			Visual/db 3.00 Release Notes

Thank you for purchasing Visual/db! This is a file of information regarding
Visual/db, read it before installation and if you experience any 
difficulties.

1.0 - INSTALLATION
2.0 - PROGRAM MANAGER GROUP
3.0 - WINDOWS COMPRESSED BITMAP FILE SUPPORT (RLE)
4.0 - CODE OPTIMIZATION PROGRAM
5.0 - WINDOWS 3.0 & COMMON DIALOG SUPPORT
6.0 - VBRUN200.DLL
7.0 - PutOBJ() CALL

1.0 INSTALLATION
----------------
Visual/db is compressed on the distribution diskette. You must use the
provided installation program named SETUP.EXE or manually uncompress
all files using EXPAND.EXE

   * Using Windows To Install Visual/db
	
	 Run Windows. Put the Visual/db distribution diskette into a
	 floppy drive. Then select the Run option from the program manager.
	 Run the program SETUP.EXE that is on the floppy disk. Follow the
	 prompts.

	 SETUP.EXE will NOT change WIN.INI, SYSTEM.INI, CONFIG.SYS,
	 AUTOEXEC.BAT or any other system file(s).

	 SETUP.EXE will NOT overwrite existing disk files (except other
	 Visual/db files). SETUP.EXE does not copy any files into the
	 WINDOWS or WINDOWS\SYSTEM directories.

	 SETUP.EXE only copies Visual/db files into the directory you
	 indicate when running setup.

   * Using EXPAND to Install Visual/db files

	Copy the files needed from the distribution floppy disk. Then
	Use EXPAND to uncompress and rename the files.  

2.0 PROGRAM MANAGER GROUP
-------------------------
SETUP.EXE can build a program manager group after a full installation.
If you do not use Windows Program Manager as your main shell, do not
choose to have SETUP.EXE create the program group.
 
If the Visual Basic program VB.EXE is not in your path, then the installed
applications will not operate properly. Add the path to VB.EXE to your
DOS PATH.

3.0 WINDOWS COMPRESSED BITMAP FILE SUPPORT
------------------------------------------
You may load Windows Compressed Bitmaps (.RLE) files into a Visual Basic
Picturebox control and then save it into a memo file using the PutOBJ
call. Doing so will store the compressed bitmap into a memo file and
significanty reduce memo file size (by as much as 90%.)

However, Visual Basic 2.0 crashes if you attempt to load an RLE bitmap
into a picturebox when the system displays 256 or more colors. This is a
Visual Basic bug which has been reported to Microsoft -- it is not a
Visual/db bug!

4.0 CODE OPTIMIZATION PROGRAM
-----------------------------
The Code Optimization Program (COP) now offers to remove GetERROR() text
to reduce executable program size. COP optimizes the DBVB.BAS module but 
does not optimize SUPPORT.BAS and MM.BAS. You may manually remove unused 
routines from SUPPORT.BAS and MM.BAS if you choose. If so make a backup 
of the files first, remove the unneeded routines, then make sure your 
application runs.

5.0 WINDOWS 3.0 & COMMON DIALOG SUPPORT
---------------------------------------
Visual/db uses the Windows 3.1 COMMDLG.DLL for it's demo programs. You may
call LoadFile(), SaveFile() and other common dialogs as well. They are 
found in SUPPORT.BAS. If your applications will run under Windows 3.0, then
you will need to distribute COMMDLG.DLL with your applications. A copy of
COMMDLG.DLL was copied to your Visual/db directory during installation.

6.0 VBRUN200.DLL
----------------
Two Visual/db programs - COP.EXE and DBVBHELP.EXE -- require VBRUN200.DLL to
operate. A copy of VBRUN200.DLL was placed in your Visual/db directory
during installation. If you delete VBRUN200.DLL, COP.EXE and DBVBHELP.EXE
will not operate.

7.0 PutOBJ() CALL
-----------------
In order to support Binary Large Objects (BLOBs) a new routine was
added to MM.BAS - PutOBJ(). PutOBJ() writes any DOS file into a 
memo file, regardless of file type.

SYNTAX: Call PutOBJ (handle%, status%, sector$, filename$)

FUNCTION: General Purpose routine to store the contents of any
	  file into a memo file.

handle% - passed as handle of open memo file
status% - returned as status of call
sector$ - returned as memo sector where data was stored.
filename$ - DOS file name (including optional path) of
	    file to store in memo file. MUST BE STORED
	    IN DATABASE USING PUTFLD/PUTREC or PUTFLDS.
COMMENTS: If passed as valid sector, and filename$ will fit in space 
	  allocated to sector$, then filename will be stored in 
	  sector$.

EXAMPLE: See MMDEMO.MAK

<end>






