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FAQ for SmartStar®

The following is a list of some of the more Frequently Asked Questions about SmartStar®.

If you have a current annual maintenance contract, additional assistance may be obtained by contacting B2Systems Technical Support at 1-800-627-4038 or sending email to support@b2systems.com. Please refer to our Technical Support Policies.

Is SmartStar® Y2K compliant?
The most recent release of SmartStar® has been tested for Y2K compliance. This does NOT, however, mean that a customer's application is Y2K compliant. Customers should read the "Year 2000 Compliance" statement to understand what this means. To ensure SmartStar® applications are Year 2000 compliant the date fields should be stored in the DBMSs native DATE datatype and the fields on the screens that access them should contain 4 digits for the year.
 
How do I tell what version I am running?
The command "@smartstar:ssinfo" will tell you the SmartStar® version, the VMS version, and the database version. The command "SDES /version" will also tell you the SmartStar® version (if you have a development license). If you want to check the version for the backend, run ISQL and enter "\version".
 
What platforms and databases are supported?
This information is available on the SmartStar® Product Availability Matrix.
 
I want to upgrade my Oracle database to version 8.x.   Does SmartStar® support this version?
SmartStar® was released prior to the release of Oracle 8 and the default installation is unable to link with those versions. There are patches available for some Oracle 8 versions like 8.0.5 and if you have a current maintenance contact, these may be obtained from support. If you are trying to work with a version of Oracle for which a patch does not exist, support will try to create one.

However, B2Systems does not currently support Oracle 8.1.6 on the OpenVMS platform due to an Oracle linking problem. This problem was reported to Oracle in tar 1192698.996 in early January and was determined to be related to Oracle Bug 1728043. On May 7th, Oracle provided B2 with a patch for Oracle Bug 1728043 which is currently in B2's QA department.
 

I want to upgrade my OpenVMS operating system to version 7.1.   How will this affect my SmartStar® applications?
SmartStar® version 7.2.5 is certified for OpenVMS 7.1 (as well as for previous versions of OpenVMS) on both the VAX and the Alpha platforms. Customers who wish to run SmartStar® on OpenVMS 7.1 must install the platform-specific patch before attempting to run SmartStar® applications. The specific patches are
  • ALPLIBRnn_071 for Alpha
  • VAXLIBRnn_071 for VAX

where nn is the current Digital patch number. Digital occasionally updates these patch numbers; therefore customers are advised to view the Digital Equipment web site or contact Digital Customer Support for more information.
 
I want to upgrade my OpenVMS operating system to version 7.2.   How will this affect my SmartStar® applications?
You should not experience any problems and upgrading an operating system should not require relinking SmartStar®. There are many customers currently running SmartStar® under OpenVMS 7.2 who have not had any problems.
 
I heard something about a change for the Delta-Time Limit on the OpenVMS operating system?
If you are running versions of OpenVMS prior to 7.1, please read about Digital's Delta-Time Limit change for OpenVMS.
 
I want to convert my SmartStar® applications from OpenVMS/VAX to OpenVMS/AXP. What kind of problems can I expect?
There are many issues that you will have to consider when converting to OpenVMS/AXP. Among them are no support for SDESIGN/UAR, linking shareable images with SYMBOL_VECTOR instead of UNIVERSAL, and several issues with float datatypes. Please see the SmartStar® 7.2 Notes for OpenVMS AXP for more information.
 
I have upgraded SmartStar® from version 6.2 to 7.2 and I can no longer use SmartDesign.
The Product Names on License PAKs for SmartStar® 7.2 have changed. Many of our customers will receive License PAKs with Product Names like SMARTSTAR-DV1. In order to access the products licensed by these special PAKs, you have to define a logical at the PROCESS level that will point to the desired License PAK ($define SS_PRODUCT_NAME SMARTSTAR-DV1). Please note that the logical name uses an underscore while the license name uses a hyphen and that the logical should not be defined to use a pak with a Product Name of SMARTSTAR.