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What's Up DOCumentation
Robelle Consulting Ltd.
Unit 201, 15399-102A Ave.
Surrey, B.C. Canada V3R 7K1
Phone: (604) 582-1700
Fax: (604) 582-1799
Date: December 19, 1991
From: Robert M. Green, CEO
David J. Greer, President
Michael Shumko, Customer Support
To: Users of Robelle Software
Re: News of the HP 3000, 1991 #7
What You Will Find in This News Memo:
News Tidbits
Xpress 2.8 Is Released
New QLIB is Released
Spelling Checker from Robelle
Technical Tips
About Robelle
Robelle Products: Problems, Solutions, and Suggestions
News Tidbits
New Dealer in Central America.
IPESA in Guatemala has recently joined the list of Robelle dealers worldwide.
Founded in 1971, IPESA is the oldest Hewlett-Packard distributor. They
purchased the first HP 3000 sold by HP outside the U.S., an HP 2115, serial
number 0123, which is incidentally still in working condition. IPESA also
sold the first HP 3000 in Latin America in 1973. With its installed base in
Central America, mainly in El Salvador and Guatemala, IPESA is a long-time
user and promoter of third party software developed for HP 3000s. The person
to contact at IPESA is Alex Dengo. Phone: +502 2 314786. Fax: +502 2 316627.
Xpress Links to MCI Mail, Easy Link.
We have recently opened up the Xpress world to include outside e-mail
networks. Working with another vendor, E-Mail Inc., we have used their
Gateway/3000 to link Xpress to the MCI Mail public network. This gives HP
3000 users the capability of sending messages from their desk to anyone in the
world. Users can send messages to any fax number or any MCI Mail user, send
messages to software vendors, send orders to suppliers, even link two Xpress
systems without NS/3000 or dedicated leased lines. If you prefer, you can use
AT&T's Easy Link instead of MCI Mail, or you can use both.
Xpress sells for $5000 US for a single cpu. We have arranged a special
discount price on Gateway/3000 for Xpress users. The regular license fee of
$10,000 has been reduced to $3500 when Gateway is used with Xpress. Call us
for more information, or contact E-Mail directly at (818) 797-9152.
A Rose By Any Other Name....
On December 1st HP changed the name of the HP 3000 HPPA operating system from
MPE XL to MPE/iX. The name change is supposed to reflect the future
capability of supporting both MPE and POSIX programs and file structures. The
HP press release took great pains to stress that MPE is not dead. "Users will
still get the same strong OLTP performance and commercial functionality of
MPE, along with POSIX's advantages of application portability and open file
system support. We are changing the name of MPE XL to MPE/iX to reflect the
greater openness of the operating system. The iX suffix stands for
`integrated POSIX'."
Xpress 2.8 Is Released
Xpress is an electronic mail system that is so easy to use that you can start
exchanging mail the first day without formal training. Xpress works on any
HP 3000 hardware, and on all versions of MPE (including MPE XL). Xpress has a
streamlined design that keeps the load on your machine low, and still offers
all the functions you need.
The highlights of the new XPRESS mail are
* Now in native-mode for greater speed.
All Xpress programs are now available in native-mode. The installation
job stream automatically installs the native-mode versions on MPE XL
machines. You can import MPE XL native-mode spool files into Xpress
using only the spool file number.
* Xpress includes a Full-Screen Editor for non-programmers.
Xpedit is a new bonus program that provides full-screen editing
capabilities for users who are not experienced at using programmer-style
editors (e.g., Qedit). Xpedit provides the ability to update, add,
insert, and delete lines of text. You move through the document using
clearly-labelled function keys. On-line help is available from the main
edit screen.
* Send messages to users by name, not number.
Xpress now prompts for user names when you send messages. Of course,
all previous options are still supported (e.g., sending a message to a
user number). Sometimes you may not be able to remember a person's
name. To search for matching user names, end a user name with a ?
question mark. You do not have to enter an entire user name. Xpress
accepts any partial name that uniquely matches a name. If a name
partially matches several Xpress users, the list of users who match is
shown.
* Screen Display can be configured to suit yourself.
You can configure what the Out Basket menu will display: user names,
options, or nothing. Having three choices makes the new
send-by-user-name feature of Xpress more flexible. Skilled users who
want speed can configure Xpress not to show all the menus, and
once-in-a-while users can set Xpress up so they always see all the
choices.
You will find a full description of these and all the other new features in
our change notice. All Xpress owners covered by service receive a change
notice and update tape automatically. The update tape contains revised user
manuals, too. You can print copies or use the complete on-line help.
If you haven't yet convinced yourself of the benefits of electronic mail, just
call for your free demo. We think you'll like what you see.
You will find an Xpress data sheet included with this news memo.
New QLIB is Released
Version 6.4 of Robelle's Contributed Library.
The Robelle QLIB is a small library of contributed software, and other aids,
for Robelle users. You receive the latest QLIB on each update tape. Some
typical QLIB tools are: PROSE to format text, Pscreen to print the screen,
Tapedir to analyze :STORE tapes, and Qhelp to provide an online help facility.
The QLIB is continuously updated and improved. Version 6.4 (October, 1991)
adds native-mode HowMessy (version 1.9), native-mode Prose text formatter
(version 3.2), version 3.8 of Qcopy and Qeditaccess, a new file of Cookies,
and a Xpedit 1.2 with a more intuitive Insert and Delete line capability. The
new HowMessy has improved the calculation of inefficient pointers, shows the
highwater mark of detail datasets, and no longer requires you to be logged on
in the same group as the database, although you do still have to be logged on
in the same account and as the creator.
Version 6.3 (July, 1991) added two new bonus programs, Spell and Xpedit, and
the new Printdoc utility for printing Robelle manuals. It also included an
updated version of Qcopy (version 3.7) that includes on-line help.
You will automatically receive the newest QLIB with your next product update
tape.
Spelling Checker from Robelle
Spell is a spelling checker for the HP 3000. It is fast, and reads both Qedit
and Editor files. Spell comes with an 80,000 word dictionary, and you can
choose to incorporate British or American spellings. You can add additional
words with either a global auxiliary dictionary or a local user dictionary.
Spell consists of two parts: one, a program that serially reads a Qedit or
Editor file and reports on all words not found in the dictionary; and two, a
set of routines that user programs may call to check the spelling of
individual words or lines of text.
Qedit users will automatically receive Spell with the next Qedit update, which
is due to be released in January.
Technical Tips
Still Waiting.
Whatever happened to HP's promise of allowing multiple MPE XL commands on one
command line? [Dennis Werner @ Laserscope]
Adager Writes Qedit Files.
Further to the notice in the last newsmemo about writing Qedit files, Alfredo
points out that any place in Adager that lines are written to a file, you can
specify a Qedit file. You can also append lines to an existing Qedit file.
An example of where you would use this is when you get the layout of a
specific dataset (and not the whole schema). Alfredo reports that Adager is
now 100% read/write Qedit-compatible (except places where it wouldn't make any
sense).
Incredible Performance Degradation.
One of our customers called to report an amazing slowdown on his Series 70
after installing the MICBV98 patch to Platform 1P. It seems that there was a
bug in the CVDB and CVBD instructions which could cause them to occasionally
produce incorrect results. The patch disabled these buggy firmware
instructions and re-implemented them in software. Some applications suddenly
ran anywhere from 2 - 7 times slower than before the patch. He said that his
Series 70 was running at less than half the speed of his Series 37! The
workaround was to install patch MICCV88, which is officially supported on the
V-Delta releases, but seems to work on Platform 1P, too.
Purge can be very slow.
Stan Sieler gave us the following command file. For big files, this command
file is much, much faster than HP's purge command. The reason is that when
the purge command has write access to a file, it zeros out all blocks of the
file (i.e., this is equivalent to making a copy of the file in terms of
execution time). MPE XL doesn't need to do this, since blocks are always
zeroed before use when re-allocated by MPE XL. If the purge command only has
acc=in to a file, it still purges it, but it does not zero out all blocks. On
Allegro's Series 932, Stan built two huge files (one per disc drive) to
reserve some space. He purged one of these files with the purge command
(about 15 minutes to execute) and the other with qpurge (a few seconds to
execute). The MPE XL programming with finfo is to insure that you get the
"correct" error message if the file does not exist.
parm filename
if finfo("!filename", 0) then
file filename=!filename;acc=in
purge *filename
reset filename
else
purge !filename
VPLUS Configuration File.
Bill Shanks at Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health had problems with Vplus over
modems until HP told him to build a file called Venvcnt.Pub.Sys. Apparently
VPLUS will look for this file to set parameters for the hand-shaking of status
request timing. He built it as rec=-80,,f,ascii;disc=1, and according to HP's
instructions filled the first 20 characters with the following data:
11011101000000000001 {the data}
12345678901234567890 {columns}
Fascinating. Now can anyone tell us what all those zeros and ones mean?
Almost But No Cigar.
In the June 91 issue of What's Up Doc we challenged our readers to find a way
of detecting that a file name has been :File equated to tape, before opening
the file. A successful answer would have meant that Qedit could detect a tape
file before opening it and hanging on a console reply (i.e., text t with a
forgotten :file t;dev=tape). Several of you suggested using the Flabelinfo
Intrinsic to check some attribute of the file name such as device name, since
this intrinsic does not require an Fopen and fails with Fserr 54 when faced
with a File equation to tape or printer. However, it also fails with Fserr 54
when you have a File equation to a remote disk file, so Qedit can't really
know whether the file is a tape file or a remote file. Qedit 4.0 will have
this logic built into it and will warn you that the file you are trying to
Text may be a tape file that will hang at the console, or it may be a remote
file. Therefore, we re-challenge our readers to come up with another idea.
SORT XL Scratch Files.
On Classic HP 3000, it was easy to know how big a SORTSCR file would be
required by SORT/3000. The rule of thumb was to reserve enough space for a
second copy of your input file. If you needed to know the exact calculation
you could always look in the SORT manual. To change the amount of space
allocated to the scratch file you could issue a file command:
:file sortscr;disc=100000
On MPE XL this file command does not work. That is because the native-mode
sort does not use a file called Sortscr. Instead it uses two mapped scratch
files called Hpsorts1 and Hpsorts2. The Sort-Merge XL manual does not
document how space is allocated for these files, but the rule of thumb seems
to be that Sort XL needs about twice as much scratch space as Sort V.
The following sort scratch file information is from the HP Response Center.
CM-Sort Scratch File
scratch filename = SORTSCR
scratch'file'size = ((scratch'rec'size * #RECORDS) / 128) + 1
scratch'rec'size = ((file'rec'size + 7) / 2 + 4
file'rec'size is input record size in bytes. scratch'rec'size is in words.
NM-Sort Scratch File
scratch filenames = HPSORTS1 , HPSORTS2 (both mapped files)
Native-mode scratch files contain two types of records, WORK RECORDS and
END-OF-SUBFILE records. Both types contain the same number of bytes. The
number of bytes in one scratch file is:
scratch'file'size = scratch'rec'size * (#RECORDS + eos'records)
eos'records = #RECORDS / 50 {eos: end-of-subfile}
scratch'rec'size = file'rec'size + expansion'bytes
The value of expansion bytes depends on the number and type of keys that the
user specifies:
expansion'bytes = #type5'keys + #type9'keys +
2 * (#type4'keys + #type6'keys + #type7'keys +
#type8'keys + #type12'keys) +
3 * (#type13'keys) +
3
The 3 at the end is used to pad the length to a 4-byte boundary, thus it is a
worst case value (ranges from 0-3).
To find the number of end-of-subfile records (eos'records) the number of
records from the input file was divided by 50, a worst case number (the
average case will be to divide by 100).
Note that scratch'file'size is for one scratch file. The space required for a
NM sort is 2*scratch'file'size.
Key Types
0 byte
1 binary two's-complement (16 & 32 bit)
2 HP3000 floating point (real & long)
3 IEEE floating point (32-, 64-, 128-bit)
4 packed decimal with odd # of digits
5 packed decimal with even # of digits
6 display trailing sign
7 display leading sign
8 display trailing sign separate
9 display leading sign separate
10 character
11 reserved for MPE XL
12 short floating point decimal
13 floating point decimal
Saving User Function Keys.
If your terminal is an HP 70092, or a PC with Reflection configured as a
70092, there are escape sequences to save the current user function key
information in an internal area in the terminal, and restore it later.
<esc>&f0B {saves the function key information}
<esc>&f1B {restores the function key labels}
VPLUS does this automatically. You could put these escapes into your own
command files or UDCs, before and after the run of a program that changes the
function keys. [Michael Hensley @ VESoft]
About Robelle
Robelle Holidays.
Robelle will be closed December 25th and 26th, and January 1st.
Robelle Software Rentals Available.
Robelle now offers quarterly software rentals which are easily converted to a
full license at any time. If you want to try one or all of our software
products for longer than our 30 day trial period, or feel you only need one of
our tools for a short time, you can now rent. The price is a low $500 US per
quarter on one CPU, and you can apply half of the rental fee towards up to
half of the software purchase price on one machine. If you would like more
information on how to get your rental copy of Robelle software, call us and
ask for one of our sales representatives.
Multi-Processor SPUs.
Yes, it's true that the Series 980/200 has two cpus in it. But that doesn't
mean that you have to purchase a license for an extra cpu if you upgrade from
a regular machine to a dual processor machine. Interesting idea, though....
To reiterate our reasonable, generous upgrade policy: We do not charge based
on how big and fast your computers are. We care only how many machines are
running our software. So if you upgrade from one model of HP 3000 to another,
you do not owe us any money. You pay only when your machine count goes up.
The additional cpu charge is $1000 US for Qedit or Suprtool, and $1250 US for
Xpress. Other charges apply in other countries.
Shameless Plugs.
"If I had known this shop didn't have Qedit I might not have taken the job."
[E.A. Kilroy @ Orbit Software]
{E.A. did talk his boss into getting Qedit.}
"Suprtool comes through as usual as the best Image tool yet! I can't live
without it. You were incredibly kind and supportive in my 'hour of need'."
[Janine Scott @ M-Care]
"Suprtool is the best money my company ever spent on third-party software."
[Greg Fry @ IJ Companies]
Contact Robelle Via MCI Mail.
You can send messages to Robelle using MCI Mail. The MCI Mail user name is
"Robelle Consulting Ltd.", and the number is 502-3800. Your messages will be
treated with the same priority as telephone calls and faxes.
Birmingham Meeting.
Our UK dealer, Clive Oldfield, will be exhibiting Robelle products at the HP
World one-day exhibition to be held at the National Motorcycle Museum in
Birmingham on Thursday, 30 January 1992.
Robelle Products: Problems, Solutions, and Suggestions
Qedit Version 3.9.1
132-Column Mode on a PC.
One of the most frequently-heard questions of the last few months has to be,
"How can I get Reflection to go into 132-column mode, just like my 70092
terminals do?" The ability to put your screen into 132-column mode, where you
see 132 tiny characters across the screen, is dependent on your PC's hardware.
You must have a supported enhanced video adapter with a 132-column display.
It's not enough to have a VGA card; it must be a 132-column card supported by
Reflection. Assuming you have such a card, you tell Reflection about it on
the Global Configuration screen (Alt-C f7). We have discovered that some
Vectras can be configured into Reflection as PARADISE cards.
Whenever you go into Visual mode in a file which has more than 76 columns,
Qedit will send an escape sequence to Reflection telling it to widen its
terminal memory. When Reflection is configured properly, this escape sequence
invokes 132-column mode.
P.S. We have heard rumors that a future version of Reflection will support
132 columns on SuperVGA cards, even if they aren't explicitly 132-column
cards.
P.P.S. All the above notes are for the DOS versions of Reflection. The
Macintosh and Windows versions of Reflection handle 132-column mode in a
totally different fashion than DOS Reflection.
Qzmodify Trick.
You can get the decimal value of an Ascii character on-line. When you modify
a line in Qzmodify-mode (set modify qzmod), press control-W followed by a
question mark (^W?) to see the Ascii character code for the character the
cursor is on, in decimal and octal.
Suprtool Version 3.3
Data types must match when loading tables from files.
Suprtool's Table command lets you load tables of test values from a file or
from the command line. When loading test values from a file using the File
option, the data type and length of the test values must be the same as the
field to which they will be compared. For example, you cannot load a table of
byte values to be compared against an integer or packed-decimal field in a
dataset.
When loading test values from the command line with the Item option of the
Table command, Suprtool converts the ASCII value that you enter to the
appropriate data type:
:run suprtool.pub.robelle
>base sales,5,reader
>table acct-table,acct-number,ITEM,2244 {acct-number is I1}
If you have a file with a list of ASCII values that you want to compare
against an integer or packed-decimal field in a dataset, for example, you
could use an editor to convert this list of values into a Suprtool Use file
containing a series of Table Item statements:
:print acctfile {list of ASCII acct-numbers}
6220
1144
0982
2244
5633
:run qedit.pub.robelle
/tq acctfile
Qeditscr
5 lines in file
/set lang job
'Language' is now JOB
/c 1,"table acct-table,acct-number,ITEM," all
1 table acct-table,acct-number,ITEM,6220
2 table acct-table,acct-number,ITEM,1144
3 table acct-table,acct-number,ITEM,0982
4 table acct-table,acct-number,ITEM,2244
5 table acct-table,acct-number,ITEM,5633
5 lines changed
/k tablecmd,temp
5 lines saved
:run suprtool.pub.robelle
>base sales,5,READER
>get sales-detail
>use tablecmd {load table with Use file created above}
>if $lookup(acct-table,acct-number)
>output tranfile
>exit
The Item option of the Table command is designed to be used interactively with
a relatively small number of test values. When loading tables with this
option, Suprtool uses a simple insertion sort. As the number of test values
increases, the time required to load the table will increase dramatically.
You should not use this technique if you have more than a few hundred entries
to be loaded into the table.
Xpress Version 2.8.1
Names With a Single Initial.
Most North American Xpress customers were shipped version 2.8.1. This version
has a bug in the new send-by-name feature. It is not possible to send a
message to a user whose Xpress name starts with a single letter, e.g., M
Shumko. You can still send to this user by specifying the user's number, but
not the name. This is fixed in version 2.8.2, which is available to anybody
who needs it. Customers outside North America were shipped the new version
which does not have the bug.
Catching Misspilled Words with a Spilling Checker
As an extra addled service, I am going to put this column in the
Spilling Checker, where I tryst it will sale through with flying colons.
In this modern ear, it is simply inexplicable to ask readers to expose
themselves to misspelled swords when they have bitter things to do.
And with all the other timesaving features on my new work processor it
is in realty very easy to pit together a colon like this one and get it
tight. For instants, if there is a work that is wrong, I just put the
curse on it, press Delete and its . Well sometimes it deletes to
the end of the lion or worst yet the whole rage. Four bigger problems,
there is the Cat and Paste option. If there is some test that is
somewhere were you wish it where somewhere else you jest put the curse
at both ends and wash it disappear. Where you want it to reappear
simply bring four quarts of water to rotting boil and throw in
112 pound of dazed chicken. Sometimes it brings in the Cat that was
Pasted yesterday.
But usually it comes out as you planned, or better. And if it doesn't,
there are lots of other easy to lose options ....
[Reprinted from The View Amiga newsletter, edited by Ken Robertson]