Vencor Software

The isclear() function was introduced in Omnis Studio 4x. It is a great function that tests for null, empty, or zero (for numeric data types). There is one gotcha that you need to be careful of when using the isclear() function. Learn more...

At EurOmnis 2009 I learned a new tip from Jean Marc Azerad. Did you know you can terminate 'Enter data' which something other than evOk or evCancel? The 'Enter data' command has an optional 'Termination condition'. Learn more...

The release of Omnis Studio version 5 now includes unicode for all platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux) making it possible to move StudioWorks to unicode. A test StudioWorks app has been built in unicode using Omnis Studio 5. So far the only glitch has been with the FileOps external. FileOps $readfile no longer works for reading a text file into a string variable, nor does $writefile work for writing a string variable to a text file. Finding and changing lines of code in StudioWorks to $readcharacter(kUniTypeAutomatic,String) and $writecharacter(kUniTypeAnsiLatin1,String) solved the problem.

Doug Kuyvenhoven will be attending the annual world wide Omnis Developers conference (www.euromnis.org) in October 2009. The conference is being held in Arnhem, Netherlands. At the conference, Doug will be doing workshops on Observer Objects and Error Handling. StudioWorks demonstration sessions will also be offered at the conference. There will be a one day StudioWorks Members session at the conference hotel immediately following the EurOmnis conference.

oFTP is a library that contains an object called oFTP.

The oFTP object class acts as an adapter to the Omnis FTP commands, making it easy for you to setup and use FTP in your application. You don't have to study all the Omnis FTP commands. You simply call the public methods of oFTP and it executes the FTP commands for you. If an error occurs the object gets the FTP error text and sets its own $:ErrorText property.

The oFTP library is available for download at studiotips.net. A demo is included with the library. oFTP is available to StudioTips members only.

StudioTips members are welcome to copy the oFTP object to their own applications.

A new version of StudioTips has been released. The new version has numerous enhancements. The search feature now caches all the tips documentation the first time you search, subsequent searches are lightning fast! All StudioTips groups are now searched, both titles and tips are always searched, and searches are always case insensitive. Mutliple word or phrase searches can easily be done. (e.g. tcp & ping) The enhanced StudioTips search makes it much faster and easier to find something in StudioTips.

The new release includes new tips on FTP, TCP, plus Unicode gotchas.

There is now a unicode friendly version of StudioTips available as a separate download.

StudioTips members can download the latest version of StudioTips at studiotips.net.

FolderPaths is a library that contains an object called oPaths_PlatformFolders.

Public methods of the oPaths_PlatformFolders object return the folder path based on the current platform. For some of the methods an arbitrary decision had to be made as to the folder on the Mac and/or Linux platform that corresponded to the Windows folder. Where needed a folder is automatically created by the method.

Something to note with the unicode version of Omnis Studio --- on the Windows platform methods you must use WIDE unicode DLL calls (SHGetFolderPathW instead of SHGetFolderPathA). Getting the platform specific paths fails if you don't. The oPaths_PlatformFolder Windows platform related methods test isunicode() and then use the appropriate DLL calls.

The FolderPaths library is a FREE download at studiotips.net. A demo is included with the library.

Omnis Studio developers are welcome to copy the oPaths_PlatformFolder object to their own applications.

Finding the exact position of a field relative to the screen is no small chore. The field position relative to the screen is affected by the titlebar, window menu bar, window toolbar (position, icon sizes, show text), and statusbar. The size of each bar can vary for different platforms. Add subwindows and complex grids to the mix and you get the picture. On the Mac platform, multiple monitors adds further calculations.

ScreenCoordinates is a library that contains an object called oScreenCoordinates.

Public methods of the oScreenCoordinates object return the position of a field relative to its containing window, or relative to the global screen. If you need to dynamically position a field over another field or a window over a field, oScreenCoordinates is your friend!

oScreenCoordinates also has public methods which return the overall window height and width including title bars and the overall screen height and width available to Omnis Studio including extra monitors on the Mac platform.

The ScreenCoordinates library is can be downloaded at studiotips.net.

ScreenCoordinates took a few days to write and debug so it is available to StudioTips members only. StudioTips members are welcome to copy the ScreenCoordinates classes to their own applications.

Numerous Omnis Studio developers took advantage of the AutoUpdater introductory sale in January. There are now over 30 developers who have joined the AutoUpdater community!

Based on feedback from these developers new releases of AutoUpdater were issued on 2008-01-15 and again on 2008-02-06.

The new releases add support for:

• PostgreSQL database as a files server.
• Downloading, installing, and updating external components.
• Installing and unzipping zip files.
• Creating an alias of the AutoUpdater file on the Mac OS X Desktop.
• Ping server timeout property so that TCPPing can be disabled if necessary.
• The ability for a system administrator to set up a local database files server on a company network. Runtime clients on the company network get updates from the local files server. The system administrator controls updating the local files server from the developer's master files server.

Read more...

The openURL library has been updated and is available for download. (StudioTips Members only)

A new method has been added to the oWebBrowser object class.

$createEmail ( pSubject, pBody, pTo, pCc, pBcc )

The method takes the parameters and replaces special characters with URL encoded ASCII hex characters (e.g. each space character is replaced with %20). The encoded parameters are then concatenated into a 'mailto:' URL which is passed to the $openURL method.

The $openURL methods opens the specified URL with the user's default web browser. (Window or Mac platform.). In the case of a 'mailto:' URL the web browser automatically opens the default email program and creates a new email message with the specified subject, body, to, cc, and bcc.

The encoding of the special characters ensures the carriage returns and other special characters are preserved and that they don't mess up the parsing of the 'mailto:' URL.

The updated openURL library can be downloaded at studiotips.net. A demo is included with the library.

StudioTips members are free to copy the oWebBrowser object to their own applications.