About Advanced Revelation 3.12

Changes and new Features - v3.12

APPLICATION

• The New Application window no longer allows characters "!@#$%^&*()+{}|[]~?<>," to be used in an application name.

• The ASCII chart popup is now available to select delimiters for ASCII import/export. ASCII Export now appends char(26) to records only if it is specified.

• The Run Report window options field now has an options pop-up and help.
• Output to the printer and terminal display page numbers identically.
• Performing a Save As... from the Banded Report Writer will unlock the original record.

• Batch update no longer allows the temporary table to be the same as the original table.
• The Batch window has also been modified: a menu has been added that allows Batch - Compare - Integrate to all run from the batch window and its menu.

• Single user LAN PACKs can now be applied through the standard method of installing LAN PACKS.
• The "Bump" Process will now prompt for a drive to find the LANPACK disk, and will accept either the A: or B: drive.
• The number of users is displayed before and after applying a LANPACK.

• A multi-letter catalyst code will now be recognized in playback of a captured keystroke set.

• ASSIGNED and UNASSIGNED no longer have to be declared as functions.
• Programs with too many equates will error out instead of producing bad object code.
• The statements READL, WRITEU and the function YIELD() have been added. For more information on these statements and functions, please see the R/BASIC section of this manual.

• It's now possible to copy only the data portion of an indexed table - even when the table has relational indexes.
• COPYTABLE with the (O or (N options now correctly copies even if the destination volume is not attached.

• DELETETABLE (S now suppresses the confirm message.
• DELETETABLE no longer deletes tables with the Allow Delete flag set to no.

• Rebuilding of control records now puts the column name and table name in the status line.
• A developer can suppress the recompilation of dictionary items when copying into a runtime by setting @NULL.EVAL to \12345678\ before writing the dictionary record.

• Reports for Easywriter and RLIST are now both stored in the REPORTS table with keys of rlist*reportname.

• Symbolics now show up in field option pop-ups.

• The Hardware Options environment window has a new field under Indexing; Yield Time to Windows. If this flag is set to Yes, then Advanced Revelation will yield processing time to Microsoft Windows when idle. By default, this field is No after the initial upgrade. Since this setting is stored in the INI file, you must change all INI files to use this feature. \

• Horizontal Multi Values (HMV’s) now print correctly.

• A dBase IMPORT run from the command line will now note if the record count in the dbase file has been modified.

• Dedicated indexers do not stop working past midnight.

• Make Label will now convert dictionary columns to uppercase instead of failing.

• The Listbasic window no longer ignores the (T option.
• Sending multiple programs to the terminal with LISTBASIC properly reports a change in program or record.

• If a program called from a window is not cataloged in the VOC table or stored in SYSOBJ, a message now appears prompting for the program location. Only if all of these searches fail, and the window was called from a level greater than level 1, will the current locks be stranded.

• There are now options available for the CODE prompt in the MACRO window.

• The MAKE RLIST window can now be called from the menu.

• New functionality has been added to the F2 popup of available menus. The Makemenu window has a new prompt, "Standalone," that allows you to answer "No" if the menu is called from windows or programs. This will keep the menu from displaying in the F2 popup generated from a menu. The menus are also now sorted alphabetically, and the menu table they are from is listed - Sysmenus, Menus, and the current menu table are searched for menus to display.

• Merge reports sent to the terminal now use INIT.VIEW().

• In the Makemessage window, the popup of available message types has been expanded to include all message types.

• A message will now display if required prompts are not filled.

• Namevolume can now be used to change a volume label even if tables in that volume are indexed.

• Prnstat will now work for LPT1, LPT2 and LPT3, rather than just LPT1.

• A new prompt option, Mandatory, has been added. This flag determines whether the first (controlling) field of an Associated Multi-Value (AMV) group is required. If this field is set to Yes, (True), then you must have a value in the first column of the row before moving to the next. The flag will also prevent you from deleting the controlling AMV value at a later time.

• Using the Alt-P keystroke to print the pop-up no longer terminates the window.

• READL and WRITEU

• The program SEC, frequently used with the argument "6" (as in "SEC(6)") has been replaced by a new function, ENCRYPT. Encrypt accepts one argument. ENCRYPT(string) will work without a window; the SEC program required inclusion of the WINDOW_COMMON%, and caused difficulties if used outside a window. Encrypt was included to resolve this.
• BTREE.EXTRACT has 2 new values for options. B will sort the listing of keys in descending order. R will sort the keys with right justification.
• COLLEN allows specification of left or right justification. To have a column heading of Date, with a length of 10 and a right justification, the command would be COLLEN “R#10”

• The system variable @REC.COUNT is now used to pass the record count to the list processor, and is not modified. The value of @REC.COUNT can now be included in symbolics.
• The RLIST 'B' option now correctly runs the break value through OCONV.
• Underline and fill characters for column headings are now environment variables, defined in the QUERY window.
• The ‘B’ option in FOOTING to place the current break-on value into the footer now works correctly.
• You can once again use parentheses () in RLIST Heading statements.
• The RLIST buffer size has been increased allowing the developer to create longer RLIST statements.
• The E option no longer prints a page with just the heading.
• Column headings will be justified based on the justification of the dictionary field. If your dictionary field is right justified, the heading during R/LIST will also be right justified. A developer can override this by using the COLHEAD modifier in the R/LIST statement.

• Permanent aliases in REVBOOT are now attached at logon, although aliases requiring passwords will still not be attached automatically because the password is not stored.
• If you have large numbers of permanent aliases in a single volume, you no longer receive runtime errors when attaching.

• The command Setoptions now displays current options; options can be cleared by entering SETOPTIONS ().

• To escape from Setpassword, press ESC and then ENTER. To clear a password, press ENTER.

• It is now possible to group by columns not in the display list without breaking to the debugger.

• Previously, users have needed to have SHARE.EXE loaded to run programs other than Advanced Revelation. The Sharing Violations problem that this caused has been corrected.
• You can now delete the first field of an AMV in system windows.
• Anding/Oring precedence has been changed to act like Advanced Revelation 3.03 and prior.
• You can no longer use implied date formatting with 5 character dates. All dates must be filled with a leading 0. For example, 22795 would be interpreted at 02/27/95 and match a valid date conversion. Now, this value will fail that conversion. You must use 022795 instead. (For more information, see Technical Bulletin 112 available from CompuServe as RTP26.EXE in Library 8, Update/Maintenance Releases or contact Customer Care for a copy. Customer Carec an be reached at 800-262-4747, 978-247-7100 in the United States or 44-908-233-255 in the United Kingdom.
• You no longer receive meta compilation errors on fields using catalyst type (@code command@) input or output validation. You also no longer receive meta compilation errors on fields with an out validation of R(###) ###-####.

• Parentheses are now parsed correctly from TCL sentences.
• SSELECT and SORT do not generate error messages any longer.
• The E option correctly suppresses ejection of the first page.

• The Upgrade Tables process now clears out bad dictionary information in columns 31 and 34 in dictionaries, unless the row starts with an "@".
• The "B" code and command popup invoked in windows now displays correctly in upgraded systems.

• The Changed Key Delete option for joined fields no longer writes out null records.
• It is now possible to change a window to a collector and back to a data window. However, remember to re-number prompt position numbers. No prompt should be "position 0" in a collector window.
• If you try to run an uncataloged program in window, you are now given a message, prompting you to enter the table in which the program is stored.
• Using the Alt-P keystroke no longer terminated the window.
• The default video values at save time do not take precedence over the default video values at runtime. Previously, the window would run with the default color values at save time and ignore the video at runtime. Now, unless the developer specifically changes an entries color setting, the system will use the default video values at runtime.

Changes & New Features in Release 3.11

DEBUGGER

• A new feature for evaluating variables has been added to the Debugger. By entering "V" at the ! prompt, you will receive a list of all the variables that are defined in the symbol table. Pressing return on any of these variables will present the contents in an EDIT window. Entering a "/" (forward slash) or "\" (backward slash) instead of a "V" will display the same list, but when a variable is selected it will be presented after the ! prompt in either ASCII format, chosen by using the "/" [forward slash,] or hexadecimal format, chosen by using the "\" [backward slash]. (The symbol table is the *program_name row in the program table. The new Debugger functionality will not be available if this row does not exist in the program table.)

• It is now possible for a custom MFS to insert a header into a new row. Previously, a customized MFS could not drop a standardized header into a new row. Certain user-customized MFSs were intended, by design, to fill the beginning of each row with information special to the application. (An example would be a program header, listing company ownership or creation date.) However, the Editor, upon determining that the row was new, nulled @RECORD. This logic has been modified.

• Multivalue symbolics can now be used in a POPUP with dictionary braces ( { } ) and the data will display correctly.

• A new system subroutine, CLOSE_TABLE, has been added. CLOSE_TABLE will leave a table attached, but will remove the table handle used to access the table from the SYSTABLES table. The table handle will be refreshed on the next R/BASIC OPEN. This is particularly useful for freeing resources held by tables such as server based bonds, which allocate memory or connection handles. CLOSE_TABLE is also the specified mechanism for causing a low-level re-open of a table when adding or removing an MFS, which keeps information in the table handle. The correct syntax of CLOSE_TABLE is CLOSE_TABLE(tablename, associated_tables, flag) where "tablename" is the name of the table to close, "associated_tables" is an optional flag, either 1 or 0, where '1' indicates that CLOSE_TABLE should also close the DICT.tablename and !tablename, and "flag" is a Boolean value returned by CLOSE_TABLE, where 1 indicates the success of the operation. For example:
  tablename = "FILM_DATA"
  flag = ''
  CLOSE_TABLE(tablename, '1', flag)
  IF FLAG ELSE
  MSG("Failure to close table.")
  END

• When IMPORTing an ASCII file as part of a TCL batch process, and merging with an existing table, the existing table is no longer cleared.

• The Debugger program stack popup now displays the last program on the stack.

• %PROTECT.SPEC% is no longer compiled with a blank line in column 1 if %FIELDS% has not yet been built. Previously, this caused an XFORM stack underflow error during an SQL SELECT.

• EasyWriter now correctly parses BREAK-ONs, and will no longer lose a JUSTLEN length clause.

• The command "FORM form_name * (P" will now print all rows in a table, instead of using "*" as a row key. Previously, if a SELECT was performed against a multi-value column and FORM was then invoked, the displayed row ID was corrupted.

• Functionality has now been restored to Arev Style Menus, allowing them to be moved with the {CTRL-F8} key. Defining "hot keys" in Menus now functions appropriately. Previously, if a hot key was defined in the Menu builder with Save &As the "a" in "Save" would be highlighted, rather than the "A" in "As."

• POPUPs which have a SELECT executed in EXPLICIT POPUP INFORMATION against a multi-value column now display correctly. Previously, the key values that were displayed were corrupted, and included a value mark and a numeric value relevant to the previous SELECT.

• CATALYST calls of "K" with a numeric value ending in zero (for example CATALYST('K','30') ) no longer truncate trailing zeros.

• {CTRL-Z} will now reformat only the current line of a text field if no block has been defined; a blank line is no longer inserted.

• Creation of an alias name that is the same as the source table's actual name will now attach the DICT.tablename and !tablename as well. SETALIAS can now be used for just the data portion of a table. When a volume with permanent aliases is attached or detached, alias DICT and ! tables will now attach and detach correctly. A SETALIAS run from the SYSPROG application accepts application names that have not previously been defined. This functionality is particularly desirable when setting an alias to a table created in older versions, and for porting information from foreign installations into your own system.

• CREATE TABLE with a CHAR type column that does not specify length will now be given a default length of 10 in the dictionary.
• Any errors in CREATE TABLE are now returned to the user.
• Any invalid SQL commands executed at the TCL line will return errors.
• SQL now allows you to specify custom fill characters for column headings in the Queries Environment Window. Additionally, any ASCII character may be defined in the Queries Environment Window to appear as a separate line under the column heading.
• In SQL, if a report was created in SQL and the user did not page down to the last page of the report, but exited out of the report and ran another SQL report, SQL would break to the debugger or to DOS.
• Multiple SQL statements can now be executed in the SQL window without breaking to the debugger or DOS.

• When executing a TCL command using a '(P' option the currently printing page number again displays to the status line.
• DOCMENU and DOCPOPUP output can now be directed to the printer by selecting the "PRINTER" option from their respective Popups.
• RLIST HEADING using the "'D'description" or "S3F" options will no longer break to the Debugger.
• RLIST now allows you to specify custom fill characters for column headings in the Queries Environment Window. Additionally, any ASCII character may be defined in the Queries Environment Window to appear as a separate line under the column heading.
• LIST using (PE options has been fixed to no longer print a leading blank page.
• RLIST, HEADING, and (PE options will no longer erroneously print heading and/or footing information on a blank page.
• COUNTROWS with (PE options used in a program now correctly outputs the number of rows processed.
• The DICT.SYSWINDOWS LC symbolic now lists the last prompt in a Window.
• LIST tablename WITH COLUMN (= 'VAL1' or 'VAL2') no longer generates a META compilation error and executes properly.
• A LIST statement now checks the DICT.tablename @ID before looking in the DICT.VOC @ID record.
• System LIST commands (e.g. "LISTTABLES (P", "LISTVOLUMES (P", etc.) no longer return error messages indicating that @LPTR is an unrecognized word.
• PROGRAM.MFS has been corrected to allow the TCL command
• RUN SOURCE program_name
• to run correctly when there is a $program_name row that is actually in the OBJECT table, but no source program is in the SOURCE table.
• The RLIST keyword AVERAGE now allows display data in the column being averaged. Previously, a command of
• LIST FILM_DATA AVERAGE RUNNING_TIME
• would display a blank column for RUNNING_TIME until the end of the report, when the average would be generated. Now, the values for RUNNING_TIME are displayed for each row.
• The RLIST AVERAGE keyword will now calculate correctly when applied against a column that is null.
• When an RLIST TOTAL is run against a column that has a length of 0, the columns will now line up correctly.
• LO and LIST can now be used with table names or aliases starting with "SYS."
• LIST no longer modifies the value of @RECCOUNT.
• TCL options that are invalid are now ignored, rather than resulting in an infinite loop prompting for correction.
• The RLIST and SQL viewers now have a minimum display length of 22, which allows for display of the current date and time.
• A command of
• LIST tablename @ID column_name ID-SUPP
• no longer causes wrapping in the viewer.
• The COLHEAD keyword is now justified using dictionary justification.
• A multiline COLHEAD for an inline formula now calculates COLLENGTH correctly.
• When printing out FORMs, the "(E" option will work correctly with forms that have multiple rows per page.
• RLIST reports using custom HEADINGs now display the number of rows processed at the end of the report.
• Inline formulas are now deleted from the dictionary at the end of a report.
• Multiline column headings now display correctly above a solid line.
• COPYTABLE will now correctly copy a tablename that contains dots.

• The option to upgrade tables and to convert "." to "_" will now correctly remove dots from !datatable rows.

• The {CTRL-F10} option to retrieve a filter from the reports table now works correctly.
• A validation pattern of (1,9) will no longer allow entry of numbers followed by alpha characters.
• A Master value in an AMV can no longer be nulled; {CTRL-D} must be used to delete the entire line.
• ZOOM {F3} now recognizes a MAX LENGTH defined in the prompt window as "*".
• PAINT no longer saves a dynamic table Window as a collector.
• PHONE_FORMAT and ZIP_FORMAT validation patterns on key columns no longer generate an error when using "\" backslash) to enter a query mode.
• Copy row ({ALT-C}) has been added to the Key Disable Popup in Paint.
• Windows can now be changed from a collector to a bound Window (one using a table) and vice versa. This is done in Paint, through the "Tables" menu option.

• The SETVOLUME Window will not allow volume names that contain spaces.
• The Message Builder Window now supports the use of seconds on timed messages in the "Type" prompt.

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