Sprezzatura's Blogging Basic+ 1.7.0 update

Sprezzatura have released an upgrade to their free Basic+ Source Code Publisher that I featured in my 30th March blog posting. If you are publishing Basic+ source code to the Revelation forum or your own blog, then I’d strongly recommend Carl’s utility – click here for further details.

I18N Round Table

Today saw the long awaited I18N (Internationalisation) meeting in Ealing. Revelation UK staff and Mike Ruane, over from the US, were joined by a handful of key developers from Europe involved and interested in better support for I18N within OpenInsight.

Following the usual introductions during which attendees highlighted their needs for I18N within OpenInsight, Mike touched on the position of OpenInsight when he took over the product and then the main I18N enhancements that Revelation have built into the product since version 4.1.3, through the 7.x series and into the recent enhancements in 9.x.

The day then followed a round table discussion format during which various topics were openly discussed. The idea was for Mike and Carl, to fully understand what our International clients need for enhanced I18N support in OpenInsight version 9.2, 10.0 and later.

Some of the topics discussed included; better support for UTF8 and possible future support for UTF16, collation sequences, LH4 to handle full UTF8 data, caching and performance implications following the necessary changes.

Collation sequences became a major topic of discussion and Mike showed how version 9.x can use Windows Collation. Attendees were invited to submit examples of their collation sequences to Mike.

Following a lengthy discussion, most of which was beyond my comprehension, the general consensus was that Revelation are almost there already, but that the proposed changes will address most of the things that our International clients need and that the enhancements should open up more doors and opportunities for us all.

I’ll not go as far as indicating what Revelation’s plans are following the meeting as it is too early and Mike has much to think about. However, the meeting generated five key areas to consider for 9.2 and certainly leaves the development team with a more clearly defined idea of what is needed for far better support for I18N in OpenInsight 9.2 and later.

Personally, I would like to thank Kerry Walter, Alexander Holliday, Stefano Cavaglieri, Neville Jones and Gary St Denis for taking time to meet with us and to contribute to this large and complex topic.

RevSoftUK and Twitter

Well it is now official, I am a ‘Twit’terer!

I’ve had a Twitter account for a while, but never really got into the whole idea of using it in a business context – personally, I can think of nothing worse than spending a hour a day finding out what your contacts had for breakfast this morning, plan to do in their private time this evening or any of the other 'twatter' the service appears to generate.

In addition, finding time to maintain the blog, a couple of networking sites and Twitter was resulting in late evenings and an unwanted distraction.

However, I’ve had a slight change of thought recently and I’ve now begun adding Twitter’s ‘Tweet’ button to my blog postings and I have also begun to use Twitter for short information blasts with a Revelation topic. If you have a Twitter account, you can easily use the Tweet button to tweet the posting onwards to your followers. In addition, you can follow me (log into Twitter and search for mdp_revsoft) and receive small bite sized timely twitter postings about Revelation related topics – I won’t over burden you and I’ll be keeping my tweets on topic. In addition, my tweets will NOT be linked to or appearing on the blog, keeping the blog clean.

I’ll still be maintaining the blog as the main vehicle for technical information, news and other information coming from my desk. So please be sure to follow and/or subscribe to the blog.

9.x Quickdex and Rightdex patch

Revelation have recently announced the release of a patch to OpenInsight 9.0 and 9.1 to correct errors with Quickdexes and Rightdexes whereby duplicate keys are returned. If you're in the WORKS program you can get the update here.

However, if you are not a WORKS member please contact your local Revelation representative for further details about obtaining this patch.

Precaution when installing OpenInsight 9.1

Version 9.1 of OpenInsight has seen some fairly major changes with regards to .NET support, the new OIPI.NET print engine and more. However, these enhancements have found it necessary to include a separate client install, as detailed within the OpenInsight installation and upgrade instructions. Special attention must be made to these documents when installing (or upgrading) OpenInsight to ensure a smooth upgrade and installation process.

An unforeseen scenario has come up a couple of times recently for people upgrading to version 9.x. Whilst this will be documented for 9.2, I thought it best to blog the issue here for anyone working with 9.x versions prior to the 9.2 release.

Although the upgrade instructions are being followed, the activation code is not being accepted and OpenInsight presents the user with an error reading ‘Invalid authorization code entered. Please re-enter’.

This is a generic error message that is presented whenever the authorisation code fails to register on the system. This could be due to the code being typed incorrectly, an additional (usually trailing) space being included during a copy and paste and if the code has already expired. In addition, this error is produced if the installer does not have sufficient rights to create the temporary file that is required for the upgrade.

During a review of this issue by Bill Caisley, he found that the error was occurring before you navigate to the OpenInsight directory where you wish to apply the upgrade. During the installation the setup routine creates a temporary file with information necessary to validate and update the engine with unique license information, etc. Further investigation proved that, even though he was logged as a member of the administrator group, a rights (permission) issue meant that the temporary file could not be created and the installation failed with the resulting error message.

Rather than running the SETUP.EXE file over the network from the OpenInsight directory on the server itself, the resolution was to simply move the SETUP.EXE file onto the C:drive on the server and run it from there as he had full permissions to do so. It could just as easily have been moved to his workstation so long as the installer has sufficient permissions to complete the installation (create the temporary file).

If something goes wrong with any of your OpenInsight installations, please check for sufficient permissions as a first port of call. Insufficient permissions is becoming a likely cause of failure for installations and upgrades on some of the later operating systems.

OpenInsight 9.x New Features Video

I have just uploaded four new videos to my YouTube Channel which explore some of the new features in OpenInsight 9.0 and 9.1.

The first two videos will provide you with a quick overview of the main new features in just under 20 minutes and the second half (another two 10 minute videos) takes a look at some of those new features using test windows using the 9.1 release.

If you find this useful, please let me know using the comments below.

I18N round table and RUG meeting

26th October 2009 - I18N round table
The Internationalisation (I18N) round table shall be held at our Ealing offices in London. To keep the meeting moving, places will be limited to half a dozen. For this reason, please contact Martyn to check availability and to confirm the times, etc.

27th October 2009 - RUG Meeting
The next Revelation User Group (RUG) Meeting will be held at Revelation’s offices in Ealing, London during the 27th October. The doors will be open from 10:30 for tea and coffee and then we will begin the main meeting from 11:00 sharp. There will be a short lunch break and then we will resume finishing at about 15:00.

As usual, Mike Ruane will be over from the USA and during the Revelation User Group (RUG) meeting he will review the 9.x releases, touch on our plans for 9.2 and future versions and he will also be showcasing a brand new web technology, currently known internally as O4W – OpenInsight for the Web.

O4W is a fully featured online web application development environment providing developers with the fastest and easiest way to get Revelation data onto the web using latest web technologies, such as AJAX, etc. This will be the first opportunity to get an advanced look at the technology within the EMEA region and this is a must see for anyone planning, or even mildly considering, providing a web interface to their applications.

Most importantly, previous attendees have made important suggestions for inclusion in the OpenInsight toolset and many of those have made the next commercial release. The RUG is the perfect opportunity to put your OpenInsight requirements direct to the main decision maker at Revelation.

Reserve your place online now - www.revsoft.co.uk/eventregistration.htm.

Venue address:
45 St Mary's Road
Ealing
London
W5 5RG
England
tel: +44 (0) 20 8912 1000

Open OIPI report previews maximised

A couple of times recently, I have been asked how to launch the OIPI preview window maximised. I therefore thought it worthwhile to remind everyone that the INIT Set_Printer Message can be used to achieve how the window launches, amongst several other things.

There are nine main parameters, the 5th parameter handling how OIPI launches and what is displayed. The 5th parameters ‘Style’ setting consists of 6 options that you can define in your report. The options are:

• 0 = Print to printer
• 1 = Display PrintSetup
• 2 = Preview normal
• 3 = Maximized
• 4 = Last location
• 5 = Specific location
• 99 = Print to printer with the WMF fix

To launch OIPI maximised you would use something like -
stat = Set_Printer("INIT", "Report 1", title, "", 1, 3)

The INIT message must be called before any printing can start as it controls the initial properties for each printing session. A full list of the properties can be found within the OpenInsight help files, by running a search for “INIT Set_Printer Message” and the help file contain a lot of useful additional information with regards to the INIT Set_Printer Message.

I18N Round Table & RUG – Register online now.

You can now register online for the October I18N Round Table and the next RUG. The registration form can be located at http://www.revsoft.co.uk/eventregistration.htm.

More details will follow shortly.

I18N round table and RUG - Register online.

You can now register online for the I18N Round Table and the next Revelation User Group. The registration form can be found at http://www.revsoft.co.uk/eventregistration.htm.