Those of you running client-server will like that we updated things so that if a client is disconnected due to things like a network hiccup or timeout, it will try to reconnect, rather than you having to close the client and reopen it.

For those of you who program your applications with SBasic: If you are using the XResultSet family (and if you're not, you should be), Sesame 3 adds several super-useful new commands to that family.

@XResultSetNew(filename as string, record_definition as string) as int - Creates a new empty result set.

@XResultSetUnion(one_id, two_id) as int - Merges two result sets into a new destination result set, sans duplicates.

@XResultSetDifference(one_id, two_id) as int - Finds the difference between two result sets (all of the records in one_id that do not also appear in two_id).

@XResultSetCompare(one_id, two_id) as int - Finds the same records between two result sets (all of the records in one_id that do also appear in two_id).

What happened to "Save" button?  I use that when I want to save the record without advancing to new record!  It also ran the On Exit event programming. Sometime I needed to run the On Exit event programming before I printed out certain forms using command buttons on the form. I guess I will have to use "Save" command button on the form itself.

Does Sesame 3 generate local export files?

Sesame 3 – Quick Search
Simple Search (which provides a weighted search-engine style search that looks in all your fields and returns the matching records in order of relevance) was so popular in Sesame 2 that we decided to put it right out on top. In Sesame 3, Quick Search is available in Add, Search and Update modes. It even lets you choose between getting a new result set and searching within the current records.

Bharat_Naik wrote on Jul 7^th, 2011 at 2:34pm:

Then you'll like that, about five minutes ago, Cow finished implementing a feature that optionally puts everything on the Tree/Button Menu onto a Commands menu up on the menu bar.  So, if you want, you can hide the command area to save screen real estate without taking away all the functionality it provides.

Sesame uses an ini file to control a whole slew of options. In Sesame 3, the Server Admin Window includes a place where you can edit these options from inside Sesame.

Off topic replies have been moved to This Thread

That will be extremely useful feature. I have been currently using Physical Exam form that has been used as background image and fields are marked on it. On Opening the form the fields are filled out from the existing data from the database and I have to just print out the form most of the time. It does give me chance to change the data if I have to.

This is just round-about way. I am sure the new feature will be a direct way and a lot easier to implement. I also have quite a few pdf forms that I have to automatically fill out with data from the database and then print them out or fax as needed. Thanks for the great new feature.

Wow, that does sound cool!

Will Sesame 3 include any built-in encryption capability?

You could probably avoid any export restrictions by offering encryption activation as a separate product or functionality, i.e., the basic version has the necessary code but without a separately-issued activation key the encryption functions simply pass the function argument through unchanged or apply an unrestricted encryption level.

Since a bunch of you are not on Facebook, I'll try to post in both places. As always, your comments and questions are welcome. Here's a rollup:

Sesame 3 – 64 bit
Sesame 2 (a 32 bit program) will run fine on your 64 bit operating system, but it can’t take full advantage of a 64 bit system. Sesame 3 will be released in both 32 and 64 bit versions so those of you with large applications can use all the resources available to a 64 bit OS.

Sesame 3 – Notify Flags
Notify Flags let you notify Sesame via SBasic about what actions a user may or may not perform while using a particular Form. Sesame 3 adds a set of new Notify Flags that control Search, which Specs are available, printing, running Reports, macros, opening and closing apps, etc. There is also a new GlobalNotify command which sets the default Notify Flags for all your Forms at once.

Sesame 3 - Breaking News
Development just finished adding an auto-complete feature to the SBasic Programming Editor. As you type, the Editor will attempt to auto complete for you from the list of your element names and the built-in SBasic command names.

Sesame 3 - Breaking News
As of a few minutes ago, Sesame 3 now has the ability to dynamically add elements to your forms in runtime from SBasic. You can even attach programming to these elements! This opens up all kinds of possibilities for things like offering different choices to a user or gathering different information from a user based on what they selected in another element.

Sesame 3 – Server to Client File Transfer
Sesame 3 includes a new SBasic command that lets you transfer a file from the server to the client machine. Those of you who do exports or have merge documents that you want to copy to the client machine will find this command very handy. Note to admins: Yes, there is an INI file entry you can use to prevent this.

Sesame 3 –Table of Contents
Sesame 3 has a really handy Table of Contents feature. This brings up a sorted, scrollable list of selected values in your retrieved records. When you click a record in the list, it takes you directly to that record.

Sesame 3 – Breaking News
Development just implemented an amazing new search feature. If you enter a filename or URL in a field, when you search that field using the Retrieve Spec, Sesame will search the contents of the specified file or URL to see if that record matches your search criteria. I saw a demo of this a few minutes ago and my mind just exploded with the possibilities!

Sesame 3 - Binary FTP
Sesame 3 expands the FTP family of SBasic commands to include commands that can transfer files in binary mode. Now, those of you who want to FTP binary files like images and PDFs can do so from SBasic.

Sesame 3 - Multimedia Capabilities
Sesame 3 includes the ability to read barcodes, record video and take snapshots from a webcam, record audio, play video files and more. With these capabilities, Sesame can be your point of sale system, video chat provider, security monitor, etc.

Sesame 3 - Barcodes
So, I was working with the new webcam functions today. I built a little application that has my webcam watch for barcodes. When it sees one, it uses SearchUPC.com to search the internet and find how much the item costs on various websites. It then displays that list in one of the new multi-column list boxes.

Sesame 3 - Dynamic Tables
Working with Sesame 3’s new dynamic table functions today. These let you draw a table on your form and populate it with information dynamically without needing to have subrecords. I love what I was able to make it do!

For example, working with Customers, I selected an Interest from a popup list and populated a dynamic table with matching Customers. I then marked a few of the records in the table and clicked another button which opened the Customers form with only those records.

These new functions are very useful for more information display and processing tasks than I can possibly list.

Sesame 3 - Dynamic Elements
Experimenting with Sesame 3’s ability to dynamically put elements on forms today. I wrote a routine that lets you select a doctor from a list of names. It then puts a button on the form for each appointment slot that doctor has available. Click the button and it schedules that appointment. Then all the buttons go away. I’ve wanted this in Sesame for quite awhile and now it works just the way I always wanted!

Sesame 3 - Webcam
Writing examples for some more of the new Sesame 3 multimedia commands today. With a $6.00 webcam and three lines of SBasic code, I turned Sesame into a security system that monitors our office door and saves a snapshot each time it detects motion. No sneaking into or out of the office around here!

Sesame 3 - Image Tagging
If you have an Image field in your application, Sesame 3 provides the tools to add a variety of custom tags to the image. You can mark up a print, tag where an item is stored in your warehouse, add instructions, etc. The tags are stored, so they appear whenever you view the record. They tags can also be searched.

Agreed.  My head, too, was dancing with a couple of ideas inspired by the description of new features.

I believe it is for temporary use and does not change anything in the designer file. When one reconcile again, do these changes go away?

Quote:


I am referring to above. Adding elements to the form in Runtime. (Did not understand the part - from SBasic!!!)

Bharat_Naik wrote on Sep 13^th, 2011 at 5:20pm:


You can indeed temporarily add elements in SBasic. This is something else though. The right-click thing is a new tool for when you working on your Forms in SDesigner.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!

Related to "create a database from a scanned document", how about something similar for "create a database from an HTML form" or from a PDF form?

I'm not thinking that it would automatically create the "back end" for an HTML form, just a database.  People often go to websites that have an HTML form to request product information, tech support, buy or donate, etc., and think, "We could use a database like that and those are basically the fields we would need."

Considering the variety of ways to create what appears to website visitors to be an "HTML form", it might be easier to have something that generates a PDF from the HTML page (e.g., doPDF or the virtual PDF printer Acrobat installs) and then use that as the source to generate the database.

Sesame 3 provides a way to set calculated values like current date, current time, or @Number as initial values. This is something that we had in Q&A, but not in Sesame 2. In Sesame 3, we've gotten that back for you in a way that lets you set simple values, but also much more.

lksseven wrote on Sep 16^th, 2011 at 6:09pm:

Yes. Thank you. We will now return to work.

Sesame 3 Breaking News - Fixed Length Import
In response to requests from our users, Sesame 3 now has fixed length import capability. Thanks for your input!

Quote:


I don't understand -- let's say I put a hyperlink into a client record, the 'contact us' page of their website -- are you saying that Sesame will check to see if the contact information in the record itself matches the website page?

Hammer wrote on Sep 30^th, 2011 at 6:46pm:


So... it searches the file, or the url itself for the text? Not the address of the url (the content of the field itself) but the page (or file)?

Hypothetical: I have a series of client records, and each record has a field called 'CLIENTELE' that stores the url for each client's portfolio page. Let's say each client (or most) have some page that lists the various companies in their portfolio. If I understand correctly, I could then search within that field for '...Coca-Cola...' and would receive a list of client records whose portfolio pages (http://blah..blah../portfolio.htm) matched against '...Coca-Cola...'

So I would be able to search my clients to see which ones have done work for Coca-Cola?

Is that correct?

Hammer wrote on Oct 3^rd, 2011 at 2:17pm:


Hmmm.... lot of uses for something like that! Very cool.

Terrific feature! Will come in VERY handy!

It can search either within that element or searches universally.

Hammer wrote on Oct 12^th, 2011 at 3:53pm:


I assume it can be set similar to a standard search, so instead of "Get Ohio" you could have "Other" with a search specification along the lines of: State (field) not in "^OH^NY^MA^TX^"

And between the colons, can you put any expression that will produce a boolean result, including one with user-defined functions?

Sesame 3 - Breaking News
In Sesame 3, SBasic now lets you group a list of elements and refer to that list by the group name. Anything you do to the group will be done to each element in the group. For example:

// Group the Company, Add1, and First elements
GroupElements("Test", Company, Add1, First)
Color(@("Test"), 2, 1) // Color each of the elements in the group 

You can also map a list of values to the elements in the group with one line of code.

//Places "one" in Company, "two" in Add1, and "three" in First
MapValues(@("Test"), "one;two;three") 

That is such a simple thing, but I like it on the right much better.   

Just wondering if there will a way to do exports or reports that are xml.  We currently use csv but have been asked by our clients to supply data in xml format.

Sesame 3 - Breaking News
In Sesame 3, you can now increment/decrement number, money, date and time values using < and >.

Quote:


How do we use that? In Sdesigner as property of Element? Increment in time in minutes or seconds?

Hammer wrote on Oct 13^th, 2011 at 7:04pm:


That's a great feature... will really make it much easier to great dynamic forms. Can't wait to get Sesame3.

That is great! Thank you.

This Sesame HTML viewer is very cool. I was just thinking about this while parsing HL7 (format used to exchange data, more like CSV), how to present data to user and giving them option to do in the form of clickable link. Looking forward to working with this.

Steve_in_Texas wrote on Nov 7^th, 2011 at 3:56pm:

Yep. The example I was working with allowed the user to click on the origin of one of the Gem Types, like Brazil, and open the Gems subform standalone with all the Gems from Brazil retrieved. Plus, it's non-modal, so it can stay up until you're done with it like the WriteLn window does.

I cannot help asking when is Sesame 3 expected to be released?

One of the reasons we have been asking for feature requests/ideas, is so we can decide if we should be heading toward a "feature lock" on Sesame3 real-soon-now. So, unless someone mentions a make or break feature request in the next couple of weeks, feature-lock is impending.

Sesame3 is already in alpha testing. I don't know if there will be a general beta test cycle or not. The organization and coordination of a big beta test is difficult and not really up to development.

Right now, I am putting some finishing touches on various features: tooltips, cleaning-up code, getting bits and pieces to fit together a little tighter, etc. If we do feature lock soon, there will probably be a feature summary release for general, to make sure there are no more "speak-now" feature requests.

Sesame 3 - Breaking News
All that stuff that the HTML View Window can do? Static text elements on your form can now do all that stuff too.

Sesame 3 now has a built-in Chat client. If you are logged into a Sesame Server, you can chat with others who are also logged into the same Sesame Server.

Steve_in_Texas wrote on Nov 14^th, 2011 at 4:15pm:


I agree with Steve! Absolutely mind blowing! You all ROCK!

What a great tool the chat feature will be for using Sesame via the web. Now with a VOIP phone and sesame it is really possible to have worgroups with people working from different locations.

Bharat_Naik wrote on Nov 14^th, 2011 at 8:26pm:

We have regularly been sending Sesame 3 out to an Alpha Test group for some time now. The next alpha release will go out shortly. Some of the members of that group are on this forum. I won't out them as such without their permission, but it's okay with us if they choose to identify themselves to you.

Sesame 3 provides a new SBasic command - TableHeaders() - which gives you some additional control over how your table view subforms look and how much space they take up.

Hammer wrote on Nov 15^th, 2011 at 9:16pm:

You have my permission.

I've always avoided revealing that I was an Alpha Tester to ensure I didn't break the NDA.

Speechless! Utterly Speechless!

Steve_in_Texas wrote on Nov 22^nd, 2011 at 4:25pm:

Is that a good thing...?

[edit] Well that didn't last long. 

You all seem to enjoy a challenge.

Thanks for making possible, the 'impossible'. Sesame 3 is going to be incredible!

Sesame 3 - Breaking News
Development just finished implementing a set of SBasic functions that allow direct access to SQL-based databases like mySQL and Microsoft SQL Server. Those of you who want to interface with other company databases or the databases behind your websites will get a whole lot of use out of these new  commands.

Sesame 3 - Breaking News
As part of the external SQL functionality, Sesame can now also build a Sesame application, including data, just by pointing it at an existing supported SQL-based database such as mySQL or Microsoft SQL Server.