REAL Software

@Thom, And if we have to reinstall 2010R1 or earl...

2010-07-29T00:16:35.188-05:00

@Thom,

And if we have to reinstall 2010R1 or earlier and RS is no longer in business are we screwed? I realize you are working on a fix for the newer versions, but if I have not upgraded then where does that leave me if I have to do a reinstall sometime in the future and RS is out of business?

@Thom, Does that apply to 2010R1 and older too?

2010-07-29T00:14:26.425-05:00

@Thom,

Does that apply to 2010R1 and older too?

There is a silenty 90-day cycle, but if you don't ...

2010-07-28T12:57:59.228-05:00

There is a silenty 90-day cycle, but if you don't have a connection, no problem. That revalidation will only stop if a connection to the server is established and server declares the key to be no good.

So no need to worry.

@Thom McGrath: Maybe I'm misunderstanding the OP....

2010-07-28T12:52:38.018-05:00

@Thom McGrath:

Maybe I'm misunderstanding the OP.

I thought there was a 90-day validation cycle. Never mind about reinstalling or system upgrades. Don't I have to be worried that on my existing laptop, the one day I'm working away from the net is the day RS decides to require revalidation? That's the situation I'm concerned about, and that I'd like to be able to better plan for.

The only thing you can do proactively is plan your...

2010-07-27T10:56:29.060-05:00

The only thing you can do proactively is plan your reinstall. If you plan to reinstall your operating system, or do clean install of REAL Studio, do it while you have the ability to validate.

Once your copy has been validated, you don't need to worry about it again.

Murphy's Law says that this will happen to me at t...

2010-07-27T10:51:54.432-05:00

Murphy's Law says that this will happen to me at the worst possible time, when I have to fix a critical issue and it's outside Real's business hours.

How can we be proactive and get a code to ensure this doesn't happen? Can we force validation early (and add a tickle item for 85 days hence)? Can we request a code now and save it to use when validation is triggered?

So Let me get this straight. If I have a paid ver...

2010-07-26T13:42:57.783-05:00

So Let me get this straight. If I have a paid version of RB Pro up to 2010R1 and I decide not to upgrade for a while and then something happens to RS I can no longer use my paid for software because of these activation schemes? You need to do more then fix it for NEW versions, you need to fix so that customers that purchased older versions are not affected either. Otherwise we are screwed, that is if I understand this correctly.

Too small things. Please, write your business hour...

2010-07-25T03:16:47.015-05:00

Too small things. Please, write your business hours in 24 hour format using UTC times so that others than your USA customers will understand. Second, in order to avoid expensive international call charges, providing support by Skype might be a good idea.

Anti-piracy is a tricky area, but this is not the ...

2010-07-24T18:56:14.057-05:00

Anti-piracy is a tricky area, but this is not the right place for such a debate.

MGV, our scheme has significantly reduced the piracy rate and even converted some. However, any interference with legit customers is a black mark on the system, and in hindsight I'd consider this system a failure.

We understand your concerns, and we're working on it.

@Geoff: Offer retro-patches (SSL upgrade) for ever...

2010-07-24T18:04:18.928-05:00

@Geoff: Offer retro-patches (SSL upgrade) for every release needed. You owe it to your customers.

I understand that you want to protect your work, b...

2010-07-24T09:16:43.025-05:00

I understand that you want to protect your work, but what about your customers ?

I upgraded last year to be able to compile for coca (and my subscription ended in last february).

Now, I am no more able to install REAL Studio (Studio Edition) anywhere unless I follow you anti-pirates protection shema (which I am not).

It may be time for me to really check advantages and disadvantages.

Actually, I'd just like some sort of guarantee th...

2010-07-24T05:03:54.429-05:00

Actually,

I'd just like some sort of guarantee that newer versions will work even if your company fails.

Your software is basically pretty good - it will outlast your activations servers by a number of years if you were to go out of business.

I don't know how much more money you are making now that you have started activation - I hope it was worthwhile for you.

If you had support for iPhones (seems unlikely right now) then I'd get a copy just for iPhone development, even with activation. I'd keep on developing software for the PC on the 2008 version however.

Its not that I don't want to support you - but not at the risk of compromising my software development.

Even just a system of release of activation keys just prior to closing down your business (for any reason) would make me happy to consider upgrading.

But certainly, any form of activation leads to pain for legitimate users.

Michael

Don't worry MGV, we have a long-term solution for ...

2010-07-23T10:59:09.492-05:00

Don't worry MGV, we have a long-term solution for all these issues. Of course, we can't change previous releases, but we can and will do something better than our current license system in the future.

And this is why I continue to use 2008 R4. (Althou...

2010-07-23T10:52:40.154-05:00

And this is why I continue to use 2008 R4. (Although I'm entitled to some later versions than this).

I still fear that should Real be unable to serve out licences, their installs will become meaningless.

So your entire software library that you have produced using real basic can suddenly stop working if Real goes out of business.

Michael

I am pleased to see that REALbasic might be moving...

2010-07-20T12:08:35.245-05:00

I am pleased to see that REALbasic might be moving more in the direction of using exceptions for error-handling. Three things come to mind.

Unlike the return type of a function, the compiler doesn't know what exceptions might be raised from a function. Thus it is critical that the use of exceptions be documented. And it would be useful for framework code to include information when possible. An OutOfMemoryException raised by Picture.Constructor is already clear. But there are other places in the Rb framework where this is not the case. For example, methods that raise an UnsupportedFormatException could well include something in the exception's Message property.

I disagree with the idea that exceptions should only represent "exceptional conditions". Such a view leads to an error-handling mess in which some errors might be represented by error codes, and others by exceptions. REALbasic contains a substantial amount of such cruft.

I don't find the use of try blocks and exception handlers to be any more onerous than heavy use of if blocks. The ability to separate error-handling code from what might be called error-generating code means that I can do a much better job of testing error handling, and eliminate code duplication.

The fact is that error-handling is difficult and a lot of work; it is one of the things that separates professionals from amateurs. Having to deal with both error codes and exceptions (e.g. FolderItem) only complicates my job.

However, it is important to remember that exceptions come with their own difficulties. An excellent summary is given in Raymond Chen's article Cleaner, more elegant, and harder to recognize.

Although the two Dim X as New Object and Dim X ...

2010-07-20T12:08:10.642-05:00

Although the two

Dim X as New Object

and

Dim X as Obj
X= New Object

are both correct, I claim that the former is almost always the better choice.

Geoff, While this may sound like I'm being picky,...

2010-07-18T20:42:45.423-05:00

Geoff,

While this may sound like I'm being picky, I don't want people confused.

The two syntaxes:

Dim X as New Object

And

Dim X as New Obj
X= New Object

Are EQUALLY correct and will aways be.

The first is a convenient shorthand for SOME cases

If you are creating objects in a loop you may not want a new variable every time.

You may be doing something with a an object locally and then passing it to method in a single pass.

Or you may be assigning objects to an array...

Or you may be Diming multiple objects variables at the same time.

Or some may just prefer it...

In any case it's in no way incorrect.

Sorry, it said "George said..." but you message wa...

2010-07-18T19:12:13.378-05:00

Sorry, it said "George said..." but you message was signed Michael.

George, The correct syntax is: Dim tmp as New Pi...

2010-07-18T19:11:41.510-05:00

George,

The correct syntax is:

Dim tmp as New Picture(1,2,3)

3 isn't valid as the third parameter but I'm sure you know that. If you type in this syntax, when you get to picture, the status bar will give you the correct syntax. I don't know which version you are using but as of 2010 R2 you do get the syntax.

There is a problem with this. dim tmp as Pictur...

2010-07-18T18:26:28.270-05:00

There is a problem with this.

dim tmp as Picture

tmp = new picture(1,2,3)

gets you no prompting as to what 1,2 and 3 are for.

Whereas

dim tmp as new Picture

tmp = newpicture(1,2,3)

gets you the autoprompting for what 1,2,3 are as its a function.

At least it does on my version of RB (I have chosen to stick with the last version of RB that doesn't require activation) so maybe its better now.

Michael

As long as exceptions are only thrown in those spe...

2010-07-18T18:20:10.472-05:00

As long as exceptions are only thrown in those specific conditions when very unlikely events occur, then I think it is okay, but otherwise I really dislike exceptions because they "jump" the code flow. I hate the idea of putting try...catch everywhere.

Nice post Geoff, as was your last one. I learned s...

2010-07-18T17:48:09.233-05:00

Nice post Geoff, as was your last one. I learned something from both.

I just hope they will manage

2010-07-15T17:48:18.031-05:00

I just hope they will manage

This is a big milestone. Well done and good luck!

2010-07-15T17:35:06.287-05:00

This is a big milestone.
Well done and good luck!

Please contact tech support and they can help you ...

2010-07-13T08:36:37.418-05:00

Please contact tech support and they can help you figure out what's going wrong.