Synergy-e-News

Synergy-e-News provides product and event announcements, technical articles written by Synergex developers and consultants, technical tips from our Developer Support team, customer success stories, and industry news.

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Past Issues

Some links in older newsletters may no longer work. If you can't get to an article you would like, email us at synergy@synergex.com.

2023 Issues

Synergy-e-News: August 24, 2023

  • Announcing Synergy/DE 12.2 Feature Release
  • End of Support for VS 2019, Synergy 11
  • Switching Source Control Paradigms
  • New Learning Resources on Synergex Website
  • New Case Studies
  • Tech Tip: Options for securing access with xfODBC

Synergy-e-News: April 6, 2023

  • Announcing Synergy/DE 12.1.1.3287
  • Training Others to Continue the Job
  • Synergex Professional Services at Your Service
  • MSBuild CLI: A Gateway to Continuous Integration / Delivery
  • Tech Tip: Resolving unexpected Repository issues
2022 Issues

Synergy-e-News: December 20, 2022

  • Synergy/DE 12.2 – A new feature release
  • We've made two important changes to the Synergex Resource Center...
  • Select.GroupBy: What’s New and What’s to Come
  • Let’s think ahead…
  • YAML Your Way to Rapid Deployment
  • Tech Tip: FAQ for using Synergy/DE on 64-bit platforms

Synergy-e-News: June 28, 2022

  • Synergex celebrates the release of Synergy 12
  • Save the date: 2022 DevPartner Conference
  • It’s Time to Change the Channel: Security Updates in Synergy/DE 12.1
  • Resources for Synergy Developers
  • Forward Your Linux Licensing Woes to Windows
  • Tech Tip: Defining an enumerated input window field in UI Toolkit

Synergy-e-News: March 8, 2022

  • The Latest Synergy 12.0 Feature Release Is Here
  • SynergexU Online Learning
  • The Synergex Hackathon Was Out of This World
  • How Your Development Team Can Opt in to DevOps
  • It’s Time to Plan Ahead…
  • We’re Distinguished
  • Tech Tip: Use the Latest DBMS Utilities with Current and Older Synergy Versions
2021 Issues

Synergy-e-News: November 2, 2021

  • It's time. Synergy/DE 12.0 has arrived
  • When It Comes to Legacy Systems, It's Hip to Be Square
  • Calling all license admins
  • Test-Driven Development
  • Synergex Professional Services at your service
  • Tech Tip: Known causes of file corruption

Synergy-e-News: July 29, 2021

  • Synergy/DE 11.1.1h Is Here
  • How We Successfully Pulled Off Our First Remote Conference
  • MVVM or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the ViewModel
  • What's New in the Resource Center?
  • Elevate Your Endpoints
  • Tech Tip: Determining the installed version of Synergy/DE

Synergy-e-News: March 11, 2021

  • Announcing Synergy/DE 11.1.1g
  • 2021 DevPartner Conference
  • Important REV11 Licensing Info
  • Tech Article: Achieving DevOps through Continuous Integration
  • Thanks for Sharing (customer survey)
  • 9 Windows Tips and Tricks You Should Know
  • Tech Tip: Verifying whether an optional parameter was passed
2020 Issues

Synergy-e-News: October 1, 2020

  • 11.1.1f has arrived
  • REV11 licensing Jan 1 requirement
  • The game is afoot!
  • Tech Article: Unit Tests
  • Everyone loves a success story
  • What are we blogging about?
  • Tech Tip: Using Synergy logicals in .NET code

Synergy-e-News: June 25, 2020

  • 11.1.1d is here
  • isutl: The Next Generation
  • Harmony Core webinars
  • Unit Testing in Traditional Synergy
  • Synergy developer community
  • Tech Tip: Locating OpenSSL libraries after upgrading to Synergy/DE version 11

Synergy-e-News: April 2, 2020

  • 11.1.1c patch is available
  • Synergy DevPartner Conference postponed
  • Modifying Strings Without Getting Strung Out
  • What are we blogging about?
  • Make sure you’re getting the most out of the Synergy developer community
  • Are your development needs being met?
  • Tech Tip: Making sure changes to code in Visual Studio projects are reflected at runtime

Synergy-e-News: January 28, 2020

  • REV11 licensing
  • Synergy/DE product roadmap
  • 2020 DevPartner Conference agenda
  • Presenting in Synergy/DE 11.1.1: Select.Where.Like
  • Harmony Core office hours
  • Functional testing for Synergy web services with ASP.NET Core
  • Need software development consulting?
  • Tech Tip: How to upgrade a system with a backup license server to REV11 licensing
2019 Issues

Synergy-e-News: October 3, 2019

  • Synergy/DE 11 is here
  • Introducing REV11 licensing
  • 2020 Synergy DevPartner Conference registration
  • Are you protecting yourself from upcoming security threats?
  • Harmony Core office hours
  • Select Join Optimization
  • Is your application ready for 2020?
  • Tech Tip: Simple method to launch web browser on Windows from traditional Synergy

Synergy-e-News: June 20, 2019

  • Announcing Synergy/DE 11 beta
  • Save the Date: 2020 Synergy DevPartner Conference
  • Upcoming Office Hours webinars
  • UK Tech Days
  • An open letter to managers hiring Synergy developers
  • Up your security game
  • Tech Tip: How to obtain the UTC time in Synergy

Synergy-e-News: April 9, 2019

  • Synergex Tech Days
  • Announcing 10.3.3g Patch
  • What’s Up With Harmony Core?
  • Synergy/DE 11 beta release coming soon
  • Discovering DevOps
  • Tech Tip: Deleting directories with traditional Synergy

Synergy-e-News: January 23, 2019

  • Office move announcement
  • 2018 Synergy DevPartner Conference recap
  • EditorConfig: The key to consistent coding style in Visual Studio
  • View Trackers in Synergex Resource Center
  • Big Code: Dealing with SEGBIG issues
  • Using the Power of PowerShell with Synergy
  • Tech Tip: Considerations when converting an XML handle to a string using %STRING_FROM_HANDLE
2018 Issues

Synergy-e-News: September 25, 2018

  • Announcing Synergy/DE 10.3.3f
  • Last chance to register for the 2018 Synergy DevPartner Conference
  • Installation Authoring and Testing Techniques
  • Development projects piling up? Let us help!
  • Performance Troubleshooting
  • Tech Tip: $ERR_FILFUL when file is less than maximum size allowed

Synergy-e-News: June 27, 2018

  • See where Synergy’s headed with our 2018 product roadmap
  • Synergy product ordering made easy(er)
  • Taking Aim at the Credit Card Security Target
  • The 2018 Synergy DevPartner Conference will be here soon
  • Big Code: Dealing with SEGBIG issues
  • Tech Tip: “Invalid operation join (on)” error after updating
  • Your input makes Synergy/DE better!

Synergy-e-News: March 26, 2018

  • Synergy/DE 10.3.3e provides SDI enhancements and quality improvements
  • Manage your licenses online
  • Join us in New Orleans for the 2018 DevPartner Conference
  • What a cracking Idea – How participating in the Resource Center Community can improve your Synergy tools
  • Synergex Professional Services at your service
  • Select performance AND optimization OR optimization
  • Our training videos are now at your fingertips
2017 Issues

Synergy-e-News: November 16, 2017

  • Synergy/DE 10.3.3d Delivers Important Features and Fixes
  • A New Interface for Synergy/DE Online Documentation
  • “D” Is for Developer
  • Our History Summed Up…So Far
  • Conference Videos Live on YouTube!
  • Tech Tip: Issue in isutl 10.3.1b – 10.3.3c.

Synergy-e-News: July 21, 2017

  • Synergy/DE 10.3.3c delivers valuable features and fixes
  • How much memory does your sort really want?
  • Don’t pass the buck to the runtime!
  • Jodah’s trip to Atlanta
  • The Synergy DevPartner Conference: “Go. Learn. Stay current”
  • See what you missed!
  • Tech Tip: Writing to an ISAM file hangs, but reading the file works

Synergy-e-News: January 18, 2017

  • Synergy/DE 10.3.3b provides full support for traditional Synergy development in Visual Studio
  • Is the conference on your radar?
  • Check out our new logo!
  • Tech Tip: “Unsupported server version/Feature not available” errors occuring in an xfServer upgrade
2016 Issues

Synergy-e-News: October 31, 2016

  • Don’t miss out! Mark your calendar for the 2017 Synergy DevPartner Conference: May 8-12
  • Has anyone ever asked you “What is Synergy DBMS and how does it compare to Relational Database Management Systems”?
  • Do you ever wonder why Ace answers his own questions?

Synergy-e-News: September 29, 2016

  • Join us for a day, reap the benefits for years to come
  • Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3
  • DO examine and modify your Synergy data
  • Do you want to know what issues have been reported or fixed in your version of Synergy/DE?
  • Tech Tip: Debugging Visual Studio crashes

Synergy-e-News: August 31, 2016

  • Calling Synergy DBL users in Europe
  • Pick a version, any version
  • Tech Tip: Unexpected “Login Failed or MaxUser” error on xfServerPlus system
  • Replicating data to SQL Server
  • CodeGen 5.1.4 released

Synergy-e-News: July 28, 2016

  • Announcing Synergy/DE 10.3.3a patch for Windows and Linux
  • The reports are in: Jack Henry saves memory, time with new PDF reporting
  • Join the Select who Select using Join
  • Tech Tip: Fixing TOKUDF errors (“Symbol already uniquely defined”)
  • Are you hiring new programmers? Need to train existing programmers on the latest features in Synergy DBL?

Synergy-e-News: June 23, 2016

  • The 2016 Synergy DevPartner Conference: “Synergy rocks!”
  • Your developer tools just got even better
  • Introducing the Synergex Resource Center Community
  • For security compliance, update to current Synergy/DE version
  • Important information if you are upgrading to Xamarin 4.1
  • Deadline is looming for free Windows 10 upgrade
  • Windows Update automatically downloads Windows 10 – what this means to Synergy/DE users
  • Paving the way to Visual Studio
  • WebDocs updated and expanded
  • Get your new employees up to speed quickly on Synergy/DE

Synergy-e-News: May 19, 2016

  • Synergy/DE 10.3.3 to debut at Synergy DevPartner Conference next week
  • Get ready to interact with your Synergy community
  • Keynote: Cyber security expert to speak at Synergy DevPartner Conference
  • One IDE to rule them all
  • The ‘types they are a-changin’

Synergy-e-News: April 7, 2016

  • Announcing new SDI developer build—required for Visual Studio 2015 Update 2
  • Got a UI Toolkit application you’d like to modernize?
  • IPv6 is coming! IPv6 is coming!
  • The stars have aligned—Microsoft’s plans now synchronize with Synergex’s founding principle of portability

Synergy-e-News: February 25, 2016

  • A Sneak Peek at the Synergy DevPartner Conference!
  • The Writing Is on the Wall! Join Our 2016 Calendar Game!
  • Sign of the Times: Improved Ordering with DocuSign

Synergy-e-News: January 29, 2016

  • Registration is now open for the 2016 Synergy DevPartner Conference!
  • Dream it and Reap: How Turn-Key Benefited Immediately while Transitioning Gradually from OpenVMS to Windows
  • Tech Tip: Did you know you can use the latest and greatest DBMS utilities even when using an older version of Synergy?
2015 Issues

Synergy-e-News: December 2, 2015

  • Back-end to the future: Jackson Lumber migrates their back-end solution from an OpenVMS-hosted xfServerPlus solution to a Windows-hosted WCF solution with native Synergy .NET
  • Synergy supports newly released Visual Studio 2015 Update 1
  • The mystical world of client/server applications in TCP/IP

Synergy-e-News: October 13, 2015

  • Save the date for the 30th annual Synergy DevPartner Conference!
  • Turn-Key turns to Synergy/DE License Manager to protect their software
  • Need to debug on another machine? Sit back and use the remote
  • Introducing the new Synergex Blog
  • Tech Tip: License Manager generates 10061 System error

Synergy-e-News: August 27, 2015

  • Synergy/DE 10.3.1b is available for download
  • Free Mai Tais. Security can’t afford to take a vacation: Strengthen your application’s security with Synergy/DE 10.3.1b
  • OpenVMS customers: Join us at the upcoming OpenVMS Boot Camp
  • Synergy ventures into Universal Windows apps
  • 2015 DevPartner Conference tutorials now available online

Synergy-e-News: July 31, 2015

  • Get started today with Visual Studio 2015!
  • What’s in it for you when Synergy/DE sim-ships with Visual Studio?
  • Use Synergy/DE 10.3.1b for Windows 10
  • Synergy/DE 10.3.1b stays vigilant with heightened security compliance
  • Why is that first WCF operation SO slow?

Synergy-e-News: June 10, 2015

  • Synergy/DE 10.3.1a is available on all platforms for download
  • The DevPartner Conference results are in
  • DBL’s long-standing Synergy with Visual Studio
  • Source control becomes source of pride: Fleet Factors improves processes, productivity after PSG engagement
  • Where.In is where it’s at: Using Select Where.In to optimize your code

Synergy-e-News: May 4, 2015

  • Where else can you find so many Synergy/DE developers and experts under one roof?
  • Windows xfServer goes mobile
  • Scanners offer American Dryer a cleaner way to update inventory

Synergy-e-News: March 27, 2015

  • What’s hot in Synergy? Find out at the Synergy DevPartner Conference
  • Internationally renowned UX authority Billy Hollis to speak at the 2015 Synergy DevPartner Conference
  • Synergy now supported on more devices. Announcing full support for iOS, plus PCL support for Windows Phone and Windows Store
  • Introducing SDI developer builds. New Synergy “developer builds” support the latest updates of Xamarin tools and Visual Studio
  • Developing for Android and iOS. Here’s how to deliver your existing Synergy .NET application to Android or iOS
  • End of life coming for older versions of OpenSSL

Synergy-e-News: February 13, 2015

  • Calling all Synergy developers! Register today for the 2015 Synergy DevPartner Conference May 11-15 in Philadelphia, PA
  • Licensed to roam. Discover how Synergy device licensing differs from traditional licensing
  • TECH TIP: Ensuring data integrity with binary data
2014 Issues

Synergy-e-News: December 12, 2014

  • Put the power of Synergy into the palm of your hand. Synergy/DE 10.3 brings native Android, iOS support plus a ton of new features and enhancements!
  • On the road with Synergy-enabled devices. Learn from Rural Computer Consultants’ success with devices and find out how they’re saving customers thousands.
  • The changing world of agile product releases. Read the latest blog post from Synergex CTO Roger Andrews
  • Reasons to be cheerful. Read the latest blog post from Richard Morris, Synergex Technology Evangelist
  • Synergex’s 2015 Synergy DevPartner Conference will take place May 11-15 in Philadelphia, PA, USA

Synergy-e-News: October 31, 2014

  • Automated Systems, Inc’s SynergyDE-based Insite app helps Currie State Bank compete with the big guys!
  • A Spooktacular eQuiz for the Halloween Whiz. Can you figure it out?
  • TECH TIP: An addition operation involving decimal variables and literals sometimes shows the ^A results with leading zeros. Why?

Synergy-e-News: September 11, 2014

  • Get a sneak-peek at our new Synergex Resource Center. Give us your input!
  • Synergy Interop migration offers Jack Henry huge gains in productivity and code quality
  • TECH TIP: Applications in Workbench are unable to find System32 DLLs or EXEs. Why?

Synergy-e-News: August 1, 2014

  • Synergy/DE 10.3 Beta – Develop for Mono, Android, Plus Synergy DBL Integration for Visual Studio enhancements and More!
  • Warning: Visual Studio 2013 Update 3 RC causes Synergy Projects to crash Visual Studio
  • TECH TIP: Make xfServer environment variables available to a web application hosted on IIS

Synergy-e-News: June 20, 2014

  • Synergy DevPartner Conference 2014 in Birmingham, UK
  • Worth the Wait: Version 10’s Multi-user Repository
  • TECH TIP: Getting a “Cannot access network license server” error when Windows Firewall is enabled

Synergy-e-News: April 24, 2014

  • Synergy DevPartner Conference Customer Demo
  • The DevPartner Conference: There’s No “One-Way” About It
  • Synergex Achieves Microsoft Gold Application Development Competency for 9th Year
  • Out of Scope, but Not Out of Mind
  • TECH TIP: Worbench no longer appears on Start screen

Synergy-e-News: March 20, 2014

  • Announcing Synergy/DE 10.1.1c
  • Google It!
  • What Have Synergy/DE Customers Been Asking about This Year?
  • Steering Your Application Toward the Future
  • Overcoming Performance Problems Associated with Upgrading to Windows Server 2012
  • TECH TIP: %SYSERR returns error even though last Synergy I/O call returned successfully

Synergy-e-News: February 14, 2014

  • Bit Shifting Operators Come to Synergy .NET
  • Quiz – Is Love in the Air? – Test your knowledge of enumerations as bit fields thus creating a collection of flags

Synergy-e-News: January 13, 2014

  • Leading Australian corporate management software company launches 100% Synergy.NET-based Dashboard
  • TECH TIP: Determining which source code version created a binary file
2013 Issues

Synergy-e-News: November 22, 2013

  • Microsoft launches VS 2013; Synergy Developers can benefit immediately
  • Microsoft releases Visual Studio 2012 Update 4
  • Get your solution “Connected” with Synergy/DE v10
  • TECH TIP: ISUTL error “Duplicates detected – records moved to exception file”

Synergy-e-News: October 31, 2013

  • Announcing Synergy/DE 10.1.1b
  • PSG Blog: Synergy and XAML in Harmony
  • PSG Blog: UI Consistency 101 – Put some “Style” into your application
  • PSG Blog: Become Master of your AppDomain – Thread your way through Synergy.NET
  • Why we’re partial to Partial Methods
  • Quiz – Are you up for the Challenge? – Do you pass a Property as the argument to an “out” or “in” parameter?

Synergy-e-News:  September 30, 2013

  • Snapshots in a snap – Recover previous data states with ISAM Change Tracking
  • TECH TIP: Ranging errors with string variables will cause “Unhandled Exception” errors at runtime in Synergy.NET code
  • Quiz – Synergy/DE Pros, can you answer this one? – Using the unit testing capabilities built into Visual Studio for testing code and returning proper results

Synergy-e-News: August 29, 2013

  • C# to Synergy DBL conversion tools now convert solutions
  • Are you ready for the demise of Windows XP? – See what Synergex CTO Roger Andrews has to say
  • TECH TIP: Error message: “List’s load method not found”
  • Quiz – Can you figure out the results of this Code example? – Tests proper handing of Optional Parameters in your code and consider using Synergy Objects instead

Synergy-e-News: July 25, 2013

  • Synergy/DE supports preview release of Visual Studio 2013 and Windows 8.1
  • Improving software quality and QA productivity through Automated Testing
  • TECH TIP: How to get Intellisense to recognize files as Synergy source files

Synergy-e-News: June 14, 2013

  • New Synergy/DE 10.1.1a patch delivers more than fixes – See the new features that improve code optimization
  • Introducing the power and flexibility of ISAM REV 6
  • TECH TIP: Which libraries do you need when running Synergy/DE on Linux?
  • Quiz – Synergy/DE Pros, can you figure out this one? – Learn more about Micro Substitutions and how it can keep your code “clean” for reading the flow of a function

Synergy-e-News: May 20, 2013

  • To infinity and beyond – How a Synergy/DE customer changed app to Multi-Tier application
  • I support incremental loading – Windows 8 support for infinite scrolling!
  • TECH TIP: Unable to set Width property of a .NET form to less than 132 pixels
  • Quiz – What’s wrong with this code? – Things to remember when working with the XML parser – instantiate it!

Synergy-e-News: April 12, 2013

  • Asynchronous programming: What you’ve been Awaiting for to improve responsiveness of your application
  • Paradise by the dashboard light – A fully functional interactive dashboard written in Synergy.NET!
  • “One of the best European airports” selects Synergy/DE-based ALDIS airport software
  • TECH TIP: Printing a PDF file in Synergy/DE
  • Quiz – Can you guess which code implementation gets accessed for an instance of Spring? – Learn how Synergy.NET supports classes that provides a mechanism for a form of multiple Inheritance

Synergy-e-News: March 11, 2013

  • IP-based licensing makes its debut in Synergy/DE version 10
  • TECH TIP: Unable to create VTX14.so database driver for MySQL on Linux
  • Quiz – For St. Patty’s day, review the code to choose odds of getting Murphy’s Irish libation! – A function that derives its initial random seed from the current date and time to determine the odds

Synergy-e-News: February 14, 2013

  • Greater productivity with Visual Studio 2012
  • William Mooney Blog: Windows 8 – If I can do it, so can you!
  • TECH TIP: Removing a product generates the error: “Error opening installation log file. Verify that the location specified ‘log.file’ exists and is writable”
  • Quiz – Can you figure out the output of this program? – Learn what happens when you cast an alphanumeric value as a string and as an object and then compare them for equality

Synergy-e-News: January 18, 2013

  • Synergy/DE 10.1 has been released! – It will take you wherever you want to go
  • Nullable ain’t nothin’! – How to use nullable types
  • The changing face of data – PSG Blog from Richard Morris
  • HTTP API enhancements in version 10 – PSG Blog from Steve Ives
  • TECH TIP: Building using a .NET DLL
  • Quiz – If a DLL routine is opened but fails to close what happens on a second call to it? – Test your knowledge of opening and closing DLL routines multiple times using the %DLL_ calls
2012 Issues

Synergy-e-News: November 2, 2012

  • Synergex International Corporation has new leadership
  • Synergex announces KitaroDB – A free NoSQL database for the next generation of applications!
  • Pinning Synergy/DE application in Windows 8 – Utility giving quick access from single Windows tile
  • Synergy/DE 10: The version too big for a byte – Ensuring your development won’t be affected
  • Quiz – What is the output of our latest challenging code?
    – Learn to keep functions with the same name in different namespaces straight

Synergy-e-News: October 8, 2012

  • Synergy/DE supports newly-released Visual Studio 2012 – Develop modern apps across Microsoft’s platforms
  • Yeild better code in Version 10 – Using Synergy .NET v10
  • Sendig us data so we can help you troubleshoot an issue? STOP!
  • Welcome back, DBL! – Blog from the General Manager
  • TECH TIP: Print preview displays incorrectly in Synergy Windows printing API
  • Quiz – Can you figure out the output of our Code?
    – Highlights the new Lamdba statement in Synergy.NET & shows the compiler’s improved type resolution using .NET Framework

Synergy-e-News: August 17, 2012

  • TECH TIP: Seemingly valid code fails to compile with an “Invalid initializer” error
  • Quiz – Can you pick the code line that will correctly display a Euro symbol?
  • Test your knowledge of displaying a Euro symbol to an open terminal channel

Synergy-e-News: July 13, 2012

  • The dreaded Record Lock: It appears without warning, leaves no trace, and instills rage in the innocent users who encounter it!
  • TECH TIP: Invaluable tools to help you troubleshoot Synergy .NET assemblies
  • Quiz – Can you figure out this Code question?
    – Test your knowledge of the Dblproto utility and Prototyping your code

Synergy-e-News: June 22, 2012

  • Introducing Synergy/DE WebDocs – Access specific Synergy info via traditional Web search
  • A Fond (and Overdue) Farewell – To UI Toolkit’s gblctl.def & lstprv.def
  • PSG Blog – Updates on CodeGen, Windows 8, and more!
  • TECH TIP: Error: “Shared library located outside of SYS$SHARE not found”
  • Quiz – How well do you know your UI Toolkit routines?
    – How to prevent losing data in an input field if you exit without hitting Enter

Synergy-e-News: June 5, 2012

  • Generic methods and delegates
  • TECH TIP: Prompted for a reboot when installing Synergy/DE 9.5.3a – Why?
  • Quiz – Can you determine the output of our sample code?
    – Learn the Powers and Dangers of using Override Properties in Synergex

Synergy-e-News: May 10, 2012

  • Deploy your Synergy applications faster and easier with ClickOnce
  • Free Code for Synergy developers – Parse XML files with over 65,534 characters on a line
  • TECH TIP: Errors when installing Synergy/DE – “Unidentified Publisher” or “The certificate in the signature cannot be verified”
  • Quiz – Figure out our Printing code results?
    – You need to know your “For Loops” and the true value of a “^b operator” value

Synergy-e-News: April 20, 2012

  • Liberated development – Synergy Language Integration (SLI) for Visual Studio
  • CodeExchange – Calling C routines from Synergy and vice versa on OpenVMS
  • TECH TIP: Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux) can prevent access to libraries used by Synergy/DE
  • Quiz – Solve our code question and learn something?
    – Challenge your knowledge of basic Low-level Windows calls

Synergy-e-News: March 29, 2012

  • CodeExchange – Add PDF capabilities to your Synergy apps
  • Spotlight on Synergy/DE: Extending the Unextendable
  • TECH TIP: “psect $DBL_FXD4CTL” warnings on OpenVMS
  • Quiz – Test your skills with Classes!
    – Learn how Synergy/DE’s strong rules about private members enable full encapsulating of the inner workings of classes

Synergy-e-News: March 8, 2012

  • Keeping up with industry security standards – UI Toolkit making PCI compliance easier
  • CodeExchange – Demystifying ArrayLists
  • TECH TIP: ILASM errors when trying to run dblnet
  • Quiz – In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, Is our sample Windows application wearing any Green?
    – Refresh your knowledge of Low-level Windows routines to solve this quiz

Synergy-e-News: February 17, 2012

  • Now that’s a good cup of Joe – Synergy/DE 9.5.3 includes hot Java features for xfNetLink deployments
  • Google It
  • CodeExchange – You can use Google Maps APIs in Synergy applications
  • TECH TIP: Unexpected xfServerPlus connection error
  • Quiz – Can you figure out what our Sample Program’s output?
    – Be prepared with your skillset of ‘Bit Sets’ and ‘For Loops’ to solve this Valentine’s Day quiz

Synergy-e-News: January 26, 2012

  • OpenVMS Today, Tomorrow, and Beyond
  • Are “Lamdbas” just Greek to you? – An introduction to Lamdbas for Synergy Developers
  • Bit CodeExchange – Get a head start on Synergy .NET development
  • TECH TIP: ILASM error when trying to run dblnet
  • Quiz – Find the answer to this sample program
    – Working with complex data structures, are you ready?

Synergy-e-News: January 6, 2012

  • Synergy/DE 9.5.3 Enhancements – DBMS files, U_Edit, Lambda functions, Synergy Language Integration, and More
  • Hooked on Synergy DBMS – Possibilities abound with the new IOHooks class
  • TECH TIP: Limitations on using XCALL COPY on OpenVMS
  • Quiz – How efficient are you with your calculation code?
    – Test your ability with the use of a d28 field for greatest accuracy
2011 Issues

Synergy-e-News: December 9, 2011

  • Bit CodeExchange – RemoteServer enables you to compile remotely on Unix & OpenVMS systems with Workbench
  • TECH TIP: Data corruption using xfServer over a VPN
  • Quiz – How well do you know the RANDM subroutine?
    – When using an integer field, just what do you get back from the RANDM subroutine, find out

Synergy-e-News: November 17, 2011

  • Synergy/DE based application first in its industry to provide one-step remote electronic check deposit
  • Support for multiple Synergy/DE versions on one machine has come to an end with v9.5.1
  • CodeExchange – Chose the best client/server architecture for your application
  • TECH TIP: xfServerPlus service is not restarting after a reboot
  • Quiz – Don’t get Boxed up with this Quiz?
    – How well do you know your primitive data types and their boxed equivalents?

Synergy-e-News: October 28, 2011

  • CodeExchange – Get information on calls from and to a routine
  • TECH TIP: Getting an ActiveX list in UI Toolkit composite window to load completely
  • Quiz – Is your coding too clever, to excess? Find out with our sample code
    – Learn how excessively clever code can get you into trouble!

Synergy-e-News: September 30, 2011

  • Powerful, home-grown Synergy app gets a new Infragistic’s front end
  • CodeExchange – Have you ever wanted to code a Synergy program to transfer files via FTP?
  • TECH TIP: VSLICKCONFIG error in Workbench
  • Quiz – Watch your Math parameters in your code
    – Know your parameters and how they are declared when using them for math calculation in your code

Synergy-e-News: September 9, 2011

  • Synergy/DE 9.5.1b patch released
  • TECH TIP: Workspace in Workbench not restored
  • Quiz – Learn some good programming tips from this quiz
    – Three good lessons to learn from this programmer’s quiz, learn what they are!

Synergy-e-News: August 18, 2011

  • Picture Perfect – Major UK photo developing company migrates Synergy OpenVMS to new platform
  • CodeExchange – Access United States Postal Service information from your Synergy application
  • TECH TIP: Internal runtime failure: HATFNC when using DD_ routines
  • Quiz – Do you know your ASCII character codes?
    – Find out what the Synergy/DE call %CHAR(2764) returns to you!

Synergy-e-News: July 28, 2011

  • xfNetLink Java and Encription
  • PSG Blog – Exposing WCF Services using xfNetLink .NET
  • PSG Blog – All Hooked up(Circa 1957, Elvis Presley)
  • CodeExchange – Generate xfMethod and xfParam sttribute statements from existing Synergy source code or your current SMC data
  • TECH TIP: Too many column returned by query
  • Quiz: Do you really know what the routine %NUMARGS tells you?
    – Find our how it can fail you and your code if not used correctly

Synergy-e-News: June 30, 2011

  • Extending your Synergy applications with MEF
  • PSG Blog – Building distributed apps with Synergy/DE and WCF
  • CodeExchange – Send an email from a Synergy program
  • TECH TIP: Licensing error on a Windows machine with both 32 and 64-bit Synergy/DE installed
  • Quiz: How well do you know Repository Schemas?
    – Be careful when referencing a field from within Repository that is not unique, problems can occur

Synergy-e-News: June 9, 2011

  • Constraints on generic types
  • And the Winner is – Rural Computer Consultants, awarded Minnesota Small Business Persons of the Year
  • CodeExchange – ISAMUtils routine provides a handy GUI wrapper to several ISAM utilities
  • TECH TIP: xfServerPlus environment variable confusion on UNIX
  • Quiz: How well do you know your UI Toolkit window coloring calls?
  • – See the difference between color numbers and pallete entries in a Synergy.ini or Synuser.ini file

Synergy-e-News: May 19, 2011

  • Introduction to Generic Types in Synergy .NET
  • CodeExchange – Compare xfServer with mapped drive performance
  • TECH TIP: “Signal Trap/Segmentation violation” error at runtime – On a 64-bit Windows Synergy/DE app
  • Quiz: Can you write a method that returns three different strings?
    – Try using a Custom Class – Synergy/DE provides several options for solving any problem

Synergy-e-News: April 29, 2011

  • FOREACH with a twist – Spotlight on Synergy/DE
  • CodeExchange – Display a splash screen in a Synergy .NET Windows Presentation Foundation application
  • TECH TIP: Exceeding buffer size for command string argument in SPAWN routine
  • Quiz: Why does our code snippet fail? Opps, gave you the answer or did I?
    – Learn the differences between boxed primitives and their unboxed equivalents

Synergy-e-News: March 29, 2011

  • Unraveling the Mystery behind installation issues
  • TECH TIP: Application hangs when using a custom destructor. Why?
  • Quiz: Do you fully understand the Synergy/DE USING statement?
    – The USING statement is not only linguistically expressive, it performs as well as the CASE statement

Synergy-e-News:  March 3, 2011

  • Referencing Synergy .NET Assemblies
  • TECH TIP: Calling a destructor from outside a shared image on OpenVMS
  • Quiz: Why does Case-sensitivity affect the outcome of this code snippet?
    – Synergy/DE has the ability to port your code to Microsoft’s .NET Framework and thus new issues can result

Synergy-e-News: February 11, 2011

  • Synergy .NET new language feature: Delegates
  • Synergy/DE in the World – Supplying the foodservice industry with fine refrigerated food products
  • CTO Blog – Mapped drives and Synergy
  • TECH TIP: “Rountine not found in ELB” error on 64-bit system when routine is there
  • Quiz: Can you create a wrapper with the S_BLD for your own routines passing the same arguments?
    – It may depend on your knowledge of Synergy Call-back routines or .NET Framework to make it possible

Synergy-e-News: January 6, 2011

  • Keeping to Code Standards: Code formatting in Synergy Language Integration for Visual Studio
  • That prototyping Thingamajig: Understanding & Using a Quality Assurance tool that you can bank on
  • TECH TIP: Debugging segmentation violations or signal trap errors on UNIX with core files
  • Quiz: Can you have a Class and a Namespace both with the same name in Synergy/DE?
    – Learn how to deal with Classes, and Namespaces and not create confusing code for others to have to figure out later
2010 Issues

Synergy-e-News: December 9, 2010

  • Getting started with Synergy .NET – Itching to kick the tires of Synergy .NET, but not sure where to start?
  • TECH TIP: Passing arguments by ^DESC, ^REF, and ^VAL
  • Quiz: Can you figure out what our Mangled text says without running the sample app?
    – Test your skill with this sample code for a secure encryption algorithm, or at least half of one.

Synergy-e-News: November 12, 2010

  • TECH TIP: Viewing build output when working with .NET and Java component projects in Workbench
  • Quiz: Can you take the Static out of our sample code and improve it?
    – Changing a Static method to an Instance methods, what issues does this cause?

Synergy-e-News: October 19, 2010

  • Where in the World is Synergy/DE? – Selling heaters with the help of TV personalities Bob Vila & Richard Karn
  • TECH TIP: xfODBC error: INTERNAL:ZEXMAIN:Multi RID overflow
  • Quiz: In Synergy/DE, do you know what the operator “//” means?
    – Learn that this operator is more than just a division operator in Synergy/DE calculation codes

Synergy-e-News: September 16, 2010

  • It’s easy to give your Synergy/DE-based application a Modern UI
  • Ready for the Rush – How a company’s proactive practices paid off BIG
  • TECH TIP: Error returned when building the SQL Connection server shared library for Oracle 10g on Solaris
  • Quiz: Does a Class of Strings have anything to do with a Music class?
    – Learn how Synergy/DE code converts Objects to strings – explicitly!

Synergy-e-News: August 26, 2010

  • New Security updates for SSL on HP OpenVMS
  • If you use mapped drives or NAS drives, be aware of possible issues
  • TECH TIP: Using Visual Studio to create a ClickOnce deployment
  • Quiz: Why is RAD50 called RAD50?
    – Learn more about Synergy/DE’s ASCR5 & R5ASC routines for conversion between ASCII string & RAD50 integer equivalent

Synergy-e-News: August 5, 2010

  • Synergy/DE customer migrates 14,000+ data tables from Oracle to SQL Server – with ease
  • TECH TIP: Use xfODBC to enable Crystal Reports to access Synergy data
  • Quiz: What type of field can store a numeric value between 0 and 255, inclusive, in a single byte?
    – Learn how values are stored in Alpha, Integer and Byte types to solve this question

Synergy-e-News: July 8, 2010

  • If data security is of any importance to your business, Synergy/DE can help you
  • TECH TIP: Configuring xfODBC access to multiple databases on a single OpenVMS machine
  • Quiz: Why can’t I use GOTO’s in my code anymore? – See why in our sample code
    – Even though Synergy/DE has limited support for GOTO statements, it’s no longer recommended! There are better ways to get there

Synergy-e-News: June 17, 2010

  • PSG Blog – Are you keeping up with all of the Tips & Tricks of the PSG Blog?
  • Crisis averted with Version Control Software
  • TECH TIP: Consuming keyboard input in a .NET form within a UI Toolkit application
  • Quiz: How do you look at your IF conditional code? – There are two ways to do so
    – Learn the options you have with the IF conditional code in Synergy/DE

Synergy-e-News: May 27, 2010

  • AgTrax’s TraxView – Instantly displays Synergy DMBS data vis xfServerPlus in Map form
  • TECH TIP: Creating a form letter with Microsoft Word and xfODBC
  • Quiz: Can Strings and Alphanumeric values be used interchangeably? – Find out how.
    – See how to get the results you want when combining Strings and Alphanumeric values

Synergy-e-News: May 6, 2010

  • An ounce of Encryption is worth a pound of cure – Part 3 – Data Encryption
  • TECH TIP: Visual Studio Data Source wizard error: “Failed to add relation(s) Unexpected error”
  • Quiz: What does the message “Signal 11 re-signaled” mean?
    – Have you ever seen this error and wondered what’s wrong? Learn now what causes it within Synergy/DE code

Synergy-e-News: April 15, 2010

  • An Ounce of Encryption Is Worth a Pound of Cure — Part 2 – Network encryption with xfServerPlus
  • Where in the World Is Synergy/DE? – Awarding over $1M to independent tire dealers in need of a bailout
  • TECH TIP: Debugging performance issues on Windows
  • Quiz: How can you create a “lazy list” in Synergy/DE?
    – Find out what a “lazy list” is and how you can use one to your advantage

Synergy-e-News: March 18, 2010

  • An Ounce of Encryption is Worth a Pound of Cure – Network Encryption with xfServer
  • TECH TIP: Error when defining TRUE and FALSE
  • Quiz: Can you make your Sequential file sorting more efficient?
    – Learn the way to efficiently sort a sequential file containing 12,000 records of 1024 bytes each

Synergy-e-News: February 25, 2010

  • Synergy/DE is Now “Compatible with Windows 7” – “But didn’t Synergy/DE already support Windows 7?”
  • Spotlight on Synergy/DE – Developing xfServerPlus Applications Just Got Easier
  • TECH TIP: XSUBR call causes untrappable segmentation violation error
  • Quiz: Do you use good Design Principles in your code?
    – Get some suggestions on how you can create better and less confusing code in the future

Synergy-e-News: February 4, 2010

  • Spotlight on Synergy/DE – Controlling the User Installation Experience for Synergy/DE Products
  • TECH TIP: Why is the .NET assembly loading so slowly?
  • Quiz: Did you know you can control the background color of a field when focusing it in UI Toolkit?
    – From this quiz. learn how to use Arrive, Leave, IEDTFMT_METHOD, & IDISPLAY_METHOD methods in UI Toolkit to do this

Synergy-e-News: January 12, 2010

  • Binary Prototypes – Speed up compiles and reduce dependencies
  • Implementing Interoperability Between Embedded .NET WinForms and your Existing Synergy/DE UI Toolkit Logic
  • TECH TIP: Consuming keyboard input in a .NET form in a UI Toolkit application
  • Quiz: How do you get the current Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)?
    – Learn the Synergy/DE functions %timezone and %datetime in ways you may never of thought of