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DataEase is a rapid application development tool for developing relationally-organized, data-intensive software applications for personal computers. DataEase was created in the early 1980s by software developers Arun Gupta and Joseph Busch. The first version of the software was released in 1981. The principals sold the company to Sapphire International Corporation of the United Kingdom in 1991. Sapphire continues to develop and market the product. There are two distinct product arcs in DataEase' history: DataEase for DOS and DataEase for Windows.

DataEase for DOS

DataEase' early hallmark was the ease with which non-programmers found they could rapidly develop useful software applications. DataEase' design emphasized the visual design of screen forms and reports while hiding almost all of the arcane details such as properties of the underlying data structure. In addition, complex data management processes that would typically require a multitude of complex steps to complete with traditional programming tools were handled automatically and transparently as a user made changes to his/her application. For example, when editing an existing form, if the user removed a field, added another, indexed another and changed the data type of yet another, the necessary steps required to reflect those changes in the data structure underlying the form were automatically and non-destructively applied when the form was saved.

Report writing was similarly streamlined. The user simply defined access to the desired data using a simple procedural language known as DataEase Query Language (DQL). A prompting script editor, which permitted any user to instantly create DQL script with no prior knowledge of DQL syntax remains one of DataEase' most overlooked and beneficial features. One was not required to memorize details about the application's components or DQL syntactical construction prior to writing a valid DQL script.

Sample DQL Script

 For Employees with (Salary < 50000 and YearsOfService > 4 and LastReviewGrade>85)

 List Records

   LastName in order;

   FirstName ;

   CurrentSalary : item sum ;

   CurrentSalary * data-entry EnterRaiseAmount : item sum .

 Modify Records

   CurrentSalary := CurrentSalary * data-entry EnterRaiseAmount .

In addition to simplified definition of data forms, reports and procedures, DataEase for DOS provided facilities for defining an application's user access, navigational menus, multi-format importing of data from other sources, data exporting, data backup and restoration, system documentation and user help, backing up and restoring data and integrating external programs into the application. DataEase for DOS applications provided record-level locking meaning they could be accessed simultaneously by many other users.

From Nothing To An Application

The following sequence of images depict the steps required by DataEase for DOS to construct and deploy a minimal data application.

Main Menu

File:Screen131.jpg

Create a Data Form

The first step is to create a form. Forms and tables are one and the same. When a form's design is altered, the changes to the underlying structures and data occur transparently. File:Screen132.jpg

Defining a Form's Fields

File:Screen135.jpg

The Form Design Canvas

File:Screen136.jpg

Create a Report Procedure

After one has constructed the screen forms that will be used to manage the data in the application, the next natural step is to create a number of reports to list and analyze the data. The following depicts the basic steps performed to create a new report.

File:Screen137.jpg

The Interactive DQL Script Editor

The next several screens depict the steps required to construct a report procedure with the interactive script editor. Using DataEase' interactive mode, it is impossible to make a syntactic mistake. This permits even non-programmers to rapidly construct useful applications.

File:Screen138.jpg

File:Screen139.jpg

File:Screen140.jpg

File:Screen141.jpg

File:Screen142.jpg

The Report Layout Editor

The layout is automatically generated from one of several templates. File:Screen143.jpg

Create a Menu

File:Screen145.jpg

Create Your Users

File:Screen146.jpg

File:Screen147.jpg

Put Your Application To Work

Main Menu

File:Screen148.jpg

Enter Data

File:Screen150.jpg

Print A Report

File:Screen151.jpg

DataEase at Work

DataEase for DOS gained an eccentric following among application developers and those responsible for managing proprietary business processes in the corporate world. The DataEase Resource Guide, published by Sapphire International in the late 1980s lists approximately two hundred commercially-available applications spanning specialized domains from Waste Management to Law Enforcement. Indeed, many corporate users deployed business-critical applications using DataEase including organizations such as NASA, Ford Motor Co., Citimortgage (FKA Lomas Financial Corporation), and the American Automobile Club.

DataEase for DOS was distributed worldwide and, according to information provided by Sapphire International, peaked at an installed base of approximately 2 million seats. Despite the fact that Sapphire ceased distribution of DataEase for DOS in 2003, a significant number of DataEase for DOS applications remained in active use worldwide as of 2007.

Awards

DataEase for DOS was recognized with a number of prestigious industry awards

• PC Magazine Editor's Choice: 1986, 1988, 1989
• PC Magazine Best of Award: 1988, 1990
• PC Week Labs Shootout: Winner 1990

DataEase for Windows

DataEase for Windows (DFW) is a rapid application development tool for constructing Windows database applications. DataEase for Windows abandoned many of the intuitive features of its DataEase for DOS ancestor. The DataEase for Windows product was designed and positioned to address the needs of the more technical programmer. This was due to the belief at the time that soon all data would be stored in SQL-based client-server platforms, and that DataEase itself would evolve into a SQL development tool.

DataEase for Windows was initially released in 1994, as a follow up to DataEase Express, which lacked the DQL procedural language. The user interface was overhauled and the automatic creation of data structures along with screens (Forms) was abandoned. Despite the fact that DataEase for Windows incorporated both an automated migration tool (from DE DOS 4.53) and the ability to directly acquire tables and data from DFD5, many long-time DataEase for DOS users found it difficult to break out from the hierarchical CUI paradigm and make best use of the new tools in the Windows product.

DataEase for Windows' acceptance by existing DataEase for DOS users was therefore significantly hindered, and those who delayed the decision to move and instead upgraded to more recent DOS versions found that while they could share data with Windows versions, to achieve a full Windows application, forms and report layouts all had to be re-created from scratch in DFW. Even though business rules could be imported with the tables, and DQL's could be imported also either by cutting and pasting or by the 'DOS report' facility in DFW version 5.5 on, the difficulty still remained that an application designed with a work-flow for the single-tasking DOS environment was frequently unsuited for the multi-session Windows environment. The difficulty and the considerable expense posed by the task of re-writing their applications forced many otherwise-satisfied DataEase users to reconsider their choice of the DataEase platform.

Conversely, new users of DataEase for Windows with no previous experience found it an effective tool, and some important systems were written using it during the second half of the 1990's.

Since DataEase version 7 (2006) interoperability has been abandoned as being too restrictive for the product's development to be a good 'Windows citizen'. Furthermore, in ten years of availability it was rarely taken advantage of.

Present Day (2007)

Since Sapphire is a privately-held company, market data for DataEase sales and Sapphire's overall vitality is difficult to obtain. One can only draw subjective conclusions from anecdotal evidence from diffuse sources. The facts are that the longtime director of DataEase software development, Pete Tabord, left Sapphire in the fall of 2006 and formed a company called Database City. Database City has announced the availability of an application-building product called Ffenics that seems to share many of DataEase for Windows features. Ffenics offers automated migration of DFW systems.

Sapphire continues to offer DataEase for Windows, but they have also recently announced a service offering to assist DataEase users in the conversion of their DataEase applications to Microsoft .NET.

Surprisingly, there are a significant number of DataEase for DOS applications still solving process problems around the world. However, like all legacy DOS programs, the costs and risks associated with continued support of these applications continue to grow. Microsoft has stated its intent to abandon all support for MS-DOS and it is only a matter of time before one will be unable to run legacy DOS programs within the Windows operating system, further threatening otherwise satisfied DataEase for DOS users.

Some third-parties have stepped in to help address this problem with automated migration tools and services that greatly reduce the effort required to migrate DataEase DOS applications to contemporary software platforms. An example of such a provider is the ConnectEaseline of software tools for DataEase developers, who supplies a software workbench that automatically recreates existing DataEase for DOS applications in a number of target environments including Microsoft Access, SQL Server, Oracle, and web-based deployments.

External links

• DataEase Product Web Site
• Connectease - A Family of Tools and Services Supporting DataEase Users
• [http://www.plmconsulting.com/plmforum A DataEase User's Forum/BBS

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• Proposed deletion as of 1 December 2007
• Database management systems
• DOS software