New dBASE PLUS 9 Programmers Editor

The new editor in dBASE PLUS 9 brings new programmer functionality that will help developers increase their productivity and get their jobs done faster and with more consistency.  The new editor has an extensive list of valuable built-in features reading dBASE code easier than ever before.  Some of these great features include:

·         End of Line: (now know where the end-of-line mark is)

·         Code Folding: (lots of code, reduce the length and focus on only the code you need)

·         Indentation Guides:  (help better document the code)

·         Line Numbers: (Know the exact line number in the code and use in combination with bookmarks)

·         Comment line:  (Simple key-combination for commenting out a line or uncommenting a line)

·         Comment Block:  (Simple key-combination for commenting out a block of code or uncommenting out a block of code)

·         Make selection upper case:  (Simple editor tool, make the selected text ALL UPPER CASE)

·         Make selection lower case (Simple editor tool, make the selected text all lower case)

NEW – dComplete™ - Code completion for dBASE!

The #1 requested feature of dBASE, code completion.  Now dBASE PLUS 9 has dComplete™ our version of code completion, code insight, intellisense, or whatever you want to call it, is now available inside dBASE.  dComplete™ is very useful in the new editor, when the prediction is based on a list of words in one or more languages.  dBASE PLUS 9’s displays the technical texts a word list of terms in that field is used and auto-fills the text in place.  dComplete™ speeds up human-computer interactions in environments to which it is well suited.

New – dBlocks™ - Code snippet insertion for dBASE!

Allows users to use code-shortcuts to enable snippets of code to be inserted in to the editor.  Not only does this save time and speed development it also reduces common typing mistakes.  dBlocks™ can be user-enhanced with individual additions to the dBlocks™ file.

35% more keyboard editor commands

Productivity is all about not breaking the flow and dBASE PLUS 9 increases the number of functions that can be accomplished in the new editor with keyboard shortcuts.  No longer having to stop typing to click the mouse to do an operation, now just combine a few keys and get the operation done fast!

CTRL-{num pad} + (zoom bigger)

CTRL-{num pad} – (zoom smaller)

CTRL-Q (Toggle Comments – lines or blocks)

ALT-SHIFT-á (Column selecting and highlighting going up)

ALT-SHIFT-â (Column selecting and highlighting going down)

Plus many, many more options…

New dLocator™ - Find in files functionality

New – dPreview™ - print preview functionality

Now preview what could be printed before wasting paper.  This feature works with dBASE Forms, Programs, or Reports.  Click for CTRL-P to preview, then click the Print to finish the task.

New – dBabel™ – multi-language editing support

No need to have multiple editors on a machine now, dBASE can handle the work.  The new editor allows various other languages to be worked with from within the IDE.  These languages include xBASE and dBL of course, but it also allows for plain Text, SQL, JavaScript, HTML, XML, and others.  The support currently brings context sensitive highlighting, code folding and other coding tools to dBASE 9.

New – dExtract™ - extract code, forms, reports to different file types

The new editor now allows you to export out your files in various useful formats that make working with and sharing much easier and safer than before.  The new output formats include HTML, RTF, PDF, LaTex, and XML.

New – Code Hints – help docs as quick as a mouse hover

The new editor will now display code hints to help people create code quickly with updated material from the documentation.

dbfExplorer™

This new dbf Utility allows users to quickly see what the dBASE file extensions are all about.  Now with this Windows® plug-in the user can click on a dBASE based file and understand in depth information about the file and its extension.

dBASE PLUS 9 – Code Folding

Code Folding: (lots of code, reduce the length and focus on only the code you need)

dBASE PLUS 9 – Line numbers

Know the exact line number in the code

dBASE PLUS 9 – White Space Indicators

Now with one ‘●’ representation, know exactly where the spaces are in a line, used in combination with End of Line Indicators and Indentation Guides makes a very powerful set of tools.

dBASE PLUS 9 – End of Line Indicators

Know where the line ends and how it was ended.  The End of Line Indicators work in combination with White Space Indicators and Indentation Guides.

dBASE PLUS 9 – Indentation Guides

Well-defined and well-structured code makes it easier to read and ultimately understand.  Use the new Indentation Guides to ensure code is lining up from line to line and from indentation to indentation.

dBASE PLUS 9 – Customization

dBASE PLUS 9 allows the new editor to be fully customized, which allows the users to make the environment fit their personalities and make using the product easier, faster, and more enjoyable to use.

dBASE PLUS 9 – Full Context Highlighting

Simplify the readability and understanding with full Context Sensitive Highlighting of dBASE programs as well as other programming languages.  dBASE PLUS 9 now gives the ability either through the configuration property editor or through the properties files the ability to customize the display of information for easier consumption.

dBASE PLUS 9 – Addition of ActiveX Controls

dBASE has always had the ability to run ActiveX controls since they were introduced by Microsoft.  dBASE has started to add additional ActiveX controls to the product to fill-in areas of functionality that is currently missing from the standard components included in dBASE PLUS 9.

The new controls are focused on areas people have requested:

·         dJvClockX Control – A quick clock control for standing time management. Support both digital and analog look and feel, support Dates, and it also has full support for Alarms.

·         dJvDriveComboX Control – This is a simple window Drive combobox. It will show all the registered drives on a system. Find and interact with those drives in a couple clicks.

·         dJvDirectoryListBox Control – This is a Directory listing component and can be easily connected to the dJvDriveComboX component. This will allow for traversing a drive and directory on a registered drive. Many advanced features are included with its Properties, Methods, and Events.

·         dJvFileListBoxX Control – dJvFileListBoxX is a file listbox that shows all of the files inside a particular directory on a registered drive. This component works very well with both the dJvDriveCombo Control and the dJvDirectoryListBox control. This component has many advanced features that are exposed from its Properties, Methods, and Events.

·         dJvRichTextEdit Control – Have full RTF capability with the ActiveX control.

dBASE PLUS 9 also supports 3rd party ActiveX components. The .ocx or .dll that are accompanied with the ActiveX’s must be deployed with your application.

dBASE PLUS 9 – New Application Look & Feel

The new dBASE PLUS 9 IDE as the new Look & Feel introduced with dBASE PLUS 8, now those UI Themes can be used in your projects as well.  A couple of lines can be added to the shipping applications .ini file or use the Project Manager to add the specific UI Theme during the build process.