license issues (was mystery exception)

[Robert Brenstein]

>On 3/12/03 3:08 AM, Robert Brenstein wrote:
>
>>All true but how easy is it to use the engine of a standalone to 
>>couple it with full development GUI to produce new products? Is 
>>message box really fully functional in standalones?
>
>As it is now, no. But if there were no script limit, yes, it would 
>be. The message box executes its own "do" statement. All you'd have 
>to do would be to copy any script from the starter kit and paste it 
>into the message box to gain full functionality. Or just type any 
>long series of script statements into the message box and hit the 
>enter key. You wouldn't have the GUI, but you could do anything the 
>engine can do.

And you think that this can't be stopped by using the license key 
within a standalone?

>
>>If so, I rather have no message box than do limit.
>
>The problem with this is that the message box is just a stack. If 
>there were no script limits, the user could just type a script into 
>a field in any stack, then put "do me" into the field script. Maybe 
>what you mean is that you'd prefer that no script editing be allowed 
>except in licensed copies -- but that would make a starter kit 
>pretty hard to produce.

Can one add a new field script when the scripting is 
password-protected as it should in standalones?

>Would you be willing to post an example of a "do" statement that is 
>difficult or impossible to accomplish within the current 10-line 
>limit? I think it might be interesting for the list to see if the 
>problem is really insurmountable. And if we can bypass the problem 
>it might give some folks an idea of how to accomodate script limits 
>without sacrificing useability. Sounds like an interesting challenge 
>to me. I confess that I have not had to use any more than a 
>single-line "do" statement in years and I have trouble imagining 
>where I'd need one.

I do not have an example of such a do, but functions I am talking 
about are like

declarations
   a[1] = 1,const;
   a[2] = 1,var;
   a[3] = 1,var;
limits
   a[2] > 0;
begin
   y:= exp(-x/a[1])*cos(x*a[2])*a[3];
end;


This is a trivial (decay) function with just three parameters and 1 
independent and 1 dependent variable. Imagine something along these 
lines, though, but more complex, let's say with 10 or 15 parameters 
and a set of equations with 12 or 15 independent variables. This has 
to be converted into a series of Transcript statements which would be 
executed for each data point in a loop. Ah, and most analyses require 
providing equations for derivatives yet.

Robert