************************************* * * * DB/C Newsletter * * October 2002 * * * ************************************* News and Comments Our hope of getting an early (pre-beta) release of the DX 13 IDE out to a few early testers in October did not happen. We'll keep you updated as to our progress. Instead of being a conduit for information from DB/C Software Company to you, this month's article is meant to stimulate the flow of information in the other direction - from you to DB/C Software Company. We are looking for your input to help us finalize the list of features in DB/C DX 13 and to begin making plans for future releases of DB/C software. Thanks in advance for your participation. don.wills@dbcsoftware.com ****************************************************************************** A Questionnaire Building successful software is an art. Lots of unforeseen problems can cause failure. In many cases the hardest part of succeeding is meeting the needs of the users of the software. The scenario about how the software project failed because the programmers provided exactly what the users requested but when the software was delivered the users said 'but that's not what I need' has been replayed thousands of times. We don't want to fall into that trap, so we're asking you to give us your input so we can continue to enhance DB/C software with features that you need. We've come up with the following list of questions. Even if you can only provide answers for a few of the questions, we'd like to hear from you. We'd prefer that you communicate your answers to us via email. If you would like to make your suggestions public, send your answers to the dbctalk email list (dbctalk@dbcsoftware.com - you must be a subscriber to send messages to dbctalk). Otherwise, send your email response to info@dbcsoftware.com or to don.wills@dbcsoftware.com. If you prefer to respond via snail mail, that's fine too - our mailing address can be found at the web site. Here are the questions: 1. Has the fact that DB/C FS only supports a subset of the SQL language caused problems for you? The lack of what specific SQL statements or constructs caused the problems? 2. What enhancements should be made to the SQL language that is supported in DB/C FS? How important is each enhancement to you? 3. Do you use the Win32 ODBC client interface of DB/C FS? If so, what client software do you use? 4. What features should be added to the Win32 ODBC interface of DB/C FS? How important is each feature to you? 5. Would you use a UNIX ODBC client interface for DB/C FS? If so, would you want to use it with DB/C DX or with other UNIX software? If other, what software? 6. Do you use the JDBC client interface of DB/C FS? If so, what client software do you use? 7. What features should be added to the JDBC interface of DB/C FS? How important is each feature to you? 8. Do you use the C or Java file IO client interface of DB/C FS? If so, which one? What features should be added to these interfaces? 9. Do you use the DB/C FS interface that is built into DB/C DX? What suggestions do you have for improving this interface? 10. Is the performance of DB/C FS acceptable? How important is an improvement in performance? What specifically should be improved? 11. Is the usability of DB/C FS acceptable? What features should be added to dbcfsadm? Would a GUI dashboard (continuous update of status) be helpful? How helpful? 12. Is the integration of DB/C FS with the underlying operating system acceptable? What suggestions do you have in this area? 13. Has any other aspect of DB/C FS caused major problems for you? If so, what? 14. What other suggestions do you have for improving DB/C FS? 15. Are you currently doing GUI development in DB/C DX? 16. If you are not now doing GUI development in the DB/C DX, do you plan to? 17. In general, are you satisfied with the GUI features provided in the DB/C DX language? 18. What specific features should be added to the GUI aspects of DB/C DX? How important is each feature to you? 19. Is it important for you that DB/C DX runtime integrate better with Microsoft's .NET Framework? What specific aspects of this need to be improved? 20. Are you currently doing character mode development in DB/C DX? 21. What non-GUI features should be added to DB/C DX? How important is each feature to you? 22. Is the performance of DB/C DX acceptable? How important is an improvement in performance? What specifically should be improved? 23. What other suggestions do you have concerning DB/C DX? DB/C DX 13 will include a graphical integrated development environment. It will contain a source program text editor, compiler and runtime (with and without debugger). It will contain editors for these DB/C DX language graphical primitives: panels, dialogs, icons and menus. The IDE will not contain the ability to generate complete programs. The IDE will be included in each version (UNIX/LINUX/Windows) of DB/C DX 13. 24. If the features of the IDE are robust enough, will you use the DB/C DX 13 IDE as your primary development tool for character mode DB/C DX programs? 25. If the features of the IDE are robust enough, will you use the DB/C DX 13 IDE as your primary development tool for GUI DB/C DX programs? 26. Would you use the DB/C DX 13 IDE under Windows, UNIX or both? 27. If DB/C Software Company were to provide a new, separate product to provide complete program generation capability of DB/C DX GUI programs (that integrates with the DX 13 IDE), would you purchase it for $1000 per year per developer? If not $1000 per year, how much would you pay? ****************************************************************************** DB/C DX Class Schedule Class: DB/C DX Fundamentals Date: January 2003 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.