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New Email Component If you were at last October's 4D Summit Conference in San Francisco you probably heard about, and maybe even saw, the upcoming Foundation Email component. 
Designed for sending both individual and mass-mailings from your existing data, this 4D 2004 component features a template editor to help you send pre-created messages both procedurally and through an easy-to-use interface. Watch for the first beta release later this month. 
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Nav Palette Tip Although there's no specific command for procedurally closing the Navigation Palette window, it's still possible. Just delete all of the buttons by calling Fnd_Nav_Delete without any parameters. The empty Navigation Palette window will close automatically.
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PowerTools Bundle We've teamed up with ASG to save you up to $100 when you purchase both Foundation 4 and PowerTools. Hurry, this special offer expires at the end of April.
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Toolbar Buttons The Fnd_Tlbr_Button_Remove routine can be used to remove one or more of the default toolbar buttons from the output form. Just pass it the button name from the On Load phase of the Fnd_aa_IO_OutputFormMethod hook. Here's the list of button names Foundation uses when setting up the output form's toolbar:
New Remember that the corresponding menu items may also need to be disabled.
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Is it Time to Renew? Don't forget to check your support expiration date the next time you visit the Foundation web site. You'll save $50 by renewing before your membership expires. |
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Foundation 4.2 Released We've got another major update for you this month. Version 4.2 drastically changes the way the Foundation components use tables in your structure. This update breaks the link between components and tables, allowing you to remove and reinstall components without fear of leaving orphaned tables in your structure file. See "Components and Tables" below to learn how this change will reduce your upgrade headaches. Along with this release is a new optional component. The Foundation Registration component is ideal for creating shareware or demo versions of your project. There's more information in the story below. We've also improved one of the standard Foundation components. The updated Preferences component can now store a preference setting in the 4D data file. You can even create preferences that can be shared among all users in a client/server environment. And, as always, there are lots of minor bug fixes in this update. For example, Jack Delay fixed a problem in the Windows component. Now the Fnd_Wnd_MoveOnScreen routine works even when using multiple monitors on Macintosh. Visit the Foundation Components page for the latest version and the release notes for each component.
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Registration Component If you've ever considered posting an evaluation version of your database online, you've probably spent some time thinking about how you can provide a useful demonstration version while also ensuring that you'll get paid if someone decides to keep using your product. The new Foundation Registration component might be the solution you're looking for.
A second component is included that can be installed in your customer tracking database to generate unlock codes. The unlock code is generated using open-source hash routines, combined with a secret key that you provide. Documentation is included so that you can generate unlock codes from your web site or any other application. Thanks to Vincent Tournier of e-Node for helping to debug this component. He also provided the French localization.
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Components and Tables Some Foundation users have had problems when installing or updating Foundation components. 4D Insider will sometimes report a corruption problem, requiring the removal of all components from the database. For most components this isn't a problem. But for components that include a table, the table is renamed "Deleted table." Reinstalling the component installs a new table instead of reusing the old one. Not only will there be unwanted tables in your structure, but you will also be required to move any data you want to preserve from the old table to the new one. Foundation 4.2 addresses this problem. As of this release, none of the Foundation components include tables. Instead, the components reference the necessary tables indirectly using pointers. If you're adding a component that requires a table to a non-Foundation based project, you'll need to manually create the necessary table in your structure. Fortunately, this is easily done using a 4D Insider library. And if you're updating a Foundation-based project, the process is even easier. See the Read Me and 4.2 Addendum for complete details. |
Just install this component and add a few lines of setup code, and your database will display an attractive (and fully customizable) demonstration message at startup. The user can continue to use the database in demo mode for a specific number of days, after which some or all functionality will be limited until an unlock code is entered. Or you can limit the demo to a specific number of records. You can even require additional unlock codes to access special features.