Visual DataFlex and Windows 8

Stephen W. MeeleyDevelopment Team

Data Access Worldwide

www.dataaccess.com

The Room 111 View of Windows 8

• Visual DataFlex 17.1 will be officially supported on the various Windows 8 platforms (but not Windows RT)

• No, older revisions of Visual DataFlex are not officially supported, but the word on the street is that they “mostly work” As long as you don’t use WinPrint

• No, you can’t just copy the WinPrint from 17.1 and use it with older revisions

• Questions?

The Kübler-Ross View of Windows 8

• Shock or Disbelief *• Denial• Anger• Bargaining• Guilt *• Depression• Acceptance and Hope

Windows 8

• What are we really talking about here? Windows 8? Windows RT? Touch (Windows and/or Web)? Tablets? Surface? (Pro and/or RT) Metro, er, Windows Store, er, excuse me, Modern UI apps? Apple envy? Internet Explorer 10 (Modern UI and/or Desktop)? “Just” running Visual DataFlex on Windows 8?

Editions

• Windows 8– Install on any PC– Runs Windows Store apps

and Desktop apps

• Windows 8 Pro adds– BitLocker (data protection)– Host RDC– Domain join (networks)– Hyper-V– Virtual Hard Disk Boot

• Windows 8 Enterprise adds– Features for corporate

IT support– Windows To Go

• Windows RT– Only pre-installed– Only Windows Store

apps

Interesting things about Windows 8

• The split-interface is a double-edged sword• Live Syncing (using Microsoft Account and not Local

Account)• Search• Task Manager• Faster booting• Windows To Go• Pausing file transfers• Windows key combination – especially Windows+Print

Screen (saves directly to Pictures folder)

Loves the screen…

• But is still very infatuated with the keyboard!

Windows Key + C: Displays Charms menu. Windows Key + X: Brings up a menu of advanced system options, including

Windows Control Panel, Command Prompt, Task Manager and File Explorer. Windows Key + I: Displays the Settings menu for the current app. Windows Key + Q: Brings up the apps search menu that allows you to

search your list of installed programs. Windows Key + D: Activates desktop mode. Windows Key + Tab: Brings up the Task Switcher and toggles between

Windows 8-style apps. Windows Key + H: Brings up Share menu for the current app. Windows Key + M: Opens desktop mode and minimizes all windows.

Loves the screen…

• But is still very infatuated with the keyboard!

Windows Key + W: Opens universal search menu and sets it to search settings. Windows Key + F: Opens universal search menu and sets it to search files. Windows Key + R: Opens Run menu where you can launch programs by typing in

their executable file names. Windows Key + E: Opens File Explorer to the “My Computer” view which shows all

your drives. Windows Key +Number Key (1-9): Switch to desktop mode and make the Nth

application on the task bar active where N is the number key you hit and 1 is the furthest taskbar icon to the left.

Windows Key + . (period key): Docks the current Windows 8-style application to the right or left, depending on how many times you hit it.

Windows Key + Z: Brings up app menu, which shows contextual options for the active app.

Windows 8 Market Share

• Growing, but at a very slow pace

• Still running in 4th place (behind Windows 7, XP and Vista) at 3.17%

• NetMarketShare

What about Visual DataFlex?

• Visual DataFlex 17.1 adds official support for Windows 8• Prior versions have known problems with WinPrint• The Modern UI version of Internet Explorer 10 provides a “plug-in-free

browsing experience” Translation = no PDF support But it will switch to the Desktop version if you have a plug-in installed

• Touch can be funky in Windows applications (but that’s not specific to Windows 8)

• Touch has issues in Web applications Eg. Menus are “hover”, not “click” so they don’t stay open We’ll be addressing these, but not necessarily in 17.1

• We’ll be adding an option to reduce the number of Start Menu items

Tidbits

• Check out Stardoc Corporation Start 8 ModernMix

• Check application compatibility Even Microsoft

• Hot Corners are kinda important and they don’t work well when running Windows 8 in virtual machines This can be very frustrating if you didn’t know this and thought

you just didn’t “get it”

• Not all updates can be “in-place”

It’s a learning experience…

• Give yourself time to play

• Personally, I’m still at stage four