Hello,

I am looking at OI to develop an application. I hope this is an approproiate place to ask my questions.

My experience has been mainly UniVerse/Unix/NT and D3/NT. With no GUI development. I have used SB+ on a very limited basis. I downloaded the evaluation of OI and I liked the product.

One of the questions I have is related to print jobs. In D3/NT you have the peqs file and are able to manipulate the print jobs, save then for later, print and reprint ect. In the UniVerse/Unix environment we used a package called JRT Spooler that gave us this functionality. In the UniVerse/NT environment I have worked in uses the Windows spooler which is very limited in what I can do. (at least with as much as I know). There is a package that can be purchased to get the functionality I need. Anyway, I would like to know how this is handled in OI. The application I wish to develop deals with a lot of printing.

Another question is do the users telnet into a server or is there actually processing taking place at the workstations?

Thanks for any input you may have.

Thanks,

Pat

Welcome, Patrick.

This is as good a place as any to ask questions about OI.

In terms of spooling, Windows applications all direct their output via standard function calls, and a printer device driver (supplied by the printer manufacturer). OI achieves this using the OIPI printer interface, which makes calls direct to the Windows 32 bit API.

So in a nutshell, any standard Windows app tends to use Windows to do its spooling. However, you could always pursue OI's ability to send printer output to file, and then write your own print job manager to then submit these job files to the printer.

What features did you specifically require?

Steve

The Sprezzatura Group

World Leaders in all things RevSoft

Patrick,

I too have done lots of work in UniVerse within HP Unix. Also UniVerse within the NT environment. Now I am not an expert, although I do believe I have some input that might be of interest to you.

I currently have customers using UniVerse within HP Unix, and will have new customers using OI within Windows.

As far as I know, you can NOT telnet into the server when using OI. There IS processing taking place on the workstation. I do not know the actual specs on this.

I too have had alot of interest in the "spooler" system. I have done a "work around" in OI. I sequentially write to a file and then from there I have a window "program" that processes the printing. It does allow me to view the report on the screen and print it as often as I wish without reprocessing.

OI has the capability to sequentially write, although it is definately not the same as in UniVerse.

UV OPENSEQ, OI OSOPEN

UV CLOSESEQ, OI OSCLOSE

UV READSEQ, OI OSBREAD

UV WRITESEQ, OI OSBWRITE

I guess what I am saying is that it is possible and you might have to do extra work to achieve the results. And probably there are others in this forum that have done what you are about to do, so assistance seems to be here for almost anything you need.

Test out the actual printing so you can see the results. Check out OIPI, I believe you can get a free trial version.

At this moment, I can not think of other significant differences except for one. The dictionaries are a bit different. Currently there is no way to "associate" multi-value fields. Since I do not use the "LIST" verb to produce reports, I do not have much of a problem with this. I do use the "SELECT" verb.

The actual "BASIC" programming has a few differences. Like, LOCATE, STOP, FMT, PRINTER, INPUT, PRINT, REMOVE, EXECUTE, PERFORM, and some of the "@" variables. There are others too, just can't think of them at this time.

If you got questions, this is definately the place to ask them.

Hi Patrick,

Sprezz and Richard gave you great information. Most of our background is primarily AREV and OpenInsight, but we do have some people with origins in Pick and UniVerse.

Although your question regarding the way OI runs in Windows was answered, it was kind of given indirectly. Yes, OI is a true Windows application and therefore is executing on the workstation. In previous incarnations of OpenInsight there was practically no way to off-load the work to an external database engine (other than creating a dedicated machine and writing your own process manager) and therefore all queries against the database were done locally. This had the consequence of preventing the end user from working in the application while the query was being processed.

With OI 4.1.x, we now have the ability to launch multiple engines on our local machine (which simulates multi-threading) as well as make calls to engines running on a remote machine (which simulates client-server). Either way, we now have a more robust and flexible environment to develop applications in. Therefore, we don't TelNet into OI because it is a Windows app. OI can reside on Novell, NT, or any other NOS that can provide file access to a Windows application (we are supporting an AREV application which is being served from a Unix drive.)

As Sprezz mentioned, output is generally handled through the Windows Print Engine and API. This means that print jobs are not as easy to spool off and print/preview at will. However, if you have legacy print code you can port this into OI and use an add-on product called DirectPrint to send these print jobs direct to the port/printer. FYI, the OIPI comes free with OI.

As with any new environment you will have questions, likes, and dislikes. Please continue to ask your questions here so that you can overcome any hurdles without getting too frustrated.

[email protected]

SRP Computer Solutions, Inc.

I am looking at OI to develop an application. I hope this is an appropriate place to ask my questions.

As others have so rightfully responded there isn't a better place!

My experience has been mainly UniVerse/Unix/NT and D3/NT. With no GUI development. I have used SB+ on a very limited basis. I downloaded the evaluation of OI and I liked the product.

You're coming from a good place - the original developers were PR1ME Information developers so a lot of this is going to be second nature to you. Like SB+ OI uses template files for it's 4GL screens but we think you'll find that OI's 4GL is a lot more flexible as it doesn't need to maintain compatibility with other non Windows GUI environments. This means that you can write "proper" Windows applications more readily. Personally I haven't used SB+ since the late 80's when I wrote an SB+ to AREV conversion package - long since dead.

Another question is do the users telnet into a server or is there actually processing taking place at the workstations?

This question is slightly alien to Windows developers as we're not used to a terminal based environment. However using more modern flavours of Windows like Win2K Server you can use terminal server to achieve this sort of functionality. However NORMALLY the user runs the application on the workstation with the datafiles and binaries residing on a central server. It is posisble to also have the binaries on a local workstation and just attach the datafiles on a central server.

Hopefully you didn't make big use of newproc like routines and non databasic correlatives as these are the areas of major divergence in OI from the Pick standard - although with the increasing influx of Pick people it is only a matter of time before some enterprising company comes up with conversion tools!

The Sprezzatura Group

World Leaders in all things RevSoft

Patrick,

Greetings and Salutations ..

Like many here I started out in the 'PICK' world. Actually on a PRIME box in the late '70s then into PICK in 83. Until I found a wonderful little product called Revelation. Man .. what a find that was And except for only a couple of times I have not regretted spending most of my time in the "Rev" world.

Most all you questions have been answered so I wont bore you with more of the same .. just wanted to say HI and let you know there are alot of 'Alternate' MVs out here

Be sure to ask if you get stuck. This is a great group of people.

[email protected] onmouseover=window.status=the new revelation technology .. a refreshing change;return(true)"

David Tod Sigafoos ~ SigSolutions

Phone: 971-570-2005

OS: Win2k sp2 (5.00.2195)

OI: 4.1

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