Clarion 10 Subscription Feature Comparison - Professional vs Enterprise

There doesn’t seem to be a decent list of the differences between the two editions of Clarion which are currently sold as subscriptions. How about a community curated list here on the ClarionHub?

This is not intended as a place to discuss the Core Subscription Program itself but you are welcome to start a topic on that if you want. I am sure there are lots of folks with ideas!

To get things started I have pulled some info from the internet archive and applied a little bit of formatting. I am sure this is now out of date buts it’s at least somewhere to start!

For reference, the two editions available are:

General Features

Feature Enterprise Professional
Fully pre-emptive Threading Model
Thread Synchronization Interfaces for Critical Sections, Semaphores, Mutexes and ReaderWriter
Easily "rebase" the target memory load area for your DLL's with the integrated global template support for memory address selection
Application Themes which can be saved and reused to further accelerate your development
Theme Maintenance Wizard provides an easy to use interface for creating and changing Themes
Application Wizard with additional options and Theme Support
Procedure Wizard with additional options and Theme Support
Label Wizard with 70 pre-defined Avery label sizes and layouts
XP Manifest File Support
Smart Locators throughout which provide efficient navigation in lists and can be repeated via Ctrl-Enter key combination
Zoom window - pressing the F10 key provides an expanded scrollable edit area for entries and prompts
Popup table / variable window now available in more locations
The Expression Editor consolidates all Tables, Global, Module and Local data variables and an extensive list of RTL functions for constructing expressions in select template prompts.
Create a Project (PRJ) from your Application (APP) automatically
Generate source code for a single Module
The Dictionary View Toolbox is now available in the Application Generator
The Formula Editor has been enhanced to provide additional Class support
Global and procedure support to "swap" the Enter key for the Tab key for field navigation
Global and procedure support for a Visual Indicator that places a box around the current control, changes the background color, or adds an indicator character next to the control. These options can be mixed and matched, overridden at the procedure level and set for specific control types. There's even an option to use alternate colors for required fields.

Database Drivers

Feature Enterprise Professional
ADO Data Layer Support providing additional database connectivity options
OleDB Connection Builder available at designtime and runtime
ODBC driver updated to support multi-table import
BLOB column support for all native SQL drivers
BLOB column size for TopSpeed (TPS) files is 640 MB
Oracle Call Interface (OCI) 8.x supported *
Oracle BLOB column types (4) supported *
Functions for Reading and Writing to BLOB columns
* Oracle Accelerator available as an option for the Professional version

Language / Runtime Library

Feature Enterprise Professional
Inline PRAGMA statement control of the project system from within your source code
Support of the LAYOUT attibute for the window and report formatters
FLAT attibute now supported on list controls
ICONs of sizes other than 32x32 and 16x16 now supported
DESTROY(FILE) now supported
Progress bar support for colors, transparency and range(MIN(LONG) to MAX(LONG)
Vertical and smooth Progress bar options now supported
BOXED attribute for TEXT controls supported
RTF attribute for TEXT controls supported on windows and reports
MESSAGE() dialog text can be copied to the clipboard
Runtime Properties: PROP:Datapath, PROP:NextTabStop, PROP:PreviousTabStop, PROP:Vscroll, PROP:WheelScroll and PROP:WindowsVersion
Resultsdof ?, *? and *STRING types from functions prototyped with the RAW attribute are now treated as untyped references
QUOTE and UNQUOTE functions added
BINDEXPRESSION(name, expr) added
INSTANCE(variable, threadno) returns the address of a variable or entity's thread instance
Function SUSPEND, suspends a thread's execution
Function RESUME, resumes a thread's execution
SQL driver string BINDCOLORDER (Bind column order) added
FILEDIALOG can now accept any sized string for the extension list

ABC Library

Feature Enterprise Professional
SaveBuffer and RestoreBuffer made virtual to enable users to do BLOB comparisons in a derived version of EqualBuffer if required.
The ABC INIClass has been enhanced to support using the Windows registry for storage.
Methods have been added to the ABC Popup Class; DeleteMenu and GetLastNumberSelection methods.
New Dictionary class to make ABC classes safe for a fully preemptive environment.

Database Dictionary Editor

Feature Enterprise Professional
Reorganized layout maximizes the available on screen information so that you can more easily access property dialogs
Client side Triggers provide similar functionality to server-side triggers, i.e. code is executed when a table is accessed for any or all of (Add,Update,Delete). The code can be called either before the operation or after, or both. Provides an opportunity for additional validation, computed field values, etc. that is stored in the Dictionary and then incorporated into all applications that share that dictionary. Triggers are valid for both ISAM and SQL tables. When used for SQL tables client-side triggers provide independence from any particular backend.
Create a single file conversion program for a single table
Create a single file conversion program for a select tables
Each database driver now has a custom driver string properties dialog editor providing for "quick and easy" changes

Templates

Feature Enterprise Professional
The Business Rules Manager class and templates provide an easy to use method to implement validation logic and apply it throughout your application. You can define a Rule Globally and it is automatically implemented to each procedure that contains the data variable associated with the Rule. You have the option to override and ignore the Ruleda the local Procedure level as well as define additional Rules Locally specific to a single Procedure. The runtime characteristic of an implemented Rule is that it can Dis/Enable Un/Hide any number of screen controls and has a mechanism to notify the User as to its' state.
A comprehensive XML Class has been created with code templates which support serializing a Clarion Queue into XML, de-serializing an XML string into a Clarion Queue, mapping headers where possible. Code templates are also provided to perform the same functions for any File or View structure defined. The class contains additional features which permit arbitrary rendering of any XML in a Queue structure.
The Listbox Format Manager allows the User to re-order list columns and save the formats for reuse
VCR Form Navigation permits navigation, inserts, updates and deletes from a form procedure. Advanced features included are Locator and multiple insert support.
Comprehensive Business Graph Class and templates provide a method to implement standard business graphics on screen and printed reports.dAn extensive set of classes, methods, properties and templates allow detailed control over presentation and data. Many styles are available to choose from in 2 and 3 dimensional mode.
Advanced QBE Browse list control template adds intuitive drag and drop query capability to your application. This controldwill create an ISAM filter or SQL select statement depending on the data source. End users have the ability to save their queries and reuse them later. A query may also be applied to Report or Process.
Report Output Generators are exciting features that allow your printed reports to be saved as PDF, HTML, TEXT or XML files. You have complete control over the data that is available for export and how. Each output format is populated as a Global Extension template and procedure specific properties are set locally. Specific features include: PDFd- bookmarks, hyperlinks, notes, thumbnails, anchor links and more. HTML - Hyperlinks and a page navigation bar automatically built. XML - Export using Tags, Attributes or a combination. *
* Output generators individually available as an option for the Professional version
The ADO Class and template set are designed to use the ADO driver layer to construct applications using the Microsoft OleDB/ADO layer. Browse, Form, Report and Process templates are optimized to generate and access data from your sql data store. The Advanced QBE control is also designed to work with this template set as well as an Export to XML code template.
Calendar class and template are available data for lookups
Browse sort selection options are available. You can use a drop down control, pop-up "menu button" or the traditional tab to select the sort order.
Speed up your development and reduce your application size with the runtime key / sort selection options for Reports. This feature is supported in the application and procedure wizards and the choice can be persisted in your theme as the default choice.
A control template (with a funny name) BrowseNoRecordsButton helps to automate the enable/disable logic on a browse control when there are no records available on the list. This permits conditional procedure calls when inserting new records.
Browse column resizing supported with a simple right click on the column boundary
filtered locator support has been added to the Clarion chain
Edit in place EIP has been added to the Clarion chain using the ABC EIP Class
The ABC EIP templates have been enhanced to make setting the options easier and nearly code free.
Higher Key component filtering support has been added for the Browse, Drop, Combo, Report, Process and LookupNonRelatedrecord templates in the ABC and Clarion chains. This permits filtering at a given level of multi-component keys.
Enhanced conditional browse totaling
Enahnced Print Preview control in the Clarion chain
Reports now have a data source option; print from File, Queue or Memory!
A completely new interface for BIND support is now available for all templates. Expressions and Procedures are now supported
Listbox style support has been added for each window in the ABC and Clarion chains
Styles and Tips tab added to the Drop list and Combo controls in the Clarion chain
Easy to implement color rows and columns for a Browsebox, Drop and Combo listbox controls in the ABC and Clarion chains.
Greenbar coloring effect is supported on Browse, Drop and Combo controls in the ABC and Clarion chains.
A report definition is now supported on any procedure in the ABC and Clarion chains
Added a %LocalDataDescription symbol as a comment for %LocalData definitions
Lookups now support SPIN controls in the ABC and Clarion chains
Some ABC classes are now directly supported in the Clarion chain
New default WINDOW types have been added
Parameter passing now supported from the Browse Update Buttons on the Clarion chain.
Parameter passing from a Lookup field prompt to the lookup procedure in the ABC and Clarion chains
Added the Additional Field Assignments options for Lookups in the Clarion chain
"!variableName" format is now supported in the Report, Process, Browse, Drop and Combo filter entry prompts in the ABC Clarion chains.
Significantly enhanced Sort Order features for the Browse, Process, and Reports procedures
"Assisted" option for building Browse, Report and Process sort orders in the ABC and Clarion chains.
A List Line Height property
"Conditional Assisted" option for building Report and Process sort orders in the ABC and Clarion chains.
"Dynamic Sorting" option for runtime Report and Process sort orders selection in the ABC and Clarion chains.
"Dynamic Named" option for enhanced runtimedReport and Process sort order selection in the ABC and Clarion chains.

I have made this post a wiki so if your have access please edit the topic directly. If not or if you are not sure please post any suggestions in the comments!

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BTW, I found this the other day which appears to have a couple of points about the difference between EE and PE:

@MarkGoldberg @Mark_Sarson - is that maintained?

@brahn Not touched it in a long while, but I’m happy to allow it to be updated.

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Based on the above comparison, there’s little incentive for anyone to purchase the Enterprise Edition in preference to the Professional edition.

Perhaps why sv seem to be unable to clarify the comparison? It is out of date though, the trello link does list some newer differences. I am sure it would be helpful to keep tracking them here as people identify them!

I believe that the EE version does command line compiling and the PE does not? Not 100% sure about this, but this was the case 5 years ago.

I believe only EE used to have Application Broker in C6… I am a not a 100% on that for C10.

So that likely means their new H5 thing is EE only too yeah?

Both PE and EE support command line compiling
( I have PE, and I rarely open the IDE, I compile from SublimeText)

HOWEVER EE supports generation of APPs from the command line via the ClarionCL command (and PE does not)

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How do we update the wiki Brahn?

“Kill running process before build” is apparently EE only!

You should be able to edit it like a normal post as long as you are trust level 1 or higher. Just hit the edit button at the bottom of the main topic and try. Let me know if you need bumping up to level 1 or higher!

Also, someone on the newsgroup noted that H5 is EE only.

Oh, and please note this topic which is on a related subject:

Hi,

I think the setupbuilder clarion edition is EE only.

http://www.lindersoft.com/products_setupbuilder_dev_download.htm

IMDD and DFD, etc do not come with ClarionEE. They are still a separate purchase.

About the only thing I can think of to warrant an EE purchase is the command line functionality. Even then, unless you are doing something super complex you can just craft your own MSBuild files.

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