> That's because it IS difficult, compared to ArcView. In ArcView, you just > click a column name, then click an "ascending" button or a "descending" > button and it resorts the table on the fly...literally two clicks.
I actually do not agree ... using the sort_tab tool from directionsmag it is just click (choose the table and the column you want to sort) and go, a temporary table will be created, which can be stored permanently if necessary. http://www.directionsmag.com/files/index.php/view/146 So - have a try ! Christine Mit freundlichen Gr��en Christine Schildhauer Ingenieurgruppe IVV GmbH Saarbr�cker Stra�e 36A 10405 Berlin Tel: (030) 818 772-13 Fax: (030) 818 772-22 MailTo:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http:\\www.ivv-berlin.de -----Urspr�ngliche Nachricht----- Von: Phillips, Frank [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Gesendet: Donnerstag, 18. M�rz 2004 20:50 An: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Betreff: RE: MI-L sorting tables - Don't Get Defensive, Please I did not mean to stir up a bee's nest with my original reply to the sort post. I was merely making the point that "simple" sorting in ArcView is much quicker and easier. This is not to say "My GIS is better than your GIS...". I have three GIS's (ArcView, Arc8, and MapInfo) so I have a unique perspective in being able to compare them. I am also not "new" to MapInfo, I've been using it for a year now, and am at the end of a development cycle of a set of custom MapInfo tools that will be implemented in my department. I am also a stockholder in MapInfo, so I have financial interest in seeing MapInfo succeed. There's no need to get defensive...after all, I am abandoning 10 years of ArcView use in my department to cut over to MapInfo...so I've put my money where my mouth is. But to address Bill's comments below, here goes: >You make this sound so difficult... Just choose Query > Select, >and fill out the Select dialog, choosing the field you want to >sort on. That's because it IS difficult, compared to ArcView. In ArcView, you just click a column name, then click an "ascending" button or a "descending" button and it resorts the table on the fly...literally two clicks. >Huh? "...ArcView can do it on the fly simply by rearranging the >order of the rows...?" That's the result of a sort. How does that >define what to sort on? The way to define what to sort on is to just simply click the field name as you're looking at the "browser" (ArcView calls this a "table"). As I said to Uffe, this is a "simple" one-column sort I'm talking about. When it comes to a multi-column sort, MapInfo beats ArcView hands-down...in fact, ArcView 3.x can't even do a multi-column sort because of the nature of clicking on the column name you want to sort...how could you click more than one column name...you can't. This is a trade-off between ArcView and MapInfo...MI's sorting tool is more advanced, but takes longer to use. ArcView's sorting tool is quick and easy, but limited. The reason why my initial reaction was so "strong" is because (at least in my case) I need "simple" sorting 90% of the time, and yet I have to do so much "more" in MapInfo than in ArcView to get the desired result... Regarding storing geographic styles in the TAB, I thought this was really cool when I first saw it in MapInfo. The way ArcView 3.x handles this is to thematically alter the data, then store that file off with the shape (TAB)...when the shape is loaded into a view (mapper) it automatically picks up that file and instantly applies the style. Two ways to do what is essentially the same thing...which is better? I haven't decided yet. But I do know that the way Arc8 does it appears to be the best because it's the most flexible: you get a layer looking the way you want it, then save off a "lyr" file, which is a very small file that tells Arc what to do with the data when it loads. That's the best of both worlds. It's akin to my daughter playing with dolls: a Barbie is a Barbie, but when you put different clothes on her, she becomes a different person. An Arc8 "lyr" file works the same way...the data is the same, but the "lyr" file dresses it up the way you want to see it when you load it. Frank -----Original Message----- From: Bill Thoen [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, March 18, 2004 12:22 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: MI-L sorting tables "Phillips, Frank" wrote: > > Hi, Carri. I am also a former ArcView user, and I'm shocked by MapInfo's > inability to do "on the fly" sorting of browser fields. Yes, there is a way > to do this, but you have to do a new SQL query to get your sort. I have not You make this sound so difficult... Just choose Query > Select, and fill out the Select dialog, choosing the field you want to sort on. > yet found a way to do what I "think" you want to do (that is, the easy way > that ArcView can do it on the fly simply by rearranging the order of the > rows in a browser window). There must be some technical limitation inside > of MapInfo... Huh? "...ArcView can do it on the fly simply by rearranging the order of the rows...?" That's the result of a sort. How does that define what to sort on? But you're right. It could be made easier. A click on a column name could indicate that the user wants the browser view ascendingly sorted on that column. A second click could mean "sort descending." But MapInfo doesn't do this yet. A lot of the shocks that ArcView users get when they switch are just that they don't know how to do things the MapInfo way. I've had the same experience learning ArcView, and it's just a little culture shock. I can remember waxing wroth one day trying to change a value in an ArcView "browser." In MapInfo this is easy to do; just highlight it and change the value. But in ArcView you have to know about unlocking the table first or you can't do squat to it. I was so used to MapInfo's way, I couldn't see why ArcView made this so hard to do. In truth, it turned out to be easy, and it made sense, once I knew how and why it's done that way. Another shocking first-encounter thing about ArcView is that it doesn't store graphic styles with its map features. I thought that was a real limitation at the time, but once I learned how styles are applied and saved, it wasn't such a pain, and in fact, I've come to see that convention as a more pure GIS implementation than MapInfo's way. MapInfo's combining styles with objects is certainly an easier implementation to use, but I now think that logically styles are not an intrinsic component of the geometry. I wonder if anybody could design a perfect GIS tool. There's always such a range of needs, abilities and budgets in any large user community that you just can't please everyone all the time with a single product. I guess I'm happy when I've learned enough about a product that it pleases me. - Bill Thoen --------------------------------------------------------------------- List hosting provided by Directions Magazine | www.directionsmag.com | To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Message number: 10942 --------------------------------------------------------------------- List hosting provided by Directions Magazine | www.directionsmag.com | To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Message number: 10958
