November 11, 1997  Beta Release 1

Thank you for installing and evaluating this limited beta release of
SuperCede.  This product is for US Versions of Windows NT 4.0.

-!-!- THIS IS A BETA TEST RELEASE -!-!-

This is a beta test release of SuperCede Version 2.  This is not a
production release.  It is not a complete release.  It should not be
considered for any production work.  It is intended to give a clear
sense of what the final product will look like and its major new
capabilities.  It is not appropriate to compare its performance and
stability with released products.  This beta will stop working on
February 1, 1998.

This beta release does not confer any redistribution rights for the
necessary SuperCede runtime files which support executable files
generated by SuperCede.  Such executables can only be run on the
system which has this beta installed.

SuperCede is designed to run well on both Windows NT 4.0 and Windows
95.  This beta still has numerous problems on Windows 95 so we only
recommend running it on Windows NT 4.0 at this time.  A minimum of 48
megabytes of RAM is necessary, with 64 megabytes or more recommended.
We expect to reduce the memory footprint in the final release.

This beta does not support conversion of either projects or forms
generated with earlier versions SuperCede.  The final release version
will, of course.

The graphical forms generator uses serialization of various objects to
store and retrieve the initial state of graphical forms.  This is a
simple and elegant technique when compared to generating
initialization code in the form's source file.  However, it is
extremely likely that the exact form of the objects will change from
the beta to the final version, and any graphical forms generated with
this beta version will need to be regenerated with the release
version.  Future release versions will be capable of converting forms
from earlier versions, so this is just a caution for this beta.

As of this date, there are problems trying to run SuperCede generated
applets in even the latest Java enabled browsers, such as Internet
Explorer 4 and Netscape Navigator 4.  They both appear to not
correctly support reading of serialized objects via certain methods.
We believe we can workaround their problems, but were not able to
integrate it in time for this beta.

Additional information and restrictions for this beta are noted later
in this document.

-!-!- Reporting Problems or Other Feedback -!-!-

You have separately been given contact information to give your
feedback directly to SuperCede product management.  Again, we are
pleased that you have taken the time to give us your reaction to this
beta release and thank you in advance for your efforts.

-!-!- NEW FEATURES WE LIKE -!-!-

** JDK 1.1.4 **

The big news for this version of SuperCede is complete support for JDK
1.1.4 release.  This involved significant work in the Flash Compiler
and in the graphical IDE.  Here are some highlights we're especially
proud of.

** Beans browser **

There is a new Beans browser in the IDE which will let you browse
through everything a Bean will tell you about itself, and that's a
lot!  You can drag visible Beans right from the browser and drop them
onto your form, or drag them from the browser onto the palette for
Beans that get used frequently.

** Database browser **

There is a new database browser that lets you examine what database
tables are available with a tree control.  Drag the table right from
the browser onto your form for quick and easy database applications!

** WSIWYG layout design **

Layout managers are running in design mode when you manipulate them
in the form editor.  There should be no surprises as to what they look
like when you actually run them!

** Full executable support for class file **

The runtime for SuperCede generated executables completely supports
dynamic compilation of class files.  Try it!

-!-!-INSTALLATION-!-!-

Minimum RAM requirement for this beta is 48 megabytes, 64 megabytes
recommended.  At least 200 megabytes of free disk space is required
prior to installation.

UNINSTALL ANY ALPHA RELEASE FIRST

If you have previously installed an alpha release of SuperCede V2 you
must first uninstall it.  Equally important, you must reboot, even NT,
after uninstalling the alpha and before installing this beta.

INSTALLATION FROM CD-ROM

Insert the SuperCede Compact Disk into the CD-ROM drive.  Run the
"setup.exe" program in the SC2Beta1 folder.  Follow the instructions.

-!-!-DOCUMENTATION-!-!-

You will find a link (Evalguide) to an Evaluator's Guide for this beta
release in the SuperCede program group created during installation.
The online help is still evolving but already contains context
sensitive (F1 key) JDK 1.1 API help when in the source editor.

You need Adobe's Acrobat Reader Program to view the SuperCede
Evaluation Guide.  If you do not already have one installed, an
Acrobat reader installation can be found on the CD-ROM as the
"acroread.exe" program in the Acrobat folder.  Simply run it and
follow the instructions.

Additional documents will be present in the final release version.


-!-!-RELEASE NOTES-!-!-

1) SuperCede JRE with Flash Compiler option.

This installation will automatically install version 1.1.4 of the Java
Runtime Environment (JRE), which is used by both the Interactive
Development Environment and applications developed with it.  If you
already have a version of the JRE installed, this beta installation
will overwrite the JRE registry keys to point to the copy installed
with SuperCede instead.

The SuperCede JRE will also update the standard jre.exe program to
work with SuperCede's Flash Compiler as its JIT.  By default,
therefore, running class files using jre after SuperCede is installed
will be using SuperCede's Flash Compiler.  To run class files with the
standard interpreter, specify the "-nojit" option to JRE.

2) No inner classes support.

This beta version does not support inner classes in source files.  It
will run class files compiled by javac that contained inner classes,
however.

3) No conversion of forms or projects from previous version of SuperCede.

This beta version will not automatically convert forms or projects
developed with earlier versions of SuperCede.

4) Incompatibility of beta forms with released product forms.

Graphical forms developed with this beta version will almost surely be
incompatible with the forms supported by the final released product.
This is because SuperCede forms use serialized data files that will
have changes made to them before the final release.  In the released
product these serialized forms will have appropriate versioning
methods so that conversion to future versions will be supported.

5) Incomplete support for deploying executables

Programs that are created in executable format can only be run on a
system which has this SuperCede Version 2 beta installed.  This is
because of dependencies on the JRE installation which occurs as part
of installing the SuperCede Version 2 beta.

6) Bad handler code caution

The forms editor is designed to, among other things, simplify the
tedious task of writing handlers for graphical controls.  A key new
feature of this release is fewer restrictions on the format of the
source code for graphical forms.  However, to accomplish this, the
source is parsed when switching from the source code editor to the
forms editor to rediscover crucial patterns in that source.  In this
current beta, we recommend always doing an "update" (the lightening
bolt icon) after editting form handlers prior to switching back to the
graphical form editor.

7) New handlers not registered in running forms

SuperCede takes pride in its ability to interactively update
applications while they are being debugged.  However, the new JDK 1.1
event model has changed some behavior we grew to like in the old
model.  In particular, we still allow new methods, such as event
handlers, to be interactively added while a form is being run.
Unfortunately, these new handlers now need to be registered before
events will be routed to them.  In this beta, that happens when the
form is instantiated, hence new handlers will not be seen until the
form is recreated.  We are evaluating a couple of different approaches
towards restoring better interactivity in this case.

COPYRIGHTS
Copyright (C) 1997 SuperCede, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.
Patents Pending.

Portions (JDK class files) Copyright (C) 1994-1997 Sun
Microsystems, Inc.

Portions (zip file decoding) Copyright (C) 1990-1993 Mark Adler,
Richard B. Wales, Jean-loup Gailly, Kai Uwe Rommel, Igor
Mandrichenko and John Bush.

Portions (components and documentation) Copyright (C) KL Group,
1996, 1997.

Portions (image decoding) Copyright (C) 1991-1995 Thomas G. Lane.
This software is based in part on the work of the Independent
JPEG Group.

Portions (C Runtime Library) Copyright (C) 1994-1996, MetaWare
Incorporated, Santa Cruz, CA.  All Rights Reserved.

Acrobat(R) Reader Copyright (C) 1987-1996 Adobe Systems
Incorporated. All rights reserved. Adobe and Acrobat are trademarks of
Adobe Systems Incorporated, which may be registered in certain
jurisdictions.

Portions of this software (JDBC-ODBC Bridge and ODBC Drivers) are
copyrighted by INTERSOLV, Inc., 1991-1997.

Portions of this software (VISICHANNEL for JDBC) are copyrighted by
VISIGENIC Software, Inc., 1997.

Flash Compiler technology, PersistentMemory, and SuperCede are
trademarks of SuperCede, Incorporated.

Microsoft, Windows, and Windows NT are registered trademarks, and
ActiveX and Visual Basic are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

Intel and Pentium are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation.

Java is a trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc.
