Product: Comet2010Install427.exe
Version: Comet16/32 2010 Build 427
Date: January 14, 2011 Download the latest release now!
Comet.exe
1. Corrected a problem that resulted in an extra trailing backslash for the Comet alias on
Windows 7 computers.
Comet32:
1. Corrected a problem in the NUM function for result fields with a non-zero precision.
2. Corrected a problem in the MOD function.
3. Comet would hang after an E16. This has been corrected.
4. Now uses the "C/R same as Qantel" cfig setting.
5. The user's id field is now set for print jobs destined for an archive. This allows DocMgr
to display it.
CosM32:
1. Corrected a bug in the SELECT statement when using an expression as the CASE.
2. Added % as a synonym for MOD.
3. Attempt to assign the result of a function to the wrong type of variable is now detected.
4. New DayName and MonthName functions were added to replace the original Day and Month functions.
They return a string description of the day and month. The Day and Month functions now return
the numeric representation of the day and month.
CometExplorer:
1. A new SearchFile option as been added for extended keyed files in Maint. This requires file server
version 11.0 or higher and is only for full Comet sessions at this time.
NOTE: Searches that require longer than 30 seconds may timeout. We are working on a solution to this problem.
Changes in previous releases:
Build 426
Comet16
1. When writing a CSV file and the first strings were empty it was not putting out place-holders.
Now it will generate one blank character in that place.
Comet32:
1. Fixed a problem in passing system variables in the following scenario:
ENTER a Comet16 program
RUN a Comet32 program that does an EXIT.
Previously this could have caused a crash.
2. Fixed problem in the DOSRW call used to get the device descriptors. Previously you could
only get the first 254 devices.
3. Changes to FSTAT for compatibility with Comet16.
4. When writing a CSV file and the first strings were empty it was not putting out place-holders.
Now it will generate one blank character in that place.
CosC:
1. Changes to make sure the aliases are created in the correct folder.
CosP:
1. Corrected problems with RAW "?" printers.
Build 425
Comet.exe:
1. Fixed a problem in determining whether the MS VS 2008 Redistributables need to be installed.
2. Now will install the MS VS 2008 Redistributables for CA clients automatically.
Comet32:
1. Introduced new date functions.
2. Implemented DOSFC for mkdir.
3. Corrected a problem that would crash if you attempted to log out of Comet while background programs
were running.
4. Corrected a problem with the NUM function that was reporting an error if the field contained a trailing blank.
5. Enhanced the NUM function so that it accepts special characters such as ,.()-+ in the input string.
6. Corrected problems with the INPUT statement that doesn't require transmit marks (ie the new INPUT).
7. Now reports E74 if a Comet32 IB object file is corrupted.
8. Comet exception reports for CometAnywhere clients now appear on the client instead of the host.
CosW:
1. Corrected a problem that could have caused crashes or "out of memory" errors associated with
extended windows.
2. When COSW starts up it will ALWAYS validate system aliases (CATEMP, CATOOLS, etc.) for write-ability.
Other user-created aliases will not be validated as it is possible that read-only aliases are required
by the application.
3. In the past by default, aliases were established in the CAFiles folder which was created in the folder
from which COSW.EXE was executed. This is no longer the case. From now on the CAFiles folder will be
created below the <UserName> Signature Systems folder. This folder will be located differently
depending on the version of Windows:
Vista/Windows 7
User: C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Local\Signature Systems
All Users: C:\ProgramData\Signature Systems
Windows XP
User: C:\Documents and Settings\<UserName>\Application Data\Signature Systems
All Users: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Signature Systems
4. When starting COSW, if a Cosw.ini file is not present in the <UserName> Signature Systems folder,
COSW will look for a Cosw.ini file first in the “All Users” folder and then the Windows folder.
Whichever it finds first will be copied to the <UserName> Signature Systems folder after which all
of the aliases will be validated for write-ability. If the alias cannot be written then it will be
removed from Cosw.ini. Following migration aliases that were removed should be re-established when
used. Please note that any intentional read-only aliases will be removed during validation and thus
must be re-established afterward. Non-system alias’ will be validated one time only following migration.
The original Cosw.ini files will not be deleted during migration. It is recommended that once migration
has been validated, the old Cosw.ini files are removed.
Build 424
Comet32:
1. FSTAT now returns E11 if the file is not found and a directory was not specified. It returns
E31 if an invalid directory is specified.
2. Corrected a problem with num2date(0,5). It was returning a blank string.
3. Background sessions now inherit the activating partition's printers, including # printers.
4. Corrected a problem with editing numbers which used (LM) in a FORMAT.
5. Corrected a problem with editing numbers which used a length override in a FORMAT compiled
for Comet32.
6. Corrected a problem with numtodate. Leading zeroes were not preserved.
CosP:
1. An error indicator is now added to the DocMgr status for a document if an error occurs
while copying it to the document archive. This change requires REL version 10.09 or higher.
2. It now replaces any invalid characters in the (SpoolMessage) used for a document's name
with "_".
Build 423
Comet.exe
1. Comet.exe will now run the Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Redistributable installation when required
for full Comet clients.
Comet32:
1. Corrected a problem that could cause a crash if a printer (or other device) was open in a
parent program and the LUN was reused for a file in the subprogram.
2. Corrected a problem with numeric editing which caused numbers to sometimes be truncated.
3. Corrected a problem that could have caused a crash when launching Comet32 automatically
on 64-bit Windows systems.
CosW:
1. Corrected a problem that could have caused a crash if the CometAnywhere host domain name
was longer than 15 characters. This problem was introduced in .420.
2. The location of CosW.ini file has changed (again!) It's now under the user's local folder
rather than All Users so each user gets their own copy. Depending on which version of Windows
you're running you'll find it here:
Prior to Vista look in
Documents And Settings\%Username%\Local Settings\Application Data\Signature Systems
Beginning with Vista look in
Users\%Username%\AppData\Local\Signature Systems
Build 422
Comet32:
1. Background partitions can now be ACTIVATEd. The X00 device is automatically open on LUN 0 for
these partitions. (See item # 2 below for X00 enhancements.)
2. The X00 device can now do (CopyFile), (RenameFile), (EraseFile), (FindFirstFile), (FindNextFile),
(FileStatus), (GetDirAlias), (SetDirAlias), (OpenClipboard), and (CloseClipboard). Previously these
mnemonics could only be used with LUN 0 which excluded background partitions.
3. If a configured directory can't be accessed at startup you'll be notified through a messagebox and an error
message will be posted in the Comet log.
4. The Msgbox IB function and statement can now be used in background partitions.
5. The delimiter used for .csv files can now be specified with the FILE (lun) DLM=char$ statement.
6. FILE (lun) NORMAL introduced to reset a file's access from CSV or XML back to normal.
7. Added new clipboard mnemonics (OpenClipboard), and (CloseClipboard). An error can occur if the clipboard
is opened by another user and there is no good way to convey that in IB. Now you can use (OpenClipboard)
first and test for that case and try again. The old method will still work but this is more reliable.
Use of these mnemonics requires REL 10.08 or higher.
8. Added a new mnemonic (ClearBuffer) to clear the X00 buffer between writes. Use of this mnemonic requires
REL 10.08 or higher.
9. CosC now detects 64-bit Windows and will launch Comet32 automatically.
Build 421
Comet.exe
1. Now launches the installer for VS 2008 redistributables if necessary. Also detects if no
/PN and no .cfg files and will attempt to run SYSGEN from REL.
Comet32:
1. FSTAT now returns E11 if the file is not found and a directory was not specified.
2. Corrected a problem in the NUM function for Comet32 objects that wasn't returning an error
if the last character in the string was invalid.
3. Corrected a problem in the STRING function for Comet16 objects that could have resulted
in corruption of data in other variables.
4. Session colors specified in the configuration file are now used.
CosC
1. Faster connection to CometLib.
Build 420
Comet32:
1. Corrected problems with FPT and BASE64.
2. Numeric overflow errors (ERR 1) are now ignored just like Comet16.
3. Changes required to get CometExplorer's DirBuild to load.
4. Fixed a bug that caused a trigger event when resetting a timer that is not running.
5. Prevented the changing of a constant when inputting a list of fields.
CosW
1. Fixed a problem with print screen using multiple monitors when running Comet.
Comet.exe
1. Added several dlls and manifest files to support conversion to VS 2008 runtime.
Build 419
Comet32:
1. Corrected a problem in passing numeric arguments to a proc.
2. CONTAINS result was reversing its TRUE / FALSE result. This has been corrected.
CosM32
1. Corrected a problem with conditional compilation and procs.
2. Corrected a problem that could have reported error count of zero when there were errors found.
Build 418
Workstation Install Program:
1. The workstation install program is now a self-extracting .zip file. This should simplify
Comet installations and updates.
2. GdiPlus.dlx has been added to the list of .dll files installed. This is required for printing
under Comet. Some Windows 2000 installations may not have this file and would result in errors.
CometExplorer:
1. Added Merge/Append to the Copy utility.
2. Comet32 IB objects are now differentiated from Comet16 objects in the file list display.
This enhancement requires Comet Server Products 10.2 or higher.
Comet32:
1. Added a new SetTimer instruction. This causes an event to be fired to the program
when a specified duration (in milliseconds) has passed.
Build 417
Comet32
1. Corrected a problem with CosM32 that could have caused internal error 91 stack over/under
flow error. This was introduced in version .415.
2. Introduced Cryptographic Support. This is a major enhancement to the encryption features of
Comet. You can now encrypt/decrypt using the best methods known today including RC4, AES and 3DES.
CosW
1. Listview sorting using numeric rules now sorts non-numeric or negative values as less than 0.
Prior releases treated these values as zero and could mix them in with valid zero values.
CosP
1. Now uses a longer timeout for completion of pdf copy (from 30 to 45 seconds). This timeout
value is also now configurable in CosW.ini.
Build 416
Comet32
1. Corrected a problem that was reporting E25 and E99 in some dialogs
2. Fixed a problem that was causing some Windows events to be lost
3. Corrected a problem that could have caused a crash when printing
4. Corrected a problem that could have caused a crash when using the First IB function
to retrieve the first key of a file.
5. Changed the handling of the clock device to match that of Comet16. DSTAT of any name
beginning with "c" will return the status of the clock. If you wish to OPEN the clock
you must use a filename of "CL1".
CosW
1. Corrected a problem that was preventing proper positioning of popup menus within
tab contols.
Build 415
Comet32
1. New XML file statement introduced to make it easy to output your data in XML format. For more
info, read the XML Output wiki doc.
2. A couple of problems were fixed in SetGlobal and GetGlobal:
- The data is now unique for each partition.
- The data persists thru running of programs. Previously a STOP would clear it.
Build 414
Comet32
1. Corrected a problem that could have caused a crash if an attempt was made to ENTER a program
that doesn't exist.
2. Local pathnames are now returned in drive letter form even if the folder is configured
using a UNC name. This effects PATH and DSTAT.
Build 413
Comet32
1. Corrected a problem that could have crashed Comet32 if the SQL device was opened.
2. Added more info about DOS errors in Comet32 error messagebox.
Build 412
Comet16
1. Connecting to certain addresses via the winsock gateway could have caused Cosh to crash.
This has been corrected.
2. Introduced a spool alias for the spool section of the Comet.ini file. See below for details.
Comet32
1. The size of the task buffer for mySQL has been increased to 64K.
2. Introduced a spool alias for the spool section of the Comet.ini file:
[SPOOLERS]
Spool = SP1,$(lac);
...
[PRINTERS]
Printer = Lac,p ,x,SPL:adobe ,Adobe PDF;
This makes it possible to configure a printer called SP1. Previously all printer names needed
to begin with "L". If your programs open "SP1" this makes it possible for them to be used with
DocMgr without needing to recode them.
Build 411
Comet32
1. Restored the functionality of dynamic ACCESSes which was broken in version .410.
2. Corrected a problem handling TERM$ values above T99.
3. The NUM function now handles ROUNDed variables correctly.
4. Trailing printer controls such as (FF) and (LF) were not getting processed.
Build 410
Due to a production problem the .409 release didn't include all of the changes required for
the CFAM correction. A symptom of this problem is that .409 CometAnywhere clients were not able
to connect to CometLib. This has been corrected.
COSW.INI
1. Older versions of Comet would store the COSW.INI file in the windows folder. Newer versions
of Windows do not allow writing to files in that folder without Administrator privileges.
Starting with Comet version 410, COSW now looks in Documents&Settings/All Users for the INI
file and if not found, but found in the Windows folder, COSW will copy it into the All Users
folder.
Build 409
CFAM
1. In a terminal services / remote desktop environment it was possible that a user's CosC
could have connected to another user's CFAM. This has been corrected.
2. Dynamically accessed dabs weren't being seen by CometLib. This has been corrected.
COSW.INI
1. If the CosW.ini file does not exist yet it will now be set up to use Windows colors.
ODBC
1. Added an option to hide the odbcdrv.exe message window.
Build 408
CosP
1. New image library installed to better handle the lossy jpg format for print images.
Build 407
mySQL
1. This is the first release of the mySQL driver. For more information read the
wiki doc and check out the sample programs.
CosW
1. Corrected a problem in CopyFile. The file would not get copied if CopyFile needed to
create a dir alias folder on the client.
Build 406
First beta release of Comet 2010.
