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Path: menudo.uh.edu!usenet
From: hippo@aworld.aworld.de (Michael Hensche)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews
Subject: REVIEW: Superbase Professional 4 (aka, SBase4 Professional)
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.applications
Date: 15 Apr 1993 03:18:00 GMT
Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett
Lines: 559
Sender: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator)
Distribution: world
Message-ID: <1qik58$fh5@menudo.uh.edu>
Reply-To: hippo@aworld.aworld.de (Michael Hensche)
NNTP-Posting-Host: karazm.math.uh.edu
Keywords: database, relational, ARexx, commercial
PRODUCT NAME
Superbase Professional 4 ("SBase4 Professional")
BRIEF DESCRIPTION
A powerful Amiga database program.
OVERVIEW OF FEATURES
At this point, I just pick some highlights off the advertising text
that is printed on the box Sbase4 is being delivered in. This might give
you a short overview on the functionality of the package.
Relational Database System with
VCR-style browse controls
Database Management Language (DML)
Form Design
Graphical form objects (boxes, lines, etc.)
Logical form objects (calculation, validation,
radio buttons, checkboxes, relations, etc.)
Queries can be done by standardized fill-in requestors
Reportgenerator included
Text editor included
im-/export
ASCII delimited
dbase
Lotus 1-2-3
Excel
Superplan
Telecommunications
Xmodem
Xmodem-CRC
WXmodem
LAN-Support (5-user LAN Extender Packs enable operation over
Novell-compatible LANs)
ARexx support
Clipboard support for record and field data
Upwardly file-compatible from Superbase Personal,
Superbase Personal 2, Superbase Professional 3
AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION
As far as I know, the Copyright is at Precision but the support (and
selling) is at Oxxi. I am not sure. In the manuals I find the copyright
notice in Precision's name, but on the disks it is in Oxxi's name.
So here are some addresses I took from the manuals or the registration card:
Precision Software Ltd.
6 Park Terasse
Worcester Park
Surrey
England KT4 7JZ
(081) 330 7166
Precision Inc.
8404 Sterling Street
Irving, TX 75063
USA
(214) 929 4888
or:
Oxxi Inc.
PO Box 90309
Long Beach, Ca 90809-0309
USA
(310) 427 1227
Oxxi UK Ltd.
171 Bath Road
Slough
Berks. SL1 4AE
UK
(++44) 0753-551-777
LIST PRICE
I do not know. I paid 398,- DM (German Deutschmarks).
SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS
HARDWARE
1 MB RAM required.
I recommend an accelerated processor (e.g., 68030).
I also strongly recommend a hard disk; here is how much
space SBase4 takes up on my drive:
Total number of files 149
Total number of directories 6
Total number of bytes in files 1847857
Total number of blocks used 3849
Total occupied : 1970688 bytes, 1.9MB.
$VER: AppISizer © Gérard Cornu v0.20 Dec 2 1992 09:59:12 ;-)
SOFTWARE
AmigaDOS 1.3 or higher.
COPY PROTECTION
None. Installs on a hard drive. You must type your name and
address the first time you start the program, and they are displayed every
time you run the program after that.
MACHINE USED FOR TESTING
Amiga 2000 B, Rev. 6.2
GVP A3001 accelerator Board, 68030 CPU, 68882 coprocessor
2MB Chip RAM, 4MB Fast RAM (32-Bit)
AT-Bus Hard drives: Maxtor 200 MB, Quantum 40 MB
Monitor A2024 (Hedley-Monitor)
Kickstart 2.04 (37.175) Workbench 2.0
REVIEW
*** My Needs ***
OK, before I start, I will give you some background information on
why I bought the package and what I do use it for.
There were some of the usual things people do on a computer which is
more or less senseless like address databases or CD databases which I also
wanted to do. On the other hand I am trying to realize a little project for
a friend of mine (for his business). And I always was interested in
databases.
So I tried Superbase when it first came out. It was nice, But it
used a dongle. I do not use dongles. So I did not purchase Superbase. When
version 4 came out without a dongle and with a nice 2.0 look (and often feel
;), I got it. And they say: "supports ... A2024 Viking monitor." (I love
software that does this.)
As a small disclaimer, I will not be able to tell you details on
everything Superbase does or does not. I am not able to program big
packages. I am just a "normal" user with a fair knowledge of his Amiga and
with fun and enthusiasm for doing complicated things because I try to
realize them with computers. ;)
*** The Review ***
Superbase Professional or Sbase4 Professional (they changed the
name) comes in a box that is much too big. They needed much space for
advertising the features. In the box I find two diskettes and three manuals.
One diskette contains the program itself, and the other diskette comes with
some examples and example data.
*** Installation ***
To install the program, you double-click the "Install" icon and see
the "SBase4 Install" program. It is not the Commodore-Installer, but it is
more than just an install script. After a short text you can choose whether
to install the program, the example files, or just part of it, by clicking on
corresponding gadgets (a small hook shows your choice, default is to install
all). You can enter the desired path in a string gadget. The last gadget
gives you the choice to register the copy. I decided to register, so I then
was prompted to enter name, organization, and serial number, which I did.
(The entries have to bee at least 5 characters long, which you find out by
typing less. ;))
Now all the files are copied to the desired directory. After
completion, in the WBstartup drawer I found a short XIcon script that does
the "SBase4:" assign. This opens a small CLI window on every startup, so I
decided to do the Assign in my s:User-Startup and delete the script in
WBstartup. This has to be done manually. A novice user might not understand
why this window comes up on every startup.
In my new drawer I find three icons: "Sbase4Pro", "SBFD4" and
"readme.txt." Within this Readme file, they discuss things about new DML
commands which are not in the manual (quite a lot, I think), compatibility
with "Superbase 4 Windows", changes to the manual, and so on.
But finally, let's see the program. Double-click, wait a second,
and there it is. Gives the copyright notice... and does really look nice.
I play around in the menus, start the Forms editor and ... have a GURU. Not
that nice.
To make the story short, it seems as if the A2024 support ends in
being able to recognize it and still position requestors in the middle of
the screen. I tried out different things, but did not succeed. To work
around this, I looked up the manual to find out how to start SBase4 on a
custom interlaced screen, but found nothing. At that moment, it seemed as if
I could start SBase4 in just two ways: WB and custom. But custom still means
Workbench size. There is no ScreenMode requester; I later found out that
there is a Settings menu to customize the system, but there is still just a
gadget to choose between use of the Workbench or a Custom screen. So I now
have to switch down HiRes-Interlaced before starting Superbase if I want to
use the program without a crash. If I do so, I have no problems.
*** The Workspace ***
The workspace is presented as two windows: a small, screen-wide one
at the bottom of the screen with VCR-sty