ClassViewer - $99.00
ClassViewer is a utility program that combines the features of the
Clarion Application Builder Class Viewer and the CallTree utility.
With this program you can analyze all classes (not just ABC), make
annotations, view the class source and help files.
We develop a lot of classes here at Keystone. It is not possible to use Clarion's
Application Builder Class Viewer while actually working in the Clarion
editor. I found it very time consuming to exit my editing, go to the
globals tab, scroll the tabs and access the Application Builder Class
Viewer. Not only that, I often forgot the details by the time I
returned to my editing.
Another shortcoming of the Application Builder Class Viewer is that it only works with Clarion's ABC
classes or classes developed by others that contain the '!ABCIncludeFile'
comment in the include (.INC) file. Developers often add this
comment just so their classes can be viewed with the Application Builder
Class Viewer. The down side of creating a class with the !ABCIncludeFile
comment is that the application generator creates an instance of the
object in your global DLL or executable, even if you don't want it.
Also, some user developed classes require supporting libraries to be
linked in for the classes to compile properly and the default generator
behaviour can cause compile errors.
I was constantly writing notes to keep track of what various class methods did and how they behaved
and interacted. The documentation and help files really could use an
annotation mechanism.
There is also a Clarion utility named calltree.exe that lets you view the class method calling
hierarchy. I used it a few times but discovered that it wasn't
always accurate.
Clearly, a utility program that let me view any class, it's methods and interfaces, it's
call tree, structures, equate values, and source code was something that I could
use.
Our
ClassViewer application does all this and more. It
works with classes from all versions of Clarion and allows the user to keep notes about the
methods. It gives you the ability to view all classes or just the
ABC classes and access the help file. The user can also specify
other files to include in the scan process as well as set color and
tooltip preferences.
If you are a serious developer and write your own Clarion classes, this utility is must have.
Keystone highly recommends the book,
"Programming
Objects in Clarion", from RADFusion as a nice companion to ClassViewer.
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