The Micro Creator Demonstration System V3.00
--------------------------------------------

Welcome to the free version of the Micro Creator. This includes the
E-R Modelling Tool and twelve example data models for you to
load and play with.  Any menu or tool bar items which you can't select
in this version will be displayed "ghosted" (grayed).

Specifically, you can't do the following:

   - print out a data model
   - set up the printer
   - copy the E-R diagram to the clipboard
   - display page boundaries
   - run the Instantaneous Prototype and Screen Previewer
   - run MCRSQL Interactive and connect to MCRSQL databases
   - run templates
   - access help files other than the one for the E-R Modelling tool itself

If you're wondering where to begin, we suggest you start by running the
E-R Modelling Tool and loading an example data model (which are identified
by a .DMD file extension).

Please make use of the help file for instructions.  You can also use
the help file to read about the items which aren't available in
the free version.

Please feel free to pass on this software to anybody who you feel
may be interested in the product.  The minimum number of files you need
to supply are ERMODEL.EXE and MCRCUST.DLL, although it's a good idea to
supply ERMODEL.INI and ERMODEL.HLP as well.

For further information on The Micro Creator please contact:

      APTAS Communications
      Phone: + 61 8 223 3299
      Fax:   + 61 8 223 6255
      Email: rwegener@camtech.com.au



Now here is some information about components of the Micro Creator that
are supplied with the professional version.

The Micro Creator Professional System V3.00
-------------------------------------------

Micro Creator is a cross between a CASE tool and an application generator
that combines the best features of both.  It is used to build Client/Server
database applications, where typically the Client side runs under Microsoft
Windows and the Server side runs on a SQL database server across a Local
Area Network.  It is a Windows tool that allows the designer to graphically
model the application and, once complete, to generate the C/C++ source code.

Micro Creator contains the following components.

ENTITY - RELATIONSHIP DATA MODELLER.  The E-R Modeller is used by a
developer to graphically model an application and serves as the entry point
to all the Micro Creator components.  Like many CASE tools it allows the
placing and editing of entities and their relationships.  All aspects of
the application are stored in the Micro Creator data model.  A unique
feature is the Instantaneous Prototype which allows the developer to test
the model at any stage of its development and to preview the screens, system
navigation and database features.  This system automatically generates the
windows while giving the developer total control over label, field and
button positioning.

TEMPLO INTERPRETER.  Included with the Micro Creator is a full featured
BASIC Interpreter that is used as a data access, reporting and batch
processing language.  TEMPLO programs are easily written by people familiar
with BASIC and have the added advantage of allowing embedded SQL thus
providing a solid database access and retrieval language.  TEMPLO also
allows use of the Microsoft Windows Graphical Interface for users to
interact with running TEMPLO programs.  TEMPLO is also used by the code
generation system to format and output the generated source and
documentation.

TEMPLATES.  The core of the Micro Creator code generation facilities are
the templates that allow generation of the C/C++ application code, help
file and system and user documentation.  Templates are also supplied to
modify the data model, to add missing foreign keys and to load user
modified windows dialogs back into the model.  The C/C++ source templates
contain blocks of code that are used in Windows applications.  The code
generation process combines these blocks of code to produce the final
source files.  A compiler is required to compile and link this code and
turn it into a native Windows application.  The Micro Creator supports
Microsoft and Borland C/C++ compilers.

MCRSQL INTERPRETER.  MCRSQL responds to SQL database manipulation
statements, dispatching SQL statements to the MCRSQL library.  These are
statements such as INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, SELECT, etc.  Two different
versions of MCRSQL are provided:

1.  MCRSQL.ODB which includes the ODBC connectivity capability.  It
    also requires the presence of the Microsoft Open Database Connectivity
    dynamic link library (ODBC.DLL) somewhere in your system to function.
2.  MCRSQL.NOD which doesn't.

MCRSQL currently works with one database table at a time, i.e. it is a
single-table SQL.  As a general rule, MCRSQL is case insensitive; that is,
it doesn't matter whether keywords and table/column names are in upper or
lowercase or a mixture of both.  The MCRSQL library provides a consistent
Application Programming Interface (API) for both native and ODBC MCRSQL.


