Mel:

>I am using the new CodeMine 7 html help in addition to the printed 6 docuement. And I guess that is where the problem is - as a new user of CodeMine 7 who never used CodeMine 6 - its hard for me to understand what the difference is between CodeMine 6 and 7 - and what I should not be paying attention to in the CodeMine 6 manual, and what I should be paying special attention to in the CodeMine 7 help.

In effect, the major difference between Codemine 6 and Codemine 7 is that in 6, you had the DataManager class. In 7, the datamanager has been broker up into separate parts. You still have the datamanager but most of the "rules" have been moved out into separate rule classes. In fact, the datamanager inherits from the rule class. You also have a new Codemine Data Environment container class that contains cursor classes (that can be based on different data sources). Rule classes can be added into the CDE (Codemine Data Environment) and as the rules are classes, they can be re-used and further sub-classed. The datamanager can still work like it did, but is really a kind of mediator between the form and its CDE nowadays. The biggest reasons why? Well, the CDE now provides a true "business object" than can exist on its own without a form being required. The original datamanger could only be form based and sometimes it got a little complex as everything was housed in the one class.

So, use the V6 guide for all other framework concepts (everything) and turn to the V7 HTML help guide when using the data elements.

>Also, I just don't find much "sample" code in the new things which are included in the new CodeMine 7 help. In all honestly, I don't have a clue what kind of code would go in some of the properties unless I could see some sample code. In thinking about it, there really isn't a lot of sample code in the CodeMine 6 documents either. In working through the tutorials, when I found and viewed sample code - it was kind of obvious what was happening and fairly easy to understand.

Its a lot of the same really. Once you know how to get a form up and running with a CDE and integrate it into the menu, it pretty much the same as before. The CDE has a really good builder which takes the work out of that. Best advice is to look at how things hang together in the sample app and, ask here too.

>And finally, it seems like CodeMine 7 never crashes - which is great. In real life end user applications - are you finding that CodeMine developed applications are that stable (obviousely assuming no bad developer code)? I realize that you will probably be answering this from CodeMine 6 perspective since CodeMine 7 is not finished. The one error I did find in CodeMine 7 had already been found and fixed when I emailed Dave at SoftClassics about it.

I have been using Codemine 7 in production applications since January this year - it was in early beta and has worked very well, all along. I would personally go with 7 now.

Most of the properties you never touch. I still refer to the 6 manual because all of the controls, forms, statemanager and services are exactly the same. Just remember that all that has really happened is that the datamanager has been broken up and is more modular and useable. Also, a CDE can provide data and services for none Codemine based clients.

Codemine 7 is really great and well worth learning. If you have questions, ask away here and we will all try and help.

-=Gary