Data Based Advisor articles from September 1992

Data Based Advisor archives from September 1992

Manage data across Windows and the Mac. (Software Review) (FileMaker Pro 2.0 for Windows data base management system from Claris Corp.) (Evaluation)
September 1, 1992... FileMaker Pro 2.0 for Windows, from Claris Corp., is yet another low-end database management system for Windows, joining ranks with AceFile, Approach, and ObjectVision. Although FileMaker is aimed at the same class of users as these other...

Dataline.
September 1, 1992... ISLANDIA, NY -- Computer Associates has changed the dates for its first CA-Clipper developer conference. Originally scheduled for September in Boston, the gathering, now named "CA TechniCon," will take place November 1-5 in New York City....

ANSI standard Xbase? (American National Standards Institute)(Editor on the Go) (Editorial)
September 1, 1992... Good ideas need good timing. Leonardo DaVinci drew the basic components of a helicopter centuries before Igor Sikorsky made one fly. DaVinci had the idea and apparently the desire for vertical flight. Unfortunately, the rest of his world wasn't...

Feedback: where were we? (Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 1992... [Regarding the June Third-Party Developers article,] I was most disappointed to observe that you omitted CompuSolve's COMET and COMET-MP... Michael P. Reed, Owner CompuSolve Rockaway, New Jersey ... and BlackHawk Data Corp.'s Database...

Corrections. (June 1992 Dateline on dLESKO: the correct fax number is 201 435-0637)
September 1, 1992... In June's "Dataline" on dLESKO, we published an incorrect fax number. It should be (201) 435-0637. Also in June, Susan Wells, Director of Public Relations at Irwin Ink, noticed that in "A Guide to Clipper's Booming Third Party," we misquoted...

Object/1 follows the OOP tradition. (Software Review) (Object 1 version 2 object oriented programming language from mdbs Inc.)(Test Drives) (Evaluation)
September 1, 1992... Of the currently available database front ends, Object/1 is one of the few that offers a full programming language and, even better, a truly object-oriented programming (OOP) language in the Smalltalk tradition. Object/1 version 2 by mdbs...

The fast track to building a TBrowse. (Software Review) (FasTBrowse application design tool from Softsystems Inc.)(Test Drives) (Evaluation)
September 1, 1992... FastTBrowse, from Softsystems, is an application design tool and Clipper source code generator for quickly building TBrowse programs. Using FasTBrowse's highly visual, WYSIWYG methodology, a programmer can design a TBrowse and generate source...

CommTools lets your programs do the talking. (Software Review) (communications library from Pinnacle Publishing Inc.)(Test Drives) (Evaluation)
September 1, 1992... You've just been called into a client's office to talk about a new project. It seems that his vendors are using barcodes on their products. To make things easier for himself, he wants to be able to update his inventory system using these...

Geography 101. (MapBasic Development Environment programming environment from MapInfo Corp.)(Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
September 1, 1992... MapInfo Corp. released the MapBasic Development Environment, a BASIC-like programming environment that allows corporate and third-party developers to create and customize MapInfo 2.0 for Windows desktop mapping applications. Features include...

Logic Works updates ERwin. (ERwin/ERX 1.1 data base design software)(Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
September 1, 1992... Logic Works is shipping ERwin/ERX 1.1, an upgrade to its flagship database design software that supports Oracle 7.0. The new release offers enhanced reverse-engineering to convert any supported SQL schema DDL into ER model. Version 1.1...

New releases from Pioneer. (Q+E Database Editor 2.7 and Q+E Database Library 1.1 program development software from Pioneer Software)(Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
September 1, 1992... Q+E Database Editor (Q+E) version 2.7 and Q+E Database Library (QELIB) version 1.1 are available from Pioneer Software. The new releases add database drivers for Btrieve, INGRES, SQLBase, and XDB. In addition, the company says it has made...

Paradox hits the target. (Target Software Inc. announces PaintPAL add-on graphic software will ship with Paradox 4.0 data base management system) (Brief Article)
September 1, 1992... Target Software, Inc., announced that PaintPAL, a Paradox graphic add-on, will ship concurrently with the release of Paradox 4.0. PaintPAL provides a visual point-and-click method of designing dialog boxes, and it generates PAL code for...

Sybase and Microsoft's SQL strategy. (Structured Query Language) (SQL Server Software Development Kit for Windows NT from Sybase and Microsoft)(Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
September 1, 1992... The SQL Server Software Development Kit for Windows NT should be available from Sybase and Microsoft by the time you read this. In a separate announcement, the companies said they plan to jointly develop optimized driver support for the...

New end-user tool for ORACLE. (Business Objects data access tool from Business Objects Inc.)(Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
September 1, 1992... Business Objects, Inc. is shipping Business Objects, an end-user data access tool for ORACLE databases. The product, which has been available in Europe for two years, lets end users access data from their desktops with no knowledge of...

Images at your fingertips. (Genus Microprogramming introduces PCX Toolkit for Windows graphics software)(Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
September 1, 1992... Genus Microprogramming is shipping PCX Toolkit for Windows, which allows developers to incorporate graphics into Windows programs. Like its forerunner on the DOS platform, PCX Toolkit for Windows has over 30 functions for displaying, saving,...

Crystal Reports links dBASE and Paradox data. (Software Review) (report generator from Crystal Services)(Test Drives) (Evaluation)
September 1, 1992... If you're working in Windows, and you need a report generator for most of your database work, try Crystal Reports. From Crystal Services, Crystal Reports is a report generator for Paradox, dBASE, ObjectVision and Btrieve data files. It allows...

DataFlex make the right connections. (Data Access Corp. introduces the Data Access Database C-Library and the Data Access Database Windows DLL for DataFlex databases)(Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
September 1, 1992... Data Access Corp. has released the Data Access Database C-Library and the Data Access Database Windows DLL. Both products provide developers with the ability to read and write data in DataFlex databases without using the DataFlex environment....

Compiler ecstacy. (Desktop Ai ports X2c, an Xbase compiler for C, to the OS/2 2.0 platform) (Brief Article)
September 1, 1992... Desktop Ai has ported X2c to the OS/2 2.0 platform. X2c is an Xbase compiler for C and, in this version, it creates a fully functional C executable for OS/2. X2c supports Clipper Summer '87, dBASE III PLUS (only partial dBASE IV support), and...

What a picture is worth. (WestLake Imager utility for Paradox data bases, from Westlake Software Inc.)(Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
September 1, 1992... WestLake Software, Inc., released the WestLake Imager, a Paradox 3.5 and 4.0 add-on utility for integrating (what else!) images into Paradox databases. The company claims that no programming is needed. It's a matter of simply adding a field...

mdbs will have NLM. (Micro Data Base Systems' MDBS IV data base engine available as network loadable module by 4th qtr 1992) (Brief Article)
September 1, 1992... Micro Data Base Systems' (mdbs) database engine, MDBS IV, will be available as a network loadable module (NLM) by the fourth quarter of this year, the company says. The MDBS IV NLM will operate on the Novell file server, eliminating the need...

ObjectView adds features. (ObjectView 2.0 front end development software from Matesys Corp.)(Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
September 1, 1992... Matesys will ship ObjectView 2.0, a new version of its front-end development tool, in the fourth quarter of this year. The new version includes a new degugger and an object data dictionary that will store definitions of all objects in SQL...

Channel goes out on a limb. (new version of Forest & Trees for Windows from Channel Computing Inc.)(Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
September 1, 1992... A new release of Forest & Trees for Windows that supports Lotus Notes, VAX Rdb/VMS, Symantec Q&A version 4, and Quadbase is available from Channel Computing. Forest & Trees for Windows version 2.0d In a separate announcement, the company said...

Speaking NetWare-ease. (NetEase, a DataEase add-on for integrating network functionality, from TSI Inc.)(Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
September 1, 1992... TSI, Inc., has released NetEase, a DataEase add-on that allows developers to integrate network functionality into DataEase applications. NetEase is a custom-defined function (CDF) library of 95 Novell NetWare functions which features...

Computer Associates gets a Report Writer. (Visual Report Writer from Working Set now belongs to Computer Associates International Inc.) (Brief Article)
September 1, 1992... Computer Associates International, Inc. (CA) announced that they acquired Visual Report Writer (VRW) from Working Set. VRW is a report generator technology for Windows which allows access to--among others--dBASE, CA-Clipper, CA-dBFast, and SQL...

ACT! for Windows. (contact manager with dBASE-compatible file structures, from Contact Software International Inc.)(Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
September 1, 1992... Contact Software International (CSI) announced ACT! for Windows, a contact manager that incorporates industry standard dBASE-compatible file structures for contact, activity, note, and history data with Windows features including pre-defined...

Data security: better safe than sorry. (Memo to Management) (Column)
September 1, 1992... What would it mean to you and your organization if, in some catastrophic event, you "lost" a crucial database? How much would it cost to reconstruct it? Could you do it? Now imagine a different scenario. Somehow, your biggest competitor gets...

Make sense of interface portability. (Anu Shukla, vice president of marketing of Uniface Corp.) (Interview)
September 1, 1992... Opennes is the watchword of the '90s in database management. At a recent industry conference, staff from Microsoft joined hands with staff from Oracle at a breakfast meeting to announce not much more than how much they'll enjoy working together...

Query tools: get information now! (includes directory) (Buyers Guide)
September 1, 1992... If you're a database user, your goal is to be able to turn your data into information so you can make the right business decisions. But let's face it. Finding the right information isn't always easy to do--especially if you don't really know...

What's new with report writers. (includes directory) (Buyers Guide)
September 1, 1992... The once-static report writer market is heating up. As more developers move into the Windows environment, reporting needs are becoming more sophisticated. Developers and end-users expect niceties, such as various type styles and...

Clever approach. (Software Review) (Approach for Windows relational data base manager from Approach Software Corp. ) (Evaluation)
September 1, 1992... Many people have the impression that any program written for Windows must be easier to use than a comparable DOS program. If all programs were like Approach for Windows, they'd probably be right. Approach for Windows is a new low-end...

Reconsider Superbase. (Software Review) (Superbase 2.0 data base management system from Software Publishing Corp.) (Evaluation)
September 1, 1992... If you follow Windows databases, you may recall that Software Publishing Corp.--makers of Harvard Graphics--bought Superbase from Precision Software last year. Now, SPC is poised to release their first major upgrade of Superbase (version...

WindowBased access to SQL and DBF data. (Software Review) (WindowBase structured query language data base management system from Software Products International Inc.) (Evaluation)
September 1, 1992... WindowBase, Software Products International's Windows-based SQL database management system, has undergone revision. I had mixed feelings regarding the original release, but version 1.5 is much easier to use and full-featured. WindowBase is...

What are you waiting for? The Windows products that haven't appeared yet. (data base products expected to be on the market in the near future) (Buyers Guide)
September 1, 1992... The Windows products that haven't appeared yet Windows fans, strap yourselves in and get ready... Database products are coming that will blow your hair back! It so happens (coincidentally?) that every major vendor is sweating bullets to...

Using GUI portability tools. (several issues users need to know about) (Buyers Guide)
September 1, 1992... There are many roads to take when developing portable graphic user interface (GUI) applications. Here are the issues you should know about. As more and more of an application becomes user interface (UI) code, portability becomes a major...

Construct a Windows app with Superbase. ( Bob Karp of Chrome Computing and Christy Reichhelm of Cybridge Systems)
September 1, 1992... What do you do if you want to develop a complex database application in Windows in a minimum amount of time and at minimum expense to the client? That's the position Bob Karp of Chrome Computing found himself in a couple of years ago....

Tech support app created with Superbase. (Alterity Inc.'s of the data base management system) (Cover Story)
September 1, 1992... Ron Souder, of Arlington, Texas, is another fan of SPC's Superbase. Souder's company, Alterity, Inc., primarily develops products for marketing organizations. Recently, Alterity finished a program to manage technical support requests,...

Using dBASE IV's new index functions: get more information on how indexes are being used to alleviate maintenance headaches. (dBASE developer) (Tutorial)
September 1, 1992... If you're among the non-believers and have yet to convert your applications to MDX master index files, your way to salvation lies in a one-time code conversion that won't cause you much pain. What are the advantages of MDX files? First, an...

An array of possibilities: take advantage of arrays to use FoxPro 2 objects effectively. (Hands-on FoxPro) (Tutorial)
September 1, 1992... To properly use many of the objects of FoxPro 2.0, you should learn to manipulate arrays. I'll cover some differences in the ways arrays are handled in FoxPro 1.x and 2.0. Creating arrays Arrays can be created either by creating a...

A call to order. (insights into the C Programming Language and Clipper Summer '87 and 5.0)(Clipper Tip) (Tutorial)
September 1, 1992... Some applications require you to accept input that may or may not intuitively sort in logical order. For example, say you maintain a list of stock numbers from different manufacturers, and each has a different method of presenting information....

Replaceable database drivers: at last, an implementation. (Hardcore Clipper) (Tutorial)
September 1, 1992... Computer Associates/Nantucket has yet to release any of the replaceable database drivers (RDDs) they announced several years ago; in fact, they've never officially provided the capability in Clipper. Meanwhile, a third-party vendor has...

The squeaking mouse: Paradox 4.0 can now "listen" to your mouse. (Paradox Programmer) (Tutorial)
September 1, 1992... One of the first features you'll notice about the new Paradox 4.0 is its mouse support. Earlier versions of Paradox "listened" only to the keyboard; now you can talk to Paradox with the mouse, too. There are many new PAL commands for...

A look at Windows NT. (Microsoft Corp.'s new operating system) (Systems Integration Tips) (Tutorial)
September 1, 1992... San Francisco, CA--More than 4,500 developers from 24 countries swarmed to this city for three days in July to attend the Windows NT Developers' Conference. Bill Gates, Microsoft Chairman and CEO, described the conference as possibly the...

Pro-C 2.5: more than just another C code generator.... (Software Review) (includes related article on training for Pro-C)(C code generator from PRO-C Limited) (Evaluation)
September 1, 1992... More than just another C code generator... Pro-C 2.5 from PRO-C Limited, is a C code generator that claims to free you from the bonds of mundane coding. Version 2.5, like its predecessors, does this and more. Pro-C 2.5 isn't a full version...

Visual Basic custom controls and QEVB: a new dimension in programming. (Q&E Database/VB from Pioneer Software)(Basic for Windows)
September 1, 1992... A new dimension in programming Many of you are familiar with Pioneer Software's flagship product, Q+E. Recently, the company released a powerful set of custom controls for database development called Q+E Database/VB (QEVB). The package...

Study Group heats up. (the ongoing DB Study Group)(DB Connections)
September 1, 1992... The ongoing DB Study Group, moderated by Sysop Warren Keuffel, continues to gather new participants as our intrepid Data Modellers dig deeper into the meat of evolving methodologies. After their initial expedition through the Handbook of...

Keeping tabs on your apps: organize and distribute your applications with the Project Manager. (FoxPro Basics)(includes related article on emulation of header files and #INCLUDEs) (Tutorial)
September 1, 1992... Organize and distribute your applications with the Project Manager As we learned last time, our main FoxPro program can be spartan and clear, consisting of nothing but a few lines of setup, a Foundation READ to keep us in the program, and...

Smooth Clipper sailing: how to optimize your programs with UDFs, procedures, and variable scoping and lifetime. (user-defined functions) (Clipper Basics) (Tutorial)
September 1, 1992... Modular programming took a significant step forward with Clipper 5; moving away from the antiquated methodologies that persisted even in Clipper Summer '87. Many Clipper 5 programmers maintain their logical program units in a "functionized"...

Training end users: the key to making your application a success. (The Developer Report) (Tutorial)
September 1, 1992... The key to making your application a success You've just completed a great application. It converts widgets to whatchamacallits. It's full of sophisticated routines, sexy menus, and every feature your client could ever conceive. Your...

Clipper, DOS 5.0, and PCLP: Clipper 5.01. (Bugs & Fixes) (Brief Article)
September 1, 1992... A program compiled under Clipper 5.01 and executed on a PC running MS-DOS 5.0 and IBM's PC Lan Program (PCLP) version 1.33 or 1.34 may experience problems opening index (NTX) files. The program will lock up when attempting to open an index...

Memory: Clipper 5.01. (Bugs & Fixes) (Brief Article)
September 1, 1992... Ah, DOS! Clipper 5.01 has come a long way towards breaking the 640K barrier. However, memory-related problems persist. With the automatic swapping of code and data to disk or expanded memory, the physical size of an EXE shouldn't concern you....

User groups. (directory) (Illustration)
September 1, 1992... User Group listings are a free service of Data Based Advisor. Please note: Listings are on a space availability basis. Individual User Group Coordinators are responsible for keeping listings up to date. To list a new user group, update a...

Calendar of events.
September 1, 1992... Fox Developer's Conference--Relocated from Toledo, Ohio to the Phoenix Civic Plaza, Phoeniz, AZ September 18-23, (800) 927-6368, (419) 872-0855. Downsizing/Rightsizing Corporate Computing Conference--Focus on client/server computing and...

Database confidential. (Column)
September 1, 1992... Now that summer's over, maybe the bugs'll go away. That's what Borland, which recently diagnosed a couple of incessant pesks in dBASE IV 1.5, is hoping. Workarounds were provided in mid-July via CompuServe. So what were the problems they...

Control numeric field lengths in SQL databases.
September 1, 1992... The SELECT SQL command in FoxPro 2 contains no means to regulate the length of a calculated numeric field in a database created from a SQL table. This becomes important when, for instance, you want to transmit data in a fixed format. Here's a...