Lantana Systems specialises in writing custom reports
and programs using the Pronto 4GL. We have been successfully doing this since
1991, so we are certain we can help you with your requirements. We can work from
a fully detailed specification, or if you only have a rough idea of what you
want we can work with you to suggest a solution.
In addition to custom programming, Lantana Systems
also has a range of programs that are available for Pronto users:
Just released, SQL/Output can automatically create an
Excel file using the data retrieved by an SQL report. It can do this for SQL
reports running in batch mode and even automatically email the Excel file. The
Excel files that are created are in ‘XML Spreadsheet 2003’ format. This is a
native Excel format that is supported by Excel 2003 or later versions.
A specification is setup once within SQL/Output for
each SQL report that defines the column headings, column types and cell formats
to be used, together with details of totals to be placed at the end of the
spreadsheet. The output directory and filename structure is also specified,
together with optional email destinations. To automatically create Excel
output, an entry to run the SQL/Output program is added to a Pronto batch
sequence immediately after the entry to run the SQL report itself. If an SQL
report is run manually by a user, SQL/Output can be manually run after the SQL
has finished. Note that a site does not require a 4GL licence to use the
SQL/Output program.
Please contact us for pricing details. Click here to see
a user guide.
Using the Excel functionality from within our
GHOSTWRITER product, the Excel include file provides a set of easy to use
macros for adding full Excel capability to your own 4GL programs, including
macros for opening and naming output files, creating worksheets, setting column
headings and formats, inserting data into cells, closing and emailing the Excel
file. The
output files that are created using the macros are in ‘XML Spreadsheet 2003’
format. This is a native Excel format that is supported by Excel 2003 or later
versions. You need a Pronto 4GL licence in order to be able to use our Excel include file.
Please contact us for pricing details. Click here to see the information about this product from the
support section.
GHOSTWRITER is a report writer
that Lantana Systems has created so that they can write Pronto 4GL reports more
efficiently. GHOSTWRITER dramatically reduces (by over 50%) the time taken to
write reports and allows changes to reports to be made easily and quickly.
Reports created by GHOSTWRITER can output to either a Pronto spoolfile or datagrid (or both)
or directly to Microsoft Excel. All
custom 4GL reports written by Lantana Systems are created using GHOSTWRITER. If
you have a licence to use the Pronto 4GL, you can also licence GHOSTWRITER so
that you can greatly enhance your internal 4GL reporting. More details.
FAX/Assist provides an
interface between PRONTO and OSFAX for the efficient sending of documents by
either facsimile, email in PDF format or printing. OSFAX merges text output
from Pronto with graphic overlays to produce high quality documents for
distribution. OSFAX offers sophisticated document processing features,
including the ability to swap overlays on a page by page basis using text within
the page as the trigger. OSFAX can send faxes using a modem connected to your
Pronto server, or you can use the Osiris relay service to send faxes using the
internet to Osiris Technology for distribution to Australian or most
international destinations at a single low fixed page rate. More details.
SQL/Input allows enhanced
input parameter screens to be created for SQL reports. This is a program we
wrote way back in 1994 to provide added functionality to Pronto SQL reports and
it still does exactly what it was designed to do. SQL/Input may be downloaded
at no charge. More details.
If you need to run SQL reports with date parameters
using the Pronto Report Distribution Management module, we have an enhanced
version of SQL/Input that solves the problem of very slow processing due to the
wrong database indexes being used for the data extraction. More details.
e-spool
provides a means to spilt a spoolfile into multiple
documents for distribution by email in either plain text or HTML or RTF format.
The destination address can be read from the spoolfile
or looked up in Pronto based on other text in the spoolfile.
This program can be used to email out documents such as remittance advices or
payslips. (Note that no overlays are added to the text. This functionality is
available using FAX/Assist with OSFAX.) More
details.
Some of our programs, written to add functionality to Pronto, have now been rendered obsolete as Pronto has added
similar functionality themselves:
Rep-Runner was written in 1995 to provide a system to
manage the overnight running of Pronto reports and distribute reports to
multiple users. We still support Rep-Runner for clients who purchased the
software, but Pronto has now added this functionality into their core software
so we now refer users to the Pronto Report Distribution Management module.
However, if you need to run SQL reports with date parameters
using the Pronto Report Distribution Management module, you should also use our
enhanced version of SQL/Input. More details.
dspool
was written to provide a means to easily convert Pronto spoolfiles
into flat files for use in other programs, or to send directly to Excel. This
functionality is now available within Pronto Xi reporting.
CLUSTER is a program that allows extra data to be
stored and accessed within Pronto. This data may be independent data or it may
be related to existing Pronto data. For example, CLUSTER could be configured to
allow additional multiple attributes to be assigned to Pronto
stock codes. Pronto introduced Quick Data about the same time
as we were going to release CLUSTER, so CLUSTER has never been actively
promoted. However, CLUSTER does provide a supplementary database with
powerful reporting and auditing features that may be of interest to some Pronto
sites.