2015 Meeting - Revision history

Barb at 15:56, 1 April 2015

2015-04-01T15:56:23Z

Barb: Created page with "==Comet Mobile Update== Justin reported that it has been submitted to Apple for approval to be distributed thru the iTunes App Store. Louisa is anxiously awaiting Apple's ap..."

2015-04-01T15:52:49Z

Created page with "==Comet Mobile Update== Justin reported that it has been submitted to Apple for approval to be distributed thru the iTunes App Store. Louisa is anxiously awaiting Apple's ap..."

New page

==[[Comet Mobile Update]]==
Justin reported that it has been submitted to Apple for approval to be distributed thru the
iTunes App Store.

Louisa is anxiously awaiting Apple's approval. She has completed an app for a customer that
does process serving and has another customer wanting a mobile app as well. She hopes to
begin work on that soon. She related how much fun it was to write programs for the iPad.
Come on, Apple, give us the thumbs up!

It was also mentioned that since there are now so many sizes of devices to be supported that
it may be necessary to include an API call to test the screen size in case adjustments for
that are required for the IB program.

Robert reported that CometMobile doesn't come up on his new iPhone 6.

==[[Products that may be discontinued]]==
Jim proposed that we discontinue support for the following products:

CometConnect - This product allows customers to rent CA sessions on one of our virtual CA
hosts. We feel it's neither fair to the few customers we have nor to ourselves to continue
in this business. Some customers expect 24/7/365 support. We don't have staffing to do that.
And, there are so few customers that it is just not profitable for us to continue paying for
the virtual machine and spend the support time required for it. We will no longer accept
orders for CometConnect. Service for current customers will continue thru the end of this
year.

Disaster Recovery - This product provides automated backup and manual verification for
Comet customers thru one of our virtual CA hosts. While the backup process is very reliable
we don't feel the liability of providing a full replacement configuration in the event of a
devastating disaster is offset by the revenue from the small number of customers using the
service. There are other automated backup options available by companies who are experts in
this business. Three were discussed at the meeting:
Louisa recommended Nordic Backup https://www.nordic-backup.com/
Dave recommended Agility Recovery http://www.agilityrecovery.com/
For a full IT solution you should consider Symbio Systems. They host and protect our servers.
Contact Julian Sutter at http://www.symbiosystems.com/
We will no longer accept orders for Disaster Recovery. Service for current customers will
continue thru the end of this year.

CometPDF
It's difficult supporting a product that we don't have source control of. The latest versions
of Bullzip have made it very difficult for us to provide a seamless install program for Comet.
The overwhelming opinion of the attendees was that they really liked CometPDF and were willing
to do more work themselves to get it installed. Everyone requested that we not drop support
for it. We agreed. It will most likely be necessary for new users or those wishing to update
the Bullzip software to do so directly from Bullzip's web site.

A couple of side notes about PDF printers:
Alan recommended Bluebeam as an alternative to Adobe for those who are willing
to pay for a pdf generator. He reports that it does work with Comet. One word of caution,
there's custom code inside of CosP for every pdf generator we've supported so it can get info
about the printer configuration. This won't be available for Bluebeam. You may see a
message in your CosP log it's not a recognized PDF printer driver. Here's a link to more
info: http://www.bluebeam.com/

Marc reported that the latest version of pdfFactory doesn't work with Comet.

Comet As A Service
Interest in dropping support for it is based on our impression that almost nobody is using it
and we haven't kept up to date on it. Robert and Greg both said they are using it successfully
and requested that we continue support.

Comet16
Almost everyone still has Comet16 customers. We agreed to continue to distribute it in the
release package but it will remain as it is today. No further fixes or enhancements will be
made.

SSL Relay
SSL Relay was replaced by Stunnel when the OpenSSL Heartbleed bug was discovered
last year. Stunnel is an SSL encryption wrapper between the client and server.
Jim will release documentation and the files required for you to get and install your own
SSL certificate from companies such as GoDaddy. You can get info on stunnel here:
https://www.stunnel.org/index.html It uses OpenSSL which is updated as required to keep ahead
of the bad guys. The SSL Relay certificate/installation service will no longer be sold by Signature.

==[[UltraEdit for IB]]==
The .490 release of Comet includes an updated CometUESetup.exe. This has an added
InternetBasic.uee file that can be used to install a basic toolbar for IB compilation
and QDIR registration. This is required for the newer versions of UE. The previous
CometUESetup.exe reportedly worked fine for UE versions thru 16. We tested the new
one on UE version 21. Instructions for using the .uee file are shown on the
CometUESetup.exe display.

It was pointed out that the Internet Basic Development Platform download page still had
the older version of the install program. This has been updated since the meeting:
http://www.signature.net/download/Internet%20Basic%20Development%20Platform/
You can also find the install program in your Comet executables folder.

Jim walked everyone thru the process for creating a new toolbar:
Advanced->Configuration->Toolbars/Menus->Customization. Then click "Customize Toolbar".
There was discussion about the value of buying the unlimited releases version of UE.
This entitles you to all future versions at no additional charge.

==[[Comet32 version of WDL]]==
Greg requested that a version of WDL be released that allowed for longer strings,
specifically cosCtlText$. It's length is currently limited to 254 in Comet16.
Doing this would not be as simple as just changing the declaration. It will take
research much deeper into the system. It would also require your dialog programs
to be compiled using Comet32.

==[[Security and File Servers]]==
There was discussion about the need for a way to force the logout of a user from the
Security Server. This is required to free up license counts associated with a user
who disconnected improperly, preventing another user from logging in. We are going
to investigate a way to implement a regular ping packet from Comet to the Security
Server. Then if we haven't heard from a user for a specified period, they can be
logged out automatically. We have to consider the impact on the file server. The
user should be logged out of there as well to close open files. There is currently
no communication between the security and file servers. We'll have to consider the
ping solution there as well.

Greg requested that a more detailed message be displayed when a user is denied
security, i.e. no license available, or duplicate nodename, or...

Greg requested a way to access from a client a list of connected nodes and their login time.
This info is currently only available from the Server's UI under View->Users.

There was also discussion about how to logout users who are still connected to the server
and have left Comet running unattended. Use of the (SessionTimeout) mmemonic was
suggested. It works with both Comet16 and Comet32. You tell it how many minutes are
allowed to pass with no mouse or keyboard activity before Comet will automatically
shutdown. http://wiki.signature.net/index.php/SessionTimeout This should not be used
in batch programs that may run for long periods of time without mouse or keyboard
activity. Someone asked what happens if you use this on session 0. Would it shutdown
all sessions on the node? Since the meeting I tried it. It only shuts down the one
session, not all of them.

==[[Digital Code Signing of Comet Executables]]==
Jim reported that beginning with 2015 versions, Comet executables will now be digitally
signed. Not only will this prevent the "Unknown Publisher" message from being displayed,
we also hope it will prevent some warnings or false positives from virus scanners.

==[[TRACE statements]]==
There was discussion of the TRACE statements. You can find info here:
http://wiki.signature.net/index.php/Trace
A couple of enhancements were proposed. A new TRACE PAUSE statement will be added.
This will cause trace to pause as if the user clicked on the trace window "pause" button.
It will also display a message to let the user know it has paused. Clicking "Next" or
"Resume" will continue program execution as expected. There will also be a new
TRACE GOSUBS option to turn off tracing in subsequent GOSUBs. This should make the
output easier to read when debugging dialog programs and others that use API
libraries. The source lines inside the API won't be shown in the output.

Robert complained that tracing of some of his larger programs overflowed the output
window. Brian mentioned the TRACE FILE statement. Seems this statement has been
implemented but not documented. It sends the trace output to the specified file:
TRACE FILE <filename> dir=<dir>
This statement is now included in the wiki doc for TRACE.

==[[Dashboard API]]==
Barb discussed the Dashboard API programs. Demo programs included with the API can
be used to draw pie charts, guages, horizontal and vertical bar graphs, and line graphs.
Jim showed the dashboard programs that we'd written for the brewery as further examples of
what can be done. The next major update to the API could include an option for
output to a PDF printer rather than to the screen. You can get more info here:
http://wiki.signature.net/index.php/Dashboard_API

==[[Miscellaneous discussion]]==
Louisa asked if Comet could interface with Microsoft Office so she could send email
through Outlook or make an Excel spreadsheet (not just a .csv) from within her
Comet program. Several people suggested she should be able to find a script to do
the email by googling it. Another suggestion was to check out csv-to-xls
converters from http://download.cnet.com/windows/

Greg asked if we could implement a way to have Comet.exe do a shellexecutewait of
a specified program prior to actually running Comet. This goes along with a feature
that was added way back in Comet 2011 to optionally copy additional files to the user's
%temp% folder before starting Comet. It uses a text file you create in the
Comet executables folder called CometUserFiles.dat. The file is in .ini format,
with [sections] followed by a list of files. The sections are:
[Optional], [Required], [CA Optional], and [CA Required]. You can read more about
how to implement this here: http://wiki.signature.net/index.php/Comet.exe_options
We will discuss Greg's request and decide if and how to implement it.

Greg requested that we add the date and time to the messagebox displayed by Comet32
when an unhandled Comet error occurs. His customers send him screenshots of these
errors and having the date and time displayed would save him from having to go to
the ErrLog program to find out when the error occurred. We will take a look at this.

Dave requested that the font size be increased in the DX program. Some of his users
find it too small to read. Greg reported that they used to get complaints about the
fonts in their dialogs so they've implemented 4 different dialogs for each program.
They launch whichever one is best depending on the user's screen resolution.
We'll see what we can do about DX.

Louisa reported that node names longer than 8 characters can't be used with Comet.
We'll look in to that.

==[[Symbio Systems]]==
Once again we were treated to an enthusiastic presentation by Julian Sutter about
the IT solutions offered by his company, Symbio Systems. From their website:
"We have a unique approach to providing IT services that ensures our customers
IT systems are always available, cost-predictable, and securely accessible from
anywhere, all backed by a team of seasoned IT professionals that are available 24/7."
In addition to hosting our own virtual servers, Symbio is also host to a few Comet Cloud
customers. Their experience with these customers makes them uniquely qualified to
make recommedations for the best virtual configuration for a Comet installation.
In addition to hosting servers, the ultimate experience is their hosted desktop
service. Each user has their own copy of Windows that they can connect to from a PC,
a thin client, or even a mobile device. For more info visit: http://www.symbiosystems.com/

==[[Next time...]]==
Finally, we discussed the location for the next Comet meeting. While several cities
were suggested, the two that got the most enthusiastic reaction were Nashville and Key West.
We're looking at Fall of 2016 for that. Stay tuned!

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:56, 1 April 2015
Line 18:		Line 18:
	Jim proposed that we discontinue support for the following products:		Jim proposed that we discontinue support for the following products:

-	CometConnect - This product allows customers to rent CA sessions on one of our virtual CA	+	'''CometConnect''' - This product allows customers to rent CA sessions on one of our virtual CA
	hosts. We feel it's neither fair to the few customers we have nor to ourselves to continue		hosts. We feel it's neither fair to the few customers we have nor to ourselves to continue
	in this business. Some customers expect 24/7/365 support. We don't have staffing to do that.		in this business. Some customers expect 24/7/365 support. We don't have staffing to do that.
Line 26:		Line 26:
	year.		year.

-	Disaster Recovery - This product provides automated backup and manual verification for	+	'''Disaster Recovery''' - This product provides automated backup and manual verification for
	Comet customers thru one of our virtual CA hosts. While the backup process is very reliable		Comet customers thru one of our virtual CA hosts. While the backup process is very reliable
	we don't feel the liability of providing a full replacement configuration in the event of a		we don't feel the liability of providing a full replacement configuration in the event of a
Line 39:		Line 39:
	continue thru the end of this year.		continue thru the end of this year.

-	CometPDF	+	'''CometPDF'''
	It's difficult supporting a product that we don't have source control of. The latest versions		It's difficult supporting a product that we don't have source control of. The latest versions
	of Bullzip have made it very difficult for us to provide a seamless install program for Comet.		of Bullzip have made it very difficult for us to provide a seamless install program for Comet.
Line 57:		Line 57:
	Marc reported that the latest version of pdfFactory doesn't work with Comet.		Marc reported that the latest version of pdfFactory doesn't work with Comet.

-	Comet As A Service	+	'''Comet As A Service'''
	Interest in dropping support for it is based on our impression that almost nobody is using it		Interest in dropping support for it is based on our impression that almost nobody is using it
	and we haven't kept up to date on it. Robert and Greg both said they are using it successfully		and we haven't kept up to date on it. Robert and Greg both said they are using it successfully
	and requested that we continue support.		and requested that we continue support.

-	Comet16	+	'''Comet16'''
	Almost everyone still has Comet16 customers. We agreed to continue to distribute it in the		Almost everyone still has Comet16 customers. We agreed to continue to distribute it in the
	release package but it will remain as it is today. No further fixes or enhancements will be		release package but it will remain as it is today. No further fixes or enhancements will be
	made.		made.

-	SSL Relay	+	'''SSL Relay'''
	SSL Relay was replaced by Stunnel when the OpenSSL Heartbleed bug was discovered		SSL Relay was replaced by Stunnel when the OpenSSL Heartbleed bug was discovered
	last year. Stunnel is an SSL encryption wrapper between the client and server.		last year. Stunnel is an SSL encryption wrapper between the client and server.
Line 140:		Line 140:
	There was discussion of the TRACE statements. You can find info here:		There was discussion of the TRACE statements. You can find info here:
	http://wiki.signature.net/index.php/Trace		http://wiki.signature.net/index.php/Trace
-	A couple of enhancements were proposed. A new TRACE PAUSE statement will be added.	+	A couple of enhancements were proposed. A new '''TRACE PAUSE''' statement will be added.
	This will cause trace to pause as if the user clicked on the trace window "pause" button.		This will cause trace to pause as if the user clicked on the trace window "pause" button.
	It will also display a message to let the user know it has paused. Clicking "Next" or		It will also display a message to let the user know it has paused. Clicking "Next" or
	"Resume" will continue program execution as expected. There will also be a new		"Resume" will continue program execution as expected. There will also be a new
-	TRACE GOSUBS option to turn off tracing in subsequent GOSUBs. This should make the	+	'''TRACE GOSUBS''' option to turn off tracing in subsequent GOSUBs. This should make the
	output easier to read when debugging dialog programs and others that use API		output easier to read when debugging dialog programs and others that use API
	libraries. The source lines inside the API won't be shown in the output.		libraries. The source lines inside the API won't be shown in the output.

	Robert complained that tracing of some of his larger programs overflowed the output		Robert complained that tracing of some of his larger programs overflowed the output
-	window. Brian mentioned the TRACE FILE statement. Seems this statement has been	+	window. Brian mentioned the '''TRACE FILE''' statement. Seems this statement has been
	implemented but not documented. It sends the trace output to the specified file:		implemented but not documented. It sends the trace output to the specified file:
	TRACE FILE <filename> dir=<dir>		TRACE FILE <filename> dir=<dir>