[COMPLAINING] Dev Studio 7.6.5 - One Big Disappointment

April 07, 2009, 10:29 AM

Francis Mariani

Editing a file in an external editor does not work. "Edit in EditPlus" is available in the Data Servers area of the Explorer tree, but selecting it does nothing. "Edit in EditPlus" is not available in the Web Applications area of the Explorer tree. "Edit in EditPlus" is available in the Projects area of the Explorer tree, but selecting it freezes Dev Studio. (Case opened - potentially fixed in v7.6.7)
Editing a saved HOLD file (ftm suffix) with the built-in text editor truncates the data rows to 80 characters. Dragging-and-dropping the ftm file from the Explorer to the desktop truncates the data rows to 80 characters. (Case opened - potentially fixed in v7.6.7)
Cannot rename ftm suffix to something else (to avoid previous problem) - Rename option is not available in Data Servers area of the Explorer tree (This may be by design).
Projects don't work properly in a three-tier environment. I can create a fex in a Project and run it while it is open in the GUI or text editor, but I cannot run it by selecting it in the Explorer. The fex is stored in the Web Applications area of the Explorer tree. The project files (gfa) are stored on the web application server and not on the data server.
FOCCACHE, a new feature for v7.6.5 is not documented in the Online Help
There's probably more, but these have come up during parallel testing, wait until I start actually using the new features.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Francis Mariani,

April 07, 2009, 11:23 AM

GinnyJakes

quote:
Cannot rename ftm suffix to something else (to avoid previous problem) - Rename option is not available in Data Servers area of the Explorer tree (This may be by design).

Francis, open a case on this. I have been opening cases on Data Servers functionality since 7.6.0. A few things have gotten changed but not enough.

This is important becasue we never use Projects. On a UNIX box it tends to write everything as owned by the id that started the http and application server. Often that is root and causes all kinds of permissions problems later on. So we need to have Data Servers as buff as it can be.

We had 3-tier for awhile and went back to two tier with the client and reporting server all on the same box. It really confused our business developers.

April 07, 2009, 11:36 AM

Francis Mariani

Ginny,

Thanks for your feedback.

"We had 3-tier for awhile and went back to two tier with the client and reporting server all on the same box. It really confused our business developers" - I'm sure we'll have fun with this too!

April 07, 2009, 12:09 PM

Tony A

I know this will not be overly helpful but my preference is still 7.1.6. I've not seen anything for which I would make the leap to 7.6.n. I have tried each of them but the relevent Dev Studio just doesn't make it for me.

7.6.2 servers seem to be OK in the environments I have access to but I still wouldn't want to go too much higher than that. Unix flavours may be a little better but then I do not have access to make up my own mind on them.

T

April 08, 2009, 02:54 AM

GamP

I have. I really really like the advanced graph assistant that comes with the 76x releases.
But, for the rest I am just aas happy with the 71 releases of DevStudio.

April 08, 2009, 03:13 PM

dhagen

quote:
Originally posted by Francis Mariani:

Editing a file in an external editor does not work. "Edit in EditPlus" is available in the Data Servers area of the Explorer tree, but selecting it does nothing. "Edit in EditPlus" is not available in the Web Applications area of the Explorer tree. "Edit in EditPlus" is available in the Projects area of the Explorer tree, but selecting it freezes Dev Studio. (Case opened - potentially fixed in v7.6.7)

Does it work with Notepad?

quote:

Editing a saved HOLD file (ftm suffix) with the built-in text editor truncates the data rows to 80 characters. Dragging-and-dropping the ftm file from the Explorer to the desktop truncates the data rows to 80 characters. (Case opened - potentially fixed in v7.6.7)

FTP them. Dev Studio was not intended to be a file transfer tool.

quote:

Cannot rename ftm suffix to something else (to avoid previous problem) - Rename option is not available in Data Servers area of the Explorer tree (This may be by design).

See above.

quote:

Projects don't work properly in a three-tier environment. I can create a fex in a Project and run it while it is open in the GUI or text editor, but I cannot run it by selecting it in the Explorer. The fex is stored in the Web Applications area of the Explorer tree. The project files (gfa) are stored on the web application server and not on the data server.

I would recommend you not use Projects at all. I always turn them off when I install Dev Studio. I never really figured out what use they are.

quote:

FOCCACHE, a new feature for v7.6.5 is not documented in the Online Help

Did you check the WFRS documentation? FOCCACHE is a server feature.

April 08, 2009, 04:13 PM

RickW

We use 7.6.6 and don't have problems besides some Citrix issues but that's not WF's fault.

I use the Projects view all the time to seperate out files into categories (FTM files, flag files, etc.) via the Virtual Folders view.

Built in editor doesn't bother me. I couldn't get "use an "external tool" editor (NotePad) working but not sure if that's because of Citrix.

April 08, 2009, 04:49 PM

Waz

In 7.6.8 the Edit Plus option works, but only for file types defined to edit plus, the option list changes, e.g. an xls file get excel as an option.

April 14, 2009, 04:51 PM

Dimitris Poulos

Hi everyone.
Francis, As Waz mentioned, to open a WebFOCUS file w/ an external editor, e.g. EditPlus, you first need to associate the file types that you want opened w/ this tool through Windows.
When this step is performed, the file types registered w/ your application will open for editing w/ that tool through Windows Explorer and from the Dev Studio interface the option to edit a file in the associated tool will be displayed when you right click an a file.
e.g. associate .FEX/.MAS/.ACX to open w/ EditPlus will display an option "Edit in EditPlus".
The option to use an external tool for editing works in all development areas: Projects, Data Servers, Web Apps and MR.
FOCCACHE is a server feature that was introduced in 765 and documented in the WebFOCUS/iWay New Features 765 guide.
With regards to editing FTM files, the truncation when files are >80 chars occurs by the server during the save operation.
We are working on addressing this limitation and I will provide additional info about this and available solutions.
Project development can be performed while using a 2 or 3 tier configuration. Project development requires the application directory (defined by APPROOT) to be the same physical location for both the WebFOCUS Client (defined in CGIVARS.WFS) and Reporting Server (defined in EDASERVE.CFG).

April 14, 2009, 05:22 PM

Francis Mariani

Editing ftm files in "External Editor" Notepad works, but the data truncates to 80 characters.

I cannot FTP the files - I do not have access to the middle, WebFOCUS report server tier.

I thought I'd use Projects because launching "External Editor" EditPlus may work there. I am no longer using Projects.

I am aware that only file types defined to EditPlus would open in EditPlus. I have been doing this for years. It JUST DOES NOT WORK in Developer Studio v7.6.5.

FTM files - How can something this basic break in v7.6.5 when FTM files are a fundamental part of WebFOCUS?

April 15, 2009, 04:45 PM

Waz

Francis, apart from getting Dev Studio fixed, I think the best way to solve your problem would be to write a files reader that returns the contents of a file as HTML.

Build a menu that will read the app directories, select a file and report on it.

Should be simple to do.

April 15, 2009, 04:52 PM

Francis Mariani

Sure, that is simple to do.

Meanwhile I upgraded Dev Studio to v7.6.8 and none of the things I'm complaining about appear to be fixed.

April 15, 2009, 05:08 PM

Waz

You are right, I've got 7.6.8 installed and found your issues.

So I guess what is most important, getting DS fixed or being able to do your job ?

In a perfect world it would be both, but we're not, so if it was me, go with the case and make a workaround, but don't tell IBI.

April 15, 2009, 10:21 PM

susannah

Dimitri seems to be saying that everything works as advertised. i just loaded 768 hf1,
and i've got frontpage associated with .htm and textpad associated with .fex.
nada.
Dimitri, come to Summit, will you? and i'll come visit you in the expert room.
Ever tried to print from devstu's editor? yikes!

April 15, 2009, 10:34 PM

Waz

quote:
Ever tried to print from devstu's editor? yikes!

Thats why I like Edit Plus

April 16, 2009, 11:41 AM

Dimitris Poulos

Hi Francis,
The truncation issue w/ FTM files that have records >80 chars has always been there unfortunately.
This is not something that has broken along the way in Dev Studio and we are working on addressing this limitation.
However even when this is addressed there are a few things that developers need to be aware as by default temp files are created in binary format and data can be corrupted if edited w/ an editor that can open binary files.
To avoid issues w/ files that will get modified, I recommend that temp files are created w/ FORMAT ALPHA.
As a w/a, until the editing of FTM files is addressed, you can perform a FILEDEF to save temp files using a different extension e.g.
FI HOLD DISK abc.TXT
ON TABLE HOLD FORMAT ALPHA
END

With regards to the issue opening .FEX files etc. with an external application, are you using Vista?
I have only encountered this issue w/ Vista and we are looking into this.
Under XP it works fine and I also use EditPlus.

FYI - A few editor enhancements will be available in 769 (added more shortcuts, organized context menu options and during printing preserve color coded commands).

April 16, 2009, 11:59 AM

<JG>

Dimitri,

quote:
there are a few things that developers need to be aware as by default temp files are created in binary format and data can be corrupted if edited w/ an editor that can open binary files.

This guy has been using IBs products for a very long time, as have a number of us.

Some of us have been using it since it first came onto the market in it's original non web form (FOCUS)

The basic situation is that Dev studio still suffers from a lot of legacy system issues that competitors
never had, because they can not do it now and could not do it then.

However this is now causing serious pain, because most companies out in the real world now no longer have the legacy.

They expect a modern tool to do a modern job, correctly.

April 16, 2009, 12:22 PM

Francis Mariani

"I recommend that temp files are created w/ FORMAT ALPHA" - I have been aware of this for the last 10 to 15 years...

I run Developer Studio v7.6.8 on a Microsoft Windows XP Professional Version 2002 Service Pack 2 PC and I still cannot launch EditPlus (from the "Edit in EditPlus" context menu) when trying to edit a fex, mas, ftm, txt or any other file that is registered in Windows to be edited by EditPlus. By the way, I can set up EditPlus as an "external tool" in Dev Studio Options, then open it from the Commands Toolbar (though the EditPlus icon does not display - a blank icon is used as the EditPlus Commands Toolbar button).

"FYI - A few editor enhancements will be available in 769"
- Will line numbers be added?
- Will find/replace on multiple opened files be added?
- Will more valid WebFOCUS code be included in syntax colouring? For example, very few WebFOCUS Style-sheet tags are recognized by syntax colouring - REPORT, GRID, TITLETEXT, ROWTOTAL, TABHEADING, TABFOOTING, TITLE, ACROSSTITLE, ACROSSVALUE... Syntax colouring for regular WebFOCUS code has to be seriously improved.

April 16, 2009, 05:26 PM

Waz

Francis, could ther be some security restriction on a app launching another app in you environment ?

April 16, 2009, 05:27 PM

Francis Mariani

Don't think so:

quote:
By the way, I can set up EditPlus as an "external tool" in Dev Studio Options, then open it from the Commands Toolbar (though the EditPlus icon does not display - a blank icon is used as the EditPlus Commands Toolbar button).

April 17, 2009, 03:09 AM

Håkan

Francis,

I'm on 7.6.8 (Vista 64-bit) and in the Projects and Web Applications area, I can edit a .ftm file wider than 80 chars, but not in the Data servers area......

Håkan

April 17, 2009, 04:40 AM

<JG>

In 7.6.8 on vista 32 bit exactly the same problems with external tools with an additional twist.
When you exit Dev Studio it forgets about the External tools you have added.

XP does remember them but like you say they are unusable.

April 20, 2009, 09:50 AM

Mighty Max

I'm using 7.68 on Windows and having no problems using "Edit in EditPlus" for a .fex file.
I am able to use it on Windows based Reporting Servers and in MRE.

Do you get the same behavior when editing a .fex file on your localhost environment?
That is using "Edit in EditPlus" does nothing.

April 20, 2009, 09:59 AM

Francis Mariani

Håkan, unfortunately we are on a three-tier environment, with the data server and web server on different machines, so the Data Servers and Web Applications point to different folders.

Editing with external editor update:

According to Tech Support:

quote:
I've verified that this is fixed in 768. I'm wondering if Editplus supports launching by third party software with arguments?

If it does not, this would be why you are encountering the issue.

You can easily test this by dragging a text file onto the ultraedit executable.
If the file opens, it should work with the below steps:

How did you set up the filetype association?

I did mine like this:
Double click My Computer
Tools menu
Folder options
File types tab
find fex
advanced
Actions -> Edit (Edit this action)
Application used to perform this action:
"C:\\ultraedit.exe" %1
Use DDE should be checked.
DDE Message should be blank
Application is just the name of the application
DDE Application Not Running should be blank
Topic: System

On my workstation, I found that the "DDE Message" value was

[open("%1")]

I removed this and it didn't make any difference. Also, the "Application used to perform action" value is

C:\PROGRA~1\EDITPL~1\EDITPLUS.EXE "%1"

I tried changing it to

"C:\Program Files\EditPlus 3\editplus.exe" %1

which made no difference.

April 20, 2009, 03:06 PM

Mighty Max

Open up Notepad and save a file as Test.fex on your Desktop.

What is the icon of this file?
It should be the default .fex icon for fexes in Dev Studio. (A pencil with a cog-wheel)
Is it something else?

If you double click this file what program does it open up with?
It should open with EditPlus.

April 20, 2009, 03:19 PM

Francis Mariani

The icon is EditPlus, like it should be - I open fexes in EditPlus on my workstation.

April 20, 2009, 04:05 PM

Mighty Max

Your workstation is a Windows XP machine. Right?
On my workstation the icon for a .fex is a pencil with a cog-wheel.
What I gathered from your response is that the icon for a .fex on your workstation is the EditPlus default icon a red notepad with two plus signs.
If this is the case then a .fex file is properly associated with EditPlus but not with Developer Studio.
Perhaps you can try deleting the .fex file extension, rebuilding it, and then associating it with EditPlus.

Here are the steps.

Double-click My Computer
Go to the Tools menu and select Folder Options.
click the File Types tab.
Scroll down to the FEX extension and select it.
Click the Restore button.
This will restore its association to Notepad.
Click the Delete button.
Click the Yes button to confirm the deletion message.
Click the New button.
Type FEX as the file extension.
Click Advanced. Scroll down to Focus Executable and select it.
Click the OK button.
Select the FEX extension from the list of extensions.
Click the Change button.
Select EditPlus from the list of programs. Click the OK button.
One you do this a .fex file should be properly associated with EditPlus and Dev Studio.
Click the Close button to close Folder Options.

I just tested this on my machine and everything is still OK.

April 20, 2009, 04:44 PM

Francis Mariani

I poked around EditPlus and tried something that worked!

In EditPlus > Tools > Preferences > Files > Settings & syntax I have entries for fex, mas and acx. There is a check box option "Associate in Explorer" that sets up the Windows files settings so you don't have to do it manually. I usually set this option checked for the three file types. I unchecked the option and now DevStudio can open the three file types in EditPlus. I guess EditPlus adds something to the Windows Explorer file settings that DevStudio is not compatible with.

April 22, 2009, 02:45 AM

nubi

personally if the explorer speed issues dont improve in the next release of DS ill dump it for good - its prohabitive and in this day and age completely unnesscary

May 18, 2009, 03:46 PM

Dimitris Poulos

Hi everyone,
There are no plans to display line numbers as a separate column inside the editor. Line/Col numbers will only display in the status bar. To accommodate user preferences we have introduced the option to use external editors.
Francis, I’m glad you have made EditPlus work in your PC. I am using EditPlus on XP and it is working fine although I don’t have the same settings as you.
The option to open an external tool through Dev Studio is a usability enhancement and simply allows you to open external applications. Icons do not appear under the Command Menu for external tools added to Dev Studio.
In 767 we introduced a new toolbar that displays the added external tools. This toolbar will display the icon for the added application.

With regards to editing FTM files, we have an active project to preserve files and not cut records after the 80th col and we plan on having this available in the next SP (7610).

Prod:	WebFOCUS 7.6.10/8.1.04	Upgrade:	WebFOCUS 8.2.07	OS:	Linux	Outputs:	HTML, PDF, Excel, PPT
In Focus since 1984
Pity the lost knowledge of an old programmer!

Prod:	WebFOCUS 7.6.10/8.1.04	Upgrade:	WebFOCUS 8.2.07	OS:	Linux	Outputs:	HTML, PDF, Excel, PPT
In Focus since 1984
Pity the lost knowledge of an old programmer!

Prod:	WebFOCUS 7.6.10/8.1.04	Upgrade:	WebFOCUS 8.2.07	OS:	Linux	Outputs:	HTML, PDF, Excel, PPT
In Focus since 1984
Pity the lost knowledge of an old programmer!

Prod:	WebFOCUS 7.6.10/8.1.04	Upgrade:	WebFOCUS 8.2.07	OS:	Linux	Outputs:	HTML, PDF, Excel, PPT
In Focus since 1984
Pity the lost knowledge of an old programmer!

Prod:	WebFOCUS 7.6.10/8.1.04	Upgrade:	WebFOCUS 8.2.07	OS:	Linux	Outputs:	HTML, PDF, Excel, PPT
In Focus since 1984
Pity the lost knowledge of an old programmer!

In FOCUS since 1986	WebFOCUS Server 8.2.01M, thru 8.2.07 on Windows Svr 2008 R2
	WebFOCUS App Studio 8.2.06 standalone on Windows 10

- Using AS 8.2.01 on Windows 10 - IE11.
	in Focus since 1988