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Text File | 1995-07-10 | 27KB | 555 lines

CompuSlave For DOS Revision History 07-10-95 ■ Version 1.16 . Reworked the color scheme on several of the dialog boxes (ones that were displayed on top of the blue background) to use a cyan color set. . Remapped the hot-keys on the editing screen. Changed the Save hot-keys from Alt-S to Alt-A, and changed the Search hot-keys from Alt-H to Alt-S. . Enhanced the search capability of CompuSlave to use buffered record reading and writing. The result... A DRAMATIC speed improvement! According to internal testing, previous versions of CompuSlave would search through 10,000 messages in 210 seconds, while version 1.16 of CompuSlave can search through the same 10,000 messages in only 38 seconds, a 550% speed increase! . Fixed a problem where the "Search Entire Record" feature would occasionally add records to the temporary search database that did not contain the search text. (Extra text, or corruption, has been located in the message body field, causing records to be included in the search results that do not appear to contain the search text. To fix this situation, STSI strongly recommends that current users perform a database reorganization, available from the Utilities menu. This will remove the corruption, and will not affect the integrity of the message data.) . Fixed a problem where the temporary search database would not be deleted if no records were found to add to the search database. (This problem was introduced in version 1.15.) . Improved the search speed of the "Search Entire Record" feature by excluding 2 unnecessary buffer copying routines from the "GetRecord" procedure. This provides a 33% speed increase in the search routines. 06-19-95 ■ Version 1.15 . Fixed an obscure problem where CompuSlave would occasionally appear to hang when printing one or more messages (to a printer port or a file). This behavior would occur if the message body contained a line with only 1 character on it. (This problem was introduced in version 1.11.) . Fixed a problem where a Runtime Error #216 could occur when attempting to print all of the messages in the database. This error occurred because memory was being allocated, but not released at the end of printing each message. . Fixed a problem when printing messages that caused leading spaces on the front of each line in the message body to be trimmed. (This problem was introduced in version 1.11.) . Added support for the user to save the temporary search database as a permanent database after the search process has been completed. After pressing Escape from the search screen, a small dialog box will pop up, prompting the user whether or not to save the database. If the user chooses to save the database, it can be renamed (and optionally placed in CompuSlave's main data directory). The default option is to erase the temporary database. 06-06-95 ■ Version 1.14 . Incorporated updates to newest database code (v5.51). . Fixed a problem where the Old Database Size variable was not being calculated during the reorganization process if the user chose not to make a backup copy of database before starting the reorganization process. This could result in invalid figures being logged to the activity log file. . Changed the wording on the Utilities sub-menu from "Reorganize Database / Compress" to "Reorganize (Compress/Uncompress)" to clarify the purpose of the reorganization process. . Added a Percentage Saved status message to the log file and to the final message box at the end of the reorganization process to inform the user how much savings was achieved (or lost) by reorganizing the database. . Changed the warning (confirmation) message before reorganizing the database to inform the user whether data compression is turned on or off. . Increased the width on the "Backing up database" status window for proper centering. . Removed the "Initializing Database. Please Wait..." status screen, since the time required for database initialization has been drastically reduced. . Reduced the memory requirements and the time required to initialize the database by using the "MinimizeUseOfNormalHeap" constant in the BTInitIsam statement. This should help systems which have a limited amount of Extended (or DPMI) memory available. . Fixed a minor display problem where the text that was high- lighted (after a full-message search) would not be drawn in the correct location on the screen if the user scrolled the display horizontally. (Since most messages are not as wide as the message window, most users would not see this problem.) 05-25-95 ■ Version 1.13 . Fixed a minor problem where the display was not being cleared after deleting the last record in the database. . Fixed a problem where an error # 8101 (Record Modified) would occur when an attempt was made to Delete or Modify a message in the database. This problem was introduced in version 1.08, as a result of adding the compression to the message text. The message text needed to be recompressed before attempting to delete or modify the record, in order for the internal comparison routines to work properly. (The displayed message is compared to the saved message to make sure that another network user hasn't modified the record, before attempting to delete or change it.) 05-18-95 ■ Version 1.12 . Updated the Help file. . Added support for CompuSlave to log information about database reorganization to the activity log file, if activity logging is enabled. Information logged includes the database name, old database size, new database size, and whether or not compression was enabled at the time of the reorganization. . Modified a few of the dialog boxes to use common dialogs from STSI's internal libraries. . Fixed a minor problem where CompuSlave would not display multiple responses to the current message if the current sort key was NOT the Message Number field. . Increased the allowable message body size from 16K to 24K. . Added support for search strings to be highlighted in the standard fields (non-message body fields) after performing a "Search Entire Message" search. . Added an option to the Utilities menu to allow users to manually rebuild the database file. This is the easiest way to rebuild the database using the new compression routines, or to rebuild the database and disable the compression. . Added a "Compress Data" check box to the Defaults screen to allow users to specify whether or not compression code is used on the databases. . Added initial support for compressing and decompressing the message text of a message record. . Added length checking to the reading / importing process to make sure that messages cannot exceed the buffer length. 05-16-95 ■ Version 1.11 . Post Release Note: The older versions of the RTM.EXE and DPMI16BI.OVL files have been included in this version of CompuSlave. They are included in the file RMT09-93.ZIP, and are dated 09-19-93. If users have trouble running the version currently supplied with CompuSlave, simply extract the two files in this archive and try running CompuSlave again. . Added support for search strings to be highlighted in the memo window (using Black On Yellow text) when using the "Search Entire Message" feature of CompuSlave. . Rewrote a portion of the printing routines that prints the message body. Used a wrapping routine from STSI's internal libraries for more bullet-proof code. . Added a default Import Path to the Defaults screen. CompuSlave will automatically use this path when the Import command is selected from the editing screen. . Added support for an And/Or operation when performing a search of an entire message. Users can specify 2 search strings and select whether CompuSlave must find both strings in the resulting message or either of the 2 strings. . Reset the sequential record pointer after adding or modifying a record. . Fixed a potential problem where the temporary search results directory may not have been removed if CompuSlave was unable to create the temporary database. . Fixed a minor problem in the "Range Search" option that would cause CompuSlave to issue an error message that no messages were found in the user-specified range based on the starting and ending strings. This problem was inter- mittent, and occurred if the complete starting string could not be found in the first record selected. . Increased the right margin and maximum line length from 80 to 128 to eliminate potential "Line Too Long" error messages. . Created a literal string unit containing all strings that are read from the INI file and used variable references instead of literal strings, reducing the chance for typing or spelling errors. 04-15-95 ■ Version 1.10 . Post Release Note: Updated the RTM.EXE and DPMI16BI.OVL files to the newest version (6-14-94). . Modified code to create temporary search databases in a temporary sub-directory (TEMP0001, TEMP0002, etc) underneath the CompuSlave program directory. This will help users not to be confused about "extra" database files appearing in the main program directory. (For an explanation of this process, read the section of the documentation concerning searching the database.) . Changed the Default Maximum Number of Workstations from 50 to 250 to allow network licenses of up to 250 users. . Added code to limit the number of network users that may access a CompuSlave database at one time. Registered network users will only be allowed access depending on the number of network users in their license. Non-registered users are allowed to have 5 users access the database at one time. (This is for evaluation purposes only. Database record limits will still apply for the non-registered version.) . Changed the default behavior of CompuSlave after deleting a message. Instead of resetting to the beginning of the database, it now advances to the next record. (If for some reason, it cannot access the next record properly, it will then reset to the beginning.) . Fixed a minor display issue where the Browser positioning was begin reset to the default after maximizing it in the 28,43, or 50 line video modes. . Enhanced the searching capability of CompuSlave when using the "Search Entire Message" option. Previously, if a multi-word phrase was being located, and the phrase was separated by a line break, the record would not be included. The new code performs additional search checking to locate a multi-word phrase that may be broken due to a line break. . Fixed a potential problem where the temporary database created during a "Search Entire Message" search would not be deleted in some cases where Limit Search was enabled and no records could be found. . Added some fail-safe code to the "Search Entire Message" process to prevent potential future errors. 02-26-95 ■ Version 1.09 . Added the ability for users to select the number of lines to use for their monitor's video display. Available values are 25, 28, 43, and 50, with 25 being the default. Modified all code to reference window coordinates as being relative to the screen height, rather than using an absolute screen height of 25. The video mode setting can be overridden on the command line by specifying /V=nn (where nn = 25, 28, 43, or 50). . Added additional error checking to the dialog boxes associated with the searching and sorting routines. . Removed unnecessary units from code (OpEntry, OpExec, ExecSwap). . Added a "Startup File" field on the Defaults screen to allow users to specify which data file should be loaded by default. If an entry is specified on the command line, CompuSlave will attempt to load that file. Otherwise, if no entry is specified on the command line, CompuSlave will load the default Startup File. (Added a line to the CSLAVE.INI file for this new entry.) 02-12-95 ■ Version 1.08 . Fixed a problem with the Response button when 2 or more message responses existed in the database. The browser was displaying 0 entries, instead of displaying the multiple response messages. (A hard-coded key number was being used, instead of the key variables.) . Fixed a problem where corruption was being displayed in the message number field on the "Go To Message #" dialog box. 02-06-95 ■ Version 1.07 . Replaced all status screen procedure calls with a call to a global status screen from our internal stStatus unit. . Removed the 100 Record Per Import limit and replaced it with a 500 Record database limit for UNREGISTERED versions of CompuSlave. . Fixed a problem where a Range Search would cause an empty browser screen to be displayed if no records were found within the starting and ending range for the selected key field. Added a check to make sure there is at least one record within the search range before displaying the browser. . Set up 2 new procedures to save and restore the sequential file pointer when working with the database file. These methods are much easier and more fool-proof than previous methods. If an error occurs, the sequential pointer is restored to point to the record that contains the last valid record. Rewrote the routines for the Original, Response, and GoTo procedures to use the new saving and restoring methods. . Changed the method by which CompuSlave enables and disables the Original and Response buttons. The new method simply checks for the existence of a matching key in the index file, which is much faster and more fool-proof than the old method. . Set up constants for the 7 keyed (or indexed) fields to make code more readable and leave less chance for errors. . Removed a warning message that occurred when attempting to add duplicate records to a filtered database when the option "Search Entire Message" was selected. If duplicate message numbers existed in the original database, CompuSlave would warn users before attempting to add them to the filtered database. . Fixed a potential problem where a read-lock was not being removed from a database immediately after a search was completed. (Only if Fast Search was enabled.) Previously, the read-lock was only removed after a user was done viewing the filtered records. Now, the read-lock is removed immediately after all of the records have been searched. . Right-justified the Message Number and Response To fields. 01-27-95 ■ Version 1.06 . Added the option to limit the message numbers in the allowed search range when "Search Entire Message" is selected. Users can check the "Limit Search" option and enter the beginning and ending message numbers to search a smaller portion of the database. . Changed the "Case Sensitive" field on the "Search Entire Message" dialog box to a check box instead of a Yes/No field. . Fixed a problem where the "Remove "#" From Message Subject" menu option was not working properly. The dialog box would not be displayed due to a change in the dialog's height and width. 01-25-95 ■ Version 1.05 . Increased the read lock timeout value from 768 milliseconds to 1500 milliseconds. (This means that CompuSlave will attempt to automatically retry operations for 1.5 seconds before reporting a "Too Many Retries" error, and giving the user the option of manually retrying the operation. . Implemented a network lock error retry loop to allow users to retry a database operation when a file locking error occurs. . Added a Messages Per Second indicator to the search status screen to indicate how many messages are being scanned each second when "Search Entire Message" is selected as the search method. This value is updated approximately once per second. (Later removed this indicator due to the fact that it slowed the searching process down from about 168 messages per second to 106 messages per second.) . Changed the method by which CompuSlave sets the default path. Instead of being set to the current directory, the path is set to 1.) the path set in the AUTOEXEC.BAT under the "COMPUSLAVE=???", or 2.) the directory where the file CSLAVE.EXE is located. . Added support for a "Fast Search" variable to dramatically increase the speed for the "Search Entire Message" option. When Fast Search is enabled, CompuSlave places a "Read Lock" on the entire database to prevent other users from writing to it. This can produce search speeds up to 3 times as fast as when Fast Search is disabled. (If Fast Search is enabled, other users CANNOT make changes to the database during a search.) 01-05-95 ■ Version 1.04 . Added a status screen to the printing process. This status screen allows escape to be pressed to cancel the printing process. (All records that have been processed up to that point will still be printed.) . Added code to make CompuSlave remember the last size and position of the browser screen within a session. Each time the browser is initialized, it will be displayed in the same position as it was when it was closed last. . Added a confirmation dialog box to the import process to make sure that the selected file should be imported into the current database file. . Added a custom exit procedure to be executed in the event that a Runtime error occurs. 01-03-95 ■ Version 1.03 . Added 5 new messages to the error processing routine for displaying error message strings. . Added error checking to make sure that a network user cannot attempt to open a database file if another user has created a ".SAV" file in the CompuSlave directory. (Doing so could cause database corruption.) . Added the "Keyword" field to the printout form, and rearranged the printout form to correspond to the screen layout. . Fixed a problem where printing all messages in a message base with more than 255 records would cause the printing to continue non-stop, simply restarting after reaching the 255th record. (Introduced in version 1.02.) . Fixed a problem where a RunTime Error #216 would occur if an attempt was made to print a message with no text in the message body. . Fixed a problem where the "New" command was not erasing the editing fields. (Introduced in version 1.02.) . Added the ability for CompuSlave to sort the "Message Number" and "Response To" fields in numerical order, rather than alphabetical order. This requires that all database indexes be rebuilt when they are opened. CompuSlave automatically detects an outdated index and prompts the user before rebuilding it. 12-30-94 ■ Version 1.02 . Changed the default optimization setting to "Optimize For Speed" instead of "Optimize For Data Integrity". Single- user copies of CompuSlave should notice a dramatic increase in speed, especially when importing messages. . Added an option to the utilities menu to process a message database and remove all number signs (#) that are on the front of the message subject. (Many CompuServe messages contain this character on the front of the subject, making it more difficult to search the database by the subject field accurately. This routine removes the number sign when it is the first character of the subject field, and is not followed by a space character.) . Added a Utilities sub-menu to the main menu. . Fixed a problem where the database filename field was not allowing a full path and filename longer than 40 characters on the Create Message Base screen. . Added support to print all of the messages in the database at one time. Messages will print with a form-feed after each message. . Modified search dialog boxes to NOT automatically trim leading or trailing spaces from the search string fields. This allows users to search for a string such as " Test String ", whereas before, the string would have been "Test String", because the spaces were automatically trimmed. . Added error checking code to make sure the search strings in the search dialog boxes cannot be blank when a search is about to be executed. . Added a message box to the Next and Previous routines to inform the user when the first or last record has been reached, and a wrap has occurred. . Reordered the "Database Name" and "Search String" display on the information box of the status screen when a search is in progress. . Modified importing code to automatically trim pound signs (#) off the front of the subject field. . Modified code to automatically position the browser highlight bar on the current record when it is initialized. . Modified code to disable the original button if an original message does not exist, and to disable the response button if a response to the current message does not exist. . Updated code with database library changes. 12-29-94 ■ Version 1.01 . Reordered radio buttons on Search dialogs and changed hot-key assignments. . Added a "Matches Found" display to the search screen to indicate how many records are being found when a search of the entire database is taking place. . Reworked the "Response" button to automatically go to the responding message if there is only 1 response found. If there is more than 1 response, CompuSlave will display the browser, showing the user a list of available responses. . Added a diamond character to be displayed directly in front of the field that is being used as the sort field. . Added "Response #" and "Date" columns to the browser window and rearranged the order of the columns, placing the Keyword column after the From and To columns. . Increased the number of columns in the browser window from 128 to 255. . Fixed some appearance issues on monochrome monitors. . Added a "Sort" button to allow the user to set which indexed field should be used to sort the messages in the database. The default sort field is the message number field. If the user changes this to another field, the First, Last, Previous, and Next buttons will be executed in relation to the current sort field. The browser will also display records in alpha- betical order, according to the current sort field. . Added VENDINFO.DIZ to distribution package. 12-27-94 ■ Version 1.00 . Initial release of CompuSlave.