[archive] "True" Windows program

[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 31 May 2007]

I am developer of a construction accounting system written in AcuCobol. I use most of the graphical elements supplied by the compiler in my screens. From time to time I get some "know it all" computer type who makes the remark after looking at the software that it is not a "true" Windows program. What should be my response and have others heard this type of remark, Thanks for any input,

Perhaps the comment meant that you are not developing witha Windows language like C#. Under the hood ACUCOBOL-GT deals directly with the Windows API. If you open Visual studio and draw controls (entry-field, label, etc) you are getting these same controls when programming with ACUCOBOL-GT.

There is a difference if you wanted to reply: is that your GUI could be deployed on Windows with a backend Linux / Unix machine whereas a "true" Windows application could not be.

[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 31 May 2007]

I am developer of a construction accounting system written in AcuCobol. I use most of the graphical elements supplied by the compiler in my screens. From time to time I get some "know it all" computer type who makes the remark after looking at the software that it is not a "true" Windows program. What should be my response and have others heard this type of remark, Thanks for any input,

People who make those comments are mixing up programming language with application framework. They hear COBOL and think that isn't really windows. They couldn't be more wrong. The Acucobol windows runtime is compiled in Microsoft Visual C/C and makes use of the Win32 API and MFC. It is as pure a windows program as any other. COBOL is simply the programming language used to construct the user interface, data access and business logic for end-user applications. It is then compiled into byte(or pseudo) code. The acucobol windows runtime then executes this byte code as a pure event driven windows application. This is very similiar to Java and to Visual C#, VB.NET and the .NET CLR(Common Language Runtime). What's funny is Acucobol was doing this before both Java and the .NET Framework. So, they've been a leader in runtime based application frameworks. :)
If they want to argue that because Acucobol isn't object oriented that it isn't truly windows, then they would be very wrong there too. Most of the windows operating system itself is written in C and assembler, neither of which is object oriented.

[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 31 May 2007]

I am developer of a construction accounting system written in AcuCobol. I use most of the graphical elements supplied by the compiler in my screens. From time to time I get some "know it all" computer type who makes the remark after looking at the software that it is not a "true" Windows program. What should be my response and have others heard this type of remark, Thanks for any input,

Thanks for both of your responses. I have been an AcuCorp customer since from the beginning and am very proud of the application I have developed over the years. I have over 60 customers licensing my package ranging in sales from $1M to over $90M. I'm not a real "system tech" kind of a guy but I have done a good job with my graphical interface thanks to all the help I get with AcuCorp tech support and people like you via the forum. I tend to get a little "touchy" with remarks like these and your replys will help me in formulating a response when necessary. Thanks again,

[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 31 May 2007]

I am developer of a construction accounting system written in AcuCobol. I use most of the graphical elements supplied by the compiler in my screens. From time to time I get some "know it all" computer type who makes the remark after looking at the software that it is not a "true" Windows program. What should be my response and have others heard this type of remark, Thanks for any input,

Mike, the one area where you will have a problem is if your application still has character based screens on windows. If you do, switch them to GUI controls to avoid the issue.

[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 31 May 2007]

I am developer of a construction accounting system written in AcuCobol. I use most of the graphical elements supplied by the compiler in my screens. From time to time I get some "know it all" computer type who makes the remark after looking at the software that it is not a "true" Windows program. What should be my response and have others heard this type of remark, Thanks for any input,

One other aspect that often touches off these types of comments for us is the use of fixed fonts on our screens. This makes people think of the look and feel of older applications, and since our application dates back to the days of the TI minicomputer (followed by upgrades to Xenix, then SCO Unix, then MS-DOS, then Windows...), it isn't uncommon for people to say that we have a "DOS" app. I have foudn that minor things like using a proportional font like Arial or TNR on the screen labels and buttons makes a big difference...

-Chris

[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 31 May 2007]

I am developer of a construction accounting system written in AcuCobol. I use most of the graphical elements supplied by the compiler in my screens. From time to time I get some "know it all" computer type who makes the remark after looking at the software that it is not a "true" Windows program. What should be my response and have others heard this type of remark, Thanks for any input,

thanks for the tip,
Mike

[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 31 May 2007]

I am developer of a construction accounting system written in AcuCobol. I use most of the graphical elements supplied by the compiler in my screens. From time to time I get some "know it all" computer type who makes the remark after looking at the software that it is not a "true" Windows program. What should be my response and have others heard this type of remark, Thanks for any input,

If you want to use the font of a "true windows" application. You should use the SMALL-FONT. This is the MS Sans Serif font which is being used by all Windows applications that go by the CUA standards. You should also limit your font usage to this one, perhaps with variations of size.
ACUCOBOL-GT 8.0 will default to this font for projects that do not have a font set explicitely.