As part of the ongoing work and evolution of the Win32 AppGen, and based on numerous requests the following template symbols are now built-in (as opposed to defined at the template level):

%Parameters – single, dependent from %Procedure
The full list of a procedure’s formal parameters separated by commas and enclosed in parentheses unless empty

%ProcedureParameterName – multi,  dependent from %Procedure
The list of names of all formal parameters as entered in %Parameters symbols; if missing then the name of that parameter as in %Prototype symbol is returned; if that is missing too, an AppGen generated name is returned

%ProcedureParameterOrigName – single, dependent from %ProcedureParameterName
The name of the parameter as entered in the %Prototype symbol

%ProcedureParameterType – single, dependent from %ProcedureParameterName
The type of the parameter as entered in the %Prototype symbol (without the CONST keyword and square brackets for array types)

%ProcedureParameterDefault – single, dependent from %ProcedureParameterName
The default value of parameters as entered in the %Prototype symbol

%ProcedureParameterOmitted – single, dependent from %ProcedureParameterName
Returns %True if the parameter is declared as omittable in the %Prototype symbol

%ProcedureParameterByReference  – single, dependent from %ProcedureParameterName
Returns %True if the parameter’s type is declared with leading * in the %Prototype symbol

%ProcedureParameterConstant – single, dependent from %ProcedureParameterName
Returns %True if the parameter’s type is declared with the CONST keyword in the %Prototype symbol

And a new built-in symbol has been introduced into C9:

 %ProcedureParameterDIMs – single, dependent from %ProcedureParameterName
Returns the number of dimensions if the parameter’s type is declared as an array in the %Prototype symbol (1 for [] , 2 for [,] , etc.)

The updated Application Generator reads TXA files produced by earlier Clarion versions. TXA files produced by the C9 AppGen can’t be read by previous versions.

These changes will be useful to all who write templates, but will benefit everyone and the visual change you’ll all immediately see is

In C8 the Parameters entry field is located inside the Procedure’s Actions dialog, whereas in C9 they are now moved to the Procedure Properties main dialog.

A new update is going out today for Clarion 8 so keep a watch on your email for download instructions. There are improvements, fixes and changes across the board; from the IDE itself, template updates, driver fixes, and more, including code to resolve selection of really long (mostly identical) printer names.

Clarion 9 introduces a new driver for working with SQLite databases.  SQLite is one of the most widely deployed databases in use today. SQLite databases are widely used on both iOS and Android tablets and cell phones.  SQLite databases are useful in any situations where simplicity of administration and easy maintenance are more important than scalability.

The driver introduces a new prop; PROP:CreateDB. PROP:CreateDB is a command property that tells the SQL driver to create the SQLite physical database file that is specified in the OWNER attribute of the file. If the database file already exists, this command does nothing.  The existing database file will not be destroyed.

The CREATE statement converts Clarion data types to SQLite Data types using the following table:

However Clarion 9 introduces new ABC support so that you can easily deploy and execute SQL scripts. For example a create script like below;
CREATE TABLE Courses(
Number INTEGER,
Description CHAR(40),
CompleteDescription CLOB,
CONSTRAINT KeyNumber PRIMARY KEY (Number));
CREATE INDEX KeyDescription ON Courses(Description);

The new class executes SQL code as a series of commands separated by an end of statement marker which you specify.  Any errors encountered executing the script are reported using the passed error handler. In short, you provide an external file that contains your SQL script and its parsed and executed.  The SQL code isn’t limited to just Create and Alter database scenarios, you can execute any valid SQL code. And of course the new ABC SQL script support is applicable across any Driver and SQL backend.

A new release of C8 is on its way out. This release has been through an extensive test cycle, both internally, and working with many key Clarion developers. Most apps will see an immediate performance boost in screen/control drawing, especially when opening very complex windows, as well as a much cleaner rendering of closely spaced and overlapped controls.

Windows 8 is due to release next week, and we’ve added new support to the RTL, compiler, debugger and Templates, so you’ll be able to detect Win 8, and properly manifest your apps for Win 8.  All in all there are 100+ fixes/changes/features in this release, and with the lengthy test cycle this release has been through we’re confident you’ll be able to make use of them right away.

A new update is going out today for Clarion 8.  This is a pretty significant release in that it has some important speed improvements for drawing complex windows. For this release we worked closely with a couple dozen Clarion devs testing their real-world windows using internal builds.  This was a win-win situation for all of us — we received immediate feedback as we released iterative changes to the RTL, and the developers who participated were able to test their biggest and baddest windows with the new RTL.

In a previous post I wrote about the changes we made for flicker suppression, but that’s only part of the story.  In addition we spent a lot of cycles working on improving the speed of opening and repainting complex windows, the elimination of extra sets of caption buttons being drawn by the OS into the App Frame, and a number of other MDI related issues.  The bottom line is that you’ll see a nice improvement in your Apps perceived performance, with just a recompile and no other changes (and its an improvement that your end users will surely notice).  The improvements to the RTL actually came from retro-fitting code being developed for Clarion 9 back into the C8 codebase.

Speed and flicker control aren’t the only items addressed in this release. There are also fixes and changes across the board from the IDE itself, template changes, drivers and more.