intl-spectrum.com $7.00 U.S. INTERNATIONAL

SPECTRUM® THE MULTIVALUE TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE I July/August 2019 Goes MultiValue

Also In This Issue: yy Business Tech: Communication is Key yy The Argument for Consulting yy Advocating Lowcode INTERNATIONAL SPECTRSPECTR UMUM MultiValue Conference and Partner Exchange

CHANGE. ADAPT. EVOLVE.

39TH Annual Conference APRIL 20 – 23, 2020 | SADDLEBROOK RESORT, TAMPA, FL

SAVE THE DATE

EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION STARTS OCTOBER 28TH

www.intl-spectrum.com/conference I NTERNA TIONAL SPECTRU M THE MULTIVALUE TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE

July/August 2019 COVER Your Next MultiValue Editor MultiValue sometimes lags 6 behind newer programming languages when it came to editing options. We’re a resourceful bunch, so periodically, someone steps up and helps us use the latest and greatest. VSC (Visual Studio Code) has pulled to the front of the pack of modern, extensible IDE (Integrated Development Environments). We now have a way to leverage it in our

daily work. BY DICK THIOT FEATURES Business Tech: A Seat at the Table: Communication When 8 I was little, I asked my mom if one hundred dollars was a lot of money. She responded with: “Do you have it or do you need it.” Context is critical. When we communicate with the other departments in our company, that communication becomes the context that helps them judge us. Let’s improve our status but understanding how we contribute to our own reputation by managing, or failing

to manage, our context. BY CHARLES BAROUCH

Taking Control: The Argument for Consulting Some of us have 10 a side gig consulting. Some never even dip our toes into paid-by-the-project or paid-by-the-hour work. And, a number of us have gone all-in, where consulting is our entire income. Here’s the twenty-five year view of one who

went all-in. BY KEVIN KING

Op Ed: Pick (MV) is Dead – Long Live Pick Technology, especially 17 business-oriented technology, doesn’t live in a vacuum. Our wins, and or losses, in IT come from wacting and reacting to changes in company needs. They come from understanding what’s next and what’s a passing fancy. As low-code and no-code solutions continue to gain traction, we need to see to look to the future.

BY BOB MARKOWITZ CONTENTS DEPARTMENTS

page 4 International Spectrum and MultiValue are registered trademarks of International Spectrum, From the Inside Inc. All other registered trademarks are the property of the respective trademark holders. From the Press Room page 12

INTL-SPECTRUM.COM u July/August 2019 u 3 I NTERNA TIONAL SPECTRU M From July/August 2019 the

NATHAN RECTOR Inside President

CHARLES BAROUCH o you think you are a good coder? Have you been practicing Editor Dyour coding, or have you just been doing your job? TRACEY RECTOR If you haven’t been practicing your coding, then you are likely Layout getting rusty in your coding. When you are a musician or a sports star, you have talent and practical demonstrations of what you can do, but you also practice, practice, practice. Most of us assume that our day to day software development is our practice. This is not the case. Let’s use basketball as our example. Your day to day software development is much like an NBA Game. This is where players make their money, they spend Learn more about the MultiValue Symbol and see most of their time reacting to the game and other players. what MulitValue Technologies and MultiValue Communities exist to help you support and manage Players then spend time between games practicing their jump your business and systems. To find out more visit shots, layups, and passing in order to do better in the games. This http://www.intl-spectrum.com is what you as developers need to do. This is also where “Code Kata’s” come into play. Code Kata was a term coined by Dave Thomas, co-author of the book The Pragmatic MISSION STATEMENT International Programmer. A Code Kata is an exercise in programming which Spectrum magazine’s editorial mission is helps a programmer hone their skill. to be the premier independent source of I’ve talked about using Code Katas in the past, so I decided to useful information for users, developers, and resellers of MultiValue database introduce a new one. management systems, open systems Kata One — Cash Drawer CountOut business database solutions, and related hardware, software, and peripherals. Many Retail locations have a drawer that cashiers have to count in Published bimonthly, International and out every day. At the beginning of each day the drawer must Spectrum provides comprehensive have $200 bills and change. coverage of the products, companies, At the end of the day, the cashier counts their drawer out and and trends that shape the MultiValue sends all the money that is over $200 to accounting, but they marketplace as well as the computer industry at large — helping its readers get must have at least the minimum of each bill/coin listed below, the most out of their business computer and no more than the maximum of the following bills/coin listed systems. in figure 1, totaling $200.00.

Bills Min Max International Spectrum is published six (6) times per year at the subscription price of $40.00 U.S. in the $100 0 0 U.S.A.; $45.00 U.S. in Canada and Mexico; $50.00 U.S. for other countries. Single copy rates are $7.00 $50 0 0 U.S. in the U.S.A. and Canada, and $9.00 U.S. in all other countries. International Spectrum is published $20 0 10 by International Specturm, Inc., 3691 E. 102nd Ct., Thornton, CO 80229; Tel: 720/259-1356; Fax: 603/250- $10 3 6 0664 E-Mail: [email protected]. Copyright 2019 International Spectrum, Inc. All rights reserved. $5 5 15 Reproduction in whole or in part, without written per- $1 27 45 mission, is prohibited. PRINTED IN USA .25 0 120 NEWS RELEASES/UNSOLICITED ARTICLES International Spectrum is eager to print your submissions of .10 0 150 up-to- the-minute news and feature stories complementary to the MultiValue marketplace. Black and white or color photo- .05 0 120 graphs and diagrams are welcome. Although there is no guar- antee a submitted article will be published, every article will be considered. Please send your press releases, articles, and queries .01 0 200 to: [email protected]. International Spectrum retains all reprint rights. Figure 1 International Spectrum is a registered trademark and MultiValue twitter.com/intlspectrum intl-spectrum.com/facebook is a trademark of International Spectrum, Inc. All other registered trademarks and trademarks are the property of the respective trademark holders. INTL-SPECTRUM.COM u July/August 2019 u 4 PICK/U2 Bills Cashier 1 Cashier 2 Cashier 3 $100 1 0 0 Resources Available $50 4 1 1 $20 27 130 11 Execu-Sys, Ltd is an Executive Search $10 6 1 6 & Consulting firm that has specialized in the PICK/MULTIVALUE market since $5 17 7 8 1988 and is the Preferred Partner of Rocket Software for PICK/U2 $1 24 30 16 professional services. .25 41 10 69 Hourly rates for contract programming .10 30 50 50 are extremely competitive and there is no minimum time or $ commitment. .05 63 59 60 Contact us today to discuss potential .01 107 114 118 engagements. Figure 2

Matt Hart EXECU-SYS, LTD Based on the information in NATHAN RECTOR figure 1, how would you code the President 1411 Broadway, Suite 1220 program to generate the output to International Spectrum New York, NY 10018 accounting using the information [email protected] (800) 423-1964 x302 on the cashiers ending day Bill/ coin count found in figure 2? is Email: [email protected]

INTL-SPECTRUM.COM u July/August 2019 u 5 Your Next MultiValue Editor

BY DICK THIOT

here are lots of ways to edit yy programs in your MultiValue ...with VSC you can yy Intellisense and Code Completion system. Most everyone has standardize on a common usedT the original editor “ED”. Oth- yy editor across languages. ers use more advanced editors, many yy Code Formatting of which are included with your MV munity as well. In a short period of database like BDT, JED, SED and as yy Goto/Peek Definition - Automati- time VSC has become one of the great well as popular third-party options like cally jump to or peek internal sub- open source success stories in the in- WED, Notepad++ and Sublime. routines dustry, with thousands of extensions y In non-MV environments, more full- available for free download. VSC also y Goto/Peek Definition - Auto- featured IDEs are common today. brings many other features that MV matically jump to or peek CALL, They offer code highlighting, format- developers can benefit from. CHAIN and INCLUDE routines ting, and other advantages. Many of y While VSC is primarily a code editor y Syntax checking for GOTO’s/ these can access MV data, which means with support for many modern lan- GOSUB’s, LOOPS, CASE State- we can use them for mvBASIC. In a guages including Javascript, C#, Py- ments and IF/THEN/ELSE state- growing number of case, people have thon, JSON, XML, Typescript, Node. ments already extended them to understand js, and many, many others, it has a host yy Access Remote programs and files our code so that we get the maximum of features beyond code editing. One on U2, D3, jBASE, OpenQM, benefit from all the bells and whistles. of the particularly beneficial features MVON# and others The newest option available to MV de- of VSC is that it is designed to accept yy Find all references of a word within velopers is VSC (Visual Studio Code) extensions that enable the community the current program from Microsoft. It is an opensource to further extend the functionality of editor designed for developers that is VSC. For MV developers, ONgroup’s yy Shows outline of internal subrou- not only free but it is also extensible. Chief Architect has released an exten- tines, include files, and subroutine It’s not just driven by Microsoft devel- sion for editing MultiValue code with calls opment teams, but the broader com- the following features: yy Code Snippets INTL-SPECTRUM.COM u July/August 2019 u 6 yy Git Integration the MVON# Basic extension, tab and SFTP, SQL integration and thousands margin size, custom words, using cam- of other extensions. At the time of this yy Compilation and Cataloging el case and VSC options like themes/ writing there are 13,055 extensions Beyond editing features, ONgroup colors and many others. available, all free. Did I mention that has published extensions for executing Visual Studio Code is FREE? Why would a MultiValue developer TCL commands within VSC. And, if want to use Visual Studio Code as Recently, ONgroup has joined with you are using MVON#, a full screen their code editor? You may even al- senior developers from Zumasys, along debugger. ready have an advanced code editor. with consultants and end-users from To begin using VSC, first download it You probably feel very comfortable the MV industry. to create an industry from https://code.visualstudio.com/. with it. The best reason is that the de- group to further develop this extension There are versions for Windows, Mac velopment industry has been making to enhance the features for all of the and Linux. Once you have installed incredible advances over the last several major MV platforms. The group has VSC and launched it you will need years. MultiValue is often perceived as adopted the name MVExtensions and to download your first extension. The failing to make advancement while the can be found on Github at https:// extension from ONgroup for Multi- rest of the development world moves github.com/mvextensions. Value is called MV# Developer Exten- to newer technologies. Using the MV At the time of this writing, the version sion. To install an extension click on extension with VSC allows you as a from MVExtensions has not been pub- the Extension icon in the icon bar on developer to join in on modern devel- lished but may well be available when the left of your VSC [Figure 1]. opment approaches to coding. Many you read this article. With the power of you already use multiple editors After installing the extension, you can of VSC available to MV developers, for different tasks and with VSC you find documentation for the exten- the group expects to create a standard can standardize on a common editor sion in your c:\Users\{UserName}\. IDE (Integrated Development Envi- across languages. Besides previously vscode\extensions\ongroup.mvon- ronment) that can be used across a ma- mentioned support for a broad range {VersionNumber}\doc. In the docu- jority of the MV industry with power- of languages, there are also extensions mentation, you can read how to cre- ful features previously not commonly that allow calls to RESTful Web Ser- ate a workspace and connect to your available to MV developers. Watch for vices, encoding and decoding BASE64, MultiValue database. Workspaces are announcements of availability of the support for collaborative development, configuration files that contain infor- MV Basic extension in the near future integration with Git, SVN and other mation on how to connect to your MV if it isn’t already available. is database as well as other options that source control systems, live server you may want to choose like automati- which will automatically show chang- DICK THIOT, President/Owner of Mav- cally associating your programs with es to web pages as you save the files, erick Systems, is a technology guru special- izing in software development and applica- tion design. He supports these skills with a broad knowledge of systems, networks and security. His application development ex- perience centers around database-oriented business applications including accounting

systems and information management us- ing MultiValue and SQL Server databases. He has created and continues to specialize in software for automobile dealers and the financial institutions that support them.

Figure 1 INTL-SPECTRUM.COM u July/August 2019 u 7 Business Tech AA SeatSeat atat thethe TableTable Communication is Key

BY CHARLES BAROUCH

t’s two in the morning. Your That means timely communication. It What you must mom is worried. Why is she wor- means a passable command of gram- ried? Because she didn’t hear you understand and accept mar and punctuation. It means read- Icome in at nine o’clock and didn’t ing it over before you hit send. is that it has to be done, see you go straight to bed. She thinks even when it isn’t easy. Great Expectations you’re out there, somewhere. We also have to face the fact that most When she sees you in the morn- see the time stamp on the e-mail, they of our workmates, in and out of our ing, there will be accusations and might have more empathy when you department, struggle with effective allegations. This isn’t because oversleep. communication. Part of the reason we you did anything wrong, it is be- Some of you are groaning that do- need to excel is because we have con- cause you failed to communicate. ing the work is more important. This trol over us, not them. We are the only Much of IT’s problems are of exactly isn’t about what’s most important, it’s part of the equation that we can fix. this sort. about doing the whole job. And paper- So, when the head of operations sends LATE!!!! work — e-mail in this case — is part a memo asking for us the build a data You’re working on a major project and of the job. That’s the hard lesson here: unicorn, it is on us to find out what he it requires a couple of all-nighters. You You didn’t finish on time because you or she thinks that is. If Dave guesses blew off a friend’s party to get it all left out a critical step, communication. something when he requested it and done. We’ve all starred in this movie Easy? we assume something else when we at some point. read it, then no one ends up happy and Anyone who knows me knows that I a lot of hours get burned. But you do finish, every bit of it is not like to talk. I like to write. The com- only done, but essentially bulletproof. munication part, while it doesn’t come Send old Dave a write up on what data You’re so exhausted you oversleep the completely naturally to me, is easier for unicorns do and don’t do. Let him next day and miss the deadline. me than some. give you feedback so that you can both agree that he meant a data rhinoceros. Imagine that exact scenario but, just What you must understand and accept Or perhaps he did mean data unicorn before you went to sleep, you sent an is that it has to be done, even when it but not the type you were thinking of. e-mail. It told the appropriate people isn’t easy. The job, pretty much any that the project was finished. Now, job nowadays, includes clear and effec- This should be standard policy. Even two things have happened: first, they tive communication. when you know Mary will bite back know you finished, second, when they with “I don’t have time to read this.”

INTL-SPECTRUM.COM u July/August 2019 u 8 sixty days.” Now imagine if it said this, instead: “IT agreed to complete all IT audits have you jumping through hoops? work in sixty days assuming Account- ing has all the data ready in a timely PRC can help you meet your compliance requirements and make IT more agile and productive. No extra manner.” work, nothing to remember, nothing to fall through the cracks. Our software development lifecycle The second one shares responsibility. tool automatically prevents or detects change The first is unconditional. The person according to your criteria. You can deploy, rollback, test and report quickly, automatically and recording the meeting notes might with confidence. Let PRC protect your company’s write either one. Unless, of course, the valuable U2 data and software assets. person writing the notes has a stake in SJ+ Systems Associates • [email protected] • http://sjplus.com the difference. I tend to write the notes for any meeting where my presence is important. That way, the details make You still have to do the steps. If I have When I tell you what I did, I exclude it in. to defend my department’s work, you from any credit. It is much easier “Mary didn’t give us feedback” is for Andrea in the warehouse to get be- And, I don’t just protect Chuck’s de- stronger than “I assumed she wouldn’t hind and idea the “we” (Andrea and I) tails or IT’s details. I protect every- be helpful.” cooked up and executed, even if I did one’s. That’s why no one complains most of the execution. when I offer to take the notes. Manage expectations. Clarify goals. Additionally, “I” can sound like brag- When I’m done making my notes, I e- However ging. “We” is inclusive and therefore mail them to everyone with a request Now I have to defend the Marys and is automatically more generous. “Our for corrections. Why do I request cor- Daves of the world. Responding is not team did” — as opposed to I” did” — rections? First off, I might not get ev- the same as communicating. You need might feel less fair but the goals are erything right. Secondly, people often to know your audience. If I send a met. And, you do have to understand wish to clarify things they said in the technical response to them that’s over that we almost never succeed in a vacu- meeting. Finally, I can’t get roasted for their heads — we get paid to keep cur- um. I once fixed a major A/R problem doing it wrong over an error or two. It rent on IT, they don’t — it is on me by finding the last bug after someone takes the pressure off. to be a better communicator. We can’t else had already fixed the several dozen * * * hold their hands or make them read. other bugs. So, yes, “I” fixed it, but That isn’t our job. It is their job to do “we” fixed it is more honest. I hope this series has been useful to their job. However, we have to make you as we take our seats at the table. If sure we have explained ourselves clear- Self-Control I missed any important topics, e-mail ly to the audience we are addressing. Some of us, maybe all of us have seen them to [email protected] and that organizational flowchart which we can see about covering them. is This isn’t, to quote a previous work- implies that the boss’ secretary is really mate, a case of “pass the monkey.” We in charge, right? We look, we laugh, CHARLES BAROUCH aren’t responding just to put the ball in we admit there’s some truth to it. is the CTO of HDWP, their court. The goal is useful informa- What gives a secretary power? Control tion. Even if they aren’t being particu- Inc. and the Publisher of access and control of the narrative. larly cooperative, we need to be. IT is a at HDWPbooks. You service department. Access we get, if you are the gate- can read his writing in keeper I have to work with to get We We We All The Way Home International Spectrum, Theme-Thology, to the boss, that’s power. The Novo Pulp, Pax Solaria, PerehelionSF, and A lot of people have “I” disease. We other one, narrative, many peo- need to learn to say “we” more often. ple don’t understand its power. the Interrogative series, which begins with There are several reasons for this pro- Imagine if I wrote a memo which said: Tiago and the Masterless. noun shift. “IT agreed to complete all work within

INTL-SPECTRUM.COM u July/August 2019 u 9 Taking Control: The Argument for Consulting

BY KEVIN KING

onfession: I started Precision control over my future, but no single Solutions on a bet. ...knowing where you are boss had universal control. When one is the only way to keep customer moved on, another filled the In the early ‘90s, I was a staff C gap, and the business continued unin- programmer spending countless hours track of where you’re terrupted. building a solution for my employer. going. In exchange, I was getting to the end One of my favorite quotes is “I am the of each pay period with a negative Not to be daunted, she turned it into best hope they have.” Despite what bank balance. With a wife and two a bet. Specifically, she said, “I bet appears to be blatant narcissism, it’s a children, living in an apartment with you that if you do this, in one year, reminder that if I don’t believe in me, a tendency to catch fire at unexpected you’ll be successful.” And to my eter- why should anyone else? times, it wasn’t exactly what you might nal shame, I took that challenge. I Lesson #2: You and Your call a dream. was literally betting that in one year I Business Are Separate Entities. That year, one of my team members would fail. Fortunately, I lost that bet. In the consulting world, people often at work decided to leave and hang a Twenty-five-plus years later, and still think of their businesses as an exten- shingle as an independent consultant. going strong, I can tell you that bet- sion of their personal lives. While it’s Losing her expertise was very difficult ting against yourself is a really, really important to have that ownership per- for those of us left behind, but we went bad idea! spective, when it comes to what’s on on. A year later, my story begins... With that in mind, I’d like to share a paper, you and your business should be completely independent entities. During a lunch with this same col- few lessons learned through growing a Don’t run your business out of a per- league, she told me that I simply must one-year consulting experiment into sonal checking account. Create spe- get out of the daily grind and get into a twenty-five-year-old software com- cific accounts for the business to keep consulting. She knew my family was pany. that income and expense separate from struggling financially. She said that Lesson #1: You can do this. your personal income and expense. in the past year, she had made more Once I had a couple wins, it became money than the last five years of my One of the hardest things to overcome clear that success was not only pos- income combined. Yet, while I hated in the U.S. is that when you have a sible; it was plausible. Unlike working having a fire extinguisher at the ready sole proprietorship type of business, for an employer, where someone else — a comfort I could hardly afford – banks, insurance companies, and even controlled whether I was employed the thought of going from a steady but the government look at you as being or not, in this arrangement my future insufficient paycheck to, potentially, no “self-employed”. While accurate, that was mine to make or break. I started check at all was pretty darn terrifying. identity can become a significant dis- thinking of consulting as having mul- advantage when getting loans or insur- tiple bosses, where each one had some ance for yourself or for your business. INTL-SPECTRUM.COM u July/August 2019 u 10 To overcome this, incorporate (either Get some good accounting software to you to learn something new, not just as a S-Corp or LLC in the U.S.) You’ll keep track of it all. Be able to gener- projects which only require your exist- still be self-employed, but outside or- ate Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet, and ing knowledge. Take the initiative to ganizations will take your business Income and Expense statements. And stay up to date on current technologies more seriously. understand what each of those things so a ground shift is more of a speed do to help you understand your busi- bump than a cataclysmic event. Lesson #3: Accounting Is ness. Your banker will thank you for Essential Lesson #5: Surround Yourself it. Most importantly, keep a watch on At the beginning, I used spreadsheets With Like-minded People your trend lines (earnings vs. spend- to keep track of income and expense, Whether employees, subcontractors, ing) to see how your business is doing. for the sole purpose of not being sur- vendors, customers, bankers, or baris- prised by taxes at the end of the year. Finally, if you get to the end of a peri- tas, surround yourself with like mind- And guess what, that first year was od and have any money left over, sock ed people who are all working to make SUPER SURPRISING for taxes! Yes, it away in some account and do your each other better. I have been blessed there was a record of what was earned best to forget about it. Always be sav- with an amazing staff that is driving and spent, but virtually no visibility to ing for a rainy day because there will be our company in positive directions. how any of it worked together. Fortu- storms along the way! You see, after twenty-five years, it’s not nately, there was almost enough mon- about me. In fact, it never has been. Lesson #4: Adapt, Adapt, Adapt! ey to cover the tax bill, so it wasn’t a It’s about our customers, our staff, and tragedy. But keep in mind that know- At the beginning, I didn’t have a com- the relationships we have built through ing where you are is the only way to puter of my own. All my work was the years that produce real results for keep track of where you’re going. on other people’s machines. When I real people. bought that first PC, it stunned me. As a person making a living as a pro- But Wait, There’s More grammer, this machine in my home Now, there’s a thousand other lessons was completely unprogrammable for that have been learned through experi- me. This led to a constant search for mentation, stress and hours of intense more knowledge, from Windows to work. And it’s so very true, every busi- Unix to Web to Mobile to virtualiza- ness is different so your mileage may tion to containers to … the quest con- vary. But these are something to con- tinues. sider if you’re looking for a new chap- Never be satisfied with “I’m a ter. ______.” (Fill in the blank with Having a business has been an amazing anything you like, from Multivalue ride, filled with ups, downs, joys, sor- programmer to Java to Web to Python rows, all of it. I like to think I’ve lived to … anything.) With the wealth of two lives: one as a person and another resources available today, the best way as a business owner. That said, I’m re- to ensure survival is to stay agile in ally happy I lost that bet. is adapting to an ever-changing technol- ogy landscape. Never stop learning. KEVIN KING is the Business today is not the same as it was President and Chief a year ago, and it’s certainly not the Technologist with same as it was twenty-five years ago. Precision Solutions, Limitations are for your competitors. Inc., a leader in tech- Without being misleading, be a master nology solutions, sup- of the “irresponsible yes”. Be willing to say yes to projects that will require port, and training.

INTL-SPECTRUM.COM u July/August 2019 u 11 From the Press Room

As per Rod Owens, Presi- and Tour de Force in continu- pass Sales Solutions and Tour dent of Ashwood Computer; ing their delivery of software de Force, will help empower “Our A-Team members have solutions that empower com- the manufacturing and distri- worked hard on the develop- panies to make the best busi- bution verticals with business ment and testing of all of these ness decisions. intelligence and seamless new features and we are very For over two decades, MITS ERP integration to help solve excited to be able to offer this has help over 1,000 custom- challenges, seize opportuni- new ForeMost functionality to Ashwood ers gain better insight into ties and make decisions that our customers and prospec- Computer, Inc. their operations and uncover move the needle. tive new ForeMost ERP so- more opportunities through “We consistently look for Announces The lution users. This is another business intelligence and ways to better serve our cus- great example of a WIN/WIN New “Enterprise analytics. MITS’ industry- tomers with software solu- solution for businesses utiliz- specific analytics solution is tions that help improve busi- Edition Of ing ForeMost and for MultiVal- packed with customizable ness efficiencies and increase ue database users around the ForeMost ERP” is dashboards and reports so revenue,” says Doug Braun, globe because with ForeMost Now Available! customers get both a long CEO, Tour de Force. “All three we enable them to continue term platform for analytics solutions evolving together ForeMost ERP version IV En- to reap returns on their origi- growth and immediate value allows us to offer a stronger, terprise Edition – includes nal investment in a MultiValue and ROI. more robust offerings that will many new functions. system!” Combining MITS with the have a positive impact on our Contact The A-Team and  product offerings of Com- customers’ bottom line.” schedule a preview of Fore- pass Sales Solutions and Tour Most ERP IV today de Force allows these three • Improved Reports and companies to expand value Reporting Functionality for their customers by inte- • NEW Dashboard Displays grating CRM and BI / analyt- • Web Reports ics into a single platform for existing and new customers. • Production Data Displays of Eden Capital Key Performance Indicators “MITS has always believed • New Improved Quality Acquires MITS business results are the key ONgroup Modules to Enhance measure of analytics success & Zumasys • Improved Performance, Robust Software and becoming a part of this Join Forces, Faster System Responses growing and evolving soft- Platform ware suite will exponentially Embracing Open • New Improved expand our abilities to de- Documentation Featuring Source to Create liver significant bottom line • Support For All MultiValue Compass Sales value to our customers,” Gary Visual Studio Databases Solutions and Owen, CEO, MITS. “We’ve Code Extensions • Low Code App. Dev. Tools, Tour de Force seen tremendous success in For MultiValue .NET, eCommerce and The the distribution and manufac- Web Eden Capital acquires MITS, turing industry, and we’re ex- Zumasys, a leading provid- • New API interfaces an analytic platform with cited to continue our journey er of NoSQL databases for with Shipping, sales tax business intelligence for with Compass Sales Solutions business-critical Pick appli- solutions, Power BI a broad base of custom- and Tour de Force to deliver cations, today announced its • Additional Python ers within the manufactur- even more value to all of our collaboration with ONgroup interfaces and a ForeMost ing and distribution space. customers.” to release new Pick Multi- Container MITS joins sister companies MITS, combined with Com- Value developer extensions Compass Sales Solutions for Visual Studio Code, the

INTL-SPECTRUM.COM u July/August 2019 u 12 From the Press Room

laborate on an open-source free open-source editor cre- highlighting, intellisense, ers, and it gets them working product for the benefit of our ated by Microsoft for Win- program formatting and with Pick in an environment customers. And because it’s dows, Linux and macOS. In remote file connectivity that they’re already familiar open source, anyone in the just three years, VS Code has for PickBASIC code with, which is a huge ben- global community can im- grown rapidly to become the development efit,” says Mike Wright, Senior prove and contribute to the most popular Integrated De- • MV# Debugger: Allows Software Developer at Zuma- product, which is truly excit- velopment Environment (IDE) developers to visually sys. “In addition to allowing ing.” on the market. debug PickBASIC programs MV developers to work with Visual Studio Code, the MV Building on the work that ONgroup pioneered this The MV# Developer Exten- ONgroup has done with its space with the release of the sion is available for jBASE, Extensions product itself is open source and accepting of plugins, Zumasys hopes to first Pick extensions for Mi- MVON# and OpenQM with lend its extensive Pick devel- crosoft Visual Studio Code. linter, syntax highlighting and community contributions. We encourage everyone to visit opment expertise and global Committed to bringing new remote file support. The MV# presence to further the suc- developers into MultiValue, Debugger requires imple- https://github.com/mvexten- sions , where they are free to cess of this important open ONgroup and Zumasys hope mentation by the platform source effort. By investing in to enrich the community and provider, such as Zumasys. join in the discussion or even contribute to the code. This development tools that will improve the development ex- Presently, it has been imple- be freely available to every- perience for both seasoned mented only for MVON# but kind of openness and acces- sibility is exactly what the next one, the two companies will Pick veterans and for the next Zumasys is in the process of continue to grow and expand generation of MultiValue pro- adding debugger support for generation of developers are gravitating toward.” the global MultiValue com- grammers. its databases as well. munity.  The three Zumasys contribu- “We greatly appreciate the An Unlikely tions to the MultiValue ex- participation of Zumasys, a Partnership tensions for Microsoft Visual top provider of MultiValue Zumasys could see value Studio Code centered around platforms,” said Chas Stauffer, in what ONgroup had done an enhanced architectural President of ONgroup. “To- with its MultiValue extensions direction with RESTful ser- gether, we can do a lot of for Visual Studio Code and vices and making the product great things for this commu- reached out to the company to collaborate. “This would configuration driven, whichnity and become a force for Rocket Software allows other MultiValue da- innovation in MultiValue for not have been possible with- tabases such as D3, Unidata, the benefit of customers and out ONgroup,” says Wright. Announces Universe, Revelation, Reality, vendors alike.” “They really set the table nicely from the development Universe 12 etc. to easily integrate and With this collaboration, Zu- side, and we’re really excited Rocket software is excited improve all flavors of Pick and masys and ONgroup are en- about this opportunity for to announce the release of the market as a whole. abling to eas- collaboration and breaking Rocket UniVerse 12.1.1. ily code in Pick BASIC using Code via ONgroup’s MV# down walls to advance the Visual Studio Code. Not only This new release is designed product are now available on community as a whole.” Microsoft’s Visual Studio Mar- does this empower the cur- to deliver accelerated trans- ketplace: rent MultiValue developers, “The Pick licensees were his- action performance, data in- but it also embraces the next torically very competitive with tegrity, and reliability for en- • MV# TCL Extension: generation by supporting each other; but this is a new terprises that want to better Used for code what has quickly become the era, and we viewed this as an handle extreme transaction highlighting, intellisense, world’s most popular devel- opportunity to join forces and volumes and quick data re- and syntax checking opment environment. do some good,” says Paul covery when system failures for MV# command line Giobbi, President of Zumasys. occur. “MV Extensions speak to the development “It’s the first time that we’ve next generation of develop- Highlights include: • MV# Developer seen two Pick vendors col- Extension: Used for code • UniVerse Recoverable

INTL-SPECTRUM.COM u July/August 2019 u 13 From the Press Room

File System (RFS): RFS example, SQL query da. Don't miss out on this valu- ensures you’ll never lose optimization returns query able opportunity to connect a transaction and reduces results 10% to 26% faster. with other MultiValue devel- the risk of file corruption. • Additional features: In opers and users. The confer- • Field-level updates during order to stay current with ence is a four-day event filled replication: Field level the constantly growing with a wealth of sessions and updates provide better Python library, the International networking events specifical- UniVerse 12.1.1 Python performance via faster Spectrum ly geared for the MultiValue replication and decreased library has been upgraded community. Early Bird regis- disk space usage to v3.7. Python is now Announces tration will start on Monday • Change Data Capture available on AIX and data 2020 MultiValue October 28th. Save The Date output to JSON format and plan on attending.  (CDC): Within audit logging, Conference and CDC provides change are just two of the many details at a granular level. new features. The ability to Partner Exchange You’ll spend less time and output your data to JSON Change. Adapt. Evolve! expend fewer resources to makes your MultiValue The 39th Annual MultiValue meet audit requirements. data available to more applications and markets Conference and Partner Ex- • Performance increasing opportunities for change will be held on April enhancements: For your business.  20 – 23, 2020 at the Saddle- brook Resort in Tampa Flori-

e-xtra Newsletter Stay on top of Industry News

Š Tech Tips Š Job Postings Š New Products Š Corporate Updates

www.intl-spectrum.com/newsletter

INTL-SPECTRUM.COM u July/August 2019 u 14 M a r k e t p l a c e ACCOUNTING Natec Systems LETTERS TO THE EDITOR www.natecsystems.com | [email protected] Have an opinion on an article: Agree, disagree, mv QuickBooks API for the MultiValue Database or enhancement to an article from a previous QB issue? International Spectrum and our authors are interested in hearing from you! • Read/Write Directly to Quickbooks Databases E-mail: [email protected] • mvQB API is Designed for the MultiValue Program to Use WANT TO SEE A SPECIFIC TOPIC? • No Need to Learn the Internals of QuickBooks International Spectrum is looking for writers, • QuickBooks Pro/Premier/Enterprise feedback, and topic ideas. We all have specific Natec topicsONLINE and BANNERissues that ADS: we need answers to find Phone: 303.465.9616 solutions for. Send us an E-mail with topics you E-mail: [email protected] Systems VERTICAL BANNER (120X240) Website: www.natecsystems.com Providing Solutions to your MultiValue Questions would like to have covered in the magazine or on the $2,880.00website. per year or $300.00 per month COMPLIANCE E-mail:RECTANGLE [email protected] (180X150) SJ+ Systems Associates $2,592.00 per year or $270.00 per month www.sjplus.com | [email protected] WANT TO WRITE? SQUARE BUTTON (125X125) CONSULTING Expand your professional credentials, and provide us with $1,680.00 an article. per year or $175.00 per month Drexel Management Service www.drexelmgt.com | [email protected] Give us a rough and ugly outline, and we will help Execu-Sys, LTD youE-MAIL refine NEWSLETTER it, proof it, and BANNER:make it press ready. Or www.eslny.com | [email protected] you can give us something polished, proofed, and HALF BANNER (300X90) HDWP press ready to publish. www.HDWP.com | [email protected] $4,200.00 per year or $175.00 per issue Modern MultiValue, LLC Share your thoughts and expertise with over www.ModernMultiValue.com | [email protected] 10,000ONLINE fellow MARKETPLACE MultiValue developers LIST: and users. PICK Programmers Shop E-mail: [email protected] www.pickprogram.com | [email protected] BASIC LISTING – FREE Precision Solutions QQ Company Page www.precisonline.com | [email protected] NEED A MENTOR? MentorsQQ Product give Page developers – Limit 1 the ability to ask industry DATABASE expertsQQ ADs willfor be displayeddirection, on yourcode page examples, and/or Zumasys just ask them to see if something makes sense. http://www.zumasys.com/products/accuterm/ Sometimes,PROFESSIONAL all you need LISTING is a resource or example to start or complete a project. REPORTING $350.00 per year/ $35.00 per month CheckQQ Company with us Page to see who is available for mentoring, Brian Leach Consulting, LTD www.brianleach.co.uk | [email protected] andQQ Producthow you Pages can - Unlimited take advantage of it to save your businessQQ No ADs or displayed company on your money. page TERMINAL EMULATOR E-mail:QQ Download [email protected] Links Zumasys http://www.zumasys.com/products/accuterm/ WANT TO BE A MENTOR? We have many retired or semi-retired professionals out there that would love to share their knowledge of MultiValue development. If you are one of them, please contact us to see what mentoring is all about. E-mail: [email protected]

For more information contact Nathan at: [email protected]

INTL-SPECTRUM.COM u July/August 2019 u 15 InternationalInternational SpectrumSpectrum 20182018 CompilationCompilation

Now Available in Print!

January/February 2018 to November/December 2018

In a Single Bound and Printed Volume

Order Your Copy Today!

Available on Blurb Search for International Spectrum in Bookstore Op Ed

Pick (MV) is Dead – Long Live Pick

BY BOB MARKOWITZ

he MultiValue world is evolv- orders takers. Then they developed ing — slowly, very slowly. Apps developed by low- ways to offer credit. The upper management in code platforms are the Companies like Sears also still had the manyT of our companies are beginning fastest growing segment in group that opened mail in addition to appreciate that the way to the fu- software. to the group taking orders over the ture is based in understanding what is telephone: two groups taking orders, happening in software development. pack product and ship product. This feeding a common group of pickers, It’s not just MultiValue development, idea — selling through a catalog to packers and shippers. Companies were they are looking at the entire IT mar- rural America — caused a shift in the transforming themselves again based ketplace. way people bought stuff, and not just upon the technologies available. In order to appreciate what is happen- in the rural areas. It was a disruption Companies that did not adapt to these ing today we can look back at the his- in the way people purchased things new ways of doing business had less tory of a U.S. business to understand throughout the U.S. market share or ceased to exist. We the disruptions technologies have Companies had to transform to meet might call this an analog transforma- caused. In the 1800s there was Sears, the model Sears had created, or disap- tion. And Sears grew! Roebuck and Company, a small retail pear. Many brick and mortar stores business in Chicago, IL. And somewhere around sixty to seven- added catalogs and Sears grew even ty years ago, the commercial computer Someone came up with the clever idea when faced with competition. arrives in the middle of all of this. Or- to put all the products they sold into a Then came the telephone! People had ders still arrived in the mail, by phone, book. They called the book a catalog. a new way to communicate. They and from outside sales representatives, It came from an understanding that could pick up a telephone, call a com- but the extensive manual processes there was a need in rural America for pany and order something from that that managed all of that were giving people to buy lots of stuff they could same catalog. Companies again had to way to automated processes. not buy at the general store. transform themselves. Order sheets would be given to key- Sears shipped catalogs to every person They needed to have a telephone — a punch operators that would enter data, they could find across rural America. telephone switchboard was even bet- the data would be recorded on punch Those people liked what they saw and ter. Companies had to hire switch- cards, thin pieces of cardboard. All of ordered stuff from the catalog. Sears board operators to receive and forward the cards would be placed in a sorter had to hire new people to open en- the calls. The forwarded the calls had and checked for errors. Errors would velopes, put money into a pile, place to go to someone. That meant hiring be re-keyed and the process rerun. orders into another pile, pick product, INTL-SPECTRUM.COM u July/August 2019 u 17 Once “clean” the data would be load- Dick Pick’s product allowed for mul- forms (orders) to enter. Customer ser- ed into the computer and massaged tiple terminals plugged into a single vice reps entered orders from custom- by programs that provided various computer. Computer programs were ers on the phone. Some companies al- reports. Companies added data pro- easier to write, leading to the forma- lowed their customers to place orders cessing departments, who used batch tion of application providers, espe- directly into the system via connected processes, to generate reports for ac- cially VARs (Value Added Resellers). networks using modems. Since each counting, manufacturing, order entry, The application programs that ran on connection required a MV license, the picking, packing, shipping, etc. Sud- Pick’s operating system allowed for on- Pick market grew. denly new categories of jobs appeared: line, real time, interactive verification And then came the internet! The web data processing manager, systems ana- of data, the checking of inventory, easy also allowed customers to enter their lyst, programmer, computer operator, creation of reports, etc. and the elimi- own orders without dedicated con- keypunch operator. And the list goes nation of paper cards. The Pick system nections. MultiValue databases VARs on... Some might call this the first dig- was environmentally friendly! This was and end users had to figure out ways ital transformation. And the Sears IT a major shift away from batch. to get orders from customers over the department grew. The Pick system could have hundreds web. There was no easy way to connect And somewhere around forty to fifty if not thousands of terminals attached the web to the MV system. Early on years ago companies like Apple (Steve to a computer. Each terminal had an many end-user companies used third Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Ronald Wayne), operator entering data that provided party providers that published catalogs Microsoft (Bill Gates, Paul Allen), and real time processes. Each terminal re- to the web and allowed customers to Microdata (MV implemented by Dick quired a MV license. Companies had enter orders into third-party systems. Pick) were founded. A new major digi- “farms” of people entering all kinds of The data would be batched overnight tal transformation was happening. data. Order entry clerks still had paper — we were back to batch — to the sub- scribing company and that data would be massaged by DataBasic programs to pick and fill orders, ship orders, and do Celebrating 20 Years all the other business steps. as a leader in the As time went by this caused companies to lay off data entry clerks and cancel MultiValue Industry MV licenses. The web was replacing mail-in orders and phone orders with orders which were already in a digital D3 UniVerse UniData PICK jBase mvBase Caché format. The web didn’t just reduce existing li- IT Solutions. Proven Results. censes, it caused fewer new licenses to One Project. One Decision. One Keystroke at a time. be sold. This became a domino effect. The loss of MV licenses caused the Custom developed solutions based on your needs loss of revenue for VARs and the MV Senior level developers and business analysts to guide you database providers, which caused the Developing long term partnerships laying off of staff, and so on. The MV database providers needed to find ways of having a direct connection between www.pickprogram.com the web user and the MV database as a way to increase revenue and remain [email protected] relevant to their user base. (614) 921-9840 As a defense against market conditions, some MV database providers bought INTL-SPECTRUM.COM u July/August 2019 u 18 or created MV oriented web develop- And as markets change the apps must At one time, it was. But it is no longer ment tools. For example, Rocket (one change. The company using MV must appears to be true. That battle is over. of its predecessors) bought Redback find a way to quickly transform their We in the MultiValue world have not eventually leading to Web DE. jBASE application code in order to meet cur- been successful in gaining a mass con- created jBASE Web Builder. Revela- rent and future market conditions and version of businesses from the SQL tion Software create O4W among oth- technologies. One way is to shift to- world. There are too few software ers. The canceling of MV licenses still ward low-code solutions. development companies writing new hurt the MV database providers and The rest of the world is adopting low- MV apps. You will not find new de- VARs and the Pick market shrunk. code. As a result RADP (Rapid Ap- velopment in MV applications coming And that shrank the knowledge base. plication Development Platforms) are from developers that began their soft- Aging and retiring programmers also becoming more important. An even ware journey in the SQL world. And contributed to companies leaving to go newer wave, MXDP (Multiexperience no matter what the MV database pro- to non-MV application providers. As Development Platforms) is low-code viders say about their efforts to recruit an aside, and in my opinion, the MV on steroids! young blood, we do not have a high database providers did not and are not percentage of new (YOUNG) devel- Apps developed by low-code platforms planning for the next wave of disrup- opers in the industry writing MV apps are the fastest growing segment in soft- tions that are coming. Like all previous today. ware. Along with low-code adoption waves, those changes will be caused by comes new procedures and processes What we can do however is extend the the change in customer preferences as that invade all segments and depart- life of MV installed applications by well as changes to current and future ments of a company, not just IT – to doing today what the rest of the soft- technologies. understand this better, Google “citizen ware development world is doing. We Adding new backend languages, rest- developer.” can create new apps and enhance our ful web services and .NET connectors legacy apps by applying new methods In MultiValue, we’ve always talked doesn’t make the adoption of modern to MV. The web, mobile and desktop about user ownership of data, low- technologies easy to use or learn! There apps we create can use MV data and code/no-code is the move toward user is a learning curve and the requirement mvBASIC, incorporating new and leg- ownership of code. The IT department to do longhand coding. acy code. Legacy apps can be modern- is shifted, in this paradigm, from the ized (in some cases replaced while still There is the need for Agile Software keepers of data into the role of strategic using the MV database). Low-code IS Development (fast development times, differentiators. IT is finally being seen the quickest, easiest, least expensive easy app enhancement and app modi- as a way to increase customer value, and perhaps the only long-term solu- fications) so that VARs and end-users profit and market share. Low-code tion for saving MV. could react to technological changes platforms provides a solution to the and market conditions. The VARs digital transformation (Google “digi- Market conditions are driven by cus- (creators of MV applications for sale tal transformation”) that is disrupting tomers and technologies. Employees using the MV database) must react to current business processes. also want apps that adopt modern the market conditions their customers technology to make their jobs more Digital transformation, like every dis- (users of MV applications) and their productive and easier. Customers seek ruption before it, requires the adop- customers’ customers — the buying ways to use apps as a portal into their tion of new technologies. It impacts public — live in! vendor. They want it on mobile devic- company cultures and processes. Dis- es, their desktop and through the web. The MultiValue technology from forty ruption isn’t easy because it changes plus years ago is still the technology the way a company conducts its busi- According to Freshworks, 70% of cus- that MV developers rely upon today. ness and that involves risk. tomers globally prefer brands that pro- Oh there are some advances into web vide service across multiple channels We see the Pick model as the world’s and .NET connectivity but the basic (email, chat, social, etc.) and multiple best for writing business applications. underlying technology is still the same. devices. It is not just IT that has to ser- vice that change, it is all departments INTL-SPECTRUM.COM u July/August 2019 u 19 that are being disrupted by the new both IT application development and yy Easily incorporate 3rd party com- technologies and customer require- citizen development initiatives. By ponents and component libraries ments. 2024, low-code application develop- into an app. For example Chat- ment will be responsible for more than bots, Artificial Intelligence, IOT, Customer preference and behavior 65% of application development activ- MXDP, etc. now, more than ever, drives enterprise ity.” And “The boundary between web technology decisions. yy No-code option for citizen devel- and mobile development has largely opers With all that said, MV software based disappeared as development platforms end-user applications, application de- now meet customer expectations of yy Elimination of programming back- velopment companies, consultants, building across digital touchpoints” — logs and the MV database providers them- see Freshworks above. yy Protection from a shrinking pro- selves will go on forever. The MV plat- A low-code platform also provides sig- grammer population form is primarily used by small and nificantly more than just creating mo- medium businesses that have yet to be yy A single set of skills can create web, bile apps and/or modernizing legacy as heavily impacted by changes in mar- mobile and desktop apps applications in a fraction of the time of ket conditions and may never be fully y other methods. It means that a com- y Elimination of risk impacted by the technology evolution. pany can have a competitive advantage yy Provides for a better customer expe- These companies’ internal MV ap- in their marketplace to quickly react rience leading to customer retention plications are solid and they provide to customer preferences, changes and and new customer acquisition is management with everything they adopt the newest software technolo- need to run their business. Their gies. Low-code benefits include but are BOB MARKOWITZ is an Evoke Evange- greatest challenges may be in the pro- not limited to: list and Sales Manager for BlueFinity Inter- gramming backlogs that haunts every yy Fast development times company and a shrinking programmer national. You can read his blogs at https:// population. yy Apps created by low-code platforms evoke.blog/. can be modified and enhanced Low-code development now includes BlueFinity develops and markets Evoke, a quickly to reflect customer, market web, desktop, mobile and multiexperi- and technology changes and ad- cost-effective, low-code/no-code rapid app ence development. According to Jason vances — Agile Software Develop- development platform that provides the Wong, Research Director on the App ment Design & Development team at Gart- complete environment for existing staff to ner, Multiexperience Development yy Some low-code platforms even pro- design, develop and deploy business apps Has Arrived: “Application leaders vide for develop once/deploy ev- across multiple devices (IOS, Android and must adopt an appropriate multiexpe- erywhere for most mobile devices; Windows phones and tablets plus Win- rience development platform to create most desktops; operating environ- dows, Apple and Linux desktops). Evoke a plethora of digital user experiences. ments (Android, iOS, Windows, And by 2020, at least 50% of all new *nix), native, hybrid and web, low-code/no-code solutions can evolve into business applications will be created MXDP… fully customizable native apps. It allows the by high-productivity tools sets such as yy Significantly decreased develop- Developer to create web, hybrid and native low-code and no-code development ment costs Apps (via Visual Studio and Xamarin proj- platforms.” yy Significantly decreased develop- ects) and to integrate and synchronize with Plus, in the just published Gartner ment time existing back-end systems for a wide array Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Low- of SQL and MultiValue databases. code Application Platforms (August yy Increased productivity 2019): “By 2024, three-quarters of yy Improved code quality large enterprises will be using at least four low-code development tools for

INTL-SPECTRUM.COM u July/August 2019 u 20