sci240s@monu6.cc.monash.edu.au (mr w.j. ho) (03/08/91)
Has anyone seen ObjectVision in action or used it? How good is it ? Does this mean that most simple programs for Windows 3.0 can be developed without the traditional C or C++ programming ? Or is it only good for "simple" programs ( "toy" programs ) and not really powerful enough for serious work? Any users of ObjectVision, PLEASE comment! -- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^ Wey Jing Ho Tel: 61-3-5732567 E-mail : sci240s@monu6.cc.monash.edu.au ^ ^ Physics Dept., Monash University ( Caulfield Campus ), Melbourne, AUSTRALIA ^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
daveb@merlin.wpd.sgi.com (Dave Babcock) (03/12/91)
In <1991Mar7.235850.9265@monu6.cc.monash.edu.au> sci240s@monu6.cc.monash.edu.au (mr w.j. ho) writes: | Has anyone seen ObjectVision in action or used it? How good is it ? | Does this mean that most simple programs for Windows 3.0 can be developed | without the traditional C or C++ programming ? Or is it only good for "simple" | programs ( "toy" programs ) and not really powerful enough for serious work? | | Any users of ObjectVision, PLEASE comment! | | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ | Wey Jing Ho Tel: 61-3-5732567 E-mail : sci240s@monu6.cc.monash.edu.au ^ | Physics Dept., Monash University ( Caulfield Campus ), Melbourne, AUSTRALIA ^ | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I just saw ObjectVision demonstrated last week at a Windows/OS2 tradeshow. I was so impressed, that I bought it on the spot. I've been using it for a week now and am almost done with building my first application. What follows are my comments on the product. ObjectVision is basically a front-end to a database. The database can either be Paradow (which is what I use), dBase, Btrieve or flat Ascii. ObjectVision can create/read/write any of these and has it's own database interface modules - you don't need the database system on your machine to access one of its databases (I'm not positive about this because I do have Paradox on my machine). You do not need to do any "programming" in the classic sense to build an ObjectVision application. Everything is done graphically using Windows the way it was meant to be used. You draw the screen; select functions, etc from selector boxes; perform actions from pull-down menus; etc. Your ObjectVision application becomes a set of linked forms (aka screens) with fill in fields. The contents of these fields can come from one or more databases, be calculated, entered by the user (direct typing, from a selection window, check boxes, etc.). Fields can then be (re-)written to the database as new records or updated records. The "glue" which ties all of the forms and fields together are a series of decision trees which the developer creates for each field. Again, these decision trees are created interactively and graphically with little need to type anything. The one limitation I've come across is that ObjectVision can access several databases/files/tables at once but does not directly support the 1-to-many relationship. For my specific application, there is a workaround (which the ObjectVision product manager showed me) but in general, it's not supported. He said that it would be in a future version. The product packaging is typical Borland - excellent. You get a quick reference booklet, a tutorial and a reference manual plus sample applications on the disc. I've found the use of the product to be very intuitive - I've rarely opened the manual. I think that they plan to sell it for $395 (US$) but for a limited time it's only $99 (US$). I got mine for $94 on a show special. At this price it is well worth the investment, at least for me. If you develop applications for someone else to run (which is what I'm doing now) you can purchase a runtime version of ObjectVision so that they don't need to buy the whole development package. I don't know the availability or cost of this - I wanted to make sure it worked for my application before buying the runtime stuff. Although I've only used it for 1 week I've gotten into it pretty far and have been impressed (in case you couldn't tell). BTW, I have no association to Borland other than being a satisfied customer of Paradox, Turbo Pascal, Turbo C++ Professional (I can't wait to get the new C++ and Windows Pascal) and now ObjectVision. I hope that this answers your questions. DaveB +-----------------------------------+--------------------------------------+ | Dave Babcock | Internet: daveb@wpd.sgi.com | | Silicon Graphics Computer Systems | | | P.O. Box 7311 - M/S 9U-530 | Voice: (415) 335-1547 | | 2061 N. Shoreline Blvd. | (800) 326-1020 22226253 | | Mountain View, CA 94039-7311 | (BABCOCKD) | +-----------------------------------+ Msgs: (800) 326-1020 *1547 | | ** Views expressed are my own. ** | Fax: (415) 969-2314 | +-----------------------------------+--------------------------------------+