############################################################################ PRONTO-4GL Release Notes ############################################################################ NOTE: ----- - Full dumb terminal (and X-Windows) support is not available. Limited dumb terminal support is currently available for RF applications only. ** Release 6.3v4.0 ** ===================== Miscellaneous ------------- - Added HELP-CONTEXT clause to the ACCEPT statement. This allows for the specification of the help file name and ID for context sensitive help. This can be used to override the field's help context information defined in the dictionary, or to specify it for non-dictionary based fields. The syntax is: HELP-CONTEXT [IS] - Fields in a SELECT statement with a single valid value (as per WHERE clause) that are part of an object with an OUTER join will now be set to this value if there are no valid records for the join. This is to help avoid issues with the WHERE condition failing for an OUTER join. - Product name rebranding is now supported (this is a licensed facility). - Mode based PCS triggers are now processed for the initial mode specified by the application, not just user selected modes. - Fixed problem with sorted GROUP BY on SELECT. - Worked around problem caused by Oracle 10 waiting on child tasks not invoked by it's thread. - Removed message being displayed by Windows version of probatch.exe under some circumstances. Screen Customisation -------------------- - Support added for client distributable VMT files. This is a mechanism whereby standard PRONTO Customised Screen (PCS) files can be encoded into .vmt files and shipped to a client who is not licensed for PCS. - Any site that is not licensed for PCS and does not have the VMT (Vertical Market Template) license set may run VMT files distributed to them. - These VMT files are not used to restrict the functionality of the product, and will not stop applications from exectuting if they are invalid or not present. The vmt.index file is not required. - This mechamism is activated on a client site if the PROPCSPATH environment is set to the directory containing the distributed .vmt files. - The encoding and distribution of these files is controlled by Pronto Software. ** Release 6.3v3.1 ** ===================== Miscellaneous ------------- - Fixed problem where bitmap files may not be closed when sent to client. - Export to Excel from a data grid now supports data with ASCII characters 128 and greater. The representation of these characters within Excel is dependant on the character set used. - Report utility no longer requires the '#P' prefix to be entered when specifying a spool file name if the site is not licensed for XML reporting. ** Release 6.3v3.0 ** ===================== Miscellaneous ------------- - Application invoked ABORT operations are now logged in $PRONTO/lib/error.log. - The widening of a standard screen will now be recorded in the registry and the width settings restored when the screen is next invoked. This function was previously only available for data-grid screens. - Screen modes that occur beyond the defined width of a window will no longer be suppressed. The screen must be manually widened to see these modes. - When an application is invoked that changes the data area (company) title and there is a user defined color selection for the data area, then all existing windows will be changed to this color (including windows not associated with the new data area). This is to overcome color refresh issues with the existing windows. Unix implemetations require PRONTO Thin Client 6.3v3.0. - The right mouse button menu for a static (non edit) field now includes the Copy option. Unix implemetations require PRONTO Thin Client 6.3v3.0. - Option to ask for confirmation if reprinting a report added to Print Utility. - Support added for field help context Id and file name in data dictionary. - Fixed help-screen clause code generation in compiler. - Fixed data re-entry not being placed in overwrite mode (Windows only). Unix implementations require PRONTO Thin Client 6.3v2.2 for this fix. - Fixed down-arrow not being trapped by the application on a REENTER operation. Unix implementations also require PRONTO Thin Client 6.3v3.0 for this fix. - Fixed inconsistency between Windows runtime and Proclient when displaying certain right justified and centered values. - Fixed Linux specific PROBATCH problem activating jobs. Screen Customisation -------------------- - When the trigger program for a user defined mode completes, the current record for the screen will be read again and the screen refreshed. This is to reflect any possible change to the data by the trigger program. - Record currency can now be specified for a user mode. - Message text can now be overridden. - The default mode for a screen can now be specified. - Filters can now be specified for datagrid columns. - A on_help trigger has been added for a field. This trigger returns a value in the same manner as the before_accept trigger. The on_help trigger will override any existing application specified help screen. The value returned by the on_help trigger will be placed in the input buffer for the field. The user must press the Enter key in order for the value to be applied. This is to ensure that any application specified validations cannot be bypassed. - The not_confirmed trigger is now processed if present for a mode. PROCOPY ------- - Added concurrent processing option for -u, -y, -Y, -i, -x and -l commands. If this option is specified then the controlling procopy process will invoke up to the nominated number of concurrently running child processes to perform the individual object copy operations. This may improve the performance on multi-processor machines. This is specified as a single numeric value at the end of the command line nominating the number of concurrent processes. e.g. procopy -y 4 If this value is not specified then the value of the PROCOPY_PROCESSES environment will be used (if set). The concurrent object copy processes are run in the background, and are unable to interact with the user. Default answers will be assumed for any potential user questions (e.g. remove file?). Details of the progress of each copy process are not shown. A summary of the results of each individual copy operation is shown at its completion. Additional free space will be required in the data area affected as both the new and old versions of multiple files will be present during the copy. RDBMS NOTE: it is possible that multiple concurrent CREATE INDEX operations will be submitted to the RDBMS. You should ensure that the RDBMS is configured to cater for this (e.g. RDBMS temporary table space). This option is currently only implemented for Unix/Linux systems. - Added object list option for -u, -y, -Y, -i, -x and -l commands. If an object list is specified then procopy will only process the objects in this list, rather than all objects in the dictionary. The object list is specified at the end of the command line. e.g. procopy -y deb-master deb-trans - The concurrent processing value must occur prior to the object list if they are both used on the same command line. e.g. procopy -y 2 deb-master deb-trans - Start/end copy times are now logged for upgrade commands. - Supports 2GB+ flat files for import/export (selected platforms only). ** Release 6.3v2.0 ** ===================== Miscellaneous ------------- - The DEFAULT-BUTTON clause has been added to the OPTION statement. This allows the specification of the default button for a traditional button based menu. The clause has no effect if the menu is shown in a tree or pop-up format. The clause requires a conditional boolean numeric expression to indicate either true or false. If multiple OPTION statements have a DEFAULT-BUTTON clause which evaluates to TRUE, the first one identified will be used. For example: OPTION "testing" @10,10 DEFAULT-BUTTON is TRUE - Full support for fields of type DATE-TIME is now available for the DISPLAY, PRINT, and ACCEPT statements. The default PICTURE format used is "DD-MMM-YYYY HH:MM:SS". The standard DATE and TIME PICTURE characters can be used in combination for a DATE-TIME field. A DATE-TIME field that is directly used in this way will assume that it is based on local time (with no GMT timezone offset). If a DATE-TIME field is stored in GMT then it should not be used directly in a DISPLAY/ACCEPT/PRINT. - Numeric fields whose size when displayed is larger than the allowed number of characters will now be displayed in exponent format (e.g. 1.23E+9) if this fits within the allocated size, rather than the value being shown as all '?'. This will result in a loss of precision (i.e. rounding), however, it will give an indication of the true value. - The RIGHT, LEFT, CENTER, RIGHT-COORDINATE and CENTER-COORDINATE clauses are now supported for the ACCEPT statement. - An initial-mode that accesses any of the tables of the SELECT/PRIMARY for the screen will cause the SELECT/PRIMARY to be initially positioned on the current record (or current values if no current record). - Clearing and recreating a datagrid within a parent window is now allowed (but not recommended). - Linux version of proadmin changed to support differences in some commands. - Changed C-ISAM file existence test in PROCOPY to cater for .idx files greater than 2GB on 32bit implementations. - License expiry messages are now issued by the initial login PRONTO process (based on proutab entry) rather than only relying on the process being named 'pronto' (Unix only). - New mail message not shown on character based (RF) screens whose screen width is less than 80 columns (Unix only). - Fixed problem with API services when external command invoked from an API. - Fixed SEGV error for SQL Server implementations when encountering table access errors (e.g. permission errors). - Fixed SEGV error for Linux Oracle implementations when PREVIOUS specified as first access to an object. - Fixed issue in data-grid where user sorting ignored descending in a specific situation. - Fixed scrolling issue in data-grid when user sorting specified on a screen with SELECT GROUP BY. - Fixed display of multiple user added modes. - Fixed problem where multiple re-entry of disallowed value in correct mode could be passed through. - The following obsolete utility programs have been removed from the runtime distribution: installproduct, mklok, prockp, promail5, promaild and ttykill.bsd. Vertical Market Templates ------------------------- - The concept of Vertical Market Templates (VMT) is now supported. These are encoded versions of predefined screen customisation (.pcs) files for a specific vertical market. This allows for the distribution of a fixed set of predefined "tamper proof" screen customisations for each vertical market. - The distributed VMT files are expected to be installed in "$BMS/vmt". This directory contains a file called "vmt.index" and a separate ".vmt" file for each application that has been customised. The "vmt.index" file contains an entry for each application that a ".vmt" file was generated for. Only the ".vmt" files listed in "vmt.index" are used. - Applications will not execute if any of the following occur: - The vmt.index file does not exist or is invalid. - The application is listed in the vmt.index file, and the .vmt file for the application does not exist or is invalid. - The use of Vertical Market Templates is controlled by activation key 78, and the existing screen customisation activation key 77. The Vertical Market Templates will be used only when activation key 78 is set AND activation key 77 is NOT set. If both 77 and 78 are set then standard screen customisation will be enabled only. - Vertical Market Templates can be tested on systems that do not have the required combination of activation keys 77/78 set. This is achieved by setting the environment variable PROVMTDIR to point to the directory that contains the VMT files. This environment is ignored if VMT is enabled via activation key. Product Brand Name ------------------ - Alternate product brand names are now supported. - By default, if the VMT mechanism is in place the brand will be set to "DIGITAL-Xi" rather than the default "PRONTO-Xi". - The logo for Proclient is controlled by a separate mechanism, as the initial logo is displayed at login time prior to running any PRONTO programs. - Unix implementations require Proclient release 6.3v2.1 for branding support. ** Release 6.3v1.0 ** ===================== Official Release ---------------- - This is the official XI Phase II release. - Unix implementations should install Proclient release 6.3v1.0. Miscellaneous ------------- - XML to HTML and text conversion facilities are now available for all Unix platforms. This includes the ability to print XML reports on Unix based printers. Application/Optimistic locks ---------------------------- - An application locks setting is now present for objects in the dictionary. This field should be set to 'N' (it's default) in any custom dictionary. It is intended for future use with DB2 databases. - An optimistic locks setting is available in the PRONTO System Parameters menu of proadmin. This is intended for future use, and should not be currently enabled. ** Release 6.3v0.1 BETA ** ===================== PRORUNSTATS Facility -------------------- - The PRORUNSTATS facility allows the logging of statistics for all programs run. This provides two basic pieces of information. Firstly, a list of all 4GL programs that have been invoked (including custom applications), and secondly it lists various performance statistics on each of the programs run. - This is activated by setting the PRORUNSTATS environment to the name of the (text) file that you want the statistics written to. - There are four levels of statistics available. The level is specified by the PRORUNSTATSLEVEL environment variable (default is 0 if not set). The levels are: 0 - Summary entries written for each program run. 1 - Additional entries are written listing the I/O counts for each object accessed. 2 - Additional entries are written listing the reference counts for each procedure called. 3 - Additional entries are written listing the environment settings used by the program. Miscellaneous ------------- - Refresh data area (company) name and module and function codes shown by Proclient after exit from an F3 command (Unix only). ** Release 6.3v00 (Internal BETA Release) ** ======================================= Screen Customisation -------------------- - The addition of user defined modes for a screen is supported. These are expected to have trigger programs associated with them. - A VALIDATE_MODE trigger has been added. This trigger is called whenever the user selects a mode (prior to any processing of this mode). A non-zero exit status from the trigger program will flag that the mode is currently invalid. The runtime expects the trigger program to notify the user that the mode is not permitted. - You can now add a DISPLAY field showing the return value from a PRONTO trigger. - Additional allowed and disallowed value lists can be specified for ACCEPT fields. - Trigger programs are now automatically passed the parameters of the calling program. These parameters are appended to the parameter list specified for the trigger, and are preceded by a parameter containing "-params". If the calling program was not passed any parameters then the "-params" parameter is not appended to the parameters passed to the trigger. - The size of a window can now be changed. - Boxes (with or without a title) can now be added. An existing box can be suppressed, or have it's title changed. New Functions ------------- - Added the REPORT-IS-XML (report-name) function. This returns TRUE if the current report is being generated in XML format (FALSE otherwise). If there is no current report it will return TRUE if XML reporting is currently enabled. The report-name parameter is only required for named reports. - Added functions to enable/disable the tool bar and options in the main system (File) menu. The functions are ENABLE-SYSTEM-MENU (TRUE/FALSE) and ENABLE-TOOL-BAR (TRUE/FALSE). Miscellaneous ------------- - Added support for PRODISTDICT dictionary. This is in addition to the traditional PRODICT and PROUSRDICT dictionaries, and is intended for use by distributors. Utilities (e.g. proman/progen etc) do not recognise this new dictionary at present. - Ensure current/default value for field being ACCEPTed is always refreshed by PROCLIENT implementations. This value previously would not have been sent again to PROCLIENT if the runtime believed that it had not changed, however, there are circumstances where the user can change this value within PROCLIENT but not within the application. - Proadmin (the Unix 'pronto' login) no longer looks up the /etc/passwd file directly (unless required for a particular platform). - An alternative data grid navigation control is available (instead of the traditional scroll bar). - The vertical scroll bar for datagrid and review screens now supports moving to the start/end of the list, and basic paging using the thumb control. (Unix implementations require Proclient 6.2v04). - Fixed problem for mandatory (no default) fields that were not part of a primary table whereby in entry the previous entered value may not be cleared. - Data grid export to Excel now supports arrays (with literal subscripts). - Fixed problem when accepting a large (> 100 character) field when an allowed/disallowed was used. - Support added for long file names (up to 260 characters). SETUP.EXE for Windows installations ----------------------------------- - The PRONTO-4GL runtime SETUP.EXE has been rewritten. This is now a self extracting file (i.e. the runtime files are contained in the setup.exe itself), rather than being stored in a separate archive. - Workstation installation/upgrades must still be performed via the setup.exe located on the server. However, the files are extracted from the setup.exe rather than being copied from the installed server version of PRONTO. - Workstations still detect new server PRONTO versions in the same manner (i.e. a date/time comparision of prospl.exe). The workstation will be updated based on the files in the setup.exe (as previously mentioned). As such, you must not manually update runtime files on the server machine, as these updates will not be reflected in the setup.exe used by the workstations. NOTE ---- - Refer to release62.txt for runtime 6.2 release notes.