Roger Sippl, former founder and chairman of Informix Software Inc, duly launched Visigenics Europe Ltd in the UK last week (CI No 2,345). The company, which is supported by $5.5m venture capital and private funding, plans to provide object-oriented graphical application tools for existing programming languages such as Microsoft Corp’s Visual Basic, Informix 4GL, Micro Focus Plc Cobol, C and C++. Visigenic’s first product is V/Forms, a graphical application development tool for transaction processing database environments. It comprises two key components: a View Painter, which enables a developer to choose which database fields are needed for the form; and the Form Painter, which creates, modifies and repositions all the visual objects on the form itself. The Form Painter also includes a code generator producing source code that implements the database transaction operations (such as insert, query, next, previous, update) and inter-table relationships, including co-ordinating searches and notification across master-detail relationships. Other V/Forms features include a set of widgets, palettes, graphical control box and on-line help desk. V/Forms will initially be available for Informix 4GL, with versions for Micro Focus Cobol, C and C++ to follow later in the year. It is scheduled for release this quarter. Future product releases will include design tools for report writing and data visualisation objects, the company says. The European operation, which is based in London, will be headed by Malcolm Padina, Visigenics vice-president Europe. Padina is currently setting up reseller and independent software vendor channels.
