DataFlex 2021 Alpha 2 Release Notes

This is a partial log of the changes between Alpha 1 and Alpha 2.

Updated Database Drivers for MSSQL, DB2 and MySQL

One of the main goals for Alpha 2 was to complete the update of the Unicode / 64-bit database drivers (Alpha 1 stated this process but was limited to MSSQL) for DB2 and MySQL.

DataFlex-Level Changes

Changed Alpha 1 references to Alpha 2 in Start Center
SQLFetchResultsetValues will no longer generate "Invalid Cursor State" error for non existing result set.
Updated versions of db2_driverdef.xml and odbc_driverdef.xml (used by the Studio)
Updated versions of driver .int files (latest with fixed typos)
Fix for psValue of DEO's. The web property number support broke the psValue implementation of cWebBaseDEO.
Added WOW64 constants to RegistryAPI.pkg
Fixed typo in WebFloatingPanel
cList in VDFOEMAnsi and VDFRepair was not converted to unicode – fixed.
Corrected forward send of Construct_Object & End_Construct_Object cases reported by Sture.
Removed hard-coded reference to 265 for WebAppServerProps table
Enabled warnings for old registry commands
Fixed typo in error message in cWebServerPropHandler.pkg
DoAttachProcess was changed to a function to the improved error handling for the webapp object, but not for the asp object. Changing back Get DoAttachProcess into Send DoAttachProcess solves this.
Removed WebApp Server key structure under the WOW6432Node (32bit) structure.
Installation - Double threadstacksize registry key for 64bit
Changed various references from Alpha 1 to Alpha 2
Fixed DoAttachProcess – Web framework applications that do not include cWebAspClassicObject would not compile. Added a Register_Procedure to prevent compile errors.
For ASP Classic web applications, addressof returns 0 for emty strings so the memcopy failed causing a few bytes of garbage to be returned – fixed.
Made determination of mime type case insensitive,
Fixed TVM_EDITLABEL define in Commctrl.pkg.
Added new Flush_Output command.
Type changes for 64-bit in Dftreevw.pkg.
Creating a new database left the wrong error object. Fixed the bug and added checks & errors for recursive error handling during conversion.
Added flush log for each write during the data conversion process to assist in debugging.
Do not set DF_FILE_RECNUM if not needed.
Added extra log for troubleshooting crashes during data conversion.
Dfstatbr.pkg had code that had an invalid conversion to WString when it expects an integer array. Fixed it to also use an integer array in DataFlex.
Renamed Byte function to UCharToString.
Corrected showing DefaultFormHeight and DefaultFormSpacing in the workspace properties panel.
Implemented OnCollapse & OnExpand events in cWebGroup.
CodeSense will show Windows_Message procedure parameters as LongPtr, not integer.
Added new map schema's MAP_DF_TO_SQL_TYPE_UNICODE and MAP_DF_TO_SQL_TYPE_NON_UNICODE in db2_drv.int.
Wizards were still letting the editor load files as OEM causing some extended characters to be lost in conversion.
Added byte function and C_BOMUTF8 constant.
Converted the wizards to write source code as UTF-8 with BOM.
Added missing image file in material theme.
Initial pbAutoTab implementation in cWebForm.
Added the OnKeyPress event with parameters iCharCode and iKeyCode. Note that it relies on the default event delay for not firing too often.
Implemented new autocomplete property on cWebForm and cWebEdit that maps directly to the autocomplete html attribute.
Changed the login screens in the templates and the samples to set autocomplete for username and password.
Tested/supported ODBC driver: MySQL ODBC 8.0 Unicode Driver Version 8.0.18 or later. New setting: Character_Data_Handling utf8.
phoSoapClientHelper is an object handle and thus should be set to 0 not "".
Updated translation from Marcia for dferr001.dat.
Changed short to integer in cScrollingContainerMixin.pkg.
Swapped connect/repair and conversion menu items in database builder to match the studio.
Implemented basic UnSyncWebProperty. For now it only works on client web properties.
Added platform: 32-bit / 64-bit to system information.
Corrected password hint for new workspaces.
Fix for psValue with localization changes.
Changed rights to license files in installation.
The reset to system file in database explorer did not work because of a missing line in the DoMakeSysFile routine.

C-Level Changes

FillField: removed copy DF_LOW / DF_HIGH in the buffer.
Improved reading of collation file.
Compiler: Increased max line length for reading first line to read the BOM.
Adjusted conversions in wascint from OEM to UTF-8.
MySQL Insert in table with autoincrement column caused error.
Fill_Field will fill fieldbuf with all 'z' or all space.
Find EQ with Fill_Field on index segments is now explicitly handled.
Native length/buffer change for DF_TEXT and DF_BINARY columns.
Bugfix: Constrained_Find would sometimes invalidate Find_Cache.
Performance improvements on debugger string handling.
Trimming of trailing spaces in compare.
Added Flush_Output command.
Fix for saverecord update where clause.
FieldGetString was losing the null terminator in the translation.
Refactoring of WHERE clause logic.
Changes to handle DB2 SQL_GRAPHIC and SQL_VARGRAPHIC types.
DB2_DRV, ODBC_DRV default type DF_ASCII columns now SQL_VARCHAR.
FindTable case insensitive compare on table name.
Fixed BOM issue causing compile to fail.

Documentation

Language Reference

Added UCharToString function.
DF_FILE_SQL_FILTER, DF_FILE_SQL_FILTER_EQ, DF_FILE_SQL_FILTER_ACTIVE: Added info that these are the global table filter and linked them to pbApplyGlobalSQLFilters.
Corrected and updated DF_DRIVER_MAP_DFxxx and DF_DATABASE_MAP_DFxxx attributes.
Added Flush_Output command.
Added return types to all global function pages.
Removed Append command from Functions list in TOC.
WebRegisterPath: added links to Class Ref for eNavigationMode (NavigateForward, NavigateForwardCustom and NavigateBegin).
Corrected sample code in DF_Database_Default_Database.
Corrected ZeroString function sample.
Updated list of modes to DF_File_Mode and a Value column.
Added DF_SYSDATE4_STATE. It’s obsolete (since Sysdate is obsolete), but available for reference.
Added note that TimeSpan values cannot be negative.
Added doc for RandomHexUUID And SeqHexUUID.
Corrected DateSetMonth: it cannot be used with TimeSpan (DateSetMillisecond – DateSetDay can).
Removed some external See Also pages.
Misc. edits.

Development Guide

Updated Type Mapping pages.
Numerous grammatical errors on Meaningful URLs and History Management Page.
Fixed links.

Connectivity

Added Type Mappings page to Type Mappings index entry.
Updated type mappings for current CK. Updated multiple pages with info for current CK.
Added lots of links, updated some sample code.

Class Reference

Filled many of the placeholder articles for:

DataDictionary:
cApplication
cClientWebService
cSQLStatement:
cWebApp
cWebColorForm
cWebCombo
cWebDynamicObjectContainer
cWebErrorHandler
cWebGeoLocation
cWebHtmlList
cWebIFrame
cWebList
cWebObject
cWebResourceManager
cDbCJGridColumnSuggestion
cHttpTransfer
cJsonHttpTransfer
cRegistry
cUIObject

Added help on using dynamic SQL filters and examples.
Added doc for peWordBreak.
Updated ConnectionIds function explanation of returned connection array.
Improved doc on accessing state hash.
Updated cRegistry class with new constants and information about Registry Redirection.
Improved peDataType, piPrecision and psMask and added examples for web classes.
Added missing ByRef to code sample in NavigateForwardCustom.
Added samples for clearing Foreign_Field_Option.
Clarified descriptions for clearing Field_Option.
Added sample of clearing all field options to Field_Options.
Corrected Field_Options samples that used obsolete methods.
Added sample of clearing all foreign field options to Foreign_Field_Option.
Reviewed and clarified Field_Options and Foreign_Field_Option doc.
Added a real world sample to web OnValidate.
Added a real world sample to web PositionToValue and ValueToPosition for cWebSlider.
Removed references to ASP from cWebResourceManager class.
Added doc for psResourceUrl and psUploadUrl.
Replaced error 4140 with DFERR_NO_DELETE_RELATED_RECORDS_EXIST In Operation_Not_Allowed sample.
Added better information and samples to web-based classes OnLoad event.
Improved doc for Which_Data_Set.
Added doc for server-side nullable data type support to cWebService class.
Added doc to parameter of cWebBaseDEOServer.DeleteConformation.
Corrected psMask on Web to use correct constant (it was using the same constants as the Windows psMask version).
Added sample of throwing Data_Set_Error to Field_Validate_msg.

Language Guide

Added Data Types index entry.
Simple Types page was missing ULongptr
ULongptr Type link to ULongptr was broken
Removed incorrect references to null on Declaring Variables page.

Studio

Added explanation that the debugger shows the Unicode replacement character for characters in strings and UChar arrays outside the ASCII range (>127).
Added usage information to main Data Dictionary Modeler page.
Added info to Description Studio meta-data tag where the description is displayed in a running web service.

What's New

Updated main 2021 page
Added information about setting up DB2 and MySQL environments
Adding information about memory use in WebApps
Added links to other new doc
Added Alpha 2 Change Log