께께 께 께께 께께께 께께께 께께께 께께 께같께 께� 께같 께같께 께같께 께같께 께같께 께같 같 께� 께� 께� 께� 께� 께� 께� 께갛께 같 께� 께� 께� 께께껐� 께께껐� 께께껐� 께� 께� 께� 께� 께같같 께같께 께같께 갛께 께 께 께� 께� 께� 께� 께� 께� 께갛� 께� 께께같 께께께 께께 께께 께께께같께께께같 께께같 같같 같같같 같같 같같 같같같 같같같 같같 Volume 1, Number 2 4 February 1991 (c) Daniel Do놽kal, All Rights Reserved The BBS Clipper magazine, published PERIODICALLY, later WEEKLY...... Some of the material used comes from scanning CLIPPER echos which are carried in various BBS throughout the World. These Echoes are very often the source of the most often asked Questions and Answers about Clipper. Other material, which is fully signed or abbreviated is the copyright of the appropriate persons. The publisher is not responsible for other authors submissions.... Published material is not necessarily the opinion of the publisher. Redaction: Publisher...................................Daniel Docekal Chief redacteur.............................Daniel Docekal Language redacteur...............................Dave Wall Table of Contents 1. EDITORIAL ............................................................ 1 EDITORIAL, now? ...................................................... 1 2. ARTICLES ............................................................. 2 THEDRAW - An Ansi Screen Editor ...................................... 2 3. SOFTWARE ............................................................. 4 Public domain library? ............................................... 4 DANIEL.LIB - public domain library, RMAKE part ....................... 4 Getting PATH to your .EXE ............................................ 5 4. NEWS ................................................................. 9 WYSIWYG Designer for Clipper/dBase ................................... 9 5. Q&A .................................................................. 10 Magic of Clipper compiler or not? .................................... 10 6. ECHODUMP ............................................................. 11 CONFERENCE DUMP part (1) ............................................. 11 7. CLIPBBS .............................................................. 17 CLIPBBS distribution ................................................. 17 CLIPBBS, how to write an article!!! .................................. 18 - - - - - CLIPBBS 1-02 Page 1 4 Feb 1991 ============================================================================= EDITORIAL ============================================================================= EDITORIAL, now? Seems, that i have to sit down and write new editorial. Second issue of CLIPBBS is out and first one is succesfully flowing in world. ClipNet and PDN are carying it really nice and some other distribution sites hope will be also enough to brought it to your home bbs and finally to your computer. Curious about some comments about number one, but don't expecting them at all. Because of missing back channel. Actually, i was planning to put number two sunner out, but after crash of 120MB harddisc i had to install everything again from zero. Including of this collection from number two. Thanx to fact, that Dave, our great language editor, has on his BBS complete copy of all parts from prepared new numbers i could get it back. Never trust to SEAGATE seems the same as never trust to NANTUCKET? No. Really not. I'm in trust to both of them, but sometime bad luck hasn't enough. First it was computer (286 NONAME) who was refusing to work, then it was harddisc (120MB harddisc). Now i'm expecting something in third attempt, but maybe it already was (Lantastic 2MB network cards and combination with QEMM for my new 386 machine). What's new in number two? New submission kind called DUMP from CONFERENCES or ECHOS. Just some usefull parts of public conferences. For all of you from FidoNet, DUMP in this and next numbers is coming from Dave Wall and from GT echo about Clipper programming (i hope, that's really from here). This number is bigger than number one and hopefully will go out just two weeks after first one. At this moment i will probably keep this 2weeks interval, because nobody (exlude Dave) is giving any articles. Please do so, if you can. I cannot pay, but your heroic act will be written in any next number of CLIPBBS. That's all. Half past ten, sitting on bed with portable computer on it, writing some articles just now (only one quite part of day, night). Daniel ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- CLIPBBS 1-02 Page 2 4 Feb 1991 ============================================================================= ARTICLES ============================================================================= THEDRAW - An Ansi Screen Editor THEDRAW is an excellent drawing program available through many BBS for download. Generally it's main purpose is to make ANSI screens for BBS programs like Remote Access, Quick BBS or any other directly handling ANSI screens. Also of course for DOS. It can also handle ANIMATION with ANSI sequencies, but this is not of interest at the moment. THEDRAW can be used effectively in Clipper also, because screens can quite easily be made in full colour, and all ASCI characters can be saved in a 'binary' format which is exactly the same format as is used in RESTSCREEN() and SAVESCREEN() functions in Clipper 5.01 and SAVE SCREEN and RESTORE SCREEN commands in Clipper. Only one is needed, write function which will get correct this into variable and then put back to screen. After using this function/procedure it is possible to generate complete screens (or parts when one knows how big they are) for Clipper applications. They can be stored on disc and read and displayed on screen. The possibility to support some other languages is also available but limited to full screens. Following is a function for getting the whole screen from a disk file which has been previously saved using the "binary" format save option of THEDRAW. NB. This function should only be referred to as an idea because it has not yet been fully tested, and its integrity cannot be guaranteed. <-----------------------cut here, start of program----------------------> function scrread(ScrName) local Handle:=0 ,; retval:=space(4000) Handle:=fopen(ScrName) // open file, not tests if Handle!=0 // if succesfull open, will do retval:=freadstr(Handle,4000) // reading 2*25*80 bytes of screen fclose(Handle) // and close handle then else retval:="" // otherwise will return empty endif return (retval) // returning value <-----------------------cut here, end of program------------------------> The use of this function is very easy: restscreen(0,0,24,79,scrread("TEST.BIN")) CLIPBBS 1-02 Page 3 4 Feb 1991 Other video modes are supported also, because THEDRAW can work in 43lines or 50lines mode for EGA or VGA screens, then of course must be changes to using RESTSCREEN() function. Another possibility with this package is, that TheDraw can also save complete screen picture in OBJECT format as file .OBJ also in LARGE model which is directly linkable to Clipper as can be used as normal variable, also with some other variables set to the size of picture and location on screen. More about this another time.......... .DD. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- CLIPBBS 1-02 Page 4 4 Feb 1991 ============================================================================= SOFTWARE ============================================================================= Public domain library? The following series of articles will eventually come to form the basics of a library of functions for Clipper. A Library comprised of Turbo C++, MicroSoft C and Clipper code. It will not necessarily be ingenious, but may well be of some help to beginners in bettering their understanding of Clipper, while at the same time give a helping hand in how to create C code functions and user libraries. I will endeavour to document all functions as thoroughly as possible, in order to give as much explanation of what each function is doing. I am currently using this library as part of my own development work, and it is slowly growing. I am sure that the general functions may be used by many others in developing their own libraries. Daniel ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- CLEANUP() function to clean your strings.... Function CLEANUP() came about when I found some problems with strings passed from a FAX interface. The passed name of the connected station could possibly contain unprintable characters and I needed a function in order to filter them out. Clipper was too slow.....therefore, the solution was to use C. <-------cut out here, program is coming-------------------------------> /* all C programs will have this set of include statements for getting all C internal definitions into file. */ #include #include #include #include #include #include #include #include #include #include #include #include /* extend.h is coming from CLIPPER 5.0x only, sorry for all who are still using old CLipper S87, this will not work, but can be changed... */ CLIPBBS 1-02 Page 5 4 Feb 1991 #include CLIPPER CleanUp() /* Clipper function */ char *str; /* for passed string */ char *tbl; /* internal table */ int i; /* temporary var. */ /* following is just table defining all 256 characters table for translation. It's used on way that incoming character is used as index into table and returned then character on his position. All low codes and high codes are turned into space, only nation characters are staying in this single example */ tbl=" " /* 00 */ " !.#$%&'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?" /* 20 */ "@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\\]^_" /* 40 */ "`abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz{|}~." /* 60 */ "�걗깂뀊뇠뎷땶뜋룓몤뱮븭뿕솞썫씆�" /* 80 */ "젩∀ㄵ├ŁかЛ�� " /* a0 */ " " /* c0 */ " "; /* e0 */ if (PCOUNT==1 && ISCHAR(1)) str=_parc(1); /* get first only */ if (PCOUNT==2 && ISCHAR(1) && ISCHAR(2)) { str=_parc(1); /* get both when so */ tbl=_parc(2); } /* function accepts two parameters: CLEANUP([,]) Instring is string which has to be translated, mytable is possible passed complete NEW table for translation, if this is not passed, then the internal defined table in function is used */ if (PCOUNT==1 || PCOUNT==2) /* if 1 or 2 params */ { for(i=0; i<_parclen(1); i++) /* scan whole string */ *(str+i)=*(tbl+*(str+i)); /* and translate all */ _retclen(str,_parclen(1)); /* characters in it */ } /* with return new */ else _ret(); /* wrong number of parameters, none or >2 */ <------------cut here, end of program------------------------> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Getting PATH to your .EXE Followin public domain code is giving possibility to get full path of Clipper .EXE program when is runned from different directory. Code was given in CLIPPER echo in FidoNet by author, Terry Carmen. CLIPBBS 1-02 Page 6 4 Feb 1991 ;* exe_path.asm Written by Terry Carmen on 8/23/1991 ;* ;* [1] Who am I? ;* [2] What am I doing here? ;* [3] What's the meaning of life? ;* ;* Answering question 3 requires a philosopher ;* Answering question 2 requires a debugger ;* Answering question 1 only requires this program ;* ;* Well, 1 out of 3 isn't bad.... ;* ;* This program returns the complete path and filename of your ;* Clipper program, ie. "e:\clipper\work\TEST.EXE" ;* ;* File requestable as exe_path at 1:260/338@fidonet ;* 23 hours, 300-38,400 baud ;* ;* Released to the public domain. ;* ;* Compile with TASM (and probably MASM) ;* with the /mu flag, and link with your ;* Clipper program ;* ;* Usage: path=exe_path() ;* ;* Note: This program uses a DOS function call that was unreliable in ;* DOS version 3.0 and earlier. public exe_path extrn __retc:far ; return a string ENV_SEG_ADDR_OFFSET EQU 2Ch dgroup group datasg datasg segment public '_DATA' assume cs:_prog, ds:dgroup, es:nothing bad_path db 0 datasg ends _prog segment 'CODE' exe_path proc far push bp mov bp,sp push si push di mov ah, 51h int 21h ; BX now contains segment for PSP mov es, bx CLIPBBS 1-02 Page 7 4 Feb 1991 mov si, ENV_SEG_ADDR_OFFSET ; offset of address of env. block mov ax, es:[si] mov es, ax ; ES now contains the segment for ; the environment for this process xor si, si ; zero the SI register @@next_char: cmp si, 32767 je @@bug_out ; this will never execute ; unless the environment ; is trashed cmp byte ptr es:[si],0 ; did we find a null? je @@try_second_zero ; yes, look for another inc si ; no, jmp @@next_char ; look at next char @@try_second_zero: inc si ; point to next char cmp byte ptr es:[si],0 ; is it a second zero? jne @@next_char ; it was only a single ; zero, so it was probably ; just the end of a line ; we found the end of the environment inc si ; skip over the next 3 bytes inc si inc si ; at this point, we're pointing to the beginning of the ; full path and filename of the currently executing program. jmp short @@bye @@bug_out: mov ax, ds ; if we blew up, point to our mov es, ax ; null, so we can mov si, offset bad_path ; send back nothing @@bye: mov ax, es ; point to seg for mov bx, si ; return string push ax push bx call __retc add sp,4 pop di pop si pop bp ret ; far return to Clipper exe_path endp CLIPBBS 1-02 Page 8 4 Feb 1991 _prog ends end *********end************ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- CLIPBBS 1-02 Page 9 4 Feb 1991 ============================================================================= NEWS ============================================================================= WYSIWYG Designer for Clipper/dBase Clipper Expert Group - a division of SA Developers Conference - has released CLBrush, a WYSIWYG screen designer and code generator for Clipper and dBase type products. "Fully menu driven, with both keyboard and mouse support, CLBrush product allows user to rapidly produce professional looking screens for applications in minutes rather than hours," said Russel Stromin, director of CEG. "If users spend time designing input screens and menus or polishing up their application's interface, then CLBrush is ideal for their programmers toolboxes." CLBrush's features include block move, copy, line and box drawing and lines or blocks of text can be centred horizontally, vertically or even internally within a predefined block. "CLBrush also features input fields that provide the ability of inserting a picture and valid clauses within the 'Get'," said Stromin. "Users can choose fields from multiple .DBF's for 'GETS'." Existing application screens can also be captured and converted to CLBrush images for modification. A free Clipper program engine is included with CLBrush to do add, edit and delete. For more information, contact Clipper Expert Group, Russel Stromin, at Johannesburg (011) 642-4588 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- CLIPBBS 1-02 Page 10 4 Feb 1991 ============================================================================= Q&A ============================================================================= Question: How is possible, that Clipper will succesfully compile following line? test :U= 55 And also RTLINK will link it and create EXE file. Answer: It's very simple in this case it's assigning to class variable called "test". It's similar as MyBrowse:cargo = . It's just problem of misunderstanding that Clipper 5.01 will accept ":" as operator for classes. Rtlink will also compile this one line, but program will every time end with error that "test" variable is not defined and it is right of course. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- CLIPBBS 1-02 Page 11 4 Feb 1991 ============================================================================= ECHODUMP ============================================================================= CONFERENCE DUMP part (1) This, brand new, part of CLIPBBS will serve only one purpose. From time to time will publish some parts of public media available conferences (echos) with interesting subjects. Names are removed, therefore please don't complain if find yourself. Complain to author of this dumps. Subj: A faster APPEND Prvt: N Read: N The other day some mentioned that they were importing files on a regular basis that take up to 48 hours to append. At the time, I recommend that he do the append in FoxBase since Fox's append function is so much faster. Since then, I decided to write my own append program. I wrote a highly optimized routine that does a straight APPEND SDF 3 times faster than FoxPro and 14 times faster than Clipper. Now if Nantucket would just open up their architecture, I could write an APPEND function that would maintain the indexes and use conditionals. Subj: A FASTER APPEND Prvt: N Read: N Give um a call , you never know ! If you don't , Borland probably will over at A-T ... < aaaarg! > Subj: A faster APPEND Prvt: N Read: N The spec's for the ntx cannot be that tuff to get. The C lib CodeBase does update NTX files without any problems. Skip Moon must also have access to the stuff because it would otherwise be very hard to make SubNtx(). Subj: A faster APPEND Prvt: N Read: N I know it is possible. But I also know it is a lot of work, and not just a matter of passing a code block, and since I don't have a financial incentive, I don't want to waste a lot of time hacking around the clipper internals. Subj: A faster APPEND Prvt: N Read: N Anyway, thanks for your vote of confidence in my ability! Subj: A faster APPEND Prvt: N Read: N CLIPBBS 1-02 Page 12 4 Feb 1991 What did you write this in ?? WHy not set it up so that one can enter filename parameters and release it as shareware ?? Are you using Clipper 5.01 ?? You should be able to substitute your function for theirs by using the preprocessor or by directly calling your function from your app. Subj: A faster APPEND Prvt: N Read: N It is a nice little 12k COM file written in highly optimized C, and it is potentially useful to dBase, FoxBase, and Clipper programmers. Yes, but the problem is that if I plugged in my routine the indexes wouldn't know about the new records. Subj: ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE Prvt: N Read: N SBT accounting package is dBase compatible package. The package is modular (ie. A/R, A/P, GL, etc.) and comes with the source code. The company that distributes/makes it is MSR, Inc. up in Toronto. Subj: ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE Prvt: N Read: N The accounting program. ACCPAC PLUS by Computer Associates, allows the import and export of several different file formats, including dBASE III and standard delimited formats. You could use the A/R of ACCPAC to import data from your order entry and inventory package as I do writing commercial Clipper applications. Also, you can have ACCPAC export the A/R customer file into your application. Subj: ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE Prvt: N Read: N Thanks for the tip on Accpac Plus. I like the idea of Accpac since it makes it easy for them to add more modules as they become more computerized. The problem I can see is in adding new customers since they would need to be added to both programs. Do you know of any way to read Accpac's customer file directly? Someone once mentioned they thought the files were Btrieve format. Also since I need to keep a couple of account numbers for each customer, is there a miscellaneous field I could use for that? I'm going to see if I can track down a demo of AccPac Plus A/R. Subj: ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE Prvt: N Read: N If you call the BOSS BBS in New Jersey at 1-201-568-7293 > and download a file name "CLIP-AR.ZIP". In that file is a complete account receivable with source code written for Clipper Summer 87. I have not used it so I do not know how good it is. CLIPBBS 1-02 Page 13 4 Feb 1991 I hope the code is worth your while and saves you lots of time. Subj: ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE Prvt: N Read: N I've never actually tried to read (or had access to) the actual ACCPAC data files. All that I have done is read in the exported file from ACCPAC and also created a file to be read in by ACCPAC. I'm sure you could write some routine to compare the .dbf files from both applications and add/modify the datafiles in both applications. In regards to the miscellaneous field, I do believe it does have a comment field, which should work for your purposes. Subj: Borland C Prvt: N Read: N Alright, what's FP? Floating Point? What do you do -- compile your Clipper .PRG files, and then use the above Turbo C command to link them? Will this make them more compact? Open question to all: Has anyone tried using PKLTE to slim down Clipper .EXE programs? Subj: Borland C Prvt: N Read: N FP is Floating Point. No. One compiles the .prgs with Clipper, compiles the C with an appropriate C compiler, the assembly with an assembler, etc., then links all the .obj files together, using either a command line or a script file, depending on which linker is used. Pklite works well on Clipper-compiled programs, even those that include C and assembler, with certain limitations. It does NOT work with RTLinked final programs. It does NOT work with programs that have external overlays. It DOES work with MSLink, Tlink, and Warplink. With Warplink it will even compress overlayed programs if the overlay is internal (using the "oi" command-line switch). There may well be instances where PKLite would not work with some commands included in the program, but I have not encountered any yet. Average compression is 45 to 51 percent. The initial load takes a fraction of a second longer, but I have seen no degradation of program execution speed beyond loading. BTW, compiling Warplinked overlayed programs will provide the message that the program is probably overlayed and will query if you want to continue anyway. In any event, should you encounter a program that does not run after compressing, uncompress it. Subj: BORLAND C Prvt: N Read: N Indeed I have , and with no problems thus far. I am told that there could be problems if you program using internal/external overlays tho! It does indeed save disk area , in no way that I can tell does it or should it increase access speeds/time . I recall once reading an idea posted by a chap who suggested that one might be able to remove certain asm/c functions from the Clipper Libraries thus saving link size. However, my limited knowledge of the inter relationships of these functions prohibits me from any CLIPBBS 1-02 Page 14 4 Feb 1991 certainty regarding this course of action. I would suspect tho that he was onto something . Perhaps it's an option that Nantucket will provide in the future . Subj: C5 Memo Editor/Spell chk Prvt: N Read: N I am looking for a good replacement for MemoEdit(). Several products are advertised but are they any good? What I need is Bold, Underline, Paragraph indent, Block move/delete and a spell checker. Preferably the screen should show bold/underline, not just a start/end character. Any comments will be apreciated. Subj: C5 MEMO EDITOR/SPELL CHK Prvt: N Read: N There is a commercial library called ClipWord with SpellClip by Action Plus Software , try the Programmers Shop 1-800-446-3846... Also there are some pretty good ad-hoc editors out in ShareWare Land ... one comes to mind called Super142.LIB ... * < AND ... > if you have the additional memory available, nothing wrong with running a small external editor from within Clipper itself , a good example is V.B.'s LIST v. x.xx or in my case, I really like Qedit ... Subj: CLIPPER AND DBASE3 NDX Prvt: N Read: N You will have to request the file that does the .NDX from Nantucket (s'posed to be free)... they no longer provide it in Clipper 5.xx. Subj: CLIPPER AND DBASE3 NDX Prvt: N Read: N Nan have not, to my knowledge, released it as yet. It certainly is not available down under. Last I heard was at Palm Desert, when Larry H said that it was going into Beta in July. That might mean that the file will be available real soon now. Personally, I don't use it, preferring to keep my users out of dbase, where it is quite likely that they will destroy the data, indexes, etc. Oh, for a quiet life. Subj: Clipper on Novell Prvt: N Read: N I would like to get a few pointers from anybody out there with experience in designing Clipper applications to be run under Novell Netware. I am trying to help an associate develop a multi-user app and getting it to run properly on the network is (apparently) easier said than done. We have both been working in the network environment with network-aware products like Advanced Revelation, so file and record locking concepts (and the usage of them) are not new. The solution to one major problem CLIPBBS 1-02 Page 15 4 Feb 1991 seems to be eluding us at the moment. As part of the application, there is an option to re-build the indexes for the DBF files. As required, the DBF's are USEd EXCLUSIVEly and the appropriate indexes are rebuilt. At that point, the Novell FLAG utility reports that all the NTX files are now Non-Shareable Read/Write, as opposed to Sharable Read/Write before reindexing. The application is now effectively single user again. At the moment, we have no idea why this is happening, or how to correct it ... any and all comments are appreciated. Advice is even more welcome! Subj: CLIPPER ON NOVELL Prvt: N Read: N Here's the scoop -- The index file is being ReCreated when you reindex the database. It is getting created, by default, to NonShareable. I cant recall if you can change the default for a newly created file, but you can change the attribute from within your application. After reindexing, close the index, set the attribute to shareable, then open the index. I dont think you can change the attribute with the file open. Subj: CLIPPER ON NOVELL Prvt: N Read: N Here's what happens when your indexing on a Novell Network. set exclusive on use index reindex * or the way I allways do it! erase index on to This sets the share flag off. To keep it from being turned off. set exclusive off use exclusive * Test for network error if neterr() * file not open return endif * if you get here file is open erase index on to After doing it this way your files are still flaged as sharable. Then all you have to do is reopen yor file as non-exclusive to allow multi-user access. I have never had this happen to me so I did some playing on it last night and found out what different ways of indexing do to the flags during and index and after your done indexing. I also recommend rebuilding indexes from scratch instead of using the reindex command. If your header is corrupt then the index file will CLIPBBS 1-02 Page 16 4 Feb 1991 still be corrupted after a reindex. The thing that makes a difference is that when you set exclusive off your program is now going to open files as sharable, but you can specificly open individual files as exclusive, but if you set exclusive on then your program treats everything as a single user system, so all of your files that are accessed are flaged as non-sharable. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- CLIPBBS 1-02 Page 17 4 Feb 1991 ============================================================================= CLIPBBS ============================================================================= CLIPBBS Distribution CLIPBBS is special magazine about CLIPPER and CLIPPERing (or about another related problems and xBASE languages). This magazine is for free and articles aren't honored. Nobody can make a profit from the distribution of this magazine. CLIPBBS can be freely downloaded and uploaded to any BBS or any other public system without changes of original contents or number of files in original archive (kind of archive can be changed, but we are sup- porting ARJ archive because is best and smallest). If you are interested in CLIPBBS and would like to become a DISTRIBUTION site, contact publisher on 2:285/608@fidonet or 27:1331/4412@signet or just call to 31-10-4157141 (BBS, working 18:00->08:00, 2400bps) or voice to 31-10-4843870 in both cases asking for DANIEL (Docekal). Distribution sites: United Kingdom Welsh Wizard, SYSOP Dave Wall, phone 44-656-79477 United States of America The Southern Clipper, SYSOP Jerry Pults, phone 1-405-789-2078 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- CLIPBBS 1-02 Page 18 4 Feb 1991 How to write articles in CLIPBBS? Submission of articles to CLIPBBS is really easy: Maximum of 78 characters per line, as long or as short as you like ASCII text. Choose from the list of extension which most describes your text, or just name it .ART as ARTicle and send it to publisher or to any distribution site via modem to BBS or with mailer as file attach. Article will come automatically appear in the next free issue. Extensions are: Articles (anything) .ART Software .SOF News .NEW Question and Answers .Q&A Letters to editors .LET Advertisement .ADV Wanted .WAN Comments .CMS DUMP from conferences .DMP That's all at the moment, there will probably be changes later, as the magazine evolves. If you have any ideas for a new section of CLIPBBS, please tell us, or just write an article about it. Daniel, publisher -----------------------------------------------------------------------------