GDIdb Professional V5.1.6 Software for Windows95/98 and NT4
***********************************************************

GDIdb REQUIRES ODBC (Open Database Connectivity Software)
TO BE INSTALLED ON YOUR COMPUTER BEFORE IT WILL RUN!!
If you have database software installed on your
computer you probably already have ODBC installed. If
it is, there will be an icon in your Windows control panel
labelled ODBC [32 Bit].

If not, ODBC may be obtained from the following sources:
1/ If using Microsoft Office Professional, re-run the installer
selecting install data access.
2/ Download the Microsoft data access pack from the following URL:
http://support.microsoft.com/download/support/mslfiles/Wx1350.exe


Introduction
************
Thank you for trying out our Software, we hope it fulfils your
requirements. Examples are included to help you evaluate
GDIdb- please see below.

Program Purpose:
GDIdb Professional is a high-level scripting tool designed to
automate Internet/Database tasks (using a dial-up Internet
connection) such as publishing database data on the web, web
form data retrieval and e-mail operations.

Installation:
To install GDIdb, unzip the download into a temporary folder
and double-click on the setup.exe icon. After installation
you may delete the contents of the temporary folder.

Program Status:
This software is time-limited (30 Days) Shareware,
and may be freely distributed.

Problems:
If you find any bugs or have problems with this software,
please visit the support section of the software homepage on
http://www.gdidb.com/ 
If you have found a bug/problem not covered on the product homepage,
please e-mail details to gdidb@gdidb.com.

Obtaining a registration key:
Please see the document "resellers.html" in the GDIdb program
directory for a list of GDIdb resellers.



EXAMPLE 1 (Running an example web script)
*****************************************
A Microsoft Access database file has been placed in the program
installation default project directory. (if you chose the default,
the path will be C:\Program Files\GDIdb\projects\default\workweb.mdb)
This database is a basic version of the system an Employment
agency might use to store their list of job vacancies.
If you have Microsoft access on your system, you can load the
database and add or delete database entries before
running the example.


To convert the Database to a web site

1. Make sure the default project is selected in the drop-down
listbox in the top GDIdb toolbar.
2. Select Open/Run Script from the GDIdb File menu.
3. Select workweb.scp in the file open dialog that appears.
4. Click the Open button and GDIdb will convert the database
contents to HTML.
5. You can view the web site generated by clicking the
Preview HTML button on the GDIdb toolbar or by loading
the file "index.html" (found in a sub-directory of the
GDIdb default project directory called html) with your web browser.



EXAMPLE 2 (Creating your own web script)
****************************************
A Microsoft Excel spreadsheet file has been placed in the program
installation default project directory. (if you chose the default,
the path will be C:\Program Files\GDIdb\projects\default\foodstore.xls)
This spreadsheet is a simple list of products such as might be
used by a shop to hold their stock level information.
If you have Microsoft Excel on your system, you can view/edit
the spreadsheet contents before running the example.


To create a script
1. Make sure the default project is selected in the drop-down
listbox in the top GDIdb toolbar.
2. Run Script Wizard (from GDIdb Tools menu).
3. Click single page web site on the script type dialog
4. Accept the default script & HTML filenames.
5. Select Database/Spreadsheet file under Data source type.
6. Click the browse button [...] after the spreadsheet file.
edit box. Double-click the file "foodstore.xls" in the dialog
which opens up. Leave login and password edit boxes blank.
7. Accept the single datasource table that appears under
the following dialog.
8. In the next dialog, move all table fields into the listbox
on the right.
9. In the data format dialog, check "format as table".
10. On the final dialog, clear the "Open script file for
editing on exit from ScriptWiz" check box and click finish. 


To run the script

1. Select Open/Run Script from the GDIdb File menu.
2. Select script1.scp in the file open dialog which appears.
3. Click the Open button and GDIdb will convert the spreadsheet
contents to HTML.
4. You can view the web site generated by clicking the
preview HTML button on the taskbar or by loading
the file "index.html" (found in a sub-directory of the
GDIdb default project directory called "html") with your
web browser.

Note: An example built on this script is included with GDIdb.
Run the script "foodstore.scp" located in the default project
directory to see how the basic script can be enhanced by the
addition of HTML formatting and extra GDIdb script functions.
Add HTML to your own script file by selecting edit script file
from the GDIdb edit menu, and double-clicking "script1.scp" in
the dialog which appears.






EXAMPLE 3 (Creating a complex web script)
*****************************************

To create a script similar to EXAMPLE 1, run Script Wizard
(from GDIdb Edit menu) and make the following selections:


To create a script

1. Make sure the default project is selected in the drop-down
listbox in the top GDIdb toolbar.
2. Run Script Wizard (from GDIdb Tools menu).
3. Click Advanced relational database web site on the
script type dialog.
4. Accept the default script & HTML filenames.
5. Select Database/Spreadsheet file under Data source type.
6. Click the browse button [...] after the spreadsheet file.
edit box. Double-click the file "workweb.mdb" in the dialog which
opens up. Leave login and password edit boxes blank.
7. Select the "Categories" table in the next dialog.
8. Select the "Jobcategory" field in the next dialog.
9. Select the "JobcatKey" field in the next dialog.
10. Select the "Jobs" table in the next dialog.
11. Select the "JCatKey" field in the next dialog.
12. Select the "JobTitle" field in the next dialog.
13. Leave both boxes unchecked in the next dialog.
14. In the next dialog, move JobTitle and JobDesc table
fields into the listbox on the right.
15. Tick all boxes in the data format dialog.
16. On the final dialog, click finish.


To run the script, select Open/Run Script from the
GDIdb Actions menu, and double-click on "script1.scp"







RELEASE NOTES:

GDIdb Professional V5.1.6 (15/12/99)
************************************
Recompile with new MFC


Compatibility issues with previous versions:
===========================================
None.





GDIdb Professional V5.1.5 (9/12/99)
************************************
Program crashing on FTP upload fixed.
Command line operation debugged.
&mailheader function debugged.
Web form retrieval ScriptWiz project debugged.


Compatibility issues with previous versions:
===========================================
None.





GDIdb Professional V5.1.0 (3/8/99)
***********************************
SMTP server multi-line response bug fixed.
Date comparison and format routines added.
Extra file test options added to &filetest.
Extra FTP script functions added.
FTP upload functionality extended to support
web server directory synchronization.
Extra firewall & FTP options added.
Customizable branding on developer runtime
version of gdidb.exe.
ScriptWiz data retrieval project name bug fixed.
Subject line checking added to ScriptWiz data
retrieval scripts (to prevent Spam e-mail causing
script errors).
Order of fields on data retrieval web form corrected.
ODBC removed from install, developer runtime
packaged as a separate install. 


Compatibility issues with previous versions:
===========================================
Subroutine arguments are now evaluated before creating
new arguments in nested/recursive subroutine calls.
&ftpsession syntax changed (does not affect scripts
where a direct connection to the Internet is made).








GDIdb Professional V5.0.1 (27/2/99)
************************************
&& and || given lower precedence than == != in arithmetic expressions.
"Only 1 instance allowed" bug fixed.
Option to allow more than 1 instance of GDIdb added.
Fixed changed only upload bug in &html.
New "browse for directory" dialog implemented.
Problems with <fformat> used in template HTML files fixed.
program crash bug in &getmails function fixed.
Bug fixed where Script Studio Wizards failed to
find recordsets in script.


Compatibility issues with previous versions:
===========================================
D must now be used instead of # in &format specification






GDIdb Professional V5.0.0 (30/1/99)
************************************

Major additions:
Royalty-free distribution version of GDIdb.exe added to
install (requires a GDIdb Developer's registration
code to use).
New HTML tag script syntax added, when used with &include
function allows GDIdb template HTML files to be
designed/maintained using a WYSIWYG HTML editor.
e-mail send functions added, allowing automatic e-mail
generation from database data or as a scripted response
to events.
e-mail POP3 receive functions added allowing web form
data collection and scripted e-mail handling.
Web (HTTP) function added, allowing link checking,
data retrieval from the web & data submission to a
web site via CGI.
FTP functions added allowing direct ftp operation
from within a script.
Script error trapping added.
Scientific math functions added.
Network remote control & command line operation
extended to support projects.
"Project Scrips" window added, giving a convenient
way of working with multiple script files.
"On error" project script option added, allowing
scripted response to project errors.
Extra Script Wizard "web form data retrieval" script
added.
Extra example scripts added

Minor additions:
Improvements to many script functions, new elseif function,
new dialup function.
Integer modulus, divide & bit-wise AND, XOR and OR operators
added to arithmetic calculator.
Extra (on-line) project script option added.
Multi-byte character set support added.
Network remote control server modified to return GDIdb
error message on errors.

Script Studio
Improved editor operation (32Kb max file size limit removed,
text drag & drop added, word select added, block select
tab operation added).
Line goto, line bookmark and goto error line debugging
features added.
Insert e-mail into script command added.
HTML processor functionality included in main program.


Compatibility issues with previous versions:
===========================================
&sql function no longer supports the norecordset option
(use &sqlnr instead)
&split function modified to accept split strings, and
return a new element even when the element is zero-length
(e.g. split char end of line).
&msgbox, &html and &datawrite option code handling has
changed slightly.
The arithmetic operators & and | now provide bit-wise
AND and OR operation respectively. Logical AND and OR
is now supported with the && and || operators.
Network remote control server- publish will now only return
a single OK msg, script file can no longer be passed with
a publish command.
Command-line operation no longer allows a script to be passed
with the /p option.
The # character when used in a &format specification
must now be preceded with a \ character.
The &while function can now only be used as part of a &do loop.
(Use the &loop function to replace a stand-alone &while
function)





GDIdb V4.1.3 (17/1/99)
***********************
Problems fixed:
ERROR 19 bug with SQL Server (may also affect other
database software).

Compatibility issues with previous versions:
===========================================
None.






GDIdb V4.1.2 (19/12/98)
***********************
Problems fixed:
1/ Bug where GDIdb will not handle extended characters
correctly when the character is the 1st character in
a line.

2/ Bug where special characters in comment lines are
recognised by the script parser.

3/ Script Studio bug where program window can only be
viewed in a maximised state.

Compatibility issues with previous versions:
===========================================
None.






GDIdb V4.1.1 (14/8/98)
**********************
New network remote control client included with install.
MS Access hyperlink formatting option added to Script Studio.
Script Studio bug fixed where program would not re-maximise
after minimise.
Script Studio bug fixed where &htmlrootdir arguments picked
up as &html arguments in preview HTML listbox.
Script Studio preview menu added to help.
Bug fixed in remote control server where manual
commands sometimes echoed back to network clients.
Extra HTML function formatting option added.
FTP re-try option added.
FTP "file not found" error checking disable option added.
FTP "resume failed upload" option added.
Amendments to help.

Compatibility issues with previous versions:
===========================================
&dataread function default directory changed to
local html dir.
Remote control publish response changed to echo 200 ok
twice for publish operations (even when no FTP action
is configured in project settings)






GDIdb V4.1.0 (24/7/98)
**********************
HTML preview feature added to Script Studio, allowing
an instant preview of all HTML documents defined in script
without having to run the script from GDIdb.
Remote control server added, allowing GDIdb to be
remotely operated using TCPIP (e.g. Telnet) over a network
or the Internet.
&filetest function added (allows a test for file existence
to be performed)
Arithmetic calculator extended to support floating-point
arithmetic.
&format function added, allowing control of numeric data
display style. (e.g. as currency)
Bug fixed in &filelink. (&filelink in V4.0.3 only works
with the default HTML directory)
Extra error checking added- attempt to extract data from
an empty &sql recordset will now produce an error.
Maximum number of columns in a recordset increased to 500

Compatibility issues with previous versions:
===========================================
None.






GDIdb V4.0.3 (29/5/98)
**********************
Added Queries to list of datasource tables returned
by ScriptWiz and Script Studio.
ODBC code modified to return empty string for un-initialised
database fields.

Compatibility issues with previous versions:
===========================================
None.






GDIdb V4.0.2 (25/5/98)
**********************
&filelink file import function added.
Bug fixed where command line script execution will only work on
an absolute file path.
Bug fixed where &datawrite used with an empty OLE object
field could cause program crash.
Bug fixed where &datawrite used inside a nested recordset failed to
find database variable.
Bug fixed where web project settings not removed from ini file.
Size of log dialog window increased.

Compatibility issues with previous versions:
===========================================
None.






GDIdb V4.0.1 (14/5/98) 
**********************
Bug fixed where upper-case subroutine names not recognized.
Script Studio HTML tags and Script Functions windows added.


Compatibility issues with previous versions:
===========================================
None.






GDIdb V4.0.0 (6/5/98)
**********************
Trial period reset.
New "Script Studio" script development application added,
allowing rapid wizard-driven script editing & development.
Script reference and tutorials included as .rtf files.
Main program extended to allow multiple web projects.
CSV export and string manipulation functions added,
extra database access functions added, string compare
added to &if function, extra options added to &datawrite
and &html functions, extra example scripts added to install,
Menus rearranged to conform more closely to Windows
standard application layout.
Bug fixed where &datawrite function would write binary
database data as a hexadecimal file.
New CSV ScriptWiz script added.


Compatibility issues with previous versions:
===========================================
All menus changed.
Default behaviour of window close command now
shuts program down. (Can be configured to hide window
instead.)





GDIdb V3.1.3 (18/4/98)
**********************
"Username" and "Password" edit boxes added to
Scriptwiz ODBC DSN dialog, allowing these to be stored
within script.
Bug fixed in Scriptwiz "Enter datasource file path" dialog
logon to secure database fails with the message "Cannot
find database 'file'"

Compatibility issues with previous versions:
===========================================
None




GDIdb V3.1.2 (14/4/98)
**********************
ODBC object memory usage reduced.
Bug where system files occasionally written to
html directory instead of program directory
fixed.
ScriptWiz extended to pass ODBC error messages
back to user.
ScriptWiz now only places square brackets around
Table/Column names which contain spaces when building
SQL strings. (Fixes "ScriptWiz could not retrieve
a list of tables from the datasource" error.)

Compatibility issues with previous versions:
===========================================
Preview html, view list file, view log, system settings,
edit script, edit database, script wizard & html
processor menus are now all disabled during script
execution or file upload.





GDIdb V3.1.0 (31/3/98)
**********************
Support added for ODBC drivers without scrolling
cursors. (Fixes Oracle problems)
"Mark edited files as changed" option added to
edit HTML dialog.
Office '97 style Toolbar added.
FTP progress indicator added.
Script "How to" section added to help.

Compatibility issues with previous versions:
===========================================
None.




GDIdb V3.0.2 (23/3/98)
**********************
Bug fixed where FTP upload errors could cause
program crash.

Compatibility issues with previous versions:
===========================================
None.




GDIdb V3.0.1 (23/3/98)
**********************
Toolbar bugs fixed.
Error reporting on extra } char bug fixed.

Compatibility issues with previous versions:
===========================================
None.




GDIdb V3.0 Beta (6/3/98)
************************
Trial period reset.
Upload changed-only files feature added.
Error checking in variable names tightened.
split, join, roothtmldir and runscript functions added.
&sql function extended.
&html function formatting option added.
Script drag & drop implemented.
Support for command line operation added.
Accelerator keys added.
List file now generated on disk. (Fixes memory
problems when converting V.large databases.)
Variables extended to allow use of GDIdb special
characters (?&{}#) in variable names.
Script parser re-engineered.
Extra FTP Upload options added.
Window sizing enabled.
Section on Errors added to help.
New HTML Processor utility added.
Bug fixed where empty record halted script on
&datawrite function.
Bug fixed where unknown sub/function reported
as having arithmetic/boolean error.
Bug fixed where attempt to print long text string
can cause program crash.
Bug fixed where failed FTP upload would not terminate
dial-up connection correctly.
Cosmetic bug in status window fixed.

ScriptWiz extended to handle:
-Optional Forward/Backward links on pages
-Database fields with spaces and GDIdb special
characters in names.
-Key fields to be of text data type.
-Easier extraction from .db, .dbf and .txt files.


Compatibility issues with previous versions:
===========================================
Variable name length now fixed at 255
characters max.




GDIdb V2.2.1 (10/1/98)
**********************
Minor bug fix to Script Parser.

Compatibility issues with previous versions:
===========================================
None.




GDIdb V2.2 (7/1/98)
*******************
User-defined local HTML directory
path added.
Option to delete old HTML from local
directory added.
&writedata and &html functions now support
operation with sub-directories.
&defsub function improved.
Time & Date user vars extended.
Memory leak in Script Wizard fixed.
Script wizard scripts given extra features.
Minor bug fix to Script parser.
HTML file list dialog placed under Edit
menu.

Compatibility issues with previous versions:
===========================================
None.




GDIdb V2.1 (27/12/97)
*********************
Scripter performance increased. (Large HTML
files are now generated many times faster.)
Process priority dialog added.
13 new script functions.
View FTP file list dialog improved.
Extra demo scripts added.
Scripter memory leak fixed.
Memory leak in display window fixed.
Bug in &else function fixed.

Compatibility issues with previous versions:
===========================================
None.




GDIdb V2.01 Beta (15/12/97)
***************************
Minor bug fixes.

Compatibility issues with previous versions:
===========================================
None.




GDIdb V2 Beta (5/12/97)
***********************
Trial period reset.
Interface re-designed, with many new operational
features- All common menu commands now also on
toolbar, output "report" window added, showing
publishing progress. Upload file list viewer added,
improved system log with entry filtered display,
error status flag added to status bar, "what's this?"
windows help implemented. Use of FTP proxy now
possible, option to delete old files from web server
included, script language greatly extended,12 new
data manipulation functions including text string
comparison and test, 2 new file handling functions,
all major execution control statements now
supported, array variables supported.

Bug in Script wizard preventing use of FoxPro,
Visual FoxPro and dBase database files removed.

Compatibility issues with previous versions:
===========================================
None.




GDIdb V1.4.1 (21/10/97)
***********************
Inter-Thread communications improved.
Amendments to help files.
ScriptWiz dialog order changed.
Bug fixed where empty records returned the text
string "FetchNextRow function succeeded."
Bug fixed where opening curly brace character
immediately after closing bracket of function
argument not recognized correctly.

Compatibility issues with previous versions:
===========================================
None.




GDIdb V1.4 Beta (11/10/97)
**************************
Trial period reset.
Script interpreter tuned. (now 6 times faster)
Script parser error checking improved.
Scripter expression evaluator improved,
Boolean AND,OR, >=,<=,!= operators added, Boolean
operator precedence changed, evaluation order changed
in line with convention, (left to right) expression
error checking improved.
&assign function enhanced.
Dialup settings dialog improved.
Syntax of &inc, &dec, &defvar and &assign
functions changed. (Now more intuitive)
&getdata function added
Support for getdata function added to scriptwiz,
bug in table handling in scriptwiz "advanced relational
structure" fixed.
Output HTML and script list files tidied up by
stripping extraneous whitespace.
Extra debug info put in script list file.
gdijobs and gdifoodstore ODBC DSN's no longer
created by install.

Compatibility issues with previous versions:
===========================================
Variable names referenced in &inc, &dec, &defvar
and &assign function arguments must be enclosed
with ? characters instead of inverted commas.
Arithmetic/Boolean expressions now evaluated
left to right, precedence of Boolean operators
changed. Boolean equality test operator changed
to double equals char. ( == )





GDIdb V1.3 Beta (1/10/97)
*************************
Trial period reset.
Database file or ODBC DSN operation added.
"Publish Actions" dialog added.
Information status bar added.
Registration dialog removed from GDIdb menu
and put on Help/About Dialog.
scriptwiz.exe V1.0.2 Beta added to install.
scriptwiz help and error handling improved.
GDIdb help improved.
Error tracing in scripter list file improved.

Compatibility issues with previous versions:
===========================================
Syntax of &datasource function changed.
Replace &datasource("gdijobs") with 
&datasource("DSN=gdijobs") in current script
files.




GDIdb V1.2 Beta (16/9/97)
*************************
Support for Script Wizard utility added.
scriptwiz.exe V1.0.1 Alpha added to install.





GDIdb V1.1.1 Beta (10/9/97)
***************************

Fixed bug where \} or \{ not handled correctly in conditional blocks
or subroutines.

Improved handling of errors in variable use.

Script language help improved.




GDIdb V1.1 Beta (25/8/97)
*************************


