ORACLE ANNOUNCES FIRST MODELING TOOL TO GENERATE VISUAL BASIC APPLICATIONS

Brings Benefits of Second Generation Client/Server Modeling to Visual Basic, OS/2, Windows 95, Windows NT, European and Asian Developers

PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 19, 1995-International Oracle Users Week (IOUW)-Oracle Corp. today announced Designer/2000 Release 1.2, the first modeling tool software to generate code for Microsoft's Visual Basic-based applications. This capability enables Visual Basic 3.0 developers to use the advanced, second generation client/server modeling power of Designer/2000 to build Visual Basic applications reducing the amount of manual coding and increasing developer productivity.

Designer/2000 is Oracle's tool for application modeling and automatic generation of fully functional, client/server applications. The product supports business process reengineering (BPR), system analysis and design, and automatic code generation. In addition to Visual Basic code, Designer/2000 generates database designs for Oracle7 and other SQL databases, as well as client/server and partitioned Developer/2000 application code.

Automatic Generation of Visual Basic Code
With this release, Designer/2000 becomes the industry's first CASE tool to generate Visual Basic applications and demonstrates Oracle's commitment to open systems. The functionality delivered with Designer/2000 includes automatic generation of both database designs and client/server applications. Designer/2000 permits Visual Basic developers, for the first time, to easily generate partitioned application code and enforce enterprise user interface standards. Additionally, Designer/2000 includes a repository which adds team support to the Visual Basic environment

. "Designer/2000 Release 1.2 brings the benefits of second generation client/server modeling to a broader range of developers than ever before," said Ian Thacker, Oracle's senior vice president of European Development. "This latest release empowers developers to deliver applications to more users, with more openness than any other modeling tool on the market."

Oracle customers are pleased with the availability of the first design tool on the market to offer generation of Visual Basic code. "I have always recommended Oracle CASE, now Designer/2000, to our Oracle development projects," said Ronan Miles, senior technical architect, BT (formerly British Telecom). "The product has demonstrated that it can capture the analysis of, and then physically produce, Oracle databases. The application generation features have proven capable of giving a flying start to programmers when we have been using one of the supported languages."

Miles adds, "The Oracle Visual Basic generator for Designer/2000 is an encouraging addition to the Oracle generator products range. In trials it has proven well-able to generate Oracle, database-centric Visual Basic applications to a standard that is expected from most Visual Basic programmers. Additionally, the inclusion of a Visual Basic development environment with CASE-driven, team working is very welcome."

Computer-Based Training, "Cue Cards" and Multilingual Support
With Designer/2000, it is now easier than ever before for client/server developers to leverage the efficiency and scalability benefits of a premium design tool. Release 1.2 of Designer/2000 offers Computer-Based Training (CBT) lessons and "cue cards" to help new users of the product learn special tips and techniques for designing and generating scalable, client/server applications. Cue cards provide users with on-line, trouble-shooting solutions to easily deliver complex functionality to the novice Designer/2000 user.

Designer/2000, along with Developer/2000, deliver the only client/server development suite on the market to offer multilingual support for European and Asian languages. By leveraging a multilingual architecture, a single application generated in Designer/2000 can be deployed in any of the supported languages which include Chinese, Korean, Thai and Japanese. Global, native language documentation, support and consulting are also available from Oracle.

Designer/2000 Release 1.2 is scheduled to be available on Windows 3.1, Windows NT WOW and Win-OS/2, Nov. 1. The Visual Basic Generator feature is available immediately. Designer/2000 for Windows 95 is scheduled to be available in the first quarter of 1996. Pricing for the product is $3,995 in the United States. Supported customers of Designer/2000 and prior Oracle CASE releases are eligible to receive the upgrade at no charge.

Designer/2000 is Oracle's modeling tool for client/server development, incorporating support for system analysis, software design, code generation and BPR. Through its active repository, and tight integration with Developer/2000 and the Oracle7 database, Designer/2000 provides the second generation productivity and reliability required to build complex, highly scalable, competitive systems.