Data Based Advisor articles from December 1991

Data Based Advisor archives from December 1991

KnowledgeSEEKER helps you make decisions. (FirstMark Technologies Inc.'s decision support program) (Software Review) (Evaluation)
December 1, 1991... First Mark Technologies, Inc. 14 Concourse Gate, Suite 600 Ottawa, ON K2E 7S8 Canada (613) 723-8020 FirstMark Technologies' Knowledge SEEKER is an analysis program that can aid your decisionmaking. Although...

Three ways to cure memo file bloat. (JW Software Inc.'s WORDbase, Strategic Edge's Word Wrapper and Ganahl Software's FlexFile) (Software Review) (Evaluation)
December 1, 1991... * Ganahi Software P.O. Box 4275 Deerfield Beach, FL 33442 (305) 566-1796 * JW Software, Inc. P.O. Box 20144 St. Louis, MO 63123 (314) 631-6234 * Strategic Edge 3255 Laguna, Suite 8 San Francisco, CA 94123 (415) 563-3755 As a...

Microrim takes the high road with R:BASE/V. (data base management system)
December 1, 1991... Microrim 15395 SE 30th Pl., Bellevue, WA 98007 (800) 248-2001 (206) 649-9500 R:BASE/V is the fruit of what many consider former Microrim CEO David Hull's delusions of grandeur--coded-named Atlas. Atlas was to be a...

The ABCs of flowcharting. (Roykore Inc.'s ABC Flowcharter) (Software Review) (Evaluation)
December 1, 1991... * Roykore, Inc. 2215 Filbert St. San Francisco, CA 94123-3414 (415) 563-9175 (415) 563-0836 fax If you're looking for a tool that makes it simple to create flowcharts and/or organizational charts, look no further...

Code blocks, inside and out. (Hardcore Clipper column) (Tutorial)
December 1, 1991... When I showed you code blocks last month, I started simple, showing you how to pass program code as a parameter, not only reducing the amount of code you write, but making programs more compact. This month, I'll discuss some advanced issues...

Painted browses. (The Fox Files column) (Tutorial)
December 1, 1991... Welcome back to the Fox Files and FoxPro 2.0. This month: how to use FoxPro's new screen builder (SB) and "template language" to "paint" BROWSE windows. Along the way we'll investigate FoxPro 2.0's template concepts in a way that will enable...

Tweaking your memory. (Paradox Programmer column) (Tutorial)
December 1, 1991... Knowing how Paradox manages RAM is invaluable. Paradox offers ways to adjust memory to gain better performance or to run larger applications. I've described Paradox memory management in this column before. Most notably, I've discussed it...

Dataline.
December 1, 1991... LAS VEGAS, NV--Computer Associates International, Inc.'s Comdex booth featured a huge boxing right with ex-heavyweight champ Smokin' Joe Frazier signing autographs. CA was showing their just-acquired dBFast product. This isn't a typo. dbFast...

The news and nothing but... . (Editor on the Go) (Editorial)
December 1, 1991... As I headed toward San Francisco airport and Comdex, the car radio made casual mention of a grass fire in the Oakland hills. When I returned a week later, the media were still spewing information about the ensuing firestorm that killed dozens...

Feedback. (Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 1991... Moving With The Times VP-Info should have been included in the August speed tests. This is the real speed champion, especially if you're doing the CODE/RUN/DEBUG routine every day. Compared to VP-Info, dBASE, Paradox, and others...

Nantucket Corp. (Nantucket Tools II Clipper library) (brief article) (Product Announcement)
December 1, 1991... Nantucket Corp. has announced the availability of Nantucket Tools II, a function library for Clipper 5.x. Nantucket Tools II has over 550 functions for window, screen, disk, and communications operations, managing Novell networks and printers,...

FYI.
December 1, 1991... Total '90 sales of relational database management software in U.S.: $200 million Estimated number of database servers in world today: 20,000 Number of boards on which Ed Esber, Jr. serves as a director: 4 Estimated number of people...

The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. (Microsoft LAN Manager for Unix) (brief article) (Product Announcement)
December 1, 1991... The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc., (SCO) has shipped their version of Microsoft LAN Manager for UNIX. Based on LAN Manager for DOS and OS/2, SCO's version includes UNIX System client and IBM-compatible NetBEUI transport support, virtual-terminal...

Omation, Inc. (IVIEW) (brief article) (Product Announcement)
December 1, 1991... Omation, Inc. has begun shipping IVIEW, a user tool for merging Lotus, dBASE, and ASCII files for analysis, reporting, and creating custom reports without knowing the original data structures. IVIEW is priced at $129. For more info, contact...

Solana Software International. (DataEase application development tool) (brief article) (Product Announcement)
December 1, 1991... Solana Software International (SSI) has announced imaging for DataEase, an application development tool for managing color or black and white images and documents as parts of DataEase forms and reports. With a menu-driven interface, Imaging for...

Windows watch. (Product Announcement)
December 1, 1991... Having trouble keeping up with the flood of new development products for Microsoft Windows? Here's a list of some of the hottst new releases for database management and software development. * Ace File--This is a new non-programmable...

Kallista, Inc. (Conduit, Paradox add-on) (brief article) (Product Announcement)
December 1, 1991... Kallista, Inc., has announced Conduit, a Paradox add-on utility for importing and exporting mainframe and minicomputer ASCII and WordPerfect Secondary Merge files to Paradox for analysis, manipulation, or reporting, as well as handle data...

Server scene. (Client/Server Advisor)
December 1, 1991... Microsoft Corp. One Microsoft Way Redmond WA 98052 (206) 882-8080 Microsoft shipped a beta of SQL Server 4.2 Features include nested triggers, Windows-based SAF utility, and support for the union operator (used to combine the results of two...

Easy access for SQL Server databases. (Protoview Development Corp.'s SQLView) (brief article) (Product Announcement)
December 1, 1991... Protoview Development has announced SQLView, a scripting and prototyping language for the Windows environment with high-level access to SQL Server databases. SQLView is designed to provide developers with the ability to complete advanced...

Window views. (Datura Corp.'s Desktop DBA) (brief article) (Product Announcement)
December 1, 1991... Datura Corp. is now shipping Desktop DBA, a high-end Windows database management and migration tool for Microsoft/Sybase SQL Server and Oracle databases. Desktop DBA enables DBAs to manage up to 15 SQL Server and Oracle databases/servers...

The new revelation. (Revelation Technologies Inc.'s OpenEngine and OpenInsight) (brief article) (Product Announcement)
December 1, 1991... Revelation Technologies released OpenEngine, a new technology based on the application engine in Advanced Revelation and targeted for client/server environments. OpenEngine includes an active data dictionary, an ANSI SQL implementation, and...

Making life just a little bit easier. (Cone Software Inc.'s TransPortal PRO 2.0 data exchange toolkit) (brief article) (Product Announcement)
December 1, 1991... With the release of TransPortal PRO 2.0, Cone Software now supports Windows in addition to DOS. TransPortal PRO is a data exchange toolkit that extends PC programming languages with on-line host connectivity. Instead of learning a new...

Tidbits from mdbs. (Object/1 for Windows 2.1 object-oriented graphical environment) (brief article) (Product Announcement)
December 1, 1991... Object/1 version 2.1 for Windows was released by mdbs. Object/1 is an object-oriented graphical development environment for creating Windows and OS/2 applications. Release 2.1 adds bitmap support, improved font handling, and improvements to...

Novell gets the GOLD. (Buzzwords International Inc.'s dANALYST GOLD) (brief article) (Product Announcement)
December 1, 1991... Buzzwords International, Inc. has added Novell NetWare SQL to its dANALYST GOLD Windows development application system. Applications created with dANALYST GOLD will take full advantage of the NetWare operating system by automatically adding...

More screen builder tips. (The Expert Series: FoxPro column) (Tutorial)
December 1, 1991... Last month we looked at two tricks that allowed us to "fool" FoxPro's screen builder into creating the kind of code we need without having to modify the generated code in the SPR file. This month, I'd like to offer a few tips on using the...

Index tag switch. (The Expert Series: dBASE IV column) (Tutorial)
December 1, 1991... The ORGANIZE menu is built into dBASE IV's full-screen editing EDIT/APPEND/BROWSE modes. While it's useful for thins such as finding the next records or switching an index order, many programmers avoid it because it allows users to perform...

Database confidential.
December 1, 1991... I don't know if Microsoft can come up with a database manager that matters, but it won't be for lack of trying. My Redmond rats say 204 people now work on the project, up from 196 a month ago. The current challenge: How to provide more than a...

Convert from dBASE III Plus... .
December 1, 1991... Switching fro dBASE III PLUS to dBASE IV could be as simple as running plain dBASE III PLUS code under dBASE IV or as complex as rewriting your entire application. In some respects, it's unfair to even compare the two products. dBASE IV...

Is DOS-to-UNIX porting profitable? (The VAR Report) (Column)
December 1, 1991... Since the popularity of UNIX is gaining, how important is it to offer UNIX to your clients as an alternative operating system? And how profitable is it, as a developer, to port your existing applications to UNIX? According to developers...

The UNIX alternative. (Special Report: Unix)
December 1, 1991... The UNIX operating system (OS) seems to be everywhere these days. All of the workstations run it exclusively. Supercomputers have it. Even IBM's Big Blue mainframes will be running it. But if you're a PC or Macintosh user, you're probably...

Detecting errors in queries. (The Expert Series: Paradox) (Tutorial)
December 1, 1991... One oddity in PAL programming is that a run error is sometimes not triggered when a query fails to execute successfully. This happens when PAL's Do It! command is issued and Paradox merely displays an error message in its user interaction...

Living together: NetWare and UNIX. (Special Report: UNIX)
December 1, 1991... Novell, Inc. LAN Workplace for DOS, version 4.0, $450, 10-user $1,995 122 East 1700 South Provo, Utah 84606 (801) 379-5900 The first question companies ask when moving to a client/server architecture is typically, "What database...

Developing for DOS and UNIX. (Special Report: UNIX)
December 1, 1991... Why is it that every Sun workstation can talk to every other Sun workstation within minutes of taking them out of the box, yet you have to work very hard (and find additional components) to get two PCs to do the same thing? The DOS...

The downsizing pitch. (Client/Server Advisor)
December 1, 1991... Your local salesperson intones, "Client/server architecture, look at what it'll do for you--reduce contention on the mainframe, speed up development, save money on hardware upgrades, and put powerful PCs or workstations on everyone's desk." It...

Trailblazing the client/server jungle, part 2. (Client/Server Advisor)
December 1, 1991... When developing client/server solutions, one crucial decision is which front-end development environment to use--which will be guide you and your users through the client/server jungle? This isn't as critical a decision as the back end since...

Three faces for SQL Server. (ObjectView, Powerbuilder and Visual Basic)
December 1, 1991... As a systems integration firm dealing with client/server technology, we have to continually evaluate the new products on the market. This ensures that our clients are always offered the latest technology. When a new development...

Clarion announces new release of development language. (Clarion Software Corp.'s Clarion for Professional Developers 3.0; includes related article on the advantages of Clarion 3.0's programming language)(Client/Server Advisor)
December 1, 1991... FT. LAUDERDALE, FL--Bruce Barrington, CEO and Chief Engineer for Florida-based Clarion Software, used the "Sieve of Eratosthenes," an algorithm to find prime numbers, to show how mucf faster his company's upcoming release will be over FoxPro...

Performance short cuts. (The Expert Series: Windows column) (Tutorial)
December 1, 1991... A friend describing Microsoft Windows once said, "To err is human, but to really mess things up, you need Windows." While this is an exaggeration, admittedly there's room for improving Windows. Here are three performance tips to help make...

An array browser with class. (The Expert Series: Clipper column) (Tutorial)
December 1, 1991... Clipper 5.01 provides a powerful browsing mechanism known as the tbrowse object. A tbrowse object, combined with multiple tbcolumn objects, can be used to implement an on-screen browse of practically any tabular data, the two most common forms...

Tales from the front. (implementing client/server)(Client/Server Advisor)
December 1, 1991... The handwriting on the wall reads, "Minicomputers are doomed!" As PCs become more powerful, they eat into the performance slot of the minis. Minis have no place to go but up and that area is dominated by mainframes. Things are bad for...

Oracle's annual conference the best yet. (Client/Server Advisor)
December 1, 1991... Thirty-one hundred programmers and systems integrators from all parts of the globe converged on Miami, Florida for International Oracle User Week. Over 150 presentations were made by users, consultants, and Oracle staff on topics that included...

Emerald Bay unfurls new version. (Emerald Bay Group's Emerald Bay 3.0, Vulcan) (includes related articles on use of Emerald Bay at Quarterdeck Office Systems and Vulcan's BUFFER feature) (Product Announcement)
December 1, 1991... Emerald Bay Group 2155 Verdugo Blvd., Suite 20 Montrose, CA 91020 (818) 248-0877; fax (818) 248-2605. List Prices Vulcan, $395 Emerald Bay C Toolkit, $395 Pascal Toolkit, $199 4-user Server, $195 8-user Server, $395 100-user...

Interfaces: why'd you do the things you do? (selecting database managers)
December 1, 1991... The interface--the facade you work with when you run your database management system--divulges a lot about the philosophy behind the program: how the database engine operates, who the product's intended for, and why there are limits on what you...

Create database applications with Visual Basic.
December 1, 1991... Microsoft's Visual Basic simplifies the development of applications for Microsoft Windows. That's good news for those of us moving to the Windows environment. But what we really want to know is, "Will Visual Basic do databases?" Again,...

1991 in review: the top stories.
December 1, 1991... During the first few months of world crisis, many saw the quick slide of the economy as a precursor to a Depression-era "Black Monday" taking over the global markets. Consequently, most markets began shoring up for a long recession. ...

Nantucket's Windows release unveiled to German developers. (German Nantucket Developer's Conference)
December 1, 1991... COLOGNE, GERMANY--The German Nantucket Developer's Conference, held in Cologne (the locals spell it Koln) during the first week of September would have been enough justification for a business trip (heck, I think five Sundays in a month warrant...

The future is interoperability. (Opinions)
December 1, 1991... This year, software makers have started a trend toward database interoperability. Database interoperability means that database programs can operate with files from other database systems without conversion. Ideally, it also means that...

You don't have to bet the farm. (client/server architecture)(Opinions)
December 1, 1991... Cynics say that vendors and the media are driving the move to client/server, and there's probably some truth to that. But it seems the new technology addresses a fundamental problem that almost all organizations face--the proliferating...

Hardware wars. (Opinions)
December 1, 1991... The issue is platforms--the computing kind. Typical platforms include the Industry Standard Architecture, Macintoshes, VAXes, and IBM 3090s. Today's favorite is DOS, maybe with Windows, served on an Intel chip. The DOS platform is nearly...

News from Comdex. (Comdex/Fall '91)
December 1, 1991... One of the most irreverent demos we saw appeared in IBM's Ultimate (multimedia) area, with none other than IBM's Jim Cannavino forever ensconced in a multimedia filmclip running under IBM OS/2 2.0. His line: "OS/2 is going to kick butt, butt,...

Looking back. (DBADVISOR forum)
December 1, 1991... Even in an industry as mercurial as ours, 1991 will go down as one of the most tumultuous years of recent history. In keeping with its corollary function of industry barometer, all of these changes have had their day on the DBADVISOR Forum....