Extending x-4gl

Power-4gl is a tool-kit which greatly enhances the x-4gl programming environment by adding a robust family of general purpose functions. In particular, the package enables easy production of friendly and sophisticated user interface objects and reports.

Power-4gl was initially written by John H. Frantz, and donated to Aubit 4gl project, where it is extended, and maintained as part of Aubit 4gl OpenSource development process.  By preserving compatibility with other x4gl language compilers, intention is for Power-4GL to become standard 4gl functions library for all users of x4gl compatible compilers. 

Features

• Consistent user interface model based on presenting the user with windowed lists which can be of four basic types:
  1. Vertical menus in cascading windows that allow the menu "trail" to be visible.
  2. Flexible pick-lists that can join tables, present positional and summary information, output the lists to printers or files, mark rows and much more.
  3. Reports that appear on screen where they can be scrolled vertically and horizontally before being sent to printers or files.
  4. Help windows that concatenate ordinary editable text files and present them in a scrollable window.
• Enhanced printing capabilities include character formatting, page length adjustment and printer control.
• Library of over a hundred general purpose routines for text handling, arithmetic operations, and screen objects such as message and prompt windows.
• Keyboard mapping to logical and descriptive values such as "insert", "home", "refresh" and "exit".
• Extensive code reusability.
• Language, system, and 4gl compiler independence.
• Included as standard 4gl function library with Aubit 4gl compiler.
• Source code included under GNU GPL license.
• Developed and maintained as part of OpenSource project.

The following documents are available:

• Overview: An introduction to the Power-4gl user interface with some illustrative examples.
• Manual: The reference manual containing detailed descriptions and programming examples.

Useful links:

• Download: Obtain a Power-4gl, including a demonstration application and try it yourself.
• Commercial support: Obtain a commercial support for Power-4gl.