Greenbelt, Maryland -- March 14, 1995 -- Empress Software Inc. announces the introduction of the OPEN C API (Application Programming Interface) for the EMPRESS GUI BUILDER, providing a complete set of easy-to-use functions for accessing and controlling GUI objects in an application from a C program. The OPEN C API feature offers developers all the versatility of C programming while shielding them from the complexity of underlying X Window and Motif calls. A complement to the object-oriented EMPRESS GUI BUILDER introduced last year, the new OPEN C API will be previewed at Software World and Client/Server World in Toronto, Canada, March 8-10, in booth #121 and UniForum '95, in Dallas, Texas, March 14-17, in booth #1540.
The OPEN C API allows the user to create a database-independent presentation manager for data from any source, such as satellites, flat files, existing EMPRESS databases or databases built with any other DBMS. This is because the C API supports database access through EMPRESS C interfaces such as Embedded and Dynamic SQL and EMPRESS MR and MX Routines as well as any other database vendor's Dynamic SQL that complies to ANSI standards.
"Where the object-oriented EMPRESS GUI BUILDER went a long way toward helping developers provide user- friendly access to databases, the OPEN C API feature provides users with even more power and flexibility to create exactly the interfaces they want on their applications," said Empress Software President John Kornatowski. "Now we have a solution for developers and users at every level."
The EMPRESS GUI BUILDER provides a powerful object- oriented development environment for creating aesthetically pleasing, interactive and graphical applications. Developers can use its mouse-driven point-and-click tools to give applications whatever look and feel they desire within the Motif framework. The EMPRESS GUI BUILDER minimizes the programming required to access and display data stored in the Empress database, including variable length, binary or multimedia data such as images, sound and text.
Developers can manipulate the size, scale color, function and placement of interface objects with the same point- and-click ease as desktop drawing software. Plus, they can create, name and apply visual styles of their choosing to give their applications a consistent and standardized look. Objects can inherit styles, greatly simplifying development.
Because all parts of the EMPRESS GUI BUILDER application are stored within relational tables in the database, all components can be queried using standard SQL language. This improves portability, allowing applications to be moved to other machines via export and import of their databases.
EMPRESS GUI BUILDER provides a full selection of interface objects such as buttons, windows, image and audio fields, hypertext boxes, labels and separators. The original release of the EMPRESS GUI BUILDER included a scripting capability for defining the actions associated with any object. The new OPEN C API feature allows developers to assign actions to objects through C programs by simply entering the name of the action and its description in the action editor. The developer will typically enter the routines for a C action in a single program file using any text editor (such as vi or emacs) to facilitate such functions as global search and replace, use of global variables, compiling and linking. EMPRESS GUI BUILDER objects are accessed through the bins or windows in which they are contained. The OPEN C API provides a variety of ways to access any object, or group of objects, in any bin
Empress is the world's most advanced RDBMS, 4GL and GUI BUILDER with features such as ANSI standard SQL, a C-callable RDBMS kernel, a full function report writer and 4GL application generator. Offering advanced functionality, including object- oriented capabilities and multimedia datatypes, EMPRESS delivers high performance applications that can be prototyped, developed and executed in local or distributed mode with true location independence. With its user-defined functions, the EMPRESS GUI BUILDER stores and displays binary data using Motif with mouse support.
EMPRESS was designed in Toronto by John Kornatowski and Ivor Ladd. Applications developed with EMPRESS include mapping, voice messaging, multi-media, image processing, medical systems and CAD/CAM, as well as traditional RDBMS and 4GL solutions. Empress Sales and Marketing offices are in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Greenbelt, Maryland, and in San Jose, California. Toronto, Canada, is the site of the company's Research and Development Center as well as International Sales and Marketing.
For more information, contact Empress Software Inc., 6401 Golden Triangle Drive, Suite 220, Greenbelt, MD 20770. Call 301-220-1919. Fax 301-220-1997. For international inquiries, call 905-513-8888. International fax: 905-513-1668.