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
Friday, October 24, 2008
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Demo Clarion.NET Project For You
For anyone I've forgotten to include in my email that may be interested, the Clarion.NET project details are as follows:
Link to the file: chtdemonetzipper_4125.zip
This is built with the latest version of Clarion.NET 2.0.4125; don't know if it'll work with earlier versions. Also make sure you have at least Windows Framework 2.0 or higher installed. The project zip contains subdirectories and is intended to be compiled at:
c:/clarion#/chtdemonetzipper/chtdemonetzipper.sln.
Suggest you unzip the file so that the above chain of subdirectories is created on your computer. Something else may work but I've not tried that. This configuration does work here. There's an exe in this subdirectory, called CHTDEMONETZIPPER.EXE if you want to try running it before doing anything else.
Start Clarion.NET and load the solution file CHTDEMONETZIPPER.SLN and when it's open push F8 to compile. After that CTRL/F5 should run the project.
Cheers...
Gus Creces
The Clarion Handy Tools Page
Visit Website
Link to the file: chtdemonetzipper_4125.zip
This is built with the latest version of Clarion.NET 2.0.4125; don't know if it'll work with earlier versions. Also make sure you have at least Windows Framework 2.0 or higher installed. The project zip contains subdirectories and is intended to be compiled at:
c:/clarion#/chtdemonetzipper/chtdemonetzipper.sln.
Suggest you unzip the file so that the above chain of subdirectories is created on your computer. Something else may work but I've not tried that. This configuration does work here. There's an exe in this subdirectory, called CHTDEMONETZIPPER.EXE if you want to try running it before doing anything else.
Start Clarion.NET and load the solution file CHTDEMONETZIPPER.SLN and when it's open push F8 to compile. After that CTRL/F5 should run the project.
Cheers...
Gus Creces
The Clarion Handy Tools Page
Visit Website
Clarion.NET Build 7.0.4125 Released
I was pleased this past weekend to find notice of a new update for Clarion.NET (Clarion#) in my email inbox.
Reinstallation of 7.0.4125 went without a hitch.
The past number of months have been hectic with project work so I haven't spent a lot of time putting Clarion.NET through its paces. But I dug up a few applications I'd built with it some months back and lo, they still compiled and ran after I made a few adjustments for syntactical changes introduced to the language since I'd last used Clarion Sharp.
One of the test applications uses three C# dll's that are now part of CHT's tool kit - HNDNETSMTP.DLL, HNDNETZIPPER.DLL and HNDNETFTP.DLL - so, at the same time I also opened up my new Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 and built some improvements into the supporting DLLs too. Eventually those DLL's will be built using native Clarion#, once I'm sure the platform is stable, which it certainly appears to be.
Running the two development environments side-by-side, is an interesting experience. Somehow, all .NET languages start to resemble one another after a while. Give or take a couple of curly braces I'd swear that Clarion# and C# were cut from the same cloth, which obviously they are. And Clarion's IDE is a close approximation of Visual Studio.
If you own Clarion .NET - Ken, Paul, Didier, I think you guys do, and I'm sure there are others - let me know if you're interested in a demo app to compile and test. I'll zip up one of these demos and post it for you.
Cheers...
Gus Creces
The Clarion Handy Tools Page
Visit Website
Reinstallation of 7.0.4125 went without a hitch.
The past number of months have been hectic with project work so I haven't spent a lot of time putting Clarion.NET through its paces. But I dug up a few applications I'd built with it some months back and lo, they still compiled and ran after I made a few adjustments for syntactical changes introduced to the language since I'd last used Clarion Sharp.
One of the test applications uses three C# dll's that are now part of CHT's tool kit - HNDNETSMTP.DLL, HNDNETZIPPER.DLL and HNDNETFTP.DLL - so, at the same time I also opened up my new Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 and built some improvements into the supporting DLLs too. Eventually those DLL's will be built using native Clarion#, once I'm sure the platform is stable, which it certainly appears to be.
Running the two development environments side-by-side, is an interesting experience. Somehow, all .NET languages start to resemble one another after a while. Give or take a couple of curly braces I'd swear that Clarion# and C# were cut from the same cloth, which obviously they are. And Clarion's IDE is a close approximation of Visual Studio.
If you own Clarion .NET - Ken, Paul, Didier, I think you guys do, and I'm sure there are others - let me know if you're interested in a demo app to compile and test. I'll zip up one of these demos and post it for you.
Cheers...
Gus Creces
The Clarion Handy Tools Page
Visit Website
Monday, October 6, 2008
New Update Available 12C1.03
We've posted a new build update numbered, 12C1.03, to Webupdater today, completing the necessary changes by approx 5:30 EST (October 6, 2008). This has been up since last night, but I made several incremental changes to it during the day today. If you picked it up before reading this notice I suggest you re-run Webupdater in order to get the latest iteration of 12C1.03.
Here are some of the changes:
There's a new template called HANDYFILEVIEWBUILDER. This is similar to HandyFileQUEUEBuilder with which you've been able to build a QUEUE from a table schematic created on the template. In the case of HandyFileVIEWBuilder, you're now able to build a VIEW from a table schematic created on the template. These two templates have Import/Export capability so that configurations created on one either one of them can be exported, to be imported by the other.
You're able to build an SQL browse completely independent of ABC by using LISTBOXBROWSEXTENDER to create and manage a queue and list box. Combine this with HANDYFILEVIEWBUILDER to build a matching VIEW. And to these two templates, add a new a CHT base class function available to the ListBoxBrowseExtender, called SQLFillQueueFromView() to fill the list box queue. This same base class function is available to ExplorerBrowse, HandymarkerBrowse, LocatorOverRideControl as well as all ABC processes and reports where one of our filtering templates has been placed.
In the globally instatiated class HNDINI, populated by our INIFILE template, is a new function called DUMPQUEUE(). If you're trying to debug a queue-building function, use this function to dump the contents of any Queue to a text file.
The new HNDSQL10.APP demo illustrates SQLFillQueueFromView() by filling a standard ABC Browse queue using the Queue And View already generated by the ABC template. It also illustrates the new DumpQueue() function mentioned above. By examining the application you should be able to understand what's going on.
EmbedViewEx has been updated to solve a problem with the template selecting the wrong primary file key when there's a complex view inserted and view scanning is enabled. We've also added the ability to export/import view field descriptions compatible with the above templates HandyFileQueueBuilder and HandyFileViewBuilder. Further, the template is now a MULTI, which means it can be populated multiple times on the same procedure. You can see EmbedViewEx in action on several of our newer demo applications HNDSQL7.APP and HNDSQL8.APP, for instance.
In both these demos we're using it to fill the browse queue. But EmbedViewEx can be used anywhere you might normally call a process procedure. The only caveat I'd give you in using this - because it runs in a tight loop and not on a timer - is that the view scan you're performing should be fast enough not to hang your application for more than a second or two. Think of it as a general-purpose, lightweight Clarion process, that plugs right into your procedure. View scanning can be triggered from any control that you drop on your window. Multiple view scans (applying different filters and orders) can be performed on the same view, and each of these can take some unique action on the view tables and fields being scanned. Works with SQL or ISAM.
Thanks to Nelson De Carvalho for working with me to develop a new Portuguese Dictionary with the correct accentuation. The Portuguese dictionary now works correctly. A small change in the HNDSPELL class was made in addition to replacing the previous version of the HNDPORTUGUESE.DIC file.
Any bug fixes reported in the last couple of months relating to 12C1.00, 12C1.01 and 121.03 are included here as well.
• One that comes to mind is a browse reset issue reported by Robert Barton. Search on Robert's name in the CHT support forum news.cwhandy.ca to get the details of his report. He sent a test app, and a data table to help me isolate the problem which I've fixed.
• Didier, I've fixed the two issues you reported with HNDFSYNC.APP (hidden icons appearing) and HNDMTSCL.APP (losing the browse filter). I have not yet incorporated the code signing feature you asked for but I hope to incorporate that for an early version of 12D1.xx. The RowMoveButtons problem you reported has also been fixed.
• Piotr Heidak reported a problem with the template-initiated opening query on ExplorerBrowse. That's been fixed and Piotr has confirmed it works.
That's it for now.
Cheers...
Gus Creces
The Clarion Handy Tools Page
Visit Website
Message Posted From CHT Support Forum Client [V6.01.00]
Here are some of the changes:
New Template HandyFileViewBuilder
There's a new template called HANDYFILEVIEWBUILDER. This is similar to HandyFileQUEUEBuilder with which you've been able to build a QUEUE from a table schematic created on the template. In the case of HandyFileVIEWBuilder, you're now able to build a VIEW from a table schematic created on the template. These two templates have Import/Export capability so that configurations created on one either one of them can be exported, to be imported by the other.
New Base Class Function SQLFillQueueFromView()
You're able to build an SQL browse completely independent of ABC by using LISTBOXBROWSEXTENDER to create and manage a queue and list box. Combine this with HANDYFILEVIEWBUILDER to build a matching VIEW. And to these two templates, add a new a CHT base class function available to the ListBoxBrowseExtender, called SQLFillQueueFromView() to fill the list box queue. This same base class function is available to ExplorerBrowse, HandymarkerBrowse, LocatorOverRideControl as well as all ABC processes and reports where one of our filtering templates has been placed.
New Base Class Function DumpQueue()
In the globally instatiated class HNDINI, populated by our INIFILE template, is a new function called DUMPQUEUE(). If you're trying to debug a queue-building function, use this function to dump the contents of any Queue to a text file.
New Demo Application HNDSQL10.APP
The new HNDSQL10.APP demo illustrates SQLFillQueueFromView() by filling a standard ABC Browse queue using the Queue And View already generated by the ABC template. It also illustrates the new DumpQueue() function mentioned above. By examining the application you should be able to understand what's going on.
Improvements to EmbedViewEx Template
EmbedViewEx has been updated to solve a problem with the template selecting the wrong primary file key when there's a complex view inserted and view scanning is enabled. We've also added the ability to export/import view field descriptions compatible with the above templates HandyFileQueueBuilder and HandyFileViewBuilder. Further, the template is now a MULTI, which means it can be populated multiple times on the same procedure. You can see EmbedViewEx in action on several of our newer demo applications HNDSQL7.APP and HNDSQL8.APP, for instance.
In both these demos we're using it to fill the browse queue. But EmbedViewEx can be used anywhere you might normally call a process procedure. The only caveat I'd give you in using this - because it runs in a tight loop and not on a timer - is that the view scan you're performing should be fast enough not to hang your application for more than a second or two. Think of it as a general-purpose, lightweight Clarion process, that plugs right into your procedure. View scanning can be triggered from any control that you drop on your window. Multiple view scans (applying different filters and orders) can be performed on the same view, and each of these can take some unique action on the view tables and fields being scanned. Works with SQL or ISAM.
Portuguese Dictionary Replaced And Tested
Thanks to Nelson De Carvalho for working with me to develop a new Portuguese Dictionary with the correct accentuation. The Portuguese dictionary now works correctly. A small change in the HNDSPELL class was made in addition to replacing the previous version of the HNDPORTUGUESE.DIC file.
Bug Fixes
Any bug fixes reported in the last couple of months relating to 12C1.00, 12C1.01 and 121.03 are included here as well.
• One that comes to mind is a browse reset issue reported by Robert Barton. Search on Robert's name in the CHT support forum news.cwhandy.ca to get the details of his report. He sent a test app, and a data table to help me isolate the problem which I've fixed.
• Didier, I've fixed the two issues you reported with HNDFSYNC.APP (hidden icons appearing) and HNDMTSCL.APP (losing the browse filter). I have not yet incorporated the code signing feature you asked for but I hope to incorporate that for an early version of 12D1.xx. The RowMoveButtons problem you reported has also been fixed.
• Piotr Heidak reported a problem with the template-initiated opening query on ExplorerBrowse. That's been fixed and Piotr has confirmed it works.
That's it for now.
Cheers...
Gus Creces
The Clarion Handy Tools Page
Visit Website
Message Posted From CHT Support Forum Client [V6.01.00]
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Vista 64, VMWare, XP32, Clarion 6.3, CHT
This is probably not news to a number of you who are already set up this way and work with VMWare under Windows Vista 64.
I bought a new laptop a few weeks back and decided on the recommendation of Jack Leininger at Fabtex ( a CHT customer) to buy a nice, compact 14 inch HP laptop with 4 gig of RAM and Windows 64 installed. I was going for maximum mobility here, not screen size so I asked specifically for the smaller screen size and a good, thin case.
Again on Jack's recommendation I added VMWare and installed 32 Bit Windows XP as a working O/S to use with Clarion 6.3.
That all went well and this arrangement is flawless. The Clarion installation and CHT in this environment run quickly, and efficiently. It's also a great way to multi-task with Clarion 6 and CHT Compile Manager in the mix, since you can minimize the 32 bit environment when it's busy and do some correspondence or other work back in the 64 bit environment or even in a second or third Virtual O/S set up this way.
Windows Vista 64 has proven to be painless experience compared to earlier Vista 32 encounters. If you're into multi-tasking and 32 bit O/S variants this is a great way to go.
Cheers...
Gus M. Creces
http://www.cwhandy.ca/
http://news.cwhandy.ca/
I bought a new laptop a few weeks back and decided on the recommendation of Jack Leininger at Fabtex ( a CHT customer) to buy a nice, compact 14 inch HP laptop with 4 gig of RAM and Windows 64 installed. I was going for maximum mobility here, not screen size so I asked specifically for the smaller screen size and a good, thin case.
Again on Jack's recommendation I added VMWare and installed 32 Bit Windows XP as a working O/S to use with Clarion 6.3.
That all went well and this arrangement is flawless. The Clarion installation and CHT in this environment run quickly, and efficiently. It's also a great way to multi-task with Clarion 6 and CHT Compile Manager in the mix, since you can minimize the 32 bit environment when it's busy and do some correspondence or other work back in the 64 bit environment or even in a second or third Virtual O/S set up this way.
Windows Vista 64 has proven to be painless experience compared to earlier Vista 32 encounters. If you're into multi-tasking and 32 bit O/S variants this is a great way to go.
Cheers...
Gus M. Creces
http://www.cwhandy.ca/
http://news.cwhandy.ca/
CHT Build Update 12C1.01 Posted
We've just updated the 12C1.00 build to 12C1.01.
This includes some necessary changes for better backward compatibility to C6.1 and C6.2. Perhaps a waste of time since it appears there are only 2 of you in our subscriber base still using these older Clarion 6 builds.
It also includes some unfinished business with some of the SQL demo apps, particularly HNDSQL9.APP which uses ListBoxBrowseExtender, plus two of the new SQL extensions to build a browse application very similar to a HandyMarkerBrowse (like HNDSQL8.APP) but without using an ABC browse at all. All aspects of filling the listbox are entirely under your control. This app was constructed by a combination of ABC and CHT templates (ABC Window + ListBoxBrowseExtender + QueryparsingFilterControl) and a few hand-embeds. This browse does away with a lot of ABC code that slows data access and makes browses waaaay more complex than they need to be.
If you think this is useful to you, we're willing to formalize this approach into a single procedure template that lets you build a procedure like this without the hand-embedding. The procedure template will populate the necessary pieces for you and complete the embeds based on your completion of template prompts.
On the other hand, if you don't think it offers anything new, we're also happy to leave this just as it is, an example of how to build an SQL browse without an ABC browse template. I'll wait to hear from you all.
We've put off documenting C121.01 until these final changes were complete. At the same time I've personally been occupied with contract development work that takes up a lot of my time these days. I've got time this week, to get some of those 12C1.00/01 features to you now and perhaps a few new videos.
We've taken SQL tracing even further in 12C1.00/01. You're now able to trace directly from a specific browse directly to CHT SQL Trace without turning on full SQL tracing. This new mode is called "Direct Trace". You can experiment with this using HNDSQL7.APP, HNDSQL8.APP and HNDSQL9.APP if you recompile them in debug mode. The browses in these apps will output directly to CHT SQL Trace if you put it in [DIRECT TRACE ON] mode.
Also in HNDSQL7.APP and HNDSQL8.APP, take note of two alternative ways to fill the browses, particularly OBJ.SQLSelect().This method lets you fill an ABC browse queue using an SQL select statement. The method interfaces to the ABC method SetQueueRecord() for queue filling, in a manner that stores the VIEWPOSITION as required by all ABC browses.
And in HNDSQL9.APP take note of a method called OBJ.SQLSelectQ() which fills your list box queue for you exclusive of an ABC browse being present. Take note also of a record fetch method used in this app called OBJ.SQLSelectRecord(). If you're familiar with SQL you'll find these new methods, and others I've added to be more compact and more transparent than standard ABC file object syntax.
The latest docs can be found in your installation or here:
CHT Templates By Category
CHT Demo Applications
CHT Templates New/Revised In 2008
Cheers...
Gus M. Creces
The Clarion Handy Tools Page
http://www.cwhandy.ca/
http://news.cwhandy.ca/
This includes some necessary changes for better backward compatibility to C6.1 and C6.2. Perhaps a waste of time since it appears there are only 2 of you in our subscriber base still using these older Clarion 6 builds.
It also includes some unfinished business with some of the SQL demo apps, particularly HNDSQL9.APP which uses ListBoxBrowseExtender, plus two of the new SQL extensions to build a browse application very similar to a HandyMarkerBrowse (like HNDSQL8.APP) but without using an ABC browse at all. All aspects of filling the listbox are entirely under your control. This app was constructed by a combination of ABC and CHT templates (ABC Window + ListBoxBrowseExtender + QueryparsingFilterControl) and a few hand-embeds. This browse does away with a lot of ABC code that slows data access and makes browses waaaay more complex than they need to be.
If you think this is useful to you, we're willing to formalize this approach into a single procedure template that lets you build a procedure like this without the hand-embedding. The procedure template will populate the necessary pieces for you and complete the embeds based on your completion of template prompts.
On the other hand, if you don't think it offers anything new, we're also happy to leave this just as it is, an example of how to build an SQL browse without an ABC browse template. I'll wait to hear from you all.
We've put off documenting C121.01 until these final changes were complete. At the same time I've personally been occupied with contract development work that takes up a lot of my time these days. I've got time this week, to get some of those 12C1.00/01 features to you now and perhaps a few new videos.
We've taken SQL tracing even further in 12C1.00/01. You're now able to trace directly from a specific browse directly to CHT SQL Trace without turning on full SQL tracing. This new mode is called "Direct Trace". You can experiment with this using HNDSQL7.APP, HNDSQL8.APP and HNDSQL9.APP if you recompile them in debug mode. The browses in these apps will output directly to CHT SQL Trace if you put it in [DIRECT TRACE ON] mode.
Also in HNDSQL7.APP and HNDSQL8.APP, take note of two alternative ways to fill the browses, particularly OBJ.SQLSelect().This method lets you fill an ABC browse queue using an SQL select statement. The method interfaces to the ABC method SetQueueRecord() for queue filling, in a manner that stores the VIEWPOSITION as required by all ABC browses.
And in HNDSQL9.APP take note of a method called OBJ.SQLSelectQ() which fills your list box queue for you exclusive of an ABC browse being present. Take note also of a record fetch method used in this app called OBJ.SQLSelectRecord(). If you're familiar with SQL you'll find these new methods, and others I've added to be more compact and more transparent than standard ABC file object syntax.
The latest docs can be found in your installation or here:
CHT Templates By Category
CHT Demo Applications
CHT Templates New/Revised In 2008
Cheers...
Gus M. Creces
The Clarion Handy Tools Page
http://www.cwhandy.ca/
http://news.cwhandy.ca/
Friday, August 15, 2008
Clarion 7 Application Generator Preview
It looks like we're finally getting close to a C7 version with a working application generator. There's a video up on SV's blog site showing the C7 Appgen in action.
If you haven't seen this you should take a look here:
C7 Appgen Video
As you watch this, keep in mind that C7 And Clarion.NET share IDEs, which implies that there already exists a template generator for Clarion.NET - even though there probably aren't any templates yet that generate Clarion # code.
We're releasing build 12C1.00 on the weekend and most of the pre-compiled utility apps (CHT Compile Manger, CHT Colorizer etc.) in this build are pre-compiled in C7. We do this just to confirm in your mind that CHT classes are ready to be used as/is in the context of C7.
And by corollary, if the C7 Appgen interprets C6 templates correctly as in the video, we can soon begin testing our suite of demo apps entirely in the context of C7.
Cheers....
Gus Creces
The Clarion Handy Tools Page
Visit Website
If you haven't seen this you should take a look here:
C7 Appgen Video
As you watch this, keep in mind that C7 And Clarion.NET share IDEs, which implies that there already exists a template generator for Clarion.NET - even though there probably aren't any templates yet that generate Clarion # code.
We're releasing build 12C1.00 on the weekend and most of the pre-compiled utility apps (CHT Compile Manger, CHT Colorizer etc.) in this build are pre-compiled in C7. We do this just to confirm in your mind that CHT classes are ready to be used as/is in the context of C7.
And by corollary, if the C7 Appgen interprets C6 templates correctly as in the video, we can soon begin testing our suite of demo apps entirely in the context of C7.
Cheers....
Gus Creces
The Clarion Handy Tools Page
Visit Website
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