Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!bellcore!rutgers!cmcl2!nrl-cmf!ames!oliveb!sun!plaid!chuq
From: chuq@plaid.Sun.COM (Chuq Von Rospach)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Fourth Dimension, is it any good? - Yes!
Message-ID: <61167@sun.uucp>
Date: 24 Jul 88 03:50:40 GMT
References: <138@isagel.sunet.se>
Sender: news@sun.uucp
Reply-To: chuq@sun.UUCP (Chuq Von Rospach)
Organization: Fictional Reality
Lines: 83

>(By the way, I have version 1.0.4, and use it on MacII/SE/+ machines with 1
>meg RAM under system release 5.0)

The current version is 1.0.6. Registered users can get a free upgrade from
Acius.

>1. Included layouts. Database structure: I have one file with two or more sub-
>files. Application: I want to display two different included layouts from two
>different subfiles in one parent layout. This is not possible.

Acius acknowledges this as a limitation they want to fix. 

>2. Speed of picture handling. It's PAINFULLY slow! Is this going to be speeded
>up?

Speed and optimization are primary factors behind the 1.1 release scheduled
for sometime this fall.

>3. Memory limitations. On the MacII I have noticed that if you set the mapping
>of your colour screen to 256 bits, every now and then you get "Memory Almost 
>Full, Please Quit As Soon As Possible" messages. This is fixed if you turn the
>mapping to 2 bits. Why is this? Bug to correct?

How much memory in the Mac 2? 256 bits takes a LOT of memory. It's kind of
hard to 'fix' in software a problem that's caused by a lack of hardware
resources....w3

>So why does a larger screen bit mapping cause RAM memory
>problems? My intuition tells me that perhaps is some data (that grows larger 
>with the number of colours to display)

While screen memory is stored on the video board, where do you think all
those 256bit deep bitmaps are created and stored before they get slogged
onto the screen?

>4. Global Procedures (speed of).

See my 1.1 comment above. 1.1 will be faster. Much faster, by reports.

>5. Importing pictures to 4D. How is this done in a smart way?

I'd find someone with a CompuServe account and drop by the APPDEV SIG, where
ACIUS on-line support hangs out. I'm sure someone has resolved this, but I
haven't researched it personally because I don't need it (yet).

>6. Text fields. Really annoying in one of my applications! You cannot use more
>then one font at a time with text field data.

I think this is more a TextEdit limitation than a 4D limitation, because
each style change requires a new TextEdit record to be generated. In a word
processor, you have to do this. In a single field in a database, you're
talking about a lot of programming and overhead.

>I really NEED this.

Are you sure? I thought I really needed this, too. Some reasonable re-design
and re-thinking let me get rid of the requirement without sacrificing
anything. 

>7. Run-Time modules. Why stick to this "by one at a time" model?

Contact Acius. They have volume discount programs. I think there may also be
a site license program, but I'm not sure. 

>Some +100$ a piece.

In the U.S., list is $75. Mail-order is even cheaper. I'd talk to your local
distributors about that... And if you think about it, 4D, even at $100 for a
run-time, is pretty cheap compared to some databases. I was looking at one
project to see if I wanted to use FileMaker4 or 4D for it. It turns out that
while the full 4D package is rather expensive, I only need one copy. With
FileMaker4, I need to buy multiple copies of the full thing, which means
that at between three and four active copies, 4D suddenly becomes cheaper to
use. 





-- 
Chuq Von Rospach			chuq@sun.COM		Delphi: CHUQ

I don't work for no 'Toon!