************************************* * * * DB/C Newsletter * * August 1999 * * * ************************************* News and Comments DB/C DX, FS and JX continue to be well received. The new DB/C Online Sales and Update System has had a few glitches, but now seems to be generally capable of handling DB/C orders for upgrades and sales of the DB/C software products. DB/C JX 2.1 was recently released. It contains several enhancements including PDF print support, TIFF, JPG, BMP and PNG image file support, KEYIN/DISPLAY *DCON support, and several other minor changes and fixes. The *DCON support allows for KEYIN and DISPLAY of monetary values that use a character other than the decimal point as a separator between the integral and fractional parts of the number. We are just now beginning to prioritize features that will be contained in the next major release of each DB/C product. DB/C FS 3 will be released in early 2000. We would appreciate any comments you may have about features that you consider to be important so that they may be included in DB/C FS 3. In the Java world, Sun just released a test version of the next major release of the Java runtime - version 1.3 of Java 2. This new version contains many significant improvements to Java including support for JNDI, the Java naming and directory API. Ever on a lookout for performance improvements, we will be checking out this new Java runtime and reporting back to you what we find. I've included three new Frequently Asked Questions in this month's newsletter. don.wills@swc.com ***************************************************************************** New Frequently Asked Questions Question: Many companies are several versions behind Sun in their release of Java runtimes for their respective operating systems. For example, as of August 1999, IBM and Apple have not released any Java 2 software. How long will Java 1.1 be supported by DB/C JX? Answer: Because the GUI verbs of DB/C JX require the use of Swing (the name for the Java native GUI interface), if your programs use any GUI capability including GUI printing, then the Java runtime must be Java 2, version 1.2 or newer. However, if your programs are character mode only, then they will run fine in Java 1.1 environments. We plan to support Java 1.1 runtimes for the foreseeable future. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question: We have a problem with the syntax of SQLEXEC when data contains a string of characters like "ABC:152". This causes the SQL interface of DB/C to attempt to replace ":152" with the value of the 152nd parameter in the SQL list. How can we avoid this problem? Answer: The SQL interface of both DB/C DX and DB/C JX uses the back slash character ("\") as the forcing character. This requires you to parse the data and replace all colons (":") and backslashes ("\") with two character sequences of "\:" and "\\" respectively. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question: Our package software is sold on a per user basis. Can the DB/C user counting mechanism be changed to increment by one user instead of 5, 10 or 20 users as it now works? Answer: The 18 or 19 digit key used to control user count in DB/C software products is an encryption of several values including license number, user count and operating system. Significant reprogramming would be required to change this functionality. If your software has a high per seat value, we recommend using a hardware key (also known as a dongle) to control access to your software. ***************************************************************************** DB/C Class Schedule Class: DB/C DX and JX Language Fundamentals Date: October 4-6, 1999 Location: Oak Brook, Illinois For information, contact Judi Tamkevic at: voice 630.572.0240 email dbc@swc.com ***************************************************************************** Subscribing to the DB/C Newsletter If you don't already have the DB/C Newsletter delivered to your email address and would like to have it emailed to you when it is produced, just send an email message to 'request@swc.com' and put the line 'subscribe dbcnews' in the body of the email message (omit the ' characters). The newsletter will be delivered to the email address from which the message was sent. To stop delivery, put the line 'unsubscribe dbcnews' in the body of the message.