Visual Basic Programmer's Journal Buyer's Guide/Visual_Basic_Programmers_Journal_Buyers_Guide_CD-ROM_1994.iso/vbpjiss/bheroes.rpl

Farallon Replica Document | 1994-03-13 | 212KB | 1 lines

BASIC HEROESBASIC HEROESBASIC HEROESBASIC HEROESby Robert W. ScobleORIGINAL BASIC HERO HONOREDWhen discussion turns to who or what helped make Basic the successfulBasic Herolanguage it is today, the name Ethan Winer comes up. As the founder ofRewarded:Crescent Software, one of the first and most successful developers ofDuring theBasic programming utilities, Winer is considered by some to be theVBITS Æ93 conferencequintessential Basic Hero. Winer himself wrote the code for QuickPak,in Boston, Visualone of a handful of developerÆs utilities that helped widen the market forBasic ProgrammerÆsBasic. WinerÆs involvement doesnÆt stop there: he is a prolific writer ofJournal publishermagazine articles and columns, and he is a fixture on the CompuServeJames FawcetteMSBASIC user forum. He has also written two books about using Basic.presented Ethan WinerVisual Basic ProgrammerÆs Journal and Microsoft honored WinerÆswith an award for hisachievements with an award presented at the Boston Visual Basiccontributions to theInsidersÆ Technical Summit in early October. Winer was toasted at thesuccess of Basic.presentation by friends and colleagues.ôEthan is one of the people who kept (Basic) alive and viable as aprofessional development tool in a long period during which it lan-guished before the introduction of Visual Basic. We owe him a debt ofsaid.gratitude,ö said Jim Fawcette, Publisher and Editor of Visual BasicUnfortunately, the award marks WinerÆs retirement from his formalProgrammerÆs Journal.post as founder and president of Crescent Software. Winer is nowôEthan and archrival Mark Novisoff, founder of MicroHelp, are thepursuing his original interest, music. He plays cello full-time in twotwo people outside of Microsoft who did the most to help me get Visualorchestras and in a trio as well.Basic ProgrammerÆs Journal, then BasicPro magazine, launched backMusic was the motivation that launched WinerÆs programmingin late 1990,ö Fawcette said. Along with Novisoff, Winer was a chartercareer. In the early 1980s he was running a 16-track recording studio thatcontributing editor of the publication and remains a contributing editorhe thought would benefit from computerization. But there was no suchof VBPJ.software available at the time. He bought an Apple II+ (which he laterMicrosoftÆs Tom Button, group product manager for Applicationsreplaced with an IBM PC) and a few friends showed him how to getProgrammability, praised Winer for his willingness to help programmersaround, enabling him to write the programs he needed. ôUltimately Ion CompuServe and his involvement in proselytizing Basic to program-found that I enjoyed programming more than I enjoyed audio,ö he said.mers. ôWe really appreciate his contribution to our industry,ö ButtonCONTINUED ON PAGE 13.COMMERCIAL VB APP BITES OFF BIG SUCCESSBefore Cognitech Corporation connected with author Harvey Mackay,the company had just another contacts-management program that waslosing market share to shark-like competitors in the battle for morefeatures. Three and a half years after bringing Mackay onboard tosponsor its Sharkware product, Cognitech has a marketing strategy anda product that may inspire Visual Basic programmers to start hummingthe theme from ôJaws.ö Seven million people are familiar with MackayÆsphilosophy on getting ahead: thatÆs the number of copies sold of hismotivational tract, Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive. Heis also the author of Beware the Naked Man Who Offers You His Shirt.Sharkware is based on MackayÆs philosophy that knowing yourcontacts well is the most important thing you can do to get ahead. Hisapproach seems to be working for Cognitech. The company is selling 750copies a week of Sharkware at its $99 street price, says Butch Howard,manager of product development for Cognitech.Cognitech courted Mackay, CEO of a large envelope-making com-pany in addition to bestselling author, for more than three years before helent his name, philosophy, and input to the project. HeÆs now a Cognitechstockholder and receives royalties.Visual Basic allowed Sharkware to get to market in a fraction of theWhile CognitechÆs Howard admits that much of SharkwareÆs successtime it would take to develop it entirely in C, according to Howard.lies with its unusual sponsor and name, he adds that Sharkware alsoDevelopment started in September of 1992 and the product was on theshows that successful products are being coded using off-the-shelfmarket in early June 1993. ôVisual Basic lets you prototype a usercomponents sold by third-party software vendors.interface and do cooler stuff with it faster than you could with C or C++,öThe Visual Basic-produced application includes more than 100 forms,Howard says.a 2.4 MB executable file, 3000 subroutines, and 270,000 lines of code.CONTINUED ON PAGE 14.10     FEBRUARY/MARCH 1994   Visual Basic ProgrammerÆs JournalBASIC HEROESBASIC HEROESVisual Basic ProgrammerÆs Journal   FEBRUARY/MARCH 1994     11BASIC HEROESBASIC HEROESREADER PROFILECONTINUED FROM PAGE 10.ORIGINAL HEROàôI was ready for a change anyway.ö He dug right in, learning Basic andassembly language well enough to put out a shingle as a consultant,initially attracting large clients such as Lawn Doctor and later the NewYork Stock Exchange.Through his consulting work Winer built libraries of subroutineswritten in Basic and assembly language. For a time he considered sellinghis subroutines as shareware, as a way to help other programmers getstarted. But business realities soon overrode his altruism. ôI realized thatshareware was really nowhere,ö he says. ôI couldnÆt make a business bydoing shareware.ö Thus Crescent Software was born, operating fromWinerÆs home.While writing the code for QuickPak, CrescentÆs first product, Wineralso began his first editorial venture, writing articles about programmingfor PC Magazine. Winer attributes much of his early business success tohaving just such a forum for sharing ideas with other programmers.ôEarly on in my learning I really appreciated good magazine articles,ö hesays. ôIÆve always believed in that philosophy of sharing what youknow.ö In keeping with that philosophy, Crescent included the sourcecode in its products. Winer says that Crescent was the first company todo so. ôOther companies that didnÆt include source code with theirproducts are gone,ö he says. ôMy favorite customers were those who tookthe source code and fixed a bug or enhanced a routine,ö Winer adds. ôAlot of stuff in QuickPak Pro got written that way.öCrescent SoftwareÆs sales promptly eclipsed WinerÆs expectations.ôI remember thinking if I could sell a thousand (QuickPak packages) at$69, IÆd have it made,ö he says. ôI have always been astonished at thesuccess of the business. The orders just keep on coming.ö His happiestmemory, Winer adds, is of the party the company threw after selling itsthousandth QuickPak.By the time Visual Basic hit the market in 1991, Crescent had fiveemployees and had outgrown the Winer home. That year, CrescentSoftware moved into the business offices where it would continue toproduce many popular Basic programming utilities.Meanwhile, WinerÆs other writing project, his book Basic Tech-niques and Utilities, was selling as fast as QuickPaks. ôIt made eleventhon the Waldensoft Top 20 list,ö Winer says. ôMy publisher said that wasphenomenal for any programming book. It is available in four lan-guages.öWiner himself started the two traditions that Crescent is best knowfor: a daily 5 p.m. Scotch party, and employee music jam sessions. Hestarted the Scotch parties to help employees wind down after a tough day.ôIt took me six months to stop drinking once I left the company,ö he says,laughing. ôIt was all in moderation of course, and the company providesthe Scotch. It is a real Crescent tradition.öScotch parties with Winer are history, but it looks like Winer wonÆtbe quick to separate his intermingled interests of music and program-ming. As Winer enters the world of professional music, Crescent em-ployees continue their informal jam sessions at WinerÆs recording studio,which is equipped with a high-end MIDI setup run by a 486 and severalWindows-based music programs. Best of luck, Ethan. nVisual Basic ProgrammerÆs Journal   FEBRUARY/MARCH 1994     13BASIC HEROESBASIC HEROESBASIC HEROESBASIC HEROESREADER PROFILEScopyright statement reads like a whoÆs-who listAfter getting past the first screenùa quoteCONTINUED FROM PAGE 10.of third-party VB tool makers: SpyWorks fromof the day from MackayùSharkware asks youDesaware; ElltechÆs Compression Plus; Cres-to enter information on each contact. Reflect-cent SoftwareÆs common dialogs and meters;ing MackayÆs philosophy of knowing as muchMicroHelpÆs 3-D Gizmos and VBTools; Q+EÆsabout your contacts as possible, the programMultiLink/VB for the database; and SheridanÆsasks up to 66 questions about each contactùBIG SUCCESSàlistbox are all in there.including requests for information about birth-The team also uses SheridanÆs VBAssist todays, hobbies, childrenÆs interests, and similarCognitech knew that it didnÆt want to writeaid in designing user interfaces, according topersonal dataùand stores the results for futureall the code itself, so it went to the local soft-Howard. And thereÆs more to come: Howarduse. Users can override the requests for detailedware house and bought virtually every third-is shopping for a data-aware listbox and otherinformation if they donÆt buy into MackayÆsparty tool it could find. As a result, SharkwareÆsdata-aware controls.principles.Most VB programs take quite a while toload their forms, especially if they are loadedwith icons and controls. Sharkware had thisproblem too, but the company found a uniqueway to hide the fact that on a 486/50 with 8 MBof RAM the program takes almost 20 secondsto load the main form.ôYou can literally go to lunch while ourproduct is loading,ö Howard says, adding thatthis was the most pressing problem from aprogramming standpoint. The difficulty moti-vated Howard to put a C programmer to workon an unconventional task. ôWe finally re-sorted to writing a C program that puts a splashscreen up,öhe explains.Howard says the screen gives Sharkwareusers the perception that the program is quickbecause it takes only about a second to pop upand hides the fact that VB is in the backgroundloading up the main form.Once over the initial form-loading problem,Howard and his four-person programming teamhad other hurdles to jump. He needed to sub-class Windows messages, but Visual BasicdoesnÆt allow that kind of professional control.The team faced other form-loading problemsspecific to Visual Basic that they had to hidefrom users, and they also had to fit dozens offiles, including the VBRUN300.DLL, onto onlytwo disks.Using EllTechÆs Compression Plus Howardachieved 20 percent greater compression ofthe many files that Sharkware needed to copyduring setup then he would have achievedusing Windows Compress/Expand that comeswith the standard setup kit.Howard says he is also in debt to SpyWorks-VB from Desaware, which let him subclassWindows messages. ôWe couldnÆt have donethis product without SpyWorks-VB,ö he says.During the trickier stages of learning andsubclassing, Howard says, Desaware founderDaniel Appleman and others offered their helpon the MSBASIC forum on CompuServe.  ôSev-eral of the (third-party) controls didnÆt workjust the way we wanted them to,ö Howard says.ôWe used SpyWorks to customize those con-trols. On some of the gridsÆ list boxes wewanted to have a virtual list box with a separatescrollbar and subclassed it to handle pageupand pagedown manually.öôI was very proud to have my stuff in hispackage,ö Appleman, creator of SpyWorks-VB, says of Sharkware. Subclassing, he says,lets you get at the messages that Windows14     FEBRUARY/MARCH 1994   Visual Basic ProgrammerÆs JournalBASIC HEROESBASIC HEROESBASIC HEROESBASIC HEROESVisual Basic ProgrammerÆs Journal   FEBRUARY/MARCH 1994     15BASIC HEROESBASIC HEROESBASIC HEROESBASIC HEROES16     FEBRUARY/MARCH 1994   Visual Basic ProgrammerÆs JournalBASIC HEROESBASIC HEROESBASIC HEROESBASIC HEROESpasses around underneath VB. ôYou can modifyACCESS LOTUS NOTES FROM VBCONNECT TO TCP/IPthem or you can even discard them, whichVB/NotesLink is a set of bound controls that enables data access to Lotus NotesThe Visual Edition of the Distinct TCP/IP for Windows Software Development Kitdatabases. VB/NotesLink enables you to query Notes for documents usingallows Visual Basic programmers to write TCP/IP applications in Visual Basic asmeans you can dramatically change the controlstandard Notes selection formulas, read and update information from multiplean alternative to the complex Berkeley Sockets environment. TCP/IP connec-that is sending or receiving messages.öfields in existing Notes documents, and create new documents based on a Notestions can be made by setting the properties in a custom control for WindowsDuring user testing, Cognitech found thatform. $149.Sockets. $195.some of the forms appeared to come up veryBrainstorm Technologies, Inc. Phone/fax: [phone].Distinct Corp. 408-741-0781. Fax: [phone].slowly because intensive database access wasHOOK UP TO ACA SERVICESSIMPLIFY PROGRAMMING TASKStaking place while the forms were redrawing.Object Broker is a collection of  Visual Basic extensions that allow developers toVB PowerLibs provides a set of routines to simplify your programming tasks.Howard says his team found a way to hide thebuild interfaces from Visual Basic into the ACA Services runtime library. ThisSome of the features include low-level functions: fast data manipulation, in-lineform until the database access was complete,allows users to build a common, iconic desktop interface to network and legacymemory access, process yielding, DOS wrapper calls, easy DPMI access, debug-applications. Development license $500. Runtime $125.ging aids. High-level functions included are sound, friendly delays, timingand then quickly paint the form. ôDoing thatDigital Equipment Corp. 1-800-DIGITAL. Fax: [phone].(count-down, ôdead-man,ö difference), and string manipulation. $149.95.made it feel like it was happening immedi-Japan: 81-3-39897111.  Europe: 41-22-7094111.Eschalon Development Inc. Canada: Phone/fax: [phone].ately,ö he says.Several of these types of performance prob-lems were underlined during the beta test phase.They spent three sessions in a formal usabilitylab in Atlanta to find areas of Sharkware thatthey could improve. ôAfter seeing the info wegot from the usability lab we made some drasticchanges (in the user interface),ö Howard says.ôWe are firm believers in usability testing.öNow Cognitech is building wizards into theproduct to will help beginners get started, andthey are also rewriting some parts in C. ôTheprogramming team has done quite well consid-ering that they had never even seen VB beforea year ago,ö Welborn says. nNEWPRODUCTSEditorÆs note: Please send product information toNew Products Editor, c/o Fawcette Technical Publi-cations, 280 Second Street, Suite 200, Los Altos, CA,94022-3603; fax: [phone]. CompuServe:71732,3233. America Online: RobertVBPJ.INSTALLER CONTROLInstallit/VBX does compression, library management, multinational softwarerelease production, patching and distribution, deinstallation, and more. $199.BBS Demos. 800-448-4154 or 205-880-8785.Fax: [phone].Visual Basic ProgrammerÆs Journal   FEBRUARY/MARCH 1994     17NEW PRODUCTSNEW PRODUCTSNEW PRODUCTSVIEW FILES FROM VB APPSBTRIEVE DATA MANAGEMENTTRANSMIT DATA BETWEEN VB FORMSCONTINUEDVBVIEWER lets VB programmers display files in approxi-DDF Builder for Windows is a tool for creating and main-The AppLink control, from Synergy Technologies, providesmately 20 formats, including Word for Windows, dBASE,taining Btrieve data dictionary files. Most database andinterform transmission capabilities for the Visual BasicExcel, PCX, TIFF, GIF, BMP, Write, WordPerfect, AmiPro,reporting programs use DDFs to access Btrieve data. DDFprogrammer. When you place an AppLink ôsocketö on aParadox, Lotus, Lotus WK3, ZIP (directories), Quattro Pro,Builder for Windows includes a file browser screen forVisual Basic form, that form then has a means of transmit-DATA INPUT VALIDATION CONTROLWindows Sound Files, Q&A (Window and DOS), and MSviewing and updating defined files, and a DDF Wizardting and receiving messages up to 64K in length betweenWorks documents. $99.utility to help define DDFs for existing Btrieve files withitself and other sockets. $69.95.Aware/VBX is a data input validation control for all dataMicroHelp Inc. 1-800-922-3383 orunknown file formats. $130.Synergy Technologies. 802-878-8514.types. Each control can be bound to an Access database404-516-0899. Fax: [phone].Smithware Inc. 800-8-BTRIEVE orFax: 802-879-3754.field. The formatted edit controls have more than 30In Germany call MicroBasic Gmbh:615-860-3500.CompuServe: 72310,2345.properties. $145.49-89-904-6041. In UK callFarPoint Technologies Inc. 800-645-5913 orContemporary Software: 44-2-73-483979.MAKE VB MORE GRAPHICALGRAPHICS CUSTOM CONTROLS804-378-0432. Fax: [phone].SoftCraft Inc., is shipping its Graphic Custom Control, whichImageStream-VB is a VB custom control that allows devel-GRID CUSTOM CONTROLCHECK THE SPELLINGlets VB and VC++ application developers add graphicalopers to view, manipulate, and translate more than 20SpellPro from MicroHelp is a custom control VBX that letsshapes to forms and dialogs. This control is similar to thedifferent vector and bitmap formats. It reads and exportsGrid/VBX 1.0 s a new custom control based on FarPointÆsyou add spell-checking capabilities to your applications. ItShape control that comes with VB but is more capable andto many different file types, including types from Microsoft,more advanced Spread/VBX, but it is smaller, allowing youhas a built-in bad word dialog box, an American Englishprovides more basic shapes, properties, events, and options.Lotus, Asymetrix, and Adobe. It allows users to import theto create a database front end without a lot of overhead.dictionary of more than 50,000 words, and the ability toBasic shapes include rectangle, ellipse, polyline, freeformKodak Photo CD format and many other difficult-to-readIt is bound to Access, allowing you to read/write data. $99.check an individual word, multiple words, sentences, or thepolygon, regular n-sided polygon, arc, and pie. $295.formats. Users can scale, zoom, scroll, change color, dither,FarPoint Technologies Inc. 800-645-5913 orparagraph buffer. $129.SoftCraft Inc. 800-351-0500 orand change image brightness and contrast. $295.804-378-0432. Fax: [phone].MicroHelp Inc. 1-800-922-3383 or608-257-3300. Fax: [phone].VisualTools Inc. 913-599-6500.DOCUMENT ACCESS PROJECTS404-516-0899. Fax: [phone].Fax: [phone].In Germany call MicroBasic Gmbh:LINK VB APPS TOTotal Access is a developer tool designed for MicrosoftÆs49-89-904-6041. In UK callANY TOUCH-TONE PHONEVISUAL HELP HELPS BUILD HELP FILESAccess that provides comprehensive documentation andContemporary Software: 44-2-73-483979.Visual Voice is a custom control and toolkit that allowsVisual Help is an authoring tool for Windows Help files. Itanalysis of Access applications. Total Access documentsdevelopers to quickly build sophisticated voice-processinguses an object-oriented, drag-and-drop construction meta-Access tables, fields, forms, reports, macros, table relation-DDL MANAGERapplications. Using Visual Voice, developers can create appli-phor for building help files with support for graphics andships, and query definitions. Documentation includes tableDDL Manager, from MM Technology, allows the VB andcations such as fax-on-demand, touch-tone order entry, andsound, and full WYSIWYG runtime testing. An additionalstructures and descriptions, field formats, and field de-Access programmer to expose the data map (dictionary) ofvoice mail. Typical business applications include prospectsword processor is not required to build help files in Visualscriptions. $195 ($145 special).their Access database, and to perform common mainte-requesting faxed product brochures, customers placing or-Help. Visual Help can be used for creating online material,FMS Inc. 703-356-4700. Fax: [phone].nance on the dictionary without having to write programs.ders, or sales reps accessing shipment status. $495.such as monthly periodicals and newsletters. Users canCREATE FORMS FOR VISUAL BASICIt also acts as a SQL Parser, helping the VB 3.0 programmerStylus Innovation Inc. 617-621-9545.download the latest version from the MSBASIC forum onto write and debug SQL requests. It also allows the pro-Fax: [phone].CompuServe or on the WinSIG BBS (714-363-9802). $49.The Microsoft Electronic Forms Designer allows the use ofgrammer to edit the contents of a returned SQL Dynaset inWinWare. 800-2424-PSL or 713-524-6394.Visual Basic to create electronic forms for users of Microsoftan editable grid. $29.95 plus shipping and handling: $4 inCompuServe: GO SWREG and select ID No. 891.Mail for Windows. Users can fill in, send, and receive theU.S., $6 outside U.S.resulting forms across their messaging network. $395.MM Technology. 800-242-4775.Microsoft Corp. 800-227-4679 orCompuServe: 71155,1010 or206-882-8080. Canada: 800-563-9048.GO SWREG and select ID no. 1387.18     FEBRUARY/MARCH 1994   Visual Basic ProgrammerÆs JournalNEW PRODUCTSNEW PRODUCTSLOADS OF VB SHAREWAREMULTILINK/VB UPDATEDEMS Professional Shareware is shipping the sixth edition of the VBASIC LibraryMultiLink/VB 2 from Q+E Software now supports ODBC and includes more thanon CD-ROM or 10 1.44 MB diskettes. The new collection has 534 Visual Basic20 drivers. For developers creating applications in which data validation is anprograms, utilities, and other file collections chosen for VB programmers.important feature, MultiLink supports an edit mask for the DB Text Control. ItUPDATESEMS Professional Shareware. 301-924-3594.also includes many new properties. $399. Upgrade from MLVB 1.0 $99.Fax: [phone].Q+E Software. 919-859-2220. Fax: [phone].WYSIWYG TEXT EDITING BOXALLTextùthe Mixed Font Text Box version. 2.0 is a multifont, multicolor textWINDOWS INSTALLERMORE GIZMOS FOR VBbox control designed for WYSIWYG editing or presentation applications. ALLTextEDI Install Pro version 2.5 is a Windows application installer that provides3-D Gizmos 2 is a collection of 3-D and data-aware controls that includes a virtualsupports multiple simultaneous fonts and font characteristics: boldface, strike-background bitmaps, selectable components, version checking, and .ini filelist box and combo box. Most of the controls offer a choice of traditional 3-D,through, italics, underlining, custom shadowing, and use of 16 colors. It breakscreation/modification. It also creates Program Manager items. $149.95.etched steel, or shadowed styles. Also included is a data-aware calendar control;the 32K text box barrier. Paragraph format support includes alignment, marginEschalon Development Inc. (Canada) 604-520-1543.a command button that can stay down; and more. $99.control, and space before. $125.Fax: [phone].MicroHelp Inc. 1-800-922-3383 or 404-516-0899.Bennet-Tec Information Systems.Fax: [phone]. In Germany call MicroBasic Gmbh: 49-89-516-433-6283. CompuServe: 71201,1075.904-6041. In UK call Contemporary Software: 44-2-73-483979.CONVERT AND MANIPULATE YOUR IMAGESThe updated Image Software Development Kit Plus now reads, writes, and printsTIFF, PCX, DCX, BMP, DIB, CLP, TGA, GIF, WMF, and the new ColorFax format.It also includes a library of bitmap routines that includes anti-aliasing conver-sion, zooming of bilevel images, rotation of large images, skewing, color spaceconversion, and interpolation. $299.95.Black Ice Software Inc. 603-673-1019. Fax: [phone].DATABASIC RUNS FASTERDATABasic 2.16, a database engine that features both B-tree and hashingindexes, runs up to 30 percent faster with up to 300 insertions per second.It now contains more than 50 subroutines that control everything fromdatabase creation to data manipulation. It is available for VB/DOS andVB/Windows 3.0. $189.Blue Rose Software Inc. 404-717-1225. Fax: [phone].In Germany call MicroBasic Gmbh: 49-89-904-6041.MEET THE GURUSThe MSBASIC forum on CompuServe is the meeting place for Visual Basicprogrammers. Get questions answered by ôgurusö in the VB community in thisactive forum, and download many files from the libraries. It is recommendedthat you use an ofline editor such as Tapcis, Ozcis, or Navigator to keep costsdown. $7.95 for basic services per month. $12.80 per hour for 2400-baudmodem to enter forum. Type GO MSBASIC at prompt. Extra charge for 9600-baud connection. Sign up a friend and get a usage credit (GOFRIEND).CompuServe. 800-848-8990 or 614-457-8650.QUICKPAK PRO IS DATA AWAREQuickPak Professional 2.1 is a collection of custom controls that includes a256-plus color picture control supporting BMP, GIF, PCX, and TARGA files; sixinput/edit controls for text input; a multisession, multicolumn list box; a newdata-aware list box and combo box; four common dialog controls; attractive3-D label and group box controls; and a monthly calendar control that can belinked to any date field. $199.Crescent Software Inc. 203-438-5300.In Germany call Zoschke Data GmbH: 04344-6166. In UK callGrey Matter Ltd.: 44-364-53499. In Japan call Bunka OrientCompany: 81-22-378-7106.IMAGING CONTROLSThe Image Basic 1.1 custom controls include a scanner, display, OCR, andscanfix control. The scanner control supports more than 65 document scannersas well as Kofax hardware and TWAIN. The Display control includes compres-sion/decompression, zoom, rotation, scale-to-gray, and printing. The suitealso includes bar-code recognition at any angle on the page. $895 each or$2995 for the  suite.Diamond Head Software, Inc. 808-545-2377.Fax: [phone].PARADOX ENGINE CUSTOM CONTROLThe DBEngine 3.0 custom control provides a VBX interface to the Paradox Engineversion 3.0 for Visual Basic and Visual C++ programmers. The DBEngine 3.0control provides access to Paradox 3.x and 4.0 file formats. $75.DB Technologies. 813-378-3760.CompuServe: 72123,3661.MAINFRAME ACCESS MADE EASYQuickApp for Windows 1.1 now has multiple-host support, including IRMAWorkStation for Windows, IRMA WorkStation for INFOConnect for IBM main-frames, and IRMA/400 for Windows. QuickApp allows developers to integrateinformation from a variety of hosts into a single graphical application bynavigating through mainframe screens with Visual Basic. $995.Digital Communications Associates Inc.800-348-3221. Fax: [phone].Visual Basic ProgrammerÆs Journal   FEBRUARY/MARCH 1994     19NEW PRODUCTSNEW PRODUCTSWORD-PROCESSING CUSTOM CONTROLVB-COMPATIBLE SCRIPTING LANGUAGEA PRIMER ON ACCESS BASICPROGRAMMING GAMES FOR BEGINNERS:HighEdit is a word-processing custom control that you canPut a standard scripting language into your app. TheThis book/disk package, Access Workshop, written byVISUAL BASIC FOR FUN AND PROFITadd to your own apps. Features include the ability to editSoftbridge Embeddable Basic Language is a completeRobert Krumm, covers Access database development, in-Explains techniques for Visual Basic programming formultiple documents and to print documents using TrueType.implementation of Basic, conforming to Visual Basic, de-cluding database design, problem solving, building mac-Windows, including joystick and sound. Includes nine gamesThe VBX control is a WYSIWYG word processing control thatsigned for integration into Windows, OS/2, and Windowsros, and using Access Basic programming. Applicationswith complete source code. Guides you step-by-step throughsupports multiple fonts, multiple colors, and search-and-NT applications. Implemented as a DLL, SBLÆs API lets itcovered include: building client/membership lists, creat-the main areas of developing games on your computer.replace. It comes with a ruler; choice of visibility for tabs,become an extension of any application. It is OLE 2.0-ing invoicing and billing systems, and processing surveys.YouÆll see firsthand the secret tricks that only the profes-paragraph marks, and control characters; and the ability tocompliant, according to the manufacturer.500 pages, includes disk. ISBN: 1-56686-040-7. $34.95.sionals know. Rated by the publisher for beginning/inter-read ASCII files. $249.Softbridge Inc. 617-576-2257.Brady Publishing. 800-428-5331 ormediate programmers. Written by Chris Howard. ISBN: 0-MicroHelp Inc. 1-800-922-3383 orFax: 617-864-7747.317-573-2500. Fax: [phone]-30313-2. Released September 1993. $26.95.404-516-0899. Fax: [phone].SAMS (Prentice Hall Computer Publishing).In Germany call MicroBasic Gmbh:TRUE BASIC FOR UNIXMIXED LANGUAGE PROGRAMMING800-428-5331 or 317-573-2500.49-89-904-6041. In UK call ContemporaryTrue BASIC Unix 1.5 includes support for logical drawFOR WINDOWSFax: 800-835-3202.Software: 44-2-73-483979.modes (used for chip design and modeling), record lock-Learn how to combine visual languages with traditionaling, immune windows, millisecond timing, extended eventprogramming languages to complete GUI development.PUMP UP YOUR APPShandling, and pipe routines.Mixed Language Programming for Windows covers todayÆsMuscle 2.0 is a collection of hundreds of assembly-lan-True Basic Inc. 800-872-2742.GUI development languages, including Visual Basic, Visualguage routines designed to yield increased productivity,Fax: [phone].C++, and Toolbook. Rated by the publisher for intermedi-faster program execution, smaller executable files, andate/advanced programmers. Available fourth quarter 1993.increased functionality. Some of the routines included are500 pages, includes disk. ISBN: 1-55851-332-9. $39.95.diskette format/copy, read file directory (including date,M&T Books. 212-886-9200.time, and size) into an array in one operation, deleteFax: 212-633-0748.CONFERENCES/subdirectory contents with single statement, arrays withTRAININGmore than 32,767 elements using all available memory,ACCESS FOR WINDOWS POWERVISUAL BASIC INSIDERSÆbyte arrays, and Microsoft common dialogs. $199.BOOKSPROGRAMMINGTECHNICAL SUMMIT Æ94 (VBITSÆ94)MicroHelp Inc. 1-800-922-3383 orAn updated list of more than 100 books,Topics include object and relational database design: theYouÆll learn about OLE 2.0; the integrated Access 1.1404-516-0899. 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