April 2003

More About eDeveloper and the
Enterprise Server Version 9.4

Dear Developer,

We are proud to introduce eDeveloper Version 9.4 and the Enterprise Server, part of the eBusiness platform.

eDeveloper V9.4 provides enhanced performance and stability, solves many user-reported problems, and provides further usability improvements.

Read the information below to find out more about this latest version of eDeveloper.

General Information. 2

n New Licenses. 2

n eDeveloper for iSeries SQL client 2

n eDeveloper for iSeries ISAM client 2

Change of Behavior in Version 9.4. 2

n Mixed Case Function Names. 2

n Optimizing Environment Settings Management in Enterprise Server Engines. 2

n Optimizing User File Management in Enterprise Server Engines. 2

n Modifying Location and Size of eDeveloper Window.. 2

n Component Builders Modifications. 2

n XML Component Generator Modifications. 2

New Features and Modifications in Version 9.4. 3

n New Application Option. 3

n COM Object Support 3

n COM Interface. 3

n Drag and Drop Support 3

n Tree Control Support 3

n MSMQ Messaging Capabilities. 3

n JMS Messaging capabilities. 3

n MQ Series Messaging capabilities. 3

n SNMP Monitoring Support 3

n Java Objects Support 3

n Call Public. 3

n Public Events. 3

n Block Loop. 3

n Print Data. 4

n LDAP Integration. 4

n Encryption Functionality. 4

n Browser Client - Supporting Parallel Transactions. 4

n Browser Client - Caching the Subform View.. 4

n Memory Table Persistence. 4

n Vector Support 4

n Buffer Management 4

n Remote Flow Monitor 4

n Enhanced Checker 4

n Tools Infrastructure. 4

n The Application Wizard. 4

n List Box – Multi-Selection Support 4

n Shared Values Support 4

n Pack and Unpack Global Values. 5

n Handling Time Values in Milliseconds. 5

n Table Owner – Table Property – Support Logical Name. 5

n Handling Valid Data for XML Documents. 5

General Information

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n New Licenses

eDeveloper Version 9.4 requires new licenses.
For more information on the new license and how to acquire it, please refer to the Guide to Installation and License Management.

n eDeveloper for iSeries SQL client

eDeveloper Version 9.4 provides the release version of the eDeveloper for iSeries SQL client 9.4-0

If you installed the eDeveloper for iSeries SQL client 9.4-0 you can read more about it in the README400.htm file.

n eDeveloper for iSeries ISAM client

eDeveloper Version 9.4 provides the updated version of the eDeveloper for iSeries ISAM client 9.4-0

If you installed the eDeveloper for iSeries ISAM client 9.4-0 you can read more about it in the README400sql.htm file.

Change of Behavior in Version 9.4

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n Mixed Case Function Names

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The function names have been changed from upper-case-only strings to mixed-case strings.

Functions of export files from previous versions are imported properly.

n Optimizing Environment Settings Management in Enterprise Server Engines

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When a context is created on the Enterprise Server, it loads a copy of the Magic.ini file. Each context keeps its own copy of the Magic.ini file, which means that changes made to the INI file using an INIPUT operation that forces the entry to be written in the INI file will only be loaded by new contexts.

n Optimizing User File Management in Enterprise Server Engines

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In previous versions whenever a user-related functionality was required, the engine would read the users file directly from the disk or update it.

Starting with eDeveloper 9.4, the users file is loaded to the memory of the engine process, eliminating the IO interaction.

Any modification of the users list, such as evaluating the UserAdd function, results in updating the users file with the updated users list.

The process re-loads the users file every 60 minutes so that it can be updated with any modifications to the users list that might have been introduced by a different engine.

n Modifying Location and Size of eDeveloper Window

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In Version 8, you could affect the location and dimensions of the eDeveloper window using INI settings: MDIleft, MDItop, MDIright, MDIbottom

Starting from Version 9.00, the location and dimensions of the windows have been kept in the registry, which did not allow these settings to be automatically modified.

In eDeveloper 9.4 you can override these settings by making additions to the Magic.ini file in a similar way to the way it was done in V8. Any modification introduced to the location and dimensions will still be updated and kept in the registry.

n Component Builders Modifications

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The Component builder utility of eDeveloper previous versions has been divided into separated builders, where each builder is dedicated to a specific interface (eDeveloper interface, WSDL, EJB and the new COM interface).

The data that was already entered in the previous builder should be separated and converted to enable the new builders to properly handle this data.
If you wish to keep the component builder data of previous versions you should download a conversion utility.

n XML Component Generator Modifications

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The structure of the information stored by the XML Component Generator has been modified.

The data that was already entered in the XML Component Generator of a previous build should be converted to allow the new XML Component Generator to properly handle this data.
If you wish to keep the XML Component Generator data of previous versions you should download a conversion utility.

New Features and Modifications in Version 9.4

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n New Application Option

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You can easily create new applications using a New Application dialog available from the New option on the File menu.

For more information on the New Application option, refer to the Magic Reference Guide.

n COM Object Support

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eDeveloper provides you with full functionality to handle OLE objects and Active-X controls.

For more information on how to handle COM objects, refer to the Magic Reference Guide.

n COM Interface

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Any eDeveloper application programs can be executed as COM object methods using a COM interface.

eDeveloper provides a COM interface builder that lets you easily create a COM interface for your applications.

For more information on the COM interface builder, refer to the Magic Reference Guide.

n Drag and Drop Support

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You can easily provide Drag and Drop functionality in your applications using the new Drag and Drop support. With eDeveloper 9.4 you can Drag and Drop between an eDeveloper application and other applications, and within a single eDeveloper application.

For more information on the Drag and Drop functionality, refer to the Magic Reference Guide.

n Tree Control Support

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You can easily display hierarchical data in a Tree format using the new integrated data-bound Tree control for GUI forms.

For more information on the Tree control, refer to the Magic Reference Guide.

n MSMQ Messaging Capabilities

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You can use the eDeveloper Messaging component to take advantage of messaging capabilities via a Microsoft Messaging Queue server.

Note that currently Peek or View Access to MSMQ is not supported.

For more information on the Messaging features, refer to the Magic’s Messaging Connectivity Components document.

n JMS Messaging capabilities

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You can use the eDeveloper Messaging component to take advantage of messaging capabilities via any messaging server that supports JMS.

For more information on the Messaging features, refer to the Magic’s Messaging Connectivity Components document.

n MQ Series Messaging capabilities

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You can use the eDeveloper Messaging component to take advantage of the messaging capabilities via the MQ Series messaging server.

For more information on the Messaging features, refer to Magic’s Messaging Connectivity Components document.

n SNMP Monitoring Support

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The enterprise server inherently supports SNMP monitors sending SNMP trap messages. You can also have your application send application trap messages using SNMP related functions.

For more information about SNMP in Magic, refer to the Magic Reference Guide.

n Java Objects Support

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You can handle and interact with any Java object using a collection of eDeveloper functions.

eDeveloper provides a Java Access generator that easily lets you generate an application that handles a selected Java object.

For more information about Java related functions and the Java Access generator, refer to the Magic Reference Guide.

n Call Public

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A new Call operation mode lets you define a dynamic call to a program by its public name. The called program can be a program in the current application or in another application.

For more information about the Call Public operation, refer to the Magic Reference Guide.

n Public Events

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You can set user-defined events in the Main Program to be exposed to other applications that are loaded as components.

Exposed user-defined events can be raised from a loaded component using the Public Event new type of the Raise event operation.

For more information about Public Events, refer to the Magic Reference Guide.

n Block Loop

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There is a new Block operation mode that lets you create cyclic sections of operations.

For more information on the Block loop operation, refer to the Magic Reference Guide.

n Print Data

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This new feature provides the end-user the ability to output the data of the current view in various formats.

For more information on the Print Data capability, refer to the Magic Reference Guide.

n LDAP Integration

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eDeveloper provides enhanced authorization capabilities using LDAP services.

For more information about LDAP connectivity and LDAP-related functions, refer to the Magic Reference Guide.

n Encryption Functionality

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eDeveloper provides new functions to cipher and decipher data.
The encryption-related functions are Cipher and Decipher.

For more information about these functions, refer to the Magic Reference Guide.

n Browser Client - Supporting Parallel Transactions

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Starting with this version, browser-client applications can handle several transactions at the same time.

You can use a browser client application to open a nested deferred transaction that will be independent of its ancestor transactions.

n Browser Client - Caching the Subform View

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Version 9.4 provides further optimization of the browser-client technology by enabling you to set the view of the subforms to be cached locally on the client side.

For more information refer to the documentation on the Is Cached property of the subform control in the Magic Reference Guide or the eDeveloper Help.

n Memory Table Persistence

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Using two new functions, MTblGet and MtblSet, you can keep the content of memory tables persistent so that the memory-table content can be stored and transferred as needed.

For more information about these functions, refer to the Magic Reference Guide.

n Vector Support

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A new set of functions lets you handle vector fields that allow you to pass and receive vector values between applications and third party applications.
The vector-related functions are VecSet, VecGet, VecCellAttr, and VecSize.

For more information about these functions, refer to the Magic Reference Guide.

n Buffer Management

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A new set of functions lets you handle buffer content that can be communicated with legacy applications. The buffer management functions are:
BufGetAlpha, BufGetBit, BufGetBlob, BufGetDate, BufGetLog, BufGetNum, BufGetTime, BufGetVariant, BufGetVector, BufSetAlpha, BufSetBit, BufSetBlob, BufSetDate, BufSetLog, BufSetNum, BufSetTime, BufSetVariant, BufSetVector.

For more information on these functions refer to the Magic Reference Guide.

n Remote Flow Monitor

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The remote flow monitor has been enhanced with more options to control the varying context of a background server.

For more information on the remote flow monitor, refer to the Magic Reference Guide.

n Enhanced Checker

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eDeveloper offers an enhanced syntax checker that displays the result messages in a separate floating and dockable window, with easy navigational capabilities. You can control the display of the checker results using various environment settings.

For more information about the enhanced checker and the checker-related environment settings, refer to the Magic Reference Guide.

n Tools Infrastructure

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You can utilize the new tools infrastructure, which lets you manipulate your applications using a collection of operations and enhance your development platform by adding user-defined tool applications.

For more information on the Tools infrastructure, refer to the Magic Reference Guide.

n The Application Wizard

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The Application Wizard is an eDeveloper application that takes advantage of the Tools infrastructure to provide a user-friendly interface for creating various application objects.

To run the application wizard, click the Application wizard option on the Tools menu from an open application.

n List Box – Multi-Selection Support

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The list box GUI control supports a multiple selection mode.

For more information about the list box multiple selection support, refer to the Magic Reference Guide.

n Shared Values Support

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Shared values are similar to Global values that are set by SetParam. However, unlike global values, which are only available to the context that created them, shared values are shared and available from all contexts of the same server process.

You can use the SharedValGet and SharedValSet functions to handle Shared values.

For more information about these functions, refer to the Magic Reference Guide.

n Pack and Unpack Global Values

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You can transmit global values that are set by the SetParam function from one context to another using the ParamsPack and ParamsUnpack functions.

For more information about these functions, refer to the Magic Reference Guide.

n Handling Time Values in Milliseconds

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You can retrieve and handle time values in milliseconds using three new functions: mTime, mTStr, mTVal.

For more information about these functions, refer to the Magic Reference Guide.

n Table Owner – Table Property – Support Logical Name

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The Table property of Table Owner can be defined using a logical name that will be translated every time the table is opened. This enhances the ability to define the table’s definition using logical names and thereby enables you to dynamically set the table definition at runtime.

For more information about this property, refer to the Magic Reference Guide.

n Handling Valid Data for XML Documents

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XML documents created by Merge forms must be converted to replace all special and illegal characters to a valid representation of these characters.
You can convert regular strings to valid XML strings and vice versa using the new XMLVal and XMLStr functions.

A new property of the Merge form, XML Output, automatically converts all strings to valid XML data.

For more information about this property and these new functions, refer to the Magic Reference Guide.

Thank you,

The eDeveloper Team