January 25, 1999

Delphi Report Writers

Continuous Voice Recognition

Report generation, a requirement in most Delphi applications, has evolved from basic, tabular, hardcopy output to graphically rich, interactive, electronic formats accessible from local and wide area networks. This months meeting will provide an update on Delphi integrated report writers: QuickReports from QuSoft and ReportBuilder from Digital-Metaphors. Following the report writer presentations we will have a brief demonstration of FreeSpeech, a continuous voice recognition product just released from Philips. Natural speech recognition technology has evolved to the point, along with the cost of the required processing power, where application developers will increasingly be required to considered it as part of the user interface.

ReportBuilder from Digital-Metaphors  Manny Garcia, Fidelity Investments will demonstrate a slick reporting tool called ReportBuilder . Written entirely in Delphi, ReportBuilder integrates seamlessly into the Delphi IDE, allows unlimited extensibility and compiles into your .exe so you can distribute your reports royalty free. The interactive report designer and previewer give you total flexibility for developing your reports and seeing immediate results right from inside Delphi. ReportBuilder fully integrates with Delphi's Object Inspector and allows you to store reports in files or in database BLOB fields. This frees you from trapping reports inside your Delphi forms and allows you to reload them dynamically at run-time. At the end of the meeting, a full-version of ReportBuilder will be raffled off.

QuickReports from QuSoft   QuickReports is the set of report generation components included with Delphi, written in Delphi. Upgrading from the included, standard version to the QuickReport3 Professional version you receive, in addition to source code, additional components including end user report designer, additional export filters, and a comprehensive, automated mailing label component. A banded report generator, the QuickReport set of Delphi components provide a rich capability for generating output from a variety of sources to a variety of formats.

FreeSpeech from Phillips    FreeSpeech is a speech recognition program which combines Online Natural Speech Recognition for dictation of documents as well as voice commands which allow control over many popular applications. You can create, edit, and format documents by dictating directly into most Windows applications where you normally would type, and control the window's environment by speaking directly to your computer. FreeSpeech comes with a comprehensive, 27,000 word vocabulary (ConText) of common terms, phrases and names which is easily customized to a 64,000 word maximum. FreeSpeech adapts to your voice as well as to your dictation style and, with a built-in tuner, can analyze existing documents for words that you want to add to the vocabulary. The patented dictation playback with synchronous highlighting allows you to proof-read your text quickly and easily. Falsely recognized words can be replaced by choosing an alternative from a list, simply by using your voice.


Time

7:00 PM

Location

Kronos, Inc.
400 Fifth Avenue, Waltham, MA

Directions

Heading South on Route 128 take Waltham Exit 27A, Totton Pond Road / Wyman Street. The exit ramp will merge with Totton Pond Road West. Merge into the left lanes and follow the signs to Totton Pond Road East towards Waltham and Route 128 (you are making a u-turn, make sure you get in the correct lane). Proceed over Route 128 and at the second traffic light (the first and second traffic light are separarted by about 50 feet) turn right onto Third Avenue.

Heading North on Route 128 take Waltham Exit 27A, Totton Pond Road. Proceed up the exit ramp and just before the traffic light, bear right towards the stop sign. Turn right onto Third Avenue.

On Third Avenue, proceed about a 100 yards and turn left onto Fifth Avenue, the first "real" left just before the Westin Hotel. Proceed up the hill on Fifth Avenue, at the top turn (bear) right. You will pass 4 buildings (3 red brick and 1 tan brick) on your left. Kronos is located in the last (4th) building on you left, the only tan brick building in the office park.

Park in the parking lot and proceed to the main entrance of the tan brick building. Signs in the lobby will direct you to the meeting room.

(If you get lost, ask for directions to the Westin Hotel in Waltham.)

Additional Information

Al Reinhart, DisCom Systems
Voice: 508/869-6417
EMail: reinhart@DisCom.com

In case of inclement weather or a holiday on the day of a scheduled meeting please call Kronos after 3:00 PM at (781) 890-3232 to determine if the building will be open and check the web site to deterine if the meeting is canceled.
(An open building does not guarantee a meeting will take place.)