SFX Setup-Builder. What is it? How about: "The new SFX Setup-Builder 3.0 is a Rapid Setup Development Tool for Windows 95/98 and Windows NT 4.x/2000. SFX Setup-Builder offers a user-friendly visual development environment that does not require you to learn any script language. All options can be set using a wizard-like graphical interface." It also offers file patching and a whole lot more. It has been getting raves, and it isn’t even out yet. More info at http://www.lindersoftware.com (*recommended*)
• Lee White of Lodestar Software is/was relocating to a new Internet host, and posted this: "If you have any problems attaching to either www.LodestarSoftware.com, www.CWaddons.com, www.CWaddons.com/ccs or ftp.LodestarSoftware.com over the next few days please be patient<g>. The new host should provide service as fast or faster than the current host."
  Lee’s move should be done by the time you read this, but things don’t always go as planned in Internet land…
• For all you DEF users who couldn’t test C5a due to incompatibilities, Jim Katz stated that: "Now that the C5A release is final I expect to have a new release out for DEF within a few days." Details at: http://www.iag.net/~jimkatz/
• Jeff Slarve of J&S Software announced In Back Release 1.502, an update to his very handy backup manager. The update provides some new features, such as command line operation for batch processes. For more information and a fully operational free 30 day demo, visit http://www.jssoftware.com/Products/In_Back/in_back.html.

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 which 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 which 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 (or tool) is:

The Princen OLE Class Generator

And what is it? Here’s an excerpt from the original announcement:

• OLE Class Generator - as the name says - generates Clarion Classes for a selected OLE Control.

  The generated Clarion classes can be used in your application to call the functionality of the OLE control directly as Clarion methods - no more scary property access syntax!

  The generated Clarion Classes support International languages, are faster than regular OLE access methods from within Clarion and are very easy to use - just like in Visual Basic!

  Each OLE control, type library contains a definition of all its properties and methods. This definition is used for generating the Clarion Classes.

  Because they are ABC compliant you can browse them in the Clarion Class Browser.

  The easiest way to use the classes is with the OLE Object Control Template. Just populate the OLE/OCX Object Control Template on your window, on the Actions, Classes Tab selected the OLE Class that you want to use.

I’ve been checking it out myself, and it really looks like a nice piece of work (easy to use and seems to work well, too!). Check it out if you are dealing with OLE controls. Highly recommended.

More information and the download can be found at: http://www.princen-it.nl/clarion

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 Edward Scissorhands (my pet crawfish). 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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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