>> "well normalised dbs's that max. the use of PK / FK's to relate the tables"
Yeah, but shouldn't that be a part of every design? Dave's done a great job creating a impressive system for his client and the MS tools are really getting good. It's certainly not for every client, but for those with a need it can do a great job based on my two viewings of this presentation. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Andy Davies Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2006 6:28 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Creating VFP reports by end-users Hi, I had a look at the "English Query" session stuff on the link posted by Dave Bernard and it reconfirmed my prejudices <s>: it's aimed at v. high level users ("CEO's") it needs a *lot* of preparatory work to make it go (at all) for starters it needs "well normalised dbs's that max. the use of PK / FK's to relate the tables" - - in my experience a lot of commercial systems just don't have the RI (they grew from access/dBase flat file systems; the RI was a problem during data take-on and never put back; w.h.y) I've spent quite a lot of time thinking/ planning about this so ottomh: you probably need metadata / a data dictionary of some sort for table relationships and 'friendly' field names. even then it won't work unless the users have a good understanding of the data the system uses (rare!) given that: present the user with list(s) of the fields they're likely to want and a field picker and optionally an expresion builder. hack some code to put in default formating (trim blanks, handle nulls, format dates, cast numbers <-> characters, etc) and to handle the joins. create a query that creates *one* cursor for the report, optionally allow saving/ editing of queries**. try and pre-format a report for maximum page width (>= A3 landscape <g>) and create a 'Quick Query' type layout from the cursor (this has been a big stumbling block for my efforts). put the report designer/ report controls toolbars on the users' menu. modi repo && you're away ! ** As Dave Crozier mentioned in an earlier post I have looked at trying to automate Microsoft Query (which imho opinion has a really good ui) but with no success - so if anyone knows how to... Andrew Davies MBCS CITP - AndyD 8-)# ********************************************************************** This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager. This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept by MIMEsweeper for the presence of computer viruses. Please contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] with any queries. ********************************************************************** [excessive quoting removed by server] _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
