Version 2.0 of The Universal Converter is available (7feb07):

It contains the following enhancements:

1. You will not need to enter your Email and Password to connect to The Universal Converter any more (after the next time you connect)
2. Your country is now displayed correctly in the Login Tab
3. Conversion categories have been introduced: Length, Area, Volume, Mass, Temperature, Computer, Misc
4. The Universal Converter Tab has been completely redone to handle the various categories and easier conversion selections
5. The conversion TextBoxes now display 16 significant digits and rounding has been improved
6. The converted value is automatically copied to the Clipboard for easy pasting into another application
7. More than 100 APL conversion functions have been added

Explanations:

Here are a few hints on how The Universal Converter works:

• you load The Universal Converter from the following page: http://www.lescasse.com/uc/publish.htm by clicking on the Run button after having fullfilled the prerequisites described at the top of page http://www.lescasse.com/uc.asp
  
  
   
• If you have fullfilled the prerequisites described at the top of http://www.lescasse.com/uc.asp the Universal Converter application will get quickly downloaded and will open
  
  
   
• when the application opens, you must Register by entering your Email and any Password (if you load The Universal Converter 2.0 again later, you will no longer need to enter your Email and Password)
   
• the first time you connect you must enter your name, first name, country and check the development languages you know how to use
   
• behind the C# application which runs on your computer ("the Client"), there is an APL+Win application running on my Internet "Server" in Paris
   
• when you Register, C# calls APL+Win routines in the Universal Converter workspace on the Server and record your registration data in an APL+Win file
   
• once you have registered you can click the Login button to access The Universal Converter (the 2nd tab) which is presented in the above screenshot
   
• the whole User Interface is a C# .Net application, i.e. is a client rich Windows application albeit loaded from the browser!
   
• almost anything you do in the Universal Converter tab (see above screenshot) involves calling APL+Win functions on the Server
  - for example, if you use the cursor keys to navigate among the various categories on the left hand side, APL+Win functions are run on the Server and returns the conversions pertaining to the selected category: these populate the 2 grid objects
  - similarly, if you use the cursor keys (or mouse) to select a Conversion in the From: or To: grid, an APL+Win function is instantaneously called on the Server and converts whatever value is currently displayed in the first TextBox : but also another APL+Win function is fired on the Server and returns the APL code of the conversion functions used to do the conversions
  - also, for each character you type in one of the TextBoxes the right APL+Win conversion function is called on the Server and returns the converted value which is displayed in the other TextBox
   
• although the APL functions used in these examples are trivial, several of them use an APL database on the Server (an APL+Win component file) and the interesting point is the fact that the round trip to the Server to execute any APL function is really instantaneous: also, you can pass any complex nested array back and forth between C# and APL+Win with no problem, which allows you to pass complex arguments and return complex data from APL+Win functions run on the Server.  Very large APL applications could be ported to the Web using this technology. I have already ported 3 real-life applications this way and they all run very well and are fast.
   
• the other very nice aspect of this technology is the ClickOnce deployment: this means that anybody, anywhere can load and use your C#+APL+Win application without any files being installed on his computer (provided he has installed the prerequisites, mainly the .Net Framework 2.0 which is a free download from Microsoft)
   
• in the case of the Universal Converter there is an additional prerequisite which is to install the Microsoft Windows Media Player Primary Interop Assembly, but this is only because I have included a video in this application. For a normal application published using this technology, only the .Net Framework 2.0 is required.
   
• it also means that you can update your application for ALL your users without having to distribute anything to them and/or make them install anything
   
  
• just FYI, the list of APL+Win Conversion functions currently used in The Universal Converter 2.0 is the following:
  
  
  

If you are curious on how well such a technology works, just load the Universal Converter and give it a try.

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Version 1.3 of The Universal Converter is available (25jan07):

Its enhancements are:

1. APL unloads automatically on the Server if it has been idle for at least one minute: this spares Server resources and does not even seem to slow down the application at all!
   
2. as soon as the client makes another request to APL, APL is transparently loaded on the Server and the request is processed
   
3. a conversion bug has been fixed:  the conversions were fine but some precision was lost when formatting results to text. This is now corrected