************************************* * * * DB/C Newsletter * * June 2001 * * * ************************************* News and Comments DB/C FS 3.0 has been released. This month's article describes its new features. When you download the current version of DB/C FS, you will receive DB/C version 3.0. Note that the license key is different for each major release of DB/C FS, so you'll need to click the 'Get License Key' pushbutton to obtain the new key. Be sure to download the documentation in the fsreadme.txt and fs.pdf files. If you want to download DB/C FS 2, on the 'License Review and Download' page choose the 'Get other version' field and type in '2.2.2' (without 's) which was the final DB/C FS 2 release. I attended the JavaOne trade show and conference last month. JavaOne is the premier show for Java developers. I'm not sure of the number of attendees, but I estimated that there was seating for 20,000 at the keynote speeches. What surprised me was how many people (actually how many companies) were willing to pay almost $2000 for the pass to the conference and trade show (all day tutorials were extra). The large number of attendees attests to the computer industry's complete acceptance of Java. The biggest buzz at JavaOne was wireless J2ME (Java 2 Micro Edition). Specifically, several manufacturers announced that they will provide the ability to download Java programs into their wireless phones and 2-way pagers. The biggest of these announcements was made by RIM (www.rim.net). Here is a sentence from their press release: "RIM has implemented J2ME as the core operating system for the BlackBerry wireless handheld and has ported BlackBerry applications to work on J2ME. This allows third party applications to tightly integrate with built-in BlackBerry applications such as calendar and email." So how does all of this affect customers of DB/C Software Company? There is no direct affect. But long term, our industry is consolidating. Five years from now there will be fewer programming languages in general use. Programmers will primarily be working with Java and whatever Microsoft is selling then. Portabilily is the Number One attribute to look for in a programming language - but don't look for portability in anything Microsoft promotes. Thus, if you care about portability, the decision is easy - for long term survival of your programs, Java is the only way to go! I'll insert my standard caveat here. DB/C Software Company products will be available for many years to come. But as many of you have already found, it is hard to attract programmers to write in DB/C. More importantly, in many cases it is impossible to convince potential customers or management to use an unknown programming language, regardless of its technical merits. Few have the luxury of completely hiding the programming language from end users. The DB/C language is great. But if, in the long term, you need to move to a different programming language, you should strongly consider Java. DB/C Software Company has two tools, DB/C JX and DB/C FS, that can make your migration to Java much easier. There's no hurry to migrate, but when you do, we'll be here to help you. don.wills@dbcsoftware.com ****************************************************************************** Announcing the Release of DB/C FS 3.0 After almost a year in development, DB/C FS 3 is now available. This new release incorporates many changes that have been requested over the past two years. The upgrade from DB/C FS 2 to DB/C FS 3 is not complicated. Here are conversion considerations: . The only change that needs to be made to the configuration files is that the license key is different . The DB/C FS 2 ODBC and JDBC drivers must be replaced with the DB/C FS 3 ODBC and JDBC drivers. For easy migration, the DB/C FS 3 ODBC and JDBC drivers will work with DB/C FS 2 (the reverse is not true). . The DB/C FS 3 Java Client Programming Inteface (fs.jar) and the C Client Programming Interface (various .c and .h files) are new. Existing code must use these new interfaces. If you are using DB/C DX 10 or 11 to directly access files that are also being managed by DB/C FS, no changes need to be made. If you are using DB/C DX 11.0.7 in the mode where it directly connects with DB/C FS, all will work fine except that encryption is not available. If you are using an older version of DB/C DX (10 or 11.0.6 or earlier), DB/C DX will not directly connect with DB/C FS 3. Here is a list of new features in DB/C FS 3.0: SERVER FEATURES: . Robust encryption of the TCP connection between the client and server . Optional file change logging . The DBCFSADM utility program that shows users, can start/stop file change logging, and can shut down the server . The execution of the secondary 'dbcfsrun' processes are delayed until required by a connection . The password file may now be dynamically changed without taking dbcfs down . The server uses outbound TCP connections to the client so that only one or two port numbers are required by the server for inbound connections . Optional support for XML formatted CFG and DBD files . The port number is specified in the configuration file . Added functionality for the WORKDIR configuration option . The exit/failure of a 'dbcfsrun' process works correctly with user counting . Execution of the utilities is incorporated into the server and no longer requires spawning the equivalent DX utilities UNIX SERVER FEATURE: . 'nohup' may be used to start dbcfs WINDOWS SERVER FEATURE: . Service parameters enhancements SQL ACCESS FEATURES: . The DATE, TIME and TIMESTAMP SQL data type are supported . Table template support using question marks (?) in the DBD file . Support for SQL set functions: AVG, MIN, MAX, COUNT, SUM . Support for SQL operators: DISTINCT, IN, LIKE, BETWEEN . SQL positioned update and delete support with a static result set, typically created using an "ORDER BY" . Added extended SQL fetch support (next, previous, first, last, absolute, relative) . SQL column alias support . Numeric columns support a NONEGATIVE keyword which will enable using an index when the WHERE condition contains <, <=, >, >= . Improved SQL engine, particularly with OR conditions common with Access . Allow ORDER BY columns that are not SELECT columns, which prevents Access 2000 from failing . Support for GROUP BY and HAVING . Keywords on the same line after the DESCRIPTION keyword are not supported allowing a comma (,) to be part of the description . Support for patterns with the catalog functions using the percent (%) and underscore (_) characters . Index optimization support for overlapping columns (two columns starting at the same position) . Support expressions in an ON/WHERE/HAVING clause . Support of UPPER and LOWER string functions including in a WHERE clause . Columns support for the LABEL keyword with blanks supported in the value, enabling applications to display a more useful column header ODBC FEATURES: . Upgrade ODBC to 3.5 . Support SQL_DATA_AT_EXEC enabling some applications to access character columns with a size greater than 255 . Support file File DSN and DSN-less connections . Database and UID support for User and System DSN . Support for SQLPrimaryKeys function . Support uninstall of ODBC driver JDBC FEATURES: . Upgrade JDBC to 2.0 ****************************************************************************** DB/C Class Schedule Class: DB/C DX and JX Language Fundamentals Date: September, 2001 Location: Oak Brook, Illinois For information, send email to admin@dbcsoftware.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 monthly, just send an email message to 'dbcnews-subscribe@dbcsoftware.com'. The newsletter will be delivered to the email address from which the message was sent.