Windows 10 Issues

[BENCARL4321]

Hello To Everyone.

I am a newbie to the forum but have been using VPE since 2007.

I program using an Australian programming 4GL language named PowerFlex. For those of you that have never heard of PowerFlex it originally started out as a Dataflex clone and has gone onto greater things. I love it!

Recently I was forced to update to Windows 10 and now all my reports/charts etc. in Preview Mode FILL The Screen! With my LG 32 inch wide ultra high def. IPS screen this is a real drama. Everything worked fine under Windows 7 64 bit!

Now I know I must update to the latest release of VPE and this would probably solve my Win 10 issues, at least I hope so, so, can anyone please advise me how I can Update my current VPE Pro To The Latest VPE Pro?

Reuben Carlsen
Sydney Australia.
PS. If anyone decides to check out Powerflex on the Web, PLEASE don't look at their Sample Code. It's OLD and absolute Dogs DooDoo!

[IDEAL Software Support]

I would recommend you download the current version v7.10 as trial-version, to see if your problem is gone. Otherwise, please report again.

Regarding updates, you can access our customer online portal at http://www.IdealSoftware.com/cgi-bin/portal

After login, your license is shown and on the right side you'll find a link "Update".
If your license is too old (i.e. several major versions behind the current version), it will not be shown, which means it can not be updated.

[BENCARL4321]

Hello again.

After I login there is no License Number etc. shown so I assume I must purchase the new version.

I really would like to hear if anyone else experienced this problem of Preview Mode filling the screen under Windows 10?



Reuben Carlsen

[BENCARL4321]

Hello Again.

Further to my previous post, moving to Windows 10 has meant that my old version of VPE Help Files are unusable with Windows 10.

Is there any way in VPE that I can set the Background Size in preview mode? I have tried Vpe_SetScale etc. but this only sizes the actual report or chart size and doesn't effect the background size!


Reuben Carlsen
Sydney Australia.

[craigkrum]

Hello there. As recent VPE user, and a longtime DataFlex user, I would be interested in checking out PowerFlex, but it seem like there are a million products with that name, mostly related to fitness. Can you point me to their website?

Thanks

***UPDATE***

Found it! (pfxcorp.com). I'll check it out.

[BENCARL4321]

Hi Craig. I assume it's Craig!

As I said, don't look at their sample programs they really are OLD!

If you wish to see some really eloquent Pfx Code, send me a personal e-mail
and I will help you out!

rmcis1@bigpond.com

What part of the world are you located?


Reuben carlsen
Sydney Australia.

[craigkrum]

Hi Reuben. I'm in North America, and have been working with DataFlex since the early '90s. The PowerFlex website certainly has that look and feel of the early DataFlex days.

It looks like the pricing is a bit higher than the current DataFlex system. What made you decide to switch over from DF? I thought it might be price, but that must not be it. DF is now on version 18, with a fairly impressive set of features, mostly geared towards Web development.

I came to VPE because of the change in printing from Windows 7 to Windows 8/10. The printing has stopped working for a very old program I wrote in VDF6, which I distributed to lots of people. I was hoping to integrate my VPE 7.0 into the program to keep it alive a bit longer, but VDF6 can't deal with the changes in VPE since 4.0. Coordinates and parameters and now sent as Real values, and, unfortunately, VDF6 can't send Real values to a DLL.

I think I may have to bite the bullet, and rewrite the program in VDF 18, which I currently use in my business. Ever since VDF6, which was free to distribute, Data Access has had a fee for their client licenses. This means folks will have to cough up a bit of cash it they ever upgrade to Windows 8 or 10, but I see the same thing would be true if I switched to PowerFlex.

Thanks for letting me take a walk down memory lane. Now I think I'll go have a beer, and wonder how I got so old!

[BENCARL4321]

Hi Craig.

I've been around for a long time as well!

I moved from DF 2.3b to PFX 1.2 a very long time ago, the reason was I liked the idea of a Local Language and Local Support and back then PowerFlex executed way faster than DF and more database type options.

I am currently programming with PFX 5.0 Service Pack 8 which is the latest revision. I always update to the latest PFX platform when it's released and I used to Beta Test new releases for Powerflex Corp.

I think I've been around longer than yourself!
I have met many people calling themselves programmers and honestly wouldn't pay any of them with brass washers!

All my programs are full Windows GUI. I've actually had a lot of programmers look at my code and say It's Not PowerFlex! They're just programming the way they did 20 or 30 years ago because they don't know any better or haven't had any imagination to figure out a better way.

Back in the day, I started looking at samples and other DF/PFX Code using Enter Macro and the like and just thought there must be a better way. I have never user any of the Macro Commands ever since. My code will probably look a bit alien to you, BUT, my programs are very well structured and you will NEVER FIND any Goto Statements!

Reuben
Sydney Australia.

[IDEAL Software Support]

In answering your question:

The preview can be positioned using VpePreviewDocSP().

The help files of the current version can be viewed on newer Windows versions, you have a really old version of VPE.

[BENCARL4321]

Hello Ideal Support.

Thank you for the advice!

Yesterday I figured this out!
I downloaded 7.1 Demo Version and after installation I was able to use the latest VPE Help Files.
Yes, I do have an early version of VPE, 4.0 to be exact.

Under Windows 7 and earlier by using the arguments 1 1 1 1 2 the background just simply fitted itself to the page size and I discovered yesterday that with Windows 10 I have to Explicitly Set The Background Size To The Page Size. Bit of a pain but at least I have solved my problem.

I still think I will have to update to 7.1, just have to convince my main customer to help pay for the update.


Reuben Carlsen
Sydney Australia