Cut and Paste Code With Ease

Visual Basic Programmers Journal
November 1997, Page 19

Object Briefcase 2.0b

SevenStar Technologies
Tel: 1-800-209-3827
Fax: 1-877-606-3818
Web: http://www.SevenStarTech.com
E-mail: info@SevenStarTech.com
Price: $49 + $5 shipping
Languages: Visual Basic 3, 4
Environment: Windows 3.x, Windows 95
Quick Facts: Visual Basic source code repository tool.

By Rod Stephens

SevenStar Technologies’ Object Briefcase allows you to cut and paste Visual Basic source code from one application into another, and to bundle event handlers, subroutines, functions, and even controls themselves into a single package that you can then paste into a different project. Although cutting and pasting might seem like trivial tasks, Object Briefcase elevates them to the point where you can build a meaningful code repository.

With Object Briefcase you can wrap code and controls into a package that you can later paste into other projects. You can use "briefcases"* to group related packages. For instance, the product comes with standard briefcases* containing code for working with buttons, databases, images, strings, and so forth.

In packaged** code, you can include standard or customized "IntelliPaste" parameters. Object Briefcase replaces these parameters automatically when the package** is pasted into a program. Standard parameters represent items such as the current date, your name or initials, the name of the procedure, and the name of the related control if the code is an event handler.

The program replaces customized IntelliPaste parameters with values specified by you when you paste the code. When Object Briefcase encounters a customized parameter, it prompts you for the value.

You can use IntelliPaste parameters to create simple code wizards. Object Briefcase's "VB Code Wizards" briefcase* features several examples, including one that adds a property to a class or form, and another that creates a new collection class. Using similar methods you can provide customizable sort routines, scrolled windows, and standardized access to API functions. You can even create tailor-made access routines for complex data structures such as hash tables and balanced trees.

Object Briefcase is not the slick product of a billion dollar company, nor is it priced as one. It definitely has a few rough edges. One serious problem with Object Briefcase is that doesn’t run under Windows NT***. SevenStar expects the next release, due sometime before November, will correct this problem.

The product's biggest drawback by far is its inability to support Visual Basic 5. If you have worked with add-in code yourself, you know why. Visual Basic 4*** and Visual Basic 5 give add-ins very different forms of access to the integrated development environment (IDE). There lies both SevenStar's promise and problem. Visual Basic 5 allows much greater access to source code.

Object Briefcase makes code reuse and sharing easier. The first time it helps standardize your team's coding practices, allows one programmer to reuse another's sorting routines, or stops one developer from reinventing scrolled windows, it will have more than paid for itself. At $54, Object Briefcase is a good value for the money.

Rod Stephens is president of Rocky Mountain Computer Consulting, Inc., a custom software firm in Boulder, Colorado. He is the author of "Visual Basic Algorithms", "Visual Basic Graphic Programming", and "Advanced Visual Basic Techniques" from John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Reach him at RodStephens@CompuServe.com, or on the Web at http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/RodStephens.

SevenStar Technologies Notes On The Review:

* A "briefcase" as mentioned in this review, usually refers to "folders" within a briefcase. A briefcase is a database file, which contains many folders and objects. You may create as many briefcases as you wish, and as many folders as you wish within those. You may also place a briefcase on a network drive and share it across teams.

** A "package" as mentioned in this review refers to what we term an "object". This is not a bad term, however, as the modern term "object" is fairly overused. Somehow, however, "Package Briefcase" doesn’t have the right ring to it…

*** Object Briefcase works with both Visual Basic 4.0 as well as Visual Basic 3.0, which was not mentioned in the review. The fact that we support this older version of Visual Basic with the same executable is the real reason that we need to rewrite for VB5. Visual Basic 3.0 did not have any add-in technology, and therefore Object Briefcase 2.0b does all of its fancy work without any benefit from Visual Basic 4.0 add-ins. We provide an add-in for VB4, but it really only launches the software, which then works independently of the add-in. This is also the reason that the software has trouble under Windows NT, as Object Briefcase "listens" in on VB, and Windows NT does not allow this in the same way as Windows 95. The software, however, does run under Windows 3.1 without any difficulty.

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SevenStar Technologies, Object Briefcase, StarPrint, IntelliPaste, and "Power Tools For Power Programming" are all trademarks of SevenStar Technologies in the United States.