New features and fixes are provided for the DCConnect Client, DCConnect Server and User Interface, Transaction Connection, the JD Edwards Adapter and the TCP/IP Manager.

Fixes/changes are provided for the following key areas plus other minor ones not mentioned here (see the links at the top of this page for all detailed changes):

• DCConnect Client - Enhancements through version 3.0.9e
  • Added support for handling configuration commands for those flavors of the Client that support direct loading from text-based script files. These commands include COMMUNICATIONS_TIMEOUT, DATE_SEPARATOR, and RS232_BAUD_RATE. The complete set is documented in the Data Collection Transaction Program Builder User's Guide (dctpb32.htm).
  • Added support for handling compressed files downloaded from server when in text file mode. Compression is handled for the text file, validation files and the CFR. Requires server files from February 2014 as well.
• DCConnect Server and User Interface - Enhancements through version 3.0.9b
  • Implemented compression of downloaded files for terminals running version 3.0.9b and later of the Client - when loading text-based files. Compressed files, when in text-based mode, includes the CFR and any validation files. This should decrease download size and times to about one fifth or better as compared to non-compressed downloads of the same files.
  • DCConnect Server version and copyright now logged on startup.
  • Also increased the size of CFR download messages that are sent to the DCConnect Client (on a TCPIP/IP line) so that fewer download messages are needed for the CFR download (about 1/4).
• Transaction Connection - Enhancements through version 3.0.9d
  • New SCRIPTS option available for the second 'which_files" parameter of the Load_Term command. This can only be used when the target terminal is loading the text scripts directly. This option indicates only the scripts should be loaded; no CFR or validation files should be loaded.
  • New command XML_LoadLoggingParameters gives TC sessions the same capability to specify unique logging parameters for XML message processing - that the recently introduced .INI file capability does for the adapter and TCP/IP Manager:
    • XML_LoadLoggingParameters ( Parameter_File * )
  • New Trace_Delay_Limit compile-time configuration statement allows configuration of the slow trace delay accumulated during a sampling period, and trace will now be re-enabled automatically after a configurable delay/stabilization time.
  • Added new commands XML_DefineNamespace and XML_RedefineNamespaces.
• JD Edwards Adapter - Enhancements through version 3.0.9c
  • Eliminated the use of inter-process sharing of logging parameters. With the use of the .INI file for logging parameters, introduced in version ADP 3.0.8s / TCP 3.0.8g, this should prevent the cross-logging of messages into logfiles for a different adapter.
  • Added new RestartForOldThreads command line option as an alternative to KillOldThreads because if a thread has to be killed, any resources it owned remain locked and any flags it had set are not cleared when it is killed. So it is better to restart the adapter if any thread is deemed to have taken too long to complete its work. This results in a cleaner recovery. Note that upon shut down of the adapter, the adapter will wait up to the default of 30 minutes (or the ThreadDeath value specified on the command line) for threads to end themselves. So when using RestartForOldThreads, you should also explicitly set ThreadDeath to a very low value such as 1 or 2 minutes so that the adapter does not wait the additional 30 minutes before shutting down - on top of the time it waited for the old thread to complete its work (i.e. the value specified for RestartForOldThreads).
• TCP/IP Manager - Enhancements through version 3.0.9a
  • Eliminated the use of inter-process sharing of logging parameters. With the use of the .INI file for logging parameters, introduced in version ADP 3.0.8s / TCP 3.0.8g, this should prevent the cross-logging of messages into logfiles for a different adapter.

New features and fixes are provided for the DCConnect Client, the DCConnect Transaction Building Tool (aka DCTPB), DCConnect Server and User Interface, Transaction Connection, the JD Edwards Adapter and the TCP/IP Manager.

Fixes/changes are provided for the following key areas plus other minor ones not mentioned here:

• DCConnect Client enhancements
  • Support added to directly load script files (.COD) that previously had to be compiled by DCTPB
  • Support added for multiple-languages being loaded into the terminal at once with new commands: Start_Language, End_Language and Set_Language.
  • New ENCRYPT command to enable use of the Blowfish encryption algorithm
  • Added support for CFR_FILE, LOCAL_VALIDATION, SYSTEM_MESSAGE and BUFFERING_MODE
  • Named messages can now be 64 characters instead of 32.
  • The 3rd parameter (length) is now optional for the MESSAGE command
  • Comments are now allowed in the middle of commands that span multiple lines.
  • A single command including white space and spanning multiple lines can now be up to 4000 characters; was 1024.
  • Label resolution is now case-insensitive.
  • The new Version command allows Client and Server to check if the Client has the latest scripts.
  • Maximum length allowed by APNDSTR/SETSTR changed from 256 to 999.
  • Better detection of missing parenthesis at end of Declare command and better reporting of the line # when parenthesis missing for any command.
  • New QUERY command to get information about a user variable or the Client environment. Options include: LENGTH, IS_NUMERIC, IS_NUMBER, NUM_ROWS, NUM_COLUMNS, CURSOR_ROW, CURSOR_COLUMN, DATE, or KEY_NAME_VALUE.
  • Added "quick" keys to bring up the Start Stepping (@) and View User Var (#) screen in the menus.
  • Fixed the handling of the R key in stepping mode.
  • Arrow keys can now be used to move the "view port" for the menus just like they have always been able to be used to move the view port of the main transaction program screen.
  • New Terminal Name Resolution feature to allow VPN-connected devices to communicate with the DCConnect Server even though they do not have a fixed IP address or hostname.
  • The LOCK_IN_MEMORY keyword in EMULATOR.INI can now include a list of program numbers (1-121) or key names (F1, F2, PF1, ADDL1, ... - the same ones used for the AKA command) in addition to (or instead of) validation file names. Programs that are most commonly used, such as those that include common subroutines, are ideal candidates for being locked in memory. This will improve performance.
  • The MENU_KEY keyword for EMULATOR.INI now allows extended keys to be specified by putting X followed by the decimal value of the high order byte for the extended key code.
  • Fix for use of F11 and F12 keys on Windows CE flavors of the Client.
• DCTPB enhancements
  • Added support for new QUERY and ENCRYPT commands and other features recently added to the DCConnect Client:
    • Named messages can now be 64 chars
    • The 3rd parameter (length) is now optional for the MESSAGE command
    • Comments are now allowed in the middle of commands that span multiple lines.
    • A single command including white space and spanning multiple lines can now be up to 4000 characters; was 1024.
    • Label resolution is now case-insensitive.
    • The new Version command implemented for the DCConnect Client direct-compile of scripts is specifically ignored by DCTPB.
    • Maximum length allowed by APNDSTR/SETSTR changed from 256 to 999.
    • Better detection of missing parenthesis at end of Declare command and better reporting of the line # when parenthesis missing for any command.
• DCConnect Server enhancements
  • Added support for downloading .PGM files with the new ENCRYPT and/or QUERY commands.
  • Added support for downloading text-based scripts for the new capability of the DCConnect Client to read script files directly, including versioning and compression.
  • New Terminal Name Resolution feature to allow VPN-connected devices to communicate with the DCConnect Server even though they do not have a fixed IP address or hostname.
• DCConnect User Interface enhancements
  • Added support for Terminal Model and Settings Source in Terminal Settings Notebook
  • Text views for Node / Mailbox / Function Group configurations now sort entries by the names of the terminals / mailboxes / function groups.
  • Fix for configurations containing DWTS terminals. GUI would throw an exception and end or hang if loading a configuration containing DWTS terminals or if trying to add DWTS terminals to a configuration.
• Transaction Connection enhancements
  • TC's versioning is now in line with the other products: 3.0.9. Previously the version had gotten to 3.3.4 before being brought in line.
  • TC now automatically remembers its window size and position based on its controller ID.
  • TC now resizes both the Execution pane and the Messages pane whenever the TC window is resized. Which of the panes are resized can now be controlled via the 3 new script commands: Resize_Both_Panes, Resize_Messages_Pane_Only and Resize_Execution_Pane_Only.
  • Set/Append_UV_Data_Part and Set/Append_Xact_Data no longer require the start and length parameters.
  • New Data Parts: EXECUTION_TIME_TOTAL, EXECUTION_TIME_EXTERNAL, EXECUTION_TIME_LAST and IDLE_TIME.
  • XML_Configure now handles the following logging related options: LogLevel, LogFile, LogSize, LogCount, Debugfile, DebugSize and DebugCount
  • Added the ability to define web services via an XML file instead of in a database table.
  • Enhancements to interfacing with WebSphere MQ
  • New XML_Configure options: IncludeFinalNull, UseCorrelationID,
  • New commands: XML_AddAttribute, XML_ToString, XML_ToFile, XML_CopyElement, XML_GetField2, Define_Large_UV_Size,
  • New commands for interfacing with Active Directory: LDAP_AdminBind, LDAP_AdminUnbind, LDAP_ValidatueUser, LDAP_Search, LDAP_Encrypt, LDAP_ChangePassword.
  • Fix for XML_SetField. It was appending to existing data in the field rather than replacing it.
  • Enhancement made to the System() command to launch applications in the true 64-bit environment if it is detected that TC is running on a 64-bit version of Windows.
  • Fix for intermittent false positive database fetches that actually had no records returned.
  • Also implemented feature where trace logging is disabled if TC detects it is negatively affecting performance.
• JD Edwards Adapter enhancements
  • Fixed the recovery process from ODBC errors for the GetColumnSpecs function.
  • Redesigned the message buffering mechanism to resolve mutex errors that resulted in certain threads hanging.
  • Fixed problem that slowed communication because transfer between internal queues was not acted on right away.
  • Fix for mutex errors related to ReadQueue or WriteQueue.
  • Fixed possible cause of exception if any JDE database column name is longer than 10 characters.
  • Made the following enhancements to logging for both the adapter and TCPIP Manager:
    • The LogLevel can now be set differently for different adapter sessions and even the TCPIP Manager - using the .INI file scheme described in the following bullets.
    • The following logging parameters can now be read from an .INI file: LogLevel, LogFile, DebugFile, LogCount, DebugCount, LogSize, DebugSize, Debug, Dont_Print_Pointers, DBG_ALL_JDE_XML and DBG_WARN_JDE_XML.
    • After the Adapter / TCPIP Manager are started, the R key can be pressed to trigger the Adapter / TCPIP Manager to reread the .INI file. The use of the .INI files and R key should replace the tools DebugOn / DebugOff as the way to change the logging settings for a running adapter / TCPIP Manager.
  • For the ODBC implementation of the GET LIST BOD, the maximum data size supported was increased from 255 to 4096 characters.
  • A new command line option 'UseF98611' can be specfied to indicate that the adapter should further map a DATP data path found for a table in the F986101 to a 'real' ODBC data source name and libarary found in the F98611's DATB and DATB2 columns, respectively, for that DATP value. This is would be set to 'Y' in a JDE 9.x environment with the data on an IBM iSeries (AS400). This can greatly reduce the number of ODBC DSNs that need to be configured, and reduce the total number of connections that the adapter opens.
• TCP/IP Manager enhancements
  • Fixed one cause of TCP/IP Manager "memory block" errors.
  • Fixed causes of high CPU usage by the TCP/IP Manager.
  • Fix for problem where TCP/IP Manager would hang on shutdown when X was pressed to stop it.

Note: Several other 3.0.x instances of the CD were also created in the time between the 3.0.0 and 3.0.8 CDs. The lists of enhancements covers the 3.0.1 through 3.0.8 CDs.

Fixes and new features are provided for the DCConnect User Interface and Server as well as Transaction Connection, the DCConnect Transaction Building Tool (aka DCTPB), the JD Edwards Adapter, the TCP/IP Manager and DOS/Windows Terminal Services.

Fixes/changes are provided for the following key areas plus other minor ones not mentioned here:

• DWTS enhancements
  • The CD now includes a sample Java application that uses DWTS APis to communicate with the DCConnect Server.
• DCTPB enhancements
  • Fix for compiling IF commands that reference named messages; prior to the fix an "Invalid comparison syntax" error was given.
• Transaction Connection enhancements
  • Added support for web services - TC scripts can now be a provider or a consumer of web services.
  • Added capability for multiple ODBC data sources
  • Begin/End_SQL supports "{Call form of Oracle stored procedure invocation as a type of select statement
  • Fixed initial database connection so it retries recoverable errors
  • Added some new retriable connection error options in rc_odbc.ini: RECONNECT, RESET_RECONNECT and DELAY_RETRY.
  • New data part: LAST_DS_ALIAS
  • TC now has the ability to cancel an XML send request that is taking too long. A new ADPTUtiL.DLL is needed as well.
  • Begin/End_UV uses max size buffer (32K), rather than smaller SQL buffer (4K)
  • The trace info for XML_Cleanup now logs the handle value
  • Added auto-cleanup of XML handles
  • For multiple ODBC connections, only re-connect the DB connection involved in an SQL error rather than re-connect all connections. Force any open result set to be obsoleted if the associated DB connection had to be re-connected between fetches (causes sql error if you do xxx_UV_Select_Data after re-connect).
• DCConnect Server enhancements
  • The download process now properly handles message number resolution for named messages used in IF, CALL/GOSUB and RETURN transaction program commands.
  • Hostname resolution was enhanced to handle the case where the DCConnect configuration has a fully-qualified hostname.domain set for the address when a message from the network resolves to the same hostname - but without the domain. Previously this was not considered a match. Now the server will look for all terminals in the DCConnect configuration that have a matching hostname (there may be more than one, each with a different domain) and issue a request to resolve the fully qualified hostname.domain for each.
• JD Edwards Adapter enhancements
  • Workaround to handle audited JDE tables. Audited tables are renamed with the suffix _ADT and a view is created with the original name. Views do not have primary keys, so the adapter must now handle the _ADT suffix when it is told a 'table' has no primary keys.
  • Log level 150 now available to get more detail about database operations.
  • Added blank line and timestamp to screen output at the start of the processing of a new BOD. Execution time output also now has a timestamp.
  • Fixed one cause for adapter not fully shutting down even after it displays "Really done now" message.
  • Passing of values between business functions was not working for a Call Function BOD with multiple calls. The first character of the field name was being chopped and so it could not be found.
  • JDE responses to UBE requests were not being inspected for errors. UBE errors are now treated like any other JDE error.
  • Added handling of the JDE XML error: 'Network communication is broken'. When encountered, the session ID is cleared and the business function is retried automatically. One case where this error can occur if the JDE service on the JDE server is stopped and restarted between calls to JDE.
  • The adapter now sets the 'role' parameter in the XML header to '*ALL'
  • The adapter now handles recycling of the ODBC connection for some additional SQLSTATE/Native Error codes (HYT01/*, HY000/3114, HY000/3135, HY000/12541)
  • Fix for contention between adapter sessions when buffering of BODs to prevent duplicate processing actually caused processing to be skipped in some cases. Because operating system resources such as named shared memory and named semaphores were not being uniquely identified between adapter sessions, the same memory/semaphores could occasionally be used by multiple sessions at the same time.
  • Fix for handling imbedded single quote characters in SQL statements generated by the adapter - whether selects, inserts or updates. When character data includes single quotes, they must be encoded as back-to-back single quotes since the entire character string is enclosed in a pair of single quotes.
  • Fix for handling the JDE data type EVDT_VARSTRING for the PUT LIST BOD. Previously an exception occurred when trying to update a column of this type or any other unexpected type. Updates were also made to gracefully handle returning an error if another unexpected data type is encountered.
  • Added handling of the JDE XML error: 'The dispatcher gets timed out'. When encountered, the session ID is cleared and the business function is retried automatically.
  • Fixes for properly handling recovery after ODBC errors; previously handles were being freed in the wrong order.
  • New logging options DBG_ALL_JDE_XML and DBG_WARN_JDE_XML for debugging JDE XML messages. Now the XML from all JDE errors are logged to logfile (before the adapter would not log XML for all errors because JDE would sometimes return 0 when the response actually contained errors). Plus not all JDE XML warnings and messages were being returned in the Confirm BOD.
  • Many JDE errors (e.g. XML parse error) will be categorized as an L005 fatal error. This is returned in the response BOD's REASON_CODE element and can trigger an adapter restart if the L005 related adapter parameters are configured to do so.
  • Added support for configuring ODBC error actions via the configuration file ODBCErrorActionst.ini.
  • Fix for handling XML system type errors vs JDE business function errors. L002 or L005 is returned as REASON_CODE only for XML system errors - not JDE business function errors.
  • Fixed one cause for "All Logons in Use" errors that persist after adapter is unable to connect to the JDE database - even after the database recovery has completed successfully. The fix also handles situations in which connectivity is to older versions of JDE where database access was through the JDE API rather than ODBC.
  • Fixed problem with incorrect JDE table/structure information being cached if an SQL error occurred When retrieving that information.
  • For the CALL FUNCTION BOD, a new parameter can now be specified for each function (same level as FNNAME and DSNAME) called IGNORE_ERRORS_IF_ZERO_RC. If set to TRUE or YES, there will be no check made for any JDE error messages if the return code from the business function call is 0. There are cases where the internal processing of a business function can cause warnings or even errors generated but the final return code ends up being 0. If in this scenario, the errors should be ignored by the adapter, the adapter will return no error in the BOD response.
• TCP/IP Manager enhancements
  • TCPIP Manager now tries up to 5 minutes to resolve host name - to handle the case where TCPIP Manager running as a service is started before the necessary network drivers/services are running to the point where a host name can be resolved.
  • TCPIP Manager now tries for a maximum of 5 minutes to send a message to the target server. After this time-to-live timeout the message is discarded - the assumption being that the message is no longer being waited for. The time-to-live is based on when the message is created. In the case that the message is a response to a request, the start time is based on when the response message was created, not when the request message was created.

Fixes and new features are provided for the DCConnect User Interface and Server as well as Transaction Connection and the DCConnect Transaction Building Tool (aka DCTPB).

Fixes/changes are provided for the following key areas plus other minor ones not mentioned here:

• Installation enhancement
  • The installation has been redone with the latest level of InstallShield in order to handle 64-bit Windows environments.
• Transaction Connection enhancements
  • Title statement fixed to affect the Title on the window
  • Added set of Last-Error Data Parts for several DCConnect API functions
  • During compile, uncalled subroutines and unreferenced labels are listed
  • Fix to alleviate problem with 'empty' compile window from being unendable
  • Fix for various traps during shut down: When Logoff script has Goto into the middle of a subroutine, When data request read is hanging, and Premature thread termination when Make_Data_Request used in Logoff
  • Fix to Open_File_Data when internal file handle happen to be 0
  • Set/Append_UV_File_Data now truncates data read at null, if one is found
  • New REPLACE option for the Format_UV command
  • System command can now timeout and no longer brings up window in foreground
  • Controller IDs can now be 1 or 2 characters
  • Trace infrastructure uses process Id instead of controller ID to avoid conflicts

This addresses the following issues (plus some other more minor issues) since version 2.30e

• Better fix for cursor disappearing on Windows CE devices (2-22-08 fix had problem with extra cursors showing up).
• Added support for the VOLUME keyword in EMULATOR.INI for Windows CE devices. See the DCConnect Client User's Guide for more information.
• Added support for the TURN ON / OFF CMD LOG option in the DIAGNOSTICS menu for Windows and Windows CE devices.

This addresses the following issues (plus some other more minor issues) since version 2.20

• Antares terminals can only work with whole numbers in MATH, FRMT and IF commands.
• IF commands can now be used, along with the TEST command, to look at unpassed parameters in a subroutine. Also an unpassed parameter from one subroutine can be passed to another nested subroutine.
• Commands such as CURS, SHOW, DLAY that use variables for their parameters now accept values that contain a decimal point as long as all digits after the decimal point are 0.
• A SKIP operation that results from a command such as CCFR, VRFY or TEST, will now skip the entire IF/ELSE construct if an IF command is what follows the CCFR/VRFY/TEST command.
• Fixed cause of eventual filling of user variable pool if Esc is pressed to end a transaction program.
• The source and target of an APND or SET command can now be the same. In the case of a SET command, the result is that the variable is not changed. In the case of an APND command, the result is that the contents of the variable are duplicated.
• Sped up the return from subroutine calls.
• For Windows CE flavors of the Client, sounds are now generated as .WAV files allowing for variation in the frequency and duration. Before all application-generated sounds were the same tone and duration.
• Workaround implemented to handle CE devices with Hi-Res displays which don't provide true fixed character width fonts.
• Added support for MAPPED_KEY keyword in EMULATOR.INI. Use it to map the ASCII value of one key to another. Extended keys may be mapped to or from as well. For example to map the A key (ASCII 65) to the B key (ASCII 66): MAPPED_KEY 65, 66.
• CFR temporary file now written to root directory on Windows CE devices because certain devices (e.g. Symbol WT4070) had periodic slow write times to the non-volatile storage, causing downloads to fail due to a failure to respond to the DCConnect server in time.
• Better use of screen width when number of columns is an odd size such as 31.
• Added support for IGNORE_KEY keyword in EMULATOR.INI. See documentation for usage.
• The default for the RESEND_TIMER is now 5 seconds for TCP/IP flavors of the Client. The default for serial versions is still 25 seconds.
• Added new key options for use in stepping mode:
  • 1-9,0 = Skip 1-10 steps
  • S = Skip current subroutine. Only valid when stopped at a GOSUB or ONSUB command. All commands are processed in that subroutine as well as any subroutine(s) that it calls. Stepping pauses at the command following the subroutine call.
  • R = Return from the current subroutine. Only valid when in a subroutine. Commands are processed up to and including the RETURN command. Stepping pauses where the subroutine returns.
  • B = Leave the current (if or else) block. Stepping resumes after the end block command (}) that ends the current block. Any other blocks that are entered will be exited on the way to the target end of the block.
  • Fix for handling of the if-else flow control when a goto command branches backwards in the program.
  • Fix for beeps. Conversion from 0.1 second to 0.25 granularity was resulting in 0 length beep for 0.1 and 0.2 seconds. Now all values are rounded up to the nearest 0.25 second.

Fixes and new features are provided for the DCConnect User Interface and Server as well as Transaction Connection and the DCConnect Transaction Building Tool (aka DCTPB).

This fix pack brings these products up to the same level as version 2.3.0 of the IBM Data Collection CD.

Fixes/changes are provided for the following key areas plus other minor ones not mentioned here:

• DCTPB enhancements:
  • For the GOTO / GOSUB commands, the first parameter is now optional if it would be THIS_PROGRAM and no other parameters except for the step/label are provided. In other words, if THIS_PROGRAM is the target program, then only one parameter is needed - the target step or label.
  • Fix for compiling IF statements comparing to a string containing imbedded blanks.
  • Added warnings for subroutine calls that have fewer parameter than the subroutine definition (this is allowed but user should verify all occurrences are expected).
  • Added named message support.
  • MESSAGE commands are now included in output when SHOW_STEPS is used on the command line.

• Transaction Connection enhancements:
  • Added support to the XML_Send command so that "raw" messages can be sent, not just those that are XML formatted.
  • Added support for new Format_UV options: ASCII_TO_EBCDIC, EBCDIC_TO_ASCII and LOWER_CASE.
  • New version of TC is now 'service-aware' so that it can run as a service and can respond cleanly to service start/stop commands.
  • Fix for buffer overrun that caused TC to end abruptly during a Check_Color command.

• DCConnect Server/User Interface enhancements:
  • On server startup, a time synch is now scheduled for all 7527 and 7524/DCClient terminals. This was done because time synch requests are not preserved across server shutdown/startup for these terminal types.
  • New versions of DCCLEVEL.EXE and DCCSERVE.EXE run better with newer versions of Windows such as XP and 2003 Server.
  • New logtool.exe for recovering transactions from logfiles. See DCConnect User's Guide for the details.
  • Fixed hostname resolution problem when the resolved name included the domain. Fix for handling aliases as well. New message shown for all IPs that resolve to names.
  • Fixed problem in dccserve.exe when starting the DCConnect service using the NET START command.
  • Removed arbitrary 256 terminal limit for TCP/IP 75xx and TCP/IP DWTS lines.
  • Better handling of very long parameters on a message continuation.

Fixes and new features are provided for the DCConnect User Interface and Server as well as Transaction Connection and the DCConnect Transaction Building Tool (aka DCTPB).

This fix pack brings these products up to the same level as version 2.2.0 of the IBM Data Collection CD.

Fixes/changes are provided for the following key areas plus other minor ones not mentioned here:

• DCTPB enhancements:
  • Fixed corruption problem that results for first subroutine assigned to a transaction program key, if that key has a program assigned as well and that first subroutine has more than one local variable declared. Could result in a Parameter out of Range error on the terminal or manifest itself in other ways.
  • Fixed problem doing variable name substitution (to variable number) for CCFR commands.
  • Fixed problem naming user variable 99.
  • Added support for IF, ELSE, { and } block commands. See the documentation for all the details.
  • DCTPB now always adds a RETURN(uvRC) to the end of every subroutine; before this was done only when the last command was not RETURN. Adding the RETURN all the time takes care of the case that the second-to-last command caused the final RETURN to be skipped (e.g. CCFR, TEST, VRFY, ...)
  • Added the optional SHOW_STEPS command line option to DCTPB32.EXE. If present, DCTPB will show the program number and assigned step number for every command as it compiles your transaction program(s). This can be useful when trying to cross reference your DCTPB source code with DCConnect Client generated messages or error transactions which reference a step number.

• DCConnect Server / Transaction Connection enhancement to handle transactions with up to 750 bytes of data. Other changes that go along with this include
  • Transaction logfile now contains variable length records instead of fixed length records.
  • Mailbox logfile capacity is now specified as number of bytes and can be in the range from 100,000 - 25,000,000 bytes.
  • The Server will automatically convert logfiles in the original fixed length format to the new variable length format and will adjust to the minimum size as necessary. However, as has always been the case, logfiles are not resized if they contain transactions at startup of the Server.
  • On the Mailbox Configuration screen the 'Capacity' column is now called 'Capacity Used' and it shows the usage in the format "xx% of yyyyy" where 'xx' is a percentage from 0-100 and 'yyyyy' is the defined capacity in bytes. The other columns (Mailbox Name, Status, Read and Release) still show the same information.
  • For all devices running version 2.10c of the DCConnect Client or later, the logfile size for that device can now be set from the DCConnect User Interface in the Terminal Settings notebook (just like was done years ago for the IBM 7525, 7526 and 7527 terminals). Go to the second page of the General Tab and look for the Buffer Size box. You can choose "Don't Change" or you can choose "Size (Kbytes)" and then select a value from 1-64 indicating the number of Kbytes (1024 byte chunks) that should be allocated on the terminal's 'hard drive'.
  • There will always be at least 1 unused byte in the logfile.
  • If you are writing your own C / Basic / Rexx / ... server-side applications there are now new structures and APIs defined in DCX.H that are available in order to take advantage of the longer transaction features:
  • TRF2 is the new transaction structure. It not only allows up to 750 bytes of data in the .txdata field but it now uses a long integer for the .datalen field and it has six new fields for the adjusted date/time (.yearAdj, .monthAdj, .dayAdj, .hourAdj, .minuteAdj, .secondAdj). These size fields are for storing the adjusted date/time for transactions that come from terminals in time zones that are different from the server's time zone (as defined by each terminal's configuration). The original date/time fields (.year, .month, .day, .hour, .minute, and .second) contain the data/time for the originating terminal's time zone. The server takes that date/time and adjusts it to the Server time zone and stores those values in the adjusted date/time fields.

    Both of the year fields (.year and .yearAdj) now store the 4-digit year instead of just the 2-digit year.

  • DcxReadTransactionEx is the new counterpart API to DcxReadTransaction and it must be used in order to read in the longer transaction structure
  • DcxWriteTransactionEx is the new counterpart API to DcxWriteTransaction and it must be used in order to write transactions with longer data or with a 4-digit year or with the new adjusted date/time fields.

    DcxWriteTransactionEx now has an extra parameter that allows you to specify a list of mailboxes rather than having to specifying a valid terminal name. If this parameter is NULL, a valid terminal name must still be provided.

  • A new structure, QUERY_EXPORT2, is the counterpart to the original QUERY_EXPORT structure. It adds one more field: .percentFull.
  • DcxQueryMailboxEx is the new counterpart to DcxQueryMailbox and it must be used in order to get back the new QUERY_EXPORT2 structure with the new .percentFull field
  • The .size field of both QUERY_EXPORT and QUERY_EXPORT2 specifies a number of bytes rather than a number of records.
  • In Transaction Connection, the Write_Xact command can take advantage of the new DcxWriteTransactionEx API, allowing you to specify one or more mailboxes for the destination of the transaction record rather than having to specify a valid terminal name. In this case you can pass what you want for the function group name and terminal name. Note that TC had always ignored the function group parameter in the past because the DCConnect Server would override it based on the specified terminal.
  • TC gives you access to the new adjusted date time fields from the new transaction record structure (TRF2) with addition of the following data parts (ADJDATE4, ADJDATE, ADJTIMESTAMP4, ADJTIMESTAMP, ADJYEAR4, ADJYEAR, ADJMONTH, ADJDAY, ADJTIME, ADJHOUR, ADJMINUTE, ADJSECOND).

    The regular transaction data parts for date/time (all of the above without the leading 'ADJ') will get their values from the original (non-adjusted) date/time fields in the transaction record unless the keyword USE_ADJUSTED_XACT_TIME is in effect.. When that keyword is in effect, the regular transaction data parts for date/time will get their values from the adjusted date/time fields in the transaction record. In all cases you will be able to get the non-adjusted date/time fields by using the following new data parts (TERMDATE4, TERMDATE, TERMTIMESTAMP4, TERMTIMESTAMP, TERMYEAR4, TERMYEAR, TERMMONTH, TERMDAY, TERMTIME, TERMHOUR, TERMMINUTE, TERMSECOND).

  • The XACT_AGE data part and the Xact_Age command are also affected by the USE_ADJUSTED_XACT_TIME command; when it is in effect the transaction age is calculated using the server adjusted date and time.
  • In TC the Query_Mailbox command now accepts a 6th parameter which lets you receive the percentage full of the mailbox.
  • The newer TC will work with older versions of the Server that do not have the newer APIs needed for longer transactions. Of course in this case, your TC scripts won't be able to take advantage of any of the newer features. (TC tries to load the newer APIs from the DCConnect Server .DLL but if not found, no error is given - unless the scripts try to use a feature that requires the newer APIs).
  • Older versions of TC will work fine with the newer DCConnect Server as long as no transactions exceed the previous maximum length.
  • Older versions of the DCConnect Client will work properly with the newer DCConnect Server; in this case the Client will ignore a request by the Server to change the transaction logfile size during a download
  • Older versions of the DCConnect Server will work properly with the newer DCConnect Client as long as the Client does not attempt to send transactions that are longer than the previous maximum

• Transaction Connection specific enhancements:
  • Increased maximum number of subroutines and StartMatch scripts allowed. You can now have over 6000 StartMatch and subroutine scripts combined.
  • Fixed problem in trace output where messages logged by the set-terminal-UV thread would use/affect the elapsed time shown for commands being executed in the current script.
  • The Submit_Validation command now supports an optional third parameter 'DONT_LOAD' which specifies that the file be created but should not yet be loaded to any terminal.
  • New Capture_Screen command can be used to write to a large user variable, the entire contents of the current emulator screen. The parameters are the target user variable and an optional error label.
  • New Load_Term command can be used to tell the DCConnect Server to download all or some of the files to a data collection terminal.
  • Added support for new data part: CURRENT_MAILBOX and the Write_Xact command now supports the use of any data part for the optional timestamp and/or optional mailbox list.
  • The Delay command now supports the keyword "key" in place of a numeric value. If 'key' is used, a "Press OK to continue" popup is shown.

• DCConnect Server specific enhancements:
  • Replaced use of DAE/CS2 for internal messaging infrastructure with implementation using Windows named pipes.
  • Added the ability to change the default number of retries that the server does for each command sent to a terminal. The default is 3 but that can be changed by creating a file called \dcconn\data\dcxpo.ini and including in it a line similar to the following: CMD_RETRY = 5.

This addresses the following issues (plus some other more minor issues) since version 2.10B

• Added support for transactions with up to 750 bytes of data. Other changes that go along with this include:
  • Transaction logfile now contains variable length records instead of fixed length records.
  • Logfile capacity now specified as number of bytes and can be in the range from 1000-65535 bytes. The size is now set from the server. But if the Client starts and no logfile is found, a default one is created with a size of 1000 bytes or if the keywords MAX_TRANSACTIONS is defined, the logfile is created with the size of 131 * MAX_TRANSACTIONS.
  • The TXTN COUNT screen shows the number of transactions and it shows the number of bytes that are used out of the total capacity.
  • The Client no longer stores all buffered transactions in memory; only the oldest transaction is stored in memory.
• Corrected problem restoring the attributes when saving/restoring parts of the screen using the CFR APIs VioReadCellStr/VioWrtCellStr, VioReadCell/VioWrtNCell.
• You can now specify that instead of showing the idle menu the Client should run a particular transaction program. This in effect allows you to change the look and options available on the 'idle screen' on the fly. To accomplish this, simply add the following text to the first line of the Idle Menu ($$IdleProgram = nnn) where 'nnn' is the number of the program to be started from 1 through 121. Spaces around the equal sign are optional.
• Put the hooks in place for Client, when running on Windows CE devices, to be able to control the scanner. This is done by creating a device-specific .dll called etshw.dll that contains entry points for the functions ScannerOpen, ScannerInit, ScannerOn and ScannerOff. At this time, that .dll has only been created for Intermec 700 devices running Windows Mobile 2003.
• Added new CFR API, SenPower, which allows the CFR to control when scanner input is valid. In the past, scanner input was valid for all CFR API calls for the entire duration of the CFR call even for calls that were not reading any scanner input.

  The prototype for the API is (USHORT SenPower(int enable);) where the value passed in is a boolean. If 0 (FALSE) the scanner should turned off. If non-0 (TRUE) the scanner should be turned on.

• The PgDn and PgUp keys which are defined in cfrapi24.h as PAGEDOWN_KEY and PAGEUP_KEY are now actually available to the CFR. They also work on the View Settings menu.
• Added support for diagnostic keyword, TXTN_BUFFER_WARNING_COUNT. This is used to force the TXTN COUNT menu screen to pop up automatically when the transaction buffer reaches a certain minimum number of transactions. This lets the terminal user know the transactions are not being sent to the DCConnect Server - which may signal a communications problem.
• Added support for the ONCE_ONLY and REPEAT options of the TXTN_BUFFER_WARNING_COUNT keyword in EMULATOR.INI
• Fixed problem showing the & character on Windows CE devices. It was being treated as a control character, signifying that the next character should be underlined. The Client now takes advantage of this heretofore unknown feature and it now supports the underline attribute in addition to reverse video on Windows CE devices. The only caveat is that the & character itself cannot be underlined; that is a restriction of Windows CE.
• Added support for if and else commands along with blocks in the if-else clause. See DCTPB documentation for more details.
• Fixed problem with internal step numbers that led to 'skip' operations going to the wrong place.

The original Fixpack F was missing ADPTUTIL.DLL which is required when using Transaction Connection with any XML_??? commands.

This addresses the following issues from version 2.10A

• Added ability to view parameters on the VIEW USER VARS screen.
• Fixed misalignment exception on Windows CE devices with certain processors.
• For Symbol Spectrum 24 terminals (e.g. PTD6840, VRC6940, WSS1040) had to remove support for allowing a hostname to be provided for the TCPIP_HOST keyword and the -h command line parameter. With this support included, the resulting executable for the DCConnect Client was too large to run properly.

Fixes and new features are provided for the DCConnect User Interface and Server as well as Transaction Connection and the DCConnect Transaction Building Tool (aka DCTPB).

This fix pack brings these products up to the same level as version 2.1.0 of the IBM Data Collection CD.

Fixes/changes are provided for the following key areas plus other minor ones not mentioned here:

• DCTPB enhancements:

  Note: In order to use these new enhancements, the data collection terminal must be running version 2.1.0a or later of the DCConnect Client.

  • Subroutines can now be passed parameters and return data using the new SUB/ENDSUB commands. Up to 92 parameters can be passed. Parameters passed into a subroutine may be global variables, local variables, parameters from a parent subroutine, the return code variable, numeric constants or text constants.
  • Support for up to 92 local variables (using the new DECLARE command) for each transaction program and each subroutine.
  • New return code user variable (known as uvRC or gRC) that can be set via the RETURN command or explicitly manipulated like other variables.
  • Global user variables can now be named in a similar manner to TC, using the NAME_UV command.
  • CFRs can access local variables, parameters and the return code variable in the same way that it can access global variables. Named user variables, local variables, parameters can be passed to CFRs using the macro syntax %variablename% and DCTPB will substitute the actual 3-digit variable number for the variable name.
  • New SET and SETSTR commands to go along with APND and APNDSTR commands. These new commands clear the target before appending the data.
  • The commands CURS, CLRP and SHOW can now use the relative row/column indicators PREVIOUS_ROW, NEXT_ROW and PREVIOUS_COLUMN, NEXT_COLUMN as an alternative to absolute row/column values.
  • New MATH commands for performing the following operations: + - \ * / % (last two are integer divide and modulus). Numeric constants and fractional values are allowed.
  • New options for the FRMT command (similar to TC): STRIP_LEADING_CHARS, STRIP_TRAILING_CHARS, STRIP_ALL_CHARS, TAKE_LEADING_CHARS, DROP_LEADING_CHARS, TAKE_TRAILING_CHARS, DROP_TRAILING_CHARS, PAD_LEADING, PAD_TRAILING, TAKE_MID_CHARS, DROP_MID_CHARS, UPPER_CASE, CUSTOM_STRING, CUSTOM_INTEGER, and CUSTOM_FLOAT
  • ONKEY/ONSUB now allow nearly any key using the syntax ASCII_nnn or EXTENDED_nnn or one of the new keywords such as KEY_ENTER, KEY_SPACE, KEY_CANCEL, ...
  • CLRP now has an optional 4th parameter used to specify a number of rows to be cleared. This allows a rectangle of any dimensions to be cleared in one command.
  • Many commands now allow global variables/local variables/parameters instead of hard-coded values or strings:

    Command	Parameter(s)
    AKA	TransID
    APND/SET	Field number, Position, Length
    CCFR	Parameter string (See IMPORTANT NOTE *** below)
    CLRP	Row, Column, Length, # of Rows
    CURS	Row, Column
    DLAY	# of Seconds
    FRMT	Length, Right Strip Char, Left Strip Char, Fill Char
    READ	Length
    SHOW	Row, Column

    *** IMPORTANT NOTE: Prior to adding this capability for the CCFR command, the DCTPB compiler did not care whether the hard-coded parameter string was enclosed in double quotes. But with the new feature, this parameter string could actually be a user variable name/local variable name/parameter name. If double quotes are not found, DCTPB tries to resolve the parameter as one of these variable/parameter names. If no name matches, a warning is given and the parameter is assumed to be a hard-code string rather than some sort of variable. To get rid of the warning for a parameter that actually is hard-coded text, enclose the text in double quotes. There are several cases in the default product set where double quotes are note used. So it would not be surprising if this warning starts to show up in lots of places.

  • For the APNDSTR command, the second parameter (length) can now be eliminated
  • The APNDSTR/SETSTR commands now accept a series of ASCII values in hex preceded by a backslash. For example:

      APNDSTR(UV1, \0d\0a)
    

  • Multiple variables, including local variables and parameters can be cleared in a single CLRD command

• DCConnect Server/User Interface enhancements:
  • Minor changes needed to support the new transaction programming commands
  • Now supports dynamic configuration of DWTS terminals; i.e.. DWTS terminals can communicate with the DCConnect Server without having been configured - provided they use a unique terminal name relative to all other statically and dynamically configured terminals.
  • Can now handle multiple simultaneous DwsGetTermUserVariable requests from the same DWTS terminal
  • Now supports user variable data up to 975 bytes when an application/TC session issues the APIs DcxSetTermUserVariable/DcxSetNTermUserVariables and DcxGetTermUserVariable for terminals running version 2.1.0 or later of the DCConnect Client or DWTS.
  • New API DcxForwardDataRequest allows an application which has just received a data request via a call to DcxReadDataRequest to pass that request to another application that is reading data requests. The target application must then be the one to reply to that request - or forward to another application.
  • Added support for using hostnames instead of IP addresses for terminals that are attached to the TCP/IP line. Also, a colon may now be used instead of the comma preceding the optional port number that follows the hostname/IP address.
  • If the DCConnect Server is unable to identify the ARTIC card type, it will now look for one of the following files in \DCCONN\BIN in order to identify how the ARTIC adapter should be treated: artic.ini, multiport.ini, multiport_2.ini, model_2.ini or portmaster.ini. The file can contain any data, it merely has to exist.

• Transaction Connection enhancements:
  • It is no longer necessary to create a dummy mailbox or dummy validation script when a TC script is only using calls to DCConnect such as Submit_Validation or Write_Xact. This used to be necessary in order for TC to load the correct DCX.DLL.
  • Whitespace characters, such as tabs, found at the end of parameters are ignored. Previously, only trailing blanks were ignored.
  • Added Query_Mailbox command. Can take 1 to 5 parameters specifying the UVs in which to store the following parameters (in this order): Number to Read, Number to Release, Active, Capacity, LogFile Name. The 'Active' value set up in the specified UV will be "0" for inactive or "1" for active. The first parameter can also be a UV containing the mailbox name.
  • Added the following Format_UV options: TAKE_LEADING_CHARS, DROP_LEADING_CHARS, TAKE_TRAILING_CHARS, DROP_TRAILING_CHARS, PAD_LEADING, PAD_TRAILING, TAKE_MID_CHARS, DROP_MID_CHARS and UPPER_CASE.
  • Added the Parse_UV command: Parse_UV (uvInputUV, DISCARD | uvFirstPart, "delimiter" | control Constant | uvDelimiter, DISCARD | uvLastPart)
  • No longer does TC give a compiler error if // is found in the middle of a command such as:

      Set_UV_Kbd_Data(UV1, "//") // This is really the comment
    

  • Commands may now be split across multiple lines and trailing comments may be at the end of any line that is a partial command. Commands must be split on a white space character and the opening parenthesis for a command must be on the first line for the command. Any string enclosed in double quotes must be entirely on a single line.
  • Added support for the use of AND, OR and NOT in IF and WHILE statements. The symbols && or & can be used instead of AND. The symbols || or | can be used instead of OR. The symbol ! can be used instead of NOT. All operations (e.g. uv1 <= uv2) must be enclosed in parentheses. For example: If (NOT ((UV1 < UV2) AND (UV3 > UV4)) OR (UV5 == UV6))
  • Checking for a mismatch in the number of parameters used in corresponding Call/Sub commands is now performed during compilation of the scripts.
  • (Windows NT/2000 only) Added the ability to configure the size and number of trace files that TC generates when tracing is turned on. Using the optional TCTRACE.INI file you can specify NUM_TRACE_FILES and/or TRACE_FILE_SIZE. The values specified in TCTRACE.INI apply to all sessions that are tracing. However, individual TC sessions can override those values using the new TRACE_SIZE command in the script. These changes necessitated a change in the naming convention of the trace files. All trace files start with: TC2TRCx where 'x' is the controller ID of the TC session to which it correlates. The extension will be a number from 000 through 999. The first one generated will be *.001 but after reaching .999 the extension will wrap back to .000.
  • TCTRACE now has more error checking and will log any errors to TCTRACE.LOG. This file is never deleted by TCTRACE - but it should not be written to very often either.
  • Added "Shutdown When Idle" so that you could ensure that TC shuts down after any currently executing script completes. (Shutdown Normal stops immediately, even in the middle of a script).
  • Setting of controller ID and/or title is immediately reflected in the session title when the Cntlr or Title command is encountered on the command line (Cntlr only) or in the script.
  • Added process ID to title so that TC sessions can easily be identified in the Windows Task List.
  • Multiple threads are now deployed to handle the issuing of ASYNCH requests to set terminal user variables. If the attempt to set UVs for a terminal takes more than 50ms, a new thread is started to handle a new request. TC will continue to start a new thread if it takes more than 50ms for any new request to find a free thread to handle the request. TC will automatically shut down threads that have not handled any requests in the last 5 minutes. TC also makes sure that any set UV requests for the same terminal are sent out in the order received.
  • The Write_Xact command now accepts a numeric value from 1-255 or a user variable for the Event_ID parameter. If a user variable is used, when the Write_Xact command is executed, the specified user variable must contain either a value from 1-255 or one of valid Event ID constants (e.g. F1, BADGE, Shift_PF1, RGN1, ...)
  • The LAST_ERROR data part is now set for a number of different commands, not just Host Screen Interface functions (e.g. Check_Color, Send_Host_UV_Data). The additional commands include XML Functions (e.g. XML_CreateBOD, XML_LeaveElement), Database commands - stores the SQLSTATE value (e.g. Begin/End_SQL, Perform_Insert), commands that interface to DCConnect (e.g. Submit_Validation, Reply_To_Data_Request), plus the following miscellaneous commands: Append_UV_File_Data, Log_Data, Open_File_Data, and System. For all successful executions of these commands, this value is set to the appropriate good return code value for that command (usually 0).
  • When label references are unresolved TC now gives the file and line number of the offending label reference.
  • New date/time data parts added for support of 4-digit year: TIMESTAMP4, DATE4, YEAR4, CURRENT_TIMESTAMP4, CURRENT_DATE4, CURRENT_YEAR4. The following data part is also new: CURRENT_TIMESTAMP.
  • Added new command Set_Xact_Time_Of_Origin in order to change the time that TC uses for handling the Xact_Age command as well as the data parts: TIMESTAMP, TIMESTAMP4, DATE, DATE4, YEAR, YEAR4, MONTH, DAY, HOUR, MINUTE, SECOND, and XACT_AGE.
  • Added the command XML_Send to go along with XML_SendBOD for use when sending XML messages that do not conform to the BOD structure.
  • Added the command XML_Create to go along with XML_CreateBOD for use when creating XML messages that do not conform to the BOD structure.
  • Increased maximum number of local variables allowed from 250 to 1024. Fixed logging of message when this maximum is reached.
  • Added to the UV_Math command to new operators: integer divide (\) and modulus (%). Modulus gives the remainder after an integer divide operation.
  • Added support for using environment variables in the commands Imbed, Open_File_Data, Log_Xact, Log_Data, Append_UV_Kbd_Data and Set_UV_Kbd_Data.
  • More checking is now done at compile time for improper use of open and close braces.
  • The commands Call, Append/Set_UV_Kbd_Data, If, While, Send_To_Host and Send_Host_Kbd_Data all now accept numeric constants without needing to be enclosed in double quotes for the parameter(s) that can be a literal string.
  • Fixed problem with Xact_Age during first two months of a leap year.
  • Added new command SQL_Buffer_Size to allow scripts to override the default size of 4000 bytes that is allocated for building SQL statements.
  • Added new command Forward_Data_Request to allow data requests to be forwarded to other applications, rather than having to reply to them.
  • Added new command Write_To_Event_Log so that TC scripts can write messages to the Windows Event Log.
  • The maximum terminal user variable size that can now be handled is 975 bytes provided the target/source terminal is running at least version 2.10 of the DCConnect Client/DWTS.

See the fix pack readme for all the details.

In addition to miscellaneous fixes, the following enhancements have been made since version 2.OOB was released in August 2002:

• (2.OOC) Fixed problem handling a 'Get User Variable' request from the DCConnect Server by non-DOS versions of the Client.
• (2.00D) Added TSR_INTERRUPT keyword in EMULATOR.INI and the ability to change the interrupt that is used by the Client and the TSR for the various DOS devices that use TSRs (e.g.Intermec 6400, PSC Falcon, Symbol 68xx)
• (2.00D) Win CE only: Fixed problem where screen font would change after a certain period of usage - usually a day or two.
• (2.00E) Added support for the POWER_OFF_TIMER keyword for PSC/Percon Falcon and LXE MX2 terminals by enhancing falc_tsr.exe.
• (2.00E) Support for Windows CE devices with ARM/XScale processor, Windows CE 3.0 but on which Pocket PC is not installed
• (2.00F) New EMULATOR.INI keyword UV_POOL_SIZE which allows you to specify the amount of memory that should be used to hold user variable data (global, local, parameters). In the past each of the 100 global user variables was allocated a 128 byte buffer regardless. With the implementation of a single memory pool for variables/parameters, the only limit to the size of a variable/parameter is the size of the pool (provided all other variables are empty). One other caveat: for every level of subroutine that is entered, a structure is added to the pool in order to keep track of the local variables and parameters and return point for that subroutine. Default size is 10000 bytes if this keyword is not used. Although variables can grow to the pool size within the terminal, the amount that can be exchanged with the Server (via the API calls DcxSetTermUserVariable/DcxSetNTermUserVariables and DcxGetTermUserVariable) is limited. With version 2.1.0 of the Client and Server that limit was increased from 118 bytes up to 975 bytes.
• (2.00G) New EMULATOR.INI keywords ABORT_READ_ON_RS232_INPUT and ABORT_ONKEY_ON_RS232_INPUT which allow a terminal to be set up to simultaneously handle an RS-232 initiated transaction program and user-initiated transaction programs that wait indefinitely for user input.
• (2.10) All the features added to DCTPB 2.10 (except named user variables - which applies only to DCTPB)
• (2.10) Support added for the Intermec CK30 and CV60 terminals
• (2.10) Support added for the Symbol MC 90xx terminals
• (2.10) The -h command line parameter and the TCPIP_HOST keyword in EMULATOR.INI can now handle a hostname instead of just an IP address for the location of the DCConnect Server. A colon may also be now used instead of the comma preceding the optional port number that follows the hostname/IP address.
• (2.10) The FULL_SCREEN keyword can now be used on any Windows CE device to hide the start button and tool bar - provided greater use of the screen by the Client
• (2.10) New EMULATOR.INI keyword, HIDE_MENU_BAR, available for Windows CE devices to hide the DCConnect menu bar that includes the File/Diagnostics/About pull-downs. When in effect, use the Home/?/= keys to bring up the DCConnect Client menus - in the same manner that is done for DOS and Windows flavors of the Client.

For all the details, see the fix pack README

For more information about the new features mentioned above, see the DCConnect Client User's Guide online.

The latest features include:

• Support for Windows CE devices including Intermec 600, 700, Intelligent Instrumentation LanPoint CE and Symbol 81xx.
• Dynamically configuration of DWTS terminals; they do not have to be preconfigued in the DCConnect Server configuration.
• Support for user variable data up to 975 bytes in length.
• New API DwsQueryTransactionCnt for determining the number of transactions stored locally on the device.
• Support for multiple simultaneous calls to the API DwsGetUserVariable.

For all the details, see the fix pack README

Fixes and new features are provided for the DCConnect User Interface and Server as well as Transaction Connection and the DCConnect Transaction Building Tool (aka DCTPB). Prior to fix pack E, fixes for DCTPB were in a separate fix pack.

See the June 2002 entry below for a list of key enhancements and fixes. (Some, such as ODBC support in Transaction Connection, do not apply to OS/2).

See the fix pack readme for all the details.

In addition to miscellaneous fixes, the following enhancements have been made since version 1.41B was released in March 2001:

• (1.41C) Added support for RS-232 initiated transactions (transaction ID 55)
• (1.41D) Added support for POWER_OFF_TIMER keyword when using Intermec 6400 terminals.
• (1.41D) Several enhancements for Windows CE flavors of the Client
  • Added support for the LanPoint CE from Intelligent Instrumentation
  • Font now adjusts based on NUM_ROWS and NUM_COLS keywords
  • Extended keys now work (arrows, home, F1-F10, insert delete)
  • Arrow keys now scroll the screen contents when dimensions are less than 20x40
  • Serial port can now be used to talk to attached devices such as a serial printer
  • DUMP MEMORY and TRACE LOG now work when going to COM1
  • Improvements in performance for screen updates
  • Cursor positioning and size improved
• (1.41D) The DUMP MEMORY and TRACE LOG options now work for 32-bit Windows flavor of the Client
• (1.41D) The CFR SenRead() call now returns the bar code type for Antares terminals
• (1.41D) Multiple instances of the 32-bit Windows and Windows CE flavors of the Client can now be run from the same directory - provided that the TCP/IP port number is specified on the command line using the -P option. This enabled the use of the Client in a Citrix environment.
• (1.41E) Decoded scanner input can now be read directly from the serial port if the keyword USE_RS232_FOR_SCANNER is used in EMULATOR.INI.
• (1.41F) Added TIMEZONE_ADJUST keyword for EMULATOR.INI so that the Client can make adjustments to the time based on the time zone even when it does not have the permission to actually change the clock on the device/PC. (Sometimes needed in the Citrix environment).
• (1.41G) Added support for use of the environment variable DCCLIENT to specify where DCConnect Client files should be found (e.g. EMULATOR.INI, ETSCHECK.LIC) and created (e.g. LOGFILE.LOG, downloaded CFRs for Windows flavors). For Windows CE, where the concept of environment variables does not exist, the following registry value can be set instead: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\IBM\DCConnect Client\path
• (1.41G) For Windows CE flavors of the Client, support was added for the keyword SELECT_FONT so that you can control which mono-spaced font is used by the Client.
• (1.41G) For Windows CE flavors of the Client, added the Diagnostics pull-down along with the submenus for Trace Logfile, Dump Memory, Start Stepping and View User Variables. Also added support for reverse video.
• (1.41G) Added support for MENU_PASSWORD keyword in EMULATOR.INI which, when used, requires the user to enter a password to get to all menu options except VERSION INFO and TXTN COUNT.
• (1.41G) Windows CE only: added support for MENU_ITEM keyword to add new options to a new 'User' pull-down. These menu items are tied to user-created functions in a DLL, ETSUSER.DLL.
• (1.41G) Windows CE devices that the Client has been used on include:
  • Handheld Products "Dolphin" 7400
  • Intermec 600
  • Intermec 700
  • Intermec 5020
  • Intermec 6651
  • Intelligent Instrumentation LANPoint CE
  • Symbol PDT 81xx
  • Pocket PC Emulation environment
• (1.41H) Batch versions of the Client that are doing dial-up will now wait up to 10 seconds to see if the line is already connected to the DCConnect Server before dialing. This allows the same terminal to connect to the Server from a dedicated serial line or a dial-up line.
• (1.41H) Windows CE only: Added FULL_SCREEN keyword to EMULATOR.INI so that on Pocket PC devices the user can be prevented from doing anything with any other application on the terminal while the Client is running.
• (1.41H) Scanner is now turned on when the Client exits so that the scanner can be tested at the DOS prompt if necessary.
• (1.41I) Added support for the MX1, MX2 and VX1 terminals from LXE.
• (1.41I) PSC/Percon Falcon 345 terminal is also now supported because it is identical to the LXE MX2.
• (1.41I) Added support for the keywords IGNORE_UNDERLINE (display attribute) and DONT_CHANGE_SCREEN_SIZE which are both required for support of the LXE / PSC/Percon terminals.
• (1.41I) Added support for the keyword PF_AUTO_ENTER which tells the Client to assume an Enter key is pressed after any PF Key is pressed during a READ command for which PF Key input is allowed.
• (1.41I) The CFR packages (CFRUTL24.ZIP, CFRSMP24.ZIP and CFRPAN24.ZIP) are now set up to use the environment variable CFRTOOLS to find .H and .LIB files. Following the method used in these samples, your CFR source can now be separated from the .H and .LIB files provided with the product.
• (1.41I) Added support for the keyword USE_TSR_FOR_KEYBOARD in order to allow the PSC/Percon Falcon 345 / LXE MX2 terminals to be able to distinguish between keyboard and scanner input. At this point this keyword can only be used for these terminals and only if the falc_tsr.exe is loaded before the Client is started.
• (1.41I) Windows CE only: the MENU_ITEM keyword now allows an optional password parameter.
• (2.00) Version bumped up to 2.00 for release of new CDs in June 2002.
• (2.00) Added support for the keyword MENU_KEY to override the use of ?, = or Home for bringing up the Client menus.
• (2.00) Windows CE only: starting a second instance of the Client now brings the first copy to the foreground before the second instance ends itself.
• (2.00B) Length of phone number for modem dial-up can now be 120 characters.
• (2.00B) Improvements in use of MAKEHEX.BAT and LOADTERM.BAT (used with Symbol Spectrum 24 terminals) so that images can be easily created and loaded for more than one model of these terminals.

For all the details, see the fix pack README

For more information about the new features mentioned above, see the DCConnect Client User's Guide online.

Fixes and new features are provided for the DCConnect User Interface and Server as well as Transaction Connection and the DCConnect Transaction Building Tool (aka DCTPB). Prior to fix pack E, fixes for DCTPB were in a separate fix pack.

Fixes/changes are provided for the following key areas plus other minor ones not mentioned here:

• DCConnect Server/User Interface enhancements:
  • The server now keeps track of every type of download request on disk so that they are not lost if the server is shutdown and restarted.
  • The download of the validation mapping file to the terminal would sometimes include both upper and lower case versions of the same name. This could cause validation to fail in the terminal.
  • The DCConnect Server now filters out the logging of the message "DCR0276E: Error reading from TCP/IP socket; TCP/IP error = 10054" only in the case that the error is 10054 (which means 'connection reset').
  • In the DCConnect User Interface the Terminal notebook pages have been reorganzed to change the Miscellaneous tab to a Time tab. The fast clocking page is now the last one on the Time tab and the Sensor Badge Length page is now the first on the Devices tab.
  • Added to DCConnect the ability to specify which time zone terminals are in relative to the Server. A new Time Zone page (3 on the Time tab) in all the different Terminal Settings notebooks, including DWTS, lets you specify how many hours before or after the Server the terminal is. Whenever the Server has to set the time for a terminal, it adjusts the outgoing set time command by the specified number of hours. However, the Server does not adjust the timestamp of incoming transactions; transactions received will reflect the time zone of the terminal from which they originated.
  • In most cases in the DCConnect User Interface, when an item is linked to the mouse pointer and is then successfully dropped on to a target, it no longer remains linked to the mouse pointer. Therefore you no longer have to click on the Arrow button to clear the mouse pointer.
  • The DCConnect User Interface will now warn about changes not being saved in the following two new situations: when the DCConnect Server is started started and whenever a terminal download is started.
  • In the User Interface references to 7524 Terminals are now '7524/Client'. References to DOS terminals are now DWTS. References to "TCP/IP DOS" changed to "TCP/IP DWTS"
  • Added the Time Formats page to the 7524/Client notebook since the DCConnect Client now supports showing the idle date and/or time.
  • Support added for up to 8 COMx lines. Maximum used to be 4.
  • In the User Interface, found more instances where validation file names, CFR names and graphics file names were being handled case sensitively. This could cause odd behavior such as the UI not acting on a request to download just a CFR to a terminal.
  • Found that there were several User Interface notebooks which would not keep track when changes were made (OK button pressed) and thus if the UI were closed without saving those changes, no warning was given.
  • The DCConnect Server serial port driver will now close and reopen the serial port if there is nothing received on the port during a period of time that is the slow poll rate times 5. This was done to better handle connections via modems and the Lantronix network-serial device.
  • Another attempt to fix the time zone problem that should have been fixed in fix pack D. This time the use of the failing compiler function was replaced by an operating system-specific call to get the date and time.
• Transaction Connection enhancements:
  • Now includes support for ODBC connections to databases.
  • New feature added to allow passing of parameters to subroutines using new alternatives to CallSubroutine and StartSubroutine: Call and Sub.
  • If and While commands can now be written more naturally, without the need for all the extra commas and zeros.
  • New feature allows the declaration of local variables in Start... scripts and subroutines using the new script command Declare.
  • New feature makes it easier to build up a user variable composed of other user variables and constants. The new scripts commands Begin_UV and End_UV are used to accomplish this.
  • Corrected problem with Set_UV_File_Data() command. It was acting like Append_UV_File_Data - not clearing the UV first.
  • Reworked the showing of user variables in a trace to limit those shown to only be ones that apply to the current command.
  • Added new Dump_UVs() command so that the entire set of non-empty user variables, global and local, can be dumped do the trace file at any point in the script.
  • Added XML_Parse command to allow parsing of an XML message from any source (database, file, etc.). The returned handle can be used in any other XML command to manipulate the message.
  • Fixed problem where the 121st subroutine encountered in the script would not have any of its commands performed. This would occur only when the first subroutine was defined before any StartMatch, StartKey, StartVal, StartTime and StartFunctionGroup/StartCluster command.
• DCTPB enhancements:
  • Enhancements to DCTPB to help user isolate problems such as 'command too long', invalid APNDSTR commands, duplicate use of the same 'binding event' in Key commands.
  • In DCTPB, added the ability to specify environment variables in the MakePGM() and Imbed() commands. For example: MakePGM(%dcconn%\job\time_att.pgm)
  • Two fixes for the IMBEDSCR.EXE utility that is part of Transaction Connection and DCTPB: it was not properly handling the case where IMBED statements contained a comment at the end of the line and that command also included a right parenthesis and it was not perperly handling lines containing percent signs.

    Added optional 'runnable' parameter to allow resulting file to be used with TC / DCTPB.

• Other enhancements:
  • Created a Microsoft Visual Basic sample application that demonstrates how to call DCConnect C APIs from VB. This application shows the real-time status of the DCConnect Server using the 'blue-man' icons and it lets you list all terminals or all mailboxes and their current status.
  • In VBDCX.DLL, the DLL needed by Visual Basic applications in order to call DCConnect APIs, added an alternative to vbDcxSetNTermUserVariables called vbDcxSetNTermUserVariables2.

See the fix pack readme for all the details.

In addition to miscellaneous fixes, the following enhancements have been made since version 1.40M was released in May 2000:

• (1.40N) Added support for CFR API KbdHandleArrowKeys which allows the CFR to turn on and off the Client's handling of the arrow keys to scroll the window.
• (1.40N) Found that several CFR APIs were missing from the 32-bit Windows and Windows CE versions of the Client. These were: QueryTransactionCnt, SendTransaction, AliasTransID, GetTerminalAddress, GetPowerState, and KbdGetShift.
• (1.40O) For Symbol Spectrum 24 terminals, added use of a TSR which provides support of the serial port as well as the ability for the Client to be able to distinguish between keyboard and scanner input.
• (1.40P) The CFR API ClearUserVariable can now be used to clear the transaction buffer by passing -1 or TRANS_BUFFER for the user variable number.
• (1.40Q) Fixed memory fragmentation problem that would cause downloads to fail with insufficient space error even when the total available space was sufficient.
• (1.40R) The SHOW_IDLE_TIME keyword in EMULATOR.INI now takes additional parameters which allow you to specify the format of the date and time. To go along with this, support was added for new keywords that can specify the DATE_SEPARATOR and TIME_SEPARATOR.
• (1.40S) Added support for keyword IGNORE_ARROW_KEYS in EMULATOR.INI - similar in function to the CFR API KbdHandleArrowKeys, added in version 1.40N.
• (1.40T) A new DIAGNOSTICS menu was added to the MAIN MENU and the options TRACE LOG and DUMP MEMORY were moved to the new menu.
• (1.40T) A new option was added to the DIAGNOSTICS menu, allowing you to VIEW USER VAR contents.
• (1.40T) A new option was added to the DIAGNOSTICS menu, allowing you to START STEPPING through a transaction program. When active, the status row of the terminal will display the next command to be executed. You must press Enter to move to the next step or Esc to cancel stepping.
• (1.40T) Added two new keywords to EMULATOR.INI, FILE_PAGING and LOCK_IN_MEMORY. FILE_PAGING tells the Client to store certain downloaded files on disk rather than in memory - until those files are actually needed by the operations of the terminal user. This allows the Client to handle much larger downloads on terminals which have limited RAM memory, such as the Antares. The LOCK_IN_MEMORY keyword is used to specify validation files that must remain in memory at all times. Note: In order to use this feature, you must install fix pack D for DCConnect/TC.
• (1.40T) For Symbol Spectrum24 terminals, the self-extracting zip file, FLSHBLD.EXE, was updated for support of the latest Symbol flash drivers.
• (1.40T) New keyword KEY_CLICK added to EMULATOR.INI to allow the Symbol Spectrum24 terminal to give a click when keys are pressed.
• (1.40U) Fixed problem with Validation() API in CFR: it was failing to find a remote validation file name when that name was at the end of the list of valid file names (file E).
• (1.40U) Fixed problem enforcing the maximum length of a validation request. Before this fix, if the data was too long, memory corruption occurred.
• (1.40V) The CFR API GetTerminalAddress() now returns the proper IP address for the Windows versions of the Client.
• (1.40V) Fixed problem with CFR API Validation() that resulted in a malformed transaction when more than 6 validation files were in use.
• (1.40V) The 32-bit Windows version of the Client now more smoothly handles running with different screen sizes (as specified by the NUM_ROWS, NUM_COLS or DEVICE keyword or the -d command line parameter).
• (1.40W) Fixed problem which prevented the reading of transactions from the logfile on startup in the case that the MAX_TRANSACTIONS keyword was being used.
• (1.40X) For Symbol Spectrum24 terminals, support was added for a new keyword, POWER_OFF_TIMER.
• (1.40Y) The DUMP MEMORY option of the DIAGNOSTICS MENU now properly handles file 0 (transaction program file) even when FILE_PAGING is in effect.
• (1.40Y) Fixed problem on Antares terminals which did not allow the output of the TRACE LOG and DUMP MEMORY options to be sent to the serial port.
• (1.40Y) New CFR API GetTerminalSettings added. It fills in the contents of a TERM_SETTINGS structure, which currently includes the number of rows and number of columns that the Client has been configured to use.
• (1.40Z) Fixed problem, introduced in version 1.40T, that caused a branch larger than 64K bytes to go to the wrong place in the transaction program file.
• (1.41A) Fixed the cause of a stack overflow error when using any of the ComXXX() CFR API calls on an Antares terminal.
• (1.41A) The menu options TRACE LOG and DUMP MEMORY now work properly to the RS-232 port for terminals that use a TSR for serial port support (Telxon and Symbol Spectrum 24).
• (1.41B) The menu options DUMP MEMORY and VIEW USER VAR were both improperly showing characters with hex values greater than or equal to 0x80.
• (1.41B) Fixed problem running 32-bit Windows version of Client on Windows 95/98.

For all the details, see the fix pack README

For more information about the new features mentioned above, see the DCConnect Client User's Guide online.

Fixes and new features are provided for the DCConnect User Interface and Server as well as Transaction Connection. Fixes/changes are provided for the following key areas plus other minor ones not mentioned here:

• Fix for problem updating time in certain non-US locations at the start of daylight savings time.
• Fix for support of downloading files greater than 99999 bytes in size.
• Addition of VBDCX.DLL for Windows NT which allows Microsoft Visual Basic applications to call DCConnect APIs.
• In Transaction Connection, the data parts SESSION_STATUS, XACT_AGE and LAST_ERROR were mistakenly considered invalid when running in Data Request mode.
• Fixed a couple causes of access violations in Transaction Connection.
• In Transaction Connection added support of BIGINT and REAL database types.
• The processing of StartTime scripts by Transaction Connection will now detected a time change, such as the start of Daylight Savings Time, within 5 seconds.
• Increase the number of allowed subroutines from 125 to 250 in Transaction Connection.
• Added utility IMBEDSCR.EXE for creating a single listing file for a top-level Transaction Connection script and all imbedded files. This tool can also be used with DCTPB scripts.

See the fix pack readme for all the details.

Fixes/changes are provided for the following key areas plus other minor ones not mentioned here:

• Fixed problem ignoring tabs between an ending double quote and a comma that is the delimiter before the next parameter.
• Inline messages and messages from MESSAGE commands can now be used at the same time. The message numbers in MESSAGE commands no longer need to be sequential either, although that is recommended.
• The APNDSTR command now accepts 0 for the length, indicating that the exact length of the text should be used.
• Added utility IMBEDSCR.EXE for creating a single listing file for a top-level script and all imbedded files. This tool can also be used with Transaction Connection scripts.
• The maximum number of keys allowed for an ONKEY or ONSUB command is now 50.
• Comments starting with double slash (//) are no longer automatically included in the .PGM file during compile unless the new command line parameter, INCLUDE_COMMENTS, is used.

See the fix pack readme for all the details.

This manual is the equivalent to the 7526 Programming Technical Reference, but it is for terminals loaded with 7524 ETS flash and terminals running the DCConnect Client.

It covers the details of the file formats in the terminal and syntax of the commands that go back and forth between the terminal and the DCConnect Server. This can be useful for interpreting the output of a Line Trace (from LINETRAC.EXE) and for interpreting the raw format of transaction program commands as they are downloaded to the terminal. The latter will be useful for the soon-to-be-released feature in the DCConnect Client that will allow you to step through transaction programs one command at a time.

This manual also covers all of the CFR APIs available for 7524 terminals and terminals running the DCConnect Client.

The latest 7526 CFR Toolkit now includes both the Borland and IBM C/2 versions of CFRAPI26.LIB for building CFRs for 7526 terminals.

The latest 7524 CFR Toolkit and DCConnect Client Toolkit now include both the Borland and IBM C/2 versions of CFRAPI24.LIB for building CFRs for 7524 terminals and terminals running DOS versions of the DCConnect Client (formerly 752x Emulator for DOS).

Three different packages are available for each terminal type/platform:

1. A utility library of useful routines to include in your CFR. Separate packages are available for 7526 terminals, for 7524 terminals, and for devices running the DCConnect Client.
2. A sample CFR including many common functions that add more power and flexibility to your transaction programs. Separate packages are available for 7526 terminals, for 7524 terminals, and for devices running the DCConnect Client.
3. Input panel driver CFR which provides several functions for enhancing the display and input capabilities of your transaction programs. Functions include pop-ups, pre-filled fields and more. Separate packages are available for 7526 terminals, for 7524 terminals, and for devices running the DCConnect Client.

Some pacakges may require other packages if the executables have to be rebuilt.

The packages have also been renamed for clarity. Here is a chart of the old and new names:

    New Name         Old Name             Description
    --------         --------             -----------
    CFRUTL26.ZIP     Part of CFR26_30.ZIP Library of utility functions for
                                           7526 terminals.

    CFRSMP26.ZIP     Part of CFR26_30.ZIP Sample CFR for 7526 terminals

    CFRPAN26.ZIP     Part of CFR26_30.ZIP Input Panel Driver CFR for 7526
                                           terminals.

    CFRUTL24.ZIP     CFR24LIB.ZIP         Library of utility functions for
                     (32-bit Windows       7524 terminals and devices running
                      version used to be   the DCConnect Client.
                      in CFRBLD32.ZIP and
                      Windows CE version
                      used to be in
                      CFRBLDCE.ZIP).

    CFRSMP24.ZIP     Part of CFR24.ZIP    Sample CFR for 7524 terminals and
                                           devices running the DCConnect Client

    CFRPAN24.ZIP     Part of CFR24.ZIP    Input Panel Driver CFR for 7524
                                           terminals and devices running the
                                           DCConnect Client.

Because both 7524 terminals and the DCConnect Client support the same CFR functions, the three 7524 packages listed above include all files for building not only 7524 CFRs but also for building DCConnect Client CFRs on both DOS devices and Windows devices.

• Intermec 5020 with Windows CE
• Intermec 6400
• Intermec Trakker Antares 241x, 242x, 245x, 246x, 248x
• Symbol FMT3000
• Telxon 870IM

In addition, versions of the DCConnect Client can run on Windows 95/98/NT/2000 PCs - appearing like any other third-party terminal to the DCConnect Server. In fact, the DCConnect Client can run on the same PC as the DCConnect Server - which is a great way to test terminal applications - especially when you don't yet have the hardware.

The Third-Party terminal page now provides information about how to get the 7526-MTC terminal.

The latest fix pack is available to provide support for all of these new terminals. In addition to miscellaneous fixes, the following enhancements have been made since version 1.40c was released in October 1999:

• (1.40E) Added support for serial port in all supported Telxon models
• (1.40F) Arrow keys can now be used to scroll screen if physical viewport is less than 20x40
• (1.40F) All configuration can now be done using EMULATOR.INI. The following keywords were added:
  • NUM_ROWS
  • NUM_COLS or NUM_COLUMNS
  • STATUS_ROW
  • MSG_BUFFER_FULL
  • MSG_WAITING_FOR_FILES
  • TCPIP_PORT
  • TCPIP_HOST
  • RESEND_TIMER
  • ADDRESS
  • BAUD_RATE
  • COM_PORT
  • DEVICE
• (1.40H) To save space, all configuration screens were removed from the menus. Instead a new VIEW SETTINGS option was added so that you can verify EMULATOR.INI was set up properly.
• (1.40J) Can now handle transaction program file > 99999 bytes
• (1.40J) Now handle a date rollover problem that DOS has if a request to get the date/time is being made precisely at midnight.

For all the details, see the fix pack README

For complete information about configuring the DCConnect Client and setting up all the different third-party terminals, see the DCConnect Client User's Guide online.

Fixes and new features are provided for the DCConnect User Interface and Server as well as Transaction Connection. Fixes/changes are provided for the following key areas plus other minor ones not mentioned here:

• Support added for Intermec Trakker Antares terminals
• Fix for APAR PQ35298: problems after starting the Server when it was already running
• Fix for APAR PQ36218: User Interface not refreshing because the Node name started with a number rather than a letter.
• Support for more control characters added for the Set/Append_Kbd_UV_Data command in Transaction Connection scripts.
• Change in Transaction Connection's automatic recovery logic for a -911 Timeout/Rollback error
• Fix in the backup/restore utility for handling long file names that happen to be in the directories being backed up.
• The Server can now handle downloading of Transaction Program files of 100,000 bytes or more.

See the fix pack readme for all the details.

We found no problems installing and running the DCConnect family of products on Windows 2000. We installed DCConnect Server, Toolkit, Transaction Connection, 7524 Interface Support and ERPBridge for J.D. Edwards One World, Shop Floor Control transactions. Processing of Shop Floor Control transactions, which involves interactions with DB2 and Personal Communications to the AS/400, worked properly. Testing involved terminals attached via the serial port, Ethernet, Norand RF and an ARTIC adapter.

For all versions of Transaction Connection starting with the one on the DCConnect -02 CD, problems with the date have been found in the following functions:

• Using the data part CURRENT_YEAR
• Using the data part CURRENT_DATE
• The command Write_Xact would have an invalid date put into the transaction if a date was not explicitly specified as the last optional parameter. As a result the call to DCConnect would fail with a -506 return code indicating an invalid date or time.
• Trace data on the screen and in the trace file

In all cases, the value for the year used to show up as 100 for the year 2000, 101 for the year 2001, and so on.

In addition, the following date-related problems, not specific to the year 2000, were fixed for the Xact_Age command, the first of these existed in all versions of Transaction Connection:

• If the transaction had a date from the end of a year but it arrived in TC the next year, the Xact_Age calculation would be incorrect resulting in the transaction never being considered too old.
• During any leap year the Xact_Age function would always report that the transaction was too old.

So who is affected by these problems?

• All installations of ERPBridge for J.D. Edwards use the Xact_Age, Write_Xact functions which have Year 2000 problems. The fixes must therefore be applied for these installations.
• The TC scripts shipped by IBM for ERPBridge for MAPICS do not include any of the TC functions that have Year 2000 problems except for the displaying of the date in screen and trace data - which is purely a cosmetic problem for all TC installations. If the scripts have been customized in any way, you need to examine the scripts to find out if any of the above mentioned functions have been added.
• For any other use of TC, you will have to examine the scripts to determine whether or not any of the functions are being used which have Year 2000 problems.
• If you are not sure whether or not any of these functions are being used, then it is best to install the fixes anyway.

Fixes for these problems are available for two versions of Transaction Connection and each is available on both OS/2 and Windows NT:

• If the latest version of DCConnect/Transaction Connection that you have installed is from the -03 DCConnect CD and you have applied Fix Pack D, then you should apply the Year 2000 PTF for Transaction Connection from the -03 CD. If you have not installed Fixpack D for the -03 CD then you must do so before applying this PTF.
• If you have installed the 1.4.0 CDs for DCConnect and Transaction Connection, then you should install Fixpack B for the 1.4.0 CDs

Fixes and new features are provided for the DCConnect User Interface and Server as well as Transaction Connection. Fixes/changes are provided for the following key areas plus other minor ones not mentioned here:

• Year 2000 fixes for Transaction Connection
• Slow down in polling of terminals on serial and ARTIC lines
• Inablity to download 7527 ETS to 7527 terminals.
• PTF for the transaction program binding problem on Windows/NT is included in this fix pack
• The LINETRAC.EXE utility has been enhanced to allow the use of circular logfiles so that tracing can run forever without consuming all disk space.

See the fix pack readme for all the details.

Although the jump in version numbers from 1.21a to 1.40c seems large, there were not very many changes made between versions. We wanted to bring the version numbers of all of our products in line. In fact, the contents of the 1.4.0 CD for the 752x Emulator for DOS is equivalent to the 1.21a version. There are 6 minor fixes since the CD that are in the 1.40c version.

For all the details, see the fix pack README

The announcement has all the details. But here are the highlights along with other important notes:

• 6 products on CD:
  • 41L2179 DCConnect Server for OS/2 and Windows/NT ($2995)
  • 41L2160 DCConnect Development Toolkit for OS/2 and Windows/NT ($3495)
  • 41L2209 DCConnect Transaction Connection for OS/2 and Windows/NT ($3000)
  • 41L2203 DCConnect Transaction Building Tool for OS/2 and Windows/NT ($2000)
  • 41L2166 ERPBridge for MAPICS for OS/2 and Windows/NT ($3500)
  • 41L2189 DCConnect 752x Emulator for DOS ($350 per device)
• 1 product on diskette:
  • 41L2197 DCConnect Terminal Services for DOS and Windows ($395 per machine)
• Where relevant, both the OS/2 and Windows/NT versions of the product are on the same CD. So users can choose to install on either operating system when they purchase the one product.
• All products have been bumped up to Version 1 Release 4 Modification level 0 to simplify things - including the 752x Emulator for DOS. (The 7524 RF/Batch flashes are going to this level too).
• The DCConnect Server no longer has 3 tiers of pricing; there is just one price for support of the maximum number of terminals.
• Upgrade pricing is available at 70% off for customers of record of the previous DCConnect products.
• The upgrade pricing is also available to the 1.4.0 versions of the DCConnect Server and the DCConnect Toolkit for customers of record of DCC/2 (5756-144).
• All future fix packs will be built based from the 1.4.0 levels of code on the new CDS. So it will be necessary for existing customers to upgrade to the 1.4.0 CDs for all products in order to get any future enhancements, features or fixes.
• When you upgrade any one of the following: Server, Toolkit, Transaction Connection or ERPBridge for MAPICS, you must also upgrade all of the others of these products which you already have installed. This is because they are all built using the latest Visual Age compiler libraries and DLLs which won't co-exist with programs using the older version of these libraries/DLLs.
• The JD Edwards products are being rereleased on separate CDs later in September - including support for One World. Stay tuned.
• 7524 Interface Support was not released on its own CD; it is still available on the -03 CD as the same product number (5696-977) with the same choices of tiered pricing. The 1.4.0 version of the DCConnect Server was set up to include all the latest files needed for 7524 IS except for the tier-enforcing DLL that comes on the CD. Therefore installing 7524 IS from the -03 CD after installing the 1.4.0 Server will still work properly.

These CDs actually became available on August 13. However, the content of this website was frozen until mid-September.

Due to a regression bug found after the content of the 1.4.0 CDs was frozen, it is recommended that fix pack A for the 1.4.0 CDs be applied after upgrading to/installing the new CDs. See the next bullet for more details.

Fixes and new features are provided for the DCConnect User Interface and Server as well as Transaction Connection.

The 1.4.0 CDs included a couple of regression bugs that resulted from building with the latest compiler version. This fix pack provides a fix and partial fix for these problems.

See the fix pack readme for all the details.

Although the jump in the version number from 1.21A to 1.40C is large, there are only a few changes. The version was bumped to 1.40 to bring it in line with the versions for the new DCConnect CDs.

This version features a fix for the possible loss of configuration/files when the terminal is powered off and on. Refer to the README for this fix pack for the other enhancements/fixes.

• Intermec 6540 (formerly MaxiLAN DX) and Janus 2050
• Symbol LRT3840, PDT3140, VRC3940, WSS1040 and PDT6840
• Telxon 960SL, 960X and 860IM

The latest fix pack is available to provide this support. In addition to fixes, the following enhancements have been made since the February 1998 release of the product:

• (1.11F) Scanner is now off except when needed
• (1.20B) Added ComRead() CFR API for reading from the serial port
• (1.20D) Support for 99999 bytes of transaction programs (was 65535)
• (1.20E) GetTerminalAddress now returns IP address and port number
• (1.20F) Added new kind of emulator configuration file, EMULATOR.INI, including initial support for the following keywords:
  • NUM_PF_STRINGS
  • NUM_TOUCH_STRINGS
  • MAX_TRANSACTIONS
  • SHOW_IDLE_TIME
  • SCAN_SENTINEL_CHARS
• (1.20G) Added support for PF_MAPPING keyword in EMULATOR.INI
• (1.20J) Added support for TOGGLE_BACKLIGHT_CHAR in EMULATOR.INI (Janus only)
• (1.20J) Emulator now detects when it's been suspended and notifies DCConnect after it resumes
• (1.20K) Added support for ALL_SCAN_DATA_UPPER_CASE and ALLOW_LOWER_CASE keywords in EMULATOR.INI

For all the details, see the fix pack README

For complete information about configuring the emulator and setting up all the different 3rd party terminals, see the 752x Emulator For DOS README online.

In addition to fixes, the following enhancements have been made since the 1.11A release:

• (1.11F) Added support for 9.02 OWL Intermec/Norand 'Falcon' devices.
• (1.11F) Scanner is now off except when needed
• (1.20A) Intermec/Norand 17xx models now support 16x31 display size
• (1.20B) Added ComRead() CFR API for reading from the serial port
• (1.21) Added support for new 2.4ghz Proxim radio (supports old one too)

For all the details, see the fix pack README

Just a few minor fixes, but the documentation for this product is now included in the fix pack and it is available online.

Fixes and new features are provided for the DCConnect User Interface and Server as well as Transaction Connection.

See the fix pack readme for more details.