Welcome to the 1994 Visual Basic Programmer's Journal Buyer's Guide CD (with late Visual Basic Insiders' Technical Summit (VBITS) additions). This CD is copyright 1994 Fawcette Technical Publications. Any inquiries about this CD should be directed to:
Buyer's Guide CD Editor
c/o Fawcette Technical Publications
280 Second Street, Suite 200
Los Altos, CA 94022-3603
Tel: 415-917-7650
Fax: 415-948-7332
CompuServe: Robert Scoble 71732,3233
America Online: RobertVBPJ
INTERNET:71732.3233@compuserve.com
Thanks, and enjoy your Visual Basic Programmer's Journal Buyers' Guide CD.
You must load the PowerPoint 4.0 viewer to read PPT files. You must load the PKUNZIP files to read .ZIP files. You must load the Replica reader to read .RPL files. Instructions for all of those files are included on this README document.
To better read this document in Windows Notepad, please select the word wrap feature which is in the Edit menu. This will wrap the lines so you won't have to scroll across the screen.
SOFTWARE INCLUDED ON THIS CD-ROM
(BASMARK) A demo version of Basmark's new Visual QuickBasic for Unix, BVQB--The full 32-bit replacement for Microsoft's Visual Basic...and it's a compiler! BVQB is the road to Cairo. Stop coding for the Win 16 API and move to Win32s NOW with BVQB. A fully functional demo is contained within the (BASMARK) directory. You will need to follow the readme.txt directions to unzip the files.
(COROMNDL) A demo application, a demo script, and a technical overview of Coromandel's Integra VDB is included in the COROMNDL directory. It helps build complete Windows database applications, in many cases without writing code, that work with multiple desktop and client-server databases through ODBC.
(DISTINCT) This is a full working version of the Visual Edition of Distinct TCP/IP including the Distinct TCP/IP protocol stack. It contains easy to use custom controls for Windows Sockets, Telnet and FTP. See the file README.TXT in the Distinct directory for more information. Call Distinct to purchase your activation key.
(FARPOINT) The FarPoint collection includes demonstrations of Spread/VBX 2.1, Grid/VBX 1.0 and Tab/VBX 1.0. Spread/VBX is a data aware grid or data sheet control. Tab/VBX is a container control that provides the tablike functionality found in Word 6 and Excel 5.
(INTRSOLV) INTERSOLV's PVCS, the industry standard for Software Configuration Management on the LAN, supports stand-alone, distributed and team development in heterogeneous environments (DOS, Windows, Windows NT, OS/2, most UNIX platforms). As an integrated solution, PVCS Version Manager and PVCS Configuration Builder support NFS and major network environments. To load the demo, just run the setup file in the INTRSOLV directory.
(MSEXCEL) Microsoft's Excel 5.0 uses Visual Basic, Applications Edition to perform many tasks. Here's white paper and a complete demonstration program written in VBA.
(PINNACLE) The Pinnacle collection includes demo for ChartBuilder, Graphics Server SDK, and Code.Print Pro. ChartBuilder is a custom control that lets you quickly build many different charts including bar, line, polar, area and more. The Graphics Server SDK lets users add eye-catching graphs to your Visual Basic-based programs with the ultimate graphing DLL. Code.Print Pro is a programmer's printing utility for Visual Basic that gives you control over your Visual Basic source-code printouts.
(PKZ204G.EXE) A shareware version of PKWARE's PKZIP 2.04G. Copy this file to a new directory on your hard drive and run it from the DOS prompt. Several files on this CD were compressed using PKZIP and this program allows you to uncompress those files.
(PPT4VIEW) This is the PowerPoint 4.0 viewer from Microsoft, which will let you browse the many PPT files in the VBITSPPT directory.
(REPLICA) A full working version of Farallon Replica, for creating and distributing electronic documents. This version reads any Replica document, and can be used five times to create your own Replica documents. Call Replica to have it unlocked and you have a fully-functional program. Please load Replica first, since many documents on this CD are in Replica format.
(SHERIDAN) Sheridan Software, the premier publisher of Visual Basic Components and Tools, is including working demos of 3-D Widgets and Data Widgets, product data sheets for 3-D Widgets, Data Widgets, and VB Assist (all three products are VBPJ Reader's Choice Award Winners).
(VBBOOKS.RPL) This is a list of all the Visual Basic and Access books, publications, conferences, and information sources that we know about on March 13. It's a great reference, and you can buy your favorite books directly from Fawcette Technical Publications too.
(VBITSDM1) Included here is 24 MB of Multimedia demos that were shown by MotionWorks during its VBITS presentation on Multimedia stuff. Loads of fun to play with. All written using Visual Basic.
(VBITSDM2) Here are all the demo files that we've have from the VBITS-SF presentations. Many files here have been updated or added after VBITS ended. They are arranged according to the schedule that they were presented at VBITS. A schedule in Replica format is included. There's a lot of code here to try out. Make sure to look at the (DATAWIZ) directory for a lot of code snippets. Also, look for the (VBAXTRA) directory which has some sample VBA code from a tester at Microsoft. This code is for your perusal but the author says that neither he nor Microsoft will be able to support or maintain it.
(VBITSPPT) Here's all the PowerPoint presentations from VBITS-SF, which was held Feb. 28 through March 2, 1994. Many new slides were added that were not included in the official proceedings. Scott Swanson also has two in-depth white papers here that make good reading for all VB programmers: one on debugging and one on optimizing VB/Windows.
(VBPJISS) Here's a complete electronic version, in Replica format, of Visual Basic Programmer's Journal's Feb/March 1994 issue. You can cut code right out of the articles and paste it into Visual Basic. Read the README.TXT file included for more information on Farallon's Replica.
FARALLON INFORMATION FROM VISUAL BASIC PROGRAMMER'S JOURNAL
Several of the files on this CD were produced using Farallon's new Replica format. This is an application that produces documents that can be read on either the Macintosh or Windows platform. We've received permission to distribute a trial version of this program which allows you to read unlimited numbers of documents. (It allows you to create five of your own documents before it expects you to call Farallon and register it).
You must load either the PC or the Macintosh version which are located in the REPLICA directory before trying to read any of these documents. You can tell Replica files because they end with .RPL.
Is Replica perfect? No. This is version 1.0 software, but we put up with some idiosyncrasies because of its ability to let us cheaply distribute documents. For instance, this CD costs less to publish than a printed version of our magazine. We can fit several issues on one CD which will let us publish the back issues of the magazine electronically.
For programmers, getting the issues electronically is pretty cool. You can cut code right out of a Replica document and paste it directly into Visual Basic and run it. No retyping of long code listings. Try it out.
REPLICA TROUBLESHOOTING AND TIPS
Different computers display Replica documents differently. The following tips make Replica documents more readable:
* If the type in a document is unreadable, uncheck the AUTO JUSTIFY selection in the View Menu on the Windows version.
* If the fonts look strange (most of the fonts should be Times New Roman or Times Roman or Times) change the FONT MAPPING selection in the Edit Menu on the Windows version. For best results make sure Times New Roman (or the closest alternative loaded on your system) is selected in the listbox on the right of this dialog box. Our code was produced using Courier and the text in the articles was produced using Times Roman. On some machines these don't map over to the proper font on your machine. You probably will have to map your own fonts for best results. Unfortunately this process isn't global and you'll probably have to repeat both of these steps for every document you open.
Some graphics won't look right. That's to be expected with this version of Replica. Some text (especially that text which was given special treatments like small caps) will not work properly in Replica. That's a bug that they know about and are working to fix. If you have any other questions with the documents on this CD, please write me on CompuServe or America Online.
