Data Based Advisor articles from January 1991

Data Based Advisor archives from January 1991

Feedback. (letter to the editor)
January 1, 1991... No More R:BASE? I'm very unhappy to hear that you plan to reduce if not eliminate coverage of R:BASE topics. If you, indeed, proceed with this plan, I'll reluctantly drop my subscription. Johanna Schwartz SIG Leader, R:BASE SIG...

FYI. (miscellaneous information)
January 1, 1991... Price of Clipper 4.5 in Japan in dollars: $1,650 Price of Clipper 4.5 in Yen: 248,000 Percentage of computers that will be running Windows by 1992 according to Fernand Sarrat, IBM's V.P., Desktop Software: 16 Percentage, according...

R:Base tip: how to reset more than 20 variables in a report.
January 1, 1991... In all versions of R:BASE, you can't reset more than 20 variables at the "break point" of a Reports Express report. When subtotaling a wide report, this can be a major limitation. To get around this , create an extra break point one level...

Emerald Bay tip: working relationships. (table storage and network performance)
January 1, 1991... Keep your network performance up by storing your tables in the right places... Just because you can have up to 1,000 tables in one Emerald Bay database, don't assume that you should try to put every table in your application into a single...

PAL tip: checking printers in any port. (Paradox Application Language)
January 1, 1991... Here's how to use PRINTERSTATUS() to see which printers are on PALs PRINTERSTATUS() lets you determine if the current printer-usually is responding. But what if you have to send reports to two printers? Do you simply gamble that the...

User groups.
January 1, 1991... [DIRECTORY HAS BEEN OMITTED]

Database confidential.
January 1, 1991... I've talked to everybody who can spell Klipper, and now I have it-the inside story of how VMM got into 5.0. (Parental Guidance Advised) Virtual Memory Manager was an internal facility of 5.0, used by Nantucket developers to help Clipper run....

Dataline.
January 1, 1991... Pushing Paradox SCOTTS VALLEY, CA - Borland International will be hosting its second annual International Paradox Users Conference, to be held April 7-10 in Phoenix. This year's Advisory Board Chairman: our very own Brian J. Smith,...

Who owns what? (Editor on the go column) (editorial)
January 1, 1991... Last month I asked you to consider which is the better term: dBASE or XBASE. I explained why we reluctantly use XBASE to refer to dBASE-type products, especially products based on the DBASE language. I worried about too casually discarding the...

Marketing myopia. (President's Letter)
January 1, 1991... What business are you in... ?' Ask that question to database software companies, independent developers, in-house MIS/DP personnel, or database end users, and you will get a myriad of answers. This reflects, I suspect, the ambiguity...

DataEase International Inc. (DataEase Developer upgrade)
January 1, 1991... DataEase international, inc. has upgraded their DataEase Developer. The Developer is made up of five components: documentation, distribution, runtime,, toolkit, and analysis. The documentation module automatically generates system and user...

Champion Business Systems. (Mac Champion accounting software) (product announcement)
January 1, 1991... Champion Business ' Systems released a Macintosh version of their accounting software package. it supports a mouse and offers menu-driven transactions, real-time processing context-specific help, and on-line look-up windows. Mac Champion runs...

Precision software. (Superbase 2 1.2 for Windows)
January 1, 1991... Precision Software announced Superbase 2 version 1.2 for Windows. Superbase 2 is compatible with Windows 3.0 and supports Dynamic DataExchange (DDE). Version 1.2 can view and report on both Superbase 4 and DBF files. According to the company,...

Functional Software. (Super.Lib Professional Clipper procedures software)
January 1, 1991... Functional Software that Super.Lib Professional, a set of generic procedures for Clipper, is now compatible with both Clipper Summer 87 and 5.0. Super.Libincludes procedures for writing reports, form letters, mailing labels, data entry,...

Softwatch.
January 1, 1991... [CHART HAS BEEN OMITTED]

PC Expo - big business in a buying mood.
January 1, 1991... CHICAGO, IlChicago's McCormick Place North wasn't exactly bulging at the seams, but over 26,000 people dropped in during PC Expo's three-day run, September 25-27. Although half the size of Comdex Spring '90 in Atlanta just three month's prior,...

Valkyrie and the legend of an EXE. (Programming Solutions Inc.'s Valkyrie recovery software)
January 1, 1991... Once upon a time, a company lost some of the source code to one of their Clipper-compiled programs. A new programmer tried feverishly to locate the missing UDF files on every disk, backup tape, and network directory he could think of-without...

Mix dBASE III PLUS with your BBS. (Fast Takes)(Bulletin Board System)(eSoft Inc.'s The Data Base System) (Software Review) (evaluation)
January 1, 1991... Imagine converting a single-user XBASE application into a multi-user application simply by adding one program statement! Then imagine a program that automatically supports multiple, concurrent updates of the same record, and refreshes each...

dCLIP gives programmers robust Clipper development environment. (Donnay Software Designs' dCLIP)(Fast Takes) (Software Review) (evaluation)
January 1, 1991... In the early days, Clipper programmers would have killed for an interpretive environment. Why? Because, for the most part, they were DBASE programmers who wanted EXE files-they were used to using an interpretive environment, the dot prompt...

Spase exploration. (Fast Takes)(Geotech Computer Systems Inc.'s Spase spatial data management program) (Software Review) (evaluation)
January 1, 1991... Most of the numeric data we store in databases is onedimensional-convenient. For example, in an inventory system, how much a product costs and how many units are on the shelves are one-dimensional data. One-dimensional data is easy to store in...

How to deduct home office expenses. (The Var Report) (column)
January 1, 1991... If you run your business from home, you may be eligible for a tax deduction for the office space you use. In this article, I'll discuss the issues involved in figuring out what you're qualified to deduct. Business income and its effect on...

How wide is this array? (Mac Rubel's Power Tools)(column)(includes related articles on the solution to the previous month's problem and a homework assignment) (tutorial)
January 1, 1991... Last month I showed you how to determine if a memory variable is an array, whether an array is one or two dimensions, and how long it is. This month I continue the topic by explaining how wide it is. The DBASE IV method With DBASE IV,...

Look out for WAIT loopholes! (The Paradox Programmer)(column) (tutorial)
January 1, 1991... Are your PAL scripts bug-free and air-tight? Here's a laundry list of traps in the WAIT command that you may be overlooking Last year at the International Paradox User's Conference, I presented a paper on Programming MultiTable Forms with...

Fancy footwork with BROWSE. (The Fox Files)(column) (tutorial)
January 1, 1991... Learn how to do an incremental search in a BROWSE window and give users multiple, simultaneously active BROWSE windows In September, I concentrated on features of the BROWSE window that affect individual fields. Now, I'll discuss those...

Vendors and developers talk about the important issues. (Predictions for 1991) (Cover Story)
January 1, 1991... The past ear has revealed that some industry predictions for 1990 weren't particularly prophetic. Ambitious hopes for exponential-growth in areas such as SOL server products and Windows applications development never happened. to be deterred,...

R:BASE 3.1 - on the road to recovery. (Software Update) (Software Review) (evaluation)
January 1, 1991... BASE 3.0 was a dramatic upgrade from the previous version, 2.11. In a single release, Microrim radically altered the user interface, added support for Structured Query Lang-uage (SQL) and Query By Example (QBE), and gave added power to the...

Design an inventory database. (Database Design)(column) (tutorial)
January 1, 1991... An expert shows you how to figure out what Components you need and how they should be related... You know how it goes-once the word gets around you're a PC expert, people turn to You for advice on everything from purchasing a computer...

Which is better? 386MAX vs. QEMM-386. (FoxPro Performance)(Qualitas Inc.'s 386MAX 5.0 and Quarterdeck Office Systems' QEMM-386 expanded memory specification managers)
January 1, 1991... If you think you know which EMS manager will give you more speed for your FoxPro work, think again. Most people know very little about how expanded memory works, except that it gives them more memory to do things. So when they're presented...

Learn to program a new way. (Clipper Developer) (tutorial)
January 1, 1991... This new series of articles will teach you the basics of programming with Clipper 5.0 With the release of Clipper 5.0, there's a tremendous need to explore all of the new benefits and features, but even more importantly, you need to...

WordTech on the run. (product development of Arago data base software) (company profile)
January 1, 1991... The moment the makers of DBXL and Quicksilver officially announced Arago, they began running out of time. Could they beat the clock in their attempts to deliver a release that would put them back on top? In June 19, 1990, time started...

Getting a formal database training. (An Introduction to Database Systems, Volume 1)(Fast Takes)
January 1, 1991... The Illiad Group released version 4.0 of their program editor, Pi Edit. Version 4 includes: a TAGS function which allows programmers to reference all functions and program elements by name, without knowing their locations; commands that allow...

The value of a single client.
January 1, 1991... Sometimes, while I'm working on a project, I get bothered if a client calls with questions or small changes. After all, when you run a small firm, tim think, develop, and write is worth a premium. However, you might answer the phone with a...

The Illiad Group. (PI Edit 4.0 program editor)
January 1, 1991... As client-server database systems become popular, a good understanding of formal database concepts will become more important to micro developers. An Introduction to Database Systems provides the foundation. Author Chris Date (the man who's...

Myopia. (Opinions)
January 1, 1991... Over the last few years, probably more than a billion words have been written comparing Product A" to Product "B." In the database arena, those comparisons inevitably pit dBASE (III PLUS and IV) against FoxBASE+ and 5.0). If there's space to...

The data dictionary project. (Opinions)
January 1, 1991... The DBASE language is generally described as a database language, but it's really a powerful application development language with limited file management capabilities. Most of the work of making sure a database conforms to the needs of an...

The loyal opposition. (Opinions)
January 1, 1991... It was bad enough when the software companies were suing each other, but in recent months some of them have begun harassing consultants, developers, and users. This behavior isn't restricted to the xBASE industry but involves vendors of...

Cursing SQL. (Structured Query Language)(Opinions)
January 1, 1991... "I think you mean SQL needs cursors for portability, not interoperability," the well-known SQL guru writes to me in the DBADVISOR forum. Wrong. I said interop, and I meant interop-the ability of your PC, for example, to use the data on...

Some kinda voodoo. (Opinions)
January 1, 1991... Should / go or should / stay-'Cause what we got ain't working anyway. I've done my best, God knows I've tried. I feel like I've been crucified. Why did you take it all away? -Aerosmith Tom Rettig's Press Release read in part: "I have...

Comdex/Fall '90 news from the aisles.
January 1, 1991... If you've been waiting for Ashton-Tate's Professional Compiler, here's some good news. Ashton-Tate announced an agreement with Pocket Soft to license RTLink/Plus as the overlay linker for their DBASE Professional Compiler. The Professional...

Paradox for xBASE programmers. (Database Report)(column)(includes a related article on a sample Paradox application) (tutorial)
January 1, 1991... If you use DBASE or another XBASE dialect, and you're turning down clients who want Paradox applications, take a second look. The two have a lot in common In a world admittedly dominated by DBASE and XBASE dialects, Borland's Paradox...

Flexible DEFAULTs. (Hands-On dBASE IV)(column) (tutorial)
January 1, 1991... This technique works around limitations of the DEFAULT option you'll find in the form surface of the Control Center... The DEFAULT value option of the @... GET command in dBASE IV is useful for providing yet another path towards data...

Now that you're ready to build. . .(preparation and follow-up for building a super server)(Hardware Solutions column)(includes related articles on the 10 commandments of computer assembly and video instruction tapes) (tutorial)
January 1, 1991... The key to building your super server is proper prep work and follow-Up... While you might assume that the main part of building a super server is putting the parts together, you couldn't be more wrong. The actual construction takes just a...

Dial-in support. (on-line database product support from vendors)(DB Connections) (column)
January 1, 1991... Got a question about your favorite database product? Try the support that's available on-line directly from the vendor... This month I have two exciting announcements-both involving support for database developers-on the Data Based Advisor...

The DESQview API library for Clipper. (Quarterdeck Office Systems)(Applications Programming Interface) (Software Review) (evaluation)
January 1, 1991... DESQview is software that runs on top of DOS and creates a window-based, multi-tasking operating environment. The DESQview Application Program Interface (API) for Clipper is a set of more than 300 functions that interfaces Clipper to the...

Surveying the Comdex server scene.
January 1, 1991... Okay, SQL and database server technology weren't the darlings of this year's show. But that's not to say the server scene is dead-it's just maturing. Why has it taken over two years for server technology to begin making significant market...

Sparks fly at database summit.
January 1, 1991... The hat topic at this year s Database Summit at Comdex was, of course, The Lawsuit. An hour into the session moderator Adam Green introduced the tender subject of AshtonTate's suit against Fox Software-for infringing on A-T's copyright to the...

ProWare Corp. (ClipOn 2.1 function library for Clipper) (product announcement)
January 1, 1991... ProWare Corp. announced ClipOn version 2. 1, a function library for Clipper. Version 2.1 is compatible with both Clipper Summer'87 and 5.0. The company claims that ClipOn includes over 200 functions for handling databases, windows, screens,...