SciBit News

AsciiDataset: Product End-Of-Life

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 08:59:19 GMT

It is with much regret and after a long deliberation and consultation process that we have to announce that, after an epic run of almost 10 years, the AsciiDataset product has reached the end-of-life stage and, given Delphi's progressive slide in popularity, it is no longer economically viable for SciBit to maintain.

We will however continue to sell and support licenses for the current Delphi 2007 compatible version. As well as support (and even contribute) to any open source project born from this product should someone feel so inclined.

MyComponents: Product End-Of-Life

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 08:58:18 GMT

It is with much regret and after a long deliberation and consultation process that we have to announce that, after an epic run of almost 11 years in the era of MySQL 3.11 in the late 1990s, the MyComponents product has reached the end-of-life stage and, given Delphi's progressive slide in popularity, it is no longer economically viable for SciBit to maintain.

We will however continue to sell and support licenses for the current Delphi 2007 compatible version. As well as support (and even contribute) to any open source project born from this product should someone feel so inclined.

Announcements: BEE Certified

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:02:35 GMT

SciBit has recently been BEE certified by EMEX as a Level 4 Contributor with a B-BBEE Procurement Recognition level of 100%. Click here for SciBit's BEE certification.

AsciiDataset: 2008.4.2 Released

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 11:37:13 GMT

We are happy to announce the next release of our AsciiDataset product for Borland Delphi and Kylix.

What's New:
* Full Delphi 2007 support

Upgrading:
Is free, you can use the same password as in your current SciBit Secure account with the new download which you can find on the asciidataset website

Previous releases:
2007.4.1 Released

Enjoy, Support

MyLook: Web Version 2007.1.5 - Maturity Release

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 21:19:30 GMT

SciBit is proud to announce the first release of MyLook's Webclient, MyLook Web 1.5.

It includes:
* 'Almost' all of the thick client technology
* Supports browsing of multiple diverse webservices
* Browser independent
* PHP based and therefore very portable
* As with the thick GUI, it is free and open source.

For more information and downloads, see: http://www.scibit.com/mylook
For an online demo, see: http://mylook.scibit.com/client/

Vesta: Version 2007.1.6 - Prerequisite Release

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 21:15:17 GMT

SciBit is proud to announce the second revision of our open source document management system, Vesta 1.6.

Improvements includes:
* Folder Prerequisites
* Folder custom homepages
* Folder custom file filters

For more information and downloads, see: http://www.scibit.com/vesta
For an online demo, see: http://mylook.scibit.com/client/

MyComponents: Version 2006.4.5 - Delphi 2007 Release

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 13:35:04 GMT

It gives us great pride to announce the release of MyComponents V4.5 native Delphi/Kylix VCL suite. This update includes mainly fixes to issues as it has been reported to Support and on this and other forums as well as Delphi 2007 packages, help, apis and demos.

This update is free of charge for all customers whom own a 2005.4.x MyComponents serial. Everyone still using a pre-2005.4 MyComponents may upgrade to the newest version by logging into their Secure accounts: simply click the Secure link at the top of this page.

Previous articles concerning MyComponents 4.x are:
MyComponents 2005.4.4 released
MyComponents 2005.4.3 released
MyComponents 2005.4.2 released
MyComponents 2005.4.1 released
MyComponents 2005.4.0 released

MirrorMaster: 2.8 Released

Mon, 11 Dec 2006 06:44:43 GMT

SciBit today announced the release of it's award winning project based replication software, MirrorMaster 2.8.

New features includes:
* Single service for both client and master operations
* Using new MyLook interface
* File comparisons done using size, date/time and CRC checks
* Compression and Encryption used for all communications
* New flexible filtering and flow definitions
* Real-time and scheduled replication able
* Custom and Live reports templates and designer tools available for enhanced reporting experience.

For more details, see http://www.scibit.com/mirrormaster

MyReporter: 3.2 Released

Thu, 17 Aug 2006 15:50:35 GMT

SciBit is proud to announce the release of MyReporter CGI and ISAPI for Win32 platforms.

Changes:
* Fix: IIS ISAPI relative directory issue. The CGI and ISAPI behaviors are now identical and all templates can be positioned relative to the MyReporter directory.
* Enhanced: Faster emailing facilities
* Add: Emailing now allows for display of the report or redirection to a URI of your choice
* Add: Support for the newest MyCon 2.10 report engine

For more information. examples and downloads see: MyReporter

For previous releases, see:
MyReporter v3.0

MyCon & Mascon: 2005.2.10 Released

Thu, 06 Jul 2006 17:03:49 GMT

SciBit has released update MyCon MySQL GUI v2.10 today. This is primarily a bugfix and existing feature enhancement update for v2.9.x. In short, it contains all the fixes which SciBit could already release without having our customers wait for the upcoming MyCon version 3.0 release:

* Add: Alt+C combination on any grid cell to NULL the column value of the record.
* Fix: Column Editing for MySQL >5.0.15.
* Fix: Queries now prompt before overwriting existing SQL queries

For more info on improvements made in earlier versions, see
v2.8.1
v2.8
v2.7
v2.6
v2.5
V2.0

Upgrading:
a) Your "Check for Updates" in your MyCon Help menu

OR

b) Manually:
To upgrade MyCon 2.9
MyCon
To upgrade MyLook 3.5 and/or MyCon 2.8.1
MyLook
MyCon
To upgrade MyLook 3.4 and/or MyCon 2.8.0
MyLook
MyCon

For full downloads and other optional modules see the MyCon website

We did away with the MyCon Std package, as it effectively distributes exactly the same files as the Pro package. Thus your order, Std or Pro, will now determine your feature code which will either limit or extend your features.

FAQ: Lost connection to MySQL server?

Wed, 15 Feb 2006 06:36:44 GMT

This error usually pops up at the most unexpected times and places, and usually in an already working client application/website.

Here are a couple of reasons you get this error on the client-side while communicating with MySQL:

1. BLOBs

Another primary cause for this error, is when you update or select tables containing large blobs. By default MySQL's max_allowed_packet is set to 1MB. Should your update-SQL grow larger than this MySQL parameter, MySQL will simply drop the connection. This can easily happen with even a 512MB blob value, as blob values are usually hexed and thus takes two hex values per byte of the blob.

2. Client Timeouts

Most MySQL servers have at least three primary timeout settings for a client connection, connect, read and write timeouts. These control how long your client should wait for a response from the server when it connects, how long your client will wait while reading data from MySQL (i.e. doing a query) and how to wait when doing a write (i.e. sending a query or update), respectively. Usually is it a good idea notice what exactly you where doing when MySQL's "connection was lost". So check your timeouts on both the client and server side.

3. Server's wait_timeout

Your error may simply be due to your MySQL server's wait_timeout being set too low. The default is usually 8 hours, but sometimes hosting companies set it lower, ex. 5 mins, to best service websites. Yet, if you now have a live connection client connection to MySQL and does nothing on the connection for 5mins, the connection will simply drop.

You can read more on this and related issues here: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/gone-away.html

MyComponents: RemObjects DataAbstract 3 API Released

Tue, 07 Feb 2006 15:11:42 GMT

SciBit is proud to announce the release of the MyComponents API packages for interfacing with RemObjects' DataAbstract.

This release includes packages for both the VCL as well as the standalone DAD driver for MyComponents. This API will become part of any future releases of MyComponents.

You can now use your favourite remote objects with your favourite MySQL components just as you would have used an ADO or IBX connection. The new API is available on the MyComponents website

MyComponents: Quick Tip 2: MyComponents for MySQL in Threads

Tue, 13 Dec 2005 07:30:08 GMT

Definitely an issue that arises more often than not in real world applications, and definitely one that pops up on our forum from time to time.

Firstly, a bit of the fundamentals. MyComponents are derived from the standard Borland TCustomConnection and TDataset classes, and it is therefore important to realize that if these base classes' methods are not thread protected (using synchronization), neither are those of the MyComponents. That said, the MyComponents are quite safe to use in an isolated manner from and within threads (TThread). Moreover, the MyComponents classes actually makes special provision for you to create threaded connections to the MySQL server.

Also to be kept in mind, is that all Borlands' GUI VCL runs in the main application thread, and therefore is it not possible to create a dataset in a thread and have it be connected to a DBGrid for example. However, the TMySQLDataset does have a thread open command called Execute, which will effectively open the dataset in a different thread, and then only enable itself for GUI VCL access, see your MyComponents documentation on this method and more.

So, what does all this mean in layman's terms? Well, in short, if your thread "owns" the TMySQLDataset/Query, then should you have no problem using it in a normal way from the thread. You can do this in a number of ways, ex:
* A synchronized "pool" of datasets from which a TThread might "borrow" a dataset in an organized manner (you can even use the TMySQLServer's flying datasets for this, see articles on this forum)
* Another way is to create the actual dataset in the thread itself, i.e. as a local thread variable.

There are only two rules for using a dataset in a thread:
1. You absolutely must set the ShareConnection property to False, so that it will create itself a new MySQL connection and not share a connection with other thread and non-threaded datasets or the TMySQLServer
2. You absolutely have to open it only in the TThread.Execute method in order for it to open a MySQL connection only at that time using the thread's ThreadID and ProcessID to do so.

If you do this, will you have only joy with MyComponents and threads. A lot more information is available on this forum (simply do a search for "thread") as well as various TMySQLDataset properties in your MyComponents manual, ex ShareConnection, Execute method, Options property

MyComponents: MySQL ClientLibrary 4.1.14 released

Tue, 18 Oct 2005 17:54:24 GMT

SciBit now also maintains our own libmysql.dll which supports both old and new authentication and is only 160KB in size. So if you absolutely have to use a dll (instead of the Direct driver), then you can download it from MyComponents

Unlike MySQL's newest clientlibraries, which are 1-2MB in size and is usually not versioned, does the SciBit library contain full version info, is small and works 100% with the MyComponents. NOTE: It only implements the API needed by the MyComponents, which is minimilistic, so don't go replace all your other apps' libmysql.dll with it!

It is also free, and contains 0% MySQL source code (it is written 100% in native Delphi) and therefore does not carry any licensing issues for your commercial applications.

MyCon & Mascon: Issue Notice: BLOB columns

Tue, 18 Oct 2005 17:51:46 GMT

MyComponents: Issue Notice: To BLOB or not to BLOB

Tue, 18 Oct 2005 17:47:33 GMT

It was brought to our attention that some MySQL server versions, ex. 4.1.14, responds with a result containing blob columns from certain types of SQL statements, ex. "show create table abc", yet, the columns are not marked with the blob_flag by MySQL, and therefore are these columns not presented as blobs in Delphi when using MyComponents.

You can correct this in your code by update your source like this:
MySQLDataset.pas, method InternalOpenResultBlock, line ~1550
...
if (do2KStrToMemo in FOptions) and (FieldType in [FIELD_TYPE_STRING,FIELD_TYPE_VAR_STRING,FIELD_TYPE_VARCHAR]) and (FieldLength > 2048) then begin
FieldType := FIELD_TYPE_BLOB;
FieldFlags := FieldFlags or BLOB_FLAG;
end;
// Add
if (FieldType in [FIELD_TYPE_BLOB,FIELD_TYPE_TINY_BLOB,FIELD_TYPE_MEDIUM_BLOB,FIELD_TYPE_LONG_BLOB]) and (FieldFlags and BLOB_FLAG=0) then
FieldFlags := FieldFlags or BLOB_FLAG;
// End Add
if (doFieldsAsString in FOptions) and not(FieldType in [FIELD_TYPE_BLOB,FIELD_TYPE_TINY_BLOB,FIELD_TYPE_MEDIUM_BLOB,FIELD_TYPE_LONG_BLOB]) then begin
FieldLength := 255;
FieldType := FIELD_TYPE_VAR_STRING;
end;
...

Or you can download the updated SciBit libmysql.dll and use it instead with your application, as it will automatically correct this issue.

This update will form part of the next release of MyComponents.

OnDemand Install: Version 2005.1.0 Released

Fri, 07 Oct 2005 13:51:46 GMT

SciBit is proud to announce the release of the first version of a new product called OnDemand Install. For more information see:
* the main website,
* online help,
* download a demo or
* install TODInstall for Delphi 5/6/7/2005 with this shareware version.

TODInstall enables you to quickly and easily add automatic installation of advertised features (of your product/project's installation) to your Delphi application. This is exactly the same functionality you see in products like Microsoft Office, where parts of the software are only installed the moment you try to use it in the office application. It installs on-the-fly and you continue working with the new functionality in the application... no restarts, no reboots. Now you can add this to your application using a single component and one line of code. See OnDemand Install for more details.

MyComponents: Issue Notice: LastInsertID (non-critical)

Fri, 30 Sep 2005 09:27:19 GMT

A non-critical, non-severe issue was recently discovered by one of our customers in the latest release of the MyComponents. This bug will affect you if:
1. You have the latest MyComponents (2005.4.x)
2. You use the Direct driver (the bug doesn't affect any MySQL libmysql.dll drivers)
3. You display or explicitly use the LastInsertID string property of a dataset
4. Your table's autoinc column's count is beyond 16 million

You can fix this bug if you are a registered customer by changing

uMySQLClient.pas, function net_field_length_ll, line 391:
...
packet:=packet+9; //8 bytes value
result:= (byte(pchar(packet)[1]))+
(byte(pchar(packet)[2]) shl 8)+
(byte(pchar(packet)[3]) shl 16)+
(byte(pchar(packet)[4]) shl 24);
a:= (byte(pchar(packet)[5]))+
(byte(pchar(packet)[6]) shl 8)+
(byte(pchar(packet)[7]) shl 16)+
(byte(pchar(packet)[8]) shl 24);
result:=a+result shl 32;
...

to:
...
result:= (byte(pchar(packet)[1]))+
(byte(pchar(packet)[2]) shl 8)+
(byte(pchar(packet)[3]) shl 16)+
(byte(pchar(packet)[4]) shl 24);
a:= (byte(pchar(packet)[5]))+
(byte(pchar(packet)[6]) shl 8)+
(byte(pchar(packet)[7]) shl 16)+
(byte(pchar(packet)[8]) shl 24);
result:=result+(a shl 32); // NOTE: equation change
packet:=packet+9; // NOTE: position
...

This fix was already made to the MyComponents sources and will be part of the next release.

We'll make these issue notices a regular feature on our forums and degrade them from sticky to normal posts as the issue(s) are fixed by subsequent new releases. This will then enable all customers to monitor our news feeds for anything critical or pertinent via the RSS feed.

MyCon & Mascon: Tutorial 1: Configure your MySQL connection

Tue, 13 Sep 2005 17:32:12 GMT

Scibit today announce the release of our first official tutorial for MyCon published at http://campus.scibit.com

This tutorial is for newbies, and consists of a single flash movie showing how to setup a new connection in MyCon.

For more details, please click here: MyCon101

FAQ: How do I monitor SciBit News & Announcements?

Wed, 24 Aug 2005 11:53:11 GMT

RSS and Atom these days are the defacto standard for news syndication. SciBit's News and Announcements are no exception and is available in RSS V2 format straight from this forum, to be utilitized on news syndication websites and/or for our customers to monitor for new announcements in regards to their products.

Various commercial and free tools are available for reading and monitoring RSS news feeds, just search the web for "RSS viewer" and you will quickly find hundreds, ex. SharpReader or Google's Desktop Search V2 Sidebar Webclips. Simply download and install and add the following URL to your webclips: http://www.scibit.com/scibit.rss to monitor all SciBit's news.

Or, alternatively, can you browse to any of the SciBit product webpages and simply copy and paste the specific feed's URL to get only that product's news feed.

NOTE: You will not receive all posts on the SciBit forum, instead only Announcements and Sticky articles are published to the RSS news feed.

MyLook: GUI Version 2005.3.6 released: Auto shortcut link macros

Wed, 03 Aug 2005 20:42:34 GMT

It gives us great pleasure to announce the immediate availability of the next release of our MyLook platform, version 3.6.

What's new?

* Added support for downloading & playing macros by simply clicking a mylook link. This will greatly help support, demos and even customers whom can now automate tedious tasks and run it easy enough by simply clicking a link on their desktop. These macros are not to be confused with document embedded MS macros which run scripts. The MyLook macros are simply a text file containing a set of keyboard and mouse movements for MyLook to duplicate in sequence. It therefore contains no executable code and pose no threat to your system.
* Added support for application specific About dialogs
* Fixed: A couple of minor issues which has been reported.
How to get it?
* Renewed: The MyLook website to reflect and provide space for the upcoming module releases.

Users whom already have MyLook installed can simply use the AutoUpdate feature. Users wanting to test drive MyLook (which is completely free), can download it from here: http://download.scibit.com/release/mylook/ml.exe

Previous announcements:
Version 2005.3.5

MyLook: Version 2005.3.5 released - With two embedded modules

Fri, 15 Jul 2005 19:24:59 GMT

It gives us great pleasure to announce the immediate availability of the next release of our MyLook platform, version 3.5.

What's new?

* Two embedded application modules, Web Browser and Shortcuts. Web Browser is capable of embedding either IE or Mozilla Firefox into MyLook.
* Macros: Recording features to automate all those tedious tasks
* New window from here: To easily and greatly reduce your folder tree to the bare minimum.
* Drag&Drop of Files into the Folder pane which will automatically be added to your Shortcut application.
* Many&many multi-user environment features. Just start MyLook with "mylook /test" and use a User1, User2, User3, User4 username (with any password) and see for yourself. NOTE: Make sure you are connected to the internet.
* Dynamic on-request loading of application modules
* Many improvements in stability and scalability were made, especially in the docking and floating window arena.

How to get it?

Users whom already have MyLook installed can simply use the AutoUpdate feature. Users wanting to test drive MyLook (which is completely free), can download it from here: http://download.scibit.com/release/mylook/35

NOTE: For the users awaiting the email groupware module, the waiting is now over. MyLook now only have the full functionality which was needed for such an module. Expect to see many a client-server application module releases shortly.

FAQ: Are there special discounts for educational/non-profit NGOs?

Tue, 05 Jul 2005 08:55:19 GMT

Yes, SciBit does have a coupon you can use to apply a 50% discount to any product during the order process. However, we do require that such institutions contact us directly with their details, before we'll supply them with the coupon.

In general will you have to fulfill any one of the following requirements:
1. Faxed or scanned letter which has the letterhead of your institution, and references you, i.e. your signature, etc. (Fax number is available here)
OR
2. A website which contains both a reference to your institution as well as to you, e.g. list you as a teacher or employee, or has a profile of you, etc.
OR
3. A link or article/blog entry (written in reference to any one of our products) on your website linking to the SciBit website, which will remain active for a minimum period of 12 months. NOTE: This condition also applies to commercial/for-profit institutions/individuals.

Best wishes, SciBit Support http://www.scibit.com

FAQ: How do I extend my trial/evaluation period for a product?

Mon, 27 Jun 2005 05:16:38 GMT

In general, does SciBit's products allow you to obtain trial codes for as long as you need evaluate a specific product on a trial basis. You can obtain a new trial code to extend you trial period by a number of days using one of the following methods:

1. Your product's Help-About dialog usually have a link in which you can simply click to have the website generate another trial code for you.

2. You can visit either http://www.scibit.com/trial or https://secure.scibit.com/trial to manually generate another code.

Once the codes are displayed, please take care to copy and paste the serial, the release code, and the feature code (if applicable), back into your About dialog. NOTE: Some products will only implement and use the code after you have restarted the application.

NOTE: Some of our products, like most of our developer component sets, does not use a trial code, and are limited in other ways. For example, only running without a nagscreen while Delphi/Kylix is running and/or being distributed without source code. The intent is therefore that these products may be evaluated without any time restriction, until you are ready to make a production version of your own product.

Kind regards, Support

PS: Using a trial code does not brand your product as a valid and/or licensed product. SciBit's intent with trial codes is to allow customers ample time to evaluate our products, and even allow for extended evaluation periods with the minimum fuss, while also protecting all registered customers' investment in our products. Trial codes are therefore not to be used as a permanent solution in, and for your company, or for yourself, in any capacity.

FAQ: I lost my registration details, what now?

Thu, 23 Jun 2005 19:46:20 GMT

At the very minimum, should you have your registered email address. If you do not remember it, then you should contact Support with ample information, ex. name, surname, domain name, estimated purchase date, etc, to do a manual search for your account.

If you have your email address however, can you simply visit https://secure.scibit.com/account , type in your email address and click login with an empty password. You will then receive an email containing your password. Once logged in, can you access any of your existing products and serials, as well as regenerate release and feature codes for your product.

Best wishes, Support