This document provides some information about Sandra. Please read the Sandra Licence document which tells you the legal stuff, the copyright, your rights and your warranty. Don't forget the Help File!
This document was written to answer questions about the differences between SAW (The System Analyst for Windows) and Sandra (System ANalyst, Diagnostic & Reporting Assistant). If you never heard about SAW, then you won't learn anything new.
SAW (The System Analyst for Windows) is still available from most archives, including SimTel, WinSite, in the /windows3/utils or /windows3/sysutil folders. Look for file saw110.zip (latest version 1.10) or saw103.zip (older 1.03). While it works best on Windows 3.1X, it works fine on Windows 9X. Try it, you may find that it can actually complement Sandra in some ways...
| SiSoftware SAW | SiSoftware Sandra | |
|---|---|---|
| Program Type | System Analyser | System Analyser & Diagnostic & Benchmark |
| Code Type | 16-bit x86 | 32-bit x86 or 64-bit aa64, ia64, alpha |
| Designed for | Windows 3.1X (16-bit) | Windows 2000/XP (32-bit x86) or Windows .Net (64-bit aa64, ia64) |
| Supports | Windows 95/98 (under WOW32) | Windows 98/Me (ANSI 32-bit version) Windows NT4/2000/XP (UNICODE 32-bit x86) Windows .Net (UNICODE 64-bit aa64, ia64) |
| Supports Unicode | No | Yes |
| Multi-threaded | No | Yes |
| Supports Multi-CPU | No | Yes |
| Programming Language | Borland Turbo Pascal with Objects 7.0 | Microsoft Visual C++ 6.X Microsoft Visual .Net C++ 7.X |
| Windows Library | OWL 1.0 | MFC 5.X |
| Object Oriented | Yes, Partial | Yes |
| Plug & Play | No | Yes |
| APM Aware | Yes, Partial | Yes (ANSI version) |
| Notifications Aware | Yes, Reports only | Yes |
| Calls BIOS | Yes | Yes (32-bit version) |
| Calls DOS | Yes | Yes (ANSI version) |
| Uses Interrupts | Yes | Yes (ANSI version) |
| Calls DPMI | Yes | Yes (ANSI version) |
| Does Thunking | No | Yes (ANSI version) |
| Uses NetDDE | No | Yes |
| Uses WinSock | Yes, Report only | Yes |
| Uses IPX/SPX & TCP/IP | No | Yes |
| Freeware | Yes | Depends on version |
| Free for Private Users | Yes | Depends on version |
Q: Is Sandra the port of SAW to 32/64-bit?
A: No. Sandra was written from scratch using MFC/C++. The
hacks within SAW do not work in Win32/64 (e.g. calling BIOS, DOS,
DPMI), so they were scrapped. Also, some Win3.1 API do not exist
in Win32/64. There is NO CODE from SAW in Sandra as you can
see! No one in their right mind would try a port...
Q: How object oriented is Sandra?
A: Sandra has brand-new code and is "truly" object-oriented.
To add a module, you just derive a child from the parent module
and add resources and some code. All display procedures are generic
- the code does not know if it displays on to the screen, prints,
saves or E-Mails. Much easier to maintain than SAW.
Q: Why did you choose VC++ over Delphi?
A: Actually VC++ is way cheaper than Delphi. Also, we got bored
of converting C++ to Pascal every time we got some code examples
from people. We don't like Delphi that much: the Visual Basic like "Mickey Mouse" interface.
Q: SAW was useless on Windows NT. What about Sandra?
A: Sandra now works on NT as well.
Q: Where is that "<module name>" that was in SAW?
A: We will try to include all those modules in Sandra, if the
new environment allows it. However, some modules don't make sense
or have been merged or have evolved into new things. The names
may be different, so check them all out. You have new ones to
play with, though...
Q: Why did you scrap the old interface? I think it was better!
A: Sandra complies with the new Windows 2000/XP interface design
guidelines. We think it is much better looking than
SAW and easier to use. Do you also think that Windows 3.1 looks
better than Windows 32/64?
Q: Sandra looks slow, bloated and useless compared to SAW. What's wrong with you?
A: Well, firstly Sandra is an MFC Win32/64 application. This
includes support for multithreading and many other things like
fancy controls, toolbars, etc. All this takes quite lot of space
(code & data), plus it takes time to initialise/run.
While SAW worked very well on a 386DX-20MHz with 4MB, Sandra really needs a Pentium-100 and 16MB. Sandra is very fast on all Pentium class machines.
Also, object-orientation comes at a price. Sure, we could have written it in basic Windows API only and it would be much faster and smaller -- but you would not like that, now would you? It wouldn't look so cool and support all that functionality.
Remember it's written in Microsoft C++ not Borland Pascal.
As for being useless, it depends. Some stuff just cannot be integrated in Sandra. Anyway, most would not be as useful as in SAW, e.g. GDI/USER heaps. If you really miss something, send us a message.
If you're still not satisfied, go back to SAW.
Q: Are you really the same guy who wrote SAW?
A: Yes & no.
Q: Hey, why haven't you upgraded SAW? Last version (1.10) was
out more than 1 and ½ years ago! I want SAW!
A: Actually, there was version 1.20 which fixed most Windows
95 problems, but you cannot get it. Anyway, there was no way forward
for SAW - it just had to be re-written.
Q: OK, smarty, if Sandra is fully 32-bit, what's that 16-bit
DLL I see there?
A: Sandra is as much 32/64-bit as Windows 9X/Me [are].
Does that answer your question?
That's it.
All trademarks acknowledged. E&OE.