Copyright Helix Technologies 1985 - 1997. All rights reserved.
WELCOME TO Helix Express 4.5.1
This document provides late-breaking news about Helix Express. This information is not in the printed documentation that came with your software.
Version 4.5 Documentation Addendum:
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After the installation is complete, please read the "Helix Express 4.5 Doc" file. This file contains information on the new features in version 4.5 and other important data for Helix Express 4.5 users.
Using Frontier™ with Helix Express:
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The full installation package will install a folder named "Helix Express & Frontier™."
Please read the "About Frontier™" document that is in this folder to learn more about using Helix Express AppleEvent calls with the Frontier™ scripting language.
Version 4.5.1 Release Notes:
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The following problems existed in version 4.5 but are fixed in version 4.5.1:
• Improvements were made to avoid some of the Type 11 errors that occurred in versions 3.5 through 4.5. Because of this change PowerMac users will no longer need to modify the HMTS resource (ID=1) to improve how Helix Express uses the System's Thread Manager.
• You could not copy text from a Field containing a certain type of popup menu.
• Some Styled Text type popup Fields would display garbage characters if the text did not match a menu selection.
• Changing the type style in the Data Rectangle's Conditional Style/Color dialog would not always work properly.
• Update Collection could generate an ID=28 System Error on a Mac SE and possibly other Mac models.
• Using the Delete key to remove the last character in a Field could cause flashing to the right of the insertion cursor.
• The "Enter Override" could be disabled when the View is opened by an auto-open Post.
• A rare situation could lead to a record being entered by pressing the Enter key when the "Enter" command was not on the User's menus.
• The posting thermometer dialog would report "Posting from -1 source records." in rare situations.
• A certain crash occurred on a PowerMac 7200/90 because of a change that was made to this model's ROMs. The crash may not be limited to this specific model.
• A validation error would not always stop a Sequence from executing.
NOTE: If you are running the Helix Client and Server on the same Mac, be sure to apply the patch file "Client & Server Same Mac 4.5.1" which is in the Expert Tools folder. This patch should be applied to the Server application and all copies of the Client application which will be used to visit the Server.
Protect Your Databases:
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Be sure to make backup copies of your Collections before Updating them to version 4.5.
Pre-3.5 Helix Express Collections will need to be updated using the Helix Translator and Update Collection applications. Be sure to run the Helix Utility’s “Data Damage Check” (under the “Tools” menu) on all Collections before they are updated to Helix Express 4.5. The Helix Translator converts your Collections to a format that can be read by both the PowerMac version and the 680x0 Mac version of Helix Express 4.5. This process requires all data in the Collection to be read. If any damage exists in the Collection before it is Translated, the damage will be worse in the Translated copy of the Collection.
Because the Helix Translator reads every record in a Collection, you should expect the Helix Translator process to take much longer than previous Update Collection passes have been.
After successfully Translating and Updating your Collections, you will need to run the Helix Utility’s “Data Damage Check” again to verify that the data in the Collections is OK before proceding to use the Collections.
Special Note for PowerMac Users Only:
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This version of Helix Express (and all versions since 3.5) uses the “Threads Library” which is a Macintosh System 7.5 feature. If you have an earlier version of the Mac Operating System running on your PowerMac you will probably need to update to at least System 7.5 before launching Helix Express 4.5. There is a way to install the Threads Library into an earlier version of the Mac Operating System, but this method has not been tested with Helix Express 4.5 and Helix Technologies does not recommend it.
The 680x0 applications do not use the Threads Library and therefore do not need to run under System 7.5.
Updating Collections to Version 4.5:
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Collections that are in a version of Helix Express older than 3.5 will need to be updated with the Helix Translator, then with Update Collection before they can be opened in Helix Express 4.5. If you have enough RAM on your Macintosh to run all three of these applications, Helix will automatically launch Update Collection which in turn will launch the Helix Translator to make this update process easier. This update process uses AppleEvents to launch the utility applications so you will need to manually update your Collections if you are using a System version earlier than 7.0.
Note that you need to quit from the Helix Translator and Update Collection applications before Helix Express will be able to launch them using AppleEvents. All three applications must be in the same folder and the names of Helix Translator and Update Collection applications must not be changed for the AppleEvent update to work.
