Data Based Advisor articles from May 1993

Data Based Advisor archives from May 1993

Borland has IDAPI spec, dBASE compiler. (Borland International Inc., IBM, Novell Inc., and WordPerfect Corp. develop the Integrated Database Application Programming Interface specification) (Brief Article)
May 1, 1993... Borland (and IDAPI partners IBM, Novell, and WordPerfect Corp.) delivered a working draft of the long-awaited spec for the Integrated Database Application Programming Interface (IDAPI) to vendors and developers in late February. The draft has...

Channel Computing is acquired by Trinzic. (Brief Article)
May 1, 1993... Trinzic Corp., a Palo Alto, CA-based maker of artificial intelligence software will acquire Channel Computing, the Portsmouth, NH company that markets Forest & Trees, a query and reporting tool and InfoPump, a middleware product in a stock swap...

Powersoft to release NetWare library. (Powersoft Corp.'s PowerBuilder Library for NetWare application development software) (Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
May 1, 1993... Powersoft Corp., the Burlington, Mass.-based makers of PowerBuilder, the popular client/server development tool, will develop a PowerBuilder Library for NetWare and interfaces to access Novell's Btrieve record management engine and NetWare SQL...

NLM of InterBase planned. (Borland International Inc. plans a NetWare Loadable Module version of the InterBase database server) (Brief Article)
May 1, 1993... Borland says it plans an NLM version of its InterBase database server, but they won't say when it will ship or how much it will cost. "We view the typical Borland desktop user upsizing in a PC LAN environment, and Novell owns the lion's share...

Product specific vs. industry specific needs. (the need in the database industry for product-specific as well as industry-specific magazines) (Publisher's Letter) (Column)
May 1, 1993... This month the editors of Data Based Advisor launched their third product-specific magazine, Clipper Advisor. It roared on the database scene with an initial print run of 52,000 copies. This is a strong testimonial to the continuing need for...

In memoriam Tom Kemm. (Editor on the Go) (Editorial)
May 1, 1993... I'm sad to report that Tom Kemm passed away February 22, several weeks after suffering a heart attack. He was 63. A frequent speaker at database conferences, Tom was well-known for his popular topic, database normalization. Tom's last major...

Feedback. (Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 1993... On a recent transatlantic flight (on Virgin Atlantic), a copy of the February 1992 issue of Data Based Advisor was present in the Business Class lounge reading material. It appears that this copy has flown between London and no less than six...

Corrections. (from the April 1993 issue) (Correction Notice)
May 1, 1993... In "Ease Your Database Development Woes" (April), Karen Watterson reported that Olin Redmon, the manager of Data Administration at a pharmaceutical company was provided with a version of SDP Technologies' S-Designor that doesn't require a...

TransPortal PRO - access to host data. (the Frustrum Group Inc.'s commands and functions let DOS- and Windows-based applications communicate with mainframes and minicomputers) (Software Review) (Test Drive) (Evaluation)
May 1, 1993... Transportal PRO The Frustum Group, Inc. 90 Park Avenue, Suite 1600 New York, NY 10016 800-548-5660, (212) 338-0721 If your data processing environment includes mainframe or midrange computers, you're probably familiar with the...

Clipper with class. (Loesgen Software Inc.'s StarClass version 2.0 class library for CA-Clipper) (Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
May 1, 1993... Loesgen Software, Inc., has added more classes to its class library for CA-Clipper, StarClass 2.0. Version 2.0 now has 28 classes, which includes event-driven classes for windowing, browsing, editing, scroll bars, background processing and...

Gupta's newest front ends. (Gupta Corp.'s Quest 2.0 and SQLWindows 4.0 database front-end development tools) (Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
May 1, 1993... Gupta upgraded SQLWindows 4.0 and Quest 2.0, its front end development tools. SQLWindows now includes Team Windows, a component that lets teams of programmers work on client/server applications, and Quest Window, which brings Quest query...

Where disparate data meets. (Tools & Techniques Inc.'s Data Junction version 4.2 data conversion software package) (Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
May 1, 1993... Tools & Techniques updated Data Junction, a general purpose data conversion tool for moving data among structured file formats. Version 4.2 now supports Lotus Works, Microsoft Works, askSam 5.0, Excel 4.0, Q&A 4.0, CA-dBFast, Approach, AceFile,...

Path-View - a different path to code generation. (Pathfinder Data Systems Inc.'s Path-View application generator for CA-Clipper 5 and Clipper Summer '87) (Software Review) (Test Drives) (Evaluation)
May 1, 1993... Path-View Pathfinder Systems, Inc 2104 Oak Ave. Manhattan Beach, CA 90266 (310) 546-6333 Path-View, from Pathfinder Data Systems, Inc., is an application generator for CA-Clipper 5 and Clipper Summer '87. Unlike most application...

Stro-Ware is new distributor. (Aladdin Publishing products are now distributed by Stro-Ware) (Brief Article)
May 1, 1993... Stro-Ware has taken over distribution of Aladdin Publishing products in North and South America. Aladdin Publishing is part of a South African company that develops ClipSQL, RDDKit, UnClip, and other Clipper add-ons. The new distributorship is...

Easy EDI. (Patrick Frantz Consulting's EZ-EDI version 1.1 electronic data interchange software) (Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
May 1, 1993... Patrick Frantz Consulting (PFC) shipped EZ-EDI 1.1. EZ-EDI provides basic electronic data interchange (EDI) features, like creating EDI files from data-entry screens or from ASCII, dBASE, or Lotus files, printing EDI files and viewing them in...

Beckner goes shareware. (BecknerVision Inc.'s Beckner Library & Utilities II) (Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
May 1, 1993... BecknerVision, Inc., released Beckner Library & Utilities II. The new release has all the features of the original version, but it's now being sold as shareware, with a registration price of $50. Beckner Library has array, binary, class, date,...

New VBAssist from Sheridan. (Sheridan Software Systems Inc.'s VBAssist version 2.0 program development software) (Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
May 1, 1993... Sheridan Software Systems, Inc. shipped VBAssist 2.0, a new version of its programming tool that lets users visually create, edit, and save customized versions of the objects within the Visual Basic Toolbox with Property Templates. VBAssist 2.0...

Blue Sky opens up. (Blue Sky Software's WindowsMAKER Professional version 5.0 C/C++ prototyping and code generation software package) (Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
May 1, 1993... Blue Sky Software released WindowsMAKER Professional 5.0, a C/C++ prototyping and code generation tool designed to shorten development time. New features include, among others, a WYSIWYG Prototyper, on-line help code generator, application...

Extra help for C++ programmers. (five books for C++ programmers are reviewed) (Test Drives)
May 1, 1993... Are you overwhelmed by all of the manuals that come with Borland C++? Perhaps that's because when you purchase the "compiler," you get a compiler, linker, debugger, runtime library, an assembler, profiler, resource editor, and numerous other...

A server for OS/2 2.0. (XDB Systems' XDB-Server for OS/2 2.0 multiuser database management system) (Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
May 1, 1993... If you're using mainframe DB2 and you're looking to downsize, consider XDB-Server for OS/2 2.0, a 32-bit, multi-user database system for PC LANs. XDB-Server for OS/2 2.0 includes referential integrity, recordlevel locking, transaction...

Capstone is all together now. (Technology Applications Inc.'s Capstone program development software package includes the DBAPartner, CodeMaker, GUIMaker, DOCManager, and DBTool programs) (Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
May 1, 1993... Technology Applications, Inc. has rolled their client/server application tools-DBAPartner, CodeMaker, GUIMaker, DOCManager and DBTool--into an integrated development tool they call Capstone. DBAPartner is an administration tool for creating...

Xbase++. (MicroLab Inc.'s dClass version 2.0 C++ library for accessing Xbase tables and index and memo files) (Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
May 1, 1993... Xbase++ MicroLab, Inc. shipped dClass 2.0, a C++ library for accessing Xbase tables and index and memo files. It currently supports DBF, NDX, NTX, and DBT formats, with support planned for other file formats. dClass allows simultaneous...

Get your code right. (Premia Corp.'s B-Terp add-on program for the CodeWright Windows program editor) (Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
May 1, 1993... You can use WordPerfect editing macros that you created for the BRIEF editor under Windows with Premia Corp.'s B-Terp, an add-on to CodeWright, the Windows program editor. B-Terp directly executes editing macros that programmers may have used...

Data Based Advisor 1993 Buyer's Guide. (preview of following articles on database development tools and techniques)(Brief Article) (Buyers Guide)
May 1, 1993... Your database is the core of your business--or it should be. So choosing a database management system isn't a game... Database managers turn your raw data into the information you use everyday to make business decisions, keep tabs on your...

For developers only: how to choose your database management system. (Data Based Advisor 1993 Buyer's Guide) (Buyers Guide)
May 1, 1993... "Choosing a database manager for application development is a lot different from picking one for interactive use," says Jon Silver, proprietor of software house Step One Technologies. "You've got to look at things like performance and...

Database design 101. (the basics of database design) (Data Based Advisor 1993 Buyer's Guide) (Buyers Guide)
May 1, 1993... Before you purchase a database program, you should think about the data you need to store and how you're going to organize it. In other words, you need to know a bit about database design. A bad database design won't land you in jail, but...

For end-users only: how to choose your database management system. (Data Based Advisor 1993 Buyer's Guide) (Buyers Guide)
May 1, 1993... Although database management software may be one of the most complex productivity tools you'll use on your PC, it can also have the most positive impact on your business by providing accurate, up-to-date information for managing business...

Borland introduces a new, faster dBASE. (Borland International Inc.'s dBASE IV version 2.0)(includes related articles on the dBASE Compiler for DOS and on the program's new commands and functions) (Software Review) (Evaluation)
May 1, 1993... dBASE IV 2.0 Borland International 1800 Green Hills Road Scotts Valley, CA 95066 (408) 438-8400 Pricing: $795; upgrades from previous versions, $99.95. When dBASE is installed on a LAN, a dBASE IV LAN Pack is required for each concurrent...

CA-Clipper: newly extended with RDDs. (Computer Associates International Inc.'s CA-Clipper version 5.2 program development software)(includes a related article on the program's new replaceable database drivers) (Software Review) (Evaluation)
May 1, 1993... CA-Clipper 5.2 Computer Associates One Computer Associates Plaza Islandia, NY 11788 (516) 342-5224 Pricing: $795 Competitive upgrade: $199 Ever see those ads on TV that tell you a product is "new and improved" even though you can't...

Is FoxPro for Windows a reason to switch to Windows? (includes a related article on performance tips)
May 1, 1993... FoxPro for DOS gives you many of the nice features of a GUI, without the inherent overhead of a GUI. You can have multiple windows, pull-down menus, pushbuttons, pop-ups, radio buttons and check boxes, scrollable lists, ect. On the other...

A developer evaluates Alpha Four. (version 2.1 of Alpha Software Corp.'s relational database management system) (Software Review) (Evaluation)
May 1, 1993... As a long-time custom application developer, I always have a passing interest in software that claims to be able to replace me and my colleagues. Alpha Four is one of those programs: "The Fully Relational Database for NonProgrammers,"...

A user tries Alpha Four. (Alpha Software Corp.'s Alpha Four version 2.0 relational database management system) (Software Review) (Evaluation)
May 1, 1993... I'm a sales representative for the crafts division of a global textile-related company. I travel northeastern Ontario Canada and sell my products to retailers and occasionally cottage industry manufacturers. Working on the road has...

Develop groupware apps with Lotus Notes 3.0. (includes related articles on Lotus Notes do's and don'ts, the package's design, and Notes add-on tools) (Client/Server Advisor) (Tutorial)
May 1, 1993... It's been a long time coming, but Lotus Development Corp. is finally shipping Lotus Notes version 3.0 (referred to as Notes R3 by Lotus). Not many software products can endure a 16-month lapse between versions, but Lotus appears to have made...

Forest & Trees gives GUI face to mainframe data. (use of Channel Computing Inc.'s Forest & Trees data access and reporting software package by a Fortune 500 company) (Client/Server Advisor: Case Study)
May 1, 1993... When a Fortune 500 office supply manufacturer decided it needed a better way for sales and marketing to look at data, management honed in on Channel Computing's Forest & Trees. (At press time, Palo Alto, Calif.-based Trinzic Corp. announced...

Set-oriented list boxes worth 10,000 words. (database application programming) (Client/Server Advisor: Client/Server Developer) (Tutorial)
May 1, 1993... I recently developed a data-entry application, and was reminded of the stark differences between row-oriented and set-oriented databases. This lesson was driven home when I tried to use my standard list box routines for a list box that...

RDBMS vendor update: Who's who? (six relational database management system vendors are examined) (Memo to Management) (Column)
May 1, 1993... When shopping for database servers, you have a lot of choices. Let's look at six vendors--Informix Software Inc., Ingres Business Unit of ASK Companies, Oracle Corp., Sybase Inc., Microsoft, and Gupta Corp.--that have dominated the relational...

TechEd news and Windows NT. (Microsoft's TechEd conference and Windows NT operating system) (Systems Integration Tips) (Column)
May 1, 1993... Ever wish you could hob nob with the product manager of your favorite Microsoft product? How about giving the company head honchos your two cents on where the product should be heading? Microsoft's TechEd conference held March 9-12, 1993, at...

Coding for speed. (dBASE Developer)(Column ) (Tutorial)
May 1, 1993... To improve the speed of applications, you can start with the structure of your data tables, ensuring that they're fully normalized (or in certain instances, not fully normalized). You can then move to application structure, modularization of...

Build subclasses to simplify filtered browses. (Hardcore Clipper)(Column) (Tutorial)
May 1, 1993... Reusable code can surely make life easier for hardcore programmers; you just write a routine once and call it as often as you need to in your program. The TBrowse program I showed you last time could be used to browse a subset of records...

FoxPro tips & tricks. (use of Microsoft's FoxPro database management system) (The Fox Files)(Column) (Tutorial)
May 1, 1993... This month, I've asked the Flash Creative Management professionals to help me put together a slew of commonly used tricks that you might find useful for speeding up development--and speeding up your apps. Loading FoxPro From DOS,...

Posting records. (Paradox Programmer)(Column) (Tutorial)
May 1, 1993... Of all the events you can monitor during WAIT, the most critical is POSTRECORD. The POSTRECORD event is triggered just before a record is physically written to disk. Since the primary purpose of data-entry programming is making sure that data...

Using FoxPro's application programming interface: adapting existing DOS programs. (includes a related article summarizing FoxPro's API library) (C/C++ Developer)(Column) (Tutorial)
May 1, 1993... In previous articles, I showed how to create a FoxPro library file and how to improve performance within an application using the API. This article shows what it takes to adapt an ordinary DOS program to make it work within FoxPro. Why...

Developing faster Clipper apps. (Clipper Basics)(Column) (Tutorial)
May 1, 1993... As you grow with CA-Clipper, you'll undoubtedly push the compiler further and further to its limits. To reach that point, of course, you need to keep in mind some of the development techniques that can make you more productive. This month,...

Manipulate your data. (Paradox Basics)(Column) (Tutorial)
May 1, 1993... Manipulating data is one of the most important tasks in any database application. In this article, we'll explain how to work with your data in Paradox for Windows using ObjectPAL, Paradox for Windows' programming language. The most common...

Doing the Forum shuffle. (the sections and libraries of the Data Based Advisor Forum have been rearranged) (DB Connections) (Column)
May 1, 1993... Just as your family may have added a room to your house or rearranged existing rooms to accommodate a new baby, we've rearranged the sections and libraries of the Data Based Advisor Forum to accommodate our new magazines. You'll find that the...

Calendar of events.
May 1, 1993... DB/EXPO '93--The world's largest database, client/server, and information technology exposition and conference, featuring eight tracks of tutorials and user case studies, and more than 500 exhibits. May 3-7, Moscone Convention Center, San...

Database Confidential. (Column)
May 1, 1993... Say what? The buzz around Microsoft Tech-Ed in Orlando, Florida wasn't what Dr. Dave said but what he didn't say about how SQL Server fits in with the future direction of Microsoft databases. The mumbling in the crowd afterward--worries that...