The new Microsoft C/C++ Browser Toolkit lets you access and manipulate (.BSC) files in the Microsoft C/C++ 7.0 browser database, the database containing information about program symbols, including symbol references, function calltrees, and definition tables. The toolkit's browser library (BSC.LIB) contains functions that let you search for symbol matches, generate class trees, translate decorated names, and obtain index ranges for an object. You can also take advantage of the information in the database to develop custom applications using the new APIs.
C/C++ 7.0 registered users can download the toolkit from the Microsoft developer's forum on CompuServe or order it from Microsoft for $29.00. Reader service no. 20.
Microsoft Corp. One Microsoft Way Redmond, WA 98052-6399 206-882-8080
Napier Graphics has released NAPCAD/3D, a three-dimensional computer-aided design program for Windows that includes C++ source. NAPCAD supports lines, cubic spline curves, circles, polygons, cones, cylinders, spheres, 3-D surface patches, sweeps, and extrusions. Up to three viewports can be active at one time, so you can view a model at different angles and sizes. There are user-definable fonts and symbol libraries, and you can shade a model using up to eight light sources. Models can be divided into up to 256 layers and can be printed, either shaded or as wire-frame, to any Windows-supported graphics printer.
NAPCAD was written using Borland's C++ and Object Windows, and the source code is fully commented. The price is $99.00 and a math coprocessor is recommended. Reader service no. 21.
Napier Graphics 3212 20th Street SE Auburn, WA 98002 800-800-1961
Andsor Research has released the Andsor Database Engine, a Windows add-on library for adding advanced database-management capabilities to any program through DLL function calls. You can replace many sections of an application, such as reports, queries, and updating operations, with simple procedures written in ADL, a database language. These procedures can be embedded in the program, but are usually stored in the database itself, resulting in smaller, simpler Windows programs which need contain only function calls to execute the stored procedures. All programs that access the database can use the same procedures. An interactive database-management utility is included for creating, testing, and modifying the stored procedures without recompiling the program.
A full set of traditional ISAM file operations is also provided. The programmer controls the database with code and variables that reside in the program and calls the DLL functions to perform one operation at a time.
DDJ spoke with Brent Eldstrom, president of Custom Software Solutions in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, who develops Windows applications for the insurance industry. Brent needs to include many support files with his applications, and by using the Andsor engine they can all be kept in a single DOS file. "Because of this," he said, "the engine has excellent ease of use--there's no opening and closing of files because DOS sees it as only one file."
The engine can be used from C, Visual Basic, and all languages or front ends with DLL interfaces. It sells for $149.00. Reader service no. 22.
Andsor Research Inc. 390 Bay Street, Suite 2000 Toronto, Ontario Canada M5H 2Y2 800-766-1141 or 416-245-8073
DAB is a new distributed application-builder toolset from Real-Time Intelligent Systems. It provides automatic network-wide data exchange between programs running on PCs connected by LANs and serial data links. DAB facilitates parallel processing and building cooperatively used applications.
DAB establishes a multiprocessing environment in each PC: A DOS application program runs in the foreground and the communications software runs automatically in the background. The programs cooperate on a peer-to-peer basis: DAB automatically encodes data records into messages, handles all message transmission and routing between computers, and decodes messages into data records for the recipient program. The communications protocol lets data links be broken and connected again without data loss.
DAB identifies each computer via an electronic identification key that plugs into the computer's parallel port. The data-distribution network is formed automatically and user programs communicate via data-distribution nodes that automatically relay data throughout the network to all programs that need it.
The price is $499.00 and includes callable libraries for Microsoft's C compiler and Borland's C++ compiler. Reader service no. 23.
Real-Time Intelligent Systems Corp. 30 Sever Street Worcester, MA 01609 508-752-5567
New from Knowledge Garden is KPWin++, a facility that in conjunction with KnowledgePro for Windows affords a high-level, object-oriented development environment for C++. KPWin++ reads code written in Knowledge Garden's KPWin or Revelation Technologies' Open-Insight environments and generates ANSI-standard compilable C++ code.
KPWin includes over 300 high-level commands for manipulating Window objects, data, text, colors, fonts, and images. You can access Windows multimedia and pen functions via calls to the Windows API. There is access to DLLs at the C pointer level, and DDE support and drag-and-drop functionality are included as well. KPWin also affords list-handling commands, multiple inheritance, classes and subclasses, text-file indexing and hypertext, and demons and backward chaining.
Using the Microsoft C/C++ 7.0 compiler, you can modify the code, link to third-party libraries, and compile to create high-performance executable files. Support is also planned for compilers from Borland, Watcom, and Zortech. KPWin++ costs $895.00, $695.00 for registered KPWin and OpenInsight users. Reader service no. 24.
Knowledge Garden Inc. 12-8 Technology Drive Setauket, NY 11733 516-246-5400
Access Softek has announced 16 graphics import filters for Windows that plug into any Windows application, allowing it to import graphics. The filters translate in a one-step process directly into the Windows MetaFile or QuickDraw for the Macintosh, unlike others, which translate first into an intermediate format. As a result, those from Access Softek tend to be faster and more accurate.
The interface used for graphics import is the Aldus interface, which contains only three function calls. (This is the only graphics-import standard currently in widespread use; the filters also, however, support the proposed TWAIN API spec.) For more information on graphic import filters, see Evangelo Prodromou's article, "Graphics Import Filters for Windows Applications" in the July 1992 DDJ. Contact Access Softek for pricing. Reader service no. 25.
Access Softek 2550 9th Street, #206 Berkeley, CA 94710 510-848-0606
Sierra Systems has released version 3.00 of its C cross-compiler and language-development system for Motorola 68000 microprocessors. The new version includes a hole-compression optimization utility that operates as follows: The linker determines on the first pass when a more compact addressing mode can be used and passes this information to the assembler, which makes a second pass and shrinks the appropriate address holes; the application is then relinked.
Optimization techniques such as loop invariant removal, common subexpression removal, global register allocation by coloring, and register scorecarding are included, obviating the need for assembly language. Also new to this version are: inclusion of the Phar Lap DOS-Extender, floating-point enhancements, enhanced implementation of multiplication by constant, a string-copy function, and improved function-call stack cleanup.
Sierra C includes an optimizing compiler, assembler, linker, absolute address mapper, object librarian and source archiver, symbol-table listing utility, object-code size utility, command driver, parallel downloader, serial downloader, and runtime library. It costs $2000.00 for DOS or OS/2 and $3500.00 for UNIX workstations. Reader service no. 26.
Sierra Systems 6728 Evergreen Avenue Oakland, CA 94611 800-776-4888 or 510-339-8200
The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) has ratified the VESA Local Bus standard. This standard is designed to bring workstation-level performance to the PC. The VL-Bus removes many bottlenecks, allowing peripherals to operate at the system's native speed and enabling data transfer between peripherals and the system at maximum speed.
The VL-Bus standard provides a low-cost, extendible, and portable local bus design that lets systems and peripherals from different manufacturers work together seamlessly. The standard is a chip-level specification as well as a connector definition and is designed to work with many different processors, including any 80x86, MIPS R4000, and the upcoming P5. Reader service no. 27.
VESA 2150 North First Street, Suite 440 San Jose, CA 95131-2020 408-435-0333
Fuzz-C is Byte Craft's new C preprocessor for fuzzy logic, a tool for implementing fuzzy logic on embedded microprocessors. The preprocessor reduces the learning curve for implementing control functions in fuzzy logic: It scans the application source code for fuzzy logic membership and consequence functions and translates them into C, leaving the rest of the source code untouched. With Fuzz-C, C and fuzzy logic can call functions in each other and share data variables.
Fuzz-C is priced at $149.00. Reader service no. 28.
Byte Craft Ltd. 421 King Street North Waterloo, Ontario Canada N2J 4E4 519-888-6911
The C EXECUTIVE real-time operating-system kernel from JMI will now be included in the FUSION TCP/IP software from Network Research. (See the December 1991 "Of Interest" column.) C EXECUTIVE offers a complete execution environment for multitasking applications written in C. The package includes a complete I/O subsystem for standard input/output, a set of device driver written in C, and a complete ROMable runtime C library.
C EXECUTIVE offers an optional file system, CE-DOSFILE*, that replicates the DOS file structure on external media and allows any microprocessor to read and write DOS disks online. Also included is a system debugger, CEVIEW*, which provides a flexible system-level debugging tool for testing on the target system.
Contact JMI for pricing for the combined C EXECUTIVE and FUSION TCP/IP. Reader service no. 29.
JMI Software Consultants Inc. P.O. Box 481 Spring House, PA 19477 215-628-0840
The Geodyssey Environmental GIS Research Grants Initiative is a $1 million grant program from Autodesk and the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI). The program is intended to further the use of low-cost geographic information systems (GIS) and CAD tools for environmental research and management. The program is sponsored and administered by the International Geographic Information Foundation, which will award 100 ArcCAD, AutoCAD, and ArcView for Windows software packages and training to academicians and researchers within the next year. ArcCAD is a desktop GIS tool that uses the AutoCAD data model and includes full spatial-analysis capabilities and a dBase-compatible attribute DBMS; ArcView is a geographic query and display package for Windows.
For more information, contact Autodesk. Reader service no. 30.
Autodesk Inc. 2320 Marinship Way Sausalito, CA 94965 415-332-2344
C++VS from Perennial and UNIX System Laboratories is a verification suite for evaluating a C++ compiler's conformance to the language standard. C++VS consists of three main parts: a driver that manages automatic test-case execution; test cases, including error and library tests; and templates for developing user-specific tests. Over 20,000 test cases are included. A basic license for the test suite costs $28,000.00. Reader service no. 31.
Perennial Inc. 4699 Old Ironsides Drive, Suite 210 Santa Clara, CA 95054 408-748-2900
Dashboard Software has released DASHBoard, a utility for Windows and OS/2 developers that displays the vital parameters of a program while it is running. DASHBoard finds program bugs and helps uncover and correct performance problems. The control panel lets you set up permanent displays of crucial parameters and include a customized DASHBoard window in programs you distribute. The utility allows you to examine each variable and track its value by bringing up a DASHBoard window along with your program window. You can display the data as text or a graph and examine how fast a variable changes or display its average, maximum, or minimum value. These variables can be accessed via DDE from any Windows application.
DASHBoard works with C, C++, and all languages that access DLLs. DASHBoard for Windows costs $129.00. Reader service no. 32.
Dashboard Software 4 Louis Avenue Monsey, NY 10952
Prentice Hall has begun a new series called the Open Systems Library. The series will focus on task-oriented solutions for UNIX programmers, system developers, and system administrators. The first two titles are UNIX System V Print Service Administration, edited by Sally Brownin , and UNIX System V NFS Administration, edited by Debra Herman. The books cost $27.00 and $24.95, respectively. Reader service no. 33.
Prentice Hall 113 Sylvan Avenue, Route 9W Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632 201-592-2348
Now available from Virtual Technologies is the SENTINEL debugging environment for UNIX. This tool supports runtime verification of pointer usage and dynamic memory allocation in both C and C++. It traps memory errors, traces stack, and reports the source file, function name, and line number of erroneous code. A discretionary activation feature can enable or disable debug output at compile or run time to avoid impacting performance. The debugger also aids in tracking down and determining the cause of memory leaks.
SENTINEL costs $195.00 for Intel's 80x86, $395.00 for Sun environments, and $495.00 for HP environments. Reader service no. 34.
Virtual Technologies Inc. 46030 Manekin Plaza, Suite 160 Dulles, VA 20166 703-430-9247
Windows Sockets APIs are in the news with two new releases from Distinct and Frontier Technologies. Distinct's TCP/IP for Windows now includes the Windows Sockets API. This standard API can be used by developers of shrink-wrapped software, while those developing more technical products have access to monitoring, debugging, data capture, and internal data structures. Also new to this version is the ONC RPC/XDR toolkit, including features such as an RPC server and an enhanced RPC client that run over UDP or TCP. A Windows RPCGEN program allows you to generate XDR routines directly on the PC for applications distributed over PC-only or heterogeneous networks. In addition to SLIP protocol support, there is now the more secure Point to Point Protocol for data transfer over serial lines.
Distinct TCP/IP supports Packet, NDIS, and ODI drivers. The price of the SDK is $495.00. Reader service no. 35.
The Frontier developer's toolkit provides the sockets-library interface for the Windows environment for Frontier's Super-TCP for Windows. This allows custom applications to connect to a TCP/IP network, open connections, transmit and receive data, and disconnect from the network easily. The toolkit includes the following: a Windows TCP/IP kernel with a PING application; Borland C++ libraries; sample source code; and a copy of the Windows Sockets API technical specification. The socket-interface DLL design takes advantage of Windows' memory-management services, allows the interface to be used simultaneously by several applications, and avoids taking up base memory.
Super TCP/IP conforms with NDIS and Packet drivers and costs $595.00. Reader service no. 36.
Frontier Technologies Corp. 10201 N. Port Washington Road Mequon, WI 53092 414-241-4555
Distinct Corp. P.O. Box 3410 Saratoga, CA 95070-1410 408-741-0781
Copyright © 1992, Dr. Dobb's Journal