We've just posted a small CHT update.
This does not involve a version number change. The version number stays at 12D1.03.
Two changes:
1) Problem with HandyThreadLimiter template fixed. This was causing small changes on single procedures to cause the entire application to recompile.
2) Since SV has fixed the CREATE bug in C63.9059 that was causing truncation of the picture on our QPFC query control to @S20 any time you changed between query entry and query dropdown. We've reverted the query entry control to a CREATE:Entry control type from the CREATE:Text that we set up temporarily as a workaround to deal with this C63.9059 bug.
Changes are available immediately via WebUpdater.
Cheers...
Gus Creces
The Clarion Handy Tools Page
www.cwhandy.com
support@cwhandy.com
December 3, 2008
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Monday, December 1, 2008
Build 12D1.03 Posted Today
We've just released Build Sub-Update 12D1.03.
With this build, we've incorporated some template workarounds for a C7 Bug involving #PDEFINE that was causing considerable grief. We've now test-converted and test-compiled with no problems the following CHT demos:
HND2.APP
HNDSQL9.APP
HNDSQL10.APP
HNDGMAILEXPLORER.APP (Make sure to turn off the C7-Copy DLL switch)
HNDC7INSTALL.APP (Make sure to turn off the C7-Copy DLL switch)
HNDSCRIPT.APP
HNDZIPNPOSTTOCHTSERVER.APP
HNDZIPNFTP.APP
HNDNETZIPDEMO.APP
HNDVIDEOEDUCATION.APP
HNDWINDOWSERVICEDEMO.APP
HNDZIPNEMAIL.APP
HNDCOMZIPPERCONTROL.APP
HNDSETUP.APP
HNDFSYNC.APP
HNDFLASHDEMO.APP
HNDZINDEX.APP
HNDSQLTRACE.APP
HNDFTPWZ.APP
HNDCMP.APP
HNDHOTKEYSERVICE.APP
HNDCOLOR.APP
HNDLNCH.APP
For the next sub-release of this 12D build we'll review the remaining CHT demos so that you'll be able to convert all of these apps directly to a C7 version with no more effort than opening it in C7 and re-compiling in C7.
There's also a new demo in this update called HNDGOOGLECALENDAREXPLORER.APP this is a parallel app to the one we released last month called HNDGMAILEXPLORER.APP. It uses Ed Grodsky's email account to log directly into his Google Calendar account.
We've taken the demo app called HNDFORUMVIEWERLITE.APP a bit further from last month so that you can change the time range query on the forum messages page from the app's toolbar. This is done by interacting with the DOM variables in the web page and having the page then post it's request form back to the server. This concept can be taken a lot further and is a very powerful concept which we'll revisit with new demo apps.
On the whole, I'm quite pleased with what I've seen of C7 now that I've narrowed down the C7 bugs that were getting in the way of our templates generating correctly. The #PDEFINE bug that we isolated this past week was a major step, because it caused more than one side effect (all of which are now gone with our work-around). The bug appeared intermittently and so was hard to pin down because it only appeared in certain usages of #PDEFINE, where the second parameter was a blank variable such as %False. Rather than a constant such as simply, 0 (zero).
We presently are working around 4 fairly major C7 bugs, all of which we've reported to SV. These are:
1) #EXTRACT()
2) #RUN()
3) EQUATES in window titles
4) #PDEFINE()
Since we only found a provable form of the #PDEFINE() bug on US Thanksgiving, that one has yet to be acknowledged but I'm sure it will be since the example I've provided illustrates the problem clearly.
There's absolutely no question in my mind now that when C7 is out of beta and fully bug-fixed, you'll be able to take your C6.3 apps built with CHT templates and open them directly in C7, compile and run, with no need to modify or adapt the original application.
A completed and fully debugged C7 app-gen also positions the Clarion.NET IDE to move forward onto the Clarion template system. While C7 is an incremental improvement over previous Clarions, Clarion.NET is going to be a breakthrough product. I'm convinced of that.
Cheers...
Gus Creces
The Clarion Handy Tools Page
www.cwhandy.com
support@cwhandy.com
December 1, 2008
With this build, we've incorporated some template workarounds for a C7 Bug involving #PDEFINE that was causing considerable grief. We've now test-converted and test-compiled with no problems the following CHT demos:
HND2.APP
HNDSQL9.APP
HNDSQL10.APP
HNDGMAILEXPLORER.APP (Make sure to turn off the C7-Copy DLL switch)
HNDC7INSTALL.APP (Make sure to turn off the C7-Copy DLL switch)
HNDSCRIPT.APP
HNDZIPNPOSTTOCHTSERVER.APP
HNDZIPNFTP.APP
HNDNETZIPDEMO.APP
HNDVIDEOEDUCATION.APP
HNDWINDOWSERVICEDEMO.APP
HNDZIPNEMAIL.APP
HNDCOMZIPPERCONTROL.APP
HNDSETUP.APP
HNDFSYNC.APP
HNDFLASHDEMO.APP
HNDZINDEX.APP
HNDSQLTRACE.APP
HNDFTPWZ.APP
HNDCMP.APP
HNDHOTKEYSERVICE.APP
HNDCOLOR.APP
HNDLNCH.APP
For the next sub-release of this 12D build we'll review the remaining CHT demos so that you'll be able to convert all of these apps directly to a C7 version with no more effort than opening it in C7 and re-compiling in C7.
There's also a new demo in this update called HNDGOOGLECALENDAREXPLORER.APP this is a parallel app to the one we released last month called HNDGMAILEXPLORER.APP. It uses Ed Grodsky's email account to log directly into his Google Calendar account.
We've taken the demo app called HNDFORUMVIEWERLITE.APP a bit further from last month so that you can change the time range query on the forum messages page from the app's toolbar. This is done by interacting with the DOM variables in the web page and having the page then post it's request form back to the server. This concept can be taken a lot further and is a very powerful concept which we'll revisit with new demo apps.
On the whole, I'm quite pleased with what I've seen of C7 now that I've narrowed down the C7 bugs that were getting in the way of our templates generating correctly. The #PDEFINE bug that we isolated this past week was a major step, because it caused more than one side effect (all of which are now gone with our work-around). The bug appeared intermittently and so was hard to pin down because it only appeared in certain usages of #PDEFINE, where the second parameter was a blank variable such as %False. Rather than a constant such as simply, 0 (zero).
We presently are working around 4 fairly major C7 bugs, all of which we've reported to SV. These are:
1) #EXTRACT()
2) #RUN()
3) EQUATES in window titles
4) #PDEFINE()
Since we only found a provable form of the #PDEFINE() bug on US Thanksgiving, that one has yet to be acknowledged but I'm sure it will be since the example I've provided illustrates the problem clearly.
There's absolutely no question in my mind now that when C7 is out of beta and fully bug-fixed, you'll be able to take your C6.3 apps built with CHT templates and open them directly in C7, compile and run, with no need to modify or adapt the original application.
A completed and fully debugged C7 app-gen also positions the Clarion.NET IDE to move forward onto the Clarion template system. While C7 is an incremental improvement over previous Clarions, Clarion.NET is going to be a breakthrough product. I'm convinced of that.
Cheers...
Gus Creces
The Clarion Handy Tools Page
www.cwhandy.com
support@cwhandy.com
December 1, 2008
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Clarion 6.3.9059 Caution
There's a bug in Clarion 6.3.9059 with the CREATE() control function. We use this function with the CHT QueryParsingFilterControl to create a dropdown or an entry control depending on how you've configured the template.
The end result of this bug is a query control that accepts only 20 characters max. This bug has been reported to SV, confirmed, and I'm told, sent immediately to development.
In the meantime, if you're not using 9059 just yet, I suggest you hold off for the next release of it.
I have managed to build a work-around for this using alternate controls, which I will post this evening. The workaround requires nothing from you but a re-generate/re-compile so if you decide to stay with 9059, no harm done.
Apparently this was not in the original 9059 that I was given several months back. It was a change that resulted from an earlier bug report by another developer and introduced into the most recent 9059 general pre-release version.
BTW, my workaround works with earlier versions of C6 too so there's no harm in having it.
Cheers...
Gus Creces
The Clarion Handy Tools Page
www.cwhandy.com
support@cwhandy.com
November 20, 2008
The end result of this bug is a query control that accepts only 20 characters max. This bug has been reported to SV, confirmed, and I'm told, sent immediately to development.
In the meantime, if you're not using 9059 just yet, I suggest you hold off for the next release of it.
I have managed to build a work-around for this using alternate controls, which I will post this evening. The workaround requires nothing from you but a re-generate/re-compile so if you decide to stay with 9059, no harm done.
Apparently this was not in the original 9059 that I was given several months back. It was a change that resulted from an earlier bug report by another developer and introduced into the most recent 9059 general pre-release version.
BTW, my workaround works with earlier versions of C6 too so there's no harm in having it.
Cheers...
Gus Creces
The Clarion Handy Tools Page
www.cwhandy.com
support@cwhandy.com
November 20, 2008
CHT Build Update 12D1.02 Posted Nov 18, 2008
We've posted build update 12D1.02 as of 6:30 PM EST Nov 18, 2008
Among other things this has two new demo apps called:
HNDFORUMVIEWERLITE.APP
HNDGMAILEXPLORER.APP
The template used by these two apps, HandyCOMInternetExplorerControl, has been fleshed out somewhat so that the functionality exhibited in these two applications is available entirely from the template interface, without any embedding. Ed (Grodsky) the app you asked for using your GMAIL address is one of these: HNDGMAILEXPLORER.APP. Everything this app does, CHT has always been able to do, since we introduced HandyCOMInternetExplorerControl,and it's underlying classes. I have dumbed the template down a bit so that the capability of logging into a website that presents a user name and password is available on the template
interface without the developer having to do any embedding.
There are some low-level changes to the browse classes underlying all of our browse templates to accommodate more flexible use of CHT's Query Builder.
And we've added the first of several new templates to take advantage of this with a template called: SetExplorerBrowseQueryBuilderBindings. There's no example application yet for this template but we'll get one added as soon as we've built equivalents for our other browse extensions.
We've spent some time on the cosmetics of our template interfaces and C7 compatibility. We've achieved as much with C7 as is humanly possible, I think, until the next C7 release. If you want to test convert an application in our suite, I suggest HND2.APP.
Note: We've recently also reworked the interfaces of these support applications: HNDCMP.APP (CHT Compile Manager), HNDFSYNC.APP (CHT Toolkit Synchronizer), HNDBROWSERCLIENT.APP(CHT Hybrid Forum Client).
Cheers...
Gus Creces
The Clarion Handy Tools Page
www.cwhandy.com
support@cwhandy.com
November 18, 2008
Among other things this has two new demo apps called:
HNDFORUMVIEWERLITE.APP
HNDGMAILEXPLORER.APP
The template used by these two apps, HandyCOMInternetExplorerControl, has been fleshed out somewhat so that the functionality exhibited in these two applications is available entirely from the template interface, without any embedding. Ed (Grodsky) the app you asked for using your GMAIL address is one of these: HNDGMAILEXPLORER.APP. Everything this app does, CHT has always been able to do, since we introduced HandyCOMInternetExplorerControl,and it's underlying classes. I have dumbed the template down a bit so that the capability of logging into a website that presents a user name and password is available on the template
interface without the developer having to do any embedding.
There are some low-level changes to the browse classes underlying all of our browse templates to accommodate more flexible use of CHT's Query Builder.
And we've added the first of several new templates to take advantage of this with a template called: SetExplorerBrowseQueryBuilderBindings. There's no example application yet for this template but we'll get one added as soon as we've built equivalents for our other browse extensions.
We've spent some time on the cosmetics of our template interfaces and C7 compatibility. We've achieved as much with C7 as is humanly possible, I think, until the next C7 release. If you want to test convert an application in our suite, I suggest HND2.APP.
Note: We've recently also reworked the interfaces of these support applications: HNDCMP.APP (CHT Compile Manager), HNDFSYNC.APP (CHT Toolkit Synchronizer), HNDBROWSERCLIENT.APP(CHT Hybrid Forum Client).
Cheers...
Gus Creces
The Clarion Handy Tools Page
www.cwhandy.com
support@cwhandy.com
November 18, 2008
Monday, November 10, 2008
CHT Build 12D1.01 Released Today
Hi All...
I've just posted Build 12D1.01.
Primarily this includes the necessary template modifications to give you 100% (more or less) compatibility with C7 Appgen.
There are still some issues but these are C7 issues that I've been assured are being handled in upcoming C7's.
The issues are:
First:
EXTRACT() isn't working correctly when there's an exclamation mark in the extraction string.
This one is a minor problem as I've written a template subroutine to perform the work that this function normally does.
Second:
#RUN () isn't working correctly. It omits the first paramter when parameters are passed to it. I've done a temporary workaround to add an extra first parameter when C7 does a #RUN(). Once this is fixed I'll remove this workaround.
Third:
When an app containing a dictionary is first converted, the two base modules Appname_BC.CLW and AppName_BC0.CLW are not added automatically into the project. You need to insert these manually into the project's list of .CLW's and the app will compile correctly. Try converting HND2.APP. When it finishes conversion add these two modules to the list and the app will generate and compile with no errors.
Fourth:
When an application window has an equate or variable in the window label, C7.4406 fails to convert the window correctly. You can correct this on the C7 side but that still leaves other window issues, such as dropped menus. Instead, correct this at the C6 side by replacing the equate or variable with a constant value. The app window will then convert correctly. This is not something I've worked around since it has alreay been fixed (indicated by PTSS) for the next C7 release.
Fifth:
If you load/unload an app enough times and then click any template in the global extensions area, the app will eventually lock up completely and you'll need to use task manager to get rid of C7 and the app. I've been told that this problem too has been fixed for the next update. My recommendation because of this major show stopper is to not build anything final or even brand new in C7.4406 since there's a chance once the app locks up like this that it will be corrupted to the extent that you won't be able to recover it. However, this shouldn't stop you from experimenting.
While this is a fairly long list of issues, with the last one being major, C7 with this set of CHT 12D1.01 templates are nearing a state of useability that I find very encouraging. During C7's on-going development I expressed often my trepidation that the template generator would not be 100% C6 backward compatible and we'd have to build separate template sets for C6 and C7. I'm satisfied now that this will not be necessary and we will be able to work forward on a single set of templates to service both Clarion versions.
If you're going to experiment with app conversion from C6 to C7, I suggest you use HND2.APP, since I've made all the adjustments necessary to eliminate the above issues - with the exception of "Third" above, which you'll need to handle yourself.
I've made some cosmetic changes to our template interfaces, hope you'll like them. They'll act as a reminder that this 12D1.01 set is the first in a series of CHT templates that are fully inter-compatible with C6 and C7.
Cheers...
Gus Creces
The Clarion Handy Tools Page
Visit Website
I've just posted Build 12D1.01.
Primarily this includes the necessary template modifications to give you 100% (more or less) compatibility with C7 Appgen.
There are still some issues but these are C7 issues that I've been assured are being handled in upcoming C7's.
The issues are:
First:
EXTRACT() isn't working correctly when there's an exclamation mark in the extraction string.
This one is a minor problem as I've written a template subroutine to perform the work that this function normally does.
Second:
#RUN () isn't working correctly. It omits the first paramter when parameters are passed to it. I've done a temporary workaround to add an extra first parameter when C7 does a #RUN(). Once this is fixed I'll remove this workaround.
Third:
When an app containing a dictionary is first converted, the two base modules Appname_BC.CLW and AppName_BC0.CLW are not added automatically into the project. You need to insert these manually into the project's list of .CLW's and the app will compile correctly. Try converting HND2.APP. When it finishes conversion add these two modules to the list and the app will generate and compile with no errors.
Fourth:
When an application window has an equate or variable in the window label, C7.4406 fails to convert the window correctly. You can correct this on the C7 side but that still leaves other window issues, such as dropped menus. Instead, correct this at the C6 side by replacing the equate or variable with a constant value. The app window will then convert correctly. This is not something I've worked around since it has alreay been fixed (indicated by PTSS) for the next C7 release.
Fifth:
If you load/unload an app enough times and then click any template in the global extensions area, the app will eventually lock up completely and you'll need to use task manager to get rid of C7 and the app. I've been told that this problem too has been fixed for the next update. My recommendation because of this major show stopper is to not build anything final or even brand new in C7.4406 since there's a chance once the app locks up like this that it will be corrupted to the extent that you won't be able to recover it. However, this shouldn't stop you from experimenting.
While this is a fairly long list of issues, with the last one being major, C7 with this set of CHT 12D1.01 templates are nearing a state of useability that I find very encouraging. During C7's on-going development I expressed often my trepidation that the template generator would not be 100% C6 backward compatible and we'd have to build separate template sets for C6 and C7. I'm satisfied now that this will not be necessary and we will be able to work forward on a single set of templates to service both Clarion versions.
If you're going to experiment with app conversion from C6 to C7, I suggest you use HND2.APP, since I've made all the adjustments necessary to eliminate the above issues - with the exception of "Third" above, which you'll need to handle yourself.
I've made some cosmetic changes to our template interfaces, hope you'll like them. They'll act as a reminder that this 12D1.01 set is the first in a series of CHT templates that are fully inter-compatible with C6 and C7.
Cheers...
Gus Creces
The Clarion Handy Tools Page
Visit Website
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Clarion 7 News
We haven't had a lot of time to devote to C7 this past week or two but we're making progress.
We've gotten to the stage where we have isolated a few key C7 bugs and shortcomings that impact our templates. There appear be lots of other C7 template generator bugs and incompatibilities, judging from the PTSS bug report data base. Many of those have not been issues that we've had to deal with since they're not getting in the way of our use of the template language.
Obviously, I'm concentrating on the things that would get in your face if you were taking a C6.3 application built with CHT templates and porting it to C7 via it's application conversion feature.
There aren't a lot of "bugs" and "incompatibilities" that directly impact CHT, but those that I've found are an indication that the C7 template generator has some considerable distance to go in order to become fully C6 backward compatible. My guess, at this point, is that some of these things may never really be resolved in any reasonable time frame, and third parties will just have to bite the bullet and build work-arounds. After a year or two of working entirely in the C7 environment, most of us will have gotten used to the differences and code templates in a way that C6 and C7 can both live with.
At this point in time, I'm heartened that we can release a single template set that's fully compatible with both environments without our having to jump through too many hoops. And without doing a major re-write.
This upcoming week we'll be releasing build 12D1.01 with template changes that are primarily focussed on greater C7 compatibility without affecting how those templates work in C6. We'll be basing this release on C7.4406 which is all we have in hand at the moment. If fixes do come in on bugs we've reported, our workarounds will nevertheless work just as well in these later versions of C7 unless there are actual C7 regressions.
With these upcoming changes we're able - even today - to take apps like HND2.APP, HND3.APP and HNDACCES.APP, copy them to the C7 compile directory, have C7 convert the APP and the DCT, and then generate and compile without having to deal with any significant issues. I'll try and get a video done wherein we'll show you directly the process of getting two or three CHT demo apps to convert, generate, compile and run in C7.
Cheers...
Gus Creces
The Clarion Handy Tools Page
Visit Website
We've gotten to the stage where we have isolated a few key C7 bugs and shortcomings that impact our templates. There appear be lots of other C7 template generator bugs and incompatibilities, judging from the PTSS bug report data base. Many of those have not been issues that we've had to deal with since they're not getting in the way of our use of the template language.
Obviously, I'm concentrating on the things that would get in your face if you were taking a C6.3 application built with CHT templates and porting it to C7 via it's application conversion feature.
There aren't a lot of "bugs" and "incompatibilities" that directly impact CHT, but those that I've found are an indication that the C7 template generator has some considerable distance to go in order to become fully C6 backward compatible. My guess, at this point, is that some of these things may never really be resolved in any reasonable time frame, and third parties will just have to bite the bullet and build work-arounds. After a year or two of working entirely in the C7 environment, most of us will have gotten used to the differences and code templates in a way that C6 and C7 can both live with.
At this point in time, I'm heartened that we can release a single template set that's fully compatible with both environments without our having to jump through too many hoops. And without doing a major re-write.
This upcoming week we'll be releasing build 12D1.01 with template changes that are primarily focussed on greater C7 compatibility without affecting how those templates work in C6. We'll be basing this release on C7.4406 which is all we have in hand at the moment. If fixes do come in on bugs we've reported, our workarounds will nevertheless work just as well in these later versions of C7 unless there are actual C7 regressions.
With these upcoming changes we're able - even today - to take apps like HND2.APP, HND3.APP and HNDACCES.APP, copy them to the C7 compile directory, have C7 convert the APP and the DCT, and then generate and compile without having to deal with any significant issues. I'll try and get a video done wherein we'll show you directly the process of getting two or three CHT demo apps to convert, generate, compile and run in C7.
Cheers...
Gus Creces
The Clarion Handy Tools Page
Visit Website
Friday, October 24, 2008
Build 12D1.00 Available For Download
Build 12D1.00 is available for download as of 10:30 PM EST October 23, 2008. There is a long list of changes and additions in this build which I will document for you in the coming days.
A few early highlights:
• Compile Manager uses a new file format to add some additonal fields. The file will auto-convert when you access it.
• Compile Manager now has a user-configurable feature to produce HTML information from your apps for a new server called HNDTEAMDOCSERVER.APP.
• Compile Manager can optionally assign processor affinity for dual processor machines.
• Compile Manager is able to optionaly launch your favorite code signing utility.
• There are some new app documentation templates to accompany the Team Documentation Server.
• CHT templates now will register without error in C7.
• C6 to C7 cross installer performs a complete cross install.
• More information later.
Cheers...
Gus Creces
The Clarion Handy Tools Page
www.cwhandy.com
support@cwhandy.com
October 23, 2008
A few early highlights:
• Compile Manager uses a new file format to add some additonal fields. The file will auto-convert when you access it.
• Compile Manager now has a user-configurable feature to produce HTML information from your apps for a new server called HNDTEAMDOCSERVER.APP.
• Compile Manager can optionally assign processor affinity for dual processor machines.
• Compile Manager is able to optionaly launch your favorite code signing utility.
• There are some new app documentation templates to accompany the Team Documentation Server.
• CHT templates now will register without error in C7.
• C6 to C7 cross installer performs a complete cross install.
• More information later.
Cheers...
Gus Creces
The Clarion Handy Tools Page
www.cwhandy.com
support@cwhandy.com
October 23, 2008
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