************************************* * * * DB/C Newsletter * * October 1996 * * * ************************************* Editor's Notes This month's article provides details of the upcoming release of DB/C. DB/C 9.1 will enter beta testing at the end of October. With the article in this newsletter, we are giving you an overview of the new features that are found in DB/C 9.1. An updated alpha test version of the DB/C File System Server (FSS) is available for you to play with. It can be found in /pub/misc/fsstest at ftp.swc.com. Just download fss.zip, unzip it, and then read the readme file. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS VERSION OF FSS IS AN INCOMPLETE PRODUCT. It is read-only. It only works in Windows 95 and Windows NT/Intel. We are only making it available for you to use for demonstration and to play with. We will be making the a beta test version of FSS available in late October. AGAIN PLEASE NOTE: The new area code of the phone numbers of Subject, Wills and Company is 630. For convenience, you will be able to use the existing area code, 708, until November 29th. don.wills@swc.com DB/C 9.1 DB/C 9.1 is the latest update to DB/C. This release is the first minor release of DB/C in its long history. It encompasses several new features, as well as support for MS-DOS 6.x, OS/2 Warp and MacOS 7.x. Support for these operating systems is in addition to existing DB/C 9 support for Windows 95, Windows NT (Intel and PowerPC), VMS and most flavors of UNIX. The PACKLEN verb is new in DB/C 9.1. PACKLEN is very similar to the PACK verb. The only difference is that CHAR (DIM) variables in the source list are treated the same way as the are treated in WRITE, DISPLAY and PRINT. Characters are moved from CHAR variables to the destination variable in the following manner: characters from the first character up to and including the character pointed to by the lengthpointer are moved and blanks are moved to the destination for each character position after the lengthpointer through the maximum length. If the formpointer of the source variable is zero, then blanks are moved to the destination. In this last case, the number of blanks moved is equal to the maximum length of the source variable. The TEST verb is enhanced to support additional types of variables. The syntax is still: TEST var but var can be a character variable, numeric variable, FILE/IFILE/AFILE variable, COMFILE variable or an OBJECT variable. If it is a FILE/IFILE/AFILE variable, OVER is cleared if the file is open; otherwise OVER is set. Likewise, for a COMFILE variable, if the comfile is open, OVER is cleared; otherwise OVER is set. For an OBJECT variable, OVER is cleared if the variable is instantiated (MAKE has been done); otherwise OVER is set. The GETPRINTERS verb is new in DB/C 9.1. This verb provides the program with the names of currently available printers. Its syntax is: GETPRINTERS chararray The chararray variable is a character array variable. After execution, the chararray variable will contain the names of the printers that are available. Printers are unknown to MS-DOS, so this verb does nothing in MS-DOS. Two new printer control codes are center justify and right justify. These control codes work only with pixel resolution printer destinations - GUI printers and PCL and Postscript files. The syntax is: *RJ *CJ=nnnnn where nnnnn is a numeric variable or constant The *RJ control code causes text to flow leftward from the current print position. *CJ centers text in an area that is nnnnn pixels wide and whose left boundary is the current print position. Several changes have been made for GUI programming. GUI menus now support these additional accelerator keys: HOME, END, PGUP, PGDN, INSERT and DELETE. Two new controls, LEDIT and MEDIT, are similar to EDIT and MEDIT, but allow the specification of the maximum number of characters that they can contain. A new change function, SETMAXCHARACTERS, may be used to alter the maximum number of characters allowed in an LEDIT or MEDIT control. A new control state, STATIC, is available. It is an addition to the existing control states - AVAILABLE, GRAY and SHOWONLY. STATIC means that a control gets focus, but can not be altered. This only has utility with edit controls to allow for copying a value with an operation like Copy. The STATIC state may be specified in the PREP statement and is a new change function to allow the state of a control to be changed dynamically. Cut, Copy and Paste are supported by a new message, ESEL, and by a new change function, PASTE. The ESEL message is produced by any edit control whenever the selected text changes. The PASTE change function allows the selected text to be replaced or deleted in any edit control. The font and color of text in a panel or dialog may be specified in the PREP statement by the FONTNAME and TEXTCOLOR keywords. Multiple fonts or colors may be used in any panel or dialog. The default and escape pushbuttons may be changed dynamically with three new change functions: DEFPUSHBUTTTON, ESCPUSHBUTTON and PUSHBUTTON. The text of a pushbutton may be changed dynamically with the TEXT change function. The icon shown in an icon pushbutton may be changed dynamically with the ICON change function. There are several new features in FDE. One or more controls may be selected by using a sizing rectangle, in addition to the existing method of single clicking on a control. The size of any control may be changed by dragging its edge. The Select Next and the Select Next And Extend menu functions allow for selection of a control without using the mouse. A Renumber function is available to renumber to control ids. The FDE text editor is enhanced with several user specified preferences, including tab spacing, tab display and foreground and background colors. The DB/C code that is produced by FDE is now more readable. In the area of object-oriented programming, a means for instantiating an object at DB/C startup is now available. This means that all aspects of DB/C can be object-oriented. In addition, the debugger has been expanded support a larger number of instances. These features are the result of feedback from many customers. We appreciate all of the input that has been given and hope it will continue. DB/C Class Schedule Class Date Location DB/C 9 Advanced Features Oct 7 through Oct 9 1996 Oak Brook, IL DB/C 9 Fundamentals January 1997 Oak Brook, IL DB/C 9 Advanced Features January 1997 Oak Brook, IL For information, contact Judi Tamkevic at: voice 630.572.0240 fax 630.572.0390 email dbc@swc.com