Don Bakke
Picking the Correct XMLHTTP Object
Many OpenInsight applications integrate HTTP calls to extend its capabilities and embrace the power of web services. Whether using the Google Map API to get geolocation information or the UPS APIs to track shipments, applications are doing far more than they ever could before. We were recently approached by ChargeItPro, a leader in payment processing, to help them out. ChargeItPro was going to retire an older web API and replace it one with based on a RESTful architecture. Since ChargeItPro has a number of customers using OpenInsight, they maintain BASIC+ stored procedures and provide them to developers who want to integrate their services. We were asked to convert the logic to work with their new API. This seemed like a fun project, especially since much of the work we are now doing is heavily centered on REST APIs and web services.
SRP Resource Sites – Right Tool for the Right Job
SRP has long advocated a philosophy of “right tool for the right job” when building software applications. It was the driving force that moved us to develop our very first ActiveX control for OpenInsight. Continuing along this path has resulted in the development of several useful controls and utilities. This effort has allowed us to produce some fantastic software applications for our clients – using the very best that OpenInsight has to offer while integrating technology that goes beyond OpenInsight’s boundaries. Therefore, it was only natural that we should follow this same philosophy when it comes to our own online resources.
SRP Editor – Auto-Generating Metadata
In our most recent service module metadata article, we documented how the metadata record is structured and how the Key ID should be named in the SYSENV table for proper functionality. We were pleased to see that some of you have already taken the initiative to generate your own metadata. In this article, we hope to make the task of generating service module metadata a whole lot easier by providing you with relatively quick and easy ways to comment your stored procedures in a way that asks the SRP Editor to do the work for you.
Banded Report Writer Revealed – RTI_BRWSupport
Less than two weeks ago we launched a new blog series intended to provide greater depth of understanding and documentation for the Banded Report Writer. Our next two posts will focus on the primary system stored procedures (also referred to as the command line interface) that are provided to developers so the Banded Report Writer can be nicely integrated into their applications. This first article will cover the RTI_BRWSupport function. Then we will move onto RTI_BRW_GenerateReport.
SRP Editor – Metadata Structures
We recently introduced a new feature of the SRP Editor that we refer to as service module metadata, or simply metadata. To summarize, through the use of metadata records, the SRP Editor can provide enhanced tooltip and code complete features for stored procedures that are written to provide service-style (aka methods) options to developers. This is a productivity feature that SRP has been using for quite some time and we wanted to make it available to all users of the SRP Editor.
We were encouraged to get immediate positive feedback about this feature as well as strong interest in the metadata documentation so that this feature can be extended to additional stored procedures (including System Stored Procedures, or SSPs). This article will be the first of two that specifically deal with the creation of metadata records.
Banded Report Writer Revealed – Unpacking CFG_OIBRW
The OpenInsight Banded Report Writer (BRW) is the proverbial phoenix of reporting tools for our beloved development environment. Many fondly recall the Report Designer, a fairly robust reporting tool that shipped with the 16-bit version of OpenInsight. It was our first taste of a true WYSIWYG reporting tool…and it was banded. Regrettably, the source code went MIA prior to Revelation Software’s transfer to WinWin Solutions, Inc. This left us with a tool that still worked, but it could not be supported nor updated to work properly with the 32-bit version of OpenInsight. The next version of this tool was released in OpenInsight v8.0. It was an ambitious project, if only because it attempted to build upon one of Revelation’s prime directives at the time: build tools within the toolset itself. The final result bore much resemblance to the capable Report Builder (an R/LIST interface, written in BASIC+). As such, it showed some promise. Alas, this tool never succeeded, despite efforts to address various problems through OpenInsight v9.21.
SRP Editor – Service Modules & Metadata
As alluded to in our pre-Christmas release of version 2.7 of the SRP Editor, I drew attention to a new (well, partially new) feature referred to as metadata. Of course, the term metadata is well known, especially to those who work with information technology. Simply put, metadata means “data about data”. OpenInsight developers use metadata all the time in the form of Data Dictionaries.
So how does the SRP Editor support metadata? What kind of data would the SRP Editor be describing? Even better, how will this benefit you as a user of the SRP Editor? Great questions. Let’s spend some time exploring the answers.
