Related Info: Resource Manager Help Manager List Manager Scrap Manager

Newsbits

By Neil Ticktin, Editor-in-Chief

Another New Inside Macintosh

Apple Computer, Inc. and Addison-Wesley Publishing Company have announced another volume in the new Inside Macintosh series, a completely revised and restructured edition of Apple’s definitive guide to developing software applications for Macintosh computers. Inside Macintosh is a series of books documenting the tools and resources incorporated into the Macintosh system software that enable programmers to develop creative and intuitive applications. The next volume of the new Inside Macintosh series is now available. It is Inside Macintosh: More Macintosh Toolbox.

A companion volume to Inside Macintosh: Toolbox Essentials, Inside Macintosh: More Macintosh Toolbox explains important features of the Macintosh Toolbox that enhance the usability of applications. This book describes important Macintosh features such as how to support copy and paste, provide Balloon help, and create control panels. The managers discussed include Help, List, Resource, and Scrap. Inside Macintosh: More Macintosh Toolbox also provides detailed information on how applications can create and use resources. Together these two volumes constitute the complete and authoritative reference to the Macintosh Toolbox. Inside Macintosh: More Macintosh Toolbox retails for $34.95, is 912 pages long and is available now.

For more information, contact Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 1 Jacob Way, Reading, MA 01867, Voice: 617/944-3700.

[You can get all of the Inside Macintosh volumes at your local bookstore or delivered to your door through the MacTech Magazine Mail Order Store. See Page 77 for more information. - Ed. nst]

Magreeable with you

(M)agreeable Software, Inc. has announced the release of B-Tree HELPER™ 2.1, the inexpensive database engine for Macintosh programmers.

B-Tree HELPER is now available as source code for both Think™ C and Think Pascal. It costs $150 for either version including shipping and handling. B-Tree HELPER is also available as DCOD resources to use with FutureBASIC™. The FutureBASIC version costs $75 including shipping and handling.

B-Tree HELPER gets space in a file in contiguous fixed length blocks; you determine block size at file creation, from 9 to 16,388 bytes. It releases space back to the free block pool. It expands the file as necessary, up to the maximum available on the media. It contracts files when possible.

B-Tree HELPER inserts keys in one or more B-Trees in one or more files; keys may be strings, integers, or any other data. It finds keys equal to, less than, or greater than a given value in a few hundredths of a second. It finds lists of records whose keys are equal to, less than, or greater than a given value or are in a range of values. It deletes keys.

B-Tree HELPER’s new FileMgr functions create or open files with a StandardFileReply record instead of an FSReply record or open files with shared access permission. (Sorry, shared writing is not implemented.)

The new search functions help you find a list of records. These functions include Find_All, Find_Equal, Find_Less, Find_Greater, and Find_Range and support functions to help you create complex searches.

For more information, contact (M)agreeable Software, Inc., 5925 Magnolia Lane, Plymouth, MN 55442-1573, Voice: 612/559-1108, AppleLink: MAGREEABLE, America Online: MAGREEABLE, CompuServe: 72167,1700.

68k Assembler porting tool

MicroAPL Ltd of London, England, has announced the general availability of PortAsm, a source-code translation tool which converts 680x0 assembly language applications to run native on Apple Computer Inc.’s next-generation Power Macintosh computers.

PortAsm takes assembly-language source code, and translates it to PowerPC RISC assembler source which is then assembled and linked using Apple’s standard tools to produce a fully native application. By analyzing the context of the 680x0 instructions, efficient PowerPC equivalents are emitted. In addition, the translator automatically adjusts parameter passing to adapt to Apple’s new runtime architecture for Power Macintosh systems. Assembly-language code which calls or is called by C is fully supported. Symbolic debugging, using the original 680x0 source file, is available in conjunction with Apple’s PowerPC debugger.

Already in use by major Macintosh developers (i.e., WordPerfect), PortAsm will now be made widely available running under the Macintosh Programmer’s Workshop.

PortAsm prices start at $750 for developers who have small amounts of code to translate. MicroAPL also provides consulting, training and porting services to assist in the transition to Power Macintosh, although PortAsm is easy to use and special skills are not generally necessary.

For more information, contact MicroAPL Ltd, South Bank Technopark, 90 London Road, London SE1 6LN, United Kingdom, Voice: (+44) 71 922 8866, Fax: (+44) 71 928 1006, AppleLink: MICROAPL.

PreFab for Script writers

PreFab Software has announced PreFab Player which adds to Frontier or AppleScript the ability to control applications, desk accessories and control panels that lack sufficient Apple event support. Player is the first user interface automation utility that is tightly integrated with standard system-level scripting products. Script writers do not have to learn a new language, or switch back and forth between their familiar scripting environment and an external macro program to create workarounds for missing Apple events. Like a player piano, PreFab Player mimics user input, choosing from menus, selecting items in dialog boxes and typing into documents. Mission-critical applications can be automated today, without waiting for developers to add support for Apple events.

PreFab Player works around these problems by directly driving the user interface. Choose menus, set check boxes, select radio buttons, choose from pop-ups, click buttons, navigate a file dialog, type text - all under script control.

Unlike QuicKeys and Tempo, which are stand-alone macro utilities, Player is a supplement to Frontier or AppleScript. Each macro program has its own environment for creating & editing scripts, its own method for storing & exchanging scripts, and its own set of extensions & utilities. Player leaves these issues to a standard system-level scripting system.

PreFab Player consists of a system extension and either a Frontier UCMD or an AppleScript OSAX. It is priced like a runtime product: $25 for quantity 1, $20 each for 10 or more. Player will ship in the first half of 1994.

For more information, contact PreFab Software, Inc., 34 Bartlett St., Somerville, MA 02145, Voice: 617/628-9555, Fax: 617/628-9555, CompuServe: 70214,424.

EZ-Script for TCL

GUI Dude Software has announced TCL EZ-Script, a Think C library that adds Frontier/AppleScript Scripting and Recording to applications written using Symantec’s Think Class Library. The $349 library, which comes complete with royalty-free source code, helps developers support Apple’s Core Suite as defined in the AppleEvent Registry maintained by Apple. TCL EZ-Script leapfrogs the several-month learning curve developers must go through to implement object-model compliant applications, and provides a true object-oriented class hierarchy extensible with custom objects and messages. Saving trees, time, and shipping costs was another goal so TCL EZ-Script (including documentation) ships online.

For more information, contact GUI Dude Software, 667 Corte Raquel, San Marcos, CA 92069-7320, AppleLink: GUI.DUDE, CompuServe: 73061,2270.

Apple spins out user groups

Apple Computer, Inc. has announced it has negotiated a three-year contract with User Group Connection. User Group Connection is a privately held company that was formed out of the nucleus of Apple’s former user group department.

The contract provides for User Group Connection to continue overall management of the Apple user group program and to maintain the relationship between Apple and user group members. In addition, the User Group Connection announced several new marketing opportunities for vendors.

By making the internal user group management function an independent company, user group members get access to expanded information. User Group Connection continues to interface closely with Apple to provide Apple-specific product and program information, but has the additional advantage of providing information from other companies as well. For example, User Group Connection distributes a monthly mailing that includes detailed information about software solutions from outside vendors in addition to Apple hardware products.

User Group Connection broadens visibility and elevates interest in user groups as a qualified target market. User Group Connection has devised several new programs to reach this target. These programs include customized mailings to user groups; sponsorship of the Macworld user group breakfast meetings in San Francisco and Boston; and promotion of developer products on UG-TV, a periodic satellite broadcast to user groups.

An additional benefit to user groups is the User Group Member Purchase Program. This program allows members of Apple Authorized user groups to buy refurbished Apple equipment at reduced rates.

User groups interested in becoming Apple Authorized should call 800/538-9696, ext. 500. Vendors interested in exploring marketing opportunities through User Group Connection can call Sam Decker, Manager of Vendor Relations, at 408/461-5725.

For more information, contact User Group Connection, Voice: 408/461-5700, AppleLink: USER.GROUPS, America Online: APPLE UGC.