Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!decwrl!purdue!gatech!hubcap!ncrcae!ncr-sd!ncrlnk!fenix!tek
From: tek@fenix.Atlanta.NCR.COM (tek)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++
Subject: PforCe++ Libraries
Message-ID: <318@fenix.Atlanta.NCR.COM>
Date: 21 Apr 88 15:45:18 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: NCR Systems Engineering - Retail / Atlanta
Lines: 43
Keywords: PforCe++, HELP, pc


I have been using the PforCe++ libraries for the PC and I'm looking for some
help.  The help I've received from some of you before has been excellent, so
that's why I'm coming back again (also, the PforCe++ support hasn't been all
that great :-).  Without going into great detail (e.g. code examples), here
are a few of the problems that I've encountered.

1.  When using one of their class functions (fscr.reset), I get a NULL Pointer
Assignment.  For some reason, I don't think a product should be released
containing NULL Pointer Assignments (when using their archiving utility, I
also got a NULL Pointer Assignment).

2.  When using several of their classes (crt, fld), I can get a stack overflow 
error somewhat easily.  I do not know if this could be part of the problem,
but looking through some of their source, I noticed that there were no
destructor functions declared for some classes. 

3.  An annoying problem was the fact that several of the code examples in the
documentation contained non-existant member functions.  For the most part, the
code examples would have all the code, ready to type in to try for yourself.
Then, I noticed a couple functions that were nowhere to be found in the
libraries AND NO DOCUMENTATION TELLING ME THIS! 

4.  I tried on several occasions to solicit help from their support people on
the problem of using the libraries when upgrading from MSC 4.0 and Advantage
C++ 1.1 to MSC 5.0 and Advantage 1.2 (beta).  They kept on telling me it
SHOULD work, so I thought it was something I was doing wrong. It wasn't until
I got help from people on the net that a relatively simple solution was found.  
Seems to me that their support hadn't given much thought or done any testing
when coming up with their answer to my problem.

One of the great powers of C++ is the reusability of class libraries.  I think
its great the way one can take somebody else's library, use it as is or modify
to his needs.  Unfortunately, I don't think somebody should pay big bucks to
debug somebody else's supposedly working code.  If anyone out there has done 
work with the PforCe++ libraries and/or encountered any of these problems, I'd 
appreciate your help.  Thanks.


Tom Klempay - NCR SE-Retail     |   "An old Chinese proverb say 'A donut
Atlanta, GA                     |    without a hole, is a danish'"
tek@fenix.atlanta.ncr.com       |          -- Chevy Chase (Caddyshack)
...!ncrlnk!fenix!tek            |   
Phone: (404)982-7767            |