What’s shipping in the mid-January beta
In mid-January we’ll be releasing a Clarion 12 beta that brings back USTRING.
TL;DR
- Clarion 12 beta (mid-January) reintroduces USTRING.
- USTRING is updated to handle both ANSI and Unicode strings.
- A Clarion 12 maintenance update for the current shipping release will be published at the same time.
- The beta is intended for side-by-side installation in a separate folder.
- This beta focuses on predictable behavior and clearer intent in string handling.
- You can evaluate the change incrementally before the next full release.
Also shipping: Clarion 12 maintenance update
At the same time as the beta, we’ll also be releasing an updated maintenance build for the current shipping version of Clarion 12.
Install notes (side-by-side)
The Clarion 12 beta is intended to be installed into a separate folder so you can keep your production Clarion 12 install intact and evaluate the beta side-by-side.
Why USTRING is back
Clarion developers care about two things when it comes to string handling: correctness and stability. In Clarion 12 we explored making Unicode capability available through the existing STRING type with a strong emphasis on minimizing impact to existing code. Since then, we’ve continued testing and listening to practical, real-world feedback about how developers want to work with strings.
The mid-January beta takes a more explicit approach: USTRING returns, and has been updated to handle both Unicode strings and regular ANSI strings.
What this means for day-to-day development
- Clearer intent: USTRING makes it obvious (at the declaration level) that a value may be Unicode-aware.
- Practical compatibility: USTRING is designed to work with both ANSI and Unicode content, so you can adopt it where it makes sense.
- Incremental evaluation: You can test this beta in focused areas first (utilities, import/export, API edges, UI text, etc.).
Impact and rollout
This is a beta release, so the goal is to give you something you can run against real applications and real data. If you have areas of your app that are particularly string-heavy (parsing, formatting, concatenation, report output, external integrations), those are the best candidates for early testing.
Your feedback is what helps us validate the edge cases and ensure this lands in a way that improves the day-to-day experience for Clarion developers.
What’s next
We’ll follow up with more concrete notes as the beta is delivered (including any implementation details and feedback from early testers). The direction is straightforward: keep Clarion development productive today while continuing to modernize the foundations for what comes next.
We’re excited to start the new year with both the beta release and a maintenance update release for the shipping version of C12. If you try this beta, let us know what you think — and stay tuned, there’s more to come.
Merry Christmas from SoftVelocity!
And Thank you for all the support this year!