Have you been using DB/TextWorks for years and years?  When we visit clients we often come across databases that were originally designed in early versions of the software or were even ported over from DOS.   Amazingly, these continue to work just fine, but as with any system, they could benefit from a checkup every so often.  Here are a few of the quick and easy updates we like to suggest:

Forms and query screens housecleaning.

It is so easy to design new forms in DB/TextWorks that sometimes we find databases with a multitude of reports.  They may have names like report5 or test2 and no one knows what they are for, or if anyone still needs them.  If you don’t have the time to do a proper audit and check each of them with your staff, here is a quick option to jump start the cleanup process. Under Tools > Manage Textbase Elements you can Rename those that you suspect are not used with an x or z in front.  This drops them to the bottom of the list when using Select Form so that you can quickly see your most used forms first.  If no one misses these forms after a month or so it is probably safe to Delete them.  Or you can select them and Export to a file as a backup before deleting, just in case.   When saving or renaming a form it is always a good idea to use a standard naming convention that indicates the function of the form, and to add a Description as this will display when the form is highlighted under Select Form or Manage Textbase Elements. 
If you also use WebPublisher PRO,the Manage Textbase Elements list will include any that have been saved as web only. These of course should not be renamed without also editing the web interface search screen or canned query that references them.

Choosing useful fields for your log information.

The Log file tracks information as records are added or modified.  By default it is set up to use the first field in the database.  However it is easy to change the log file to be more informative through Maintain > Edit Textbase Structure > Log file.  We recommend setting the first field to be your unique auto generated ID field (you do have one of these don’t you?) plus add a more meaningful field such as Title.  Then if you have a problem, you can choose Maintain>View Log file and scroll to the bottom to see which records may have been affected.  The log file also records information on password, textbase structure or validation lists edits.  Many times no one can remember changing anything and the log file has come to the rescue in deciphering what caused a problem.  Just recently a client’s web interface suddenly prompted for a password. The log file showed that one of the support staff had added a password for a temporary employee not realizing that they needed to also add a silent password for continued use by WebPublisher PRO.

Moving your user file to a network drive.

In older versions the personal user files for each database (*.tbu) which store your preferences such as window layout, private forms and sets etc. were stored in the install directory or C:\Program Files\Inmagic.  These files can therefore easily be overlooked when migrating to a new computer, and on some networks, C drives are not backed up.  Moving these files to a network drive is now easy.  Choose Tools > Options and under the General Tab > User Options > User File directory, use the Browse button to choose a new directory.

Of course we are always available to help you with these checkups and to make recommendations for improving your databases. Watch for more hints in upcoming blog posts!

I was recently on vacation in Maui, with my laptop and iPhone, and two other people had iPod Touches in the same condo, and we all had the same problem: no wireless. Damned if I was going to data roam in Hawai'i for $300/minute or whatever. In preparation for the trip I had in fact scoped out the nearest places that offered free wireless, and there were even some faint networks in the condo complex we could pick up by wandering around holding our mobile devices up like Spock searching for signs of life with a tricorder. This was inconvenient however, and also humiliating.

Then my father-in-law casually mentioned there *was* an internet connection in the condo, but only a wired one, didn't even think it was worth mentioning - oh, is that important? Why are you squealing and hopping around like a little girl in pigtails?

Within seconds I had the laptop connected by ethernet to the modem, and was setting up an ad hoc wireless network that would share the internet out to our various iPods.

I plan to do this again at various conferences this year where they charge vendors like ourselves horrendous internet connection rates per computer, because they can. Here's a heartfelt haiku on the matter:

at Spring conference
internet lines are costly
stick it to the Man

i. Create ad hoc wireless network

1. Open Manage wireless networks from the Windows Start menu.
2. Add a new network.
3. Choose Create an ad hoc network.
4. Enter a network name, which will be seen by wireless devices.
5. Configure security options. Now, I had real trouble getting WPA2-Personal to work. I had to fall back to WEP if I wanted any security (a wide open connection worked fine, too). WEP needs you to enter a 5 or 13 character "seed" which creates a hexadecimal password. That created password is what you'll need to enter when connecting with wireless clients.

ii. Allow internet connection sharing

1. Open View network connections from the Windows Start menu.
2. Open Properties on the currently active wired Local Area Connection.
3. Select the Sharing tab and check Allow other network users to connect etc. Then choose the Wireless Network Connection option from the dropdown.

iii. Configure wireless adapter settings

1. Open View network connections from the Windows Start menu.
2. Open Properties on the Wireless Network Connection.
3. Select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IP) and then click Properties.
4. Manually set the IP address to 192.168.137.1.
5. Manually set the Subnet mask to 255.255.255.0.
6. Manually set the Preferred DNS server to 192.168.137.1.

iv. Turn on the ad hoc wireless network

1. Open View network connections from the Windows Start menu.
2. Right click on Wireless Network Connection and select Connect/Disconnect.
3. Connect to the ad hoc network you created. Once connected, the connection will say Waiting for users in the Connect/Disconnect dialog.

v. Connect with wifi-enabled mobile device

On a mobile device, look for the name of your ad hoc wireless network and connect to it the usual way. You will not need to set anything manually as the laptop will hand out IP addresses.

If you are using security, you will need to give users the password. (A WEP password will be particularly unmemorable.):

1. Open Manage wireless networks from the Windows Start menu.
2. Open Properties on the ad hoc network you created.
3. Select the Security tab.
4. Check Show characters to see the password.

Further to my previous post which describes how to install and run ClamAV as a service on Windows, here is extra info on what is required for Windows Server 2008 x64, discovered the hard way, through trial and error, by the persistent IT brains at SET-BC (Special Education Technology British Columbia). Particular thanks to IT Manager Gordon Eddy.

Configuring ClamD and FreshClam services

No special configuration is needed for the services. Clam and FreshClam both run fine under Local System, with automatic start and defaults for other service settings. The service account needs read/write access to C:\ClamAV, which it would have by default if Local System is used.

Starting the services

If the ClamD service is started from the services UI and there is no database, or the database is no good, it will fail silently. This could lead one off on a long goose chase looking at service accounts, permissions, service settings, etc. trying to figure out why the service won’t run, when in fact all you need is to run FreshClam once to get a good database, and then ClamD will run fine.

Run FreshClam immediately after installing ClamAV, before trying to run the ClamD service the first time. If FreshClam reports corruption or other problems with the existing database files, delete everything in ..\data and run FreshClam again.

There is no useful error info returned when trying to start ClamD from the services UI. On the other hand, starting it from a command prompt using "NET START CLAMD" does return a bit of useful info. Executing it directly as "clamd.exe --daemon" also returns some (different) info.

Registry setting required

There is a registry file in the ..\docs folder called clamav.reg that contains some path information. The docs seem to be saying that this is not necessary unless you are running Clam from somewhere other than the default location. We found this is not true. Even if installed to C:\ClamAV, Clam will not run without this info in the registry.

TCPAddr setting required

In clamd.config, the comments suggest that the TCPAddr setting is optional. It is not. Set it to the address at which ClamD should respond. If this is missing, the Clamd service will run, but will not respond to requests.

This'll be a short post, but there are many things I love about Windows 7, and many things I really like, but I've just discovered something that you might not have heard about yet: in Windows Explorer, you can now tab to complete the path in the address bar. For example, in the path below, I can type "Of" and then hit tab and it will automatically complete "Office" followed by the next backward slash, ready for me to continue on down the path.

This might not seem like a big deal, but see how much time it saves navigating to "C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files". And yes, that's if you haven't already set up Executor/Launchy/Enso (note: does not work on x64)/Etc. to have a shortcut already to that particular location. However, it's even better than those launchy applications in that it's a) in Explorer already, b) it allows you to sometimes tab, sometimes type, sometimes arrow down to a selection, and c) hitting enter opens the current directory, but then you can go right back up with alt-d to the address bar and continue on again. If you use any of the above launchy-type applications, you'll know what I'm talking about. If you're not yet using one of them, hello?!? (and yes, while the new-in-Vista start button is an improvement, it's still not near as feature complete).

Another handy thing that I needed a third party app for before is the now-native "Copy as path" option for files (although you need to shift-f10 to open menu, or shift-left click to get it to show):

>

Is just one shortcut worth a whole blog post? Yes.

I love keyboard shortcuts. I especially love it when I come across one that removes regular angst-causing silly stuff. One great silly-stuff-zapper shortcut is described in a post I just stumbled upon by James Blackwell.

A horrible thing about Vista: goofy things that happen in Windows Explorer. One of these Windows Explorer things in all versions of Windows, including Vista, is the way the views never show properly. in Vista, if you're lucky enough to have your Explorer window actually list files without thinking you're always in media mode (if you use Vista Ultimate or Vista Premium, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about), you're still never really fortunate enough to immediately see entire file names etc. as shown here: 

Press  Ctrl-+ (that's the Ctrl key along with the "+" key on the number pad) and voila:

All column names are sized as applicable in one fell swoop! Amazing! No more fumble-finger double-clicking on each column, which in Vista is even more fumblefingery than before.

Thank you Mr. James Blackwell. I don't know you, but you're a fine fellow (and yes, it was nice to first see "What Application Pool does this W3WP.EXE belong to").

UPDATE: As per one of the comments, yes this is still possible for a laptop. You just need to switch into numpad mode by holding down one more key usually called "Fn". And it's usually blue. Unless it's Denise's new laptop in which case it's probably red...because she likes it that way. So Ctrl-Fn-Shift-= makes it work on a laptop.