Total Visual CodeTools 2000 Released

Enterprise Enabled Coding Tools Help Developers Write Better Code Faster

VIENNA, VA — July 31, 2000 — FMS, Inc. is pleased to ship Total Visual CodeTools 2000, the next generation of its popular code development toolset for developers using Visual Basic, Microsoft Office/Access 2000, and any VBA platform. Total Visual CodeTools 2000 is a collection of 12 professional code-centric tools and utilities to help developers ensure standards, reduce coding time, eliminate errors, and bring their projects to completion in record time.

Enterprise Ready

Integrated directly into the VB IDE, Total Visual CodeTools 2000 increases productivity and allows the entire development team to share and enforce a consistent set of coding standards. Total Visual CodeTools 2000 also allows new developers to quickly and easily adopt the organization’s specific styles and clean up inherited code without difficulty. Total Visual CodeTools 2000 also simplifies adding error handling and lets developers pinpoint the exact line where a crash occurs, invaluable when trying to replicate errors or understand users.

Feature Summary

Total Visual CodeTools includes three major categories of tools. The Code Cleanup feature is for cleaning up and standardizing existing code. Code Delivery is used just before finishing a project, and Code Builders help developers write code on a daily basis.

Code Cleanup

Taking over someone else’s code is difficult enough without trying to read non-standard styles. The Code Cleanup feature solves this by letting developers clean a procedure, module, or entire project! Rename variables to fit a customizable variable naming convention based on each variable’s data type and scope (public, module, and procedure parameter tags). Standardize code indentations, add sophisticated comment blocks to modules and procedures, and split lines such as single line IF statements, colon separated lines, and multiple variables defined on one line. Developers can even add error handling to procedures that lack it, and automatically update them in the future!

Code Delivery

Code Delivery prepares the code for delivery. This feature allows developers to add line numbers to every line so the error handler can pinpoint exactly where a crash occurs. In situations in which the developer cannot deliver an EXE (e.g. some VBA platforms), Code Delivery obfuscates the code, allowing the developer to eliminate comments, blank lines, indentations, and debugging code. Developers can even rename all their variables to a meaningless letter and number.

Code Builders

• Code Builders help developers write code more quickly and consistently than ever:
• New Procedure and Property Builders: Create new procedures and properties with customizable comment structure, error handling, and other standards.
• Recordset Builder: Point to any Jet or ODBC data source and generate the SQL and recordset code for ADO or DAO.
• Long Text/SQL Builder: Provide any block of text including SQL and convert it into VB code with handling for quotes, SQL syntax, and optional word-wrapping.
• Message Box Builder: Visually build message boxes with support for every possible message box option, plus code for handling return values.
• Block Commenter: Comment out a block of code with notes on who and when
• Select Case Builder: Simplify writing select case statements
• VBE Color Schemes: Visually and easily customize the color scheme of your editor.
• Close All Windows: Quickly clear your workspace
• Clear Immediate Window: Quickly clear your immediate window

Rave Reviews for Total Visual CodeTools 2000

“I reviewed CodeTools for a leading industry publication, and I wish I could have written it after this current project,” says Lisa Morgan, systems analyst. “It was a favorable review, but a week of working with the features is not the same as trying to get real world work done. If I had known how the time savings really adds up over a long project, I would have used more vehement language in my praise.”

“Total Visual CodeTools 2000 is a huge advance from its award-winning predecessor Total Access CodeTools,” says Luke Chung, president of FMS. “With Total Visual CodeTools 2000, we now support VB/Office/VBA developers everywhere with a variety of tools that significantly reduce coding and maintenance efforts. I particularly like the line numbering feature to pinpoint crashes since it really eliminates doubt that the developer and not the user is at fault.”

Licensing and Pricing

Total Visual CodeTools 2000 is licensed on a per developer basis. A single license is available for $299, and a 5-license package is available for $899. Existing Total Access 97 CodeTools customers can upgrade to Total Visual CodeTools 2000 for $199. Site licenses are available by contacting FMS, Inc. Total Visual CodeTools 2000 can be purchased directly from FMS, through most corporate resellers, and international distributors. All FMS products offer a 30-day money back guarantee.

About FMS

Celebrating its 14th year in business, FMS, Inc. is a privately held software development firm and the world’s leading developer of Microsoft Access and Visual Basic related products. FMS currently has 14 products in its award-winning Total Access, Total VB, and Total Visual family of products. Serving 90 of the Fortune 100 firms, FMS products are used by tens of thousands of customers in over 100 countries. Experts in the Microsoft Access and Visual Basic communities, FMS developers have written articles and books, and frequently speak at conferences and user group meetings throughout the United States and Europe including major Microsoft sponsored events such as TechEd, Advisor DevCon, and Microsoft Office and VBA Solutions conferences.

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