KBMS for OS/2          programming/business/expert system
Active Objects, Graphics Added to KBMS for OS/2
 
Microbytes Daily News Service
Copyright (c) 1989, McGraw-Hill, Inc.
Two facilities of AICorp's new version of its Knowledge Base
Management System (KBMS) for OS/2 Extended Edition, let
developers use graphics, not only in applications for end
users, but also during the application development process.
Originally developed for IBM mainframes, KBMS will be available
for OS/2's Presentation Manager in the first quarter of 1990,
the company says.
 
Developer Graphics, a tool for designing, developing, and
analyzing KBMS applications, includes a graphical editor
facility that lets you select an object, see the attributes
defined for that object, and view the relationships among
objects during the development process. The tool can display
knowledge base rules graphically, displaying the interrelation
among sets of rules. You can edit and revise the relationships
as necessary, AICorp says.
 
Using Active Objects, you can link rules with graphics,
building knowledge base applications with a graphical user
interface. For example, you can use Active Objects to develop a
course registration application in which users see a map of the
U.S., click on a city where they want to take a course, and
automatically register, instead of filling out forms or using a
text menu. Another example: an image of a truck is linked to a
KBMS inventory application. To find the current inventory of
tires, the user points with a mouse to the tire image, then
clicks the mouse to "fire" the knowledge base rules that will
display the needed information.
 
The Active Object editor lets you choose shapes, colors, fonts,
and other elements. You can also use bit-mapped images from
other sources.
 
Character-based versions of KBMS are now available for DOS
($3500); a version running under Windows ($5000) will become
available whenever Microsoft releases Windows 3.0, AICorp says.
 
Price: $7500.
 
Contact: AICorp., 100 Fifth Ave., Waltham, MA 02254, (617)
890-8400.
 
                              --- David L. Andrews
 
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