CapeSoft
CapeSoft Newsletter #33
- December 2003 -

In this Newsletter: 
- SelfService: New Service product released
- File Manager 3: Recent News
- NetTalk 3: Plans for the future
- Nifty Office Communication Tools from CapeSoft
- Great Dollar Rates for non-US folk
- Tip of the Week: SmoothWall software
- Other Recent Updates


SelfService - New Product Released
Introduction
CapeSoft SelfService allows your Clarion 6 application(s) to be run as a Service in Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows Server 2003.
 
What do Services offer you?
One of the great features of Services is that they don't require a user to be logged in, in order to run. Services can automatically start on boot up.
Services also do not shut down when a user logs off or switches user, so your application is always running.
 
What sort of applications are suitable for being run as a Service?
Any of your applications that behave like a server are ideal candidates for being run as a Service. This would include a whole host of possibilities with NetTalk applications, or any application that you would like to be "always running". Examples would include:
 - web servers,
 - web, ftp or email polling applications,
 - control applications like air conditioning servers,
 - server components in client/server applications.
 
How easy is it to make my application run as a Service?
With SelfService you are able to convert your existing applications into services in just a couple of minutes. No hand coding is necessary if you simply want your application to run and install as a service. To maximize the functionality that services offer you we have outlined a list of considerations and tips. These serve as guidelines to help you design and deploy effective and powerful services. To utilize more advanced service functionality a small amount of hand coding may be necessary, which is all clearly documented and demonstrated in the examples.

More Information: www.capesoft.com/accessories/selfservicesp.htm
Free Upgrade (for registered users): www.capesoft.com/selfserviced.htm
Requires: WinEvent
Price: On special at $49 (until the Gold release)




File Manager 3
Introduction
FM3 is the 1st choice automatic runtime file upgrading and management. No more error 47's. FM3 supports an ever growing number of file drivers and database backends. Currently Btrieve, Clarion, TopSpeed, MSSQL, Oracle, and MySQL. FM3 makes data conversion across drivers a breeze. Convert from TPS to SQL effortlessly, with the help of BDE, a free utility shipped with FM3. FM3 also ships with C-Scan (a Clarion/TPS file viewer), UpgView (a FM3 upgrade file viewer), and plenty of example applications.
 
What's been going on behind the scenes 
In the last few months, FM3 has been put through some real life testing, and has proven faithful. We have been ironing out some bugs, and adding some SQL specific features. FM3 is now Clarion 6 Gold compatible.
 
We have also automated some of the required tasks such as automatically adding the FM2=>1 define for Clarion 5.5 and Clarion 6, as well as the running of the Support ABC Template Utility for all versions of Clarion.
 
Things to look forward to in the new year:
- Documentation: Brand new re-written docs, including standardisation, Jump Starts, easier navigation, FAQ's, and improved support requests.
- C-Scan: Due for a revamp.
- Examples: Due for a revamp.
- SQL: We hope to add support for more SQL backends.
- SQL: Fully automated RI management on the backend.
 
All in all, FM3 is an invaluable addition to any Clarion developers collection. It's on special while in beta.

More Information: www.capesoft.com/accessories/fm3sp.htm
Free Upgrade (for registered users): www.capesoft.com/fm3d.htm
Price: On special at $149 (until the Gold release)




NetTalk version 3
Introduction
Quite simply, NetTalk is the Networking accessory for Clarion. Using low-level Winsock functionality you get unmatched flexibility, performance and compatibility. Whether you're writing Clarion programs that need to talk to each other, or interacting via TCP/IP with other software, NetTalk is the solution for you.  NetTalk features : SMTP / POP3 (Email), NNTP (News), HTTP (Web), FTP (File Transfer) & SNMP (Network Management),  Dial-Up-Networking, the NetTalk Protocol, for ultra-robust, ultra-easy Clarion-to-Clarion communications, 200+ pages of documentation, 7 Jump-Starts and 32 Examples.
 
Plans for the future
The following changes are planned (no promises though) for the version 3 release cycle of NetTalk which has started already (v3.03 is currently available):
- NetTalk protocol for WAN (i.e. through Proxy)
- NetTalk packet Compression
- NetSimple all objects (including email, ftp, web) to use Asynchronous open by default.
- Speed improvements and stability
- Template to have option to add NETTALKLOG=>1 into your Defines list
- DUN - New Control Template
- Improved Error handling - i.e. more Errors to .ErrorTrap
- New Template code for "CapeSoft Objects"

More Information: www.capesoft.com/accessories/netsp.htm
Free Upgrade (for registered users): www.capesoft.com/nettalkd.htm
Price: $299



Nifty Office Communication Tools from CapeSoft
Introduction
CapeSoft has a suit of products that can boost your (or your clients) office communication needs. At the end of the day small steps that are taken to improve office communication can lead to increased productivity and sales. The following products are available as both installable executable products and Clarion source code. Our product range includes:  

CapeSoft Email Server
A compact SMTP & POP3 Server for small or medium businesses and home environments.
Includes: SMTP server (includes direct MX sending), POP3 server, Dial-Up schedule, unlimited mailboxes, Configuration Wizards.
Although this product is still in beta it's been available for almost a year now, and has proven itself as a very capable and easy-to-use email server management tool.
More Information: www.capesoft.com/utilities/EmailServer/EmailServer.htm
Free Upgrade (for registered users): www.capesoft.com/utilities/EmailServer/EmailServer.htm
Product Price: $30 for unlimited mailboxes
Source Code Price: $499 (more info)

CapeSoft Mailer
An email distribution program which manages and maintains client mailing lists, and sends bulk email to those lists. (For example we use the CapeSoft Mailer to distribute this newsletter).
More Information: www.capesoft.com/utilities/mailer/mailer.htm
Free Upgrade (for registered users): www.capesoft.com/utilities/mailer/mailer.htm
Product Price: $99
Source Code Price: $499 (more info) - excellent example of using File Explorer.

CapeSoft Office Messenger
A peer to peer office instant Messaging program. Ideal for sending notes around the office like:
  "James is here to see you at reception"
  "John is leaving now, does anyone need anything else purchased?"
Faster than email, and pops up on the recipients screen.
Includes automatic office based upgrading feature (you only need to upgrade one machine).
More Information: www.capesoft.com/utilities/messenger/Messenger.htm
Free Upgrade (for registered users): www.capesoft.com/utilities/messenger/Messenger.htm
Product Price: $6 a user
Source Code Price: $499 (more info)



Great US Dollar rates for non US folks.
All CapeSoft accessories and products are sold in US Dollars. For many people who live outside of the United States your local currency is probably doing about the best it has done in a while in terms of buying US$. So in short, now is a great time to go to http://www.capesoft.com/ and whip out your credit card and purchase those cool accessories and products that you've been thinking about.

Graphs: South Africa, Australia, Euro, Norway, Denmark
CapeSoft Website: http://www.capesoft.com/
  



Tip of the Week: SmoothWall
Every now and then we publish interesting and useful tips to our Tip of the Week page. This weeks article is about Bruce's experience of installing Smoothwall, which is a free proxy/firewall product. Back articles are also available.

Tip of the Week: www.capesoft.com/tips.htm




Other Recent Updates
CapeSoft Email Server - version 1.63 released 25 November 2003
CapeSoft Mailer - version 2.08 released 27 October 2003
CapeSoft Office Messenger - version 2.12 released 8 September 2003
CapeSoft Safe Reader - version 2.02 released 17 November 2003
CapeSoft Safe Writer - version 2.03 released 21 November 2003
Draw - version 2.07 released 20 August 2003
Ezhelp - version 2.63 released 13 October 2003
File Explorer - version 3.26 beta released 28 November 2003
File Manager 2 - version 3.28 released 11 December 2003
File Manager 3 - version 3.28 beta released 11 December 2003
HyperActive - version 1.82 released 18 September 2003
Insight Graphing - version 1.27 released 9 December 2003
Makeover - version 2.52 released 16 September 2003
MessageBox - version 1.75 released 17 November 2003
Multi-Proj - version 2.62 released 16 September 2003
NetTalk - version 3.02 beta released 14 November 2003
Office Inside - version 1.27 released 14 November 2003
Secwin - version 3.22 released 4 August 2003
SelfService - version 1.02 released 21 November 2003
Special Agent - version 1.45 released 24 October 2003
Winevent - version 3.03 released 13 October 2003


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