Welcome to a new year with filePro and fP Technologies!
We look forward to sharing many new developments with you this year.
Keep reading for the latest news and events here at fPtech
Spring Sale
It is time to clear the dust and cobwebs out of your system--
Now through April
30th, update your fP Technologies software and save!
Take advantage of our Spring Cleaning sale and receive 10% off all software
upgrades.
This special pricing will be in effect until April 30, 2007.
Product pricing is available on our website at http://fptech.com/Products/pricing.shtml
You can reach sales at 1.800.847.4740
by fax at 607.655.5654
or e-mail sales@fptech.com
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fP Technologies News
New Interactive Customer Support Interface
fP Technologies has launched
its new Web Based Support Interface. This allows
you to submit support requests directly into the live database of our
technical
support staff. There is a quick link on the home page and there is also
a link
on the support page. If you wish to create a bookmark now, the address
to
the support login page is http://www.fptech.net/Support/suppform.shtml
You will be required to login to submit requests and view
your open and closed support incidents.
Logging In
- Developers can login using
their normal account number and password used for the developer section
of the website.
- If you don’t have a developer login, contact
sales@fptech.com and they will review your account status and create
your support access record for you with a temporary password that
you will be requested to change once you login.
Once the support account is active, you will be able to modify your support
record profile which includes contact information, email address, and phone
numbers. All support accounts have the ability to change their passwords
to the customer support interface. This allows developers to have separate
passwords for the developer area and the support area in case they have different
security reasons or administrative personnel.
Once Logged In
- You can access any support activity that has been logged into
our support system.
- You can view New, Open, and Closed incidents.
- You can add
notes to any incidents. These additional notes are sent to support for review
and attachment to the referenced incidents.
- You can view a history of all notes
relating to an incident.
- And best of all, you can add a New Support Request
which our support staff is notified of immediately.
Less Waiting and More Detail.
Please remember, however, that our support staff is only on duty 9 AM – 5
PM Eastern Time.
Your support requests and communications will be handled promptly
during those hours.
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Product News
SOAP
SOAP is a message protocol that can be used to send and receive XML formatted
requests and replies. Those XML request and replies can be used to transfer
data, they can be used to run remote procedures, they can be used to request
specific operations on the data sent, ... SOAP can be used with different
transport protocols, but is most commonly used with HTTP or HTTPS.
We have added a SOAP area to the filePro forum (www.fptechforum.com)
for discussion, testing, and suggestions related to a Java SOAP application
that we developed and which will be part of a planned XML related enhancement
package for filePro.
The application has allowed one filePro application to be certified as
SOAP-capable so we know that it works for its so far limited purpose.
It
is our desire to use this forum area to enhance this tool so that it will
serve the needs of the wider community of filePro developers and customers.
All interested parties should contact Lauren Kelly via phone (1.800.847.4740),
email (ljkelly@fptech.com), or through
the filePro forum to be added to the SOAP discussion group.
The Java application and documentation will be
made available to all registered participants.
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Advanced Training Opportunities
fP Technologies will be offering
Developer Workshops throughout the year. These
would provide filePro Developers 2 or 3 days of topic specific training
in a more relaxed setting.
Watch for more details in the upcoming weeks.
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Tips and Tricks
Fast copy of a processing line
Before you modify a long complicated line of processing, copy it quickly so you can refer to it as you make your changes.
Do this by pressing the following keystrokes as fast as you can.
(make sure
your cursor is somewhere on the line you want to copy first).
F8 c ENTER ENTER
ENTER
I know it looks really dumb, but once you do it, you'll use it over
and over, I promise.
Tip about Goto/Find in Define Processing
Everyone knows that you need to
put a ~ in front of whatever label you want to find on a prc table.
However,
many don't know that you need to put a " in front of any numeric value
you want to find. Otherwise filePro will take you to the line number you seem
to be wanting.
F9 "23 will take you to the first occurrence of the digits
23 not to line 23
These tips and tricks submitted by John Esak of The
Valar Group,
author of The
filePro Survivor Series
Declared Variables
Declared variables make programming with filePro clearer, more flexible and
easier than ever.
Defining a declared variable
Long Variable names are an excellent way to manage the many variables you
need to process with filePro. Maximum number of characters in a long
variable name is 64. Avoid using filePro commands as long variable names,
names like: select, sort, end, exit, screen, input, will certainly confuse
your programming. The case of the variable does not matter to filePro. If
the variable is MYVARIABLE in one place and MyVariable in another, that is
the very same variable.
There are two types of declared variables.
- LOCAL - A long variable can be LOCAL and
will only be available in the processing table where it is defined.
Declare
local myvariable(10,allup)
Declare
myvariable(10,allup)
- GLOBAL - A global variable may be passed from table to table as you connect
processing. It is defined in the first table and then all other tables
just reference that variable by using DECLARE EXTERN
Declare
global myglobal(10,mdyy/)
- EXTERN - Indicates the variable is expected to be passed from another
table where it is listed as GLOBAL. The definition of the variable
is never supplied in the DECLARED EXTERN form.
Declare
extern myglobal
Each of these define the variable for use for the current record. If
the variable must be passed from record to record, the ,g option is added
to the definition just like when you make a dummy variable.
Declared local myvariable(10,allup,g)
Declared global myglobal(10,mdyy/,g)
Use DECLARED GLOBAL to pass variables from scan processing to output processing,
from input processing to CALL or CHAIN tables. By defining a set of
variables to be used to seed a table and a set that represent the output,
you can easily develop library tables that can be called to provide function
and reduce redundancy. For example, a table that offers printer selections,
or a table that is used to authorize a user. These can be used from
many different tables if they are designed to accept a few variables and output
to a set of variables for passing back to the calling table.
Undefined variables
It is possible to use a DECLARED variable with no defined length or edit. This
will load data up to 32,767 into one variable. (This limit will vary
by version so watch it.) This can also eat up memory, so use this
type of variable sparingly or not at all.
Declare
unknown, bigvariable
- Use the .g version of a LOCAL or GLOBAL variable to make sure
the value is passed from level to level to @done. It is the ,g that
keeps the variable between records, not the GLOBAL part.
Sample line:
aa=xx*".06"; tt=xx+aa is made much clearer when the variables reflect
the meaning:
salestax=total*".06";gross_sale=total + salestax now
isn't that more meaningful as a series of commands.
To display or print long variables, the value must be assigned to a field
or dummy variable. It is still only possible to put field numbers or
dummy variables on screens or reports. But you will find there are many
more variables used in processing than what you ever need on the actual screen
or output.
Now go forth and use the long variables to make your processing more understandable.
This tip provided by Nancy Palmquist of Virtual
Software Systems.
For more information and more tips, come visit the filePro Forum at http://www.fptechforum.com
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Contact Information
Updating Your Records
Keeping your record up to date means that orders
can
be filled even faster
and that you will receive all of the
most up to date filePro news and special
offers.
filePro users can update their records on-line at http://fptech.com/Developr/emaildb.shtml
You will need your account number and email address.
If you do not have an account number
Try
entering a zero (0) for
the account number.
If you have forgotten your account number
please email
sales@fptech.com to
request your account information.
Developers can easily label their licenses through the
license download area:
http://fptech.com/Developr/maclic.shtml
This can be used to assign an end-user name and email,
but the fields may also
be used to fill in a system name
(ie Home Laptop) and secondary email addresses.
Need to Reach Us?
filePro users can reach fP Technologies
- by phone--1.800.847.4740
- by fax--607.655.5654
- by mail-- PO Box 290352, Tampa, FL 33617-0352
- by email--
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Endnotes
Do you have any questions or comments relating to this update?
Have any tips or tricks you'd like to submit for future updates?
Email me at ljkelly@fptech.com or
call me at 1-800-847-4740.
As always--thank you for using filePro!
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