SYNERGY-E-NEWS
News and Updates for Synergy/DE Developers

August 17, 2012

 

Symphony Framework and CodeGen help large Synergy/DE ISV migrate to WPF UI

You too can accelerate the process of updating your UI with these new Synergex tools

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Windows 8 is coming—are you ready?

Make sure your Synergy/DE applications are ready to support Windows 8 and Visual Studio 2012

Read More


Quiz

Synergy/DE pros, see if you can answer this question!

Take Quiz


Reduced hours for Synergy/DE Sales and Support on August 24

Synergex to close early

Read More

 

Synergy/DE Supports Just-released Visual Studio 2012

Take advantage of latest Visual Studio features to advance your application

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Synergy/DE 10 will include significant new features on all platforms

Preview the new features—sign up to be a beta tester

Read More


Synergy/DE Tech Tip

Seemingly valid code fails to compile with an “Invalid initializer” error

Read More


Platform News

Read a selection of recent articles

Read More

 

twitter.com/synergyde

 

Symphony Framework and CodeGen help large Synergy/DE ISV migrate to WPF UI

You too can accelerate the process of updating your UI with these new Synergex tools

The Synergex Professional Services Group recently completed an engagement at a large ISV who wanted to update the look and feel of their UI Toolkit user interface. They had learned about Symphony Framework and CodeGen at the recent Synergy DevPartner Conference in Chicago and were interested in leveraging these tools to replace their Toolkit UI with a Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) user interface.

Read the PSG blog to learn how Symphony Framework and CodeGen helped this customer, and how they can help you too to you achieve your UI goals too!



Synergy/DE Supports Just-released Visual Studio 2012

Take advantage of latest Visual Studio features to advance your applications

Microsoft has released Visual Studio 2012 to the web. Here’s what they say about this new version of their IDE:

With the launch of VS2012, Microsoft and partners have a unique opportunity to tell a story in the context of what we call Modern Apps or Apps Modernization; a world of multiple platforms, connected devices and app marketplaces where speed is everything. …For decision makers, … VS2012 improves ROI from the Microsoft platform by enabling the continuous delivery of new value through modern app development at an accelerated pace. For our developer customers, … VS2012 enhances their capabilities with improved tooling for modern application development across the Microsoft platform including Windows, Phone, Office, Server and Cloud.

Synergex has released a new pre-release of Synergy/DE 10 that supports Visual Studio 2012. “VS2012 brings significant advantages to Synergy customers,” states Roger Andrews, CTO at Synergex, “It improves productivity by loading projects faster; it also provides a cleaner development experience, improved editor performance, and new asynchronous capabilities in the Synergy language.” We’ve worked closely with Microsoft throughout their VS2012 release process to ensure complete and effective Synergy/DE integration with VS2012 to give you the best user experience.

Synergy’s integration with VS2012 enables you to take advantage of the powerful Visual Studio IDE and its extensive ecosystem. You can advance your existing applications by moving them to .NET and then updating their UIs and adding new functionality with the libraries and functions that exist in the .NET Framework. This path forward enables you (ISVs) to keep your proven applications competitive without having to rewrite them; and those of you developing in-house Synergy software can advance your applications to improve operations and workforce productivity.

For information about Visual Studio 2012, visit the Microsoft web site.

To download the latest Synergy/DE version, visit the Synergy/DE web site.


Synergy/DE 10 will include significant new features on all platforms

Preview the new features—sign up to be a beta tester

In addition to introducing several new features and enhancements in Synergy .NET, Synergy 10 also includes some very significant new features on all of the traditional Synergy platforms, especially in the area of Synergy DBMS. By beta testing this exciting new version you will get a jump on using the new features so you’ll be ready to deploy them to your users faster. Plus, we will reward you for your efforts—the more bugs you find, the more chances you’ll have for bigger rewards!

Visit our Web site for a complete list of new features, and for information on how to beta test Synergy/DE 10.



Windows 8 is coming—are you ready?

Make sure your Synergy/DE applications are ready to support Windows 8 and Visual Studio 2012

As discussed at the recent Synergy DevPartner Conferences, support for Synergy applications on Windows 8 will be introduced in Synergy/DE 10, which is currently available as a beta release. Microsoft has announced that the launch date for Windows 8 and Visual Studio 2012 will be October 26th, so it is reasonable to expect that the final versions of Windows 8 and Visual Studio 2012 will be available to developers via MSDN sometime soon.

Read more in the PSG blog.


Synergy/DE Tech Tip

Seemingly valid code fails to compile with an “Invalid initializer” error

Code with a class that extends another class (as in the example below) causes an “Invalid initializer” error. Why does the error occur, and how does one resolve the error?
 
namespace ns
    public class fred          
        public method fred
            in var          ,a
        proc
        endmethod
    endclass
 
    public class foo extends fred
    endclass
endnamespace
 
The reason for the error is that when a class is extended and no specific parent constructor is called in a child constructor, the parent class’s default constructor gets called automatically with an internal parent() call. If the parent class does not contain the default constructor (when a class has a constructor defined, the default is not automatically created by the compiler), an “Invalid initializer” error occurs.
 
The simplest way to resolve the error is to declare the default constructor in the parent class. Alternatively, you can specify which parent constructor to call in the child class. Both solutions are shown below:
 
Solution 1: Add a specific initializer call to the child constructor.
 
public class foo extends fred
    public method foo
        in parm1, a
        fred(parm1)
    proc
    end
endclass

Solution 2: Add a default constructor to the parent class.
public class fred
public method fred
in var ,a
proc
endmethod

public method fred
proc
endmethod
endclass


Quiz

Synergy/DE pros, see if you can answer this question!

How do you display a euro symbol (€) to the user in a Synergy/DE application, assuming the terminal is opened on channel 1?

a. display(1, %char(164))
b. display(1, %char(^x(20))+%char(^x(ac)))
c. display(1, %char(^x(e2))+%char(^x(82))+%char(^x(ac)))
d. It depends on the character set in use
e. You can't, because the euro symbol is not a standard ASCII character

Click to read answer


Platform News

Read a selection of recent articles

Windows

Visual Studio 2012 and .NET Framework 4.5 released to the web!
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/jasonz/archive/2012/08/15/visual-studio-2012...

Microsoft confirms dumping 'Metro' brand from Windows 8
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9229966/...

Windows 8 is shaping up to be the most secure desktop and mobile OS
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/133658...

Will the real Windows for the enterprise please stand up?
http://www.zdnet.com/will-the-real-windows-for-the-enterprise-please-stand-up-7000002134/

Microsoft tool shows whether apps pose danger to Windows
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9229960/Microsoft...

Windows 8 graphics: Microsoft has hardware accelerated all the things http://www.extremetech.com/computing/133318-windows-8-graphics-microsoft-has...

Microsoft sets Windows 8 launch as Oct. 26
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9229342/Microsoft_sets_Windows_8_launch_as_Oct._26

Microsoft overhauls printing: Aims to ditch 'pray' part
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-57480309-92/microsoft-overhauls-printing...

Using File History, Windows 8's built-in backup tool
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/132628-using-file-history-windows-8s-built-in-backup-tool


Linux

New Linux kernels bring performance improvements
http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/New-Linux-kernels-bring-performance-improvements-1658972.html

Kernel Log: Development of Linux 3.6 under way
http://www.h-online.com/open/features/Kernel-Log-Development-of-Linux-3-6-under-way-1657742.html

Dell re-enters high-end Linux laptop market with Red Hat Enterprise Linux
http://www.zdnet.com/dell-re-enters-high-end-linux-laptop-market-with-red-hat-enterprise-linux-7000001583/

Linux 3.5 released
http://www.osnews.com/story/26210/Linux_3_5_released

Linux 3.5 Boosts Ext4 Filesystem
http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/linux-3.5-boosts-ext4-filesystem.html


Unix/Linux/OpenVMS

HP wins court ruling in Itanium litigation
http://www.openvms.org/stories.php?story=12/08/02/5623264

How does HP pitch Unix vs. Linux?
http://www.internetnews.com/ent-news/how-does-hp-pitch-unix-vs.-linux.html


Reduced hours for Synergy/DE Sales and Support on August 24

Synergex to close early

On Friday, August 24, Synergy/DE Sales and Developer Support hours will be 7:00 AM to 11:00 AM Pacific Time. If you anticipate needing our assistance outside of these hours, please contact us at synergy@synergex.com to make arrangements.