Clarion 7 RTL and Drivers

In the Next C7 RTL Update

We've been tweaking the C7 RTL with an eye towards improved visuals.  Nothing can be more aggravating than a UI that flickers when some user initiated action, an event, or code causes a repaint.  To that end in the next build we'll be releasing changes in the RTL to optimize the redrawing of controls and suppress background flicker on activating or resizing of a window.  This change isn't like the UI enhancements we previously implemented to theme all controls, or the fancy new Menu styles, this one is about what you don't see.

The Listbox is about the most ubiquitous control in any Clarion application.  We have already made some great enhancements to the C7 List control to make it more visually appealling (the functionality was almost unmatched already), but here is another visual improvement.  We've added a new feature to improve the visual appearance of listboxes at the core of which are two new properties: PROPLIST:BarFrame and PROPSTYLE:BarFrame.

PROPLIST:BarFrame is an indexed property which defines the color of
the "frame" of the selection bar for a given column, example usage is:
 
  ?List {PROPLIST:BarFrame, 1} = 0C66A32h   ! 1st Column frame color
  ?List {PROPLIST:BarFrame, 2} = COLOR:Red  ! 2nd Column frame color

The property sets the listbox's default color for the selection bar's frame used
for columns/fields where this color is not already set explicitly in the format string.

Another new property; PROPSTYLE:BarFrame, this sets the color of the selection bar's frame to the given style, usage example is:

  ?List {PROPSTYLE:BarFrame, 1} = COLOR:Blue

If either PROPLIST:BarFrame or PROPSTYLE:BarFrame is set and a default
frame color is not set, the RTL calculates a color using the selection bar's background color.
If the frame color is used for the selection bar, the focus rectangle is not drawn if the listbox has focus.

Here are a few screenshots so you get an idea of the visual effect you can achieve.




We have also fixed an error with an incorrect calculation of header height for themed listboxes
on rescaling, for example on changing of the PROP:LineHeight property. 

These changes will be released in the next update due out this week.

posted Monday, January 28, 2008 7:12 PM by Robert Zaunere with 0 Comments

TopSpeed File compatibility with prior versions

Another small misunderstanding arose from a discussion that took place at the UKCUG.  We received a few emails referring to a post on the Clarion Handy Tools website that stated, “The format of .TPS files will change in Clarion 7. The older format will be recognized and auto-converted by C7 after which the file is no longer accessible by previous Clarion versions.”

This isn’t true; all versions of Clarion, including both Clarion7 and Clarion.Net can read and write TopSpeed files created with any version of Clarion without any compatibility issues. So you can put your mind at ease.

But since we’re talking about compatibility with prior versions I should mention a single case which would introduce incompatibility.  As previously announced the new version of the TopSpeed driver (available in Clarion 7 and Clarion.Net) introduces the ability to use any encryption algorithm supported by any of the encryption providers that plug into the Windows encryption subsystem.
For more details on the new encryption features see the post: Enhanced Encryption Support in the TopSpeed driver.

If a developer chooses to encrypt a TopSpeed file using for example, the AES encryption provider, then obviously prior versions of the driver which don't support the new encryption options will be unable to decrypt the data.  But other then that single case, your Clarion 6 (or prior Clarion versions) and your Clarion 7 or Clarion.Net applications can happily coexist, with no problems reading and writing to common shared files.

posted Monday, August 14, 2006 12:04 PM by Robert Zaunere with 1 Comments

Enhanced Encryption Support in the TopSpeed driver

The TopSpeed driver already has a very secure encryption system.  However, it is not based on any of the standard encryption algorithms.  This makes the TopSpeed file format unavailable to some developers who have to guarantee the encryption algorithm.  With the introduction of Clarion 7.0, you will have the ability to use any encryption algorithm supported by any encryption provider that plugs into the Windows encryption subsystem.  This will enable developers to create, store and exchange data in a very secure environment.

There are two providers that are installed on all Windows Operating Systems: ‘Microsoft Base Cryptographic Provider’ and ‘Microsoft Enhanced Cryptographic Provider’.  

The Microsoft Enhanced Cryptographic Provider supports the same capabilities as the Microsoft Base Cryptographic Provider, but provides for stronger security through longer keys and additional algorithms. The Enhanced provider is installed on your machine when you apply the Internet Explorer 128-bit security patch

To enable use of an alternative encryption algorithm you just supply at least one of the following encryption settings to the driver via the driver string:




You can use any of the driver string switches in a SEND command before the file is open to set the encryption algorithm. You can also retrieve the current value of any of the encryption options as the return result of the SEND command.

posted Wednesday, April 05, 2006 7:21 PM by Robert Zaunere with 4 Comments