VAST Platform 2025 (All Versions) Readme
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Contents
-Welcome to the VAST Platform
-What's New in VAST?
-News, Technical Tips, and Product Updates
-Distributed Files
-Installation
-Migration Guide
-Corrections and Enhancements (14.0.0)
-Disclaimer
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Welcome to the VAST Platform
Design it. Build it. Deploy it.
Create object-oriented software that’s stable, easy to maintain, and deploys smoothly — all from the same comprehensive development environment.
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What's New in VAST?
Language & Runtime
-Adaptive weak finalization queue sizing
Core Libraries
-Unicode support library enhancements
-New EsHashEngine class hierarchy
User Interface & Visuals
-Multi-monitor support
-HiDPI improvements
Communications & Networking
-New SST URL percent encoder
-Support for LDAP callbacks and paged searching
Web Technologies
-Full Unicode integration in latest Seaside and Grease
Databases
-Official SQL Server support via ODBC
-Oracle improvements
Additional Libraries
-New SortFunctions library
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News, Technical Tips, and Product Updates
Go to 'instantiations.com' and follow us on social media for the latest information about the VAST Platform and Instantiations.
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Distributed Files
Product Installer
The product installer installs the Client and Manager components of the VAST product as well as a development IDE setup tool. The Client component contains the VAST development IDE. The Manager component contains the VAST library (source code repository) file and the EMSRV code used to access the repository file in a team environment.
Documentation Archive
Uncompress the documentation archive to get a local copy of the VAST documentation onto your workstation.
VAST Runtime
This is the runtime support needed for deploying Smalltalk applications developed using VAST. There is no formal install program for the VAST Runtime. You simply unpack the runtime files and add your packaged VAST application into the resulting directory structure. You must download and unpack the correct VAST Runtime package for your operating system. The files needed to include at runtime are listed in Redistributable Runtime Files. (https://www.instantiations.com/vast-support/documentation/FAQ/#page/FAQ/va02016.html#)
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Installation
Windows
Run the downloaded VAST Platform Product Installer for your platform. Complete installation instructions, such as how to set up EMSRV, can be found in the Installation Guide. The Installation Guide can be read online at (https://www.instantiations.com/vast-support/documentation/) within the main VAST Documentation link, or locally after you unpack the VAST Platform Documentation Archive.
If you are doing a Custom install, to install the Manager on a different machine than the Client(s), we recommend you install the Manager first. Once you have installed the Manager and the Client, refer to the Installation Guide for further instructions on how to use the Environments tool to configure your environment so you can launch VAST. If you are using the headless installer to install the Manager alone, make sure the directory into which you want to install the manager has been created before starting the headless install. Refer to the Installation Guide for further instructions.
Linux
Uncompress the downloaded VAST Product Installer for your platform. Choose whether you would like to install the full standalone product, or just the client or manager configuration. Before running the Product installer, change directory to where vainstall is.
Standalone
Run the Product Installer by executing sudo ./vainstall standalone in a terminal. sudo ./vainstall also installs standalone.
Manager
Run the Product Installer by executing sudo ./vainstall manager in a terminal.
Client
Run the Product Installer by executing sudo ./vainstall client in a terminal.
Complete installation instructions, such as how to set up EMSRV, can be found in the Installation Guide. The Installation Guide can be read online at (https://www.instantiations.com/vast-support/documentation/) within the main VAST Documentation link, or locally after you unpack the VAST Platform Documentation Archive. If you are doing a Custom install, to install the Manager on a different machine than the Client(s), we recommend you install the Manager first.
Note: There are special steps for installing on Linux which are documented in the Installation Guide.
Once you have installed the Manager and the Client, refer to the Installation Guide for further instructions on how to use the Environments tool
to configure your environment so you can launch VAST.
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Migration Guide
If you have a version of VAST already installed, please refer to the Migration Guide for important information before using this version of VAST.
The Migration Guide can be read online at (https://www.instantiations.com/vast-support/documentation/) as HTML or pdf format. It can also be read locally if you installed local documentation.
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Corrections and Enhancements (14.0.0)
Case Title
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64570 [Development Tools] Do not open the VisualAge Organizer by default on clean image startup or Quick Start when it is opened manually
72247 [Additional Libraries] Migrate SortFunctions into VAST
72745 [User Interface & Visuals] placing window at top of the screen
72797 [Databases] Remove VW leftovers from Glorp
72822 [Web Technologies] Add hostName option in WASstServerAdaptor
73080 [User Interface & Visuals] Resize title bar and menu bar when moved to a screen with different screen factor
73335 [Language & Runtime] UnicodeString >> addAll: of slices can lead to #size calculated incorrectly
73444 [Communications & Networking] Create URL percent encoder (SstUrlEncoder)
73497 [User Interface & Visuals] Windows has run out resources error after changing screen scaling factor
73537 [Language & Runtime] Unicode primitives do not ensure allocated but unused slots are zeroed
73539 [User Interface & Visuals] icons overflow column header in (Abt)CwTableView
73546 [Core Libraries] UnicodeString printString / debugPrintString doesn't escape ''s
73549 [Core Libraries] Add Base64Coder>># decodeAsByteArray:
73596 [Communications & Networking] Add support to set LDAP options pointing to callbacks
73597 [Web Technologies] Upgrade Seaside to v3.5.6
73598 [Core Libraries] Unify ByteString/UnicodeString hashing
73600 [Databases] Map WCHAR/WVARCHAR ODBC types to regular codepage dependent strings when Unicode is disabled
73606 [User Interface & Visuals] Fix EwSlider>>#displayShaft: scaling issue with HiDPI
73632 [Core Libraries] Fix #fullPathToLoadedLinuxSharedLibrary: reading the results twice
73633 [Core Libraries] Allow for different escaping formats of UnicodeString
73646 [Communications & Networking] Modify HTTP 304 Not Modified response handling
73649 [Communications & Networking] Full Unicode Support for Seaside
73650 [Core Libraries] Add UnicodeString>>asSymbol and UnicodeString>>asSBSymbol
73654 [Additional Libraries] Upgrade Grease port to v1.17.0
73667 [Core Libraries] Improve Weak Finalization Queue automatic sizing
73677 [Core Libraries] Incorrect string size allocation in Base64CoderMime
73710 [User Interface & Visuals] Add new public attribute SingleItemSelected to AbtExtendedLinearList
73742 [Core Libraries] Add #asUnixTime and #fromUnixTime:
73743 [Communications & Networking] Deprecate the Domino (Notes) feature(s) VA: and XD
73744 [Core Libraries] Wrong position calculation in UnicodeWriteStream
73748 [Core Libraries] Remove #unicodeEncoding dependency from AbtRecord>>#newBlankRecord
73762 [Additional Libraries] Fix XmlTag >> allTagsNamed:ifAbsent:
73778 [Core Libraries] Fix EsParser removes comments after pragmas
73785 [Communications & Networking] Add UnicodeScalar>>#isHexDigit and Grapheme>>#isHexDigit
73787 [User Interface & Visuals] Fixes to CwBand to prevent infinitive loop
73798 [Development Tools] Scaled decimals without decimal part correctly colored in Workspace
73799 [Databases] Add NameData type to AbtPostgreSQLDatabaseManager type dictionary
73805 [Databases] Remove references to StringDictionary and OrderedStringDictionary
73806 [Development Tools] Inspectors on EsOrderedDictionary instances show the keys in order
73807 [Databases] Add BINARY_FLOAT and BINARY_DOUBLE types to Oracle supported datatypes
73808 [Development Tools] Three-way-diff tool now allows removing methods
73811 [Databases] Use Oracle's TNS in AbtOracleDatabaseManager>>connectToDataSourceNamed:logonSpec:
73813 [Communications & Networking] Add missing required maps to "z.ST: Server, SST"
73815 [Databases] Modify AbtOracleDatabaseManager>>#connectToDataSourceNamed:... to support EasyConnect strings.
73821 [Development Tools] Fix problem taking windows screenshots
73826 [Databases] Oracle: Avoid executionMode instvar use when creating statement return types
73827 [Development Tools] Resolve default selectionPolicy in CwTable
73828 [Communications & Networking] Fix 64bit DDE links and execute
73831 [User Interface & Visuals] Buffer overrun while loading a certain PNG file
73834 [User Interface & Visuals] AbtNumberConverter>>#primObjectToDisplay: ignored decimal and thousands separator
73836 [Core Libraries] EsNumberParser accepted digits one number above the radix
73837 [Web Technologies] Removed blocking behavior in SstHttpMultipartContentAssembler>>#assemblePartsFrom:onto:
73838 [Communications & Networking] LDAP: Implemented paged searching
73839 [Communications & Networking] LDAP: PARTIAL_RESULTS error returns valid entries
73840 [Web Technologies] Make SstHttpClient>>shouldReturnResponse: case insensitive
73841 [Web Technologies] Move SstHttpResponse statusCode to SstHttpCommunications
73844 [User Interface & Visuals] Wrong placement of tooltips when using HiDPI settings
73845 [Core Libraries] UnicodeString printing in Linux doesn't escape single quotes
73850 [Core Libraries] UnicodeReadStream>>skip: fails when the argument is negative
73851 [Core Libraries] Terminate EtTranscript>>#defaultText with a line separator
73852 [User Interface & Visuals] Implemented folder selection dialog in Windows
73855 [Databases] Remove unsupported platforms and other dialects support from Glorp Applications
73865 [Additional Libraries] Modify GRVASTPlatform>>#secureHashFor: to use SHA256
73867 [Core Libraries] Add codepage and locale information to System report and Walkback dumper
73868 [Language & Runtime] Update to Unicode 16
73871 [Development Tools] Attempting to test as UI code while using shadow class crashes VM
73873 [Development Tools] Preserve window order when restoring image
73874 [Development Tools] Open splash screen on active monitor
73876 [Additional Libraries] EtTranscript>>#nextPutAll: fails to append a UnicodeString if not representable in current codepage
73877 [Databases] Add AbtTimestamp/DateAndTime support for Glorp SQLite parameter binding
73880 [Core Libraries] UnicodeWriteStream>>#size can cause primitive failure in #nextPut: due to fast-path logic
73882 [Core Libraries] Prevent hang when scanning large exponents
73885 [User Interface & Visuals] Cannot hide column headers once the CwTable is open
73891 [Language & Runtime] Update Scintilla plugin to Scintilla 5.5.3 + Lexilla 5.4.1
73902 [Communications & Networking] Fix doExamplePublishSubscribeNativeSocket: to take OnPong callback into account
73905 [Development Tools] Error when window containing scintilla editor is closed during startup
73913 [Documentation] Webservices introductory material has a duplicate page
73921 [Core Libraries] Add ByteArray>>#asHexString
73922 [Core Libraries] Add EsHashEngine class hierarchy
73926 [Version Control] Integrate latest Tonel-Tools GitHub changes into main codebase
73929 [Development Tools] Add 'Repair connections' item to the Tools menu
73941 [Core Libraries] Windows: Use primitives to display UnicodeStrings
73942 [Core Libraries] Move Symbol>>#value: to Kernel
73945 [Version Control] TonelMethodWriter selects method category to write deterministically (alphabetically first)
73948 [User Interface & Visuals] DPI Scaling issues in CwComboBox and OSComboBox
73952 [Core Libraries] WriteStream>>nextPutAll: should use #and: instead of #& for Unicode argument test
73963 [Core Libraries] Missing implementation of EsAbstractCodePageConverter>>#convert:fromCodePage:toCodePage:bufferSize:
73964 [Core Libraries] Implement EsLeadBytesString>>#asReducedString
73969 [User Interface & Visuals] GDI handle leak in OSWidget class>>#defaultFontExtent
73970 [User Interface & Visuals] Improve external monitors detection in Windows
73971 [Core Libraries] CgGC>>miFillRectangle:y:width:height: can have height that is a float which causes a walkback/crash
73975 [Web Technologies] WAJsonParser>>#parseCharacterHex still references Character directly
73978 [Web Technologies] Create Seaside JSON Encoder that supports Unicode components
73980 [Web Technologies] Add #jsonOn: to UnicodeString and Grapheme classes
73983 [Core Libraries] Update timezone info to release 2025a
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Disclaimer
THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. INSTANTIATIONS DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND MERCHANTABILITY WITH RESPECT TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT. BY FURNISHING THIS DOCUMENT, INSTANTIATIONS GRANTS NO LICENSES TO ANY PATENTS OR COPYRIGHTS.
(C) Copyright Instantiations Inc. 2005, 2025. All rights reserved.
