FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Automated Solutions Group Announces QuickCode Pro v4.0 Release

Huntington Beach, CA - May 9, 2000: Automated Solutions Group today
announced the release of QuickCode Pro 4.0 for the Macintosh, the popular
assistant editor for 4th Dimension. A full working version, limited to 30
days of use, can be downloaded from http://www.asgsoft.com.

QuickCode Pro (QCP) dramatically enhances the 4th Dimension method editor
with a host of features designed to simplify and accelerate the process of
writing 4D code.

"Automated Solutions Group has once again proven their overwhelming
dedication to the 4D Community with the release of Quick Code Pro 4.0.
Improvements have been made in countless areas making this a must have tool
for any 4D Developer."
-- said Brendan Coveney, President, 4D, Inc.

"Where I come from we have one word to describe QuickCode Pro 4.0: awesome!
If you are a professional 4th Dimension programmer you must have QCP 4.0.
QCP makes the 4D method editor so much more productive that it pays for
itself within a day or two. This product is so helpful it should be part of
4D."
-- David Adams, programmer, trainer and author of Programming 4th Dimension:
The Ultimate Guide.

"QuickCode Pro 4.0 is a big part of our ongoing commitment to the 4th
Dimension plug-in market. It's advanced architecture also marks a major
breakthrough in the way plug-in's are written, and will be the basis for
future groundbreaking products."
-- Michael S. Erickson, President, Automated Solutions Group.

QuickCode Pro Toolbar Tools
With over 600 commands in the 4D language, not to mention hundreds of
tables, fields, methods and forms in a typical database, keeping tabs on
all of this information can be a daunting task. QuickCode Pro 4.0 makes
programmers more productive by putting all of this critical information a
single keystroke or mouse click away and by automating complex tasks.

Much of QuickCode Pro's functionality is accessible through a toolbar at
the top of each method editor window. Together, they provide most of the
information available in the Explorer and the "keywords" area of the method
editor, but in one place and in a more convenient form.

The standard tools include:

* Search Tool -- Provides advanced Find and Replace capabilities on par
with leading text editors, including directional, case-sensitive,
multi-line and wrap searching, as well as a powerful Replace All feature
with flexible options.

* Method Tool -- Displays a menu with all methods used in the current
method or a conveniently alphabetized list of all methods in the database.
Selecting a method from the menu quickly opens it.

* Structure Tool -- Displays a hierarchical menu with all tables and their
fields, indicating invisible and indexed attributes. Selecting a table or
field name inserts a reference in the method.

* Forms Tool -- Displays a hierarchical menu with all tables and their
forms, indicating the input and output form for each table. Selecting a
form name inserts a standard [table];"form" reference in the method.

* QuickClips Tool -- Like having multiple clipboards, this tool provides
easy access to commonly used snippets of code.

* Case Tool -- Displays a menu with all of the case selectors in a method,
using indentation to indicate nested case statements. Selecting a case
jumps directly to it.

* Load/Save Tool -- Allows easy loading and saving of text to and from text
files on disk.

* Macro Tool -- Inserts date, time, window name, user name, and much more
into your code.Includes a full-featured macro editor for creating custom
macros.

For power users, QuickCode Pro provides QuickClicks, which provide
one-click access to the forms menu, methods menu, QuickClips and structure
menu directly within the method text, without having to go to the toolbar.

QuickCode Pro Editing Enhancements
QuickCode Pro adds a number of editing features that make it far easier to
enter and manipulate text, including:

* Full Macintosh drag and drop -- Text can be dragged within a method,
between methods, or into any drag and drop aware application. Text or text
files references can also be dragged from any drag and drop aware
application into a 4D method.

* QuickCommand -- Saves massive numbers of keystrokes and brain cells!
Typing a portion of a 4D command or method name and pressing Tab
interactively completes as much of the name as possible. If a complete
match is made, QuickCommand automatically adds the command or method's
parameter list.

* AutoType -- With AutoType, truncated comments and quoted strings are a
thing of the past. AutoType interactively word wraps comments and splits
quoted strings at the 80 character limit as they are being typed. AutoType
also provides interactive shortcut substitutions for common expressions
such as Char(Carriage return).

* Enhanced deletion -- With QuickCode Pro provides shortcuts for forward
and backward deletion of words, partial lines, and entire lines.

QuickCode Pro Online Help
Since version 6, 4th Dimension has provided a help file with a synopsis of
every 4D command, and beginning with version 6.5 4D also provided a means
of adding user comments to every entity in the database. Unfortunately,
until now it has been cumbersome to access that information.

With the press of a few modifier keys, QuickCode Pro 4.0 will display a
help balloon with the 4D help or user comments for almost entity in the
database -- 4D commands, methods, tables, fields and named constants --
just by rolling over or clicking on the entity name in the method.

In addition, the character count, line count, and last modified date can
also be quickly viewed in a help balloon with the press of a key.

For those who own Commander 3.1, an online help system from Automated
Solutions Group (http://www.asgsoft.com/html/prodinfo.shtml), performing a
lookup is as simple as clicking on a command name and pressing the Help key.

QuickCode Pro's Cutting Edge Architecture 4th Dimension has long taken
advantage of plug-in's to extend its capabilities. QuickCode Pro is itself
a native 4D plug-in -- a big advantage over previous versions which had to
be installed directly into 4D. But QuickCode Pro takes 4D plug-in's to a
new level by making extensive use of its own plug-in's. In fact, 90 per
cent of QuickCode Pro's functionality is provided by its plug-in's.

This advanced architecture means that QuickCode Pro can be enhanced and
extended simply by updating or adding new QuickCode Pro plug-in's. It also
opens the door to third parties who want to integrate key functionality
into QuickCode Pro.

"I'm extremely happy to have had the opportunity to work on QCP 4.0,
especially since it was my own explorations into the innards of 4D that led
to the original version of QCP many years ago. With its open-ended plug-in
architecture, QCP is an incredible platform upon which we can build
significant new features into 4D's development environment. The
possibilities are truly unlimited."
-- Aparajita Fishman, Automated Solutions Group software engineer and author
of Easy4D.

Requirements
- Apple PowerPC Macintosh running System 8.1 (with Appearance Manager 1.0.1)
or higher (including MacOS 9)
- 4th Dimension 6.0.6 or higher (including 4D v6.5) for the Macintosh

Pricing and Availability
QuickCode Pro v4.0 for Macintosh..............................$199.95/user
QuickCode Pro v4.0 Upgrade (registered v3.5 Owners)...........$119.95
QuickCode Pro v4.0 Upgrade (registered v3.0 Owners)...........$149.95
QuickCode Pro v4.0 Upgrade (registered v2.x Owners)...........$149.95

QuickCode Pro must be purchased for each developer within your organization.
Site license and multiple user packages are available upon request.

About Automated Solutions Group
Based in Huntington Beach, California, Automated Solutions Group provides
software development and consulting services. Founded in 1989, Automated
Solutions Group develops and supports a wide variety of software
development tools to aid in the creation of custom applications for the
Macintosh and Windows platform. For more information, please visit our home
page at http://www.asgsoft.com.