Javier, Have you considered using Crystal Reports for your ad-hoc report writer? Crystal connects to your R:base database via an ODBC connection, and then you have all of it's capabilities. It is very easy for a user to set up a multi table join and save the results to various formats. Crystal reports also has graphing and drill down capabilities.
Troy Sosamon ===== Original Message from [EMAIL PROTECTED] at 11/10/02 1:25 am >Alastair and Claudine: >I concur wholly with your evaluation. The query functionality that we had in DOS is >not in available in Windows. There is no simple way, from within an application, to switch from the browser screen to the query screen like you could in DOS (CTRL >F3). In Windows, you have to build your query and once you execute the command, there >is no way to get back to the QUERY screen to make changes such as add (or subtract) tables and/or columns, create new links or change the selection criteria. I >always thought that this was one of the best features of R:Base, as it gave the user >unlimited multi-table query capabilities from within an application, this in addition to the problems that you pointed out. Mike Willochell at RBTI came up with a >kludged workaround, but is too complicated to put in an application. >The other command that I used extensively in DOS was the PROMPT command; with this >command you could simplify programming dramatically, it is too bad that it is not available in Windows. If nothing else, it was an great teaching aid when training >new users. >Last but definitely not least, unless you want to use Adobe Distiller, there is no >way to store the results of a standard report to a file as you loose all formatting; luckily, we will be getting this capability back in 7.0 >Again, RBTI as done an excellent job in trying to accommodate all users requests, >and, who knows, maybe 7.0 will give us this functionality back. All things considered, I believe that switching to Windows was the right decision, since the upgrade >to 7.0 should be (hopefully) a snap. > >Javier Valencia, PE >President >Valencia Technology Group, L.L.C. >14315 S. Twilight Ln., Suite #14 >Olathe, KS 66062-4571 >(913)829-0888 >(913)649-2904 FAX > >-----Original Message----- >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:owner-rbase-l@;sonetmail.com]On Behalf Of >Alastair Burr >Sent: Saturday, November 09, 2002 4:15 PM >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: Re: Views and Layout > >Claudine, > >Convert - yes, definitely! But I thought that everything in DOS was supposed >to available in Windows - that's partly what sold me and it's not true. > >That's NOT to say that RBWin is no good - there is a lot going for it and, >on balance, I'd go for RBWin every time but I do miss the DOS browser, its >simplicity and its ability to do what it says it does. > >I don't know if v7 will fix it but at the moment the screen layout is not >saved properly and you can't - at least, I haven't found the way - to build >a query like you could in DOS - it can be done but it's more complicated or >involved. RBTI say that it works as it's meant to but my argument is that >what it's meant to do is wrong (different) and not as good as it was in >DOS!! But, as you see, there are ways around... > >Set soapbox off - for a while <g> and I'll try to stop swearing, I promise! >Regards, >Alastair. > > > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Claudine Robbins" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Sent: Saturday, November 09, 2002 2:00 PM >Subject: RE: Views and Layout > > >Alastair, thanks for opening my eyes to the simplicity of the answer. One >SELECT to create all the fields in the view, one BROWSE field-w to put them >on the screen. Sorta like the Texas two-step. It works like a charm. I'll >still submit it to RDCC as an improvement to the view creation SELECT. Et >plus de jurons en francais! (no more swearing in French). Going back to >DOS?, I thought you were a convert to 7.0 like the rest of us <g>... >~Claudine :) > >-----Original Message----- >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:owner-rbase-l@;sonetmail.com] On >Behalf Of Alastair Burr >Sent: Saturday, November 09, 2002 2:52 AM >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: Re: Views and Layout > >Claudine, > >You might try going back to the DOS version because the Windows >browser/editor isn't a patch on the older one. > >I've been trying for well over a year - ever since I upgraded to RBWIN - to >get the missing functionality in the Windows browser that the DOS one had >but swearing in English, pounding my head on the desk, or anything else has >failed miserably. > >That said, can you not try something like this: > >browse col1=1=10, col2=1=20, col3=1=30 from tablename where idnum in (select >idnum from yourview) > >I hope that you have more luck than I've had, >Regards, >Alastair. > > > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Claudine Robbins" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Sent: Friday, November 08, 2002 10:34 PM >Subject: Views and Layout > > >I have created a view which would fit perfectly in my browser screen if I >was allowed to specify the width of each column as in a normal select >(SELECT field1=10, field2=40, etc...). Using LAYOUT on, and formatting the >browser columns apparently only works with tables (and then only when all >fields in the table are included, although they can be squeezed to appear >gone). Changing the default browser font, functions such as CTR and STRIM >and pounding my hand on the desk while cussing in French don't work either! >If no one else knows of a workaround, I think I'll submit this to RDCC as a >desirable improvement in the next release. ~Claudine ☺ > >================================================ >TO SEE MESSAGE POSTING GUIDELINES: >Send a plain text email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] >In the message body, put just two words: INTRO rbase-l >================================================ >TO UNSUBSCRIBE: send a plain text email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] >In the message body, put just two words: UNSUBSCRIBE rbase-l >================================================ >TO SEARCH ARCHIVES: >http://www.mail-archive.com/rbase-l%40sonetmail.com/ > >================================================ >TO SEE MESSAGE POSTING GUIDELINES: >Send a plain text email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] >In the message body, put just two words: INTRO rbase-l >================================================ >TO UNSUBSCRIBE: send a plain text email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] >In the message body, put just two words: UNSUBSCRIBE rbase-l >================================================ >TO SEARCH ARCHIVES: >http://www.mail-archive.com/rbase-l%40sonetmail.com/ > >================================================ >TO SEE MESSAGE POSTING GUIDELINES: >Send a plain text email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] >In the message body, put just two words: INTRO rbase-l >================================================ >TO UNSUBSCRIBE: send a plain text email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] >In the message body, put just two words: UNSUBSCRIBE rbase-l >================================================ >TO SEARCH ARCHIVES: >http://www.mail-archive.com/rbase-l%40sonetmail.com/ > >================================================ >TO SEE MESSAGE POSTING GUIDELINES: >Send a plain text email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] >In the message body, put just two words: INTRO rbase-l >================================================ >TO UNSUBSCRIBE: send a plain text email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] >In the message body, put just two words: UNSUBSCRIBE rbase-l >================================================ >TO SEARCH ARCHIVES: >http://www.mail-archive.com/rbase-l%40sonetmail.com/ > >================================================ >TO SEE MESSAGE POSTING GUIDELINES: >Send a plain text email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] >In the message body, put just two words: INTRO rbase-l >================================================ >TO UNSUBSCRIBE: send a plain text email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] >In the message body, put just two words: UNSUBSCRIBE rbase-l >================================================ >TO SEARCH ARCHIVES: >http://www.mail-archive.com/rbase-l%40sonetmail.com/ ================================================ TO SEE MESSAGE POSTING GUIDELINES: Send a plain text email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the message body, put just two words: INTRO rbase-l ================================================ TO UNSUBSCRIBE: send a plain text email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the message body, put just two words: UNSUBSCRIBE rbase-l ================================================ TO SEARCH ARCHIVES: http://www.mail-archive.com/rbase-l%40sonetmail.com/
