Thanks for visiting the Piko Computing Consultants (PCC) web site. PCC specialises in application software development, primarily for MS Windows platforms. We have supplied business solutions to many clients in areas as diverse as patient monitoring, animal exotic disease control, environmental impact management, financial planning, funds management, and more.  PCC also produces software and related materials that improve the application development process. There are utilities, examples and papers covering many topics including CA-Visual Objects, Windows programming, and object oriented development. You will find the most recent news further down on this page.

June 2012: Vo Productivity Pack 3.3

Visual Objects Service Pack 4 has been released to Grafx VPS subscribers. A new version of VOPP, version 3.3, is required to work with that update.  (click here to download


 

October 2010: Order Payments

Our credit card services are being changed. Payment methods for orders currently available are:

  • Direct Bank Transfer
  • Credit card payment via PayPal (you don't need to have or create a PayPal account)
 

June 2010: Facelift Professional for Visual Objects

Facelift Professional for Visual Objects 1.0 has been released, details at http://www.vulcanmindmeld.net/facelift. Facelift takes VO window entities and moves them to .NET; either Windows Forms or Windows Presentation Foundation, with source code generated in Vulcan.NET, C# or VB.NET.
 

August 2009: VO Productivity Pack 3.2 and Windows 7

If you have any trouble with running VO Productivity Pack on Windows 7 it may be caused by the security package we use.  The workaround is to turn off Data Execution Protection for VO (cavo28.exe) and for each of the VOPP executables (VOPP's setup.exe, VOAEBup.exe, VOAEcfg.exe, VOEE.exe, VOPPCalc.exe, VOPPDBF.exe, VOPPEF2PRG.exe, VOPPInstallCfg.exe, VOPPKeyH.exe, VOPPPlus.exe, VOPPRegistration.exe, VOPPTOD.exe, VOPPTray.exe). Data Execution Protection is configured by going to Control Panel, System and Security, System and clicking on Advanced System Settings. Then click the Performance Settings button, and select the Data Execution Protection tab. From there, choose Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select. Then add each of the executables specified above to the list by using the Add... button.
 

March 2009: VO Productivity Pack 3.2 update

VOPP 3.2 has been updated for use with Visual Objects 2.8 Service Pack 2 (click here to download
 

January 2008: Quiet here, lots happening with Vulcan.NET!

There haven't been many updates here lately because there is so much happening with Vulcan.NET. Take a look at the official Vulcan.NET web site: http://www.govulcan.net. There's also the supporting web site, Vulcan Mind Meld: http://www.vulcanmindmeld.net. See you over there!
 

31 May 2007: Another VO Productivity Pack 3.2 update

There have been some more fixes and improvements made to VOPP 3.2 (click here to download): 

Speed of Global Search and Replace has been improved by reducing the number of progress messages displayed.

VOPP Tip of the Day was not displaying when VO was started but has now been corrected. (There is an option on the tip window to control the display of tips at VO start up.)

If source code control is being used with VO then the VOPP utilities (System Builder, Single App Build, Global Search and Replace) will attempt to automatically check out a module when necessary. If the checkout is not successful the module is not updated.

Global Search and Replace would under certain conditions replace only the first match. This has been addressed.

This update contains a new option in AutoExport. If AutoExport on VO shutdown is selected, and you have mutliple copies of VO running, the default behaviour is to export when each copy is closed. The new option allows you to specify that the shutdown autoexport should only occur when the last copy of VO is closed.

 

24 May 2007: VO Productivity Pack 3.2 update

Under certain conditions the VOPP installation could have trouble and VOPP would not appear in the VO IDE menu. This has been corrected, as has the earlier issue with printing from the VO IDE. All users should use this new installation. Click here to download.

Why isn't VOPP 3.2 free for users of 3.1?
With VO 2.8 there were major internal changes to the VO development environment. On the surface these are seen in the improved IDE, new editor, updated configuration, etc.  Behind the scenes, changes in VO 2.8 improve its operation and stability.

VOPP tightly integrates with VO. Given the original architecture of the VO IDE this is a significant and complex thing. Changes to the VO development environment necessitated changes to VOPP to maintain the smooth synergy. A direct rebuild of VOPP 3.1 in VO 2.8 was simply not possible - it just would not work given the changes. Then there were further changes due to Windows Vista, some updates to existing utilities (including improving Export Explorer's handling of files and interface changes on Vista) and the new Duplicate Entity report. As a result there is a small fee to upgrade from VOPP 3.1 to 3.2.
 

21 May 2007: VO Productivity Pack 3.2 update

The initial release of VOPP 3.2 had an issue with printing from the VO source code editor. It has been corrected, and the installation ZIP file has been updated. Click here to download.
 

15 May 2007: Visual Objects 2.8 and VO Productivity Pack 3.2 released

The latest major update to Visual Objects has been publicly released. VO 2.8 contains many changes, summarised in this document: ftp://ftp.grafxsoft.com/VO_28/whatsnew28.rtf. Australian users can upgrade through us, see the Sales page for details.

There is also a new release of the VO Productivity Pack, version 3.2, for use with VO 2.8 - see the Products page. Major changes in VOPP 3.2 keep it tightly integrated with the much-enhanced VO IDE. Operation on Vista has also been improved, and there is a new Duplicate Entity tool. Users of VOPP 3.1x and below can upgrade to 3.2 via the Sales page.

 

22 January 2007: Melbourne Vulcan and VO User Group Meeting

Last week we held our first Melbourne Vulcan and VO User Group meeting for 2007. John Parker, visiting from the UK, ran through the features of VO 2.8, which is currently under development. Then it was my turn, demonstrating the latest pre-release build of Vulcan.NET. Brian Feldman, up at 4am in Florida, USA, joined the meeting via a Skype video link and took questions from the audience.

If you would like to attend our next meeting (date to be advised) please send an email to support @ vulcanmindmeld.net.
 

20 December 2006: Progress

The conference in Germany went very well and Dieter Crispien did an excellent job managing the whole thing. Attendees were happy with the developments of VO 2.8 and Vulcan.NET. The book that I authored, "Vulcan.NET At Warp Speed", was handed out to all the conference participants. I was happy to receive many favourable comments about it. A downloadable version can be found here: ftp://grafxsoft.com/Vulcan.NET/Vulcan.NetAtWarpSpeed.zip
 

7 August 2006: Progress

The web site has been quiet but we have all been extremely busy with Vulcan.NET. Compatibility with Visual Objects remains one of our main priorities and we are spending a lot of time making sure existing VO code can be use in .NET with the smallest amount of changes. The latest progress can be seen at the developer conference in Germany in November: http://www.vodc.visualobjects.de
 

March 2006: UK Conference

Vulcan.NET is progressing very well and is being used by VOPS members. The latest developments are on show at DevFest UK: http://uk.globaltechsupport.com/devfest.html
 

November 2005: Visual Objects/Vulcan.NET Developer Conference Germany

We will be presenting the latest developments in Visual Objects and Vulcan.NET at the VODC conference this month:  VODC.
 

09 August 2005: Vulcan.NET Web Site Launch

Things have been quiet here as we have been working with GrafxSoft on Vulcan.NET. You will be able to see some of the great progress we have been making at http://www.vulcandotnet.com on 15 August.
 

05 June 2005: VOPP 3.11 update

There is another minor update to VOPP 3.11 available: VOPP311-UP050529.ZIP. The enhanced checking in VO 2.7b was resulting in an error when Project Copy was used - this has been fixed.  All VOPP 3.11 users should apply this update.
 

27 April 2005: Lastest VO and Vulcan.NET at Melbourne User Group meeting

Paul Piko will be discussing the latest updates to VO and demonstrating the current development version of Vulcan.NET (formerly VO.NET) at the Melbourne User Group meeting, 27 April 2005, 6.30pm at Computer Associates, Level 5 441 St Kilda Road.

 

18 March 2005: Site news now available via RSS

Thanks to some encouragement from Dieter Crispien and Robert van der Hulst, information about updates to this web site can now be obtained via RSS. By using a RSS reader you can be automatically informed of the latest news. There are many RSS readers available - one is RSS Bandit. For more information about RSS see here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/aboutmsdn/rss

 

3 December 2004: VOPP 3.04 for VO 2.6 and VOPP 3.03 for VO 2.5 bundled with VOPP 3.11 for VO 2.7

In response to a number of recent enquiries, when you pay for a registration of the pro version of VO Productivity Pack 3.11 for VO 2.7 you also receive registrations of VO Productivity Pack 3.04 for VO 2.6 and VO Productivity Pack 3.03 for VO 2.5. This means you can work with the full versions of VOPP in VO 2.5, VO 2.6 and VO 2.7.

Place an order for VOPP 3.11 and, after your payment has been processed, you will receive registration details for VOPP 3.11, VOPP 3.04 and VOPP 3.03. More details about VOPP can be seen by clicking on this link. Orders can be placed via the Sales page.

 

11 November 2004: VO 2.7b patch released

Visual Objects 2.7b is now available from Grafx Software. If you are a current VO 2.7 user you can download a patch file from the Grafx web site: http://www.grafxsoft.com/27updates.htm.

VO Productivity Pack 3.11 for VO 2.7a is compatible with VO 2.7b, no further VOPP update is required.

 

13 August 2004: VOPP 3.11 update

There is another minor update to VOPP 3.11 available: VOPP311-UP040813.ZIP. This update corrects handling of the Shift-F7 key, characters typed after a closing bracket and some issues with the Language Assistant dialog. All VOPP 3.11 users should apply this update.
 

09 June 2004: VOPP 3.11 update

There is a minor update to VOPP 3.11 available: VOPP311-UP040609.ZIP. This update corrects an error that can occur when searching in Export Explorer, Application Statistics, Updated Entity List, Application Usage and Global Search and Replace. All VOPP 3.11 users should apply this update.
 

28 May 2004: Visual Objects 2.7a released - VO Productivity Pack 3.11 released

Visual Objects 2.7a is now available from Grafx Software. If you are a current VO 2.7 user you can download a patch file from the Grafx web site: http://www.grafxsoft.com/27updates.htm.

A new installation of VOPP, version 3.11, is available for use with VO 2.7a:
US site: vopp311vo27a.zip 
Australian site: vopp311vo27a.zip
Click here for more details

 

20 March 2004: Updated VO Productivity Pack 3.1 installation

A new installation of VOPP 3.1 for VO 2.7 is now available. This installation includes the AutoExport fix of 5 February 2004. It also corrects a problem where the VOPP tools were not being correctly installed into the VO IDE. Click here for downloading details
 

20 February 2004: VO Productivity Pack 3.1 on the VO 2.7 CD

There have been some reports that one of the VOPP 3.1 installation files on the VO 2.7 CD has been misnamed.

The solution is to copy the VOPP 3.1 installation files to your hard disk and then rename VOPPP_SETUP.W06 to VOPP_SETUP.W06. You can then run VOPP_SETUP.EXE to install VOPP 3.1

 

5 February 2004: VO Productivity Pack 3.1 update

A small fix that corrects issues with AutoExport when VO is shut down is available: click here
 

2 February 2004: VO Productivity Pack 3.1 update

In preparation for the release of Visual Objects 2.7 the web site has been revised to include further details about VOPP 3.1 for VO 2.7.
 

18 December 2003: Visual Objects 2.7 and VO Productivity Pack 3.1

Things have been quiet on the web site for a while as we have been very busy participating in the development of Visual Objects 2.7. You can find out more about the VO 2.7 and its imminent release at GrafX. There will be a new version of the VO Productivity Pack - version 3.1 - that will  be compatible with VO 2.7. There have been some significant changes to the VO IDE including the option to run multiple copies of VO simultaneously. Consequently there have been significant changes to ensure that VOPP works in harmony with VO. However we have also found some time to add some new features to VOPP: click on the following image for a sneak peak at Export Explorer...

There will be a small upgrade fee (US$40) for registered users of VOPP 3.0x to obtain a VOPP 3.1 registration. From 1 November 2003 any new registrations of VOPP 3.0x will be entitled to a free upgrade to VOPP 3.1.

 

12 February 2003: Search www.piko.com.au using Google

The home page now includes an option to search the site using Google.
 

28 December 2002: PayPal payments accepted

Payments can now be made using PayPal (https://www.paypal.com). PayPal allows payment by a variety of methods including Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express. Details are included on the Sales page.
 

26 October 2002: Pricing of VOPP 3.04 upgrade for VOPP 2.1/2.5 users

For a limited time the upgrade from VOPP 2.1/2.5 to VOPP 3 is available at 25% off the normal price.
 

25 October 2002: VOPP 3.04 update

There is a another minor update to VOPP 3.04 available: VOPP304VO26-UP021025.ZIP. This update makes the Application Usage report available in the standard unregistered version of VOPP 3.04. All VOPP 3.04 standard users should use this update, including those who have downloaded vopp304vo26.zip and vopp304vo26-up021023.zip.
 

23 October 2002: VOPP 3.04 update

There is a minor update to VOPP 3.04 available: VOPP304VO26-UP021023.ZIP. Due to a change in the way VO handles file associations of export files it has been necessary to update Export Explorer. This update also contains changes to System Builder and Global Search and Replace, altering the way entities are touched when the build number/source is changed. All VOPP 3.04 users should use this update, including those who have downloaded vopp304vo26.zip.
 

15 October 2002: VOPP and VO 2.6

VO 2.6 has been released. For more information please visit http://www.cavo.com and http://www.grafxsoft.com.

While there is a copy of the VO Productivity Pack on the VO 2.6 CD a later version is available from this web site. If you have installed VOPP from the CD you should uninstall it and replace it with the release version that can be downloaded from ftp/vopp304vo26.zip.

VOPP 3.04 has updated documentation and some new features. Click here to see What's New in VOPP 3.04. You can also view the online version of the VOPP documentation by clicking here.

VOPP 3.04 is a free update for registered users of version 3.0/3.01/3.02/3.03. Version 3.04 does however require new registration details. If you are already a registered user of VOPP 3.0* click here to request your new registration details. If you are not yet a registered VOPP 3 user please take a look through the VOPP pages to see how it can make working with VO easier, faster and safer. Details on how to order VOPP are included on the Sales page.
 

1 October 2002: Special VOPP 3 pricing until 25 October 2002

VOPP 3 is available at a special price from 1 October 2002 until 25 October 2002. New registrations and upgrades are available during this time at 25% off the normal price. All users of VOPP 3.0, 3.01, 3.02 and 3.03 are eligible for a free upgrade to the Professional version of VOPP included with VO 2.6.

You can click here to see the differences between the unregistered Standard version and the registered Professional version of VOPP 3.04 for VO 2.6.
 

30 September 2002: Upcoming release: VO Productivity Pack 3.04

A new release of the VO Productivity Pack is to be supplied with Visual Objects 2.6. This new version of VOPP, version 3.04, has updated documentation and some new features. Click here to see What's New in VOPP 3.04. You can also view the online version of the VOPP documentation by clicking here.

VOPP 3.04 is a free update for registered users of version 3.0/3.01/3.02/3.03. Version 3.04 does however require new registration details. If you are already a registered user of VOPP 3.0* click here to request your new registration details. If you are not yet a registered VOPP 3 user please take a look through the VOPP pages to see how it can make working with VO easier, faster and safer. Details on how to order VOPP are included on the Sales page.

Click here to find out more about Visual Objects 2.6.
 

30 September 2002: XP Visual Styles Tech-Note - Enable & Disable Visual Styles

Another update to this Tech-Note, this time covering how visual styles can be enabled and disabled.
 

20 September 2002: Update to XP Visual Styles Tech-Note

The Tech-Note covering the use of XP visual styles now includes information about how to get tab pages to follow the visual styles.
 

5 August 2002: Update to XP Visual Styles Tech-Note

The Tech-Note covering the use of XP visual styles has been updated with information about changes Microsoft made to tab controls in version 6 of the common controls.
 

3 August 2002: Window Conversion Utility in beta testing

We have developed a new utility to convert VO window entities to dialogwindow/datawindow/datadialog. It is currently undergoing beta testing and more information will be posted when it is ready for release.
 

22 April 2002: GrafxSoft Announces a Development, Licensing, and Marketing Agreement for CA-Clipper and CA-Visual Objects

Press Release from GrafxSoft
FAQ about future direction of VO by Tom Walden at CA-World

Please note that VO 2.6 will contain a limited version of the VO Productivity Pack. We are working closely with GrafxSoft to improve the VO development environment. The fully featured, customisable version of VOPP will still be available as an add-on product to VO.

 

5 April 2002: New XP Control: SysLink

A new TechNote page has been added describing how to use the new Windows XP control SysLink.  Click on the TechNote button on the left for more information...
 

20 March 2002: Using XP Visual Styles with VO

A new TechNote page has been added describing how to bring the Windows XP Visual Styles to your VO applications.  Click on the TechNote button on the left for more information...
 

12 January 2002: Update for VO Productivity Pack 3.03

An update is available for VOPP 3.03 on the VO Productivity Pack page. It addresses:
  •  sorting of entities in Updated Entity List
  •  generation of duplicate entities when using Language Assistant
 

11 December 2001: Window Display Effects for VO: No. 2

A new Tech-Note is available. It shows how to programmatically make the Windows taskbar transparent, semi-transparent or opaque. Look for the note titled Window Display Effects for VO: No. 2.
 

11 August 2001: VO Productivity Pack 3.03

VO Productivity Pack 3.03, containing bug fixes and new features, is available for download. See the VO Productivity Pack page for details. (If you downloaded VOPP 3.03 on or prior to 2001-08-12 an update is also available)
 

30 July 2001: Duplicate Instance Variable Report Update

A new version of the Duplicate Instance Variable Report, version 1.2, is now available in the Downloads section. This update includes an EXE that is VO 2.5b3 compatible.
 

10 July 2001: Build Number Increment bug in VO Productivity Pack 3.02

A bug has been found in Version 3.02 of VOPP: The VER_VOPP_FILEBUILD number is not being incremented, and the entity is truncated. A fix will be posted as soon as possible.

Version 3.01 does not have this problem, so the work around for the moment is to stay with 3.01. (3.02  provides unregistered users with enhanced capabilities for a limited time)

 

11 June 2001: VO Productivity Pack 3.02

An update is available for VOPP - version 3.02 - on the VO Productivity Pack page.

This version is functionally equivalent to VOPP 3.01 but provides unregistered users with enhanced capabilities for a limited time.

 

12 April 2001: Important VO Productivity Pack 3.01 Update News

An update is available for VOPP 3.01 on the VO Productivity Pack page.

Among other issues it addresses a problem experienced by some upgrading users who see an error message when VO shuts down.

 

29 March 2001: VO Productivity Pack 3.01 update

VOPP 3.01 is a free update for registered users of VOPP 3.0. It contains some fixes and many new features such as:
  • new Hotkeys for the VO Source editor
  • new Context menu for the VO Source editor
  • greatly enhanced DBF Utility
  • Language Assistant tutorial
  • AutoType enhancements

There is a link to the VOPP 3.01 What's New page from the VO Productivity Pack page.

An additional minor update was posted 2001-04-07.

VOPP 3.01 can be used with CA-VO 2.5b, b1, b2, b3

 

Free VOPP Desktop Changer (including source code)

VOPP Desktop Changer can be used to change the background of your desktop. You can change it to a specified file or let Desktop Changer randomly select files from a directory. You can nominate how often it should change the background. If you have ActiveDesktop enabled you can choose to stretch, centre or tile the background.

The source code for VOPP Desktop changer contains numerous useful functions and classes including:
  • IsActiveDesktop function - determines if ActiveDesktop is enabled
  • IActiveDesktop class - to control the ActiveDesktop
  • RandomInteger class - easy way to obtain random integers between two limits
  • ARandom function - randomly rearranges entries in an array
  • ChangeBackground function - sets the desktop background to the named file
  • SplitCommandLine funtion - converts a command line into an array, recognises quoted parameters and backslash escaping in accordance with MS C++ standard
  • Unicode and Ansi classes - provided by Rod da Silva

Click here for details

 

CA-VO patch released by CA

You can find the latest CA-VO patches at:  ftp://mf.cai.com/CAproducts/vo

To see which version of VO Productivity Pack should be used with each version of CA-VO click here.
 

Australian DevCon 2000

Click here to see images from our Australian Devcon 2000
 
 
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