From: jesper@cooper.xanthus.se (Jesper Lundh)
Subject: Xanthus Announces Questor Spreadsheet for NeXTSTEP
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 03:17:06 GMT


              Xanthus International Announces

                       Questor

- the State-of-the-art Spreadsheet Application for NeXTSTEP

Stockholm, November 17, 1992 - Xanthus International AB today
announced Questor, its spreadsheet application for the NeXTSTEP
computing environment.

Aimed at everybody that has been waiting for a high quality
matrix-based spreadsheet application tailored for the NeXTSTEP
environment, Questor offers the ease-of-use of traditional spreadsheet
applications combined with the extra power offered by NeXTSTEP.

For example, Questor can easily retrieve data from relational
databases like Oracle and Sybase using the Database Kit in NeXSTEP and
display the data in full color charts that can be placed in other
documents and automatically updated by the Object Linking mechanism of
NeXTSTEP.


"Questor brings the power of the Database Kit to everybody," says
Jesper Lundh, marketing manager at Xanthus."Questor will increase the
productivity of anybody with a computer running NeXTSTEP on their
desk."

Questor is the perfect tool for all the things traditionally done with
spreadsheet applications, like budgets, scientific calculations,

creating tables and charts for presentations etc. In addition to the
basic spreadsheet power, Questor comes with user interface objects
like buttons and sliders as well as a powerful and easy-to-use
scripting language called QScript. These tools will allow users to
customize spreadsheets to perform very specific tasks.

The open architecture of Questor, with an extremely powerful API, also
lets users control spreadsheets from other applications written in
objective-C and Questor to control any other application with a
Speaker/Listener interface through the QScript language.

Selected Questor features:

- A structured scripting language - QScript with an "intelligent"  
editor including automatic pretty-printing and programming support.  
QScript allows you to customize your spreadsheet to perform very  
specific tasks.

- Input controllers like buttons, text-fields and sliders can be  
drag-and-dropped anywhere on the spreadsheet and connected to QScript

code or directly to cells by control-dragging.

- Images and sound can be drag-and-dropped anywhere on the  
spreadsheet to create stunning documents including graphics and sound

effects.

- "Output objects" like charts and gauges can be drag-and-dropped  
anywhere on the spreadsheet and be connected to cell areas by  
control-dragging for continuous updating.

- Drawing tools that allows you to draw directly on the spreadsheet.

- Seamless connections to relational databases like Oracle and Sybase

using the Database Kit in NeXTSTEP.

- A powerful double-directed API that allows Questor to easily  
control and exchange data with other applications.

- External functions can be written in C or in QScript and be loaded  
into Questor for easy extensibility.

- A ToolBox that includes object palettes and a number of other tools

that removes the need of modal panels for filling, searching and  
sorting data. The ToolBox also includes complete scripting support.

- Full support for user palettes. Users can easily create new  
palettes with customized charts, graphics and control objects. 


- Full support for Lotus 1-2-3 bracket-macros. 


- Unlimited undo.

- Full support for object linking.

- The Questor QScript Debugger which allows functions to be debugged  
in a seamless manner.

- The Questor Macro Stepper which allows macros to be debugged on  
different levels of granularity.

- Basic support for multi-user access. Several users can look at the  
same document, but only one can open it in read/write mode. Users  
with a document opened in read-only mode are notified as soon as the  
disk version of the document changes. 


Questor is now beta tested at selected beta sites.

Questor will be available Q1 1993 through selected resellers  
worldwide.

For more information please contact questor@xanthus.se

Xanthus International, headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, is a
privately owned software development company that specializes in the
NeXTSTEP platform. Questor is the fourth in a series of
general-purpose productivity tools for NeXTSTEP. In May 1992, Xanthus
started to ship its first product CraftMan, the multimedia programming
tool for the NeXT computer. The second product was LaserMan, a tool
for controlling Laser Disc Players and other devices from a NeXT
computer.  The third product was SplitBuilder/Receiver, a tool for
sending large files via NeXTmail. LaserMan and SplitBuilder/Receiver
started to ship in September 1992. Xanthus International was founded
in 1990.

Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.announce