Donald's Blog

Microsoft PDC

2009-12-01T15:11:00Z

As usual, the Microsoft PDC show in LA was filled with all kinds of great announcements, including ‘Dallas’ http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/dallas/

If you didn't get to make it to the show, we posted some pictures that you can view now:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/45053493@N08/sets/72157622886105732/

We also recorded a couple videos:

‘.NET Rocks’ Interview
Robby Powell from GrapeCity talks with Carl Franklin and Richard Campbell of .NET Rocks! on what's new on ActiveReports and Spread .NET developer tools and components.

“Why we chose ActiveReports”
Sanjeev Jagtap of GrapeCity interviews Al Perez of Total Computer Group on why they chose ActiveReports as their .NET reporting platform for their systems that are now on the Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform.

Both videos can be found here - http://www.youtube.com/GrapeCityInc

Donald

Download our Slides/Demo Presentation from the VS 2010 Virtual Tech Briefing

2009-10-29T14:46:00Z

If you didn't have time to attend our session entitled "Deliver Complete .NET Business Intelligence Solutions by combining Spreadsheets, Reporting and Data Visualization in Microsoft Visual Studio" that followed the Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Tech Briefing, now is your chance! We've zipped up both the slide desk and the demo video that you can download now:

http://www.FarPointSpread.com/Videos/BISolutions/

Unzip the file to your harddrive then either:
1) Run GrapeCityVS2010.pps to view the slides and video or
2) Run GrapeCityVS2010.wmv to view the video only

As always, please let us know if you have any questions. Enjoy the show!

Join us for the Visual Studio 2010 Beta Tech Briefing - Oct 28th

2009-10-23T15:33:00Z

Join us, along with Microsoft, for the Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Virtual Tech Briefing, a one-day virtual event showing you what you need to know about this new release – just out in beta.

Following the Microsoft presentation, we will be presenting our session entitled, “Deliver Complete .NET Business Intelligence Solutions by combining Spreadsheets, Reporting and Data Visualization in Microsoft Visual Studio”.

Registration is free! Register now at CodeProject.com - http://www.codeproject.com/webcasts/vs2010Beta/

We’re giving away an HDTV!

2009-10-22T13:42:00Z

If you‘re going to PDC, see if there’s still time to register for the Birds-of-a-Feather sessions. We’re giving away the grand prize of an HDTV!

http://www.pdcbof.com/post/219878530/grapecity-joins-as-a-community-roundtable-sponsor

If you’re there, be sure to stop by our booth and say Hello. We’d love to meet you.

Donald

Win a Trip to PDC!

2009-06-04T14:49:00Z

INETA is sponsoring the INETA Component Code Challenge, with the winner receiving a scholarship to PDC 2009 in Los Angeles, CA. All you need to do is build the best application using Spread and another component.

The Details:
Build a .NET Application (WinForms, ASP.NET, WPF, Silverlight, Compact Framework, etc.) using at least 2 components from at least 2 different approved vendors (yes, FarPoint is an approved vendor) then make a 3-5 minute Camtasia video showing your entry and describing what components you used and why your application is cool. Our judges will review the submissions and the best two will win a scholarship to PDC 2009 in Los Angeles, CA, including air fare, hotel, and conference pass. The submission deadline is 08/25/2009 at Midnight Eastern and the winners will be announced on 09/14/2009. Entries will be judged on four criteria:

•             Effective use of a component to solve a problem/display data
•             innovative use of components
•             Impact using components (i.e. reduction in lines of code written, increased productivity, etc.)
•             Most creative use of a component.

See the contest page (http://ineta.org/codechallenge) on the INETA web site for more details and full rules.

That’s it. So what are you waiting for? Show them how you are using Spread today and possibly win a free trip to PDC. Good luck!

Spread for ASP.NET is a ‘Finalist’

2009-05-07T20:15:00Z

We just found out that Spread for ASP.NET is a finalist in the ‘Best Grid’ category, as voted by the asp.netPRO readers. Ya, we know, it’s a spreadsheet but that category wasn’t available. Just goes to show you the power of a spreadsheet. Thanks to everyone who voted for us!

Check out the latest features of Spread for ASP.NET here:
http://www.fpoint.com/netproducts/spreadweb/spread.aspx

Vote for Spread for ASP.NET!

2009-03-17T14:30:00Z

It’s once again that time of year to vote for your favorite Grid and Component Suite! We would love to have you support us. Please visit the asp.netPRO web site and vote now:

http://www.aspnetpro.com/awards/default.asp

We are entered in the following categories:

#7: “Component Set” – Spread for .NET Bundle nominated
#12 “Grid” – Spread for ASP.NET nomiated

Please vote now as it ends on April 25. Thanks from all of us at FarPoint!

- Donald

Come Meet Us!

2009-03-04T15:58:00Z

What a busy (and hopefully warmer!) March it’s going to be. If you’re going to be in the Southeast region this month, stop by any of these events and say hello to Scott Shorter, our Technical Evangelist. He’d love to meet you!

MSDN Southern Fried Roadshow
Friday, March 13 - Alpharetta, GA
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032403861&Culture=en-US
We’re partnering up with the Microsoft Regional Evangelists to help bring you the 4-day Roadshow held in several locations

The Atlanta Code Camp
Saturday, March 14 – Atlanta, GA
http://atlantacodecamp.com/

“Battle of the Third-Party Controls”
Wednesday, March 18th
http://www.swfldev.net/
Scott will be presenting our Spread for ASP.NET product to the SW Florida .Net Developers Group.

There’s also the Charlotte Code Camp held on March 28th - http://www.developersguild.org/Default.aspx?alias=www.developersguild.org/codecamp/2009/spring

Again, if you’re in the area, stop by say hello!

Spread 8 (COM) Released!

2008-11-14T20:29:00Z

We’re excited to announce that we just released Spread 8, a major upgrade of our COM spreadsheet component!

Download the trial here - http://www.clubfarpoint.com/FarPointSupportSite/Modules/Download/trials.aspx?pcode=spread

Source Code for Spread 8 is also available for purchase. Contact our Corporate Sales team at CorporateSales@FarPointSpread.com for pricing.

Happy Developing!

Spread 8 – with Source Code – Coming Soon!

2008-11-11T21:02:00Z

Well, it’s official...we’re unlocking the vault. Now you can own the source to the most widely used COM development spreadsheet in the world! When Spread 8 releases here shortly, you will also have the option to purchase the highly guarded Source Code (written in C and C++). You will even get the source to the Spread Designer.

Don’t care about looking at the source? You can still get it and archive the Spread Source code along with your application to lock in the vault.

Watch for more information coming soon or email our Corporate Sales team now at CorporateSales@FarPointSpread.com to get your questions answered.

- Donald

PDC Badges – The ‘Censored’ File

2008-10-27T18:24:21Z

Microsoft announced a new social program for exhibitors and others at the PDC show this year (several of our guys are currently manning our booth…if you’re at PDC, stop by and say hello!).

Here is the skinny on the program, straight from Adam Kinney, the Badge Evangelist -

“This year at PDC we're starting a new thing called PDC Badges. Collecting Badges is the way for Attendees to capture their experience at the PDC conference. You can think of it as applying the Xbox Achievements system to a conference.

Badge holders given to attendees at registration will contain an extra slot to display a custom badge of their choice. Each attendee will start out with the official PDC 2008 badge and will be given new badges as a result of an accomplishment or in some cases being at the right place at the right time.”

So, we put our creative minds to work and came up with the following badges to hand out at the show:

Being how it’s almost Halloween, we went with that theme for several of the cards. Oh…and one of the badges was not allowed to be taken to the show…deemed ‘possibly offensive’…guess which one! And which one is your favorite?

If you’re at the show, stop by and grab your favorite one(s) and enjoy the show!

Donald

FarPoint Spread 8 (COM) Beta Posted!

2008-09-09T19:06:00Z

While nearly all of the other component vendors have fully abandoned their COM product line we are happy to announce that the beta for the latest COM version of Spread is now ready for download.

WHAT’S NEW

-------------------------

New Features

- New Formula Functions

- Ability to create a custom cell

- A 64-bit DLL control

- Shape and color settings for cell notes

- New OCX methods for saving and loading to/from a buffer

- New event for circular references

Enhancements

- Enhanced appearance

- Enhanced appearance for headers and sheet corners

- Enhanced appearance for scroll bars

- Enhanced appearance for sheet tabs

- Enhanced selection highlighting

- Additional export options when exporting to HTML

- Users can apply a secondary sort using control-click

We’re still looking for beta testers to run this through their existing projects and verify that with all the changes we’ve implemented, we didn’t break anything. If you would like to be part of the testing, please send an email to beta@fpoint.com.

- Donald

Spread for ASP.NET RC Posted!

2008-07-25T14:44:00Z

Yesterday we posted what should be the final testing build of one of our flagship products, Spread for ASP.NET. If you haven’t heard about it yet, we’ve added a lot of new features in this release with one of the primary focuses being on major performance enhancements. Other enhancements include support for Excel 2007 XML, PDF, and ODF; ASP.NET AJAX extender controls added as cell types; row template, row edit template, group footer; and a whole lot more.

Watch for it to be releasing soon!

Spread 8 (COM) Update

2008-06-18T17:46:00Z

First let me say a big thank you to all you loyal Spread customers for giving us your input on the new Spread 8 product. A lot of great suggestions have been submitted via our email survey and forum postings and every request was reviewed.

The biggest request we received was to provide you with an updated, more modern look. The second largest request was to provide a way for you to add your own custom celltypes. We’re happy to announce that both have been added!

The look has been updated to closely match Spread for Windows Forms and Excel. We have also added the ability for you to include your own controls in a Spread cell via callbacks.

Following is the new feature list we have scheduled for Spread 8:

* New Formula Functions (close to 100 new formulas)

* Ability to create a custom cell

* A 64-bit DLL control

* Shape and color settings for cell notes

* SaveBlockToBuffer and LoadBlockFromBuffer

* Enhanced appearance

* Enhanced appearance for headers and sheet corners

* Enhanced appearance for scroll bars

* Enhanced appearance for sheet tabs

* Enhanced selection highlighting

* Additional export options when exporting to HTML

* Users can apply a secondary sort using control-click

To get these features rolled out to you as quickly as possible, some requests will not make it in the initial release. We decided not to hold up the release but rather provide you with these new features now.

Look for a beta around the end of July. Please email me at beta@fpoint.com if you are interested in joining the beta team. Thanks!

- Donald

Planning Spread COM Version 8

2008-02-05T18:42:18Z

Thanks to those of you who have been using our Spread COM product over the years. Lately, there have been several internal and external forum discussions regarding the future of this product in regards to adding new features. In short, we are planning on releasing a new major COM version, Spread 8! Now it’s your turn. What new features would you like to see added? Before you answer, please keep in mind that items requiring major architecture design changes, for example hierarchy view, likely will not be implemented. One of the major focuses for this release will be an updated look and feel, as well as 64-bit support and other enhancements. So, please consider leaving a comment below that answers these two questions: 1. What feature(s) would you like to see added to Spread 8 (COM)? 2. Would you upgrade to this new version? Thanks in advance for your input and we would appreciate your reply by the end of this week. It is greatly appreciated. And as always, please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions. We still have the comments from our original post back in 2006 when we began pondering this new version. - Donald

ActiveX, COM, farpoint, feature, Spread, Spread 8