PenRight! Extends into Windows

PenRight! Corp. Offers a Graphical Version of its Popular Tool

Grand visions come and go, but straightforward solutions that work have a staying power that’s hard to beat. GO’s PenPoint, Momenta’s Smalltalk-based environment, and Microsoft’s Winpad are all either has-been or never-was. However, down-to-earth PenRight!, originally developed at GRiD Systems and now a product of PenRight! Corp., a subsidiary of Telxon Corp., has shown a staying power in the vertical industries that is the envy of most. With an estimated developer community in excess of one thousand, PenRight! has benefited from three main factors: an easy learning curve, a familiar C-level interface, and low target and system development requirements.

PenRight! Corp. is now extending its popular development environment to the next level: Windows. The new product, PenRight! for Windows, enables programmers not only to develop applications for both DOS and Windows, but to do so within a friendly, drag-and-drop graphical environment. In doing so, PenRight! has answered the call from developers who want to work within their already-established graphical environment, while maintaining their sizeable code and knowledge base of PenRight! applications.

About PenRight! for Windows…

Applications developed using PenRight! for Windows are organized into projects and, using a graphical user interface (GUI) based development environment, programmers can manipulate one or more aspects of a project using menus, tool bars, and easy-to-understand icons for application objects. For example, project icons are available for the most common features of an application including forms, databases, database mapping, editing, and printing, among others.

Using PenRight! for Windows, developers create an application by dragging and dropping icons within the project layout area. Using menu options, developers can add detailed application objects such as strings, fonts, graphics, and code resources to application objects. Once the application objects are placed in the layout area, developers specify the application’s flow of control by drawing lines between icons using the mouse.

In most forms based applications, for example, this will involve drawing a line from the special Start icon to the first form of the application, and then connecting the remaining forms, ultimately terminating the application flow by connecting to the Stop icon. Using this method, developers can actually create a functional prototype of their application without writing a single line of C code—PenRight! for Windows takes care of this automatically.

Data In and Data Out

Since many PenRight! applications have data collection as a central activity, PenRight! for Windows includes the type of features you’d expect to simplify the visual construction of forms of all shapes and sizes. These include standard objects such as data entry fields, list boxes, push buttons, radio buttons, check boxes, and others. You can also specify the tab order of the objects in a form. Using the mouse, each object can easily be moved, resized, or modified using the property sheet or code editor.

Since most mobile applications are ultimately concerned with getting data in and out of the device, PenRight! for Windows includes an integrated Database Editor that enables developers to create applications that can access data in dBASE III, dBASE IV, FoxPro, and Clipper file formats. Using the Database Editor, developers use simple dialog boxes to define the schema and indices for the database. PenRight! for Windows performs error checking on the fields to detect errors as early as possible and, using a Database Map Editor, developers can graphically link database fields to individual form controls.

Creating an Application

Once the structure of the application is created, developers can customize its behavior by adding instructions written in C using the Code Editor. PenRight! for Windows incorporates a convenient set of dialog boxes enabling developers to utilize the set of built-in functions with little effort.

Once the application is completed, PenRight! for Windows features run-time support for three important platforms: DOS real mode, DOS protected mode, and Windows. Each environment has its advantages: DOS by itself features low overhead; DOS in protected mode removes the 640 KB barrier enabling larger applications; while PenRight! for Windows provides a familiar, graphical interface that also removes the 640 KB limit.

PenRight! for Windows supports standard C compilers from both Microsoft and Borland, and features the same application programming interface (API) calls enabling developers to port a single code base to the various platforms. Perhaps most importantly, PenRight! for Windows does not require the Windows for Pen Computing environment, further reducing the requirements of the application’s target machine.

This code portability offers additional flexibility when developing an application using PenRight! for Windows. By employing a flexible source code generator, developers can create source code for DOS, Windows, or both, from the same project. This makes it straightforward to develop and deploy an application using the same source code base on both Windows and non-Windows platforms.

PenRight! for Windows also includes a feature to help you import your existing PenRight! version 3.x applications to the new environment.

Summary

At one level, PenRight! for Windows’ chief competition comes in the form of Microsoft’s very successful Visual BASIC development environment. Both feature a highly graphical interface, enabling much of the application development to be completed using a point and click mechanism. However, the platforms differ in a couple of important ways.

In its favor, PenRight! for Windows enables experienced programmers to continue using the C language. For people in the know, operations such as defining structures and performing file I/O are more straightforward in C. PenRight! also claims that its final executable is faster and smaller than the equivalent application written using Visual BASIC.

On the other hand, Visual BASIC offers its own advantages as well. For novice programmers, or developers moving from a fourth-generation language, the BASIC environment may lessen the learning curve. In addition, notwithstanding PenRight!’s impressive developer community, Visual BASIC has amassed a significant third-party support network offering products and services ranging from systems integration to plug-in custom controls.

Recognizing the value of the later, PenRight! states that it is working on its own custom control specification that should be available approximately six months after the current release. All in all, PenRight! for Windows represents an important development in creating pen-based applications covering platforms ranging from low-cost and low-power 8088-based systems to feature-rich 80486-based computers.

Availability

PenRight! for Windows becomes available in early May and can be ordered direct from PenRight! Corporation. The list price of PenRight! for Windows for new developers is $595, however, current PenRight! Pro v3.6 developers can upgrade for $349.

PenRight! Corporation
Chris Temple
47358 Fremont Blvd.
Fremont, CA 94538
(510) 249-6900
(510) 249-6920 (fax)
(800) 736-3313 (sales)
[email protected]