Magazine January/February 2006 • an Idbma, Inc

INSIDE! CELEBRATING 25 YEARS - A LOOK BACK AT SPECTRUM'S MOST FAMOUS SPEAKERS $7.00 U.S. INTERNATIONAL

® SPECTRUMSPECTRUMTHE BUSINESS COMPUTER MAGAZINE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 • AN IDBMA, INC. PUBLICATION Ajax:Ajax: MakingMaking thethe WebWeb MoreMore InteractiveInteractive WhatWhat AjaxAjax Is,Is, What It Isn’t Isn’t,, andand WhyWhy ItIt MattersMatters PLUS! Improving the Bottom Line With Business Intelligence

INTERNATIONAL Making the 12 Web More Interactive — ® Understanding SPECTRUMJANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 the Real Benefits MULTIVALUE REPORTING AND BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE of the Ajax 6 One of the strengths of MultiValue systems is the rich, expressive query environment that allows users to extract the detail and summary transaction information needed to Technology A clear effectively run the business. But what happens when we want simpler access to picture of what Ajax is, what operational data and quick export to spreadsheets, or trending and drill-down analysis to improve the business? BY ROSS MORRISSEY it isn't and why it matters.

BY MELVIN SORIANO WHY VISUAL STUDIO .NET? As an IT professional in charge of a 30MultiValue system, you are probably wondering the impact, if any, that the latest release of .NET will have on the work that you do and the decisions that you make. This article demystifies the new features and tells why some of them are important to you. BY ROBERT HOUBEN

IS YOUR DATA SECURITY ADEQUATE? Did you know that the weakest 35part of a security system is the user? All MultiValue databases provide tools to protect your data, but many of them aren’t being used or applied to their full advantage. BY NATHAN RECTOR

OPENQM — WHERE ARE WE AND WHERE ARE WE GOING? 24Launched a little over a year ago, the OpenQM initiative was designed to revitalize the MultiValue database world through an open source MultiValue database. Now we check in to see what’s been happening over the past year and OpenQM’s current status. BY MARTIN PHILLIPS

BLUEFINITY: INTEGRATING MULTIVALUE DATA WITH 26MICROSOFT REPORTING SERVICES Microsoft has invested millions of dollars in the creation of the Reporting Services infrastructure in SQL Server 2005 to provide a scalable, easy-to-use reporting solution which integrates tightly with its development toolsets. Through BlueFinity’s Reporting Services Data Connector, DEPARTMENTS MultiValue users on all platforms now have a gateway into this world-class technology.

4 From the Inside SPECTRUM SPOTLIGHT: KORE TECHNOLOGIES — 34 INTEGRATING MULTIVALUE SYSTEMS WITH BEST-IN-CLASS SOLUTIONS Company on the rise Kore Technologies has found its niche “extending INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM is a registered the enterprise through integrated best-in-class solutions.” The San Diego-based company trademark and MultiValue is a trademark of provides products and services to companies who want to integrate their MultiValue IDBMA Inc. All other registered trademarks and databases with other databases and applications, and KommerceServer, a set of Web-based e-Commerce and collaboration applications. trademarks are the property of the respective trademark holders. PROGRAMMING FOR SPEED IN OPENINSIGHT Time. There 16never seems to be enough and we usually wish we had more. As programmers, developers and consultants, to get more time, we need more speed. How can this be achieved and what exactly defines speed? BY MIKE RUANE

HISTORY OF MULTIVALUE: FAMOUS PEOPLE AND THE 42SPECTRUM SHOW A look back at some of the most notable personali- ties that have been the keynote speaker or a guest at Spectrum Shows past.

UPDATES FROM MULTIVALUE DBMS PROVIDERS Mpower1 40and TEMENOS announce new master agreement for jBASE International. Technical tips from IBM.

INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 3 [ FROM THE INSIDE] INTERNATIONAL

SPECTRUM® Famous People JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 and GUS GIOBBI the Spectrum Show Chairman MONICA GIOBBI President For our final look back at the past 25 room with a balcony with sliding glass NICHELLE JOHNSON years counting down to the 25th Anniver- doors that open out to fresh air and the Editorial Manager sary Spectrum Show in Long Beach in balcony. “What balcony? The contract

March, we decided to reflect on the famous never said anything about a balcony!” TECHNICAL ADVISORY BOARD people we brought to the The MGM Reno hotel building didn’t even Henry Eggers, Independent Consultant Spectrum shows along the way, and as have any rooms with a balcony, much Tim Holland, Holland Consulting Bruce Johnson, Tag Consulting you might guess, there’s a story that less a window that opened. First and Ronald H. Jones, Ron Jones Consulting goes along with every encounter. ten, Spectrum. Nathan Rector, Natec Systems Our first brush with celebrity was with famous The saga continued. At our meeting with Bryan Shumsky, Revelation Software Melvin M. Soriano, Eagle Rock Information Systems ABC correspondent Howard K. Smith, whom the Smiths that afternoon, we explained we retained to be the keynote speaker at the where in the hotel Howard would be MISSION STATEMENT International Spectrum 1984 Spectrum Show at the MGM Grand Hotel speaking, that the mayor would be there, magazine’s editorial mission is to be the premier independent source of useful information for users, developers, and resellers of MultiValue data- in Reno, Nev. who the audience was, and what time base management systems, open systems business database solutions, Howard would be speaking. This was all and related hardware, software, and peripherals. Published bimonthly, You would think that hiring a celebrity would International Spectrum provides comprehensive coverage of the products, spelled out in the contract; however, the companies, and trends that shape the MultiValue marketplace as well as be a straightforward transaction. We, the cus- the computer industry at large — helping its readers get the most out of Smiths hadn’t bothered to read it. Mrs. their business computer systems. tomer, make a deal with your agent for an Smith said, “Oh no, Howard can’t possibly agreed upon price; you, the celebrity, then do speak at 8:00. He has to watch the what you agreed for the price. morning news and be on call in case ABC Mr. Smith was to speak at 8:00 a.m. the needs him in an emergency!” Right! Like MV.ENTERPRISE Mentor Pro first morning of the Spectrum conference. Dan Rather has Howard on speed dial. The event was set up to be on MGM’s MO/E MULTIVerse “What 8:00 a.m. speaking time? That was Native PICK formidable stage in the main showroom, in the contract!” Touchdown, Spectrum. and Mr. Smith was to sit on the dais PCVerse PICK OA with other dignitaries including Reno Mayor Howard did speak at 8:00 a.m. tm Power95 Peter Sferrazza. Don’t miss this issue’s “History of R91 REALITY The first glitch happened the afternoon MultiValue” article to hear more stories AP/PRO before. Mrs. Howard K. was on the phone at about other famous people we the Reno airport; she was upset that there encountered at a Spectrum Show. RPL was no limo there to pick them up. The Editor’s Note: Be sure to attend the MV•BASE Smiths always get a limo. “What limo? 25th Anniversary Spectrum Show The contract never said anything IDBMA’s International Spectrum is published six (6) times per year at the and hear Gus and Monica Giobbi subscription price of $40.00 U.S. in the U.S.A.; $45.00 U.S. in about a limo!” After calming Canada and Mexico; $50.00 U.S. for other countries. Single copy welcome the delegation to rates are $7.00 U.S. in the U.S.A. and Canada, and $9.00 U.S. in Monica down, the MGM came this special event — March all other countries. International Spectrum is published by IDBMA, Inc., to the rescue and sent a limo. 715 J Street, Suite 301; San Diego, CA 92101; Tel: 619/515-9930; 7-10, 2006, at the Hilton Fax: 619/515-9933 E-Mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.intl-spectrum.com. Copyright 2006 International Data- Disaster averted? Not so Long Beach Hotel. For a base Management Association, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part, without written permission, is prohibited. much. Mrs. Howard K.’s room complete schedule or to PRINTED IN USA • ART AND DESIGN: CP Design; 619-246-6878; didn't have a balcony. The register, please visit San Diego, CA Smiths always have a www.intl-spectrum.com. NEWS RELEASES/UNSOLICITED ARTICLES International Spectrum is eager to print your submissions of up-to-the-minute news and feature stories complementary to the MultiValue marketplace. Black and white or color photographs are welcome. Although there is no guarantee a submitted article will be published, every article will be con- — GUS GIOBBI, CHAIRMAN, IDBMA, INC. — sidered. International Spectrum retains all reprint rights.

[email protected] International Spectrum is a registered trademark and MultiValue is a trademark of IDBMA Inc. All other registered trademarks and trademarks are the 4 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 property of the respective trademark holders.

MultiValue Reporting and Business Intelligence BY ROSS MORRISSEY

Operational Reporting “I need a list of last month’s In spite of the single-pass mechanics, Versus Analytical late orders!” the LIST and SORT verbs, combined Reporting with the information stored in diction- “Do you want that sorted by aries and a variety of display options, One of the great strengths branch number?” of MultiValue systems is provide an enormously flexible method “Sure — you read my mind!” of defining reports. With enough expe- the efficient representation rience, it is possible to create impres- of transactions; we can sive output using built-in command-line express complex business reporting. In the eighties, I attended a seminar where an elaborate LIST state- logic succinctly in very few “I need a list of all customers ment was actually used to cut auto- who ordered last month!” files. In the right hands, matically numbered payroll checks. our rich, expressive query “Do you want contact info with Unfortunately, this is still state-of-the- environment exposes those addresses?” art for native MultiValue report output, and molding that output to fit the these files, extracting the “Contact info too — you deserve a raise!” online world or populate a spread- detail and summary trans- sheet is not easy. action information we need Unfortunately, sometimes requests are Ignoring output issues,a perfect report to run our business. But, not possible because we don’t have a MultiValue expert at hand — or the will still be out of date soon after we what if we want simpler information we need to run the busi- run it because of the nature of reports access to operational data ness is not captured directly by our — they capture a snapshot of transac- and quick export to spread- applications, in the form we need. tion data. Less obvious are changes to the requirements that drove the sheets or trending and drill- Resourceful workers will gather data manually and capture it with pen or canned report in the first place. Solv- down analysis to improve spreadsheet — anything to get their ing these problems can turn into a real our business? In this arti- job done — unfortunately this is a management issue. How do you rerun cle, we will look at the com- time-consuming and costly approach. a report to capture the most recent We get effective operational reporting data? Where is the report stored? What plementary nature of only when requirements align closely do we call it? We can certainly create operational reporting and with application files because the Paragraphs or PROCs,but how are they analytical reporting and the extraction process is quite limited. stored, accessed, organized or main- tained, and by whom? We can over- strengths and weaknesses The actual reporting process consists write queries or forward queries to of their respective applica- of scanning a set of records and pre- unauthorized parties or five different senting elements on a screen or page tions and third party tools. people can run the same query simul- in human readable form.This approach taneously — bringing our operational dates back to an era when resources system to its knees. Operational Reporting were very constrained. We assemble Also called Enterprise Reporting or and sort a set of candidate record keys; Maintenance of queries is not the only Transactional Reporting, these are typ- then, in one pass, read and format or management headache.The query lan- ical “canned” reports or the ad hoc summarize each record on screen or to guage complexity and complexity of queries that a MultiValue expert can a spool file. This minimizes system the underlying file layout also increase pull up so adeptly in one or two com- requirements because we only hold load on the IT department. Training mands that it seems like black magic to one source record (and any running end users to use select lists effectively the uninitiated.We’ve all had conversa- totals and page layout information) in and understand the query syntax takes tions like these: memory during the output phase. time and there are few resources for

6 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 this type of training. Even with report 2002 International Spectrum Maga- “I need a list of all customers training, exposure to the application zine, author Michael Ballard devotes who ordered last month.” dictionaries can often most of “MV ReportCard: “Do you want contact info with overwhelm the keenest Lessons Learned In MultiVal- those addresses?” end user.The net result: ue Reporting” to the over- IT staff will be generat- An exciting head associated with ODBC, “No, but I only really need the ing reports as long as primarily to enable main- top 10 customers last month.” they admit to knowl- stream reporting tools like edge of that black art, prospect for Crystal Reports to access These kinds of queries are typical of and they will always be MultiValue data. Michael does analytical reporting. They are essential behind the curve. not paint a pretty picture. in today’s business climate as managers analytical More recently, new middle- seek to identify under- and over-per- Guided Operational ware based on Microsoft’s forming aspects of their operations to Reporting with reporting is the .NET technology has emerged reduce costs and improve results.They Report Generators as a possible reporting solu- also underline the two main limitations One solution to simplify- tion.The fact that .NET is based of traditional reporting against opera- ing complex tasks is a ability to supply on XML solves some of the tional files — the restriction to sorting “wizard” approach — structural issues with ODBC, by value forced by the single-pass tech- breaking the reporting but it is an expensive proposi- nology and the inability to compare these advanced multiple sets of data (Figure 1). task down into smaller tion if your organization is not steps guided by a third leveraging the .NET middle- party report generator. tools to people ware for oper- FIGURE 1 These have been around ational use for a number of years in the field, too. Another and have recently em- solution using braced the familiar Web XML to pre- interface. Training is allowing them to serve the Multi- minimized because re- Value structure port generators hide of the exported much of the complexity act as change data is the new of the underlying query MITS Report language, and it is get- agents pursuing product, de- ting possible to create a scribed in the report without direct sidebar (see knowledge of the under- goals instead of page 47). lying file structure. The This progression from operational to earliest report genera- Limitations of waiting for analytical reporting mirrors the role of tors checked query lan- Operational Reports the report recipient. An operational guage syntax and pre- Let’s revisit those opera- report might supply a list of late orders vented the creation of guidance. tional queries that we so eas- to help operations improve their turn- invalid queries. Today, ily dispatched earlier, but around. Middle management might report generators are with an added wrinkle that look to a tactical report identifying also aware of file layouts will sound both annoyingly branches with above or below average and can help create queries that are reasonable — and impossible with our turnaround trends to gain insight or both efficient and more likely to cre- “single-pass” query tools: focus attention, while upper manage- ate desired results.Additional features “I need a list of last month’s ment may look at enterprise-wide turn- include user-friendly menus and a around figures to see if they meet security layer that controls access to late orders!” strategic targets. An exciting prospect data as well as query maintenance “Do you want that sorted by for analytical reporting is the ability to functions, reducing load on IT. branch number?” supply these advanced tools to people in the field, allowing them to act as Other Approaches to “Sure — can you give me the percent- change agents pursuing goals instead Operational Reporting age change from last month in order of waiting for guidance. We can also use ODBC or XML to pull count and dollar volume too?” operational data out of the MultiValue If you are not providing this analytical environment in order to facilitate capability through application pro- reporting. In the September/October Continues on page 8

INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 7 be performed independently, reliably, MultiValue Reporting and and efficiently; BI systems look at the business process as a whole and Business Intelligence involve trade-offs that would be Continued from page 7 impractical in transactional systems.To provide rapid on-line analytical programs or online analytical processing interactive analysis, but mainly you cessing, we pre-aggregate transactions (OLAP), resourceful managers are sure- gain the ability to view results easily in a structure optimized for efficient ly taking pencil or spreadsheet in hand online or to export to a spreadsheet navigation. Since each transaction to get the job done on their own. For a for further manipulation. If you use a can affect hundreds of elements in sole proprietorship that may be fine, BASIC program to access the data, you this structure, it is impractical to but the astounding return on invest- can tailor the reporting, at the expense update this structure during the actu- ment for OLAP tools means almost any of even more added complexity — but al transaction. size organization can benefit. users may still press for spreadsheet integration. Most BI solutions involve batched Since operational reports work on one extraction and summary of transac- pass through the data, we cannot easi- Business Intelligence and tions into a hypercube structure. We ly use them to compare different sets Analytical Reporting can usually make these batches arbi- of data, for example, comparing sales A more general approach is using third trarily small to allow transactions to numbers from month to month or party business intelligence OLAP or ana- Continues on page 47 ranking by summarized totals. It is pos- lytical reporting tools. sible to accomplish this analysis FIGURE 2 These copy the transac- through custom programming, and tion data into a structure some vertical applications do this with optimized for compar- complex multi-pass BASIC code; typi- ing and ex-ploring sum- cally generating a summary history file mary totals with linked with delimited keys of the form and pre-aggregated year*period*product-type*product. sets of data to enable This programming approach can yield trend and drill-down powerful results that would not other- analysis. This creates a wise be available, but there are a few view of a process that drawbacks. allows you to derive Generating management reporting insight quickly to help with analytical capabilities using you improve that pro- FIGURE 3 BASIC programs involves an intimate cess (Figures 2-4). knowledge of the underlying applica- Although business in- tion as well as detailed insight into the telligence (BI) draws reporting requirements.The authors of information from the the application software may have the underlying operational former but lack detailed specifics of data, it is actually model- the latter. Putting the hooks into your ing the business process, application to extract transactional not just assembling statis- information and load it into a summary tics. Reporting directly file adds complexity to your code base. from operational data If you bundle this with transaction pro- files to operate a busi- cessing, you slow operations down; ness from day to day otherwise, you create another process does not constitute BI. FIGURE 4 to schedule and administer. Reporting with a goal to Reporting from these summary files improve the process, to can be performed with command-line track trends, to identify queries, report generators, or program- under-performing cate- matically. If you use traditional report- gories and the underlying methods to access this data, you ing root causes are the hallmarks of BI. are subject to their presentation limitations and interactive analysis is not Operational systems possible. It is possible to create links break down a business manually between queries in some process into individual modern report generators, emulating transactions that can

8 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006

[ WEBONOMICS]

Understanding the Real Benefits of the Ajax Technology Making the Web More Interactive BY MELVIN SORIANO

The Web is laden Sometimes I get things wrong and use Ajax right now. That is, I’m assume that people understand the assuming you have a Web browser with flash, but benefits of certain technologies. Over released in the past five years — ten years ago, I started writing and talk- Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, the interaction ing about the Web at Spectrum, and I Netscape or Opera. If you’ve used might as well have been describing the- Google Maps or GMail, then you’ve itself is ories of interest rates, bond prices and used Ajax applications. arbitrage regulations. It took a few talks These applications vastly improve the basically the and articles to get folks to understand richness of Web applications. A well- that there was a place for the technolo- mainframe-like written Ajax application changes in gy at the MultiValue business table. real-time; you won’t be forced to wait data entry Likewise, in a previous issue, I gave for a page to reload any time you click systems. Ajax some technical information regarding on something. You can actually drag Ajax without really explaining to boxes around; the pages can refresh techniques everyone the ramifications of the tech- themselves with new data or images; nology. I thought it best, therefore, to pages can be re-formatted without re- transition us into backtrack some and make sure we all downloading. And again, there’s no understand what Ajax is all about. special browser or browser plug-in the world of GUI required.Ajax is merely a programming After all, there’s does seem to be hype technique that milks all the features of controls. about Ajax Web applications; you may today’s browsers to generate some- be assuming that Ajax is some incredi- thing that feels less Webby and more ble new plug-in or programming lan- Windowsy. guage. I got an email that suggested that the reader was under the impres- What Ajax Does: sion that Ajax was not possible No waiting for the Edit checks: Tra- because the browser wasn’t able to ditional Web pages ask you to submit a download the Ajax plug-in. form, wait a few seconds, grab a cup of So, as a reminder, you don’t need to do coffee, watch the browser draw the anything particularly special. You can page component by component, and

10 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006

then add whatever information was ing. The rest of the page does not Web,Ajax is not a company, a product, needed. Were you on a shopping cart change, flicker or move. or even a mythological figure. It’s not page but forgot to enter the area code even the name of a standard or inter- Graphic Interactiveness: The Web is in a phone number? You’ll have to start national Internet committee. It’s a pro- laden with flash, but the interaction all over again. It’s an electronic version gramming technique that blends the itself is basically the mainframe-like of lather, rinse, repeat. benefits of several technologies. data entry systems. Ajax techniques I can’t even imagine how many e-com- transition us into the world of GUI Why Does Ajax Seem So New? merce sales have been lost because controls. You might see animations The term Ajax was coined only last the shopper encountered one too such as dissolving text that tell you year.The approach has been there for a many error messages and gave up.Ajax something’s being saved, you can drag long time, but until it was given a removes the wait; the page does not items around the page, you can see NAME, it was tough to encourage the reload — the browser responds with static text become editable fields use of some nameless programming its edit checks as you go about your when you move your mouse over it. technique. Ajax is pretty much just business. geek lingo. It stands for Asynchronous What Ajax Isn’t: JavaScript XMLHttpRequest (with blue Pages Update in Real-time: Ajax- Plug-in: Ajax applications do not use dots of DHTML and DOM, I suppose). enabled pages update themselves in special browser plug-ins or other types So,we’re talking about stuff that’s been real-time. Many news pages, including of additional software. around: Javascript and DHTML, to let Yahoo for example, redraw the entire applications respond to mouse clicks Browser-specific: Just use a browser page at certain time intervals, such as and other events; DOM, so that Web from this millennium and your Ajax every 10 minutes. In contrast, a brows- applications manipulate the graphics Web page should work. er using Ajax techniques will poll the and display; and XMLHttpRequest, so Web server every few seconds in the Proprietary: “Ajax” might be a com- that the browser and the Web server background, so it’s able to update any mon name in the pantheon of house- can communicate without having to and only information that needs chang- hold marvels,but when it comes to the refresh the page. Continues on page 14

• Resizes both static and dynamic files. AVAILABLE FOR UNIX, LINUX, AND WINDOWS • Checks file integrity and identifies ENVIRONMENTS ON ALL MAJOR most errors. HARDWARE PLATFORMS. • Recommends type, modulo and separation/block size. • Performs extensive statistical analysis. Fitzgerald & Long • Provides after-hours processing. (303) 755-1102 www.fitzlong.com • Produces concise reports. Since 1983, we actively support over 120,000 users.

12 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006

SpotLine PICK Making the PROFESSIONAL Web More Interactive Don’t make the mistake of placing Continued from page 12 your career in the hands of just ANY search firm. We are professionals who understand the importance of CONFI- We Need Ajax: DENTIALITY and RESPECT of a job Web not Windows: The Web isn’t just search, and our database of clients is one of the largest in the country. some static page anymore. People are Unlike the rest, we will work in YOUR using Web pages instead of Windows best interests’ to help you further your programs to do most of their work. career. Because of our dedication and professionalism, we are recognized as Ajax can be thought of as WWW 3.0. the leaders in the PICK/UniVerse/Unida- ta placement industry in the Tri-State Frustration: The point-and-click-and- area and throughout the U.S. So if you wait Web page stinks. People expect are tired of putting yourself at the Terminal Supplier mercy of the rest. better.

Text Based CALL THE BEST! Contact... Multiple Desktops: People use more Matt Hart than one computer, so any applica- Thin Clients tions that license and limit to only EXECU-SYS, LTD one location simply won’t succeed. 1 Penn Plaza, Suite 3306 Ajax helps deliver powerful features SpotLine Inc. New York, NY 10119 4000 Bridgeway Suite 304 (212) 967-0505 without having to install software over and over. Sausalito, CA 94965 (800) 423-1964 x 302 Tel: 1 415 332-1679 Fax: (212)947-8593 GM technology: Google and Microsoft 1 888 827-1836 (toll free in USA) Email: [email protected] are using it, so we might as well accept www.spotline.com Consultants Needed Nationwide that Ajax will be around.

Drawbacks of Ajax:

INTERNATIONAL Limitations: Ajax is a blend of several technologies, but not all technologies.

® It doesn’t do much of anything for SPECTRUMSPECTRUMTHE BUSINESS COMPUTER MAGAZINE multimedia, data storage, printing, ª printers, speakers or webcams. - Fast but not instantaneous: The e tra data and edit checks still need to be x processed by the Web server, a possi- Have you seen it? ble back-end server and the broadband Everyone’s talking about it, International Spectrum connection.You’ll find a vast improve- - ª, the new e-newspaper. ment in interactive timeliness, but Ajax extra is no magical solution to a lousy Web connection or database server. Look for e-xtra, on the first and the fifteenth of each month. This e-newspaper has timely industry news, hot topic, classified Internet is needed: If you’re trying to ads, and things of interest heard on the MultiValue grapevine. use a PC without the Internet, you • Let us know what you’ve heard on the grapevine that you won’t be able to use Ajax. think we should look into. • Let us know what’s new at your company that you’d like other JavaScript reborn: Serious Ajax people to know! applications require strong proficien- • Find out how to add e-xtra punch to your International cy in JavaScript, in addition to the Spectrum Magazine ad with a complementing ad in International other languages that are needed on the Spectrum’s e-xtra. back-end. • Take advantage of placing an inexpensive classified ad in International Spectrum e-xtra. Spaghetti code: You think it’s easy to get into spaghetti code with BASIC? Get your FREE subscription at www.intl-spectrum.com Imagine the potential when you blend

14 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 multiple technologies such as Ajax. Event Loop: An event occurs on the based on the initial request that was Coder beware! browser, such as a keypress or mouse programmed. movement. What’s Actually Happening: So that’s it. Ajax isn’t something more • The event is sent to one of the brows- Ajax processing seems more akin to than a combination of different tools er’s objects, that in turn sends a traditional GUI programs than tradi- request to the Web server. with solid programming techniques. tional Web pages.The JavaScript moni- It’s slick and clever, but more impor- tors events and manipulates objects • Web Server processes the event (with tantly it’s vastly usable in many of our when defined events occur. The a possible run to a database server). MultiValue forms. In future articles, I’ll manipulation may head back to the • The Web Server replies to the calling Web server and perhaps a database object. return to the technical aspects of Ajax server. Interestingly, there the interac- and see how it can make your forms tion is asynchronous, as the event-lis- • The object takes the reply and that much more user-friendly. is tening is handled separately from the updates variables and calls functions, event-processing. MELVIN M. SORIANO works at Eagle Rock Information Here’s a typical Ajax Transac- Systems (ERIS), an Internet Application Service Provider and WebWiz- tion Flow Within the Browser: ard/MultiValue Developer. ERIS has deployed enterprise-wide solutions Page Hit: Page gets requested in a link or URL. on most MultiValue platforms and operating systems. HTM-Mel can be contacted at

Initialization:The page loads.Objects [email protected] and visited at www.eriscorp.com. You can always call him directly are initialized and possible event loops at ERIS’s Pasadena, Calif., offices: (626) 535-9658. are started.

INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 15 [REVELATION TECH TIPS]

Programming for speedspeedspeedspeed in OpenInsight

BY MIKE RUANE, REVELATION SOFTWARE

Time. I’m president and CEO of Revelation many times that it’s thoroughly Software, I still code nearly every day, debugged. I would warn against going There never seems to and not just for OpenInsight.All of the off the deep end and making routines be enough of it. We developers here at Revelation Software that are so generic that they become hate to waste it. We also do work in the field as developers useless — just use some common sense. and consultants,so we have knowledge usually wish we had • Remember Where Things Are, or and experience with real world prob- more. As programmers, lems and needs. Now, on to the show. Have a Good Search Tool. If you’ve developers, and con- been programming for a number of sultants, to get more Speed in Developing years, you may be familiar with the saying "If you haven’t looked at your code time, we need some Speed in developing is not a measure in six months or more, it may as well speed. How can we of how quickly one can type, or how have been written by someone else." I many lines of code can be written in a achieve this? And what don’t think that’s necessarily the case, day, although being a fast typist is an do we mean by speed? but sometimes you do forget what advantage. The average person typing you’ve written before.If possible,keep a For the purposes of this article, let’s makes an incorrect keystroke 3% of catalog, in your software, about some of define speed as the ability to get a the time; some studies indicate that the routines you’ve written, or,if all else required task done in the least amount the error rate for programmers is near- fails, find or write a good search tool. of time.And the areas we want to address ly 20%.The following tips work for all We have one that we use written by a for this article are speed in developing, flavors of MultiValue Basic, and even MultiValue developer named David speed in running the applications we most other languages. Sigafoos. His tool is called FindInFiles; develop, and speed in supporting, • Create Reusable Routines If you’ve and I highly recommend it. Other Multi- enhancing, debugging and modifying. done a lot of coding, you’ve doubtless Value flavors certainly have similar In this article, we’ll be discussing tips encountered those occurrences where tools; otherwise there is a niche market and techniques that make sense in any you find yourself writing a chunk of there to be exploited! programming environment, and then code, and it seems eerily similar to a • Be Consistent Sounds easy, but focus specifically on commands and chunk of code you’ve written before. many do not do it in practice. Name techniques in OpenInsight’s Basic+ that The next time that happens, stop a your variables the same from program provide the biggest bang for the buck, moment.It’s usually worth your while to create a centralized, parameterized rou- to program when appropriate;it makes as far as speed, when running. tine that’s generic.A generic routine like reading them easier, and lends itself Just to clarify, this isn’t "pie in the sky" this can be used over and over again,and more to cutting and pasting from one or "Ivory Tower" advice. Even though used safely because it’s been run so program to another.

16 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 • Anticipate Change When you’re within a program. If you or your shop When debugging it’s much easier to writing your code, know that it will be has standards, maybe you should see the values as they are passed. changed, either by you or another review or enhance them. If you don’t • Debugging - real and conditional. developer.Write your programs in such have any formal programming stan- Basic+ supports calling the debugger a way that you can modify them with- dards, it might be a good idea to write through the use of a DEBUG state- out having to tear them apart. and use them now. Nothing fancy or ment. But you don’t always want to complicated,just a set of rules and stan- • Tend to the Little Things These are drop to the debugger every time as dards to follow. the little things that when used in a you are running through a program.In consistent manner and added to your • Put spaces between the parameters those cases, you can do a conditional own personal style,will make your pro- of called subroutines or functions. debug — if condition, then debug. gramming life easier over time. For example, this statement: X = XLATE • Use Equates. In OpenInsight, pro- (‘BOOKS’,@ID,12,‘X’) works fine, and so Some Little Things grammers can use an equate state- to Attend To does this one: X = XLATE(‘BOOKS’, @ID, ment to have variables take on more 12,‘X’).That’s because most editors jump meaningful names. For example, in The devil is in the details, or so I’ve to the next blank space when the key the Basic+ function MSG, the parame- heard. Here are some tips specific to combination of control-left arrow or con- ter for the caption (title) to be dis- developing in OpenInsight that will played is the 12th parameter. In case make your development go faster. trol right-arrow are pressed. This is much quicker than arrowing or backspacing and I’m not sure of the number, or don’t • Use standards! Some shops require typing it in again. want to look it up, I’ll just $Insert that a file be opened to a variable MSG_EQUATES into my program, and named f_filename; i.e. open BOOKS to • Don’t embed functions within then I can just refer to the parameter F_BOOKS.This way you’ll always know function calls. Although it works, it with the name mCaption$, e.g. the file you’re reading from or writing can be a real bear to debug. Make the param = "This is the title". to.Another suggestion is to make your program two lines longer, and use the Equates also make programs easier to common variables end with an @ sign, result from the first function call as a read and faster to debug. so they can be differentiated at sight parameter in the second function call. Continues on page 18

INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 17 Programming for So, which is faster? Example 4. Exam- ple 3 takes an average of 8.5 seconds, while Example 4 takes .015 seconds. in Again, the string processing is tremen- speedspeedspeedspeed dously faster, about 500 times faster. In cases where the arrays you are OpenInsight working with are only a few hundred Continued from page 17 or low thousands of elements, it’s Speed in Running arrays to add elements to the array.The probably not worth the extra typing to second example uses string handling. use the string extraction syntax, and While the tips for developing can just stick with the dynamic array. make you a more efficient developer, Example 1 programs are written and modified a few dozen times, but they are run hun- for i = 1 To 25000 Cunning Use of Xlates dreds or thousands of times. The fol- array = i lowing section will give specific items Next i In Revelation, both our DOS products within OpenInsight that will show a and OpenInsight, we have a command developer where they can save enor- called XLATE. Xlate is a function that mous amounts of time. It’s not that the Example 2 will go and pull alternatives are bad programming, but for i = 1 To 25000 data from a field like any system, when you know some If Len(array) Then array:=@fm:i Else array = i or fields in a of the secrets, you can really get some Next i record in a file. It great speed gains. can either bring Which is faster? Number two. Example back the data from a single field, or Fastest Ways for String one takes 13.81 seconds on the test plat- from a whole record. It can be used Handling and Extraction form.Example two takes .05 seconds,so like a READ, READO, or READV.Xlates in OpenInsight it’s about 280 times faster.Wow! are often used in our calculated columns to display information from Extracting data from strings is similarly OpenInsight, like all flavors of Multi- another file when the key to that data disparate. For example, suppose we Value, is just a large string handling is stored in the current file. database. All of our data is strings; we have an array with 20,000 elements.To just extract and parse it out by charac- loop through the array and examine Xlates can be used to bring back either an ters that mean something special to every element,we have again two basic entire record, or just the contents of a sin- our databases:ASCII 255, 254, 253, etc. ways of doing it. The first, as seen in gle field.Sometimes programmers will use And it’s important to remember that example 3, uses a For-Next loop and an Xlate to get a field that is performing an because working with strings as dynamic array operations to extract the Xlate itself. It is always faster to duplicate strings is almost always faster than elements, and example 4 uses a Loop- the functionality of the two Xlates in your treating them as dynamic arrays. Remove string extraction process. program. It is also faster to Xlate an entire record rather than do multiple Xlates to As a note, the tests and speeds here Example 3 the same record, were recorded on a copy of OpenIn- although the differ- sight 7.2, running on a standalone num_items = Count(array, @fm) + (array # '') For i = 1 To num_items ence is not that great; Toshiba 6100 Satellite Pro, 2.0 giga- item = array Xlate caches the hertz, with 1 gigabyte of RAM, running Next i record it has just read Windows XP.This is a fairly common in case another Xlate laptop today.When working with a file call is made to it. I’m using a file named DEMO_CUST Example 4 with 100,000 records. col = '' For example, suppose you have a pro- Loop gram that is building an array of 25,000 Remove item From array at col Setting flag elements.Given that,we’ll use a For-Next While flag loop to build it, there are basically two Repeat ways to make it — as a string or a dynamic array.The first example uses dynamic Continues on page 20

18 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006

Programming for Using the two examples above, the in SELECT takes about .01 seconds to speedspeedspeedspeed run, while the BTREE.EXTRACT goes so quickly that the time is always meas- ured as 0. If you multiply that by the OpenInsight number of times a particular process is Continued from page 18 run, the time savings is tremendous. Selects, Indexes, and of students, and the student file had an So, Btree.Extract is definitely fast, and Btree.Extract ID, name, address, email, and so on. If should be used whenever you need to you wanted to see what classes a stu- get records using indexed fields. Nearly every reporting or processing dent was attending, you might have to program in a MultiValue system uses run a select statement along the lines data files.Most of these programs do not of SELECT CLASSES WITH STUDENTS A good point to deal with the entire file,rather just a sub- CONTAINING "XXX". This will take set of the data.These subsets are created remember about more and more time every time an using some variant of the basic SELECT inquiry is made. However, if you added OpenInsight’s indexing is command. OpenInsight’s version of the a new MV field in the Student file SELECT command is called using the that once it is set up named CLASSES, and set up a relation- RLIST subroutine; it is effectively the initially, the indexes al index between the two tables, the same as an EXECUTE or PERFORM. new CLASSES field would contain the maintain themselves In OpenInsight, when you select on a IDs of all classes that the student was automatically. field to have a value,you’ll use a WITH or in. From that point forward the CLASS- BY clause. A good rule of thumb in the ES field would always be up to date, Revelation world is that when you do a and could be listed as needed. lot of reporting or selecting on a field, Sorting Arrays - V119 A good point to remember about you put an index on that field, and in Whenever you have a dynamic array most cases you put a Btree index on it. OpenInsight’s indexing is that once it is set up initially, the indexes maintain that you want to sort, there are a cou- OpenInsight supports three types of themselves automatically.When a write ple of ways to do it: either looping and indexing: Btree, Cross Reference, and is made to a file, the changes to the sorting yourself, or using V119, Relational. Btree indexes, when they indexed fields are tracked and put into OpenInsight’s sorting algorithm. (An are built, build a unique list of the con- a pending indexing file, and the pend- aside — we really should change the tents of the field that is being indexed, ing changes are handled either by sys- name of this routine; I mean, V119 is and builds a corresponding list of keys tems on the network with idle cycles,or just so intuitive that it’s a sort routine.) that are associated with those values.A updated just before a select statement. Although there are many and various Cross Reference is similar, except that sorts that can be written using Basic+, it is used on strings, and there is a Given that the indexes in OpenInsight V119 will always come out on top. series of characters used as delimiters make searches and selects faster from TCL In the following examples, there is a to parse the strings into component or in reporting, how can they be utilized variable named STRING which is an pieces. These component pieces are from a program? There are a number of @FM delimited list of 250 items in ran- then indexed with a Btree.There is also index specific commands in Basic+, but dom order. Example 7 sorts the list an associated ‘Stop List’ which is a list the most frequently used is a routine of words that shouldn’t be indexed, named Btree.Extract, and it is almost using a very efficient Loop-Remove- such as ‘A’,‘The’,‘Inc’, and so on. always faster than doing a select statement. Locate algorithm, and gives us a sorted Looking at examples 5 and 6,both select all result. Example 8 does the same, but A relational index keeps the keys from records from the DEMO_CUST file. uses V119. a secondary file stored in a multivalue Example 5 field in another table, with the rela- ClearSelect tionship back to the primary table Call Rlist('SELECT DEMO_CUST WITH STATE = "CA" ', 5, '', '', '') being based upon the contents of a field in the secondary table. For exam- Example 6 ple, suppose you had a file of classes hits = '' and a file of students, and the class file Search_String = 'STATE':@vm:'CA':@vm:'NJ':@fm had an ID, time, location, and a MV list Call btree.Extract(Search_String, 'DEMO_CUST', d_demo_cust, hits)

20 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 Example 7 As you’ve probably guessed by now, example 8 is the faster of the two, but new_string = '' how much faster? Again, difficult to col = '' tell, but the LOCATE takes about .02 loop seconds per test, and the V119 keeps Remove item From string at col Setting flag registering 0. Recommendation: use Locate item In new_string by 'AL' Using @fm Setting lpos Then V119 wherever possible. new_string = Insert(new_string, lpos, 0, 0, item) If you’re wondering about the parame- End else ters to V119 or to any of the commands new_string = Insert(new_string, lpos, 0, 0, item) or functions used in these examples, end going into the system editor, typing in While flag Continues on page 22 repeat

Example 8 new_string2 = string Convert @fm To @rm In new_string2 new_string2:=@rm Call V119('S', '', 'A', 'L', new_string2, '') new_string2[-1,1] = '' Convert @rm To @fm In new_string2 FIGURE 1 Context Sensitive Help in the System Editor

INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 21 Programming for speedspeedspeedspeed in OpenInsight Continued from page 21 the command in a program and pressing As can be seen,there are four windows FIGURE 4 - A view of the the F1 key will bring up our context-sen- in the debugger allowing viewing of local variable STRING sitive help, as seen in figure 1. source code, the call stack, global variables, and local variables. Clicking on Speed in Debugging any of the windows will provide a programs can be stepped through line more detailed view of its contents. Fig- by line, and there is even a window If you follow the tips and techniques ure 3 is a view of the local variables. that will show all controls and proper- above, enhancing and supporting your ties for the windows currently open in code should become easier. But debug- an OpenInsight session. Figure 5 ging? How does OpenInsight make that shows this window. easier? The answer is our debugger.The OpenInsight debugger can be called from a program, it can be hidden from the users, or it can be replaced with your own program. For the purposes of this article we’ll limit the scope to calling the debugger from Basic+. FIGURE 5 - The Properties Calling the debugger from Basic+ is as sim- window ple as putting the DEBUG command in a program. It can either be called condition- ally,or explicitly as seen in Example 9. FIGURE 3 - Local Variables I’d go as far as to say that OpenInsight’s debugger is the best in the MultiValue Example 9 world, and helps devel- STRING:= 'BRIAN SEAN JAMES GERARD JULIA GRACE NATANIAL NATE MIKE' opers tremendously. It Convert ' ' To @fm In string actually rates its own column,so watch this space DEBUG in upcoming issues. for j = 1 To 3 scr = Msg(@Window, 'Running Test 6, iteration ':j :@fm:'U') call dostime(st_time)

Once the debugger call has been com- Looking at the local variables we can piled into a program, when that line is see that many have not yet been Wrapping It executed during runtime, the debug- assigned at this point in the program, All Up ger appears, as seen in Figure 2. but the variable STRING contains an So, as can be seen in the examples @FM delimited string. Double-clicking above, there are good ways of doing on this variable will cause it to launch things from a speed perspective, and into a new window, with each field on there are better ways. The examples its own line, as seen in Figure 4. that have been provided are given in If a variable were to contain values or that they offer some of the biggest subvalues, they in turn could be bang for the buck from within OpenIn- expanded as well.As you can see, it is sight programs themselves. There are much easier to look at programs and others, but lack of space doesn’t per- variables this way than with many mit us to expand on them. existing MultiValue debuggers. Also, Continues on page 44 FIGURE 2 - The debugger screen

22 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006

BY MARTIN PHILLIPS, Ladybridge Systems Limited

OpenWhere AreQM We and Where Are We Going?

The OpenQM these, as one might expect, were simply project was interested in seeing what they could get for launched a little free but others saw this as an opportunity to take MultiValue databases into places over a year ago, where they had not been before. At the bringing the same time, the launch of a free license for already established genuine commercial application develop- QM MultiValue ers resulted in a large number of applica- database into tions and development tools being the spotlight by migrated to OpenQM from other platforms. making the source There has been some confusion amongst code available users about the relationship between the The last year has under the terms of commercial and open source versions of the the General Public product.The name OpenQM is used to ref- seen OpenQM License (GPL). In erence the whole project, both commercial this article, we will and open source. This provides a coherent develop rapidly to meet look at how this naming across all documentation,Web sites, the needs of new users. increased exposure product components, etc., and reinforces the availability of an open source version. has affected the The commercial product contains the most product develop- current certified product components. Any the modifications are also released under ment and how we user with a “mission critical” system should the terms of the GPL. see the future. use this as it is fully supported across Win- So, who uses OpenQM? At the time of writ- dows,Linux and FreeBSD by Ladybridge Sys- The OpenQM project evolved out of an in- ing, licenses for the commercial version of tems and our dealers and distributors. The house tool that began its life back in 1992. the OpenQM database have been issued to commercial product also includes other This was taken forward for use as an users in 43 countries around the world. bundled components and the availability of embedded database in application soft- These users span industries as diverse as additional services for its users. ware produced by Ladybridge Systems and local government, education, law enforce- was subsequently launched as a product in The open source is a derivative of the com- ment, medical systems, builders’ supplies, its own right in mid-2001, quickly attract- mercial product, released in Linux form retail sales, car dealerships, insurance, ing users around the world because of its only, though users are free to migrate it to emergency service control rooms and, of low price and the ease of migration from other platforms. The open source is not course, software development. Information-style environments. updated at every commercial release and The last year has seen OpenQM develop hence tends to lag behind. Because we The open source release in September rapidly to meet the needs of new users. have no control over what the user does to 2004 was linked to announcements at both Many of these have come from Pick-style this source, support services are limited the London and U.S. International Spec- environments, so much work has been and only available on a chargeable basis. trum conferences and was greeted with done to ease migration by adding features The attraction of the open source is that it great interest by potential users and by not previously in OpenQM such as A/S-type allows developers to add new features that some of the established vendors in the Mul- dictionary items, correlatives and Procs. require modification of existing compo- tiValue market. Here was something that Other developments have introduced new nents. They then have the option of offer- could revitalize the MultiValue database functionality that we believe to be unique ing those developments back to world, potentially reversing the trend to OpenQM such as dictionary link Ladybridge Systems for incorporation into where experienced users were leaving the records, process dump files, cumulative the mainstream product. industry while new entrants tended to be fields in queries and a number of new more familiar with fully normalized prod- The rules governing what can be done QMBasic functions. Although most of this ucts such as MySQL or Oracle. using the open source are set out in the work has been done in-house, there have Within a matter of days of the GPL release, General Public License. In simple terms, a been some useful contributions from the over 100 developers had signed up to work user is free to use this source for their own open source community and there are with the open source version. Some of purposes,but distribution is only allowed if some exciting projects in the pipeline.

24 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 We have chosen AccuTerm as our preferred but was quickly extended into a library for the list of new features and decide if a terminal emulator as this combines a high- use in C programs. More recently, at the release is of interest. This release strategy quality character mode interface with request of a developer in France, support combined with what we believe to be unri- advanced graphical features to put new life has been added for Fantaisie Software's valled responsiveness in handling user into legacy applications. All commercial PureBasic to enable development of GUI enhancement requests results in a very rap- OpenQM licenses now include free activa- applications for Linux users. idly developing product. tion of the AccuTerm terminal emulator,fur- With the growing use of Web-based appli- The low cost of OpenQM combined with ther driving down the cost of ownership of cations, OpenQM can be used with Web- the maintenance-free file system makes it a complete MultiValue environment. based tools such as Coyote and ideal for “shrink wrapped” applications What does the future hold for OpenQM? As Freedombase. Alternatively, effective Web and, with even lower costs for high-volume users migrate from other MultiValue envi- applications can be built in OpenQM with single user licenses, this is likely to be an ronments, the product will continue to no external packages by use of a simple important market in the future.At the other develop, adding new features to make the CGI or PHP front end.The dealers area of extreme, OpenQM has been successfully transition easier. OpenQM is not a clone of our Web site uses this latter approach to tested with 1,000 simultaneous users on a any other MultiValue environment and will support the license generation screens. Linux system and should be able to sup- never provide total compatibility, but the More advanced Web interfaces are under port larger user populations. is majority of the more important issues that development. arise in migration have been addressed. MARTIN PHILLIPS is Moving to OpenQM will always require Current versions of the commercial prod- some work, but users who have already uct run only on Intel platforms using Win- technical director of Lady- dows or Linux.A Mac version is running on taken this step report that the benefits are bridge Systems Limited, a well worth the effort. a development system and other platforms are expected to follow in response to user U.K.-based company specializing in The majority of OpenQM users are taking demands as these arise. forward legacy applications. Often these MultiValue database software. For come from “green screen” origins and the Contrary to the strategies of most software move to OpenQM is an opportunity to revi- suppliers, it is the policy of Ladybridge Sys- more information on OpenQM, visit tems to issue new releases of the commer- talize the application by adding a GUI www. openqm.com or come see us at front-end using the QMClient API.This was cial product very frequently,typically about originally written for use with Visual Basic every two weeks, leaving users to review the Long Beach Spectrum Show.

INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 25 Integrating MultiValue Data with Microsoft Reporting fundamental requirement for any modern business A application is easy access Services to the underlying data, generally BlueFinity’s Reporting Services Data in the form of reports. For many organizations the challenge is Connector Allows MultiValue Developers getting the right information to to Utilize the Very Latest Microsoft the right people, at the right time. Reporting Services Technology Organizations require flexible, on-demand access to business information to empower their employees to make informed Microsoft has invested millions of dol- such as OLE DB and Open Database decisions. Yet, MultiValue application lars in the creation of the Reporting Ser- Connectivity (ODBC), as well as multi- vices infrastructure in SQL Server 2005 ple output formats such as familiar Web developers, consultants and end to provide a scalable, easy-to-use report- browsers and Microsoft Office System users have all struggled when it ing solution which integrates tightly applications. It is flexible enough to be comes to liberating their business with its development toolsets -- and used in small business right through to data from their MultiValue databases. now, using BlueFinity’s Reporting Ser- large enterprises, and installs onto any They have endeavored to build vices Data Connector, MultiValue users Windows-based server able to support presentable reports, suffered poor on all platforms have a gateway into this the .NET Framework. world-class technology. functionality from MultiValue-only The SSRS architecture allows third- tools and experienced Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Ser- party developers to integrate with its the vagaries of MultiValue ODBC vices (SSRS) is a comprehensive,server- data acquisition components to facili- implementations while attempting based reporting solution that can tate report production based on a to use industry-standard author,manage,and deliver both paper- wide range of back-end datasources reporting tools. oriented and interactive, Web-based such as DB2, Oracle and SQL Server. reports and services. SSRS supports a BlueFinity’s Reporting Services Data wide range of common data sources, Connector (RSDC) supports the full mv.NET feature set of Microsoft’s Reporting Services product and allows it to be is a powerful and extensive toolset which enables MultiValue mv.NET used against all of the major MultiValue developers to harness the full power of both their MultiValue system and database platforms with almost no Microsoft's .NET application platform. Offering seamless integration with the Microsoft Visual Studio .NET environment, mv.NET provides a potent rapid extra work on behalf of the application application development environment fine-tuned for the MultiValue developer. developer. With support for multiple databases, multiple normalization tech- • Native .NET access to all major MultiValue databases including: D3, jBASE, niques, fast data retrieval and wizard mvBASE, Power95, Reality, UniData, UniVerse, UniVision, and others by request driven query creation,the RSDC product • Complete development environment from Visual Studio .NET (both offers the most sophisticated, perfor- VS2003 and VS2005) mant and cost-effective solution for any developer wishing to take advantage of • Comprehensive session management capabilities Microsoft’s excellent Reporting Ser- • Advanced MultiValue aware data-binding technology vices product. Continues on page 28 • Full ADO.NET managed data provider

26 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006

Integrating MultiValue Data with Microsoft Reporting Reporting Services Backdrop Services Continued from page 26

he professional’s starting point for SSRS is the Report Designer, a RSDC allows SSRS users to utilize Multi- complete IDE utilizing the functionality provided by Visual Studio. Value data sources in their SSRS authored reports. By integrating with In fact, all of its functionality is supplied in VS 2005 Professional T the low-level data provider interface of and above, so for those not inclined to purchase Visual Studio, a Reporting the SSRS product, RSDC allows Multi- Services “only”version of Visual Studio is bundled with SQL Server 2005 for Value databases to supply data to SSRS’s data acquisition phase. This Report Designer. For the professional, therefore, reports can be developed approach has the advantage of allow- and deployed and the BlueFinity RSDC employed to access all the major ing the full feature set of the SSRS Report Designer and Report Builder to MultiValue databases. RSDC provides a simple-to-use wizard interface for be leveraged in the manipulation, for- the specification of the database connection, query and selection com- mat and display of MultiValue data in a wide variety of end-user focused mands. reporting layouts. The Report Designer can be used to define a report layout, preview a RSDC provides real-time access to D3, jBASE, mvBASE, Power95, UniData, Uni- report, and publish a report to a test or production server. Report Designer Verse and UniVision databases with a includes query builders, an expression editor, and wizards so that simple high-performance, secure and reliable data access connectivity.The seamless step-by-step instructions can be followed to create a report. Report Design- data integration with SSRS allows Mul- er also supports advanced reporting features for professional report design- tiValue developers to leverage the ers who understand query languages and expression languages. capabilities of their existing information systems and connect to custom In typical Microsoft fashion, the IT team has been provided with several data sources, produce additional output formats and deliver to a variety of tools ranging from the Web-based Report Manager through to the full SQL computing devices.The RSDC product Server Manager Studio to manage and manipulate the reports deployed also has the advantage of leveraging the full power of the standard MultiVal- from Report Designer in a single, consistent manner.The ability to config- ue dictionary layer with minimal work ure role-based security and to manage report server content by setting being required prior to data being made available to the Reporting Ser- properties on data sources, reports, folders, resources, and report models is vices infrastructure. also available. Report management also goes as far as being able to config- By utilizing BlueFinity’s mv.NET prod- ure report execution and report history,to set limits on processing time, to uct as the database connectivity solution, RSDC is able to offer unparalleled monitor and cancel pending or in-process reports, and to create and man- SSRS integration across a wide range of age data source connections and schedules independently of the reports MultiValue platforms. RSDC makes use that they are associated with. of the high-performance Adapter Objects (ADO.NET) functionality pro- Reporting Services is also aimed at empowering the end user.A new Report vided by mv.NET to provide the underlying connectivity to the MultiValue Builder tool (WinForm based) is aimed at the user who wishes to create ad database — from there onwards SSRS hoc reports using templates and pre-organized data,saving them directly to takes over to provide the complete reporting package. [See mv.NET side- a report server.Reports that are created in Report Builder can be accessed, bar for more information]. distributed, and managed just as easily as any other report.The templates David Cooper is one of the lead devel- mentioned above can be generated by someone in the organization who opers at BlueFinity International. He has worked within the MultiValue com- understands the business and the applications, who need not necessarily munity since 1986 and has extensive be someone on the IT team. They could use the Report Builder Model experience authoring both end-user applications and developer tools. Designer to build the templates whereas developers can use the full Report Cooper feels RSDC is a major break- Designer. through for the MultiValue community, as it enables MultiValue users to capi- talize on mainstream technology. 28 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 “BlueFinity’s RSDC provides a real opportunity for all the major MultiValue database users, both VARs and end Reporting Services Deployment Options users, to fully exploit the benefits of • On-demand access over Web connections. Use a browser to navigate a Reporting Services,” Cooper says. “By enabling Reporting Services to access folder hierarchy to find and work with reports and other items. Reports can be MultiValue databases as easily as SQL- referenced from a Favorites list in a Web browser, or link from a Web portal. based platforms,RSDC effectively ‘levels the playing field’ in terms of end-user • Sharepoint Web parts. Reporting Services provides two Web parts for report reach to valuable application data.” viewing and report server folder navigation.The Web parts can be embedded in a Cooper adds, “Our RSDC product provides the whole MultiValue community Microsoft SharePoint Portal site to easily integrate with a report server deployment. with a fantastic opportunity to ride on the crest of the Reporting Services • My Reports and My Subscriptions. In Report Manager, store and manage wave currently being generated by the reports and subscriptions in a personal workspace. Microsoft marketing machine.” • Subscriptions for E-mail or File Share Delivery. Automate report deliv- With Reporting Services, MultiValue databases can now be used to provide ery through a standard subscription and set report presentation preferences. sophisticated, real-time (if required) Users who prefer to view a report in Microsoft Excel, for example, can specify report data using a wide variety of delivery mediums (Browser, PDF, rich- that format in a subscription. Deliver a rendered report to an e-mail inbox. Set client, application-embedded), incor- delivery options that control whether the report is delivered as a link or porating all of the reporting features attachment. Deliver a rendered report to a shared folder. Set delivery options (for example, cross database merging, drill down, drill through and charting) that control whether the report is overwritten or added to an existing folder. expected by today’s demanding report consumer. • Data-driven subscriptions.Automate report distribution through data-driven subscriptions, which generate a recipient list and delivery instructions at Reporting Services Data Connector is available now from BlueFinity Interna- run time from an external data source. Use a query and column-mapping infor- tional. For pricing or for more informa- mation to customize report output for a large number of users. tion, visit www.bluefinity.com or contact your BlueFinity reseller. is • Multiple options for integrating Reporting Services into standard .NET based applications. And mv.NET from BlueFinity provides the ideal .NET development tool for MultiValue databases: URL access, The Report Server Web service, also known as the Reporting Services SOAP API, The ReportViewer controls for Visual Studio 2005.

Reporting Services Feature List • Report Layouts.Tabular,matrix,chart, Dynamic parameters get values at run a third-party vendor.A custom control and free-form report layouts. time based on user selections (the requires a custom report processing selection of one parameter builds the extension. • Ad hoc reports. Create and save value list for a second parameter). reports directly to a report server using • Navigation. Add bookmarks and doc- Report Builder.Ad hoc reporting is sup- • Presentation formats. Choose a pres- ument maps to provide navigation ported through a thin client that is entation format when you open the options within a large report. downloaded from the report server. report, or after you open the report. • Aggregations. Aggregate and summa- Choose from Web-oriented, page-ori- • Drill-through reports and interactivity. rize data using controls and expres- ented, and desktop application for- Add interactive features by providing sions.Aggregates include sum, average, mats. Formats include HTML, MHTML, links to related reports and reports min, max, count, and running totals. PDF,XML, CSV,TIFF,and Excel. that provide supporting details. • Graphical elements. Embed or refer- • Custom controls or report items. • Parameterized reports. Add parame- ence images and other resources that Embed custom controls or report ters to refine a query or filter a dataset. contain external content. items that you create or purchase from

INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 29 A Guide for new] customers onboard with [the .NET Framework]. That question has been MultiValue answered: Microsoft has successfully done Developers both.” -Randy Heffner, Forrester Research, Why May 2004. Survey results were 44% J2EE Visual and 56% Microsoft .NET usage. .NET is really good for building rich GUI, Studio n-tier and Web-based systems. It is also good for developing mobile applications. MultiValue systems traditionally have very little support for doing these things and what functionality exists simply can’t be compared with the richness and com- pleteness of what .NET offers.

.NETBY ROBERT HOUBEN Main Features of the .NET Framework .NET and the MultiValue Developer Common Language Runtime (CLR) As an IT professional charged with maintaining and extending There are over 20 programming languages the functionality of a MultiValue system, you are probably that are supported by the .NET frame- wondering what impact, if any, the latest release of .NET will work, including the ones supplied by have on the work that you do and the decisions that you make. Microsoft. The most commonly known As you read different articles about .NET, you probably ones are C++, C#, VB.NET and J#. The encounter a lot of terminology, some of which may seem important fact about the CLR is that it strangely familiar to you. The reason for this is that some of allows programs from one language to call what .NET brings to Windows development are features that, as methods and even inherit functionality a MultiValue developer, you will have taken for granted. On the from classes written in another language. other hand, there is a lot in .NET that is both new and different This can be done without either class needing to have any special “knowledge” from what you are familiar with. of the other programming language. I will try to demystify some of the new features, so that you The reason this is important is that it know which ones you should be familiar with and which will be means that regardless what language you truly new to you. I will also explain why some of these features write a component in, if it is written in a are important to you and why you should be moving toward language that uses the CLR, any other pro- adoption of them. grammer,regardless of language, can reuse What Is .NET? this component in the future. This also decreases your dependence on a specific .NET actually consists of two components. as OLEDB,ADO.NET and others.Because of programming language, which increases There is the .NET framework, which is real- their size and the sheer size of their devel- your human resources options. ly a run-time environment for executing oper base, these vendor-driven standards applications written using Visual Studio .NET, often become more firmly entrenched and The CLR is able to do what it does in part and there is Visual Studio .NET.Visual Studio achieve wider acceptance than those from because it enforces a few things. In partic- .NET is an Integrated Development Environ- standards bodies such as W3C, OASIS and ular data types need to be strongly ment (IDE) for building the applications and ECMA.There are benefits to being the mar- enforced. The next few topics look in depth at aspects that strongly relate to components that the .NET framework exe- ket leader! what the CLR needs to enforce. cutes. I refer to them collectively as “.NET”. Why not tap into $7 billion of annual R&D Visual Studio .NET 2005 (.NET Framework by leveraging a technology that is rapidly Common Type System version 2.0) is the third release of being adopted? This information is quoted In order to allow different programming Microsoft’s latest generation development by Forrester Research in response to a languages to interoperate, they need to and run-time environment. Because question asking, “Which platform will be share a common set of data types. Microsoft is involved, and in some cases a used for the majority of your development Microsoft provides a rich and extensible leader in so many standards bodies, .NET work in 2004?” Forrester’s response:“Four set of data types. Any type that you extend leverages W3C standards. In addition to this, years ago. there was a big question as to with your own type can be used by any Microsoft publishes its own “standards”such whether Microsoft could get [current and other programming language that uses the Continues on page 32 30 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 D3 Gain Secure, XMLjBase Easy Access to Reality .net mvBase Your MultiValue mvEnterprise Data from UniData/UniVerse MultiValue & More Windows or Java SOA Environments .net Data Access Products Built on Standards

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FUSIONWARE CORPORATION I www.fusionware.net I tel: 866.266.2326 Why Visual Managed Code overruns. Without getting into too much detail, a buffer overrun occurs when a pro- For a Windows developer, this is a huge tudio gram uses a pointer to write to data, and S gain as I will discuss below,but first I want increments or decrements that pointer to explain why, as a MultiValue developer beyond the boundaries of the variable this should be no big deal to you.You see, whose address they are using. you’ve always worked with managed code. Hackers take advantage of this scenario, The word “Managed” in the term really .NETContinued from page 30 resulting in some of the worst exploits. refers to how memory is dealt with. In a MultiValue BASIC program, if you attempt Regardless whether this happens acciden- to reference a static array with a subscript tally or intentionally, it’s a bad thing. CLR, but they must all be based on the that is out of range, you get a “SUBSCRIPT common types of the Common Type Sys- OUT OF RANGE” error, either at compila- Managed Code Is Less Prone to Bugs tem. As a result of this, the CLR enforces tion time, or at run-time. It is literally Memory problems related to allocating, strong typing. impossible to reference the next variable in freeing and incorrectly referencing memo- memory inadvertently because you put the Strong Typing ry account for both the majority and most wrong number in the subscript. There is no intractable bugs that developers have to Visual Basic 6.0 and earlier had a data type need (and no way) to “free up”memory for a called the variant, which was very similar deal with. In fact, the exploit listed above variable. If you return from the subroutine to the MultiValue data type (everything is a could actually be the result of a bug, and not that declared it (by simply using it),the mem- string). It would automatically try to con- an intentional exploit.I remember a beta ver- ory would be freed up when vert to the right data type for whatever sion of Microsoft Word that operation you were doing and could the system next needed it wrote part of my docu- always be referenced as a string. .NET no (garbage collected). All you One of the ment to the boot sector, longer supports this data type. worried about was putting many years ago. Norton the right thing into your vari- Utilities saved the day for Strong typing allows .NET to validate that a able and getting it out. You huge benefits of me, but I still lost a lot of program is not using a data type in a way never worried about allocat- time fixing the problem. that is unsafe,further ensuring security and ing or freeing memory, or .NET is that safety of your code. This is especially Something somewhere in accessing something you important when downloading components the system caused a buffer shouldn’t. programs are not over the Internet. overrun bug, or referenced In traditional Windows pro- compiled into invalid memory. Microsoft Intermediate Language gramming, this was not nec- Managed code makes it (MSIL) essarily the case. VB machine code, impossible to do this. One of the huge benefits of .NET is that pro- programmers are used to grams are not compiled into machine code, having this level of protec- but into an Unmanaged Code but into an intermediate language called tion, but C++ programmers It is possible to create a Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL). were not. intermediate project using Visual Studio MSIL is compiled by a Just-in-Time (JIT) .NET and write unman- compiler (same as Java code) on the system Managed Code Is language called aged code or code that is where it is being executed.These JIT com- More Secure marked “unsafe.” There pilers have proven to be able to generate CERT bulletins regularly Microsoft may be situations where code that is as fast, and sometimes faster contain a list of exploits than precompiled code, as they can actual- that are making the rounds. Intermediate you want to use existing ly compile using instructions native to the Windows has its fair share logic that counted on use processors on the machine.They can even of them, but there is a lot of Language of pointers or call legacy optimize for multiple processors. trouble on other platforms, functions that use point- as well. It is safe to say that ers. Unfortunately, if you The really big benefit to you is that the (MSIL). nearly all exploits happen use this feature, you can MSIL can be moved to a Windows 32-bit or in unmanaged code. still create code that has 64-bit Intel or AMD processor, or can be buffer overruns and other moved to an ARM processor on an Pocket Managed Code eliminates whole categories memory problems. However: PC or other mobile device,and the local JIT of security exploits.This is one of the rea- compiler will figure out the right machine sons for the widespread adoption of Java, • You can only do this in some languages (VB.NET does not allow this) code.This gives you a degree of portability which also uses managed code. for your application that you could only • You have to explicitly choose to do this For Instance: Buffer Overruns dream of before,while still giving you some • In most languages that allow this, you of the best machine optimization (best per- The exploits which are both the most com- have to mark the block of code where you formance) that you could expect! mon and most serious are generally buffer are doing this, and,

32 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 • The metadata for the assembly notes this fact The current version is ADO.NET 2.0. FusionWare Middleware Products • This may be a compliance issue for some ADO.NET is not strictly speaking a library.It FusionWare provides a full set of middle- IT environments is an architecture. Microsoft provides ware products for the MultiValue commu- libraries, functions and components that nity. Our products are available on the The last point allows you to enforce poli- providers and consumers are expected to largest set of platforms,including platforms cies, so that an assembly (.NET Framework use or leverage, and a recommended like PI Open, UltPlus and more that other code) that you download over the Internet approach to doing various tasks. vendors do not presently support. can be prevented from running unless it contains only “safe” or “managed” code. About five years ago, at a Microsoft Tech-Ed Direct Access (JDA, OLEDB and conference, the IT department head for a now, ADO.NET) Class Libraries large multinational soft-drink company For those customers wishing to have pro- grammatic access to their MultiValue sys- In most interaction with the Windows (who will remain unnamed) made the com- tem without the complexity and layering operating system and peripherals, the .NET ment, “I don’t care if it’s a good standard, but if I’m using middleware I won’t start of converting multivalue data to a relation- framework provides a rich and usually al view, the FusionWare Direct Data Access until I have a standard!” This is a wise extensible set of libraries which can be Server allows you to access your system approach, in my opinion. If you are writing used to access system resources and per- using OLEDB (for legacy Visual Studio 6.0 in a .NET environment, and you need to form other common tasks. applications) or ADO.NET, or from Java, access data, your preferred approach using our Java Data Adapter technology. The benefit here is that regardless what should be to use an ADO.NET provider, and your programming language is, you will be preferably one that follows the standard. Any mapped views and host procedures using the same libraries. This means that set up for this server are available to both any programmer who becomes familiar Java, legacy Visual Studio 6.0 applications, Visual Studio .NET 2003 and Visual Studio with the .NET class libraries will be able to In particular, you should look .NET 2005 applications. understand what your programs are doing for a provider that: when they interface with these libraries. • Uses 100% safe, managed code for Relational Access (ODBC and JDBC) The benefit to you is that you can call on a all run-time activities. For those customers who need to enable large pool of experienced, trained develop- full relational access to their MultiValue sys- • Does not require a proprietary ers for doing this work. tems for business intelligence purposes, binding layer. If a provider the FusionWare Relational Data Access COM Interoperability implements their ADO.NET inter Server allows you to access your system .NET makes it easy for you to access legacy faces correctly you won’t need using either JDBC or ODBC or both. COM components.This means if you have anything proprietary — it should Any mapped views and host procedures existing COM components that you have just bind. Most providers for set up for this server are available to both written or licensed from third parties, you MultiValue systems advertise Java and Windows applications through can use them. Keep in mind that these will binding objects. these technologies. NOT be written in managed code, so some of the benefits of .NET may be lost by • Supports the ability to “fill”a Automatic Data Warehousing going this route. On the other hand, there DataSet from an Adapter object. The FusionWare mv2SQL server enables automatic data warehousing of data are many mature, well tested, reliable COM • Allows you to create strongly typed components available on the market, so mapped on the FusionWare Direct Data datasets.This is a very powerful having access to these is a true benefit. Access Server directly into SQL Server, Ora- feature of ADO.NET.Unfortunately, cle, DB2 or MySQL. Platform Invoke (P/Invoke) we don’t have the space to delve into this at this time. Service Oriented Architecture .NET also makes it easy for you to call The FusionWare Integration Server is an native Win32 or third party C++ functions. • Allows you to use the ADO.NET Enterprise Services Bus that enables the Again, doing this may lose you some of the libraries in the way that a .NET building,deployment and operation of Web benefits of managed code and the CLR, but programmer would expect. services. The FusionWare Integration Serv- if you have some reliable, mission-critical er includes a specialized connector to • Allows you to deal with data native code that you need to leverage,.NET allow you to leverage the Direct mappings makes it easy for you to do this. inconsistencies in a flexible way. and host procedures. It also supports Rela- • Full support for multivalues and tional mappings and host procedures through JDBC. Using the FusionWare Inte- ADO.NET subvalues. gration Server, you can create services that With almost every version of Visual Studio, • A track record of protecting your your Web sites, applications and other Microsoft has enhanced the data access strat- investment in their products when departments can leverage to build out a egy.You can always continue to use the old powerful, flexible solution that consoli- new technologies are delivered. strategy if you really want to, and the newer dates your MultiValue system with other one is always better than its predecessor. systems within your organization. is

INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 33 [ SPECTRUM SPOTLIGHT] Kore Technologies is a company that is definitely on the rise—in terms of its visibility in the MultiValue market as well as in growth, charting six years of con- secutive growth since it was founded in 1999. Kore primarily focuses on enterprise integration, specializing in “extending the enterprise through integrated best-in-class solutions.” It currently provides its integration products to companies interested in integrating their MultiValue databases, such as IBM U2, D3, and mvBASE, with Integrating MultiValue Systems other databases and applications. While the Kore name has steadily been garnering With Best-in-Class Solutions more recognition in MultiValue circles, the company’s visibility is about to increase even more as it launches a new venture to FOR THE MULTIVALUE FILE expand into vertical markets to allow developers to leverage Kourier Integrator directly within their applications. COMPANY: Kore Technologies, LLC Although Kore is a relatively new company PRODUCT LINES: Kourier Integrator, a as far as MultiValue history goes, its main set of applications that focus on principals and managing partners, Ken business automation and integration, and Dickinson and Mark Dobransky, are any- KommerceServer, Web-based thing but new to the industry. With extensive backgrounds in the development and e-Commerce and collaboration implementation of ERP systems, both applications. have been in the software industry (and specifically MultiValue) for more than 20 HEADQUARTERS: San Diego, Calif. Additional offices located in Santa Cruz, years. Dickinson is an expert with enter- Calif., and Scotts Valley, Calif. prise business application software, specializing in product architecture and database RECENT DEVELOPMENTS: Expanding into vertical markets and creating a design and is certified in production and Value-added Reseller channel for publishers of MultiValue applications, inventory management (CPIM). Dobran- allowing those developers to benefit from Kourier Integrator's capabilities by sky is a technology and system designs expert who developed “TurboSELECT,” a leveraging it directly with their applications. MultiValue indexing technology which MOTTO: "Solutions that work. People who care." was embedded into the Ultimate Operat- ing System years before indexing was available in the PICK database. When they first founded Kore, Dickinson “ Kourier Integrator was written and Dobransky concentrated on providing products and services for DataFlo, a legacy specifically for MultiValue databases and ERP product, with an emphasis on product integration and e-Commerce products. allows an enterprise application to connect The company quickly expanded to provide products and services to the MultiValue and exchange data with virtually any computer market in general. “We continue to be a leading provider of products and services in the world.” - Mark Dobransky, managing partner of Kore for the DataFlo application, however, we have now added expertise in developing Web-based applications using Microsoft SQL Server database, Microsoft .NET, C#, and other technologies required to develop

34 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 “Kore believes Web-based applications are a very robust applications for today’s business enterprise through integrated best-in-class requirements,” Dickinson commented. solutions. It is designed for companies using cost effective way to develop MultiValue databases who need to integrate and deploy solutions that “Most of the employees at Kore are former with other databases or applications. employees of enterprise application soft- can help our clients extend ware companies, specifically ERP soft- “Kourier Integrator can help companies their MultiValue systems. restore the value of their MultiValue enter- ware,” said Keith Lambert, vice president The Web offers a rich user of Marketing and Business Development. prise application, such as manufacturing, interface and functionality “Our combined experience incorporates a distribution, or financial, through business- wealth of knowledge in many different to-business connectivity and best-in-class that legacy systems have types of businesses, products, and tech- product integration,” Dobransky remarked. a difficult time matching. “Many companies are implementing stand- nologies. This unique blend of experience Our KommerceServer prod- allows us to bring a level of insight and alone software applications to improve spe- ucts are very powerful and understanding to our clients’ requirements cific areas of the business. With Integrator, so we can deliver the right solution—the these applications can function as though are designed to integrate first time.” they were an integral part of the enterprise to back-office systems or to application, ensuring data consistency while A full-service organization with 15 employees, eliminating costly and redundant data entry. operate stand-alone.” Kore is an IBM Business Partner and Microsoft Kourier Integrator was written specifically Certified Partner. Its two primary product fami- for MultiValue databases and allows an lies are Kourier Integrator and KommerceServer, enterprise application to connect and each with their own set of applications. All of exchange data with virtually any computer Kore’s products are turnkey solutions with the in the world.” ability to be customized to client requirements. Kourier Integrator provides a seamless The flagship Kourier product is aimed at - Ken Dickinson, integration between MultiValue databases managing partner of Kore business automation and integration and is and Microsoft’s SQL Server databases via the focal point of Kore’s strategy to extend the Continues on page 36

INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 35 Kore Technologies “Kourier Integrator is unique because it was designed specifically for integrating Kourier Integrator: Continued from page 35 MultiValue applications to other databases Major Benefits and applications,” Lambert added. “It is Microsoft DTS or Integration Services by • Allows existing MultiValue applications/ both a powerful and flexible Enterprise databases to connect with and mapping MultiValue dictionaries to MS Application Integration tool (EAI), and an exchange data with other corporate SQL columns automatically. This makes Extract, Transform and Load (ETL) tool. systems and databases, retaining Kourier Integrator ideal for application investment in the MultiValue Kourier Integrator offers features and func- integration, building data warehouses, or applications. tions often found only in products costing corporate data sharing. many times more. Additionally, our Net • Saves many hours of effort by eliminating the need to write Change technology is unique because it’s “Versatility is the keyword for Kourier specific programs to extract data Integrator, and with it, we have helped our able to track all changes to each record in a from MultiValue databases. clients successfully integrate their Multi- database, enabling Kourier Integrator to • Simplifies the process of creating Value applications with other enterprise only process the rows that are new or and updating data warehouse systems including Seibel, Oracle and Ama- changed when integrating applications— systems using Microsoft SQL Server zon.com as well as vertical applications dramatically increasing the speed with databases by eliminating the need such as SPS Commerce and Inovis (EDI), which data integration occurs. Kourier Inte- to manually write complex database Forecast Pro, Costimator, and Filemaker,” grator also runs in the background and does update scripts. Dickinson said. not require additional database licenses.” • Net Change Database tracking enables faster data transfer and integration with other applications. • Message-based architecture guarantees delivery of integration data and extensive message logs permit auditing of all transactions. • Provides automated processing of all integrations via scheduled services and exception management of issues via event-driven e-mail alerts.

For more information about Kourier Integrator, please visit http://www.koretech.com/kore_inte- grator.asp.

While its flagship product is Kourier Inte- grator, Kore also sells and supports a complete suite of Web-based products called KommerceServer, designed to help extend the lifespan of MultiValue systems. “We totally support the MultiValue market and legacy systems and plan to continue doing so,” Lambert explained. “Our goal is not to help clients move off of MultiValue applications, like some vendors, rather we want to help them maintain their investment and either integrate with other applications or develop functionality they don’t have. This is where our Web applications come in.” The eCommerce and eBusiness Web solutions complement and extend the functionality of enterprise applications, increasing the usefulness and lifespan of existing products for a fraction of the cost to develop or purchase new software. “Our KommerceServer products are now very powerful applications that are available to Continues on page 45 36 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM'S 25TH ANNUAL MULTIVALUE CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION

NEW THIS YEAR! AL SPE TION CTR I Business Intelligence: NA UM The Technology Advances ER S and the Competition T H O Heats Up! IN W E I Microsoft’s .NET: ’ H th S Vendors Roll Out Latest T and Greatest Tools for the Converted I RFID:Today’s Luxury; NIVERSAR Tomorrow's Requirement AN Y I Identity Based Wireless Systems: Controlling Who’s “Listening In” on Your Data I Going Back to Go CelebratingCelebrating 2525 YearsYears Forward: Gently Moving Green Screen ofof BringingBringing thethe Applications to The Web I Countering Security InternationalInternational MultiValueMultiValue Threats With Data Encryption CommunityCommunity TogetherTogether I Instant Online Store and Shopping Cart for March 7-10, 2006 MultiValue Systems Hilton Long Beach Hotel I New Technologies Long Beach, California for Your MultiValue Register Today Environment: and Save $$$ at www. AJAX; XSL; SOA; intl-spectrum.com Web Portals

I Much More on XML A CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION FOR USERS AND DEVELOPERS OF: I Bogged Down With IBM’s UniVerse & UniData EDP’s & VIA Systems’ UniVision Success? How to Maximize Raining Data’s D3, mv*BASE & jBASE International’s jBASE mv*ENTERPRISE System Performance Northgate Information Revelation Software’s Advanced Solutions’ Reality Revelation & OpenInsight Intersystems’ Caché ONgroup’s ONware Is Your Data Security Adequate? BY NATHAN RECTOR Business is Data.

Data is Business.

As an IT manager Why use security? Most people would While data alteration is a security risk, or consultant, we say: "To keep unauthorized personnel the more common threat is data theft. from accessing or altering informa- Most businesses are alert to data alter- know this, but I'm tion." Yet historically, day-to-day users ations and catch it before it causes too cause the most common security many problems.Whereas data theft has still running into breach: theft. long-term effects that are rarely noticed, if at all, and clients that are The day-to-day users Even if you many times impossible to have easy access to your just now coming currently have security repair. What would your information and will measures in place, competition do with your to this realization. know its value.The users customer lists or account- generally have little or you'll find a large It usually comes ing information? no restrictions on what security problem from the following can and cannot be Most software packages accessed. Users have centered around your have basic security fea- statement: been known to sell com- users. The user is the tures built-in to keep pany customer lists and “I can't run my weakest part of a information from being payables and receivables altered, but much of the business without files. How protected are security system. software you find on Mul- your valuable files? tiValue systems is custom. my computer.” The National Computer Security Asso- Many custom programs overlook, or Now to be honest, this statement usu- ciation (NCSA) determined that in the bypass, existing security measures ally leads to a disaster recovery plan of last five years the following areas have with the assumption it has already some kind,but then they start thinking had a dramatic increase in theft: been dealt with. about other things, and up comes the security question. Most of the time • Client or customer information - 81% If your current software does not have they start thinking about hi-tech secu- security options, then look at the fea- Trade secrets (i.e.: pricing formulas, rity measures like biometrics and other • tures that are built into the operating crazy and expensive options. What manufacturing technologies) - 77.6% system itself.Most MultiValue operating they don't always realize is that little systems, if not all, have common securi- • New product plans - 76.7% things can be done without spending a ty features such as passwords, file access and update codes, SYS levels, as lot of money. • Product descriptions - 75.7% well as debugger and TCL restrictions. All MultiValue DBMSes provide tools to • Pricing data - 71.8% protect your data,but they aren't being Passwords are the most commonly used,or applied to their full advantage. How much of this information is read- used security features in any system. Even if you currently have security ily accessible to your users? Most of They keep unauthorized personnel measures in place, you'll find a large this information is required to operate out of your data and restrict what security problem centered around the day-to-day business. Does your information the average user has your users.The user is the weakest part existing security extend beyond the access to. Yet, passwords can become of a security system. regular logon checks? the weakest part of your security.

38 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 Users often create this weakness in or inventory inquiry screens. How security without knowing. To avoid often does this employee access cus- QM, A New Approach this, users should be required to tomer information? How long do they change their password often. Users spend in the information? Are they to MultiValue should avoid easy to remember pass- accessing unrelated customer accounts words like names, birthdays, phone one right after the other? I think you Only $119 per user numbers, addresses, and so on. They get the idea. 10 year upgrades just $30 Proven for 4 years should also avoid using the same pass- Another feature to keep in mind is lim- Thousands in use words repeatedly. iting the kinds of data that is allowed U2/Prime Compatibility Writing down passwords is another to be printed. By limiting access to the D3 extensions common practice to be avoided. Users kinds of data that can be printed, you Network Ready Remote files often write down passwords on post-it will limit, if not plug, a hole that is often overlooked. Take a look in your Client/server API notes or desk calendars so they don't Useful bundled items: have to remember them.There is noth- accounting department. Do you see any accounts payable or receivable AccuTerm + GUI ing like a written down password to Coyote Web Server reports lying in the open? How about cause security problems. Companion GUI/Web 4GLs in the trash? OpenTPH $30/user Another feature that can be found in Since we are still far from a paperless Neucleus $72/user MultiValue operating systems is access Supported Platforms: and update locks. These locks allow workplace, printed information is found all over the office.Walk through Windows 98, XP you to create security that the users Windows NT, 2000, 2003 your office. Count how many reports, can do nothing about. Access and BSD, Linux screen dumps, or other printed materi- update locks are applied to specific OpenQM files and keep people from accessing al the users have on their desks or in GPL on Linux w/ source and/or changing the information. the trash.You'll likely find some type of Using access and update locks do printout on everyone's desk. More require a little planning to set up, but than likely half of what you find will be EasyCo.com once in place, they can rarely be key information,such as pricing or cus- 800-470-2756 changed by anyone other than the cre- tomer lists. ator of the security system. Every MultiValue operating system has Other security features that can be security features built-in. The question NEEDED found on most MultiValue DBMSes are is, are you using them? Security should SYS0, SYS1, SYS2, and sometimes SYS3. never be limited to features that only PICK PROGRAMMERS These restrictions are placed on whole keep unauthorized people from access- We have a number of requests for accounts and restrict the use of specific ing or altering data.The most common programmers with experience using TCL commands. theft of data will come from the people who already have access to it. PICK, Universe, Unidata, SB+, jBase All these security features help keep or Advanced Revelation from client unauthorized people from accessing Remember, the weakest part of any companies nationwide. is or altering information,but what about security is its users. protection against users who do have Email your resume to: Chuck Okeson at [email protected] access? This kind of protection is more NATHAN RECTOR, a statistical analysis than hard protection 800-949-5423 x203 like passwords. regular contributor to By keeping audit trails on access and changes to key information, you can Spectrum, is owner of define patterns, or the lack of, in data Have a new software Natec Systems, a con- access. Audit trails allow managers to product for the deal with system abuse as well as sulting firm specializing in D3, AP and MultiValue market? watch for data theft. One place that audit trails should be closely watched Combine the power of your AD in R83 environments and custom pro- is system access. When are your users Spectrum magazine with a marketing accessing the system? How often do campaign to one of our qualified email lists! gramming. He can be reached at nrec- they access the system after hours or on their days off? It’s more affordable than you think. [email protected] or http:// Another place an audit trail can be Call 619-515-9930 placed is on customer inquiry screens www.natecsystems.com. for a free quote today.

INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 39 Mpower1 and TEMENOS Announce Newly Focused Agreement for jBASE International

Mpower1 and TEMENOS Value market and demonstrates their confidently take advantage of the func- have announced the ongoing commitment to the jBASE prod- tionality and flexibility that is unparal- completion of their newly uct, its support and its development. leled in the MultiValue community. focused Master Agreement This new agreement coincides with Pete Loveless, jBASE CEO, stated: for the sales, distribution the recent formal release of the next “Mpower1 are delighted to have and support of the jBASE generation of jBASE software, Release reached this agreement with 4, which is already seen as an estab- database environment TEMENOS in respect of the ongoing lished platform with over 100 installa- jBASE product and business. We see a worldwide. Since September tions worldwide. This stable and tremendous future with jBASE, particu- 2002, Mpower1, through efficient platform will add significant larly with the benefits of release of 4.1 its subsidiaries jBASE value to jBASE users who can now and the further additional improve- International Ltd. and jBASE International Inc., has been the exclusive distributor of for SB+ from Ehab AbuShmais, Tech Tip IBM Advanced Technical Services the jBASE software, except where TEMENOS licenses Issue: In SB+ GUI an Action bar option to execute G:U will not work. What is the best jBASE in conjunction with way to change screens Action bar in all files to work in GUI using the concept of G:U? their own application Solution: Changing the G:U to G:F2 in the Action bar will work in GUI. You can do that to software. During this time one screen manually. To do this programmatically to all SB+ files screens, apply the jBASE has consistently following paragraph process. Create a paragraph process called GU2GF2, then copy and expanded its client base paste the sample code below. Next change the XX to be your system ID and run the year on year. The new paragraph process. agreement will result in this LOCAL L.FILELIST,LOOPY,L.OUTER.LOOP,L.OLD.REC process continuing but with READV L.FILELIST FROM "XXCONTROL","FILES",1 FOR L.OUTER.LOOP = 1 TO DCOUNT(L.FILELIST,@VM) STEP 1 significant enhancements to EXEC '>:SELECT DICT ':L.FILELIST<1,L.OUTER.LOOP>:' WITH F1 = "SCREEN"' customer service, additional @RTN.FLAG = 0 functionality and cooperation WHILE @RTN.FLAG = 0 DO between Mpower1 and READNEXT @KEY TEMENOS to the benefit IF NOT(@RTN.FLAG) THEN READ @RECORD FROM "DICT ":L.FILELIST<1,L.OUTER.LOOP>,@KEY of jBASE users. L.OLD.REC = @RECORD Mpower1 and TEMENOS have an expe- FOR LOOPY = 21 TO DCOUNT(@RECORD<12>,@VM) STEP 1 rienced team of over 40 personnel @RECORD<12,LOOPY> = REPL("G:U","G:F2",@RECORD<12,LOOPY>) addressing all aspects of the jBASE busi- NEXT LOOPY ness and have ensured that product IF L.OLD.REC # @RECORD THEN development and quality assurance WRITE @RECORD ON "DICT ":L.FILELIST<1,L.OUTER.LOOP>,@KEY through to sales and post sales support END END are strengthened going forward. This REPEAT agreement further enhances the Mpow- NEXT L.OUTER.LOOP er1 and TEMENOS offering to the Multi-

40 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 ments to be released during the forth- coming months.As well as providing significant benefits to our customers, this latest agreement once again testifies to Viságe the long-term commitment of both TEMENOS and Mpower1 to jBASE and The Most Modern and Cost Effective Tool to the MultiValue market in general.” Available in the MultiValue Market Clive A. Ketteridge, general manager of jBASE for the TEMENOS Group, commented that “the latest agreement is further evidence of TEMENOS’ongoing commitment to take the jBASE product forward year on year as well as a demonstration of what good working Choose the MultiValue partnerships can deliver to the client.” Development Environment About Mpower1 International That Has All The Tools! Mpower1 International Ltd. provides guidance and organization support to • Rapid Application Design businesses at various stages of their • Business Intelligence development. Bringing a unique • Report Generator approach to joint business ventures, • email Processor Mpower1 acts as an enabling partner • Forms Generator for its clients sharing the responsibili- ty, risk and reward of their business • Fax Gateway growth, while protecting the interests of its client. Utilizing decades of senior level management experience, Mpow- er1 facilitates business strategy development and deployment resulting in accelerated and sustainable corporate performance. Take a FREE Viságe About TEMENOS Founded in 1993,TEMENOS Group AG Test Drive Today at is a provider of integrated modular www. stamina.com.au core banking systems to over 400 financial institutions in 110 countries worldwide. TEMENOS software pro- Viságe vides banks with a single, real-time view of the client across the enterprise, enabling banks to maximize professionalism on every project. applications solutions.The flagship prod- returns while streamlining costs. Headquartered in Geneva,Switzerland, uct, jBASE, was designed from the Whether providing 24/7 functionality the company has 39 offices in 31 ground up to be an open database prod- to the wholesale, retail and private countries and is listed on the main seg- uct that would bring the strengths of banking sectors, partnering with cen- ment of the SWX Swiss Exchange MultiValue technology into the main- tral banks on core system replace- (TEMN). www.TEMENOS.com. stream computing market. With exclu- ment, or working with the World Bank sive worldwide distribution rights, jBASE on solutions for the emerging markets, About jBASE International International offers technologies and TEMENOS knows banking.The compa- jBASE International is a leading suppli- assistance that allow businesses to thrive ny has a transparent approach to its er of database management software into the future.Visit www.jBASE.com for operations and brings to bear its expe- and Web enabling tools for developing, more information. is rience, expertise, commitment and deploying, and maintaining business

INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 41 AL SPE TION CTR NA UM ER S History of T H O IN W E ’ H th S

MultiValue T

NIVERSAR Famous AN Y People and the

Neville Wren, Premiere of New Spectrum South Wales in Australia Most Show Congenial Charles Kuralt — Many of the celebrity This is the final chapter in the keynote speakers at Spectrum attended the year-long nostalgic “History of MultiValue” welcome reception the evening before the show opened and mingled with the show series of articles leading up to the 25th delegates. For many people, the most friend- Annual Spectrum Show which will be held ly and congenial was Charles Kuralt, CBS’s endearing host of “Sunday Morning” and “On March 7-10, 2006 at the Hilton Long Beach the Road,”who was the keynote speaker at the 1985 Spectrum Show in New Orleans and Hotel in California. who stayed the whole evening to chat with fascinated Spectrum Show attendees. Many famous people, celebrities, and entertainers Most Mysterious have appeared at past Spec- Arkady Shevchenko — A standing trum Shows, and as you might room only audience greeted Arkady Shevchenko, former Soviet Ambassador guess, with many people of and Under Secretary of the United notoriety, there is a bit of drama that comes Nations as he delivered the 1986 Williams & Ree, Spectrum keynote address at the MGM the “Indian and along with the excitement. (See Gus Giobbi’s the White Guy Grand in Las Vegas.Author of the bestselling “From the Inside” introduction to this article book,“Breaking With Moscow,”Shevchenko also held attendees spellbound with personal, on page 4). Here then are just a few behind private cold-war related conversations at the the scenes glimpses of the most memorable. Spectrum welcome reception the night before he spoke.

42 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 Fax this form to (619) 515-9933 Most and keep Relevant Spectrum magazines F. Lee Bailey — A computer enthu- coming FREE for 1 year!! siast as well as an attorney famous for defending the notorious (he numbered “The Boston Strangler” and NAME TITLE Patricia Hearst as clients at the time), Bailey was one of few keynote speak- COMPANY ers who could relate to the Spectrum audience. He spoke at the 1987 Spec- ADDRESS trum Show at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas about “computer resist- CITY STATE ZIP ance” among many lawyers and the pioneering emergence of technology PHONE FAX in the courtroom by enlightened judges. Bailey also delighted attendees E-MAIL WEB SITE at the Spectrum welcome reception for several hours before retiring to SIGNATURE DATE visit Sammy Davis Jr. who was occu- (All questions must be answered. Incomplete forms will not be processed. Complimentary subscriptions are limited to U.S. addresses.) pying the suite next door.

1. What is your job function/title? Most Captivating Principal/Owner Sales/Marketing Captain James Lovell President/GM/CEO Programmer/Analyst — The first person to MIS/DP Manager Purchasing travel to the moon twice, Controller/Financial Consultant NASA veteran Captain VP/Department Head Other ______James Lovell spellbound the Spectrum audience in 2. Is your company a (check one): Anaheim, Calif., in 1995 Computer System Supplier Dealer/OEM/VAR Software House with his story and video presentation of Consultant End User Other ______his experience with the near disastrous Apollo 13 mission.The author of the 3. What MultiValue Databases does your company use? (check all that apply) bestseller “Lost Moon,”whose story was D3 Native MultiValue Reality Other______soon thereafter released in the Apollo 13 jBASE uniData UniVerse uniVision movie starring Tom Hanks, was by far the most captivating Spectrum keynoter. 5. What major business/industry most clearly describes your company? Also Notable — Other famous Accounting Medical Direct Marketing Legal people who spoke or entertained at Banking/Finance Dental Construction Retail past Spectrum Shows included Jack Education Insurance Other ______Anderson, the famous Washington, D.C., journalist who wrote for TIME 6. What are your firm’s approximate gross annual sales? Magazine; Neville Wren, Premiere of Under $500,000 $500,000 - $1 million New South Wales in Australia;Williams & Ree, the “Indian and the White Guy” Over $1 million - $5 million Over $5 million - $10 million duo from Tennessee; John Bertrand, Over $10 million - $25 million Over $25 million - $100 million who won the America’s Cup from Den- Over $100 million - $500 million Over $500 million

nis Connors for Australia; and of FREE SUBSCRIPTION course, the all-time topper, the private IS 1/06 Tina Turner Show for Spectrum dele- is gates at the Sydney Hilton in 1985. INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 43 Programming for fix or routine that will give perform- speedspeedspeedspeed in ance gains for years to come. OpenInsight And finally, we all benefit from newer, faster systems. A rising tide lifts all PRC¨ Continued from page 22 There are perhaps two other extreme- ships, as the saying goes, so make sure Get It Right From ly important items to consider when you’re in port.OpenInsight systems can the Source. thinking about speed: knowledge and run extremely well, and these tips are some of the reasons why you should Want control over the changes patience. By knowing the system you are working on, the types of reports continue to use it, or start to use it. I’m you make to your software? is the users ask for, changes likely due to looking forward to your call. PRC can help you get it right — and keep it secure. market fluctuations and so on, you can anticipate some of the bottlenecks that For U2/MultiValue and SB+ environments may occur.By knowing as much as you MIKE RUANE is presi- can about your development environ- Problem Reporting ment, you can probably use existing Change Control system functions, rather than reinvent- dent and CEO of Revelation Software, Project Management ing them yourself, poorly.Patience will Time Tracking aid you when the users complain Test Management Deployment about speed, or when management developer of OpenInsight. The compa- Rollback complains about how long changes Audit take to implement. By observing and examining the issues brought to you, ny can be reached at 800-262-4747 or SJ+ Systems Associates and thinking before jumping into the www.sjplus.com code to make many small patches, you 954•796•9868 may be able to make one centralized www.revelation.com.

44 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 contains data structures similar to a com- Kore Technologies plete ERP system, allowing the applica- Continued from page 36 tion to operate in either standalone capacity or integrated with a back-office any company that is looking for robust application. Plus, this database can be Web eCommerce solutions that operate used for business intelligence and opera- either standalone or can be fully integrated tional reporting.” to any application,” Dickinson stated. “Kore believes that Web products are the Behind the Scenes CREDIT CARD INTEGRATION best way to develop and deploy applica- of KommerceServer tions that help our clients extend their webStoreFront MultiValue products to provide func- Key Features and Benefits Seamless Integrations into POS, tionality not available in the legacy • Flexible product catalog with Order Entry and e-Commerce applications.” multiple price lists Single or Multiple Merchants TCP/IP - Secure Internet The core product of the KommerceServer • Comprehensive support for images Single or Multiple Modems suite is the webStoreFront application. • Shopping lists that encourage Your Clearinghouse or Ours KommerceServer webStoreFront is an repeat orders VAR Partnerships eCommerce storefront solution that • Multiple ordering metaphors: enables companies to open new sales chan- shopping cart, shopping lists, Visa MasterCard AMEX nels and join the ecommerce revolution by repeat orders, quick orders Discover Diners JCB offering their products on the Internet. • Complementary product Debit Cards Custom KommerceServer webStoreFront supports suggestions for up-selling both business-business (B2B) and busi- • Credit card and foreign ness-to-consumer (B2C) requirements and currency support includes significant out-of-the-box func- • Both quick and advanced tionality that can handle most eCommerce search capabilities 1-866-796-7600 needs without customization. • Integrated global site search [email protected] “Most of the eCommerce storefront soft- • Online catalog management with www.TotaLinkcc.com ware solutions today seem to end up a optional CMS (Catalog Management compromise,” Lambert commented. “If Software) integration feature rich, they invariably are difficult Benefits and costly to implement. If they are easy to • Makes it easy to deploy a powerful WEAVER CONSULTING implement, it seems they lack many essen- B2B or B2C Web storefront or Your Source for: product catalog to open new tial features. webStoreFront is different — ¥ 200+MultiValue UTILITIES! a no-compromise eCommerce storefront revenue streams and sales channels solution, delivering all the features you • Look and feel can be customized ¥ HARDWARE & REHOSTING need while remaining easy to implement to match existing Web sites and cost-effective.” • Flexible role-based security model ¥ SOFTWARE & PROGRAMMING • Microsoft .NET architecture KommerceServer webStoreFront is devel- provides flexibility ¥ ANALYSIS, DESIGN, TRAINING oped with KommerceServer, Kore’s advanced framework for building robust • Strong passwords and data security model eCommerce and Web solutions. Built on a Authorized Dealer/Partner for: Microsoft SQL Server database and using • Built upon robust Web application Raining Data and eCommerce framework Microsoft .NET, the architecture provides Monolith Corporation flexibility, security, and scalability required For more information, visit Accusoft Enterprises http://www.koretech.com/kore_webstorefront.asp for enterprise applications. Zumasys JBSi When company founders started Kore, Part of its unique design is that it was And Others developed to work as an integrated solu- they envisioned what they wanted their tion, yet operate independently in a “near company to stand for: “Solutions that See our catalog, tips, hints & more: real-time” environment. “Our message- work. People who care.” This motto www.weaver-consulting.com based architecture guarantees data delivery emanated from the original Kore team’s or write/call for free catalog Email: [email protected] between applications and ensures data experiences with other software companies they had worked for before starting Kore. security and performance by separating “We felt there wasn’t a strong relationship back office application data from the Web WEAVER CONSULTING between the software vendor and their application data, a critical factor in today’s client; it was just about selling software,” 4553 Calumet Court Internet environment,” Dobransky said. Dickinson elaborated. “Kore believes very Shingle Springs, CA 95682-9378 “Supporting the Web application is a com- strongly in creating software that does 530/676-6052 ¥ Fax 530/676-5675 prehensive MS SQL Server database that Continues on page 46 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 45 Kore Technologies "Our next generation SQL Server 2005, such as Continued from page 45 In addition, while the Integration services, Analysis what it’s supposed to and building part- current release of of Kourier Integrator, services, and Reporting serv- nerships with clients with a sincere interest Kourier Integrator is which will be developed primarily designed for ices, to make its existing in the client’s success and growth. Because using the latest solutions more functional of this, many of Kore’s best clients are not integrating MultiVal- Microsoft technology, while enabling the company only excellent business partners, but also ue applications with applications using an- will provide enterprise to develop new solutions good friends too.” such as business intelligence other database (such as application integration Kore hopes to build more relationships Microsoft SQL Server and analytics. capabilities between and achieve more growth in its next busi- or Oracle), there are With its extensive back- applications regardless ness initiative. “Although we have had many companies that ground in MultiValue tech- excellent success selling Kourier Integrator need the capabilities of of the database or nology combined with to the open MultiValue market as a gener- Kourier Integrator for technology being used expertise in areas such as al purpose EAI or ETL tool, we realize that non-MultiValue appli- and open new markets Microsoft .NET, C# and a tool like Kourier Integrator often cations and databases. the Web, there’s no doubt for Kore Technologies." requires specific knowledge of an applica- “Our next generation of Kore Technologies will con- tion to fully apply its powerful capabili- Kourier Integrator will tinue to raise its profile in ties,” Dobransky said. “Therefore, we are provide enterprise appli- the MultiValue market and expanding into vertical markets and creat- cation integration capa- beyond. “Kore believes in ing a Value-added Reseller channel for bilities between app- the power and flexibility of publishers of MultiValue applications. lications regardless of the MultiValue environ- This will allow those developers to benefit the database or technol- - Keith Lambert, ment and in the value of ogy being used,” Lam- vice president, Marketing and from Kourier Integrator’s capabilities by Business Development maintaining the investment leveraging it directly within their applica- bert stated. “This next that companies have in tion and using their application-specific generation product will their existing MultiValue knowledge to add value while integrating be developed using the latest Microsoft tech- applications,” Lambert concluded. "Kore their product to other products, whether nology and will allow us to develop a more provides the technology and solutions it’s for building business intelligence data powerful product while opening new markets needed to retain that investment while warehouses, integrating to eCommerce for Kore Technologies.” extending the application where necessary Web sites, or other application-to-applica- As a Microsoft Certified Partner, Kore will with new functionality or integration to tion integration.” embrace the new technology available in other best-in-class applications.” is

46 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 end of the spectrum with its increased MultiValue Reporting and productivity and capability.There are several MultiValue reporting solutions available. Organizations will benefit most by Business Intelligence identifying what their separate needs are Continued from page 10 for operational reporting and analytical flow into the hypercube in near real and loading of transactional data auto- reporting, and then finding the solutions time without putting operational trans- matically. The biggest benefit is the that best satisfy both needs. is action response time at risk. In OLAP intuitive interaction of the GUI OLAP tools other than MITS Discover, any clients available for analytical report- update requires exporting the batches ing tools with their ease of export to ROSS MORRISSEY is of transactions out of the MultiValue spreadsheets. a MITS Product Specialist at Manage- environment into a proprietary OLAP ment Information Tools Inc., develop- tool or staging area, adding complexity Summary er of MITS Advanced Reporting and to the solution and limiting operational This progression from manual approach Business Intelligence products. He is a integration with the OLAP tool. MITS through application development to Certified Business Intelligence Profes- Discover runs within the MultiValue managed third-party solution is similar sional (CBIP) with Mastery level certi- environment which greatly reduces for both operational reporting and ana- fication in Business Analytics. You can the complexity of using this solution. lytical reporting. It may benefit your contact Ross at (888) 700-MITS or organization to move toward the managed [email protected]. Using Hypercubes for OLAP Storage and Navigation Developing MITS Report The standard approach for analytical ith our MITS Business Intelligence/OLAP tool (now called MITS Discover) reporting is the OLAP hypercube. Wdeployed at thousands of sites, we hear a lot about reporting. We found Hypercubes arrange aggregate transac- MultiValue users needed a self-serve operational report generator that shared tion totals along dimensions like cus- traits with our analytical reporting tool: tomer, product, and date. We can • Simplicity and ease of use — hide any underlying query or file complexity obtain the transaction totals for any • Robust security — protect any sensitive data combination of dimension values by directly reading data from the hyper- • Low system impact — low burden on resources and absolutely no changes to cube instead of scanning all the source any operational files data. The great strength of the hyper- • Fast and interactive — report from millions of source records within seconds cube is that the number of underlying Armed with these goals and using our proven data extraction engine, our development source transactions does not affect team set out to create a report generator that retained the clean MITS Discover inter- query speed.The hypercube also facil- face and security model but used a data structure optimized for sorting and filtering itates slicing and dicing — swift navi- transactional reports.This hybrid approach, using a snapshot of operational data from gation from summary totals to the MultiValue system while retaining its MultiValue structure,provides impressive ben- finer-grained subtotals. efits. Sorting and filtering benchmarks yielded sub-second response for datasets with Examples of this technique: slicing hundreds of thousands of records. MITS Report changes the whole model of opera- subtotals for last month’s most prof- tional reporting interaction. itable sales rep to discover their prod- Rather than choosing their columns,selecting the appropriate records,and then wait- uct line mix and how it differs from ing for the report, MITS Report users have the data immediately at hand, and are able under-performers, or discovering how to add and remove columns and filters at interactive speeds, seeing the actual data as community policing efforts have they go.An added benefit is that the snapshot of data remains static while the MITS reduced property crime by area to Report user is refining the report.With traditional report generators, each modifica- evaluate program effectiveness. tion of a report requires another trip back to the source data,potentially changing the The advantages to using an analytical totals each time. With the MITS Report extraction technology, we only access the reporting tool over writing BASIC pro- MultiValue system to refresh the report data as appropriate for the underlying business process,not for every report request.This way we protect the host system — and grams for management reporting are reduce the number of MultiValue licenses consumed. similar to the advantages report generators have over the command line. We adapted the flexibility of the MITS Discover security model and custom menus to Certainly, knowledge of the applica- MITS Report. The row and column level security not only keeps information com- tion and reporting environment is partmentalized, it allows us to create one master report for use by many different required, but we view these through individuals who then see only the data for their department and authority level.This the lens of a BI tool, not directly using security model also allows us to mix global and user-specific menus seamlessly. BASIC programming and manual file We anticipate MITS Report will change the way people access their opera- access,which dramatically reduces the tional data, and they will start to use a term we hear a lot from the MITS Dis- effort and complexity of the solution. cover community — play. Fred Owen - MITS Report Product Manager We manage and schedule extraction INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 47