Centura Team Developer is an evolutionary improvement of the Gupta SQLWindows development tool that runs on Windows NT and Windows 95. So why the new name? For one thing, Gupta Corp. changed its name to Centura Software Corp. since the last release of SQLWindows, and the move from old-fashioned 16-bit Windows 3.x to the newer 32-bit platforms was a good time to change the product name to highlight its team-programming features.
There are a lot of new features in Centura Team Developer -- and I look at them in this review. But first, a word to developers currently using SQLWindows. The introduction of Centura Team Developer doesn't mean the end of SQLWindows. Centura is committed to continuing to enhance and support the 16-bit Windows product and the SQLBase database server. A new version of SQLWindows is due out later this year with a new Object Compiler, an SAP application generator, and significant performance improvements in its QuickObjects architecture. In SQLBase 6.1, the company plans to include integrated data replication, new management capabilities, and expanded network support, including enhanced support for the TCP/IP network protocol. Pricing will not change from current levels.
Centura Team Developer is one of a new line of 32-bit Centura products, which includes Ranger, Application Server, and Web Data Publisher. Briefly, Ranger is decentralized client replication software that works with SQLBase 6.1 to provide a "store-and-forward" replication solution for mobile and occasionally connected users (similar to Sybase SQL Anywhere reviewed here last month). It features GUI drag-and-drop replication management in SQLConsole and client-initiated synchronization using either the Ranger Replication Sync Agent application or an OLE 2 custom control (OCX) that can be accessed from any application development environment that supports OLE 2 controls. Ranger is included with Team Developer for design and testing purposes, but it is sold separately as a deployment suite.
Application Server allows developers to partition Team Developer applications to execute on different computers. For example, business rules implemented as functional classes can be partitioned to run on a database-independent server, with Application Server managing the network via Remote Procedure Call (RPC) mechanisms.
Web Data Publisher integrates Web servers with SQL databases by converting HTML commands into SQL statements and returning the SQL data in a format that the Web browser can display. It lets developers create Web-based applications or forms that access SQL databases without requiring CGI or HTML programming. Instead, Web Data Publisher includes tools for designing templates that are used at runtime to display data in dynamically generated Web pages.
I had the opportunity to preview a beta version of Team Developer on Windows NT 3.51. The first thing I noticed was the new user interface. Centura took a tip from the Microsoft Windows 95 Explorer and split the main window into a left-hand pane containing a tree structure representation of the application and a right-hand pane containing a list of components in the selected tree node. (See Figure 4, page 55.) But don't worry, the familiar SQLWindows outline is still available as an option, simply by clicking the Outline tab at the bottom of the right-hand pane.
For supporting large programming teams in large-scale projects, the substantially more powerful Team Object Manager replaces the old TeamWindows environment. It is based on a shared object repository, and, in addition to version control, it supports project branching, diff and merge, coding standards management, deployment management, impact analysis, audit trails, and management reporting. Figure 5 shows Team Object Manager with sample naming standards for a project listed in the right-hand pane.
Also new in Centura Team Developer is the Object Compiler, which translates SQLWindows Application Language (SAL) code in internal functions, class functions, and general window classes into C language statements, and then compiles them into external functions in a DLL to improve runtime performance. You can then call the functions in the DLL from Team Builder applications. Object Compiler requires either Microsoft Visual C++ version 1.5 or Borland C++ version 4.0.
For developers who don't want to compile to DLLs, Team Developer also offers the option of building dynalibs, which are compiled modules with functions and objects that other applications can load dynamically at runtime. Dynalibs don't offer the performance improvements of DLLs, but they do offer the same modular programming advantages and they don't require a separate C++ compiler.
QuickObjects have been around in SQLWindows for a couple of years. When Gupta first introduced them, the performance of applications built with QuickObjects was not up to developers' expectations. Based on the testing I've done in the beta version, I'm happy to say that Centura improved the performance of QuickObjects in Team Developer, and the QuickObjects should be more attractive to developers now.
Not only was performance improved, but so were the variety and functionality. New types of QuickObjects now available include: QuickOLE2 for OLE2 containers, QuickTabs for tab controls in applications, QuickReport for reporting, and QuickTuxedo for mapping a Tuxedo service to a functional class.
QuickTuxedo is actually part of the Three-Tier Wizard incorporated in Centura Team Developer. In addition to QuickTuxedo, the Three-Tier Wizard includes optional support for two other distributed environments: RPC and CICS. QuickRPC from Open Environment Corp. (Boston, Mass.) lets developers build three-tier applications based on TCP/IP and DCE. QuickCICS is based on Centura's SQLHost product, which links to mainframe CICS applications.
Finally, the QuickObjects framework is extensible. In other words, you can build any type of object and incorporate it into the Team Developer QuickObject architecture.
Another new feature is the Database Explorer, which incorporates a powerful data dictionary utility into the development environment, with specific support for SQLBase, Oracle, Sybase SQL Server, Microsoft SQL Server, DB2, Informix, and ODBC-accessible databases.
Database Explorer uses the Windows 95 Explorer interface style as well, with the database object hierarchy in the left-hand pane and details in the right-hand pane. It includes a stored-procedure manager for creating and compiling stored procedures from inside Team Developer. (See Figure 6, page 56.) It also offers a Stored Procedure Class Wizard, which generates SAL functional classes to execute stored procedures easily from within an application.
With the Database Explorer, Team Developer has the best support for DBMS stored procedures of any major Windows application development environment available today. This is a good example of the type of innovation that made Gupta's SQLWindows so popular in the first place -- making it easy for users to build database applications by leveraging the power of the underlying DBMS.
By the time you read this review, the production version of Centura Team Developer should be shipping (Centura plans to ship the product by late May). It will contain all of the features mentioned in this review, but it will also have the promise of a few more features that didn't make it into the beta version, namely Internet QuickObjects. It is Centura's goal to make Internet QuickObjects available to purchasers of Team Developer within 90 days of the production version's shipping date.
What are Internet QuickObjects? Because I didn't get to preview them in the beta version, I have to describe them from what I've read and from conversations I've had with the staff at Centura. There are four Internet QuickObjects planned: HTML, HTTP, FTP, and peer-to-peer communications. The HTML QuickObject will let users integrate a browser window into Team Developer applications so that they can access the Web. The HTTP QuickObject will let users parse Web data and place it in database fields within the application for even tighter integration. The FTP and peer-to-peer QuickObjects will support file transfer and communications between users on the Internet.
Also, Java applet support is planned for the end of the year. The Team Developer architecture will let you develop applications that can be deployed in both a traditional client/server environment and on the Web. If interest in the Internet continues to grow at its current rate, I fully expect to see database applications moving to the Web by this time next year, and Centura Team Developer will be well positioned as a powerful tool with which to build those applications.