velopment system. The result is a combination UI builder, client/server database construction kit, and general-purpose C/C++ compiler that will probably have Delphi and VB developers sneaking peeks over the shoulders of Optima++ users.
Cultured Drag and Drop
Optima++'s most elegant feature is without doubt its drag-and-drop programming. The designers have turned on-line help into a reference card, a kind of souped-up hierarchical help system structured in outline form. The upper-level branches of the outline consist of the object categories understood by Optima++: database objects, graphics objects, menu objects, and so forth. The leaves are the object methods.
The reference card is much more than a static help mechanism. For example, associated with any visual object (say, a button) on a form is source code for handling events that the object receives. Open a window to that source code, grab any other visual
object (say, a listbox), and drag that object into the source code window. This will cause Optima++ to open the reference card, properly positioned to the methods associated with that listbox. With just a few more mouse-clicks, Optima++ will automatically write the source to invoke the selected method for you.
Components and C++
Drag-and-drop programming is only part of Optima++'s allure. Because it uses a construction-by-components paradigm, you'll find nonvisual components as well as visual ones (e.g., database query components and transaction components). Optima++ can also incorporate OLE Controls (OCXes) into its component toolbars, which means it also creates entries in the
reference card
for each OCX. Consequently, you manipulate OCXes in the same way as the native components supplied with Optima++.
Finally, because Optima++ is, after all, a C++ development system, it wraps a number of system services in easy-to-handle classes (e.g., thread ob
jects). Its debugger is as full-featured as any I've seen, going so far as to include a memory tracker, which can locate a number of memory-related bugs. The memory tracker's coverage ranges from simple leaks to more elaborate validity checks on objects such as strings and Graphical Device Interface (GDI) handles.
What's Ahead
At the time of this writing, only Optima++'s Developer Edition was in release. Professional and Enterprise Editions will appear soon (see the table
"Just Up the Road"
). If the upcoming editions are as well done as the Developer Edition, they could well be the stepladders that many VB developers need to begin their ascent to the otherwise frightful altitudes of C++ programming.
Product Information
Optima++..........................$199 Developer Edition
Powersoft Corp., Concord, MA
Phone: (800) 395-3525 or (508) 287-1500
Fax: (508) 369-4695
Internet:
http://www.powersoft.com
Circle 985 on Inquiry Card.
A C++ Tool that Cures VB Envy
