What's New on Volume 8?

by Karen Foley

With this new column, we'll give you more detail (briefly!) on the new and updated products on your accompanying CD-ROMs. We want to give you a better idea of what you might want to look at on the CDs.

New Products
Volume 8 brings a native OS/2 PostScript document viewer, PageTurner Version 1.0.4 by Magus. This limited-use version can read only the PostScript documents provided on your Volume 8 CD-ROMs. Using this faster version you can also print pages, sections, or the entire document on a non-PostScript printer.

Programmers using C or C++ will want to look into the reduced-function versions of HockWare's VisPro/C and VisPro/C++ on Volume 8. These native OS/2 tools are appealing, and the reduced functions should not prevent you from making a good assessment.

Graham Utilities offers a fully-functional subset of the tools in their standard product for you to try. There are a lot handy things for a developer to make managing files, directories, and more faster and easier.

Wish you could have gone to the IBM Technical Interchange in New Orleans? Look in the IBM OS/2 category on your CD-ROMs for some video clips that give a glimpse of what you missed. The set of four videos runs about six minutes altogether.

Do you access various BBS sites? AdeptSoft's AdeptXBBS OS/2 version (beta) provides a robust set of functions out of the box and exploits the 32-bit functions in OS/2. Give it a try!

Are you excited about IPF and Hyperwise? Then you might want to try two related products that make documentation even easier. IPF Review lets you view and comment on individual pages of an online IPF document and generate a report with all reviewers' comments to make editing easier. IPF Binder lets you select from existing online IPF panels and books in multiple sources and bind them together into a single new document, reducing authoring time wherever reuse is desirable.

The new Thunk compiler looks quite interesting, for use with the OS/2 Warp Thunk Interpreter. You'll also find the RePack tool is invaluable for use with packed files on OS/2 Warp.

Product Updates
Have you looked at IBM's Software Installer/2? SI/2 has been updated to Version 1.3, with English and other language support in one version. As a Developer Connection for OS/2 subscriber, you receive a complimentary SI/2 license. Complete the registration form in the Software Installer directory to get access to CompuServe forums or the Internet, online fixes and updates, and more. See the README for SI/2 for details.

There's a new version of DB2/2 on Volume 8 with many new enhancements, like user-defined types and functions, Large Object support, and new application development capabilities in the DB2 Software Development Kit.

The Communication Manager beta offers true 32-bit APIs and new interfaces for communication adapters, plus the integration of ANYNET.

IBM Directions
A recurring request has been for us to provide you more information on the directions in which IBM is heading. In Volume 8, we bring you more information on object-oriented (OO) technology. For your object-oriented database needs, consider the ObjectStore database from Object Design, Inc. IBM has selected this as the strategic direction for OO databases, complementing the use of DB2 for standard applications. Use Library Reader to view the IBM redbook on ObjectStore (located in the \BOOKS directory on disc 2 of your accompanying Developer Connection CD-ROMs).

Check out the expansion of the HTML book, Design Patterns. It now includes an option from the catalog to install the files needed to link to a server through the Internet to actually generate your own code using some of the design patterns discussed in the book.

Need information on device driver support for OS/2? IBM publishes monthly updates. For the latest version, refer to the Hardware Compatibility List in the Browser folder.

Conclusion
At the time we are going to print, we have over 40 new products or documents and over 80 updates - surely there's something here for everyone! Take a few minutes to complete the online survey located in the main Developer Connection folder. Let us know how we're doing and what you'd like to see more of in the future. If you have something to submit for evaluation for a future volume, tell us about that too. We want to bring you what you need to be successful!