Steve Hoogheem of the CSY labs created the wrappers, and said the software includes functions (packaged into libraries) and commands, over 100 in total. “We’ve found we needed more than just the current offerings, and I wanted to make these available for others to use,” Hoogheem said. “This was a way to make them immediately available, in a ‘use as is,’ unsupported manner, versus going through a longer software release cycle.”

Hoogheem illustrated the utility of the wrappers with two examples. Fcntl() is a complex function, “almost like eight functions rolled into a single function. Currently, MPE does not support sockets through the fcntl() function; one must call a different function sfcntl(). Therefore, I created an fcntl() wrapper which can be a single call interface for what fcntl() does today — files, fifos, pipes, etc., plus sockets.”

Hoogheem recommended a reference for developers who are working on ports who might find fcntl() and other functions useful: “Advanced Programming in the Unix Environment” by W. Richard Stevens (Addison Wesley, 1992). Hoogheem said fcntl() is described starting on page 63. “Many of the test programs in [our] Posix wrappers set are from this book,” he said, “with credit given, of course.”

As a second example, the POSIX nohup command allows a developer to execute a command separate from the current session. “On MPE, that’s done with a batch job,” Hoogheem said. “So I created a nohup command which launches the specified command as a separate batch job and handles nohup’s various options.” The wrappers have certified for use on both MPE/iX 5.5 and 6.0 releases, and a source-only version of them is a downloadable file of only 1.3 Mb.

Solution-Soft updates Time Machine Y2K tool

Solution-Soft (888.884.7337, www.solution-soft.com) has rolled out a 2.10 version of its Time Machine tool for date simulation on HP 3000s. This version adds the ability for a user to redirect the virtual date/time from the MPE SHOWTIME command to a MPE file. Time Machine, which is also available for HP 9000s, RS/6000s, Sun Sparc and NCR platforms, supports wildcard variables such as @date@ and Boolean expressions.

Speedware updates Visual Speedware

Speedware announced it released the 1.02 version of its Visual Speedware development environment in December.

The new release for MPE/iX systems contains more than 80 new features, including customizable Form Wizard Templates, a Database Definition Workshop, an RTF report viewer, major enhancements to the Form Wizards and Migration Utilities, SRM database level security, a partial spec (and spectest file) generator, code generation interruption, customizable runtime messages, and new events in code editors.

Euro support built-in for MANMAN, but not multiple currencies

MANMAN expert Terry Floyd of the Support Group inc. (www.supgrp.com, 512.451.1135) said that MANMAN’s manufacturing software for HP 3000s should let customers support the new Euro currency for European trading partners. A problem that the Support Group was still researching is how to get the Euro added to an existing currency for a partner.

“MANMAN has always been able to handle currency translations, so it will support setting up and maintaining any existing denominations of any currency,” Floyd said. “And it will certainly allow the creation of Euros and their exchange rates. But having two currencies for the same trading partner is a problem, I’d guess.” Floyd said that MANMAN defines a trading partner, whether a vendor or customer can have only one currency. “So, if a customer is either all Euros or all francs for example, no problem. But if they want to use both, uh-oh.”

Y2K support updated for older versions of MACS

Smith-Gardner Associates (SGA) announced that the 2.04 and 2.05 versions of its MACS software will receive a Year 2000-compliant version of GTS, the General Ledger and Accounts Payable modules of the software. SGA didn’t plan to make the GTS module Year 2000-compliant with the older versions of the software, “which basically meant everybody would need to have upgraded to the latest version of MACS to get the Y2K GL/AP,” said MACS user group member Jon Backus. Customer concerns about the upgrades led to a revision of SGA’s Y2K plans.

MACS 2.04 customers will now get a GTS-Y2K update tape that can be placed into their current environment, one that doesn’t force them to take an entire 2.04 Patch Tape. The tape will include the new GTS database and programs, a GTS database conversion program, and three MACS program updates: GL Extract, the “OLD 2.04” Invoice Approval and Vendor Returns.

Customers working with the 2.05 and 3.1 versions of MACS will get a separate update tape.This update requires that MACS customers begin using the new Invoice Approval program. SGA representatives said the 3.1.3 release as well as the stand-alone GTS-Y2K update tapes will be available this month. SGA said its release schedule will bring a 3.2 version early this year, and that 2.04 becomes unsupported in July.