tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234766002442295182024-03-19T18:58:01.558+00:00RevSoft UK - MartynMartyn's blog for the Revelation Software community, sharing ideas, news, views and more. NOTE - Views and opinions expressed in this blog are personal and do not necessarily represent those of Revelation Software.Martyn - Revsoft UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06093827138758199923noreply@blogger.comBlogger214125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323476600244229518.post-50138813101409461172011-05-13T22:04:00.002+01:002011-05-13T22:04:57.865+01:00Moved to WordPressWe have moved to WordPress. Please<a href="http://revsoftuk.wordpress.com/"> click here</a> to navigate to the new blog.<br />
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Thanks,<br />
Martyn.Martyn - Revsoft UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06093827138758199923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323476600244229518.post-18010122302946029862011-03-22T14:41:00.000+00:002011-03-22T14:41:17.585+00:00How many engines does my O4W consume?<div style="float: left; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 3px;"><script src="http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js" type="text/javascript">
</script></div>I recently ran into a problem where I was demonstrating O4W to a prospect and I ran out of available user counts. I have a 5-user system and I had been running up O4W, closing it, running up the desktop OpenInsight and then running up O4W again. I’d assumed that when I closed down O4W the user counts would be freed up, but as I was leaving the EngineSever running this was not the case.<br />
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This issue then provoked the usual question about how many O4W Web User licenses people should purchase for their web based systems. This is a terribly difficult question to answer, mainly because it depends on the time required to process each web request and this is dependant on the application and the type of request itself. If the request is a simple record read with only a few data items being returned, then it is going to be very quick and the engine could handle multiple requests of this type per second. However, if it is being asked to process a large report, then the engine will be tied up for considerably longer.<br />
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However, with the release of OECGI3, this becomes less of an issue as OECGI3 will utilise multiple licenses (OEngines) to process multiple requests. Furthermore, it will then queue any inbound requests if an OEngine is not free to process the request at that time. When an engine becomes free, it will then process the request as normal. That said, it is always advisable for developers to build in some form of monitoring where user counts are likely to be tight, so that peak usage times can be handled efficiently or additional user licenses purchased to cater for the peaks.<br />
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Now, if OECGI3 is able to consume multiple engines, and we are unable to control the number of web users accessing our system, AND we have both the web system AND the desktop system using the same OpenInsight user license (Oengine.dll file), then we could run into trouble.<br />
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Take the scenario where I have a 60-user licensed OI system. This is used to serve 50 desktop (office based) users and an O4W system that has been built to extend my application to customers over the web. I could easily get into a situation where I have 20-user licenses being used by O4W and this would leave only 40 user licenses for my office staff – i.e. 10 office users could be blocked from using the system – not a favourable situation.<br />
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Fortunately, the O4W developers have thought about this issue and it is easily addressed through the eserver.cfg file within OpenInsight. This file includes two lines towards the beginning of the file for managing both the maximum number of engines that the engine server (OECGI3 / O4W) can consume and also the time that the engine will remain active and able to process web requests.<br />
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MaxEngines is used to define the maximum number of engines that are kept alive and ready to process stateless connections. This means that the engine does not need to be spawned and closed down for each web request and it therefore handles more requests more efficiently. The default setting for MaxEngines is 10 (MaxEngines=10).<br />
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IdleTimeout is the length of time (in minutes) that an engine remains active and ready to process web requests before it is closed down. The default setting for IdleTimeout is 15 minutes (IdleTimeout=15).<br />
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So, in our example scenario above, we can easily use the eserver.cfg file to limit the number of engines available to O4W to just 10 and we can also control the amount of time that the engines remain active. By setting MaxEngines=10 and IdleTimeout=15, we can ensure that we will always have at least 50 engines (from the 60-user license) available to our desktop users.<br />
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I should also point out that O4W requires a minimum of 10-user licenses and you will receive a warning message stating that a 10-user license is the minimum requirement for O4W use if you try to use an engine with fewer than those required 10 users. In addition, the MaxEngines can be set to any number from 1 to 10 for that minimum number of user engines, or more if there are more engines available. If you set a figure greater than the number of user licenses in the engine (say MaxEngines=100 on a system with only 10 users) then O4W will use all of the engines available up to the maximum user count in the license (so 100 in the above example).<br />
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So, why was I running out of engines during my demo? Quite simply, I had the defaults set for MaxEngines and Idletimeout in the eserver.cfg file, and as I was not closing down my OengineServer all five of my engines (licenses) were being used and left open for the full 15 minutes. I then changed my MaxEngines to 3 and IdleTimeout to 5, mostly because I don’t need them open for 15 minutes) and all was fine. I now know that I always have two engines free for my desktop OpenInsight system and the remainder available for my O4W system.Martyn - Revsoft UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06093827138758199923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323476600244229518.post-58209766511422977982011-03-15T17:33:00.002+00:002011-03-15T17:35:03.359+00:00O4W Quick Start Guide Video Series<div style="float: left; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 3px;"><script src="http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js" type="text/javascript">
</script></div>Well the midnight oil has been well and truly burning in my office these last few days, but finally the O4W Quick Start Series of videos are now complete and published to the web. You can gain access to the series from the new <a href="http://www.revsoft.co.uk/o4w_quick_start_guide.aspx">O4W Quick Start Guide</a> page on our website.<br />
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The video series works through extending the Clinic application that we built in the desktop tutorial series and it provides us with a great example if extending a small ‘existing’ OI application. When I began the desktop series, I had only planned on web enabling one form as an example. However, when I saw what we achievable (at my level) with O4W I went quite a fair bit further.<br />
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I hope that you find the series of videos useful and I’ll welcome your feedback as always. I should also say a special thank you to Bryan at RevUS for his patience in answering some silly questions at times and helping over a couple of small hurdles.Martyn - Revsoft UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06093827138758199923noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323476600244229518.post-63186738529730525202011-02-25T15:52:00.000+00:002011-02-25T15:52:26.921+00:00OI 9.2.1 - Source Code Management Video<div style="float: left; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 3px;"><script src="http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js" type="text/javascript">
</script></div>Mike has just release a new video for those of you who have been asking about the Source Code Manager in OpenInsight 9.2.1. Mike takes a look at turning on the source code manager, working with a program at various stages, setting versions and also at using the module facility and how that hooks into the RDK for easier RDK upgrades.<br />
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The video is well worth a look if you are an OpenInsight developer and it can be found by <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDLfItKso2w">clicking here</a>.Martyn - Revsoft UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06093827138758199923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323476600244229518.post-85972278489921179262011-02-18T10:16:00.002+00:002011-02-18T10:16:40.313+00:00Get email notification of updates.A number of you have recently mentioned that you have missed postings and this has come to light when asking about something that has been covered on my blog. Whilst I have the RSS feeds for people to sign up to, we do not always have the time to check these every day in our RSS Feed Readers and if you are like me and become faced with a list of 100 or more feeds, then it is easy to miss and important one.<br />
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For this reason, I have now added a new facility whereby you can subscribe to have an email notification sent through to you when a new posting is published. I think that this will be more user friendly as we all tend to monitor email more closely than our RSS Feeds.<br />
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Please let me know what you think, by way of a comment to this posting.Martyn - Revsoft UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06093827138758199923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323476600244229518.post-28648573748525927592011-02-17T12:01:00.005+00:002011-02-25T15:53:27.629+00:00Should you use the UD 4.7?<div style="float: left; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 3px;"><script src="http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js" type="text/javascript">
</script></div>Earlier this week Revelation released <a href="http://www.revsoft.co.uk/revelation_software_press_release_openinsight_921.aspx">OpenInsight version 9.2.1</a> and as part of that the <a href="http://www.revsoft.co.uk/revelation_software_universal_driver.aspx">Universal Driver</a> 4.7 was released in both standalone and bundled configurations. But what does this mean for people running older Revelation Network Products or none at all?<br />
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Let’s begin with those of you not running a network product at all on your multi-user ARev or OpenInsight systems.<br />
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Multi-user applications written in OpenInsight versions prior to 9.0 or ARev 3.12 require the Universal Driver. It protects your data against corruption, increases speed performance and reduces downtime. More details about the benefits of the Universal Driver can be found <a href="http://www.revsoft.co.uk/revelation_software_universal_driver.aspx">here</a>.<br />
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If your application is based on OpenInsight 9 then there is no need to purchase the Universal Driver. The Universal Driver NUL (Network User License) is already included with OpenInsight 9 and later. The Universal Driver NUL edition is compatible with all existing database files but it is only forward compatible with the OpenInsight 9 development environment. For mixed environments with OpenInsight 9 and any prior Revelation Software development tool, the for-purchase Universal Driver is required since it is compatible with all supported versions of the Revelation Software development tool. <br />
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If you are an existing Universal Driver (UD) user then you should also take advantage of the new Universal Driver 4.7. Below is a list of what has changed since these older versions:<br />
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<strong>Using the UD 3.0 -</strong> <br />
<ul><li>Versions of the Universal Driver after 3.0 are compatible with all previous versions of Linear Hash files.</li>
</ul><strong>Using the UD 4.5 –</strong> <br />
<ul><li>NSIS replaces Install Shield as the installer.</li>
<li>Support for unlimited-length record keys removed (<a href="http://revsoftuk.blogspot.com/search?q=keys">click here for more details</a>).</li>
<li>FIX_LH routine has been enhanced. The "Fix GFEs" option on the Verify LH menu silently considers any records with keys greater than 50 characters long to be GFEs and data can be lost when running Fix GFEs. This enhanced routine removes the "50-character-throwaway" functionality and replaces it with the "552-character-save" functionality.</li>
</ul><strong>Using the UD 4.6 –</strong> <br />
<ul><li>The UD Manager (see note below) is now compatible with 64bit systems. </li>
<li>The ability to select and unlock multiple records from the Universal Driver Manager is now available. Previous versions allowed only one record to be selected during each unlock. </li>
<li>Server side install program now recognizes Arev 3.12 as a valid installation location.</li>
</ul>Also included with the Universal Driver 4.7 is a console application (the UD Manager) that allows you to manage record locks without having to stop the Linear Hash Service, as well as view the active connections to your applications.<br />
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Some of the other great features of the Universal Driver include:<br />
<ul><li>Only one REVPARAM file no matter how many different subdirectories you have with .LK and .OV files. </li>
<li>Support for files larger than 4 gigabytes. </li>
<li>Support for large frame sizes up to 100K. </li>
<li>You can 'hide' your .LK and .OV from your users. </li>
<li>The LHVerify facility is integrated onto the server side, allowing much faster performance. </li>
<li>Registry settings and REVPARAM file created automatically.</li>
</ul>For those of you running the Universal Driver 4.x, the cost of the upgrade is <strong>FREE</strong>, although shipping and handling charges apply. If you are running an older version, please contact your local Revelation office and they will be pleased to provide you with local pricing to upgrade your current network product to the 4.7 version.<br />
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So in answer to the posting's title - Yes, I think that the benefits afforded by the UD 4.7 means that everyone should be using the Universal Driver 4.7 wherever possible.Martyn - Revsoft UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06093827138758199923noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323476600244229518.post-8637869163676088842011-02-15T19:09:00.003+00:002011-02-16T11:21:42.790+00:00OpenInsight 9.2.1 Released<div style="float: left; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 3px;"><script src="http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js" type="text/javascript">
</script></div>Revelation Software released <a href="http://www.revsoft.co.uk/revelation_software_press_release_openinsight_921.aspx">OpenInsight 9.2.1</a> today (incorporating <a href="http://www.revsoft.co.uk/openinsight_for_the_web.aspx">O4W</a> version 1.1), along with the <a href="http://www.revsoft.co.uk/revelation_software_universal_driver.aspx">Universal Driver</a> 4.7. The 9.2.1 version is now available as a free upgrade to all <a href="http://www.revsoft.co.uk/openinsight_works.aspx">OpenInsight WORKS</a> members, and for everyone else an evaluation version can be downloaded from our <a href="http://www.revsoft.co.uk/openinsight_evaluation_software.aspx">OpenInsight Evaluation</a> page..<br />
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This is the culmination of months and months of work and it really is another sterling piece of work by the team at Revelation. <br />
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More information can be found within the 9.2.1 readme file and the US press release can be viewed by <a href="http://www.revelation.com/revelation.nsf/4df35f9e460fab5c85257539007ce72a/fe76ff6678484998852578370056d935?OpenDocument">clicking here</a>. The EMEA press release can be found <a href="http://www.revsoft.co.uk/revelation_software_press_release_openinsight_921.aspx">here</a>.Martyn - Revsoft UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06093827138758199923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323476600244229518.post-14637643501401867392011-02-14T10:13:00.005+00:002011-02-14T18:16:30.771+00:00OpenInsight and NoSQLAs many of you will no doubt know, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nosql">NoSQL</a> technology has been steadily gaining ground as organisations move to super fast and highly flexible technologies for their web solutions. These organisations include some huge names such as Google, Facebook, Amazon, eBay and many more.<br /><br />So why do I mention this on a blog about Revelation Software?<br /><br />Well, NoSQL presents <a href="http://www.revsoft.co.uk/openinsight.aspx">OpenInsight</a> developers (well any MultiValue developer) with a new edge to their sales pitch. NoSQL is now being referred to as ‘No’ SQL and also ‘Not Only’ SQL and most MultiValue systems, like OpenInsight, fit very nicely into the second camp. Not only do we have a flexible, scalable and fast multi-dimensional database (rather than a structured, slower relational database), but we can also play with SQL as well. In effect we bring the best of both worlds together and enable developers to do more, faster and therefore more economically.<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MultiValue">MultiValue</a> is not the be all and end all and neither are the Relational databases. Your MultiValue database is like your sports car hurtling along twisty country roads, whereas your relational database is like an articulated truck trundling efficiently along the highway with a large load – the truck can’t deviate easily but it is efficient at handling large loads.<br /><br />In IT talk, this correlates to the sports car providing you with a system that can move and adapt with your ever changing business needs. This helps you to keep ahead of your competition and to maintain your competitive edge. Whereas the truck correlates to the data store that your business intelligence and data mining teams will work against.<br /><br />Of course, both operate perfectly well in each others environments. Countless MultiValue systems have been written over the years and each efficiently and robustly handle thousands of users with millions of rows of data and likewise for the SQL based systems.<br /><br />Putting an environmentally friendly slant on things, with your NoSQL based solution you can work more efficiently, benefit from the speed and sharding features and only work with the data that you 'need' to work with. Then, when you do need to work with the large datasets you can bring into play your SQL tools.<br /><br />So back to our sports car and truck analogy. Your data will get to where it needs to get to, but the sports car will zip around and navigate the fastest route working with only the ‘NECESSARY data, whereas the truck will take the long route and lumber into the depot with everything - that depots delivery (your required data) and that of countless other deliveries (unnecessary but associates data). Smaller, refined and faster requests results in lower resource requirements, lower bandwidth use on both desktop and web systems and in most instances this correlates to a lower cost to your business.<br /><br />So why compromise when you can have both? With MultiValue tools, like OpenInsight from Revelation Software, you can have the sports car with it’s small fuel tank and low running costs AND easy access to the truck when it’s needed.<br /><br />For those of you who are not already benefitting from OpenInsight, please go to <a href="http://www.revsoft.co.uk/">http://www.revsoft.co.uk/</a> or <a href="http://www.revelation.com/">http://www.revelation.com/</a> to learn more about one of the leading MultiValue (NoSQL) databases. In addition, you can find out more about the NoSQL technology and what it has to offer in <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFPrpX6N_Fw">Prospectus’s new two part video</a>.Martyn - Revsoft UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06093827138758199923noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323476600244229518.post-1182653528310713322011-02-04T00:00:00.002+00:002011-02-04T00:05:57.786+00:00OI QSG - The Grande FinaleOK – So I was not done with the <a href="http://www.revsoft.co.uk/openinsight_quick_start_guide.aspx">OpenInsight Quick Start Guide Video Series</a>. As a few of you have rightly pointed out, I hadn't done anything with the table on the Consultations tab on the Patient Entry window. Well, that just happened to leave a nice topic for a finale, encore, or whatever.<br /><br />The 24th lesson (could this now be 'learn OpenInsight in 24 hours') is a feature length lesson in which we look at creating the facility to capture consultations (appointments), hook them up to the Patient window and we create a report for our hypothetical receptionists and doctors to see appointments for any given day.<br /><br />In this final video (before I look at <a href="http://www.revsoft.co.uk/openinsight_for_the_web.aspx">O4W</a>), the lesson will pretty much summarise the whole series by working with the Table Builder, Forms Designer, Indexes, User Interface Workspace, Scripts and the Report Builder.<br /><br />I hope that you find the series useful and that this last lesson puts the cherry on the cake.Martyn - Revsoft UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06093827138758199923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323476600244229518.post-59452807453978485622011-02-03T10:05:00.003+00:002011-02-03T10:08:35.489+00:00O4W 'Run First' OptionDid you know, that you can enhance an O4W Report with the "Run First" option?<br /><br />The O4W Report tool, in addition to all the flexibility it normally provides the user when generating a report, also allows you to specify a statement to "run first" before any other sort/selection is performed. This can be any R/List command that generates an active list, for example the report designer could pre-select data for particular users, or a particular month, or activate a previously saved list, before the O4W Report runs any user-entered selection criteria. <a href="http://www.revelation.com/knowledge.nsf/d397fbbab8ac707185256dd600218f18/c3829da878ec90c08525781400708b16?OpenDocument">READ ON</a>.<br /><br />Article first published in the January 2011 edition of the <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.revelation.com">Revelation Software </a>Newsletter.Martyn - Revsoft UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06093827138758199923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323476600244229518.post-73784322216741471012011-02-01T23:39:00.000+00:002011-02-01T23:43:19.570+00:00The final page of the final chapter is complete and the book is now closed.For those of you that have been following my <a href="http://www.revsoft.co.uk/openinsight_quick_start_guide.aspx">OpenInsight Quick Start Guide </a>series of videos, the last few videos have just been completed and they are either now uploading to my <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/RevSoftUK#p/a">YouTube Channel</a> or rendering for then uploading. Once uploaded, I will add them to the main <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/RevSoftUK#grid/user/B1AC0DD91AF914BE">OI QSG playlist</a> and also link to them from our web site.<br /><br />The last few videos look at using Query By Form (QBF) within our Patient Entry window, creating reports and making them available to our users, making use of Index Lookups in OpenInsight and finally we wrap up the application. I’ve not covered wrapping up with the RDK as that is a big subject in its own right and people often choose different deployment methods to meet their own needs. I’ll therefore leave that for the official training.<br /><br />I hope that you find the series useful and I will be beginning work on the O4W QSG series very, very soon.Martyn - Revsoft UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06093827138758199923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323476600244229518.post-27459093705806178302011-01-26T09:35:00.002+00:002011-01-26T09:38:20.954+00:00New Graphs for OI 9.2.1As you will no doubt know OpenInsight 9.2.1 is in the final stages of beta testing and it is scheduled for release in early February 2011. Revelation also intends to release the new Universal Driver 4.7 at the same time.<br /><br />Following the 9.2.1 release, Revelation will be working on the implementation of Data Encryption at Rest (DER) within the OpenInsight database environment. Whilst this has been discussed at length over recent months internally, please use the suggestions database for any requirements that you have for DER within your solutions.<br /><br />Back to the 9.2.1 release – A number of the beta testers have asked if Revelation can provide a broader library of graphs for use with the O4W Dashboard. In response to that request, Revelation we will be including a new library of Google charts in addition to the existing jqPlot library. The new charts are as follows:<br /><br />- 3D Pie - Gauge - GeoMap - Intensity Map<br />- Area Chart - SparkLine - Table - Line<br />- Scatter - Bar - Pie - Stacked Line<br />- Stacked Bar - Horizontal Bar - Horizontal Stacked BarMartyn - Revsoft UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06093827138758199923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323476600244229518.post-2049448604069472012011-01-24T10:10:00.001+00:002011-01-24T10:11:54.373+00:00OpenInsight Final Beta Released<div style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN-LEFT: 0px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 3px"><br /><script type="text/javascript" src="http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js"></script><br /></div>Those of you participating in the current OpenInsight beta program should have received an email from Mike over the weekend about the release of what we hope will be the final beta release before the commercial release, hopefully on the 1st February 2011.<br /><br />I’d like to personally thank everyone that has been working with the current beta software and who has reported issues, recommendations and suggestions during this period. As Mike says, your help enables the developers at Revelation to make OpenInsight a better product.<br /><br />The toolset has now moved well, well beyond any catch-up phase, with the version 9.x series being mostly lead by new functionality required by our OpenInsight developers and their end users. For this reason, shortly after the commercial release I plan another round of talking to Revelation clients in the EMEA region about new functionality, tools, etc. that are needed in future versions and which will help you (and Revelation) to be more successful during 2011. <br /><br />If you have any requests prior to this, then please drop me an email or, if you are a WORKS member, post them to the suggestions database on revelation.com.Martyn - Revsoft UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06093827138758199923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323476600244229518.post-11583158669582733442011-01-19T11:49:00.000+00:002011-01-19T11:50:15.710+00:00REVELATION USERS CONFERENCE 2011Mark your calendars! The Revelation Users' Conference will be returning to the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The conference dates are Tuesday, October 4th - Friday, October 7th, 2011.Martyn - Revsoft UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06093827138758199923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323476600244229518.post-9173393959898335662010-12-22T17:01:00.000+00:002010-12-22T17:02:09.026+00:00I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and everyone reader of my blog and to all of the Revelation clients who have helped to make 2010 a very prosperous year. I look forward to working with you through 2011 and hopefully we’ll make 2011 a mutually happy, prosperous and profitable year.<br /><br />The UK office will be closed from lunchtime on Christmas Eve until Wednesday 29th December and then we shall be running a skeleton (assuming not too many mince pies have been eaten) staff until Tuesday 4th January. For this reason, I will be very grateful if any EMEA region support issues could be submitted only using the <a href="mailto:support@revsoft.co.uk">support@revsoft.co.uk</a> email address and any sales questions emailed to <a href="mailto:mp@revsoft.co.uk">mp@revsoft.co.uk</a>. Although I am booked off until the 4th January, I will be monitoring my email periodically during the break.<br /><br />I hope that you and your families have a great festive and New Year holiday.Martyn - Revsoft UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06093827138758199923noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323476600244229518.post-2065850001533129602010-12-10T10:07:00.003+00:002010-12-10T10:10:04.753+00:00Long Record Keys and the UD4.6<div style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN-LEFT: 0px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 3px"><br /><script type="text/javascript" src="http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js"></script><br /></div>Back in June of last year, I wrote a <a href="http://revsoftuk.blogspot.com/2009/06/revelation-releases-universal-driver-46.html">blog posting about the release of the Universal Driver 4.6</a>. Within that announcement, was a note about a change in the way that long record keys were to be handled. However, some more information has come to my attention and this posting is therefore to provide that extra information.<br /><br />We were recently approached by a client who had upgraded to the Universal Driver 4.6 and who subsequently ran a long key check against their database. This check reported a number of long keys, but a subsequent attempt to remove them from the system using the removal utility failed. As an example, the error message received when trying to delete the bad records was “Unable to delete “M*15607”, FS100, M*15607”. And the actual key was M*15607 15608 15607 15608 etc…. It exceeded 552 characters.<br /><br />The reason for this failure is down to the removal utility being run under the UD4.6 is bound by the imposed maximum key length. The Linear Hash Service will also have been generating application event logs on the server’s event log when it attempts to read or delete a long key.<br /><br />As per the installation guide for the Universal Drive 4.6, the system should have been checked for long record keys ‘prior’ to the installation of the Universal Driver 4.6. The installation of the utility is covered in its own installation guide (Network Driver Update for Large Keys) which is included, along with the file, within the Universal Driver installation zip file.<br /><br />However, if this step is missed out and it is run after the installation of the Universal Driver and it results in long record keys being found, the following steps can be followed to correct the issue:<br /><br />1) Ensure that everyone is logged out of the system (all OpenInsight applications).<br />2) Locate and rename the REVPARAM file/s to something other than REVPARAM.<br />3) Change the chosen driver back to the 4.5 driver using netdrv.exe, or the previously used driver if you are coming up from an older one.<br />4) Start the application/s and run the utility to report and remove all of the long keys.<br />5) Change the chosen diver back to the 4.6 driver using netdrv.exe.<br />6) Rename your name changed REVPARAM file/s back to REVPARAM.<br /><br />These steps should allow you to access the application through a single user maintenance mode without using the 4.6 service. The utility can be installed into OpenInsight version 7.x and 8.x systems and it is included in OpenInsight from version 9.1.Martyn - Revsoft UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06093827138758199923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323476600244229518.post-4521157758362051142010-12-09T09:40:00.003+00:002010-12-09T09:43:39.762+00:00Installing OpenInsight into Citrix and Terminal Server Environments.<div style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN-LEFT: 0px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 3px"><br /><script type="text/javascript" src="http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js"></script><br /></div>From time to time I receive requests from VARs and end-users on Revelation’s recommended configuration on Citrix, Terminal Server and similar environments. Until now, there was no real recommended advice on where the various OpenInsight components should be installed and people were left to find what works best for them, their application, their environment and the users.<br /><br />During my many conversations with people, I have learned that a configuration that works well for one client needed a rethink and modification for another. Putting together a recommendation for OpenInsight was therefore always going to be a tough call and Revelation would run the risk of documenting one configuration that people would follow to the letter and find that it was not the right, or even the best, solution for them, their application or their users.<br /><br />However, following a typical ‘why does it work that way’ conversion about running OpenInsight and Citrix, I discussed the possibility of having a recommendation white paper with Jared (Revelation’s chief networking professional in the New Jersey office), along with the necessary this is a starting point only caveats.<br /><br />I am please to announce that overnight Jared has released a white paper on the ‘Best Practices for Deploying OpenInsight on Terminal Services and Citrix Environments’.<br /><br />This guide is Revelation’s best practice advice and it provides people with a welcome starting point when deploying OpenInsight based systems to these environments that are becoming more and more popular. The paper has been put together from Jared’s experience of working with OpenInsight 9.x on Terminal Services and Citrix and you can read the full article on the RevUS web site at <a href="http://tinyurl.com/2346d96">http://tinyurl.com/2346d96</a>.<br /><br />Finally, I’d like to extend my thanks to Jared for taking the time to put together this hugely useful document.Martyn - Revsoft UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06093827138758199923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323476600244229518.post-57754018650752143422010-11-19T09:14:00.002+00:002010-11-19T09:16:25.231+00:00Removing Phantom Indexes<div style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN-LEFT: 0px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 3px"><br /><script type="text/javascript" src="http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js"></script><br /></div>Whilst working on resolving a phantom index issue, John Godfrey from Carys Computing came across a useful little trick for removing the rogue index.<br /><br />Faced with an unwanted phantom index on a table in his application, John turned to the database manager and diving into the Utilities -> Indexes menu, he ran the option to remove the phantom index. However, nothing happened, the phantom index remained.<br /><br />John then tried to add the index so that he could then remove it. As expected, OpenInsight duly reported that the new index could not be added as one already existed – the phantom index.<br /><br />John notes that, at this point, you can turn to the help system in OpenInsight. This points you towards the System Editor, in which you can change field 6 from a 1 to a 0, to indicate that no BTree index is active.<br /><br />However, John has found a neat, quick resolution to the phantom index issue and one that he asked me to share with everyone through my blog. He states:<br /><br />“To the errant field add an XRef Index. This magically makes the Index editable and removable. So go back in and remove the XRef and BTree Indexes as required.”<br /><br />I would like to thank John for this contribution and I will welcome any more tricks like this that anyone comes across and who would like to share with my readers.Martyn - Revsoft UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06093827138758199923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323476600244229518.post-19861220641982117032010-11-04T10:31:00.002+00:002010-11-04T10:34:56.868+00:00O4W and older browsers.<div style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN-LEFT: 0px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 3px"><br /><script type="text/javascript" src="http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js"></script><br /></div>OpenInsight for the Web (O4W) is fast becoming, if not already is, Revelation’s leading web development tool. This is no surprise when you see just how easy it is to create Web 2.0 compliant browser based systems against OpenInsight’s own Linear Hash data, TigerLogic’s D3 data, Rocket Software’s U2 data and also SQL data stores – the latter 3 via the built in dedicated data connectors.<br /><br />However, being fully Web 2.0 compliant does come at a small cost. O4W uses advanced web technologies to deliver an interactive and dynamic web experience. To fully benefit from this, users and developers should use the most current versions of their web browser. At the time of writing this blog posting, these versions include; Chrome 3, Firefox 3, IE8, Opera 9 and Safari 3.<br /><br />However, that is not the be all and end all. Developers and users may chose to use older versions of their web browser, but at the risk of reduced functionality. Developers who choose to support these older browsers should undertake their own careful testing of any plug-ins and functionality that their web solutions may rely upon. Minimally acceptable browser versions currently include Chrome 1+, Firefox 2+, IE6+, Opera 9+ and Safari 3+.<br /><br />As a default, users accessing an O4W based system with an older browser will be presented with a message that their browser is unsupported. They can continue, but the message remains at the top of the O4W forms as a reminder that something might not work totally as expected. This can be seen if you run the <a href="https://www.revsecure.com/examples/oecgi3.exe/O4W_MENU?MENUID=EXAMPLES_MENU">Online O4W demo</a> in an older browser or with IE8 running in compatibility mode.<br /><br />The good new though, is that the javascript to create and display this message is stored in the O4W configuration record and this functionality will be updateable via the O4W Maintenance/Config Records screen in version 1.1 and later.<br /><br />However, for the moment (version 1.0) developers can disable or modify the message by editing the appropriate CFG_O4W record in the O4WCONFIG table and clearing out or changing field 45 as appropriate. This can be either ‘CFG_O4W’ globally, or <appname>*CFG_O4W for a specific application.<br /><br />Updating this will be easier from O4W version 1.1 (to be included in OpenInsight 9.2.1). From version 1.1, O4W will have an updatable field via the DB Management, O4W Maintenance, configuration Records, Browsers Tab.<br /><br />Partial content c/o <a href="http://www.revelation.com/">http://www.revelation.com/</a> discussion forum.Martyn - Revsoft UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06093827138758199923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323476600244229518.post-60128782329650545832010-10-28T00:00:00.001+01:002010-10-28T00:02:14.040+01:00ARev32 / OI Hybrid Demo<div style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN-LEFT: 0px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 3px"><br /><script type="text/javascript" src="http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js"></script><br /></div>Advanced Revelation (ARev) users often ask me what ARev32 provides them with. The short answer is a future proofed system in a world where DOS applications are feeling their age and running into problems. A move to ARev32 brings you into the 32-bit Windows world of OpenInsight, and shortly the 64-bit world.<br /><br />Whilst a straight conversion leaves you with an ARev32 window that looks and feel just like it does under traditional ARev, an extended conversion can take you ‘a lot’ further.<br /><br />My new ARev32 demo video (hosted on my YouTube RevSoftUK Channel) takes a quick look at ARev 3.12’s converted SAMPLES application and how it can be run within an OpenInsight MDI frame and then how you can mix GUI and ARev32 windows, including sending information between one and another.<br /><br />It also takes a look at how ARev32 users can extend the flexibility of the ARev32 system by displaying two or more ARev application screens in their own ARev32 windows – effectively having a Customer screen open with a record and another for the Products record.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9S9bXHVtYBM">Click here to review the ARev32 Demo Video.</a>Martyn - Revsoft UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06093827138758199923noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323476600244229518.post-87293254090868216552010-10-22T15:01:00.002+01:002010-10-22T15:03:33.651+01:00What a novice can create with Openinsight!<div style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN-LEFT: 0px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 3px"><br /><script type="text/javascript" src="http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js"></script><br /></div>Many of you have been chasing me on the completion of the OpenInsight QSG series of tutorials. As well as becoming very busy over the summer, one of the main reasons for the pause in the creation of the video series was my time away developing my own Contact Manager.<br /><br />Some of you that are new to OpenInsight and also some non-Revelation MultiValue developers who have been looking at OpenInsight have asked to see what I have been able to achieve with VERY little technical knowledge, mostly using the OI WORKS technical resources. I did have a couple of hours with Aaron in the car back from London to Northampton for a couple of areas and Carl helped me with an email blast module using an existing routine. Otherwise it is all my own work, design, code, etc.<br /><br />It is now in use daily, but still far from complete. I need some data validation in areas, some OIPI reports need to be created, a global search facility and the report library in general adding to. I also have a healthy wish list of more technical things for when my technical colleagues become a little less hectic on client work<g>.<br /><br />Anyway, I have created an <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6GY7LTtAt0">overview video of the application </a>and I hope that it will serve to demonstrate what can be achieved in a very short period of time and by a complete application development novice, using OpenInsight.Martyn - Revsoft UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06093827138758199923noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323476600244229518.post-83378939739005658282010-10-20T10:06:00.003+01:002010-10-20T10:09:51.009+01:00New Tutorial Videos.<div style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN-LEFT: 0px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 3px"><br /><script type="text/javascript" src="http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js"></script><br /></div>As many of you will have noticed, Revelation continue to extend the range of data connectors for OpenInsight. A data connector for Univision is in development and the D3 (TigerLogic) connector was a new feature in the recent 9.2 release.<br /><br />Revelation US has recently released a couple of tutorial videos to accompany the D3 Connectors release. They include:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nH4ihlRo3mM">Setting up and working with the OI4D3 connector</a> - Mike Ruane demonstrates OpenInsight's connector technology and attaches data from TigerLogic's D3 data server. Once the data has been attached, OpenInsight can then be used to quickly and easily create graphical or browser-based applications against a D3 database.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiNbc1KCV9s">Creating an O4W report against a D3 database</a> – Second in Mike’s OI4D3 connector series, this time he takes a look at using OpenInsight's O4W Report Wizard against data from TigerLogic's D3 data server. The O4W Report Wizard lets a user or developer create browser-based interactive reports.Martyn - Revsoft UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06093827138758199923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323476600244229518.post-39116642482039719992010-10-15T09:45:00.003+01:002010-10-15T09:48:31.348+01:00OI 7.2 to 9.2 Upgrade Release 2 now available.<div style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN-LEFT: 0px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 3px"><br /><script type="text/javascript" src="http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js"></script><br /></div>Thank you to everyone who is currently beta testing the 7.2 to 9.2 one step upgrade, available from the WORKS area on <a href="http://www.revelation.com/">www.revelation.com</a>. This will become an invaluable resource for anyone looking to move their end-users from an older version of OpenInsight to 9.2 and your feedback during this beta phase is very much appreciated.<br /><br />As a result of the current testing, a new version (Release 2) has been published to the WORKS area. This release sees an enhancement to resolve an issue where the SYSREPOSIX table could become damaged and a ‘Rebuild system Index’ would then be required to resolve the issue. OpenInsight WORKS subscribers can download the new file from the WORKS area – <a href="http://www.revelation.com/OIDownload.nsf/e8aacf614c272762852566fd006c25c9/a3d188fdc5b8a719852577a40072cb39?OpenDocument">click here</a>.Martyn - Revsoft UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06093827138758199923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323476600244229518.post-85633906948336895122010-10-13T13:45:00.004+01:002010-10-15T09:48:18.322+01:00New D3 Connector tutorial video.<div style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN-LEFT: 0px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 3px"><br /><script type="text/javascript" src="http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js"></script><br /></div>Revelation shall shortly be releasing yet another data connector for the MultiValue community.<br /><br />This time, it is Tigerlogic’s D3 that comes under the spotlight. For those readers using D3, or wanting to use a D3 backend with OpenInsight as a front end, Mike has created and published a short demo tutorial on setting up and using the D3 connector. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nH4ihlRo3mM">Click here to view mike’s video</a>.Martyn - Revsoft UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06093827138758199923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323476600244229518.post-71649576651108789732010-10-07T11:05:00.003+01:002010-10-07T11:09:44.694+01:00Protecting your sensitive OpenInsight data.<div style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN-LEFT: 0px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 3px"><br /><script type="text/javascript" src="http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js"></script><br /></div>Sometime ago, Kevin Ruane wrote an article on hiding your Linear Hash data from workstations, this prevented direct access to the data inside .LK and .OV files (Revelation’s Linear Hash data files).<br /><br />At the time, this was just another useful benefit afforded the Universal Driver for users running Revelation based systems. However, in more recent times we have seen many headlines of high profile individuals and organisations loosing client and other sensitive data – headlines that no organisation can afford to deal with and that often lead to lasting damage to the organisation’s reputation.<br /><br />If that was not reason enough to take data privacy seriously, organisations now have requirements to protect and audit access to data and this is becoming a more and more common request. For instance, compliance with industry security standards like the PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) is now a must have for anyone handling credit card information through their online systems or otherwise.<br /><br />Revelation has published an update to the original article which covers one method to prevent unauthorised access to OpenInsight’s data held inside .LK and .OV files. Working with OpenInsight 9.2+ and the Universal Driver 4.6 over a Windows 2008 Server and Windows 7 workstation environment (so nice and contemporary) this new article details how to use strict NTFS permissions to achieve peace of mind for developers and end-users alike. After all, if your users can not directly read or change .LK and .OV files, you can audit and protect access to the data using controls that are internal to your application.<br /><br />The full article can be found on <a href="http://www.revelation.com/">http://www.revelation.com/</a> at <a href="http://tinyurl.com/32lhftq">http://tinyurl.com/32lhftq</a>.Martyn - Revsoft UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06093827138758199923noreply@blogger.com0