I 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.

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 support@revsoft.co.uk email address and any sales questions emailed to mp@revsoft.co.uk. Although I am booked off until the 4th January, I will be monitoring my email periodically during the break.

I hope that you and your families have a great festive and New Year holiday.

Long Record Keys and the UD4.6

Back in June of last year, I wrote a blog posting about the release of the Universal Driver 4.6. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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:

1) Ensure that everyone is logged out of the system (all OpenInsight applications).
2) Locate and rename the REVPARAM file/s to something other than REVPARAM.
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.
4) Start the application/s and run the utility to report and remove all of the long keys.
5) Change the chosen diver back to the 4.6 driver using netdrv.exe.
6) Rename your name changed REVPARAM file/s back to REVPARAM.

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.

Installing OpenInsight into Citrix and Terminal Server Environments.

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.

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.

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.

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’.

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 http://tinyurl.com/2346d96.

Finally, I’d like to extend my thanks to Jared for taking the time to put together this hugely useful document.

Removing Phantom Indexes

Whilst working on resolving a phantom index issue, John Godfrey from Carys Computing came across a useful little trick for removing the rogue index.

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.

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.

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.

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:

“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.”

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.

O4W and older browsers.

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.

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.

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+.

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 Online O4W demo in an older browser or with IE8 running in compatibility mode.

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.

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 *CFG_O4W for a specific application.

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.

Partial content c/o http://www.revelation.com/ discussion forum.

ARev32 / OI Hybrid Demo

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.

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.

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.

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.

Click here to review the ARev32 Demo Video.

What a novice can create with Openinsight!

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.

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.

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.

Anyway, I have created an overview video of the application 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.

New Tutorial Videos.

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.

Revelation US has recently released a couple of tutorial videos to accompany the D3 Connectors release. They include:

Setting up and working with the OI4D3 connector - 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.

Creating an O4W report against a D3 database – 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.

OI 7.2 to 9.2 Upgrade Release 2 now available.

Thank you to everyone who is currently beta testing the 7.2 to 9.2 one step upgrade, available from the WORKS area on www.revelation.com. 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.

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 – click here.

New D3 Connector tutorial video.

Revelation shall shortly be releasing yet another data connector for the MultiValue community.

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. Click here to view mike’s video.