Synergy/DE 10.3 brings native Android, iOS support plus a ton of new features and enhancements

What mobile app features would you like to offer your users and prospects?  What mobile features are they already asking for? You can start developing mobile apps today for Android and iOS devices with Synergex’s latest release, Synergy/DE 10.3. Read about one customer already deploying a mobile app later in this newsletter.

Synergy/DE 10.3 also provides numerous enhancements throughout the Synergy toolset for developers creating Synergy .NET and traditional Synergy applications. Not interested in mobile app development at this time? Version 10.3 still gives you plenty of reasons to upgrade.

• Synergy support for Android devices and pre-release support for iOS devices. Using Synergy DBL’s integration with Visual Studio and Xamarin tools, you can now create Synergy apps that run on Android and iOS devices. Includes Android project templates and support for device licensing.
• Ability to get change tracking information directly in your application. A new ChangeTracking class lets you retrieve snapshot information, apply a snapshot to a file, and find out whether change tracking is enabled—all from within your application.
• Optimized Where.In selections for the Select statement. Where.In selections are now optimized when an ISAM key field is specified, greatly improving performance and allowing for more efficient join functionality.
• Connection recovery with xfServer. An xfServer client application can now automatically reconnect and recover context if its network connection is temporarily dropped. This is especially useful with devices on wireless networks, as connections can be unreliable. (Windows)
• Ability to concatenate strings and (in Synergy .NET) concatenate strings with numbers or objects. Non-string operands are converted into strings, and you can append to the beginning or end of a string. String functions like this improve code readability and performance and provide a feature that programmers are used to seeing in other .NET languages.
• Support for the conditional operator. A new ternary operator lets you define a conditional expression and get one result if the condition is true and another result if the condition is false.The syntax is <condition> ? <expression1> : <expression2>.
• NOROLLBACK file creation option. NOROLLBACK prohibits the rollback function when change tracking is enabled, helping you prevent accidentally reverting a file back to its original state (before a snapshot).
• SIZE_LIMIT and RECORD_LIMIT file creation options. SIZE_LIMIT and RECORD_LIMIT let you set the maximum number of megabytes that a data file is allowed to reach and the maximum number of active records allowed in a file. If a STORE or WRITE operation will cause the file to exceed these maximums, an error will be generated. This is especially useful for devices.
• Workbench upgrade to SlickEdit 18. This new SlickEdit version provides Workbench users with improved speed and stability.Other notable improvements are the draggable and dockable file tabs. You can drag a file out of the MDI into its own window or dock files next to each other.
• Support for Windows 10 Technical Preview. Microsoft says that Windows 10, set for release in mid-2015, will include security enhancements, the return of the Start menu, and the ability to run on a broad set of devices. In their Windows 10 announcement on September 30, Microsoft revealed some of the features it would deliver. Synergy/DE 10.3 supports this Preview, so feel free to check it out!
• Many Synergy .NET compiler enhancements for improved performance and compatibility, including the ability to target the 10.1 runtime and the ability to set compile-time defines in the Project Designer.
• Many enhancements to Synergy DBL Integration for Visual Studio, including Support for Visual Studio 2013 Update 4 and experimental support for Visual Studio 2015 technical preview.
• Support for OpenSSL 1.* on AIX, Linux, and Solaris.
• Many traditional Synergy DBL compiler enhancements, including support for String.Replace(), READONLY STATIC class fields, STATIC classes, and simple properties.
• Other enhancements, including Synergy .NET runtime support for xfNetLink Synergy and a new ISAM key type, CTIMESTAMP, to indicate the creation time of a record.
• Many important fixes, including fixes for xfServer on OpenVMS, an SSL-related fix on Linux, multiple fixes for ISAM issues, a fix for parsing URIs for HTTP functions, and numerous fixes for the Synergy .NET compiler and Visual Studio integration.

Synergy/DE 10.3 exemplifies our commitment to giving you every opportunity to bring your solutions to new platforms as they become relevant to your business. Not only does 10.3 offer a path to mobile devices, it offers a portable path to devices. The mobile Synergy apps that you create will run on Mono, a cross-platform implementation of Microsoft’s .NET Framework, which is supported on multiple devices and other platforms such as Linux. "We’re very excited to deliver a portable path to devices to our customers," states Bill Mooney, Synergex President, "and we’re looking forward to helping them take advantage of the new opportunities that mobile apps will provide."

Learn more about Synergy/DE 10.3 here.

Download Synergy/DE 10.3 now.

Contact us for more information about advancing your applications with Synergy/DE 10.3, either by email or by calling 916.635.7300.

Learn from Rural Computer Consultants' success with devices and find out how they're saving customers thousands

Based in Bird Island, MN, Rural Computer Consultants, Inc., is an established provider of software, computer equipment, and services to fuel distributers globally. Their Synergy/DE-based Fuel Distribution System (FDS) manages every aspect of the propane delivery process—from scheduling appointments to managing inventory and generating invoices.

Late last year, Rural’s customers began requesting a mobile version of FDS that they could run in their propane delivery trucks. Recognizing the potential benefits of such a product, Rural began the process of migrating their application to Synergy .NET so it could run on portable devices like smartphones and tablets.

This past June, Rural deployed their application on a Windows tablet for the first time, and about 130 users are now running the mobile version of FDS in their trucks. "The new application has made the drivers’ jobs so much easier," declares Rural’s Fuel Programming Manager Nate Bahl. "From the built-in mapping that takes them turn by turn to their destinations, to the ability to measure to the tenth of a gallon how much is pumped at a site, and then generate and print an invoice in the truck to leave with the customer… it has significantly enhanced the experience for both the drivers and their customers."

Another big selling point of Rural’s new application is that it provides a one-stop shop for customers who prefer to deal with just one vendor for their entire software and hardware solution. It also offers customers the option to run the software on whatever Windows devices they’re currently using. "Our competitors sell the hardware and software as a bundled unit, which we can do as well, but we will also work with any hand-held device our customers want to put in their trucks," adds Bahl. "This is a significant benefit for propane companies who do not want to spend $5,000 - $20,000 per truck to replace their devices just so they will work with the software application."

Because mobile devices don’t have persistent access to a Synergy license server, a new form of licensing for devices was needed. Synergy device licensing is a cloud-based service, and applications can run without requiring continuous access to the server or to the Internet.  Device licensing also enables ISVs to distribute their applications on devices without including a full version of Synergy/DE. Instead, they can simply distribute four small Synergy DLLs with their application, so less internal memory is required. In addition, device licensing gives Rural greater flexibility and control. States Bahl, "Device licensing gives us the power to license our applications; we can easily go online to activate or deactivate a device or a customer’s device whenever we need to."

"Version 10.3 includes a lot of exciting things," says Bahl. "Support for Synergy on devices in particular has opened up so many possibilities for our application, and I think other Synergex customers will be really happy about it as well." 

New pre- and post-conference workshops will help take your application to the next level

The 2015 Synergy DevPartner Conference will take place May 11-15 in Philadelphia, PA. As always, the DevPartner Conference will be the most effective, efficient way for you to learn all about the possibilities available to you for your Synergy/DE-based applications. And this year we’re excited to include an optional pre-conference workshop to bring developers up to speed on today’s Synergy/DE, as well as a post-conference workshop to cover more advanced topics such as running applications on mobile devices.

Read the latest blog post from Synergex CTO Roger Andrews

The world of enterprise software has changed for everyone with the introduction of device-first applications. What does this mean to Synergy developers?

Read the latest blog post from Richard Morris, Synergex Technology Evangelist

Back in 1979 Ian Dury and the Blockheads wrote a song about all the things that made them cheerful.  Titled “Reasons to be cheerful, part 3” it’s a quick fire list of things in Ian’s life that not only made him cheerful, but what he believed made everyone feel cheerful.  As 2014 draws to a close we have our own reasons to be cheerful...

Read more...

We will be closed on the following dates for the Christmas and New Year holidays:

December 24 – Closed at 12:00 PM Pacific Time
December 25 – Closed
December 31 – Closed at 12:00 PM Pacific Time
January 1 - Closed

If you anticipate needing our assistance on any of these dates, please let us know: synergy@synergex.com.

Modified Support Hours
From December 22 through January 2, Synergy DevPartner Support will open at 7AM and close at 4PM.