Neuron Data Elements Environment Version 2.1 Getting Started © Copyright 1986 - 1997, Neuron Data, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This software and documentation is subject to and made available only pursuant to the terms of the Neuron Data License Agreement and may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of that agreement. It is against the law to copy the software except as specifically allowed in the agreement. This document may not, in whole or in part, be copied photocopied, reproduced, translated, or reduced to any electronic medium or machine readable form without prior consent, in writing, from Neuron Data, Inc. Use, duplication or disclosure by the U.S. Government is subject to restrictions set forth in the Neuron Data License Agreement and in subparagraph (c)(1) of the Commercial Computer Software-Restricted Rights Clause at FAR 52.227-19; subparagraph (c)(1)(ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause at DFARS 252.227-7013, subparagraph (d) of the Commercial Computer Software--Licensing clause at NASA FAR supplement 16-52.227-86; or their equivalent. Information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Neuron Data. THE SOFTWARE AND DOCUMENTATION ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. FURTHER, NEURON DATA DOES NOT WARRANT, GUARANTEE, OR MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS REGARDING THE USE, OR THE RESULTS OF THE USE, OF THE SOFTWARE OR WRITTEN MATERIAL IN TERMS OF CORRECTNESS, ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE. Open Interface Element™, Data Access Element™, Intelligent Rules Element™, and Web Element™ are trademarks of and are developed and licensed by NEURON DATA, INC., Mountain View, California. NEXPERT OBJECT® and NEXPERT® are registered trademarks of and are developed and licensed by NEURON DATA, INC., Mountain View, California. Other brand or product names are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Contents 1 1. The Elements Environment About the Elements..................................................................................................................1 New Features and Enhancements in the Elements Environment 2.0...............................2 New Features and Enhancements to the Open Interface Element ...........................2 New Features for the Intelligent Rules Element (NEXPERT) ....................................3 New Features for the Data Access Element .................................................................3 Unicode and Multibyte Support ....................................................................................3 Improvements to the OOScript Language ...................................................................3 Improvements to the Development Environment ......................................................4 Improvements to the C++ API .......................................................................................4 New Features and Enhancements in the Elements Environment 2.1...............................4 Improvements to OOScript ............................................................................................4 Improvements to Datasource/Views in the Data Access Element ...........................4 Integration with Third-Party Application-Development Software ..........................5 Installation.................................................................................................................................5 For More Information about Installation ......................................................................5 Technical Support ....................................................................................................................6 The NDDN Technical Support Web Page ....................................................................6 2. The Open Interface Element About the Software-Development Process...........................................................................7 About Resources.......................................................................................................................7 Quick Tour ................................................................................................................................9 Task1: Creating a User Interface ............................................................................................9 To Design a New Window ...........................................................................................10 About the Window Editor ............................................................................................12 To Place Widgets in Your Window .............................................................................15 About the Resource Browser Window................................................................................16 Task 2: Creating an Application-Startup Module .............................................................17 Task 3: Writing OOScript Application Logic .....................................................................20 Using Callbacks ..............................................................................................................20 Using Event-Handler Scripts ........................................................................................22 Task 4: Test and Run the Script-based Application ..........................................................23 Alternate Ways of Running a Script ............................................................................24 To Edit Existing Applications...............................................................................................24 Getting Started i Contents Task 5: Deploying and Porting Applications .................................................................... 24 For More Information about the Open Interface Element............................................... 26 3. The Data Access Element The Data Access Element and OOScript............................................................................ 28 Quick Tour.............................................................................................................................. 28 Generic Data-Access Objects ....................................................................................... 28 DBVu Resource .............................................................................................................. 28 Object API ....................................................................................................................... 29 For More Information about the Data Access Element.................................................... 29 Related Subjects ............................................................................................................. 29 4. The Intelligent Rules Element Reasoning System.................................................................................................................. 31 Rule Dynamics ............................................................................................................... 32 Integration ...................................................................................................................... 37 Open Architecture ......................................................................................................... 38 Object-oriented System......................................................................................................... 39 Object Structure ............................................................................................................. 39 Pattern Matching ........................................................................................................... 43 System Methods ............................................................................................................ 44 User-defined Methods .................................................................................................. 45 Graphical User Interface Dynamics.................................................................................... 46 Interaction from the Intelligent Rules Element to the GUI ..................................... 46 Interaction from the GUI to the Intelligent Rules Element ..................................... 47 Building Applications...........................................................................................................48 Starting the Intelligent Rules Element ........................................................................ 49 The Main Window ........................................................................................................ 49 Displaying Popup Menus ............................................................................................ 50 Entering Text ..................................................................................................................52 Rule Editor ..................................................................................................................... 52 Object Editor ..................................................................................................................55 Viewing Rules and Objects .................................................................................................. 58 List Windows ................................................................................................................. 58 Rule