The dBASE Book Plus is, as the subtitle states, “A Companion to
The dBASE Book” (3rd Edition, published in 2013). This book covers changes in dBASE™ Plus since version 2.8, including dBASE™ Plus versions 8 through 11, and now 12 (released in the spring of 2018). Included in this book are discussions including the following:
- Upgrades to the Integrated Developer’s Environment (IDE), including the Microsoft Foundation Classes
- Assist ™ technologies (dmDesigner™, dmOutput™, dmC.R.U.D.™, dmWEB™)
- ADO (ActiveX Database Objects) — a way to free your applications from using the Borland Database Engine
- Includes a basic, but fully functioning, application using ADO Database Classes
- The new Graphics Engine, and some of the new features included with it, including (but not limited to):
- The glyFX images that are installed with dBASE™ Plus
- The resource files with images from the Google Material Interface collection, as well as images from the Geotag Icon Project by Yusuke Kamiyamane (all open source)
- Enhancements to the Grid control (including Pushbuttons!)
- The new ListView Control
- The new DateTimePicker Control
- The new RichEdit and RichText Controls
- The new JSON Control
- The new SQL Builder
- The even newer Data Module Designer (dmDesigner™)
- Improved ActiveX interface, and the ActiveX controls that are installed with dBASE™ Plus
- Callbacks (from the Windows API)
- High Precision Math, new Number Object, and more
- A new chapter on using dmC.R.U.D.™
- A new chapter on using dmWEB™
- And some new features for building and deploying applications ...
Ken Mayer has used dBASE both as a hobbyist and as a professional coder for many years, starting with dBASE III+ and working up to dBASE™ PLUS. Ken worked for Borland, Intl. for two years as a Senior Quality Assurance Engineer on the Intrabuilder and dBASE products (Intrabuilder 1.0, Visual dBASE 7.0 and 7.01), and also worked for five years for dBASE, Inc. as a Senior Quality Assurance Engineer, also working on dBASE (Visual dBASE 7.5, dB2K and dBASE PLUS, as well as dQuery). Ken was a contributing editor to dBASE Advisor magazine for the one and a half years or so it was in publication. He served on Borland’s TeamB (volunteer technical support) when Borland owned dBASE, and has helped many in the dBASE developer community. At this time he is a member of the dBVIPS for dataBased Intelligence, Inc., doing the same things he did with TeamB. He authored a good portion of the Knowledgebase articles that ship with dBASE PLUS, and authored the original dBASE PLUS tutorial. Some of the material in this book will look suspiciously familiar to any who have used the Knowledgebase.
