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************************************************************
* VisPro/REXX 1.1 (tm) EVALUATION VERSION READ.ME (8/93)
* COPYRIGHT (c) 1993 by HockWare Inc.
*
* This evaluation version of VisPro/REXX can only be used
* for purposes of evaluating the VisPro/REXX 1.1 product.
* Other uses, including production, are prohibited.
* The Product Information window always appears before a form is
* opened and before the Test Session is opened to remind you of
* the intended use. These do not appear in the product version
* of VisPro/REXX
*
* VisPro/REXX is... Visual Programming with REXX
*
* "...OS/2's time may be here, thanks to a $299 tool called
* Visual Programming with REXX which brought the house down at
* a recent OS/2 conference in Colorado...it is to REXX and OS/2
* what Visual Basic is to Windows and Dos."
*
* Robert X. Cringely
* Infoworld, January 25, 1993
*
* Now you can unleash the power of the REXX language in a GUI
* environment with an easy-to-use visual programming tool.
* VisPro/REXX offers a CUA '91 interface, WYSIWYG editors, and
* drag-drop programming--features that allow you to visually
* construct OS/2 2.0 applications in record time.
*
* Who says powerful results can't be easy to achieve?
*
* Because VisPro/REXX is completely integrated with the OS/2
* 2.0 Workplace Shell, you can leverage your existing skills.
* VisPro/REXX offers multiple views, drag-drop interaction, pop
* up menus, settings notebooks, direct editing, and other CUA
* '91 features, and supports the OS/2 2.0 font and color palettes.
* Even users with little or no knowledge of programming become
* productive VisPro/REXX users in no time.
*
* Here's what you can do with VisPro/REXX:
*
* -Quickly prototype and develop OS/2 2.0 CUA '91 applications
* -Generate a small, single .EXE file for license-free
* distribution
*
* -Build client-server programs
* -Migrate existing REXX procedures to the OS/2 2.0 GUI
* environment
*
* VisPro/REXX gives you access to these OS/2 2.0 programming
* features:
*
* -Buttons, lists, graphics, sliders, and all the CUA '91 controls
* -Business graphics
* -APPC, HLLAPI, and OS/2 2.0 Database Manager
*
* Best of all, it's small
*
* System requirements:
* OS/2 2.0, 5 Mb memory
* 2 Mb hard disk space
*
* $299 Introductory price + shipping and handling
*
* HockWare, Inc.
* P.O. Box 336
* Cary, NC 27512-0336
*
* Sales (919)387-7391
* Fax (919)380-0757
*
*
************************************************************
ABOUT VISPRO/REXX
=================
VisPro/REXX allows you to use the REXX Programming language to create
powerful applications with a graphical user interface. The applications
you create might be for your own use, or they may be distributed to other
people free of charge.
VisPro/REXX is easy to use because it hides all the complexities of OS/2
2.0 Presentation Manager programming. You use FORMS to create your
projects; each form represents a window that the user of your application
will see. The objects that you use to create your applications are
represented graphically on a TOOL BAR. You simply select the objects you
want to use in your application and then copy them to the CANVAS, which
is the area in which you lay out or design your applications.
JUST LIKE THE WORKPLACE SHELL
=============================
VisPro/REXX is fully integrated into the Workplace Shell. This means
that if you are familiar with the Workplace Shell, VisPro/REXX will look
and feel natural and intuitive. VisPro/REXX employs such features as
drag and drop, direct editing, pop-up menus, multiple views, and setting
notebooks. VisPro/REXX supports the OS/2 font or color palettes so you
can easily change the font and color of your objects.
DRAG AND DROP PROGRAMMING
=========================
VisPro/REXX provides drag and drop capacities throughout the product.
The most distinctive of these capacities is drag and drop programming.
You begin by specifying an event for an object (for example, the user
selects a push button). Select the object and drag it to the Event
window. In the Event window, a window appears, allowing you to select
the action you want to perform. The choices are presented in simple
terms, and you do not need to know the REXX statement for the action you
select; VisPro/REXX generates it for you.
HANDLING OF ALL OS/2 CONTROLS
=============================
All OS/2 controls, including CUA 91 controls, are handled. VisPro/REXX
is the only REXX development environment which handles containers,
value set, sliders, spin boxes, notebooks, @@@
MULTITHREADING OF REXX CODE
===========================
All REXX code is invoked in a thread which is different from the
user interface thread. This allows the user interface to be responsive
at all times, even if the application is still handling a REXX event.
THE BUSINESS GRAPHICS BONUS
===========================
VisPro/REXX comes with its own business graphics capability. These
graphics can be used, for example, to monitor your company's financial
status. To incorporate business graphics into your application, you
simply select the business graphic object from the tool bar and add it to
the canvas. The business graphics include pie charts, bar charts,
stacked bar charts, line charts, and area charts.
THE STORY BEHIND VISPRO/REXX
============================
HockWare developed VisPro/REXX with a small team of developers that have
highly-developed skills in CUA '91 user interface design, Presentation
Manager and OS/2 Workplace Shell programming, object-oriented
programming, and data base design. HockWare has an ideal: to create
visually appealing, easy to use graphical user interface products that
allow you to take advantage of the rich function built into OS/2.
The graphical user interface provided by OS/2's Workplace Shell makes it
easy for you to exploit the function of OS/2, and VisPro/REXX's
interface emulates the Workplace Shell. Because of the consistency in
VisPro/REXX's interface, you can begin designing your own Presentation
Manager applications for OS/2 in no time at all.
ACHIEVING THE CUA '91 IDEAL
===========================
The objective of the common user access (CUA) '91 standard is to make all
OS/2 products share the same look and feel. Once you learn one
object-oriented CUA '91 application, you can go to another CUA '91
application and immediately begin using it. HockWare understands the CUA
'91 standards thoroughly, and we put this ideal into practice for
VisPro/REXX. Because it is a truely CUA '91 conforming project,
VisPro/REXX is itself and exemplary OS/2 application.
ABOUT YOUR EVALUATION VERSION OF VISPRO/REXX
============================================
You have received an evaluation version of VisPro/REXX. Using the
evaluation version, you can create an application consisting of a single
form, and you can test and interact with this single-form application.
The evaluation version does not support multiple forms and it does not
allow you to build the application to create a stand along executable
file.
THE VISPRO/REXX EVALUATION VERSION IS NOT INTENDED FOR PRODUCTION
PURPOSES; IT IS PROVIDED FOR YOU TO GET TO KNOW THE VISPRO/REXX PRODUCT
SO YOU CAN DECIDE WHETHER YOU WANT TO PURCHASE IT. THE FOLLOWING SECTION
DESCRIBES WHAT THE VISPRO/REXX PRODUCT COMES WITH.
WHAT THE VISPRO/REXX PRODUCT PROVIDES
=====================================
1- A license to use the VisPro/REXX product.
2- All the function of VisPro/REXX, including the ability to create
multiple forms and build applications for distribution to other users.
3- A self-running demonstration of VisPro/REXX.
4- Complete online help.
5- Sample programs that help you learn how to use VisPro/REXX and that
you can use as a model for creating your own applications.
6- A 200-page graphically-illustrated guide that includes overview and
conceptual information, task descriptions, trouble shooting
techniques, and instructions for reproducing a simple application and
an advanced sample application that ships with VisPro/REXX.
7- A registration card you can return to us, entitling you to product
updates and 90 days free technical support
GETTING STARTED WITH YOUR EVALUATION VERSION OF VISPRO/REXX
===========================================================
Once you install your evaluation version of VisPro/REXX, you can use the
online help to get information about how to use the product.
Instructions for installing the evaluation version, opening a project,
and using the online help are provided in the following sections.
INSTALLING YOUR EVALUATION VERSION OF VISPRO/REXX
=================================================
To use VisPro/REXX, you must have OS/2 2.0 or any later version
installed on your system. VisPro/REXX requires approximately 1.4
megabytes of free disk space. If you are installing on OS/2 2.1, be
sure to select the REXX option.
Note: no version of VisPro/REXX should not be running if you reinstall
the evaluation version of VisPro/REXX. If this occurs, close all
VisPro/REXX windows, reboot and then start the installation over.
To install the VisPro/REXX evaluation version, complete the following
steps:
1) Place the evaluation diskette in the drive you want to install from.
2) Press the right mouse button to get a pop-up menu on the diskette
drive you are using.
3) Select the arrow on the Open menu item.
4) Select Icon View.
5) Double-click on the SETUP.EXE program, which has the VisPro/REXX icon
6) Select the drive you want to install the evaluation version on beside
'Install on drive'.
7) If you want to change the path you are installing on, type the path
name in the Install path field.
8) Select Install
9) Select Install on the Installation Progress window.
10) When the installation is complete, the Installation Complete window
appears.
11) Select OK.
Note: If you select a drive other than the C: drive or if
VisPro/REXX was previously installed on a drive other than the
C: drive, your CONFIG.SYS is automatically updated, and you must
reboot before using the product.
The Projects folders appear on the OS/2 desktop.
12) Double Click on the Projects folder.
You will see the PROJECTS Icon View window appear. This window
contains the following:
-Project template: Allows you to create new projects.
-REXX Information online reference: Allows you to get information
about REXX.
-Tutorial/Demo: Contains a demonstration of VisPro/REXX
-Color palette: Allows you to change colors on your form.
-Font palette: Allows you to change the font on your form.
CREATING A VISPRO/REXX PROJECT
==============================
When you open the VisPro/REXX folder you created during installation, you
see a template called Project. You can drag a new folder off the Project
template and use it as your new project, which will become your
application.
To open your new project, complete the following steps:
1) Open the Projects folder on your desktop. To do so, double-click on
the folder.
2) Create a new Project folder. To do so, press the right mouse button
and drag a folder off the Project template in the PROJECTS - Icon View
window.
A Project folder appears.
3) Rename your project folder. To do so, select the Projects folder and
press Alt while you click the left mouse button. Type the name you
want to assign to your new application.
4) Click outside of the folder.
5) Open your Project folder. To do so, double-click on the folder.
The icon view for your new application appears. You will see a Main
icon. The Main icon is the form you use to begin designing your
application. After your application is complete, do not delete, move,
or rename the Main form.
OPENING THE MAIN FORM
=====================
To begin creating your application, you can open the Main form in one of
two ways:
METHOD A:
Double-click on the Main icon. The form appears in the Layout view,
presenting the tool bar and the canvas. This view allows you to easily
design your form.
METHOD B:
Select the Main icon, and them click the right mouse button to get the
pop-up menu for the Main icon. Select Open. A cascading menu appears,
allowing you to select the view you want to begin working with. The
Layout view is recommended for designing the layout of your form.
The evaluation version of VisPro/REXX allows you to create only a
single-form application. The product version of VisPro/REXX allows you
to create multiple-form applications.
USING VISPRO/REXX'S ONLINE HELP
===============================
VisPro/REXX includes an extensive online help system that you can use if
you have questions while you are working. To get information about how
the online help works, select the Help menu. A cascading menu appears,
presenting the following menu items:
Help Index....
General Help....
Using Help....
Product information....
You can select any of these items. To find out what information each of
these items provides, highlight the item (use the arrow keys), and then
press F1.
Note: You can browse the help using the online help Contents. To use
the Contents, select the OPTIONS menu from within any help window, and
then select CONTENTS.
USING THE REXX INFORMATION ONLINE REFERENCE
===========================================
If you require information about REXX, you can use the REXX Information
online reference that comes with OS/2 2.0. If you did not include this
reference when you installed OS/ 2 2.0 on your workstation, you will have
to do a selective install. To use the reference, double click on the
REXX Information icon in the PROJECTS-Icon View window.