Borland International Inc has added details and pricing to its Visual dBase 5.5 relational database management software and Visual dBase compiler, both of which support Microsoft Corp’s Windows 3.1 and Windows95. More then 100 new features have been added to the software since version 5.0 came out in August last year (CI No 2,476), according to the company. Among these is visual inheritance, whereby users can create their own libraries of control and forms, and if any changes are made to an object component in the library, any application using that object would be updated accordingly. The latest version of the software includes four new experts – step-by-step guides that help users create the most commonly-used structures. The Table Expert enables users to mix and match fields to create customised databases. As well as Xbase formats, separate drivers are available to create SQL databases and Open Database Connectivity-compliant formats. The Report Expert points the way to four widely-used report formats and the quick address feature in the Label Expert searches for frequently-used field names and automatically designs address formats. The Form Expert has been improved so that tabbed, multi-page forms can be created easily, said the company. Property builders are for developers and higher-end users to do such tasks as creating arrays and lists of fields without any coding. They are created visually using dialogue-type boxes. Visual dBase supports many of the features of Windows95, including long file names, extended file attributes, Object Linking & Embedding 2.0 and various Microsoft interface standards. The separate compiler integrates into Visual dBase 5.5 and users can provide executable dBase applications free of royalties. It includes a help compiler that developers can use to generate help files written in widely-used word processors. The resource workshop in the compiler is a set of tools for creating bitmaps and icons. The application deployer completes the last stage of the developer’s job by adding an install engine, compressing files and distributing them across disks. The compiler needs Visual dBase to be installed before it can work. Borland recommends 8Mb RAM for Visual dBase 5.5 and 30Mb of disk space. Visual dBase 5.5 will cost ú350, with the compiler retailing separately at ú230. A client-server version is available, which comprises dBase, the compiler, a local Interbase server and non-deployable SQL links and goes for ú500. Two upgrade paths are offered:from the MS-DOS version or 5.0 to 5.5 will cost ú60 and to the client-server version, ú200. All are available in the US and the UK this week.
