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From: Melissa Hirschl <hershey@scriptics.com>
Subject: ANNOUNCE: first beta release of TclPro 1.2!
Date: 27 Jan 1999 02:51:41 GMT

Scriptics is pleased to announce the first beta release of TclPro 1.2,
featuring two powerful and popular open source extensions (Expect 5.28
on Unix, and TclX 8.0.5) and new shared network licenses.  In
addition, TclPro 1.2 introduces new features for TclPro Debugger and
TclPro Checker, as well as a number of bug fixes.

Expect and TclX
---------------

TclPro 1.2 bundles the 8.0 version of TclX, written by Mark Diekhans
and Karl Lehenbauer, and the 5.28 version of Expect, written by Don
Libes. Please note that Expect is only supported on Unix platforms.
TclX, also known as Extended Tcl, is designed to make Tcl easier for
systems programming and programming in the large.  TclX provides
additional interfaces to the native operating system, as well as many
new programming constructs and text manipulation commands.  Expect
adds Tcl commands for automating interactive applications such as
telnet, ftp, passwd, fsck, rlogin, tip, etc.  Expect makes it easy to
interact with and control terminal-based legacy applications.

Shared Network License or Named User License
--------------------------------------------

TclPro customers now can choose which license works best for them: a
shared network license, or a named user license. As before, a named
user license for TclPro allows one named developer to use TclPro on
any of the platforms we support; the license cannot be used by other
developers. Scriptics' new shared network license allows groups or
departments to install TclPro and share a license pack; the minimum
size is a 5-license pack, which allows up to 5 developers to use
TclPro at the same time. Scriptics License Server, which manages the
shared network licenses, can be installed on any supported Unix
platform and has a browser-based front-end, so license management and
monitoring can be easily performed from any desktop.  Although
Scriptics License Server only runs on Unix, it serves licenses to
TclPro tools running on both Unix and Windows.

TclPro Debugger enhancements
----------------------------

This release includes the following enhancements:

    * All the TclPro tools now fully support Expect (Unix) and TclX.

    * TclPro Debugger performance improvement: TclPro Debugger now
      performs single-stepping much more quickly than in TclPro 1.1.

    * TclPro Debugger now makes it easier to define, save, restart,
      and set preferences for projects by offering a new file-based
      project interface.  With this interface, user can do the
      following:

	- set separate debugging preferences for each project
	- choose the project to start from the prodebug command line
	- specify preferences for remote projects
	- share project files among users
	- run a project without automatically stopping on the first
	  line

    * TclPro Debugger now displays the result of each step, so you
      can see results of subexpressions as they are evaluted.

    * TclPro Debugger offers improved error handling.  There is a new
      option to intercept all errors, including errors generated inside
      the "catch" construct.  Also, you now have the option to break
      at an error and propagate the error upon continuing.

    * TclPro Checker now makes it faster and easier to check the
      syntax of Tcl scripts by accepting input from stdin.  To check
      the syntax of a Tcl command, you can just type the following on
      the command line:

		echo info foo | procheck

      Procheck will flag a "badOption" error and print a list of valid
      options to the "info" command. (RFE ID 733)

    * Multiple-platform installation (Unix CD-ROM only): TclPro is now
      also easier to use in cross-platform environments, enabling a
      single installation of TclPro to be used for multiple platforms
      on a shared Unix file server.

To download a free 30-day beta copy of TclPro 1.2 for testing and
evaluation, please visit our Web site at:

    http://www.scriptics.com/tclpro/eval/beta.html

We're very interested in receiving your comments, including bug
reports and requests for enhancements.  We prefer that you report bugs
and request enhancements by filling in the form at

    http://www.scriptics.com/support/bugForm.html

If you have any questions or comments, please email
beta@scriptics.com.  We really appreciate your feedback.

Melissa Hirschl
QA/Release Engineer
Scriptics Corporation
The Tcl Platform Company