Data Based Advisor articles from August 1993

Data Based Advisor archives from August 1993

Identity crisis. (database product positioning) (Brief Article)
August 1, 1993... Database vendors are doing less feature-to-feature comparisons of their products these days. Instead, product positioning has become the rage. Seems that everyone is going after a differentsegment of an already stratified market. That was the...

Who's it four? (Alpha Software's Alpha Four 3.0) (Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
August 1, 1993... Alpha Software announced Alpha Four Version 3.0 at Database World. The product, which has traditionally appealed to non-programmers, now has enhanced interactive development tools. So is it a developer's tool? The company says the product is...

UNIFACE has new ISV program. (independent software vendors) (Brief Article)
August 1, 1993... UNIFACE, makers of the 4GL with the same name, announced its new "FUSION" program, through which independent software vendors (ISVs) will build interfaces between UNIFACE and CASE tools, databases, networks, and utilities not currently...

Middleware companies team up. (Trinzic Corp., Micro DecisionWare announce joint marketing agreement for routers, gateways, software) (Brief Article)
August 1, 1993... Trinzic Corp. and Micro Decisionware took the opportunity to announce a joint marketing agreement. The two companies have complementary product lines-Trinzic sells InfoHub, a data management tool that lets users access and update relational and...

Time for SQL? (Pilot Software's TimeServer 2.0) (Structured Query Language) (Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
August 1, 1993... Pilot Software showed off TimeServer 2.0, a data server that uses time-series structures to query relational databases. Seems most SQL databases are limited in the way they let you view data over time, unless you have all day. For instance,...

The substitution revolution. (increasing popularity of graphical user interfaces) (Editor on the Go) (Editorial)
August 1, 1993... As a reader of this magazine, you're comfortable with change. Why else would you read a publication that constantly shows you how to solve business problems in new and better ways? Not everyone is able to handle change, though. Witness the...

Feedback. (Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 1993... Frustum frustrations On April 1, we shipped TransPortal PRO Version 3.0. Included in this version was OS/2 support, an addendum to our documentation and File transfer capability. These items are now included in TransPortal PRO Version...

Corrections. (Correction Notice)
August 1, 1993... In June's "Developer's Guide to FoxPro Add-On Tools," an incorrect price was listed for Bytel Corp.'s Genifer. The correct price is $395. And, the correct list price for Infinity from Coral Business Systems is $495. In the same issue, we...

Publish quality documents with InfoPublisher 2.0. (PageAhead Software Corp.'s report generator) (Software Review) (Test Drives) (Evaluation)
August 1, 1993... Page Ahead Software Corp. 2125 Western Ave., Suite 301 Seattle, WA 98121 800-967-9671, (206) 441-0340 Fax (206) 441-9876 Scenario 1: You need to print custom directories (phone numbers, products, membership, etc.) and just can't make your...

The R:BASE version. (Microrim's R:BASE DataPublisher report generator) (Test Drives) (Brief Article)
August 1, 1993... Microrim sells a version of InfoPublisher called R:BASE DataPublisher for $249.95. R:BASE DataPublisher, which is based on PageAhead InfoPublisher version 1.2, is optimized to work with R:BASE and dBASE tables and can be used with DOS word...

The competition. (Ventura Software Inc.'s Ventura Database Publisher, Crystal Services' Crystal Reports as alternatives to PageAhead Software Corp.'s InfoPublisher report generating software) (Test Drives) (Software Review) (Evaluation) (Brief Article)
August 1, 1993... If you need publication quality output, Ventura DataBase Publisher is InfoPublisher's closest competition. Windows-based Ventura DataBase Publisher has several distinguishing characteristics. Ventura DataBase Publisher is generally considered...

dbEXPRESS - a few clicks closer to your data. (Computer Concepts Corp.) (Software Review) (Test Drives) (Evaluation)
August 1, 1993... dbEXPRESS Computer Concepts Corp. 80 Orville Drive Bohemia, New York 11716 (516) 244-7700 In the ever-burgeoning field of products threatening to bring users closer to data, for every step the industry takes forward it takes two...

CA faces marketing and technical challenges. (Imperatives for Computer Associates and its CA-Clipper program development software) (Special Report: add-on products, the future of Clipper, visual objects for Clipper)
August 1, 1993... I feel personally involved in the saga of CA-Clipper, having invested an enormous amount of time, effort, and sweat. As a Clipper lover, I would like nothing more than to see Clipper's continued growth and maturation. As a third-party vendor,...

Can Clipper go client/server? (Computer Associates' CA-Clipper program development software) (Special Report: client/server, SQL, Windows)
August 1, 1993... The Clipper third-party market is set to expand dramatically, but the vendors that benefit from the expansion may not be ones active in the current CA-Clipper market. Microsoft Windows and client/server databases are largely responsible for...

Tips for choosing Clipper add-ons. (Computer Associates' CA-Clipper program development software) (Special Report: libraries, software evaluations, vendor presence)
August 1, 1993... When CA-Clipper developers buy third-party add-on products, they often stake their professional reputations on small companies that may have a development staff of one or two. Many of my clients, whom have direct control over what products I...

Your guide to clipper add-ons. (216 third-party utility products for Computer Associates' CA-Clipper program development software) (Cover Story) (Buyers Guide)
August 1, 1993... GENERAL-PURPOSE LIBRARIES * Action Plus Software 935 East 7220 South D-108 Midvale, UT 84047-2393 (801) 255-0600 Fax (801) 225-0642 Clip Word/SpellClip Price: $199.95 Clip Word/SpellClip provides Clipper programmers with a powerful...

These are a few of my favorite things.... (panel of Data Based Advisor magazine writers, editors discuss software, hardware products) (includes company information) (Database Developer)
August 1, 1993... We asked our contributing editors and writers which products they use in their consulting work that they just couldn't do without. We also asked them why they chose these products and how they use them. Here's what they had to say... I...

InfoDesigner: beyond CASE to fact-based modeling. (ServerWare's computer-assisted software engineering tool) (Software Review) (Evaluation)
August 1, 1993... ServerWare 1911 N.E. 1st St., Suite 306 Bellevue, WA 98005 (206)454-7535, fax (206)454-7696 There are several exciting things about InfoDesigner, a new CASE tool form ServerWare. For one, it's designed from the bottom up as a...

Developer seeks new tool. (Client/Server Advisor: Developers Advice: back-end independence, PowerBuilder, SQLWindows)
August 1, 1993... Jim Baranowski is a programmer with a small development company, Gyrus Systems, Inc., of Richmond, Virginia. His company sells a Windows-based client/server training management package that schedules courses, and keeps track of instructors and...

Wide area networking on a budget. (sample implementation of client/server application for remote file access and transfer without network investments) (Client/Server Advisor) (Column)
August 1, 1993... We recently needed to consolidate data from multiple locations into a single site at a client's headquarters. Sounds like a perfect task for a client/server system, right? Just piggyback the company's wide area network (WAN), and access the...

Create data tables when you need 'em. (dBASE programming methods) (dBASE Developer)(Column) (Tutorial)
August 1, 1993... After several months writing reviews of Borland's new offerings, I'm returning to my roots to discuss an area of application development--and the problems associated with it. As usual, you'll end up with another UDF to address the problem and...

Reader Feedback. (various programming issues for Computer Associates' CA-Clipper program development software) (Hardcore Clipper: PreProcessor, TBrowse editing, user-defined commands)(Column ) (Tutorial)
August 1, 1993... This month I'll answer a few questions from readers. They're a mixed bunch of questions, so we'll look at different aspects of CA-Clipper, including user-defined commands (UDCs), TBrowses, and the preprocessor. If you have anything you'd like...

Tricks and traps for data entry. (Borland International Inc.'s WAIT command) (Paradox Programmer)(Column) (Tutorial)
August 1, 1993... The WAIT command in Paradox 4.0 is an excellent tool for developing "event-driven" data-entry programs. In "Chain of Events" (DBA, February), I covered the basics of the WAIT command. This month, I'll fill in some essential missing pieces: the...

Cross tabulating many fields. (generic routine for Microsoft's FoxPro 2.5) (FoxPro Developer: FoxPro 2.5, reports)(Column) (Tutorial)
August 1, 1993... FoxPro provides us with wonderful tools and commands for presenting data. One of those features, the ability to cross tabulate fields, is a powerful reporting capability. Here's how cross tabulation works. You take three fields from your...

How to write and use a DLL. (basic concepts for dynamic link libraries in Microsoft's Windows graphical user interface) (Windows Developer)(Column) (Tutorial)
August 1, 1993... If you're jumping onto the Windows bandwagon and learning Windows programming, you've no doubt heard about dynamic link libraries, or DLLs. Windows programming, and specifically programming DLLs, is not something you can master in an...

Data entry made simple. (basic data entry screen construction using Computer Associates' CA-Clipper program development software) (Clipper Basics)(Column) (Tutorial)
August 1, 1993... Over the months, I've built up quite a complement of language constructs for putting together CA-Clipper applications. This month, let's apply this knowledge by implementing a primary component of most applications: data entry. To do this,...

Designing Paradox databases. (rules for efficient construction of data tables) (Paradox Basics)(Column) (Tutorial)
August 1, 1993... Paradox makes it very easy to restructure tables if you decide their design needs to be changed. Because of this, you may be tempted to initially skimp on the time you spend in designing your Paradox tables. However, if you design your...

Speak your mind. (how to communicate with Data Based Advisor editorial staff through CompuServe online information system)
August 1, 1993... As you plow through issues of Data Based Advisor, have you ever wanted to speak with the editors about a story you've just read? Perhaps you'd like to point out that there are some other considerations for choosing a database manager besides...

Database confidential. (humor) (Column)
August 1, 1993... The IDAPI vs. ODBC momentum moves forward. Like a young pup, ol' Buzz's ears pricked up when someone whispered something about Microsoft's latest project. They're currently developing an ODBC ISAM (Indexed Sequential Access Method) that'll...

Clipper app detective. (Scrutiny Inc.'s Scrutiny language for CA-Clipper application development) (Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
August 1, 1993... Scrutiny, Inc. released Scrutiny, an active assertion language for CA-Clipper application development. Scrutiny calls Scrutiny a quality assurance utility that ensures integrity of CA-Clipper applications. It allows programmers to document...

MDI, Gupta shake hands. (Micro Decisionware Inc., Gupta Corp. sign interoperability agreement for Gupta's SQL Windows, Quest tools and MDI's Database Gateway) (Brief Article)
August 1, 1993... Micro Decisionware, Inc. (MDI), and Gupta Corp. signed an agreement to provide interoperability between Gupta's SQLWindows and Quest front-end tools and MDI's Database Gateway. According to Reed Taussig, senior vice president, The Americas,...

New pricing for PowerBuilder. (Powersoft Corp's PowerBuilder 2.0 program development software) (Brief Article)
August 1, 1993... Powersoft Corp. announced elimination of per server and per client runtime licensing for PowerBuilder 2.0. Effective as of July 1, 1993, Powersoft will sell PowerBuilder Database Development and Deployment Kits (DDKs) at $3,595 per developer....

Identifiable objects for FoxPro. (UFO Computing Inc.'s FoxFrame for FoxPro 2.5) (Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
August 1, 1993... UFO Computing, Inc., released FoxFrame, an application framework for FoxPro 2.5 for DOS and Windows. FoxFrame provides tools for developing single and multi-user, multitable applications with one-to-one and one-to-many screens. It features...

An editor for big, big, big files. (SemWare Corp.'s The SemWare Editor text processing package) (Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
August 1, 1993... SemWare Corp., announced that they're developing The SemWare Editor (TSE), a text editor based on QEdit. However, TSE should be able to edit larger files than its predecessor, says SemWare. Unlike QEdit, TSE will feature mouse support, more...

Skies full of client/server. (Blue Sky Software Corp.'s Visual SQL program development software) (Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
August 1, 1993... Blue Sky Software Corp. announced Visual SQL, a Windows tool for creating client/server front-end applications in C. To create a Windows user interface application with Visual SQL, you draw on the screen and point and click the mouse to select...

WaitPlus Pro 4.0 - no wait data-entry screens. (PAL By Example) (Software Review) (Test Drives) (Evaluation)
August 1, 1993... WaitPlus Pro 4.0 PAL By Example P.O. Box 810 Hoboken, New Jersey 07030-9910 800-262-8069, (201) 795-5144 Fax (201) 795-9237 Building applications with Paradox 4.0's more robust, event-driven, multi-windowing environment is a lot...

Paradox at your command. (Ensemble Corp.'s Command Pro 4 program development software) (Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
August 1, 1993... Ensemble Corp. shipped Command Pro 4, an application development environment for Paradox 4 for DOS. Command Pro 4 has over 300 procedures, and features an event-driven, filterable editor, menu generator, help system, graphing, report, query,...

Acumate analyzes corporate-wide data. (Kenan Technologies' search software) (Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
August 1, 1993... Kenan Technologies released Acumate, an end-user data analysis and application development tool. Acumate includes reporting and graphical interface tools for retrieving and analyzing DB2, Informix, Ingres, SQL Server, Oracle, and Rdb data and...

Leveraging FoxPro's power. (Stonefield Systems Group.'s Stonefield Fulcrum 2.2 active data dictionary for FoxPro 2.5) (Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
August 1, 1993... Stonefield Systems Group, Inc. shipped Stonefield Fulcrum 2.2, an active data dictionary for FoxPro 2.5. Stonefield Fulcrum's data dictionary is used to design, maintain, and document FoxPro applications. It has a library for performing...

ObjectStore is NetWare loadable. (Object Design, Inc.'s NLM data base management system) (Novell's NetWare network operating system) (Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
August 1, 1993... At press time, the ObjectStore NetWare Loadable Module (NLM) was currently in beta, but it should be available from Object Design, Inc., by the time you read this. With the ObjectStore NLM, ObjectStore applications will have access to Netware...

Developer Pro - cross-platform visual programming. (Serius Corp.'s object-oriented database development system for the Apple Macintosh and IBM-and-compatible microcomputers) (Software Review) (Test Drives) (Evaluation)
August 1, 1993... Serius Corp. 488 East 6400 South, Suite 100 Salt Lake City, Utah 84107 800-876-6847, (801) 261-7900 Serius Developer Pro, from Serius Corp., is a visual object-oriented database development environment for the Macintosh and Microsoft...

At the touch of a button. (ButtonWare's ButtonFile database system) (Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
August 1, 1993... ButtonWare shipped buttonFile, a Windows database system. Targeted at the end user, buttonFile can browse, search, sort, and import/export data to and from its tables, or "card decks." Card decks come in several pre-defined styles, including...

Hyperdriven CA-Clipper. (Successware Inc.'s HiPer-Six) (Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
August 1, 1993... SuccessWare, Inc., released HiPer-SIx, a compact replaceable database driver (RDD) for CA-Clipper. HiPer-SIx supports all standard index RDD features, including conditional indexing and compound indexes. HiPer-SIx adds index scopes for...

Grab bag of tools for Access. (EMS Professional Shareware's Access Utility Library) (Microsoft Access DBMS) (Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
August 1, 1993... EMS Professional Shareware released the Access Utility Library, a collection of 101 public domain and shareware products for Microsoft Access. The library includes utilities for database design, forms, import/export, macros/modules, reports,...

askSam for Windows, get it. (askSam Systems) (Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
August 1, 1993... AskSam Systems shipped askSam for Windows, a textbased database management and retrieval system. askSam for Windows features a Windows user interface, new documentation, a WYSIWYG word processor, a report writer, and MDI and OLE (Object...

Pentium, Windows spring forward at Comdex. (Comdex/Spring, Atlanta 1993) (includes related article on importance of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system)
August 1, 1993... ATLANTA, GA -- There was no shortage of hot products on display at this year's Comdex/Spring. DEC's 64-bit Alpha AXP PC and a slew of systems housing the new Intel Pentium chip were just two of the many talking points among the show's record...

For many, Clipper + add-ons still = bliss. (Computer Associate's program development software) (Special Report: add-on tools, future trends, object orientation)
August 1, 1993... The CA-Clipper market has always consisted of independent, often brash, console cowboys (and cowgirls) who blazed a very important trial when the PC-based application development industry was in its infancy. With no user interface, other than...

Clipper's third party to expand. (Computer Associate's program development software)
August 1, 1993... Like many CA-Clipper third-party developers, I was concerned, scared, and confused when one of the world's largest software corporations bought Clipper. I was worried that this could be the end of a long and profitable era for a lot of small...

Calendar of events. (1993)
August 1, 1993... GroupWare '93--Features a full day of turtorials and 3 days of sessions on commercial groupware solutions. Special one-day executive conference will cover groupware-oriented business cases. More than 100 sessions offered and more than 100...