Data Based Advisor articles from January 1992

Data Based Advisor archives from January 1992

Dataline. (Column)
January 1, 1992... FEDERAL WAY, WA -- Pinnacle Publishing has taken over the software publishing duties for Communication Horizons' line of products, including the popular NetLib and RaSQL. Now that he no longer has to deal with marketing and distribution, CH...

New year: time for a new plan? (Editor on the go) (Editorial)
January 1, 1992... Calendar makers and tax specialists make a buck when the year rolls over. But, for the rest of us, isn't January just another month? While you scratch your naggin, I'll cut to the point. It's neve too late to get on the right technology road,...

Feedback. (Letters to the editor) (Column)
January 1, 1992... Documentation Cop-out Stop right there! After reading Kelly Gillespie's "Adventures in Integration" (September 1991) in the best database magazine written for PCs, on page 96 I encountered, "Diehards can order the printed docs...

Quadbase Systems Inc.
January 1, 1992... Quadbase Systems, Inc. announced that Quadbase-SQL/Win now supports development with ACTOR 4.0 under Windows. Quadbase-SQL/Win supports updatable scroll cursors, essential for interactive data browsing, and various extensions are provided,...

Good first impressions with install programs. (Test Drives)(includes roster of developers) (Column)
January 1, 1992... * Helpful Programs, Inc. P.O. Box 16078 Hunstville, AL 35802-1627 (800) 448-4154 (205) 880-8782 * Island Systems 7 Mountain Rd. Burlington, MA 01803 (617) 273-0421 * Knowledge Dynamics Corp. P.O. Box 1558...

SymScript adds PostScript sparkle. (from Symbiotic Information Systems) (Software Review) (Evaluation)
January 1, 1992... * Symbiotic Information Systems 800 South St., Ste. 250 Waltham, MA 02154 (617) 891-3636 Getting Xbase to talk PostScript isn't much fun. In most dialects, using "?" or @..SAY to send text to a PostScript device simply...

IntelligenceWare Inc. (IXL: The Discovery Machine) (includes Gupta Technologies announcement of free runtimes for SQLWindows 3.0) (Product Announcement)
January 1, 1992... IntelligenceWare, Inc. announced IXL: The Discovery Machine for the Sun platform. IXL (Induction on Extremely Large Databases) is used to find patterns and correlations in existing databases. The company claims that unlike a query language...

Information Management Systems, Inc. (Product Announcement)
January 1, 1992... Information Management Systems, Inc. released DataFlow, a text-based user access tool for Xbase, Paradox, and ASCII files. DataFlow doesn't allow users to modify data; however, it provides multiple ways for them to get at data: in forms or...

Softwatch.
January 1, 1992... [TABULAR DATA OMITTED]

blUtil can cure some programming woes. (blUtil 2.2 from B & L Systems) (Software Review) (Evaluation)
January 1, 1992... B & L Systems 19 Hill Road Prescott, AZ 86303 (602) 445-7219 Programmers suffer from special kinds of headaches that require seecial kinds of "technical aspirins." blUtil 2.2, a utility package from B&L Systems, promises some relief. ...

Popkin Software and Systems, Inc. (Product Announcement)
January 1, 1992... Popkin Software & Systems, Inc. has released an automatic database schema generator for System Architect, Popkin's CASE tool. The schema generator can generate database schema for these databases and supports these SQL environments: ANS11 SQL,...

Anthora is database management, Window-style. (from Exittus Inc.) (Software Review) (Evaluation)
January 1, 1992... Evolution Trading, Inc. 7206 N.W. 31 St. Miami, FL 33122 (305) 593-1516 (305) 593-9106 Fax Databases with graphical user interfaces (GUIs) are characteristically slower than DOS applications. Users who look for ease of learning want GUI...

Solution Systems Inc. (Sourcerer's Apprentice 2.0) (Product Announcement)
January 1, 1992... Solution Systems, Inc. released Sourcerer's Apprentice 2.0, version control software--or as the company calls it, "configuration management system" software--that enables developers and managers to organize projects to get immediate access to...

Readers' rights (Hardcore Clipper)(Column) (Tutorial)
January 1, 1992... No, the mail wasn't from the tax or the immigration office (I'm clean on both accounts!), but some readers wrote in about my column. Seeing as this is the most feedback I've gotten in years. I'm making the most of it! I'll answer three...

Many ways to skin a popup. (The Fox Files)(column) (Tutorial)
January 1, 1992... When users think of "sophisticated" data-entry screens, they immediately think of pop-up lists. These popups can appear to users in many different forms, and can be created with many different FoxPro commands. There are two parts to any...

Picture this! (Paradox Programmer) (Tutorial)
January 1, 1992... Paradox has had built-in presentation graphics capabilities for about three years. Data can be graphed as pie charts, bar charts, and other kinds of charts from Paradox, instead of exporting it to a spreadsheet or presentation graphics...

Window basics. (dBase developer)(column) (Tutorial)
January 1, 1992... It never fails to impress me how many people still use dBASE III PLUS, aka "Old Reliable," to drive their businesses. Since dBASE IV has been solid for a year and a half, maybe it's time to move up. There are several new features you can use...

Managing your cash flow. (The VAR Report) (Column)
January 1, 1992... We live in troubled economic times. Despite news reports, the economy is still sluggish. Many consultants are now looking for work outside of consulting because of the prolonged economic slide. One or several good months isn't a guarantee of...

Can you have it all? Clipper vs. Clipper/SQL Server. (Client/Server Advisor) (Column)
January 1, 1992... During the last five years, we at Financial Dynamics developed a significant amount of Clipper code. Our clients have come to expect full-featured applications with sub-second response times. Our goal is to protect our clients' investments in...

Accessing PC data with the Microsoft GDK. (Gateway Development Kit)
January 1, 1992... Corporations are starting to downsize database applications from mainframe and minicomputer-based systems to LAN-based database management products. With the current trend toward this type of client/server computing, most developers think of...

Productivity in decision support.
January 1, 1992... Academic studies find little statistical evidence for all the productivity claims. The problem is that you can show productivity gains in individual cases, but they seem to vanish when you consider the economy as a whole. Even in individual...

Rounding up your development team; before embarking on a project, assemble your team....
January 1, 1992... Welcome to the Corporate Computing column! As someone who has been actively involved in training and developing for client/server for more than four years, I look forward to sharing my experiences with you. The purpose of this column is to...

Trailblazing the client/server jungle, part 3: your hardware can maximize client/server performance.
January 1, 1992... Last month we looked at the software decisions that need to be made when entering the jungle of client/server computing. This month we move on to hardware. You'll need three types of hardware to build a successful client/server system: the...

Client/server directory: 9-track tape drives. (Buyers Guide)
January 1, 1992... Since the early 1960's, nine-track magnetic tape has been the standard for data interchange in the computer industry. Over the years, refrigerator-size drives with tricky, vacuum-column tape loading have been replaced by desktop drives with...

8 steps to better client/server apps; keep these tips in mind before getting started. (applications) (Tutorial)
January 1, 1992... Here are eight tips that will help you implement your client/server system. They're based on my experiences and my interaction with companies currently developing client/server applications. These success secrets have helped at many sites,...

Server scene. (Buyers Guide)
January 1, 1992... Gupta Technologies 1040 Marsh Road Menlo Park, CA 94025 (415) 321-9500 SQLBase 5.0 should be out by the time you read this. It will be available as an NLM, also on DOS, OS/2, and UNIX for Sun. New features include: support for...

Outfoxing the Fox. (FoxPro 2.01) (Brookvale Associates SQL-Stored) (Product Announcement)
January 1, 1992... Why wait for enhanced FoxPro 2.01 to do what Brookvale Associates, Inc. has already done? The Providence, Rhode Island-based company has released a FoxPro 2.0 add-on product called SQL-Stored which enables FoxPro users to perform ANSI standard...

Is there an Actor in the house? (Whitewater Group's Actor) (VisualObject Development Kit from BOK Technologies Inc.) (Product Announcement)
January 1, 1992... BOK Technologies, Inc. announced two new release of their VisualObject development kit for use with The Whitewater Group's Actor. VisualObject Library is an Actor Class library that lets developers create Picture Button and Visual Toolbox....

And access to all.... (Open Database Connectivity from Microsoft Corp.) (Product Announcement)
January 1, 1992... Microsoft Corp. announced Open Database Connectivity (ODBC), a database connectivity API that allows applications running under various platforms (including MS Windows) to communicate with a multitude of database management systems. ODBC...

A new companion. (SQL Solutions Inc's DBA Companion) (Product Announcement)
January 1, 1992... SQL Solutions, Inc. announced that its flagship product line for the Oracle RDBMS--DBA Companion--has been reworked to support distributed processing. It appears SQL Solutions decided to redesign their DBA Companion toolset to support Oracle's...

Not just a book. (Asymetrix Multimedia ToolBook from Asymetrix Corp.) (Product Announcement)
January 1, 1992... Now shipping from Asymetrix Corp. is the Asymetrix Multimedia ToolBook, a high-level authoring system for Microsoft Windows applications running on the Multimedia PC (MPC) platform. Multimedia ToolBook and the Multimedia Resource Kit (MMRK)...

And four make nineteen. (JYACC adds four databases to the list of supported DBMS that can be codelessly connected to JAM applications )
January 1, 1992... JYACC has recently added four more databases to its list of supported database management systems that can be codelessly linked to JAM applications by way of JAM/DBi, JAM's database interface layer. The latest additions include IBM's OS/2 EE...

Extra! Extra! (Attachmate Corp. announces another shipment of Extra! for Windows) (Product Announcement)
January 1, 1992... Attachmate has announced another shipment of EXTRA! for Windows. The new version of this PC-mainframe software has been enhanced with features including: simplified DDE access, APL character display, light-pen support, command-line file...

Building Windows applications now! What you need to know to get started. (includes related article on development short cuts)
January 1, 1992... If you're considering developing applications for the Microsoft Windows environment you may find yourself, like many others, unsure of where to start. Moving to Windows as a development environment can be a long and difficult journey. Just as...

Windows 3.1: a first look.
January 1, 1992... It's been nearly two years since the release of Microsoft Windows 3.0. During that time, it seems Microsoft's been listening to the complaints and kudos of their millions of users in an attempt to add new features and correct the problems of...

How to use Dynamic Link Libraries with Visual Basic. (Tutorial)
January 1, 1992... Dynamic Link Libraries (DLLs) let you extend Visual Basic with database libraries, graphics, statistical packages, even video. DLLs are libraries of functions, usually written in C, that Windows links to your programs at runtime. In this...

Easy record copying. (a simple way to copy records from one database into another) (The Expert Series: Clipper)(Column) (Tutorial)
January 1, 1992... The added language features and library functions of Clipper 5.01 can certainly simplify the task of day-to-day database programming. Case in point: the other day I needed a record-copy routine that I've always felt should be a part of the...

Design surfaces: the global view. (The Expert Series: Foxpro)(column) (Tutorial)
January 1, 1992... FoxPro 2.0 allows developers to manipulate common objects from three levels: the object's definition dialog (selected by double-clicking on an object in a design surface); by using the design surface's database and manipulating the object with...

In the shadow of the standard: Arago nears completion. (Arago dBXL data base management system from WordTech Systems) (includes interview of Michael Gardner, WordTech's vice-president of research)
January 1, 1992... Since its original release, dBXL, a dBASE "super clone," has enjoyed popularity mostly because of its many extensions to the then-limited dBASE lanuage. Such features as automatic creation of memory variables (AUTOMEM), access to DOS...

A working prototype: use UDFs to create spreadsheet-style updating. (user-defined functions) (The Expert Series: dBase IV)(column) (Tutorial)
January 1, 1992... dBASE IV is here to stay! That's straight from the horse's mouth. After Comdex, Borland renewed their pledge to continue supporting and improving dBASE IV for DOS. dBASE IV offers a rich set of tools and you can take advantage of them to...

Count and control complexity. (software engineering)
January 1, 1992... Tom DeMarco said it best: "You can't control what you can't measure." One of the foundation stones of a good software engineering practice is the ability, as a developer, to control the process by which you build your product. A civil...

Compound index secrets. (Hands-On Foxpro)(column) (Tutorial)
January 1, 1992... One of the most powerful features of FoxPro 2.0 is compound index files (CDX). Compound indexes are multiple indexes in one file. Rushmore technology (FoxPro 2.0's super-fast query ability) relies on indexing. That means that in order to have...

The name's the same: use a template to achieve consistency with field names and their types.
January 1, 1992... When you design a PAL application with more than one table, it's a good idea to make sure the field names are spelled the same, and their field types are the same, in all tables in which they appear. This month we'll take a look at a way to...

A question of standards: Pro! (Opinions)(one of three articles)
January 1, 1992... Since the beginning of the PC revolution, there's been a tension between the microcomputer world and the corporate mainframe culture. Individuals and small businesses have historically needed the benefits of computers, but couldn't afford or...

Con! A question of standards. (opinion)(one of three articles)
January 1, 1992... I don't get it. What's all the brouhaha about an Xbase Language Standard? Where did it all come from? I'd like to remind everyone that this subject has been around for a long time (easily three years) and hasn't gone much further than hot...

Vendor view: a question of standards. (opinion)(one of three articles) (Xbase standards)
January 1, 1992... My company, WordTech Systems, Inc., sells an Xbase compiler. We don't sell a compiler for "Superbasic" (BASIC with Embedded SQL) or whatever other database language will come along next. Standardization of Xbase dialects strengthens the Xbase...

Make dBase IV's ApGen do your work. (Application Generator) (Hands-on dBASE)(column) (Tutorial)
January 1, 1992... As a long-time Xbase consultant and application developer, I'm always looking for ways to supply clinets with quality systems for a low price. Since the introduction of DBASE IV, my tool of choice for implementing the majority of the simple,...

Database confidential.
January 1, 1992... Though the rim of my black fedora is always snapped down, I can see that there will be two versions of Windows NT released, one a single processor model for individual users and the other a multiprocessor edition. The multiprocessor version of...

Found it! (shortcuts to finding information in the DBADVISOR Forum) (DB Connections)(includes list of database companies offering information and support on CompuServe) (Column)
January 1, 1992... This month I'd like to focus on locating information in the DBADVISOR Forum and in the Electronic Mall. There are features available to help you find people, source code, files to download, software to buy, even order back issues of Data Based...

FYI.
January 1, 1992... 1991 estimated U.S. market for client/server application development tools: $60 million 1995 estimate: $450 million Out of 12 Clipper experts, the number who thought user-defined functions were a "good idea" (when asked by Brian...