Re: Informix NewEra vs. other possibilities

Greetings Some of the information given below is a little dated; here's an update. Informix has a strong migration strategy for 4GL to NewEra. The VCL for character deployment is in the mill - if it's a key element to your application, you may be able to get early access. Cheers Andrey Yu. Grachyov (andy@tern.msk.su) wrote: : Hi netters! : > We are presently considering migrating from our current 4GL/alpha terminal : > environment to graphical user interfaces (mostly PC/MSWindows, maybe also : > Mac). The databases (Online) shall remain on our UNIX server, but the : > applications would be migrated. Some trials with 4GL for Windows were : > very unsatisfactory: Much too slow, unattractive user interface. : : [skipped...] : : > We have heard quite a few contradictory opinions and impressions about : > NewEra, so I'd like to present the following questions to people : > who have experience in this field: : > : > 1) What is the advantage of NewEra over other GUI tools with ODBC : > access capability for Informix databases? : > : > (We don't know PowerBuilder, but what about VisualBasic/Visual C++? : > May be even VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) together with : > MS-Access/Excel/Word could do what we want and would be MUCH : > cheaper.) : When I implemented VB3.0 application that get and sent data from/to : Informix Server via ODBC, I found out that there were some problems : 1. I couldn't update or insert or delete data in Informix RDBMS : by the native way (DataControl or RecordSet). It was nesseccary : to use Execute or ExecuteSQL statements and to generate strings : with SQL statements I was need. : 2. The only way to insert a blob into a table was using external : batch-file with ftp and rexec commands. : > 2) How much work is involved in migrating a UNIX 4GL application to : > NewEra? Can I just recompile the old code with some cosmetic : > modifications, or is an almost complete rewrite necessary? : A lot of work. I think the simplest way is to rewrite your application. : NewEra and 4GL use different input/output functions. 4GL uses : forms and menus, NewEra uses window classes. The biggest part of : any program is input/output processing. : BUT! I was said, that Informix hoped that a converter from : 4GL to NewEra would appear (from third company, I wasn't said : which one and when). It was said last October at Moscow Financial : Forum of Informix. : > 3) Has anybody converted 4GL applications into Windows apps using : > non-Informix tools and programming environments, such as Visual : > Basic or similar? What were your experiences, especially regarding : > the time involved and the speed of the application at runtime? : > : > I'll contact Informix sales in Germany about more info on NewEra, : > but it is always better to get info from "real" programmers and users : > to compare that to the sales hype. : We've implemented a big pilot project on NewEra and I think the : product is very good. There are some little bugs (or features ? :-) ) : in NewEra, but I think the bugs will be fixed soon. Moreover, : INFORMIX SOFTWARE promises to implement alpha-numeric visual : libraries, so in future you will have the same application : for both GUI and alpha terminals (I don't understand the way : GUI-applications can be ported to alpha terminals, but Informix : promises :-O ). : In any case NewEra will be ported to different hardware and OS, : but VB and Excel etc are MS Windows applications and won't be : ported to Macs, for example. : The only real disadvantage of NewEra is that the product is very : expansive. : Bye. : --------------------------------------------------------------- : Andrew Yu. Grachyov | Phone +7 (095) 928-6078 : TERN, Moscow, Russia | +7 (095) 928-4262 : andy@tern.msk.su | Fax +7 (095) 280-3870 -- # Adam Green, Federal Office, Canberra # Product Manager - Australia # Ph. + 61 6 273 1200 Fax + 61 6 273 1220 eMail adamg@informix.com