Make Mine MAPPER #32 -------------------- by Rob Haeuser What's In A Name, Anyway? ----------------------------------------------------------------- What's in a name? Plenty! You can just imagine all the Unisys (Univac) PC MAPPER coders sitting around the table taking a break after months (years?) of software development. Let's listen in as they ponder the inevitable question: "What'cha gonna call it?" Voice 1 (hereinafter referred to as V1...): "Can't keep calling it PC MAPPER. Sounds too teensy, eency, widdle PC MAPPER weesy waddy woo?" (Hey, man, I haven't pulled baby-talk on you for a while now, so gimme a break). Voice 2 (hereinafter referred to as V2...): "Yeah, I always hated calling it PC MAPPER. What about 'New, Improved MAPPER.' It's this big secret, see? And we could say it's the 'Secret of NIM', you know, like, a play on that cartoon movie, huh?" Voice 3 (hereinafter blah, blah V3...): "Wow! Earth to _______ (the name has been excluded to protect the innocent, or is that idiot-savant?). You really believe Unisys - THE Unisys - a multi-billion dollar, soon-to-squish-IBM-in-the-dirt (if the jerks would ever spring for a few bucks for Monday-night football advertising) global corporation, expects people to get that pun? Forget it!!! Although I kinda' like it, personally..." Voice 4 (I'll bet you figured out all by yerself what I'll be referring to this one as hereinafter...): "I can't believe I'm hearing this! Here we are on possibly the threshold of a dream... No, wait a minute. That's a Moody Blues ripoff... Ok, on the threshold of a brave new world (sorry, Aldous), with MAPPER on every coffee table in the world, sitting on top of People magazine AND the National Enquirer, and you guys are talking mouse movies! Granted, one of our bigger customers has a Mickey fetish, but "NIHM" had rats in it, and I hate rats!" V2: "Yeah, but the good rats beat the bad rats, and there was magic, and all..." The nut up the hall: "I got it! I got it! Ya ready? 'Lou's World'... for Windows, maybe. 'Cause down in South Texas there's this place called the 'Schleuterbahn,' a big water park, and there's this big ride with a buncha' curves, an' man, is it fun! Or maybe it's called 'Slaughterbuns', I fergit." Some unknown weirdo way in the back corner: "Talk about throwing us for a loop! What the blinkety-blink does that have to do with MAPPER? And why are youse guys sounding like a bunch of southern... never mind! Just stick to the topic, please! Mumble, mumble, mumble..." Voice 5 (just entering the room): "Man! Who was that grouch?" V3: "Must be the author. He gets kinda nervous if we don't get around to some kind of point, sooner or later." V1:"Well, is it later yet?" V4 (who, by the way, truly believes that he did all the work): "Maybe if we talk about how we've enhanced it, something'll pop up. So, let's see now, I was the one who mumble squerch, squelch, screech, sqshshshshshshshsh..." Oh, man, I hate this! I go to all the trouble to bug Unisys headquarters, and the bugs damn batteries run down!!!???? Good spy devices are hard to find, all right. Maybe I shouldn't have gotten it from the 'Everything's A Dollar' store. Oh well, at least the grapevine groweth. So this is what I've heard: PC MAPPER is being called MAPPER System for Windows (they acro it as MSW, but I like MFW better). The reason: It is truly a Windows application, as you have come to understand that term. The function key bar is a series of push- buttons now, that indent when you click 'em, just like all that other Windowsy stuff. Proof positive, eh? There is full support of the mouse, even with manual function masks (footnote: this feature was not included in the initial release). A friend of mine had a bit of hands-on experience, and said he went through a calculate function almost entirely using the mouse. Of course, you still use the keyboard when alpha-numeric input is required. In other words, it is mouse-driven, has list-box support for options and parameters, and probably for functions as well. Sounds like it should be a lot easier to start flailing through things that way, although I would expect some users to quickly navigate back to the keyboard, simply because it can be faster than the mouse in controlling Windows, if you really know how to use it. I'll bet MFW has that Windows look for the online help now, too. Who knows? How about Cut, Paste, Copy, etc.? All the functions you would expect Windows to offer it's applications should be there. If not, I'll be disappointed (Not!). Next, I hear that it will include Mapper Relational Interface (MRI), a universe unto itself; it will be able to execute access MRI-supported databases. MFW will still be a client only, able to execute remote runs and access the external relational databases supported by MRI, but, it cannot be accessed as a server by other Mappers. I guess we'll have to wait for Windows NT, eh? The third major rumor I hear is that MFW will incorporate parts of the Designer Workbench (DW), most likely the parts that support the nearly 20 Mapper run functions related to Windows and PCs, like @BTN (make a button), @PCR (PC read), @PCW (PC write), etc. Hey, whatever pieces of DW we get will be gravy on the 'taters, so pile it on! The final scoop of the day is that the restrictions related to rid size (64,000 lines in PCM), number of rids per drawer (700 in PCM), and hopefully the maximums for variables and labels, will be lifted. Hopefully MFW will join the ranks as the third and final piece of the three-pieced MAPPER network tier, with Mapper now running on all three platforms: mainframe, midframe, and microframe; communicating in any direction. Applications will be designed virtually the same for each environment, with little or no difference in the code. As my jello likes to say when I shake it in it's widdle bowl: "Wooba-wooba," ya'll! If you ain't havin' fun yet, yer a'fixin' to! And don't forget to send in your 10 bucks to the "Make Rob Richer Than Ross" campaign. Be the first! After all, nuts need representation, too. Why do you think they named a country after one? .lizarB :rewsna ehT Don't tell me you actually bothered to read that backwards! Gotcha! Until next time, have fun! ----------------------------------------------------------------- Rob Haeuser has 20 years of Data Processing experience. He was MAPPER Coordinator and Run Designer for the Texas Department of Human Services for ten years, and is now a contractor working in the Austin area. He also authored and markets a set of MAPPER run utilities called GURU. Covering MAPPER topics ranging from technical to tacky, his never-ending quest is for truth, justice, and the MAPPER way. Write to Rob at the following address: GURU Enterprises Attn Rob Haeuser 3212 Great Valley Drive Cedar Park, Tx. 78613 Fax him at 512-335-3862, or call 512-331-0498 and leave a message.