New Products

XVT-Power++ 3.2, the first module of XVT DSC++ to ship, includes enhancements such as Portable Images, Portable Native Font Access, and a Portable Hypertext Help System. XVT-Architect 1.0, the second component, provides a graphical interface for developing portable C++ applications. XVT-Architect provides point-and-click interaction with the XVT=Power++ object hierarchy, providing easier access to the functionality of the application framework.

XVT-Architect is used through the entire application development process. Three modules comprise XVT-Architect: an object hierarchy browser, a GUI builder, and an object attribute editor with class browser. XVT-Architect provides GUI functions including notepad, drag-and-drop palettes, toolbars, and tear-off palettes.

The Rogue Wave Tools.h++ library is the third component of XVT-DSC++. This library of data structures contains more than 100 classes for data, string, and character manipulation.

XVT DSC++ is licensed on a development seat basis for $2,325 on personal computers or $7,500 on workstations. There are no additional user licensing fees or royalties on applications. For more information contact XVT Software Inc., 4900 Pearl East Circle, Boulder, CO 80301, +1-303-443-4223; FAX: +1-303-443-0969.

OEW provides parsing and reverse engineering capabilities for importing code, including incomplete projects or syntactically incorrect code. OEW can import programs or class libraries and provides a means to merge the imported code with a new or existing application and then regenerate the application. OEW can generate the database schema for ObjectStore from Object Design, Inc. or for POET from Poet Software, providing integration with OODBMSs.

Innovative Software has released a "Small Project Edition" (SPE) of OEW — a technically limited version of the full OEW for C++ product, supplied free of charge for evaluation purposes. The SPE provides the functionality of the full implementation, but cannot save sizable projects. The SPE is available on CD-ROM in both English and German versions, and is also available via CompuServe or the Internet.

Terasoft Technology Corporation is the exclusive provider for OEW in North America. The list price of OEW's multi-platform version is $995. Plans call for release of UNIX versions later this year. For more information contact Terasoft Technology Corporation, 221 E. Main St., Milford, MA 01757; +1-508-634-8400; FAX: +1-508-634-8236; CompuServe: 73602,2737.

Symantec C++ 7.0 provides an incremental parser and an object-oriented browser/editor which supports three views: a graphical class tree, a three pane browser similar to Smalltalk environments, and a programmer's editor which provides Brief and Epsilog keystroke compatibility. Symantec BASIC can be used for scripts in all three views, for new commands or for customizing features. NetBuild allows users to distribute and build tasks across multiple computers on a network. Symantec C++ 7.0 includes OPTLINK 6.0, a linker which supports 16- and 32-bit applications, and eliminates the CVPACK step. OPTLINK 6.0 also provides EXE and DLL compression for WIndows 3.1 applications. Symantec C++ 7.0 also includes AppExpress, ClassExpress, and ProjectExpress. AppExpress includes options to generate OLE 2.0 servers and containers and applications using MDI or SDI type interfaces. ClassExpress allows developers to customize the behavior of Microsoft Foundation Class (MFC) applications. ProjectExpress takes programmers through the IDE steps necessary to create a project. Symantec C++ 7.0 also includes ResourceStudio and the Multiscope debugger, as well as MFC versions 2.51 and 3.0, and support for ODBC and OLE 2.0.

Symantec C++ 7.0 requires 20 Mb RAM and Windows NT 3.5 Workstation or Advanced Server, or Windows 95 beta build 324 or later for 32-bit development. For 16-bit development, users need 16Mb RAM and Windows 3.1 or later. The estimated retail price for Symantec C++ 7.0 is $199, with upgrades from version 6.x priced at $99.95. For more information contact Symantec Corporation, 10201 Torre Ave., Cupertino, CA 95014, 800-441-7234 or +1-503-334-6054.

An instrument driver is a high-level library of functions for controlling a particular instrument. Instead of using device control command strings over GPIB, developers can use functions such as Initialize(), Configure(), or Measure(), to control their instruments. The instrument driver acts as a high-level translator between the user and the instruments, automatically building the appropriate command string for the chosen operation, sending the command over the GPIB, receiving the results from the device, and parsing and scaling the returned data for the user. Each instrument driver DLL includes a Windows help file that documents its functions, along with the required header files for using the DLL within Visual C++ or Visual Basic programming environments under Windows.

IDL 4.0 provides its routines as an engine or library for C or Fortran developers, provided as a Windows DLL, a UNIX shareable object library, or a Macintosh AppleScript. 50 additional statistical functions are included in Release 4.0. Release 4.0 also includes fully-indexed, hypertext documentation; support for heterogeneous environments; support for Double Precision Complex values; native support for handling missing data; spherical gridding, automatical interpolation of irregularly gridded data into regular grids; support for current versions of HDF, CDF, and netCDF; support for cross-platform visual debugging of program syntax; new interface controls providing native "look & feel" to Motif, Windows, and Macintosh applications' built in IDE; and improved debugging support.

A single license for Windows, Windows NT, Macintosh, or Power Macintosh, including Callable IDL, is $1,500. UNIX and VMS licenses start at $3000. Education and volume discounts are available. For more information contact Research Systems, Inc., 2995 Wilderness Pl., Suite 203, Boulder, CO 80301, +1-303-786-9900; FAX: +1-303-786-9909.

Dart Communications specializes in TCP/IP components that implement TCP/IP protocols and supports the libraries on commercial WINSOCK-compliant kernels. According to Michael Baldwin, president of Dart Communications, "Many of our customers are porting their NETBIOS or async application to this popular protocol suite. Our components simplify the process, and help them get to market quicker."

The PowerTCP Standard Toolkit (TCP, TELNET, FTP) is shipping for $598. The PowerTCP UDP Toolkit (UDP, SNMP, TFTP) is also priced at $598. Runtime licensing is available in End-User, OEM, and OEM Partnership forms. For more information contact Dart Communications, 61 Albany St., P.O. Box 618, Cazenovia, NY 13035, +1-315-655-1024; FAX: +1-315-655-1025.

IRIS Explorer 3.0 provides a larger module library, passing of geometry via shared memory, and an improved interface for running scripts. A visual drag and drop interface has been added, along with new widgets for module control panels, and editable groups. Release 3.0 is based on Open Inventor and OpenGL. New modules provide support for displaying vector data using particle advection, streaklining, and vector display; data analyzers for interpolation through 2D and 3D data, and outlining of regions within datasets; creation and manipulation of geometry; annotation; data readers (for example, PHOENICS and NTF); and colourmap manipulators.

The NAG C Library DLL is available for $495. For more information contact Numerical Algorithms Group, Inc., 1400 Opus Pl., Suite 200, Downers Grove, IL 60515, +1-708-971-2337; FAX: +1-708-971-2706.

InstallWizard features include data compression with diskette spanning; support for localization; CRC checking of files; modifications to config.sys, win.ini, and autoexec.bat; and hardware, software, and environment checking. As a key benefit, InstallWizard generates C++ source code which the developer then has complete access to and can modify as needed.

APW installs a dispatcher which is activated on Windows comm notification and timer events to buffer incoming characters. When a trigger condition is detected by the dispatcher, it posts a Windows message or directly calls a registered function. APW can trigger on conditions such as incoming data available, specified data strings detected, and input or output buffers beyond specified levels. APW supports a full selection of protocols, including Z/Y/Xmodem, CompuServe B+, and ASCII.

Async Professional for Windows costs $199. No royalties are required. Source code for classes which integrate APW into the MFC and OWL application frameworks is included at no extra charge. Source code for the DLLs in Pascal is also included. In C++ programmers can use exceptions for error reporting. For more information contact TurboPower Software, P.O. Box 49009, Colorado Springs, CO 80949; 800-333-4160 or +1-719-260-9136; FAX: +1-719-260-7151.

Razor 3.5 now supports the RS/6000 platform with AIX 3.2. Razor is also available for Sun (SunOS and Solaris), HP, and SGI. Razor runs under the Motif graphical user interface.

BoundsChecker for Windows provides the TVIEW event logger, which records Windows events — API calls and returns to the Microsoft Foundation Library can be viewed by developers. BoundsChecker can also detect memory leakage, resource leakage, and heap and data corruption in VBXs from C/C++ and Visual Basic.

BoundsChecker for Windows NT will check API calls, such as those from the C runtime library and the Windows Common Dialog API. In addition, BoundsChecker checks the memory and resource allocation for DLL files loaded with the Visual C++ call LoadLibrary.

The latest release of the NDP family provides a postprocessing utility, AGO, which is a vectorizing scheduler, used to optimize the i860 assembly code generated by the compilers. Heuristics include mapping scalar code to dual instruction code, vectorization, loop unrolling, memory disambiguation, software pipelining, and scheduling.

Help Magician Pro v3.0 requires a 486-SX 33Mhz PC with 8Mb RAM running Windows 3.0, 3.1, Windows for Workgroups, or Windows NT. For more information contact Software Interphase Inc., 82 Cucumber Hill Rd., Foster, RI 02825, 800-542-2742 or +1-401-397-2340; FAX: +1-401-397-6814.

The Macintosh version of the libraries supports both 68K-based and PowerPC-based machines. Users must also have the Metrowerks Code Warrior compiler CW4. For the PowerPC processor, the compiler version is C/C++ V1.1.1.2; for the 68K processor, the compiler version is C/C++ V1.1.

The Macintosh version is priced at $695. Intel-based versions for Windows NT are also priced at $695. UNIX workstation versions are priced at $4,975. For more information contact Visual Numerics, Inc., 9990 Richmond Ave., Suite 400, Houston, TX 77042, +1-713-784-3131; FAX: +1-713-781-9260.

MainWin 1.2 supports the following systems: Sun SPARC with Solaris 2.2+, Sun SPARC with SunOS 4.1+, HP 9000/700 and 800 with HP-UX 9.0+, IBM RS/6000 with AIX 3.2+, and SGI Iris or Indigo with IRIX 5.1+. Version 1.2 adds support for DEC Alpha with OSF/1. For more information contact MainSoft Corporation, 1270 Oakmead Pkwy., Suite 310, Sunnyvale, CA 94086, +1-408-774-3400; +1-408-774-3404.

Premia also announced an agreement with Fujitsu Limited to distribute a Japanese language version of Premia's Codewright editor.

In addition, Premia announced version 2.1 of its Creative Controls/Tree Control product. Version 2.1 is the first major upgrade of Creative Controls since Premia took over distribution of the product from BSS. The new release includes a class wrapper for C++ which is compatible with Visual C++ v1.51 and v2.0, as well as other enhancements.

Compression Plus is priced at $249, with upgrades available for $129. For more information contact MicroHelp, Inc., 4359 Shallowford Industrial Pkwy., Marietta, GA 30066, 800-777-3322 or +1-404-516-0899; Fax: +1-404-516-1099.