Developer Product Briefs

Product Listings

Check out the latest add-ins for Visual Studio .NET, including one that lets you add mapping functionality to your apps.

• By Editors Visual Studio Magazine
• 10/01/2004

Form Designer VB 1.0
Form Designer VB 1.0 is an ActiveX control for Visual Basic 6 that lets you select, move, and resize any control on your VB form at run time. Form Designer features support for nested containers; multiselection; numerous edit events; a customizable component hint; a component Toolbox example; a customizable design grid with a snap-to-grid feature; Align and SameSize methods; and clipboard operations for selected controls and properties of selected controls. It also features a free demo of a fully functional form editor, and a free trial version. The product contains an IDE-compatible help file. Contact vendor for pricing.
Greatis Software
Phone: 206-202-4216
Web: www.greatis.com

Map Suite 1.0
Map Suite lets you add mapping functionality to your applications with any .NET-compatible language. It features more than 30 sample applications complete with source code. Map Suite comes in three different editions: Map Suite Winforms Edition for Windows desktop apps with rich user interfaces; Map Suite Webforms Edition for developing ASP.NET Internet-based mapping apps; and Map Suite Map Engine Edition for use in non-UI apps such as Windows Services and Web services. $3,995.
Spatially Aware
Phone: 877-250-7122; 210-757-4262
Web: www.spatiallyaware.com

PortController.NET 1.0
PortController.NET 1.0 is a serial communications component that simplifies RS-232 communication in the .NET Framework. It provides an API that enables .NET developers to add support for multithreaded serial port communications without dealing with thread management or RS-232 protocol details. You can exercise full control over the serial port, including reading and writing text and binary data, setting communications parameters, and managing control line and handshaking states. PortController.NET also monitors the serial port and notifies your app when an event occurs or incoming data is received. The product features 12 example apps in Visual Basic .NET, C#, and C++. $299.
Scientific Component
Phone: 800-840-5991; 267-448-4929
Web: www.scientificcomponent.com

SQL Packager
SQL Packager packages SQL Server databases as executables, letting you package and deploy new or updated databases locally or at remote sites. It is written in .NET and runs on the .NET Framework. Databases are packaged as a .NET executable that you can distribute to any machine running the .NET Framework and SQL Server. SQL Packager helps you decide on the schema and data to be packaged; script schema and data to preserve dependencies; package it as an executable or as a .NET project; and create a utility for easy installation. Video demos, a PowerPoint presentation, a walkthrough, and a fully supported, 14-day trial version are available for free on the Red Gate Web site. $690.
Red Gate Software
Phone: 866-733-4283; +44-870-160-0037
Web: www.red-gate.com

Updates:

ComponentOne Studio Enterprise 2004 Volume 3
Studio Enterprise 2004 Volume 3 includes Flash for .NET, which generates single-frame and animated Macromedia Flash SWF files. Volume 3 also features a new WinForms menu editor that adds drag and drop, XML load/save, and a design-time preview. It includes improved support for embedded controls in toolbars, and you can now associate C1Command objects with intrinsic or other third-party controls. You can also create PDF-style fillable forms with the new C1Preview Forms feature. In Reports for .NET, you can add support for barcode fields, custom fields and tilters, and label/envelope reports. With DataObjects for .NET and WebDataObjects for ASP.NET, you can create schema from an existing ADO.NET data set, an XSD file, or C1DataExpress components with the new Conversion Wizard. Chart for .NET and WebChart for ASP.NET offer enhanced data visualization with new customizable point styles, trend lines, and function plotting classes. $899.95; upgrades $699.95.
ComponentOne
Phone: 800-858-2739; 412-681-4343
Web: www.componentone.com

Crossfire 5.1
Crossfire is a mobile and wireless application development environment that extends and simplifies .NET and VB6 development to mobile and wireless devices. Version 5.1 includes enhancements and performance improvements such as new device and camera support, as well as telephony support for Pocket PC. Crossfire 5.1 now provides bar code and camera support for the HHP Dolphin 9500 and Intermec 700 Series devices, and bar code support for the Intermec CK30. Crossfire 5.1 adds direct support for cameras in mobile devices, including Nokia Series 60, palmOne Zire 71, Sony Clie, Treo 600, and others. Additional features include SMS support for Pocket PC, PIM Library support for Palm OS, full screen support for Pocket PC, and validating event support. $1,000; free upgrade from Crossfire 5.0.
AppForge
Phone: 800-637-5740; 678-686-9400
Web: www.appforge.com

Doc-To-Help 7.2 Professional
ComponentOne Doc-To-Help 7.2 Professional helps you create HTML Help, cross-platform HTML-based Help, JavaHelp, WinHelp, Microsoft Help 2.0, and printed documentation from a single set of Word documents. Version 7.2 includes Documenter for .NET, which lets you automate .NET object model documentation and create .NET application documentation. It also features hyperlink usability and enhanced topic functions, which let you add topics and related topic links to projects instantaneously without rebuilding entire projects. Documenter lets you define the specific .NET assemblies, types, and members to include in documentation. Documenter produces an MSDN formatted object model document including code samples, comments, hyperlinks, cross references, topic links, and more. $999.95.
ComponentOne
Phone: 800-858-2739; 412-681-4343
Web: www.componentone.com

Enterprise Blocks 2.0
Enterprise Blocks contains a set of .NET Web controls used in Visual Studio that allow you to perform data analysis on SQL Server databases. The controls bind to data sources that provide common data analysis features, and they work with a services layer that you can access as Windows or Web services. Version 2 features an expanded object model that supports 50 new types of queries. This release also introduces a new service provider for accessing SQL Server tables directly from Enterprise Blocks clients. This capability allows you to develop OLAP-style applications directly against SQL Server data either instead of or as a complement to using Microsoft Analysis Services. $495.
Enterprise Blocks
Web: www.eblocks.com

Gadami 1.1
Gadami is a Windows application written in .NET that sends the results of SQL queries in HTML e-mails. Gadami can query SQL Server or any OLE DB data source such as Access and Excel. The e-mail may contain the data in an attached Excel spreadsheet with separate tables in separate worksheets of the same workbook. You can also use Gadami to automatically send out an e-mail to a separate group of e-mail addresses for each slice of one query, called bursting. $9.95 Standard; $39.95 Professional.
Kripsoft
Web: www.kripsoft.com

.netCHARTING 2.5
.netCHARTING provides charting for ASP.NET Web sites. You can create dynamic multiseries charts from your own database with minimal code. The product supports hundreds of different charting variations, alone or in combination, in both 2-D and 3-D views. Version 2.5 features a new gauge/dial chart type. In addition to supporting a single chart, you can add multiple gauges for instant executive dashboard implementations. This new type features quarter, half, or arbitrary sized gauges, with and without clipping, and 3-D highlight effects. Licensing includes unlimited development/test servers, unlimited users/CPUs, and free lifetime product support.
Corporate Web Solutions
Web: www.dotnetcharting.com

SocketTools Secure Visual Edition 4.0
SocketTools Secure Visual Edition 4.0 supports the standard SSL and TLS security protocols with 128-bit encryption; enables security features with minimal code; supports both implicit and explicit SSL and TLS connections; supports client certificates when required by the remote host; supports using certificate files and the Windows certificate store; creates both secure client and server applications; and has no dependencies on third-party SSL libraries. $895.
Catalyst Development
Phone: 800-776-3818; 760-228-9653
Web: www.catalyst.com

SocketTools Visual Edition 4.0
SocketTools Visual Edition 4.0 is a collection of TCP/IP networking components for Windows. It is 100-percent compatible with Visual Studio .NET, including VB.NET and C#. New features include standard ATL-based ActiveX controls compatible with any COM-compliant tool; lower resource utilization and no external dependencies on third-party libraries; thread-safe implementation with support for multithreaded apps; and a new control with an interface for the IMAP4 protocol. SocketTools Visual Edition includes both high-level and lower-level methods for maximum flexibility. It supports both synchronous and asynchronous network connections, as well as proxy servers, including secure proxies, using FTP and HTTP. $395.
Catalyst Development
Phone: 800-776-3818; 760-228-9653
Web: www.catalyst.com

Visual Comparer 1.3
Visual Comparer 1.3 lets you see the differences between two text files in a split-screen view mode. It includes a full-featured text editor that supports both ANSI and Unicode files, as well as syntax highlighting for programming languages including C++, C#, JavaScript, Perl, Visual Basic, VBScript, and Pascal. Visual Comparer represents all differences between two text files using graphical panes, with color lines representing new fragments of text, changed text, and lines of text that were left intact. Visual Comparer is customizable and supports plug-in architecture, which lets you expand the program functionality by adding new syntax highlighting patterns. The reporting feature lets you create printable HTML reports that cover all the differences between files. Starts at $29.
Nikeware
Web: www.nikeware.com

Visual UML 4.0
Visual UML 4.0 is an object-modeling tool that provides support UML 2.0, including activity diagrams, state machine diagrams, object diagrams, package diagrams, communication diagrams, interaction overview diagrams, and frames. Visual UML 4.0 has a similar look and feel to Visual Studio .NET's user interface, as well as Office XP or 2003. It also features an improved Model Explorer; improved support for defining interfaces; the ability to add multiple object instances to diagrams; improved support for profiles, stereotypes, and tagged values; XML file format for models; improved reporting; and improved support for classes, nested classes, actors, use cases, components, nodes, collaborations, objects, and more. Starts at $495.
Visual Object Modelers
Phone: 800-900-1902; 303-448-8835
Web: www.visualobject.com