February 4, 2003

USING WORKBENCH AND INCREASING DEVELOPER PRODUCTIVITY
Synergy/DE Professional Series Workbench provides a rich, productive development environment for Synergy programmers. At SPC 2003, you will get an overview of Professional Series Workbench and also learn how an archive-centric, multi-version, distributed WAN development environment can be created using Windows Workbench development and PVCS version and configuration control—together with OpenVMS/UNIX/WINDOWS deployment.

Sign up today for SPC 2003.

Important deadlines: Synergex has reserved a block of hotel rooms at each conference property for the SPC dates at that location. To take advantage of these discounted group rates, please make your hotel reservations before February 10. Details about each SPC property can be found on the SPC Web site.

UK SPC attendees: Please contact Liz Marmins if you still require hotel accommodations in Birmingham.

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ADD MORE COMMUNICATION CAPABILITIES TO YOUR APPLICATION WITH SYNERGY/DE 8.1
Synergy/DE 8.1 will be released in February. Two of the most significant new capabilities in this version are the XML API and support for HTTPS. With these new features, you will be able to talk to more third-party applications, and you can implement enhanced communication between your application components.

The XML API enables you to assemble XML documents to send to other applications (or other components of your application) and parse XML documents returned by these applications. Many companies are shifting their electronic communication to use XML, and now you can follow (or lead) this shift in your market.

With the new HTTPS support, you can securely send and receive documents via the HTTP document transport API. This will enable you to conduct secure transactions within your own application and/or securely transmit documents or data to other applications.

With these new communication tools, you also have the ability to communicate with Web services. If you understand SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol), and how Web Services work, you can use our XML API and HTTP document transport API to communicate with Web services.

For information about XML, see Microsoft's MSDN site.

For information about SOAP and XML, see another Microsoft page.

For more information about Synergy/DE 8.1, see our fact sheet.

Do you want to obtain your version 8 product keys online? It's easy! Simply contact our Customer Service team to get set up, and you will then be able to obtain version 8 keys for your licenses at your convenience over the Web.

Note: If your licenses do not have Annual License Maintenance, contact your Account Manager to order your Synergy/DE 8 upgrade(s).

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CONGRATULATIONS TO TEAM HYPRO IN BERLIN, WISCONSIN!
After six months of preparation for ISO (International Organization for Standardization) registration, HyPro Incorporated reached another milestone: Underwriters Laboratories (UL) recommended HyPro's Berlin office for ISO 9001:2000 certification.

HyPro uses a Synergy/DE-built application called Quest for their in-house needs. "Our Synergy application was core to this success," says Roy Nelson, CIO at HyPro. " We couldn't have passed the ISO audit without it. The technology provided by Synergex gives us the edge…we know we're in the right hands with a company who provides software solutions that work."

Read the entire announcement…

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SYNERGY/DE TECHNOLOGY CENTER: DOM TREES
When you use the Synergy XML API to parse an XML file, a "tree view" of the document is produced. This tree view is called a DOM (Document Object Model) tree, and it can be traversed to retrieve and manipulate the XML data. The document's root element is the top level of the tree. This element can have one or many child elements, or nodes, which represent the branches of the tree. Using a DOM, you can create a document, navigate its structure, and add, modify, or delete its elements.

Here is an example of an XML document:

<structure name="mystruct" size="384" >
  <field name="id" type="decimal" size="4" />
  <field name="desc" type="alpha" size="250" />
  <field name="user" type="alpha" size="30" />
</structure>

And here is what this document would look like as a DOM tree. In this example, the topmost tag, structure, becomes the root element. This structure element has two attributes: name and size. Below it are the three child elements representing the three field tags. Each of these children, in turn, has three attributes: name, type, and size.

For more information about DOM trees, see this introduction on the World Wide Web Consortium (W3) site.

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WHERE IN THE WORLD IS SYNERGY/DE?
Synergy/DE brings home the bacon!

Smithfield Foods, Inc., is the largest hog producer and pork processor in the world. Throughout the United States and Canada, in France, Poland, Japan, and elsewhere, Smithfield's brands set the standard for fresh pork and processed meats.

To manage their catalog orders, Smithfield uses the Synergy/DE-based Windows Catalog Order Entry System from Monette Information Systems.

By ordering products online or from Smithfield's printed catalog, customers can bring home the taste and tradition of classic Virginia with world-famous hams direct from Smithfield, Virginia. With Monette's Catalog Order Entry System, customers can order country hams, exclusive gourmet gift baskets, Virginia peanuts, smoked turkeys, seafood, tasty cakes, and more.

Last year, Monette built the Windows-based Catalog Order Entry System from the ground up. By the end of 2002, Monette had processed 48,000 orders for Smithfield. The new Windows-based system enabled Monette to seamlessly integrate Web orders, UPS shipping and tracking, and credit card authorization systems, which significantly streamlined operations. The Order Entry system also provides a custom interface to BEST! Software's MAS200 suite of Windows-based financial applications.

For more information on Smithfield and Monette, browse the following Web sites:
www.smithfieldfoods.com
www.smithfieldhams.com/
www.monette.com

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SUPPORT TECH TIP
Q: In the xfNetLink COM log file, the following error occurs:

typelib:Iinterface:Did not receive expected interface for
parameter x

Why is this happening?

A: This error occurs because the interface is attempting to use a parameter that has not been initialized correctly.

Usually, this occurs when an array of structures is being passed, and the first element of the array (element 0) has not been initialized. For example, Dim struct(3) actually creates a four element array, referenced as elements 0, 1, 2 and 3.

Another possible cause is that there is more than one interface being used, and not all of the interfaces are being initialized.

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SYNERGEX EDUCATION
Whether you are experienced or new to the world of Synergy/DE programming, the Synergy Language Essentials class has something for everyone. Experienced Synergy programmers will learn new features about the Language, while new Synergy programmers will start off on the right foot!

Sign up for the March 24 - 28 Synergy Language Essentials class in Gold River, Calif. today!

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