Data Based Advisor articles from September 1993

Data Based Advisor archives from September 1993

Making Progress. (Progress Software's PROGRESS version 7 relational database) (Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
September 1, 1993... Although you may not hear Progress software's name as much as Oracle's or Sybase's, the Bedford, Mass. server vendor is on the rise. Progress revenues have been growing steadily for the past five years, and should top $100 million this year....

Reporter at large. (the Informix Worldwide Users conference) (Brief Article)
September 1, 1993... Speaking of revenues, we couldn't help but notice that there were nearly as many financial analysts roaming the press outings at the Informix Worldwide Users conference in July as there were members of the press. This comes as no surprise,...

Whatta buy! (Q+E Software's ODBC Pack database access software package) (Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
September 1, 1993... Q+E Software is shipping its ODBC Pack 1.0 for a suggested retail price of $199. The ODBC Pack will enable you to access corporate data from any application that supports ODBC. For $99 a year, you can buy a Pack Subscription Service, which...

Source code escrow. (Fidex Americas Corp.'s source code escrow service) (Brief Article)
September 1, 1993... Fidex Americas Corp. of Sandpoint, Idaho has a solution for clients that worry about what will happen to their programs if you get hit by a truck. The company offers a source code escrow service. To guarantee that the client's software will be...

Free development seminars. (Magic Software's seminars let developers test the Magic development tool) (Brief Article)
September 1, 1993... Magic Software is offering a series of free seminars called, "Prove it!" in which developers get a hands-on opportunity to test the Magic development tool in a lab setting. The seminars are designed to substantiate the company's claim that...

Bug fix for BLINKER. (Brief Article)
September 1, 1993... An early batch of BLINKER 2.1 upgrade disks had a default value of TRUE/.T./1for the undocumented swap function SWPSAVCOM (). This setting is only required if you specifically need to save the comms port status on a swap. To avoid any possible...

Will you catch the next wave? (trends in the computer software industry) (Founder's Letter) (Editorial)
September 1, 1993... When I first moved to San Diego, I marveled at how so many people surfed all day while I scratched for a way to make a living. I guess they were being supported by rich parents who must have been successful software developers! Occasionally I'd...

10 years and DBA, it keeps going, and going.... (an examination of the journal's first 10 years) (Editor on the Go) (Editorial)
September 1, 1993... The fall of 1983 was an interesting time, very different from now. I was living in Kirkland, Washington and working in Seattle. I'd drive by Microsoft every day. I couldn't help noticing how it occupied more and more real estate on both sides...

Feedback. (Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 1993... In the June issue, you referred to Object Skipjack as a dBASE compiler. Actually, Object Skipjack is a Turbo/Borland Pascal library of units, allowing users to create dBASE-compatible applications. As an object-oriented database application...

Correction. (to the July 1993 issue) (Correction Notice)
September 1, 1993... The zip code of the Young Software Works, Inc. was incorrectly listed in the Visual Basic Add-On Directory in the July issue. The correct zip code is 10276-0185.

Clip4Win and Dolce Vita - get windowed Clipper apps now. (Grumpfish Inc.'s Clip4Win and Fiesta Publishing Inc.'s Dolce Vita let programmers create Windows applications from Clipper code) (Software Review) (Test Drives) (Evaluation)
September 1, 1993... For years, you've made a good living writing CA-Clipper DOS applications. But lately, your clients have been clamoring for applications that run under Windows. If you're waiting to write native Clipper apps under Windows, you might be looking...

Desktop Plus - a panacea for Paradox development. (Kallista Inc.'s development tool for Paradox 4.0) (Software Review) (Test Drives) (Evaluation)
September 1, 1993... No doubt about it, Paradox 4.0 is a major improvement over earlier versions. However, even with better database functionality, user interface, and a superior development environment, it's still a challenge to master. Tools that simplify the...

First In-Pressions. (Dabiwa Inc.'s In-Press publishing software package for PC applications) (Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
September 1, 1993... Dabiwa, Inc., shipped In-Press, a publishing tool for PC applications. In-Press generates reports, business forms, labels, bar codes, and graphs that can be printed on PCL laser printers and PostScript printers. In includes scalable font and...

Extrasensory in control. (Extrasensory Software's PS Error replacement error system and Sez You environment control utility program for CA-Clipper development) (Brief Article ) (Product Announcement)
September 1, 1993... Extrasensory Software has added two products to its family of CA-Clipper development tools., PS Error, a replacement error system, and Sez You, an environment control utility. PS Error tracks runtime and fatal errors, and writes all...

Network monitor software from Preferred, VisiSoft. (Preferred Systems Inc.'s PSI: Origen 3.0 local area network task automation software and VisiSoft Inc.'s VisiNet Enterprise 2.0 Windows-based network monitor) (Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
September 1, 1993... Preferred Systems, Inc. shipped PSI: Origen 3.0, an upgrade to its LAN task automation software. The new version can cut, paste, modify, and selectively combine NetWare 2.x, 3.x, and 4.x server templates throughout an enterprise, and enables...

With ProHP, CA-Clipper prints laser-fast. (I.L.A. Inc.'s ProHP version 5.4 CA-Clipper library for easy creation of laser printer output) (Software Review) (Test Drives) (Evaluation)
September 1, 1993... ProHP, from I.L.A., Inc., is a CA-Clipper library that can help applications create good-looking laser printer output without much effort. While you can do only so many things with a laser printer, ProHP's library of 150-plus functions allows...

Rumba talks (to mainframes). (Wall Data Inc.'s Rumba terminal emulation software packages add Advanced Program-to-Program Communications functions) (Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
September 1, 1993... Wall Data, Inc., introduced Rumba software products with Advanced Program-to-Program Communications (APPC) capabilities to Windows users connecting to IBM mainframe, AS/400, RS/6000 and other systems. Wall Data's APPC products now include Rumba...

War in the Age of Intelligent Machines.
September 1, 1993... Is there anything in principle preventing the emergence of life in media, say, silicon? Perhaps you've encountered a computer virus. I doubt you'd describe it as alive despite its reproductive capability, evasive tactics when threatened, its...

Artificial Life.
September 1, 1993... Is there anything in principle preventing the emergence of life in media, say, silicon? Perhaps you've encountered a computer virus. I doubt you'd describe it as alive despite its reproductive capability, evasive tactics when threatened, its...

Consciousness Explained.
September 1, 1993... Is there anything in principle preventing the emergence of life in media, say, silicon? Perhaps you've encountered a computer virus. I doubt you'd describe it as alive despite its reproductive capability, evasive tactics when threatened, its...

Genetic Algorithms.
September 1, 1993... Cadre Technologies Inc. released ObjectTeam, a suite of object-oriented software development tools and services. The tools automate Rumbaugh's Object Modeling Technique (OMT) and Shlaer-Mellor methodology for object-oriented analysis and...

EcoSystems joins Compuware. (Compuware Corp. acquires EcoSystems Software Inc.) (Brief Article)
September 1, 1993... Compuware Corp. announced an agreement to acquire EcoSystems Software, Inc., a privately held software company in Cupertino, Calif. EcoSystems Software, Inc. designs, develops, and markets management software for UNIX client/server...

New Object Team members. (Cadre Technologies Inc.'s ObjectTeam object-oriented software development tools and services) (Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
September 1, 1993... Cadre Technologies Inc. released ObjectTeam, a suite of object-oriented software development tools and services. The tools automate Rumbaugh's Object Modeling Technique (OMT) and Shlaer-Mellor methodology for object-oriented analysis and...

The hubbub on InfoHub. (Trinzic Corp.'s InfoHub client/server software for accessing host-based databases) (Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
September 1, 1993... Trinzic Corp. announced InfoHub, client/server software for accessing host-based databases. InfoHub supports Microsoft's Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) interface for data access, and provides access from PC or server applications to...

Alpha presents Bravo. (Alpha Software Corp.'s Bravo presentation graphics software package for Windows) (Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
September 1, 1993... Alpha Software Corp. released Bravo, Windows presentation graphics software for creating slides, overheads, interactive on-screen and multimedia presentations. It features an outliner and sorter, and can creates a help guide for the...

More support for AccSys for dBASE. (Copia International's AccSys for dBASE database library adds support for FoxPro and Clipper) (Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
September 1, 1993... Copia International has added FoxPro and Clipper support to AccSys for dBASE database library. AccSys for dBASE can create, read, write, modify and update FoxPro and Clipper files. It offers network compatibility and FoxPro-and Clipper-specific...

Jetform for Mac, OS/2, UNIX. (JetForm Corp.'s JetForm for E-mail forms software package) (Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
September 1, 1993... JetForm Corp. announced a Macintosh version of JetForm for E-mail, a forms fill-in product a set of workflow tools for Lotus cc:Mail and Microsoft Mail. It features rule-based or ad hoc forms routing and and manual or automatic forms tracking....

UNIFACE links to InterBase. (Richard Irwin Associates' UNIFACE/InterBase driver links UNIFACE applications with InterBase data) (Brief Article) (Product Announcement)
September 1, 1993... Richard Irwin Associates announced a driver for linking UNIFACE apps to InterBase data. The UNIFACE/InterBase driver will support InterBase events and array data types. Event handlers will be supported to allow InterBase events to trigger...

In good health: dBASE, Paradox add-on markets stronger with Borland's support. (includes a product directory listing dBASE and Paradox add-ons in various categories)
September 1, 1993... If you judge the well-being of a database vendor by the size of its third-party market, Borland is one of the healthy kids on the block. Both of its desktop databases - dBASE and Paradox - have generated add-ons of every imaginable form and...

Your guide to Windows report writers. (Overview of evaluations of four Windows-based report writing software packages: Computer Associates' CA-RET/Xbase, Indigo Software's ReportSmith, Crystal Services' Crystal Reports, and Concentric Data Systems' R&R Report Writer)(includes a related article listing company information) (Software Review) (Evaluation)
September 1, 1993... Do you need to create Windows-based reports? Perhaps from your existing applications? There's a new class of Windows report writers on the market that's betting you do. Some of the new offerings are strictly Xbase, while others open up a swiss...

CA-RET/Xbase. (Computer Associates International Inc.'s report writing software package) (Software Review) (one of four report writers evaluated in Your Guide to Windows Report Writers) (Evaluation)
September 1, 1993... CA-RET is the result of Computer Associates' attempt to standardize the task of report writing under Windows. Following this strategy, application development tools like CA's dBFast, Clipper, and the coming Visual Objects are freed from the...

Crystal Reports Pro. (from Crystal Services) (Software Review) (one of four report writers evaluated in Your Guide to Windows Report Writers) (Evaluation)
September 1, 1993... Crystal Reports is a report writer with a clear view of its mission. This view is evident in the style and content of the product. Crystal Services, the publishers of Crystal Reports, want you to write the report using Crystal Reports and...

R&R. (Concentric Data Systems Inc.'s R&R Report Writer) (Software Review) (one of four report writers evaluated in Your Guide to Windows Report Writers) (Evaluation)
September 1, 1993... R&R has a long, distinguished history as a highly regarded report writer for Xbase applications. It's the one I started with - I spent a lot of time with the old R&R for DOS. To anyone who's used R&R for DOS, the Windows version will seem very...

ReportSmith. (from Indigo Software Corp.) (Software Review) (one of four report writers evaluated in Your Guide to Windows Report Writers) (Evaluation)
September 1, 1993... ReportSmith, published by Indigo Software, is the most graphically elegant of the products reviewed. ReportSmith features true WYSIWYG operation, where all editing and layout of the report is done on a layout screen that is an exact...

Calling a DLL from Access. (how Microsoft's Access and Visual Basic handle Dynamic Link Libraries) (Windows Techniques) (Tutorial)
September 1, 1993... Access and Visual Basic handle DLLs in the same way. Access Basic is used to encapsulate objects in modules. Each module has a declaration section and some procedures, which Access calls functions or subs. Functions can be called from any...

Calling DLLs from FoxPro for Windows. (how to use dynamic link libraries in Microsoft's database management system) (Windows Techniques) (Tutorial)
September 1, 1993... Unlike other Windows programs, FoxPro for Windows requires a helper to call DLL functions. This helper, a library created with the FoxPro Library Construction Kit (LCK), is called FOXTOOLS.FLL. FOXTOOLS.FLL is isntalled by FoxPro for Windows in...

Calling a DLL from Paradox for Windows. (how to use dynamic link libraries in Borland's database management system) (Windows Techniques) (Tutorial)
September 1, 1993... Using DLLs in Paradox for Windows is a two-part process. First, you must declare any external functions you plan on calling in a Uses-EndUses block. This lets the ObjectPAL compiler "know" about your external functions and prevents Paradox for...

Calling a DLL from Superbase. (use of dynamic link libraries in Superbase for Windows) (Windows Techniques) (Tutorial)
September 1, 1993... Using DLLs in Superbase for Windows is straightforward. To Superbase, a DLL is simply a container that holds functions. Like other languages, such as FoxPro and Visual Basic, Superbase requires that DLL functions be defined before being called....

Calling DLLs from Visual Basic. (use of dynamic link libraries in Microsoft's development environment) (Windows Techniques) (Tutorial)
September 1, 1993... Visual Basic (VB) uses a very simple method to call routines from a DLL: Define the routines you want to call in the declaration section of your form or project. You can then access the DLL routines as if they were part of VB. If the routine...

10 years of Data Based Advisor. (a look back at the database industry on the occasion of the journal's 10th anniversary)(includes related articles on people and events in the industry)
September 1, 1993... Since its humble beginning as the magazine "Featuring dBASE II" in September 1983, Data Based Advisor has provided practical, hands-on advice for using many of the desktop database products to manage data and develop applications. Over the...

A Windows NT primer for developers. (Microsoft's Windows NT operating system) (Cover Story)
September 1, 1993... That thunder you hear in the distance isn't a genetically cloned monster from before the last ice age. Though you might tag it "Windowsaurus Rex," it's Windows NT from Microsoft, which should be in the hands of the masses by the time you read...

NT servers in the works. (the plans of database server vendors for Windows NT versions of their products) (Cover Story)
September 1, 1993... If you're looking for a database server for Windows NT, you'll soon have a lot of options. The majority of database server vendors plan to release Windows NT versions of their software within months after the NT release. Only a few database...

PowerBuilder 3.0: new and improved. (Powersoft Corp.'s application development software package) (Software Review) (Client/Server Advisor: First Look) (Evaluation)
September 1, 1993... PowerBuilder 3.0 is a major upgrade to Powersoft's popular development tool. It should be available by the time you read this. This version offers many improvements in the development interface, the Programming language, and the deployment of...

In search of the perfect server. (the ideal database server) (Client/Server Advisor: Client/Server Developer) (Column)
September 1, 1993... The mission: Find the ideal database server. That was my goal wandering the floor of Client-Server World in Boston. I found the elements of the perfect database in a number of products. I just didn't find everything I wanted in one package. So...

Kodak goes cross-platform with OMNIS7. (Eastman Kodak Co.'s use of Blyth Software's OMNIS7 application development environment) (Case Study)
September 1, 1993... We're re-engineering an entire division of the business," says Jim Royston, Director of Systems Reengineering for the Office Imaging arm of the Eastman Kodak Company in Rochester, New York. Royston and his staff are updating old systems and...

Master the client/server numbers game. (client/server consultant Doug Goddard of The Client Server Factory) (Client/Server Advisor: Client/Server On Line) (Interview)
September 1, 1993... Doug Goddard, a principal of The Client Server Factory, a Toronto-based consultancy that specializes in client/server projects, shares his experiences about the costs associated with client/server, what clients expect to spend, and how...

Inside Informix OnLine 6.0. (Informix's new database package) (Client/Server Advisor: Systems Integration Tips)
September 1, 1993... Which database server can run a 30G to 50G database without grinding to a halt? How about 500G? How can you have mirrored servers without paying an arm and a leg? How about quickly recovering from losing 20G of your 40G database? Informix...

Is your table open? (dBASE Developer)(Column) (Tutorial)
September 1, 1993... Last month we developed a function called MAKE_STX. Beyond creating the function, it was my intention to get you to think in new and more creative ways about programming in dBASE. We'll start with more of the same this month. Want to...

A reusable mover window. (how to create a reusable window that uses arrays)(Fox Files)(Column) (Tutorial)
September 1, 1993... One of the key techniques for developing applications quickly is to have a stable of reusable code. Let's look at the issues involved in creating a complex reusable window that uses arrays. I'll explore the reusable window step by step,...

Validating fields with ObjectPAL. (includes related articles on finding the source of an ObjectPAL error message, and on the causes of disappearing error messages)(Paradox Programmer)(Column) (Tutorial)
September 1, 1993... In past Data Based Advisor articles, we've dealt with ObjectPAL basics, such as programming buttons and changing the color of boxes. Now it's time to get to the meat-and-potatoes issues. One of the most critical and potentially difficult...

Help authoring tools. (five on-line help development tools)(includes a related article on the tools required to create an on-line help system)(Windows Developer)(Column) (Software Review) (Evaluation)
September 1, 1993... Microsoft's introduction of the runtime help engine in Windows 3.0 marked a significant new era in documentation. The help engine, WINHELP.EXE, is an applet that's included with every Windows package sold, just like other Windows extras like...

VB app links mainframe data to Word. (Visual Basic Expert)(Column) (Tutorial)
September 1, 1993... I recently had a client who wanted to automate the process of sending out lots of letters. The idea was to produce a simple, fill-in-the-blanks form on the screen, with most of the blanks filled in with mainframe data. The letters would be...

So you want to be a book author? (how to write a book) (Developer Report) (Column)
September 1, 1993... Let's say you have a successful computer consulting practice, but lately it has started to flounder. You need something to supercharge your business and career. You've thought about it for weeks and you think you've seen the light: You'll write...

Reporting made simple. (Clipper Basics)(Column) (Tutorial)
September 1, 1993... This month, let's examine another important program group: reporting. I'll show you how to pull together your newfound knowledge of CA-Clipper by writing a generic multi-table report program that you can use as a model for future reporting...

Multi-form applications in Paradox for Windows. (Paradox Basics)(Column) (Tutorial)
September 1, 1993... OjectPAL applications are built upon forms. Forms are the foundation for ObjectPAL applications. Forms are the primary place in which you can store ObjectPAL code. Most ObjectPAL applications consist of forms which call other forms, which may...

Make mine beta. (software beta testers)(DB Connections)(Brief Article) (Column)
September 1, 1993... Software companies often release a new software package to a select group of developers for final testing before offering the software to the public. These developers, known as beta-testers, sometimes get their hands on programs that eventually...

Calendar of events.
September 1, 1993... Paradox Users Conference - The only major conference focused on Paradox for Windows and DOS with speakers from Borland and the Paradox developer community including Kevin Smith, Alan Zenreich, Martin Rudy, Tim Colling, and others. Borland will...

Database confidential. (humor) (Column)
September 1, 1993... Microsoft Access, now at a million-plus copies, still floats at the top of many top 10 list for weekly software sales. The kids in Redmond think Windows NT will do the same. Buzz has to agree with Microsoft's master marketeers, who think it'll...