Organization: The American University - University Computing Center
Date: Friday, 21 Aug 1992 15:00:10 EDT
From: <SAHRABI@auvm.american.edu>
Newsgroups: comp.databases
Subject:    LATEST ON PARADOX ENGINE 3.0

The following is from BORLAND's development tools forum on compuserve.
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COPYRIGHT BORLAND INTERNATIONAL, INC.  1992



BORLAND PARADOX ENGINE
& DATABASE FRAMEWORK 3.0
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS


Q. When will the Borland Paradox Engine & Database Framework 3.0 be
available?
A. Borland Paradox Engine 3.0 is scheduled to ship in October 1992.
Pricing and upgrade upgrade information will be announced in the near
future.

Q. If I don't use Paradox, why should I upgrade?
A. The Borland Paradox Engine is a powerful yet easy to use mechanism
for storing and retrieving data from disk.  With Borland Paradox
Engine 3.0 there is no need to develop your own proprietary data
format.  Borland provides the highly optimized industry standard file
format, and access capability which saves the user time when
developing an application.

Q. Which compilers are compatible with the Borland Paradox Engine 3.0?
A. Borland's family of C/C++ compilers, Microsoft C 6.01 or later,
Turbo Pascal 6.0 or later, and Turbo Pascal for Windows 1.0 or later.

Q. Is Borland Paradox Engine 3.0 compatible with Paradox 4.0?
A. Yes. The Borland Paradox Engine 3.0 supports the new high speed
file locking protocol used by Paradox 4.0, as well as support for
existing Paradox 3.0 or 3.5 file formats.

Q. Will Borland Paradox Engine 3.0 be fully compatible with Paradox
for Windows?
A. Yes. The Borland Paradox Engine 3.0 supports the new file locking
protocol used in Paradox 4.0 and Paradox for Windows.

Q. If I replace the DLL in my current Engine application with the
Borland Paradox Engine 3.0 DLL, what improvements will I see in
performance?
A.  The performance improvements require using the Paradox 4.0 fast
file format.  A function call is provided to convert Paradox 3.0 or
3.5 files to Paradox 4.0 files to improve the performance up to 20%.

Q. Will the Borland Paradox Engine 3.0 operate on dBASE files?
A. Currently the Borland Paradox Engine only supports Paradox file
formats.  Support for dBASE is planned for future releases of the
product.

Q. Is the Borland Paradox Engine supported by other products?
A. Yes.  The Borland Paradox Engine includes a version of the library
for use by any Windows application that can load and access a DLL.
This includes applications such as Borland C++, Turbo Pascal, Visual
Basic, and Toolbook.

Q. What languages are supported by the Borland Paradox Engine 3.0?
A. The Borland Paradox Engine 3.0 has support for Borland C++, ANSI C,
Turbo Pascal for Windows, Turbo Pascal, and Turbo Pascal with Objects.

Q. Does the Borland Paradox Engine 3.0 support SQL and is it a server?
A. The Engine does not have support for SQL nor is it a SQL server.
But Paradox 3.5 and 4.0 support SQL Links as an upgrade option.

Borland Paradox Engine & Database Framework 3.0 Q&A--Continued


Q. Will applications developed with the Paradox Engine 2.0 require any
code changes to use the Borland Paradox Engine 3.0?
A. No. The Borland Paradox Engine is 100% upwardly compatible with
code developed for the Paradox Engine 2.0.  However, to take advantage
of the new API function calls in Borland Paradox Engine, additional
code is required.

Q. What are some of the new function calls in Borland Paradox Engine
3.0?
A. The new Borland Paradox Engine 3.0 includes high performance "raw"
data transfer calls for record manipulation, an entire suite of
functions for Binary Large Object (BLOB) data, new network functions,
and more.

Q. Can Windows applications use the Borland Paradox Engine 3.0?
A. Yes.  The Borland Paradox Engine 3.0 is provided as a Dynamic Link
Library (DLL) for Windows applications. Multiple applications can
share the library so memory is used efficiently.

Q. Is the Borland Paradox Engine 3.0 a Windows only product?
A. No.  The Borland Paradox Engine 3.0 supports DOS and Windows. For
DOS applications the Engine is compatible with Borland's Virtual
Run-time Object Oriented Memory Manager (VROOMM) overlay technology,
which allows applications to exceed the 640K barrier imposed by DOS.

Q. What are the memory requirements for an application using the
Borland Paradox Engine 3.0?
A. For DOS applications the Engine has full support for Borland's
VROOMM technology, where small portions of the library are loaded into
memory when they are needed. The largest overlay of the engine
requires 90KB of RAM. For Windows applications, a DLL is provided and
shared between applications for efficient use of memory.

Q. How will I convert my Paradox 3.0 or 3.5 files to the new Paradox
4.0 file format?
A. The Borland Paradox Engine 3.0 has function calls that will
automatically translate Paradox 3.0 or 3.5 files into the Paradox 4.0
file format.

Q. Which networks are supported by the Borland Paradox Engine 3.0?
A. The networks supported by the Borland Paradox Engine are: Novell
Netware, 3Com, 3Com3+Open, IBM PC LAN, AT&T StarGroup, Banyan Vines,
Local-share net types, and other DOS 3.1 compatible networks.

Q. Is a run-time royalty fee required when applications that use the
Borland Paradox Engine 3.0 are distributed?
A. No.  The Borland Paradox Engine has an unlimited, royalty-free,
run-time license.

Q. What is the Database Framework?
A. The Database Framework is an object layer that encapsulates the
Engine's API and provides high level objects that reduce the
complexity of application development with the Engine. It is the first
deliverable in our Borland Object Component Architecture (BOCA), and
applications written with the Database Framework are 100% compatible
with it.

Borland Paradox Engine & Database Framework 3.0 Q&A--Continued

Q. Is the Database Framework part of the Borland Object Component
Architecture (BOCA)?
A. Yes. The Database Framework is actually a subset of the Object
Layer described in BOCA.

Q. Is object oriented programming required when using the Database
Framework?
A. Yes. The Database Framework is a class library of objects and
requires the use of either C++ or Pascal with objects.

Q. Is the Database Framework an object oriented DBMS?
A. No.  Paradox is not an object oriented DBMS. The Database Framework
provides an abstraction of Paradox tables into a virtual table with
the functionality of Paradox. When BOCA is available with the
InterBase Local Engine, these virtual tables the will have access to
Paradox and dBASE files.

Q. Will the Database Framework include source code?
A. Yes.  All of the source code used to build the Database Framework
is included with the product which includes Pascal and C++.

Q. When the BOCA architecture ships will the code I've written with
the Database Framework be compatible with the Object Layer of BOCA?
A. Yes.  Because the Database Framework is a part of the Object Layer,
in BOCA, applications that use the Engine Database Framework will be
100% compatible with BOCA's Object Layer.

Q. Is the Database Framework part of the Open Database Application
Programming Interface (ODAPI)?
A. The Database Framework is a component of the Object Layer found in
BOCA.  Since ODAPI is an interface with that Object Layer, the Object
Layer also supports ODAPI.

Q. How will I migrate to the future version of the Borland Paradox
Engine as defined in BOCA?
A. The Database Framework insulates the developer from the Borland
Paradox Engine's API. When the BOCA engine is available, it will
replace the Borland Paradox Engine 3.0.  All existing applications
that use the Database Framework will continue to work, and will have
limited access to dBASE files (without writing any additional code).

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