21 May 1997.ComponentSource™ today announced an agreement with FarPoint Technologies® , a leading supplier of ActiveXTM software components, to market their products on the ComponentSource European CDs. Products covered by the agreement include FarPoint's leading Spread , Tab Pro® , Input Pro® and ButtonMaker® . Each includes a VBX control, 32-bit ActiveX control, and 16- and 32-bit DLL controls, appealing to a wide range of development platforms.

ComponentSource will distribute FarPoint's products together with hundreds of ActiveX™ and other controls it currently encrypts onto its CD-ROMs. Aimed at software developers, ComponentSource CDs allow developers to access demonstrations of products and gain all necessary technical information before buying directly from the CD.

The CDs are distributed in a variety of ways, through the company's expanding European database, inside Microsoft's flagship Visual Basic development product box, and by accompanying Microsoft's distribution of software products and upgrades to its growing developer network.

FarPoint is the latest in a succession of component vendors looking for a single European distribution channel to distribute its products. ComponentSource provides vendors with the advantage of limitless stock, increasing distribution, excellent product promotion and presentation, and instant product availability from anywhere in the world. Multi-lingual staff and reliable technical support also help boost vendor sales with the minimum of effort on their part. Other major vendors include APEX Software Corporation, Crescent, Bennet-Tec, Distinct Corporation, InstallShield Corporation, NuMega Technologies, ProtoView Inc, Seagate Software, StarBase Corporation and VideoSoft.

FarPoint products now included on the ComponentSource CDs are: Spread, includes over 250 properties, 32 actions and 37 methods, which provide the ability to add grids and tables to applications, offering more features and flexibility than any other grid control. The included Spread Designer uses a unique WYSIWYG interface and can also generate Visual Basic code. Dockable toolbars and help balloons create a user-friendly design-time interface. Tab Pro, includes 7 appearance styles and many features to make customising application interfaces easier. Tab Pro can be used to enhance or replace an interface, as well as to develop applications ranging from day planners to indexed file folder format. Also included is the Imprint Control, providing a choice of 3-D frame styles.╖ Input Pro includes 8 custom controls with over 200 properties to create data-entry screens. Six formatted edit controls can validate data as the user enters information, or as the application edits the values. With the Boolean Control, a choice of five styles can be selected for true-false grey states. The memo control can be used to display large amounts of text.╖ ButtonMaker can assign one or more bitmaps, multiple text and different fonts, different background and foreground colours, define hotspot regions or different shapes, for any button. Also included is a Balloon control, to provide customisable help bubbles over most development controls.

ComponentSource CDs are available to developers free of charge. To receive an introductory welcome pack and regular CD updates, developers should register at: http://www.componentsource.com or call the company's express registration service on the following local country Freefone numbers:France 0800 90 92 62,Germany 0130 86 07 06, Italy 1677 90046, The Netherlands 06 022 8832, Sweden 020 794 989, United Kingdom 0800 581111

ComponentSource specialises in the supply of software components, companion products and add-ons to global enterprise and software businesses. It is the first company to offer component vendors secure encryption of their retail products on a freely distributed CD-ROM aimed specifically at component users. ComponentSource CDs are distributed with all new and upgrade sales of Microsoft Visual Basic (English international edition), and to the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) in Europe.