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Migrating to DataFlex 2021

1h 24m

Beginner

The two major changes in DataFlex 2021 are Unicode and 64-bit. In this course you will learn what these changes involve, and how to migrate your code to DataFlex 2021. The course is divided into three parts. Part 1: Migrating to DataFlex 2021, part 2: Unicode, part 3: 64-bit.

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PART 1 Introduction

Introduction to the Course.

The DataFlex 2021 environment

In this lesson we will have a look at the DataFlex 2021 environment.

The Studio Editor

Now we know a little bit about how the DataFlex 2021 environment has changed, in this lesson we will look specifically at the Studio code editor.

Steps in migrating to DataFlex 2021

Now we have familiarized ourselves a bit with DataFlex 2021, we will now go into the steps you should take to migrate your software to DataFlex 2021.

Essential changes for migrating to DataFlex 2021

In the previous lesson we have seen what steps to take to migrate to DataFlex 2021. In this lesson we will focus on step 5 of that stepwise approach. You will learn the minimum changes you will have to make to get your application running well in DataFlex 2021.

Using the warning system to make corrections for DataFlex 2021

In the previous lesson I have told you about changes you will have to make in your source code to get your applications running well again in DataFlex 2021. In this lesson we will show you how to use the compiler warning system to help you find and solve possible problems.

PART 2 What is Unicode

This is part two of the course, in which we will go into the details of supporting Unicode in your application. Before getting into the code changes that you may have to make, in this lesson we will introduce you to the subject of Unicode.

Unicode in the DataFlex environment

Now you understand what Unicode is, let's look at how Unicode affects the DataFlex environment. DataFlex 2021 is fully Unicode, which means that all strings are Unicode, they are UTF-8. But if you look at the entire DataFlex 2021 environment, there can in fact be different encodings used in different parts.

Unicode language changes

Now we have a better view on how Unicode impacts the DataFlex system, We will now talk about the language changes that have been introduced to help you working with Unicode.

Unicode and external APIs

In the previous lesson you have learned about language changes like the WString and SizeOfString function. In this lesson we are going to apply these for making external APIs support Unicode.

Unicode in databases

Now you know how to change your source code to support Unicode in your applications, let's look at the database.

Now we know a little bit more about Unicode in databases, let's take a look at sorting and comparing string data from the database. In other words, let's look at collation.

PART 3 Settings for building and running 64 bit

In part one of this course, we talked about general aspects of Migrating to DataFlex 2021. In part two you learned how to use Unicode in your application. This is part three, in which we go into the subject of 64-bit. In this lesson we will introduce 64-bit and we will look at the Studio.

Language changes

In this lesson we will talk about language changes in DataFlex 2021. A number of datatypes have been changed related to 64-bit. And the new datatype Longptr has been added.

Now we know a bit more about how to work with 64-bit in the Studio, in this lesson you will learn how to adapt your application to use 64-bit external APIs.

Structure padding

In the previous lesson we told you about changes you may have to make to external_function definitions. In this lesson we will dive into one specific aspect of that, which is structure padding. You will learn what it is and how to recognize that you have to make changes to structs when preparing for 64-bit.

Com Class Generator

The Com Class generator is a handy tool to generate classes for a COM object. In DataFlex 2021, you can now also do this for 64-bit COM objects. Let's take a look at how this works.

Course instructor

Andre de Vries

Software Engineer, Data Access Europe B.V.