I was contacted about 4 years ago by a client that had tried
Outlook/Exchange, Lotus Organizer, and Act! and successfully exhausted each.
Constant crashes and having to adapt to the static structure of each made them
willing to pay for a custom application.
They had a large laundry list of features, pulling from the best of each of
the packages they had experienced. I had been a FoxPro developer for several
years and was confident in its speed of data handling - a key to successfully
displaying appointments and tasks for multiple users in the office. I only
needed to find some slick controls to replicate the interfaces they desired. DBI
Technologies had exactly the objects I needed. Their components were easily
integrated into my software with the properties and methods provided. The
project was produced within budget and schedule and the client has been
successfully using it since its launch.
"DBI Technologies had exactly
the objects I needed"
This type of "office automation" tool could not have been developed without
ActiveX controls. The product described above as well as several others provide
a very powerful solution for businesses - a complete turnkey solution for
managing customers and their associated documents and activities. Our clients
work from a "customer card" of information (similar to that of Act!) and then
accesses functions to schedule appointments, associate tasks, and even generate
word-processing and spreadsheets specifically tied to the current customer on
their screen. To recall any documentation (such as a quote or other
correspondence) the desired customer's record is retrieved then the word
processor function is invoked (provided via the "tx textcontrol" ocx). Any
document that had been created through this utility is automatically saved in a
directory specifically for the active customer and therefore available for
future reference. Everyone using this system now has access to those documents
that others had typically saved on their local hard drives. No longer do our
clients have to purchase three or four business packages in order to have all
their daily needs met - one application making use of available ActiveX controls
can provide the solution.
Bruce Kline
Visual Impact Productions
York, PA, USA
www.visualimpact.net
