Intellitech - Programmer's Corner

Programmer's Corner

Intellitech does most of its software development in the FiveWin programming language. This section contains information primarily of interest to other FiveWin programmers.

Feature Articles

Introduction to FiveWin
An article on programming in the FiveWin programming language. Discusses the basics: FiveWin, resources and resource editors, SDI & MDI windows, dialogs, menus, toolbars, message bars, buttons, colors, icons, etc. Also discusses the concept of a dataDialog class. Good for those just getting started with FiveWin and those considering FiveWin.

Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming Using FiveWin: Part I
Basics of OOP including encapsulation, inheritance, polymorphism and granularity. Also discusses Fivewin's class syntax.

Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming Using FiveWin: Part II
Covers class design with examples of building business object classes to emulate real-world business objects.

Introducción a la Programación Orientada a Objetos con FiveWin, Parte I
En Español. Traducido cerca José Murugosa.

Introducción a la Programación Orientada a Objetos con FiveWin, Parte II
En Español. Traducido cerca José Murugosa.

Downloads

Introduction to FiveWin, by James Bott, in English. Windows Write format. Download (19K)

Introduction to FiveWin, by James Bott, in German.Download (19K)

TData TData is an enhanced database class for FiveWin ver 1.91+. Comix and Harbour compatible! Vastly simplifies the coding for database access. Frees you from using alias referencing. Provides automatic buffering (no more scatter/gather) and record locking. Works with both NTX and CDX indexes. Documentation included. More Info. US$49.

TSearch TSearch is a popup incremental search class for FiveWin. US$15. Download(12K)

Windows XP Bitmaps for use on toolbars. Download (40K)

DBF to XML conversion program (Clipper). Download (3K).

Saving and Restoring the Application Printer. This contains functions and sample code showing how to save and restore the current printer being used by the application. Each user can have a different default printer. Download (3K).

TSBROWSE v6.13 (Updated 1/31/2007). This is a minor fix of bugs in v6.0. Fixes the thumb-bar scrolling problem and changes the actions of the Home and End keys to standard Windows behavior (top and bottom). Ver 6.13 adds support for the ord functions in the (x)Harbour NTX RDDs. The scrollbar now works properly when ordScope() is being used. Download (518K).

CHM Help Code - An explanation of how to use CHM format help files with FWH. Code, and examples are included. Download (395K).

TScan32 Class Scanner class for FWH by Rafa Carmona (Thefull). Download (5K).

Software Tools

UltraEdit is my choice for a programmer's editor. It has lots of special programming features including customized toolbars, color syntax highlighting (can be customized for Fivewin syntax), macros, etc. One feature I find indispensible is showing the methods and/or functions on the right--a double-click takes you to the method or function. For more information, to download a trail version, or to order this product, visit IDM Computer Solutions .

Using UltraEdit with FiveWin/Clipper/(x)Harbour - Contains article and config files. Download

Vault 3 is a great free-form database. It is in the popular Windows Explorer format with an outline tree on the left side and a text window on the right. I have one file for general information, another for FiveWin, and one for each project I am working on. It also has a search facility and is Web enabled (if a URL appears in anywhere in the text, one click will take you there). Get it at Pocket Sized Software .

Recommended Reading

Here are some of my favorite books.

About Face 2.0, The Essentials of Interaction Design, by Alan Cooper and Robert M. Reimann, Wiley, 2003, ISBN 0764526413.

I value this book more than any other programming book! Mr. Cooper points out a lot of mistakes we programmers make in user interface design. He suggests that we look at design from the user's perspective rather than our more typical "guardian of the data" perspective. We should design to meet the user's goals not the programmer's. I refer to this book at least a couple of times a week. Highly recommended!

Visit Alan Cooper's web site at Cooper Interaction Design.

Business Engineering With Object Technology, David A. Taylor, John Wiley & Sons. 1995. ISBN 0471045217.

Most of what you hear about object-oriented programming (OOP) is about user interface objects such as windows, dialogs, controls, etc.. This book is about developing business objects. By building business objects that resemble real-world objects it is much easier to get the big picture. By using data and code hidden within objects, programming and understanding the program becomes easier by orders of magnitude.

If you want to understand the philosophy of business objects, this is the book to get. This book is strictly theory, so you won't have to worry about not understanding code examples.

Object-Oriented Analysis and Design With Applications, Grady Booch, 2nd Edition, Benjamin/Cummings, 1994, ISBN: 0805353402, Hardcover, 589 pages.

If you want to grasp object oriented design, this is the book to have. Although it looks and reads like a college textbook, it contains a very thorough explaination of OOP, and he even has a sense of humor. You won't read it all at once, but you will refer to it often. The author currently works for Rational Software .