RE: Frontend to UniVerse?
My answer to questions like this is always that you can get into these MV systems in so many different ways that it's now irrelevant which tools or languages you use. Pick one that you're comfortable with and you'll find ways to use your tools to get into the back-end and interface with applications. As examples: Java, VB6, VB.NET, C#, Perl, ASP.NET, ADO.NET, ODBC, HTTP, RPC, sockets, Nucleus, Visage, DesignBAIS, RedBack, WebWizard, UniObjects/UOJ, Intercall, Coyote(?), PDP.NET, mvInternet, AccuTerm, wIntegrate (yes these can be used as pure connectivity components) Excel, Outlook, Project, Word, Crystal Reports, FRx, ... Quick Books, Great Plains, Turbo Tax, ... (omission of a product name is only a sign of failing memory) There is no best language, development tool, or connectivity method - IMHO. It comes down to your comfort zone, your price range, your favorite technologies, your company politics, your confidence in the long-term viability of tools, and other semi-intangibles. If your question is more specific like "how do I get into Universe from a .NET middle tier", then people can provide a more specific answer. For ideas about how to use MV apps with Web Services, for example, see my article on "Web Services and .NET" in the March/April and prior issues of Spectrum Magazine, where I mention a number of these technologies: http://www.intl-spectrum.com/SPECTRUMMAG.HTML (4.5MB PDF) I'll be happy to provide free advice, offical consultation, education, and development services using most of the technologies mentioned here. Feel free to ask. Tony, Nebula R&D [EMAIL PROTECTED] >-Original Message- >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Trevor McNamara >Sent: Friday, April 30, 2004 3:40 PM >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: Frontend to UniVerse? > > >Hey, > >I would like to know what programming languages would be best >to program a >frontend to a UniVerse 10 database? Database on AIX5 P Series. >I have done a >frontend to a SQL Database using VS .NET before but nothing >from a UNIX >database? > >The frontend end would run on WinXP Machines and need to run >commands on the >AIX machines to run daily processes and also reporting as well >as you are >currently manually putting in the UniQuery and then importing >it into excel >would be great if we could use Crystal Reports like i used on my SQL >frontend. > >Any help of websites reguarding this please let me know. > >Thanks in advance. > >Trev > >_ >Get Extra Storage in 10MB, 25MB, 50MB and 100MB options now! Go to >http://join.msn.com/?pgmarket=en-au&page=hotmail/es2 > >-- >u2-users mailing list >[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users > -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: .net provider from Raining Data
When people are paying for support (like you) they expect to receive answers from a knowledgable source, so they call or e-mail Support. When posting to a free public forum (like this one) you get whatever response comes back in someone's free time. If you aren't getting responses from an official Support channel then you should follow-up with management. Perhaps this is another lesson for the students. While I'd like to see more "community" with PDP.NET and other products, it seems that there aren't a lot of Pick people using the RD forums or any other web-based forums in our market - hint to U2 group admins. In fact, as soon as RD setup the web forums, traffic in the e-mail forums for RD products all but vanished. The point is that people with real issues are calling Support so we don't see traffic in the forums, though it would be nice to see more how-to questions and helpful tips on a lot of topics. I'm afraid that's more a cultural issue in this market than technical. This U2 group is an exception. Tony Björn Eklund wrote: >the problem is that there is very little activty in that forum >and there has been no answer from Raining Data support either. > Tony wrote: >Björn, I recommend bringing your PDP.NET questions on proper >usage to the Raining Data Web Forum, and bugs to Raining Data >Support. -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: D3 - Universe
If all you want is to do is Access queries, then you can build the query, then pass it to D3 through a combination of rlogin and d3tcl. That's a little cludgy. Or, again, you can go through a Win32 middle-tier. The results can be returned to Universe through stdout or captured into a variable for processing. For large reports coming back, this will be an issue and some code will need to be built around the request to page the data back to Universe. If you want to do this sort of thing on your own, then AccuTerm scripting can be used to do the data exchanges. The AccuTerm session doesn't need to be on the same desktop as the user, and in fact you can have one system doing the connectivity for many users. This isn't elegant either, but a lot of people like using familiar tools. If you want a more elegant solution, then more coding is required. We're doing some development now which allows one MV platform to integrate very closely with other MV platforms, almost seamlessly, but it's not ready yet. If you're interested, please e-mail. Tony [EMAIL PROTECTED] >-Original Message- >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Barry Brooks >Sent: Tuesday, April 27, 2004 3:58 PM >To: U2 Users Discussion List >Subject: RE: D3 - Universe > > >Thanks Rick > >We are trying to achieve 'Real-Time, Online' enquiry to d3 >files from Universe. > >Cheers ... Barry > >> -Original Message- >> From:Rick Ramsey [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >> Sent:Tuesday, 27 April 2004 9:40 PM >> To: U2 Users Discussion List >> Subject: RE: D3 - Universe >> >> Thanks Rick >> >> We use wintegrate bridge copy to achieve copies of files but what we >> are attempting to do is real-time enquiry from Universe to D3 files >> >> Barry >> >> >> When you say 'access D3 files from UniVerse' it's not really clear >> what you mean (copy files? Real-time queries?) For simple copying >> from one >> MV system to another we've had good experience with AccuTerm >> (www.asent.com) which is our terminal emulator, copying tool and GUI >> enabler (with Nucleus from Binary Star). I think you can get a free >> trial copy of AccuTerm from their site. >> >> Rick Ramsey >> >> -Original Message- >> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >> On Behalf Of Barry >Brooks >> Sent: Tuesday, April 27, 2004 6:59 AM >> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> Subject: D3 - Universe >> >> >> Hi everyone >> >> I have a client who is running D3 and Universe on seperate servers. >> They wish to be able to directly access D3 files from Universe. Does >> anyone know the best (or any) way to do this. >> D3 and Universe are running on Linux Redhat 9. >> >> Barry Brooks >> -- >> u2-users mailing list >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users >> -- >> u2-users mailing list >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users >-- >u2-users mailing list >[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users > -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: D3 - Universe
Barry Brooks asked: >>I have a client who is running D3 and Universe on seperate servers. >>They wish to be able to directly access D3 files from Universe. Does >>anyone know the best (or any) way to do this. D3 and Universe are >>running on Linux Redhat 9. Ross Suggested: >You MIGHT be able to use ODBC from UV, but ODBC with D3 has >never been "great" - depending on volumes, there is always >OSFI (on D3) being mapped to a UV type 19 file ? Sorry Ross, that won't work because the D3 ODBC client driver is Win32 only. Barry said he's running on Linux. Although he CAN create some code in a Win32 middle-tier and use that as a hub between the Linux boxes. Chuck suggested: >Set up the D3 files you need to access as FSI (external file >format) and point to them from UniVerse (SAMBA, VisionFS, or > file mapping) as Type 19. No... FSI doesn't work like that, FSI files are still mini blobs unto themselves. And here too, there is no FSI over Linux. Barry - there are a few ways to do this, one of which might be to use CallHTTP (or another HTTP call) from Universe and FlashCONNECT or a home-grown HTTP interface with D3. The solution will depend on how transparent or tightly integrated you want these environments to be. If you want a READ in UV to read a record in D3 then some creative coding is required, but it's possible. I'll be happy to discuss solutions with you for free but some coding/services will be required to make this happen. Tony [EMAIL PROTECTED] Former DBMS Product Manager, Raining Data, including D3. Currently specializing in communications interfaces for MV platforms and applications. -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: .net provider from Raining Data
Björn, I recommend bringing your PDP.NET questions on proper usage to the Raining Data Web Forum, and bugs to Raining Data Support. They should answer questions like this quickly. I'm concerned that your students have found problems and then worked around them rather than reporting them. Problems should be reported to the vendor or they will never be fixed and people will forever be talking about "that damned bug that never got fixed". This goes for all products including the DBMS software we use. Students should learn that this is the way things are supposed to work rather than trying to prove how smart they are by coming up with workarounds. In the long run a workaround costs money and is more difficult to maintain in the future. When problems aren't fixed they cost ALL users of the product time and money, and prompts discussions of migration, which drives up costs for everyone and drives our market into the ground even further. Take advantage of your support contract, get bugs fixed, we all benefit. http://forums.rainingdata.com/ Good Luck, Tony Nebula R&D >we have students working for us on a project evaluating >Raining Data's .net provider. They have had a lot of problems >and some of them we have found workarounds for. Now they try >to update a file but it doesen't seem to work. Anyone with >knowledge of this product who could help us with this issue? -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: starting and stopping processes
>Tony,
>Willing to share any of those scripts? Also, does anyone
>have a UinData version of these start/shutdown scripts?
>
> - Charles "Scripted" Barouch
>
It's not rocket science, but here are some examples. Just create the
scripts in a standard directory, then drag shortcuts to your desktop, then
assign relevant icons to each shortcut:
For D3 it's simple: net start d3vme
For shutting down I always shutdown from within the environment. I wrote my
own version of D3Tray called NebulaMonitor which intercepts a system
shutdown if D3 is up and offers to shutdown D3 or cancel the shutdown. I
think this could easily be adapted for Unidata and Universe over Win32.
---
For mvBASE:
net start "mvBase Server"
net start "mvBase WorkStation"
---
For IIS, a StartIIS.BAT does this:
cscript //nologo startweb.vbs
And the VBS is this:
set IISOBJ = getObject("IIS://localhost/w3svc/1")
IISOBJ.Start
set IISOBJ = nothing
Stopping IIS just changes the .Start to .Stop
---
MySQL is this: net start mysql
---
I have a BAT to start and stop all services in a particular "class". Here
is one I run if I'm not planning to do FlashCONNECT or other web development
for a while:
net stop flashconnect
cscript //nologo stopweb.vbs
net stop w3svc
---
I don't guess any more examples are necessary.
Enjoy.
Tony "No Mom, HE's Chuck!" Gravagno
[Related AD] New NebulaLaunch will start and stop any process on any system
in your office or anywhere on the internet, all directly from your MV BASIC
code. (Any system running a NebulaLaunch server that is.) NebulaLaunch is
being distributed as a free and integrated component within the new
NebulaPay credit/debit payment processing software, now in Beta. And by the
way, NebulaPay is free too, no up-front costs, maintenance, or support fees.
NebulaPay info is here:
http://Nebula-RnD.com/products/financial.htm
NebulaLaunch will be productized separately as time permits.
Inquiries welcome
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RE: Universe on XP (Personal Edition)
I use the same technique for starting D3, mvBASE, IIS, and other services form desktop shortcuts. Stopping services with a "kill um all, let God sort um out" macro like this can be problematic, it really depends on the service, but it's a nice way to free resources. You may see the command window flash as a BAT is executed, but if something is wrong you won't be able to catch the errors. Depending on how thorough you want to be, I recommend writing more code so that your U2 systems update a Windows file when they boot and shutdown. You can then use a script (WSH) from your BAT which verifies the status before termination, maybe with a pause if the status is unexpected - like if users are still logged-in or some other processes are running. HTH, Tony >-Original Message- >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Anthony Dzikiewicz >Sent: Friday, April 23, 2004 11:31 AM >To: U2 Users Discussion List >Subject: Universe on XP (Personal Edition) > > >So, I am doing a kind of odd ball thing. I wrote some UV >Basic programs to create batch files that are run via the >scheduled tasks. I don't want Universe running on my machine >all the time. So, I created a couple of '.bat' files to start >and stop universe, which are also set up as scheduled tasks. >For example, stopuv bat file is > >NET STOP "UniVerse Telnet Service" >NET STOP "UniVerse REXEC Service" >NET STOP "UniVerse Resource Service" >NET STOP "Uni RPC Service" > >This appears to work. The messages come up as everything >being successful. I do a 'NET START' to see the services >running and it doesn't show any of the Universe processes. >However, I then realize that I am still logged into Universe >in the PC and it is still alive and well. Is this a bug ? If >I exit the session and then retry it, I wont be able to log >in. Also, If I stop Universe the gui way from the control >panel, I get the same result. Does this happen on all windows >platforms ? What if I were shutting down to perform a backup >and yet people were still messing with the data. > >Anthony > > > > >-- >u2-users mailing list >[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users > -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: We need a web based Forum!
Two ideas, not entirely original:
1) The techie in me says
It would be an interesting project to create the e-mail and web interfaces
described in an MV system. (What a concept, a database for massive amounts
of structured data...) It wouldn't have the bells and whistles of
established e-mail listservers (for a while anyway), nor of established web
forums, but it would be possible to store the data in an MV environment
which then populates one of the standard web forum software packages through
an API, or a web interface can be written.
2) The more practical side of me says:
There is a comp.databases.Pick and a comp.databases.Revelation
(which isn't used), and comp.databases.ibm-db2. Maybe it's time for
comp.databases.ibm-u2.tech and comp.databases.ibm-u2.misc? I believe this
has been alluded to by Kevin Zollinger, James Hogan, and Dawn Wolthuis, to
some extent. Personally I don't like e-mail forums. I prefer Usenet where
Google can do the archiving and I can use real news software to track
threaded discussions. Usenet can be browsed with e-mail, web browser, _and_
a real Usenet reader. It's also pull technology. E-mail is pull technology
to an extent as well, but it's more push technology because it pushes itself
into the e-mail queue.
I think the only reason people won't like this is that a lot of
people don't understand what Usenet is, and they won't want to get a new
reader. Well folks, e-mail was never designed for this sort of thing,
Usenet was.
Another change that would need to be made is that people will have
to learn to stop posting real e-mail addresses and URLs. You can post what
you want to Usenet but harvesting programs WILL create spam for every
address made available to the public.
To curb some of the issues, a private server can be setup, available
by registration and login only, but since it's so easy to register to the
list I can see spammers registering to a private server as soon as they find
it.
Tony
I wrote a Usenet client in D3, after that, anything is possible. :)
James Hogan wrote:
>> Seems to me a system where
>> *email ("the list") carries on as usual
>> *All emailed responses are submitted as forum responses
>> *All forum responses are whooshed out to the list as email
>
>>I would whole-heartedly agree with this. BUT I have never
>>seen such an animal in action myself. I think it's mythical.
>>Will
>
>I have certainly been involved in usenet newsgroups that are
>linked in this way. I gave an example in previous emails. It
>has been developed for forums too, as per my email below,
>which no one to date has commented on.
[snip]
>
>-Original Message-
[snip Mail 2 Forum info]
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[OT] to Brian Re: C#Builder
Brian, I hope this responds to your points (Good chatting BTW, hope all is well): - Because the compiler is free doesn't mean the IDE must be too. We could say the MV database model and Pick/BASIC compiler are free, and we're just licensing user access to it through the various MV DBMS implementations. But we have to pay for "something". I see no problem with someone providing a for-fee IDE which makes my development easier, and I think Borland was wise to create a tiered pricing structure for increased functionality, starting with free software for limited use. - About "no commercial use" in the free version: If I'm making money by using someone else's software I see nothing wrong with compensating them for the opportunities they've provided me. That goes for VS.NET, C#Builder, or an MV DBMS. What we all object to is "unreasonably" and prohibitively high costs to developers, and up-front costs that could be unrecoverable if for some reason we aren't selling product. - About the quality of C#Builder. I've had my beefs with it too but it IS a good product and a viable alternative to VS.NET when people say "I don't want to have to pay Microsoft to code in .NET". See the following link for a side by side comparison: http://www.c-sharppro.com/features/2003/11/cs200311jm_f/cs200311jm_f.asp What that article points out is that C#Builder is about on-par with VS.NET for average development. However it stands out considerably for Enterprise-scale development of larger applications (which was probably not considered by your local press who hammered the product). Maybe this isn't where guys like us fit in, but Borland did address needs of a large audience that were not being satisfied with Microsoft offerings, and that seems to be consistent with the overall Borland strategy. While I spent several months intensively working with C#Builder last year, for my needs VS.NET is my preferred tool, though I do miss some very cool features of C#Builder. How does this apply to MV developers? In my mind tools are irrelevant. Pick one and go forward. I don't care if you're using VS.NET, C#Builder, or Notepad for your .NET development, but I think it's important to get started with .NET development with any tool at any level, to enhance your apps and keep you competitive with other "mainstream" offerings. My best, Tony [EMAIL PROTECTED] Brian Leach wrote: >But C#Builder is a borrowed technology and the cost seems way >high for what is essentially a wrapper around a compiler that >is otherwise available for free. The cost seems to be set to >reflect that of Visual Studio .Net, which offers far more in >terms of functionality than the Borland IDE: and it got >hammered by the computer press over here for exactly that reason. > >I'm worried that Borland are getting greedy - snapping up >technology companies instead of concentrating on their core >skills of providing the best languages (they've gone down that >road before and been badly burned) - there is a sense that >they are panicking in response to losing their best resource >to Microsoft - and pushing out product that is overpriced for >the market or not ready. That's not the Borland we know and >love, and as a long time Borland supporter, I want Borland to >succeed - they have a very loyal customer base and I can't see >these tactics doing Borland any favours. > >BTW you cannot legally use C#Builder personal for any >commercial development. > > >Brian 'who wouldn't be without his MSDN universal subscription >either' Leach -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: [OT] MSDN
Clif Oliver wrote:
>Stop teasing us, Tony. What's the source where we can get MSDN
>subscriptions for $1,300?
OK OK ... arm is twisting in agony, "people love me when they can save a
buck but rarely when they can spend a buck, what up wit dat?"...
Get it here: http://store.viosoftware.biz/msunsu701yes.html
The current price is $1495. It went up from 1300 to 1400 right after I got
it last year and another 100 this this year, still not a bad deal
considering the full retail value. (List 2800, sale prices +-2400)
Almost all reviews of VioSoftware are positive. (4.5 out of 5 avg rating in
forums) The only bad reviews I've found are from people who throw away their
original packaging or destroy their key codes (duh) and then they're upset
that they can't get new ones.
Tell them to implement a commission program and then send me a credit on my
next purchase! :)
- Note that I also got a 300 cash rebate for getting DVDs instead of CDs, I
believe this is still available until June 2004.
- Plus I got other benefits that further drive the net price for me down to
about $700.
- With this sub we are authorized to install a single copy of MS Office for
production use (in addition to as many development/test installs as we
need). Since I didn't have to go out and buy that copy I saved yet another
$350+ in my software budget. That brings my real expenditure for this
package down to about $350?
- Finally, while we aren't supposed to use the development licenses for
"production use", my development system IS my production system which I
destroy on a regular basis as I install and test code. That means I don't
need to purchase an additional OS license for this box, which brings my
final net cost down to about nil.
I dunno folks, do the math, this isn't as bad as people think. Benefits
vary between USA and other countries. Research your options.
And did I mention MS support is excellent? When was the last time anyone
here really put in a call to Microsoft rather than posting to a forum? I
honestly expected bad service ("we've never seen that one, maybe
re-installing everything will fix it") and the need to get confrontational
(must be the italian in me) - their pleasant attitude and efficiency are
disarming.
Anyway, you can find this software on other sites, for example:
http://www.google.com/search?q=msdn+universal+best+price
However, caveat emptor, there are a lot of "evil doers" out there who will
sell improper licenses (Academic/Student, OEM, OLP, etc). "Too good to be
true" is a mantra to keep in mind. VioSoftware is reputable and the
licenses are good.
Tony "not an MS Borg" Gravagno
(nod to Chuck for using his sig thingie)
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RE: [OT] MSDN
Replied to e-mail request before I saw this. Yes, everything comes direct from Microsoft, DVDs, newsletters, support, etc. MS never questioned the source and I get the same services as anyone who buys direct. I have never received anything from the original vendor. >Where did you find the legal MSDN for $1300? My renewal is >now up for $2300 and with the DVD rebate, it is still $2000. >Do the shipments still come directly from Microsoft? Thanks. > >Regards, > >Jim > > >>> For Visual Studio .NET I acquired a legal copy of an MSDN Universal >>>subscription for US1300, the included freebies brought that >>>down to a net of less than $1000. -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: GUI as nice as character-based
I wrote: >... An Enterprise level shop doesn't care >that the software costs over US1000 and probably wouldn't be >using PHP for development. The Borland model is bl**dy expensive. Dangit, I meant to emphasize that "The Borland model NOT is bl**dy expensive." -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: GUI as nice as character-based
Brian Leach wrote: >Of course the relative costs of PHP (free) against Visual >Studio .Net or Borland C# Builder (both bl**dy expensive) >might just be a small factor :-) Respectfully Brian, I seriously disagree and we owe it to ourselves to get up to date on the cost of development software. A personal developer version of C#Builder is Free. A company with a need for the extended versions wil hopefully make a couple hundred dollars during the year to pay for their development software. An Enterprise level shop doesn't care that the software costs over US1000 and probably wouldn't be using PHP for development. The Borland model is bl**dy expensive. For Visual Studio .NET I acquired a legal copy of an MSDN Universal subscription for US1300, the included freebies brought that down to a net of less than $1000. I think that's a very reasonable price to get access to every bit of software I need from MS, including support. Without shopping around someone will pay over $2000, but even that isn't outrageous considering the benefits. Remember, that's a Universal subscription, and there are other packages for a much lower cost. Just for reference, I've really tried to hate MS as much as it's popular to do so, but MS Support is absolutely fantastic, friendly, helpful, and fast. These days my concerns with Microsoft are with cross-platform compatibility and security. The idea that MS software is expensive went out the window a long time ago. >Even though AFAIK the C# compiler itself is still available free. Yes it is, and C# 2.0 is coming out which has a number of nice new features. Also, because C# is an open spec I believe it will be getting more respect as a cross-platform development tool (ala Mono, etc). This is not the case with VB.NET or other .NET/CLR-compliant languages, so any .NET code I write is in C#. You don't need an IDE to use C# any more than you need an IDE for PHP, but if you want one there are free and for-fee versions of IDEs for both. If you want the helpful tools you pay the price to the people who save you time. Tony Technical editor, C#Builder Kick Start, SAMS Publishing Buy it at Amazon or at your local book store! :) Post your C# questions to http://csharp-station.com/ -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: GUI as nice as character-based
chris wrote: >mono is an C# .net port for linux. It supposed to run C# exes as >is (from a windows box) I haven't tired it yet. I still working on >my "hello world" app in C# so I'm not ready to try porting anything :) I'm just trying to find the time to get into Mono. I believe it has a bright future and will be great for all of us wanting cross-platform access into our MV apps. Tony Technical editor, C#Builder Kick Start, SAMS Publishing Buy it at Amazon or at your local book store! :) Post your C# questions to http://csharp-station.com/ >Dawn M. Wolthuis wrote: >>And will this next version of .NET run fine on Linux and Mac OS? I >>don't keep current enough with MS and I know they keep >suggesting they >>will run on Linux and MacOS, but I'm not familiar with any projects >>that will actually accomplish that. -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: GUI as nice as character-based
Brian Leach wrote: >The data based stuff is pretty recent in terms of Flash, and I >guess most of the Flash community hasn't caught onto it yet - >after all, it is primarily a tool for content designers (and >for some pretty good games too) so most of the people using it >are not database minded. Brian, the Flash and Shockwave people have been working with databases for a few years now, though you're right that by and large most of those developers don't "get" the value of real databases yet. As Craig Bennett says "All the graphic designers in the audience just stared ..." They're approaching it from an artistic view and not an applications view. They see a database as a place to put data, like for game scores, but not as an integral part of an application the way we MV people see it. For years I've seen this gap in perception as being an opportunity for MV people to refit their apps with user-friendly UI's, but MV people don't "get" that either. The Macromedia-type web developers are very interested in data connectivity for zero-install or low-footprint clients. I did a presentation for the Orange County Multimedia Association a couple years ago (when I was Product Manager at Raining Data) which included discussion of the MV model, comparisons with ODBC, using Omnis Studio for cross-platform development and deployment, and FlashCONNECT as a data conduit from "mainstream" graphical tools. The focus was on data connectivity and trying to get them to "get it", not any one product or technology. See the following link for demos I wrote to get from various clients (including Shockwave/Flash) into D3. (That was over 4 years ago now - whoe!) The same techniques can be used with different tools and back-end DBMS environments, so don't let the FlashCONNECT thing scare you. http://flashconnect.rainingdata.com/wuc2000/fcdemos/index.html Note that I did the Shockwave interface as an installable thick-client, though it could have just as easily have been a thin-client browser plug-in. In hind site I probably should have made it thin but my focus was on demonstrating the variety of technologies - making everything a browser interface would make it easier for people to get eye candy but would have limited the scope of the real purpose of the demo. If someone would like to use Macromedia or Adobe GUI products with U2 or other MV applications, I'd enjoy providing the communications interfaces for such a project. >It wouldn't be a simple or cheap solution, particularly at >this stage - writing Flash dialogs is hard work - until >someone does something to capitalize on it. There are already >plenty of (considerably cheaper) tools that produce flash >content without having to use Flash as the actual designer, so >it may only be a question of time before someone with the >money and time realises the potential there and comes up with >a suitable tool. Real Flash work is easier than it used to be and much more feature-rich. As indicated above I think the issue is getting people to see the value in the UI as well as the tools that can drive it. Most people don't understand Flash and think of it as a toy rather than as a tool - just like people look down on CUI business software. Anyone who wants a browser-based GUI, especially cross-platform, should seriously look at Flash and Shockwave, in addition to Java. The big question is "who is your audience?" If the audience is Joe internet user then Flash may be better. If your application is more extranet-oriented then I'd tend toward Java, depending on the features required. Tony -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: GUI as nice as character-based
Brian Leach wrote: >> Or if you want browser based cross platform - is anyone on the list >> using Macromedia flash to talk to U2 through web services? Will wrote: >Aren't you missing something there? Or can "web services" >speak directly to a U2 database? And if so ... how? For info on Web Services talking to your U2 system, please see my series of articles on the topic for Spectrum Magazine: http://Nebula-RnD.com/spectrum/ We'll be posting article 3 in a couple days which specifically mentions tools for U2. Article 4 for the May/June issue is going to press now with examples of Web Services deployed for MV apps and in the mainstream world. For info on getting from Flash (Shockwave) to MV, see my other post for this thread that I'm posting at the same time as this one. Tony -Everything connects to MV- -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: GUI or Event ? as nice as character-based
Side comment, this is too interesting a thread, it almost deserves a forum of its own. Dawn asks: >Does the requirement to have no client-side setup (other than >pointing a user to a web page in a std web browser) eliminate >accuterm or not? If not, then does this permit drop-down >boxes, combo boxes, calendars for date entry and the usual >icons one might expect for various features? For a web browser there is AccuTerm for Internet Explorer. ATIE does require a client-side object, as can be expected, but overhead to the user is minimal. To my knowledge, ATIE does support the ATGUI, so yes, while I haven't tried this, I believe we can get a nice VB-style GUI within the browser using ActiveX technology. Related, AccuTerm has a new feature called Visual Styles which allows a character UI to render much like a GUI, just by assigning styles to common @(-x) Print sequences. The stunning effects can be seen on this page: http://www.asent.com/at2k2borders.asp I'll repeat and it's important to understand that you are not looking at a GUI there, you are looking at standard procedural green screen output (non-modularzied spaghetti...) that simply renders like a GUI within AT. Much of this can be accomplished with zero code changes if the app already makes use of visual attributes like Dim, Bold, etc. Now about the capabilities of ATGUI, drop downs, combos, etc. You cannot add your own custom components to ATGUI, and this was originally my beef with it. However, seeing a beautiful and rich app created before my eyes with Symbion I was convinced that we don't need third-party add-ons to build a really functional GUI for the typical end user. (No payment received for comments. :) ) The trade-off benefit received when we lose third-party component support is that we do not need to write any GUI code (classes, methods, event handlers, etc). In my mind, if the average Pick developer doesn't want to use VB, Java, C#, etc to manually code their app, then they won't miss the extended component support. If they can code on their own then they won't be considering a GUIRADIDE type environment like AT/ATGUI anyway. Do note again that interfacing with a tool like ATGUI does require code modularization. Once you've done that, a number of similar tools are available for consideration. With modularization complete, you can prototype a UI with ATGUI (free, assuming you already use AT), and then you can decide which one or more GUI's you want to support after that. > >I'm talking about the U2 database, but the tools on the mv >side need not be more than UOJ, for example (with support for >update of stored fields and preferably also virtual fields as >read-only). [Ad] To address this mishmosh of connectivity options and issues I'm working now on a tool which is cross-OS and cross-DBMS capable which will provide a host of back-end features to client interfaces. Stay tuned... Tony [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: GUI from Mv code Re: Crystal Reports
[hacked quotes from Ross] >Viságe is NOT a terminal emulator on steroids - it is a >complete application development framework, That is a fundamental point which most people miss. AccuTerm is not an application development environment along the lines of Viságe, and I will include Nucleus and DesignBAIS in this class. This is EXTREMELY important. - If you already have an app (and you wouldn't be in this forum unless you do), and you'd like to add a consistent overall look and feel, then these tools are great. Existing apps like this require the modularization that we've been discussing here, but much more than that, a RAD (Rapid Application Development) tool will require consistency to be applied to modules across the program set. - Other tools like Coyote, FlashCONNECT, or the ATGUI are more tactical than strategic. In other words, they allow you to GUItize specific parts of your application, and it's up to you to provide the look and feel. A more wholistic approach requires a consistency in design and/or a RAD to help. Comparing AccuTerm to a RAD is apples to oranges - there are few valid comparisons. But every one of these tools requires code modularization as we've been discussing in this sub-thread. There is one product which is enjoying a Phoenix-like rebirth: Symbion is a RAD built on the AT GUI. Like some other products, building a GUI in Symbion also builds a CUI with zero additional effort, which is highly valuable - because as we all know, the GUI sells the app but real work is done with the CUI. :) I was _very_ impressed with the data entry and inquiry screens, and reports generated in this environment. I don't know if there is a U2 port yet. Contact Gary Huffer [EMAIL PROTECTED] for info, tell him Tony sent ya. :) >However, if you are looking at doing something MORE than just >firing off a windows EXE, like "enriching" the user experience >when interacting with your multi-valued data (read GUI)... I think AccuTerm should be given more credit. I have to admit that I didn't think the ATGUI was very full featured when it first came out, but I've re-evaluated that early impression and I think others should too. ATGUI allows an MV developer to build a rich VB-looking GUI with no VB code in a reasonable amount of time - and with no firing off of a Windows EXE. Seeing Symbion in action was proof to me that ATGUI can build everything an end-user needs. >For example, aligning this back to the original post, rather >than attempting to use CR for reporting, I'd simply create a >Viságe.BIT cube to give the users free-form enquiry and data >exploration facilities into their UV database. In our case we >have replaced >300 sales analysis reports currently provided >in our R5 system with a single Sales Cube - and this is one >of the facilities that makes Viságe "better" than AccuTerm ! Ross, tone it down a little bud, the salesman in you is inhibiting an objective technical assessment. - First, as stated above, AccuTerm isn't designed for doing these functions, so claiming to be "better" isn't a valid comptetive analysis. - Second, Viságe and Viságe.BIT are two different products geared at different audiences. Please don't confuse them as one product to give the impression that Viságe does it all. - Third, the pricing for a Viságe package compared to AccuTerm is vastly different. For US$100 we can get a single-user seat of AT with ATGUI to do what it does, or for a few thousand dollars we can get Viságe products to do much more expanded functions. Viságe no doubt provides value in what it does, with a good ROI for sites that can use the functions, etc. But eagerness to seize a marketing opportunity in forum threads should be tempered with some perspective of what it is that you're trying to compete against and what the market is willing to pay for those features. - Fourth, please, you may have created a data cube to provide data to 300 reports, but the functional reports themselves still need definition and formatting. So you still have to work with 300 reports, there's no magic there, and it's not valid to imply otherwise, especially when AccuTerm isn't designed to be a report generation environment. I'm impressed with Viságe.BIT and I'm a fan of MITS as well, but neither product provides the formatting which is the specialty of CR. Again, apples to apples and horses for courses are in order. Always interested in your comments, always aware of the fluff. :) Tony -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: GUI from Mv code Re: Crystal Reports
[I went on and on and then said] >>As an aside, pardon me for being so bold, but it's amazing that the >>providers of these GUI products aren't jumping to pay people >like me to >>help developers become viable candidates for their products. There's >>no guarantee that any given site will adopt any given GUI product, if >>any, but unless there are prospects there can be no new >customers. It >>seems to me it's worth it to "someone" to foster redevelopment like >>this. Well, that's the MV market for ya... >> >>Tony >[Ross Ferris] >?? >Please refer to your email of March 23rd - If things have >changed I'll get the guys from ACTi to give you a call :-) My above quote doesn't mean that I necessarily want to do this sort of work. There are lots of talented people in our market who could use work and it seems a natural fit to tool providers to contract with third-parties to facilitate app migration for a host of applications. Personally, I prefer to write communications tools and do other high-end tech stuff for MV - if I never see another line of application code I'll be happy. However, there is something cool and rewarding about modularizing old code that will become the back-end to a GUI thick client, web client, Web Service or Smart Phone. I'll consider opportunities for myself and other Nebula R&D associates as they present themselves, but I'm not going to "gear up" to provide modularization services if the MV market isn't interested. "Fostering redevelopment" means someone must fund projects like this, if not the VAD then perhaps tool developers who have something to gain from the efforts of the VAD. (Really OT here, more for CDP than this forum, sorry.) Tony -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: GUI from Mv code Re: Crystal Reports
Will wrote: >> A key factor that makes CUI non-portable >> to GUI is the embedded Input and Print statements in the code. > >I respectfully disagree that this is key. >After all event oriented apps also have input statements >I think you mean the key factor is that the programs are not >event oriented. Mike Randall said: >I think the point Tony was making was the splitting of the >program logic from the actual screen formatting. > ... >You do bring up a valid point regarding event driven apps with >the concept of submitting an entire form. You're both right. Note that my quote was "_A_ key factor", not "_The_ key factor". In my mind I assume that event orientation is possible once code is modularized, Input statements are replaced with passed-in values, and Print statements are replaced with returned messages and status data. You can have event oriented code with Print/Input statements, which isn't desirable, at least in MV code destined for a GUI. You can also have monolithic procedural code without the Print/Input statements, which could be the case with screen-at-a-time (3270 style) code. The bottom line is that a fundamental shift needs to be made in most MV code before it can be moved to GUI. Contrary to popular belief this shift doesn't need to be made all at once. I have a VAR/client with a 20 year old app that is being refitted over time to be more modular. They started their conscious shift about a year ago and they're now finding all sorts of benefits to modularization. They're now at a point where they can start looking at various GUI-enablement products in our market space. As an aside, pardon me for being so bold, but it's amazing that the providers of these GUI products aren't jumping to pay people like me to help developers become viable candidates for their products. There's no guarantee that any given site will adopt any given GUI product, if any, but unless there are prospects there can be no new customers. It seems to me it's worth it to "someone" to foster redevelopment like this. Well, that's the MV market for ya... Tony -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: GUI from Mv code Re: Crystal Reports
Tough to find a good place for these comments. There are some interesting
observations to make on the mentality of IT people, business management,
etc..
First, on the concept of "if we're going to add a GUI we might as well get
an entirely new app": The business rules and UI should be considered as
entirely separate entities. Getting a new app with a GUI does not imply
that you're going to get equal or better business rules. This concept is
exemplified by Mark's GP client and dozens more like them. Management must
be educated to separate the idea of the UI from the business rules.
Second, I wince in pain at the concept of IT people looking at a Character
UI and deciding it's deficient, based solely on the asthetic value. How can
someone decide by the UI whether an app suits business needs? How does the
simple fact that an app has a Graphical UI make it any more functional than
a Character UI? What is the trigger in the mind of IT people that leads
from "I see a GUI" to "it must be capable of running our business" or "all
we need to do is add a couple business rules to this GUI and it will work
for us"? I really think this GUI mentality comes in part from the video
game generation where graphical games are perceived as better than the old
Pong, StarTrek, Zork, Wumpus, and Adventure games ("plugh" or "xyzzy" ring
any bells here?) In all of the rhetoric about separating the UI from the
business rules, somewhere in the minds of IT people is the idea that a
Graphical UI implies better business rules - and graphical database
management tools somehow imply a more sophisticated database. So while
people sing the praises of Object Orientation and n-tier architectures, in
the big picture they still don't really "get it".
Third, and all of this is really related, what confuses me about all of
these failed migrations is that intelligent professionals keep missing
obvious factors of migration, like feature comparisions, business needs
assessments, training, and documentation. And why do we seldom see basic
auditing to identify problems and keep a project on track - or to put a halt
to migration when critical (and I really mean critical) issues are
identified? In every one of these failed migrations there is one or more
persons in management pushing forward with some underlying business agenda,
no one wants to openly state that the plans aren't sound, the systems aren't
ready, or that the whole idea is foolhardy - and somehow hundreds of
thousands of dollars get thrown into projects like this with no one in IT to
pull in the reins and say "enough is enough, this is FUBAR".
There are answers:
- Upper management should openly listen, if not directly or immediately
heed, the advice of everyone affected by a migration, from end-users to IT
to trading partners and perhaps even stockholders.
- Upper management must insist on detailed advance planning from IT, and get
everyone to try to poke holes in the plan. Hire a consultant to poke holes
in the plan (similar to hiring a hacker to test your network security). If
the plan doesn't work, at least everyone had their input. This is far
better than post-failure finger pointing and "I coulda told them it was a
stupid plan" comments. (Yes, that will happen anyway if people ignore the
opportunity to speak up. Small people love to bask in the failure of
others.)
- Someone needs to be accountable. It seems the people who drive projects
like this into the ground have the least to lose and many people under them
to blame.
Finally, and back to the topic, about Results and the magic silver bullet
which will lead from CUI to GUI: It seems we have years to add
functionality to these CUI applications, but no time to prepare them for the
almost inevitable GUI challenge. A key factor that makes CUI non-portable
to GUI is the embedded Input and Print statements in the code. Don't wait
for tools to go GUI, prepare your app properly and you'll find many tools
that can then be used to add the GUI. If developers would take some time to
modularize their code, then migration to GUI using any number of tools can
be a relatively simple, painless, and inexpensive process, compared to
migration from linear/procedural/non-event-oriented "spaghetti" code.
Pre-emptive modularization may eliminate the need for migration, saving
months to years of aggravation and tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars
in non-recoverable expenses. And IF migration is to occur, modularization
now can facilitate the process later, allowing a company a smoother exit
strategy rather than a cold-turkey cutoff. Unfortunately these concepts
have been well known for over a decade but we continue to hear stories where
the code can't be GUItized so management decides to toss the app.
Getting management to buy-in on the time/cost of modularizing an app is
tough. The value is only perceived when the expense of a GUI or migration
is considered, and that's usually too late. I think it's important for IT
pe
RE: Crystal Reports
Mark, it's interesting to see this project unfold, please do keep us up on events there. (Ready for some acronym soup?) Crystal Reports is heavily tied to .NET these days. Microsoft has selected CR for integration with Great Plains, so there is a high level of commitment to the CR/GP/.NET links. It shouldn't be a problem to create a middle-tier which interfaces data from both GP and UD into CR via ADO.NET.ADO.NET is _not_ ADO, which was basically supposed to be an upgrade to ODBC. In addition to other things, ADO.NET is really a data hub which allows you to create a source-independent set of tables and relations. The end result is that CR doesn't know or care where the data is coming from, it comes from an ADO.NET data model. How you get the data into ADO.NET is up to you. My recommendation is to take a look at the Pick Data Provider .NET from Raining Data, another product which has endorsement from Microsoft. Pricing is very reasonable, it's stable, well documented and supported. Since there are questions about other interfaces working with U2 from .NET, like RBO's, UniObjects, UniODBC, etc, it seems reasonable to choose a connectivity module that was written for the purpose. Using technology that is endorsed by Microsoft from end to end should give you some political leverage as well, since that seems to be a priority with management there. [Ad] Here at Nebula R&D, we can prototype a report on a T&M basis, even going all the way back and forth between GP, MV, and CR. I honestly have no idea how long it would take without looking at this closer, but the tools are available, we have everything here, it's just a matter of connecting the dots. (Nebula R&D is an authorized Raining Data reseller and MSDN Universal Developer.) If you'd like to contract for more specific work, we now have highly qualified people available to do this sort of work (MS MVP/MSDE trainer/developers), and we'll be happy to take a back seat and let you get the glory as projects are completed. Good luck. Tony [EMAIL PROTECTED] 949-380-1668 >-Original Message- >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Mark Johnson >Sent: Friday, April 16, 2004 11:51 AM >To: U2 Users Discussion List >Subject: Crystal Reports > > >One of my clients wants to connect Crystal Reports to their UD >database to apparently give greater access to the data that >they sometimes deem as hidden and only accessable through me. > >This client converted to Great Plains 6 weeks ago (SQL based) >and their CR experts were struggling with duplicating some of >the more mundane reports that already exist in UD. A monthly >sales tax summary (by jurisdiction) took the GP guy 3 days >futzing with CR using GP's data. > >How much trouble are they going to get in trying to use MV'd >data from the UD system (ODBC) if they have so much trouble >with more 'normalized' data. Everyone seems to think that CR >is a magic pill and once attached to a SQL database, the >sophisticated reports simply roll off. > >I'm trying to strongly propose a data warehouse concept >whereby the day's sales data gets exported and updated into >their prior application for the sake of the multitude of >existing, proven reports in MV. If these guys took 3 days for >a simple tax report, how can CR fabricate temporary tables for >the sake of these consolidated sophisticated MV reports? > >I'm just interested in hearing of some experiences. This >client is too stubborn to go back from GP and may even >disregard their entire MV system completely. I really have >nothing to lose if I insult them. > >Thanks in advance. > >-- >u2-users mailing list >[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users > -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: callHTTP
We're using cURL in a manner very similar to this for all outgoing HTTP and have created a BASIC wrapper with an intuitive API which encapsulates the functionality. In addition to other features, our code does error checking prior to sending transmissions, does URL encoding, handles HTTPS, handles creating and deleting files at the OS level, accomodates simulaneous operations from multiple MV users, auto-reformats requests if a query string is too long, and handles timeouts and other errors elegantly in messages that are passed back to the application. One of our larger clients uses it to FTP data to/from their Pick app as well as HTTP GET/POST requests. This is being developed in tandem with other utilities here at Nebula R&D and is already fully functional as an internal component of a couple products. A U2 port should be available as a separate offering in a couple months. Sure you can use CallHTTP but this is platform independent across OS and MV DBMS environments, which is critical for our needs, it's more versatile, and we don't need to wait for a patch from IBM or anyone else if there are issues. HTH, Tony [EMAIL PROTECTED] >-Original Message- >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jeff Schasny >Sent: Monday, April 05, 2004 8:37 AM >To: U2 Users Discussion List >Subject: RE: callHTTP > > >Since its such as lovely Monday... > >Here's a routine for moving data using HTTP or HTTPS. You can >send data as if from a form (i.e. encoded in the command >string) or as a file. Obviously you can also get data. This >uses the public domain "Curl" >(http://curl.mirrors.redwire.net/utility) utiliy which is >useful for a bunch of other stuff as well. > >http://jschas1.home.mindspring.com/bp/HTTP.TRANSFER > -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: Conversions
Smooth bro. Real smooth. Excuse us ladies and gentlemen as I escort our colleague out by his ear and smack him around a little. >Please IGNORE last post. It was meant to be private. I was meant to be >asleep. > >Sincerely, > Charles Barouch -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: Conversions
You have my sympathy/empathy, and I'm sure that of many others here. I have some thoughts that may seem common sense, but they may be worth mentioning: Document everything. -- Downtime -- Delays -- End-user complaints -- Discussions with management and software vendors -- Missing features, reports, inquiry screens -- Limited access to end-users who should have authorization to access specific data -- Situations where the software forces a change in business practices This is good for many reasons. -- Ass coverage in case someone starts blaming you. -- Good morale for end-users to see you care about their concerns. -- Provides a metric regarding what vendors are doing or not. -- Helps with progress reports for management. -- Helps in tracking cost overruns, It sounds like the company switched over to the new apps cold turkey. That wasn't a good move. Running in tandem is preferred even if it means double entry for a while. It also sounds like the move was made a little too quick, without full understanding of the business requirements or buy-in from the end-users. End-users need to be consulted before-hand and treated as partners during the migration, otherwise you get people gossiping around the watercooler about the clueless computer guys. If they're involved in every step then they can't point fingers either unless they're totally ignored along the way. Running a company isn't a democracy but you don't need a mutiny from the ranks when people start asking why things aren't being done properly anymore. Bottom line here: Listen. If you're caught in the middle and being asked to manage the decisions someone else has handed down then keep channels open and maintain frequent but not annoying dialogs with management and vendors. The last thing you need are inquiries about "why didn't we know about this?" or "how long has this been going on". Keep on top of issues so that you aren't involved in damage control. Have manuals and phone numbers for support handy, identify usenet forums for GP. See if you can get a couple key end-users into classes so that they can front issues before you have to. Create a pseudo first-tier support group out of a few of these people and delegate responsibility. This goes along with the partnering thing - and buy them lunch now and then, they're working overtime here. Encourage all users to report issues to your or your support group immediately so that issues can be resolved rather than sitting on them until they become serious. Some people don't want to make waves and you find out about stuff way too late - like in the middle of closing the month-end. A big issue is, have you been given the authority to do what's required, or have you been given the responsibility without the authority? IT usually gets the latter. If you have authority, keep on top of your support providers and make sure they don't sit on issues. Escallate unresponsiveness to their management and yours as required before technical issues explode on you. If you don't have authority then hopefully you have the ear of someone who does. Once people in a new implementation like this realize that no one is in authority, the feces really strikes the rotary oscillators: Front-line end-users start using words like FUBAR as your project turns into yet another migration horror story for Pick people to smugly enjoy. HTH, Good Luck. Tony Nebula R&D >-Original Message- >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Mark Johnson >Sent: Friday, April 02, 2004 8:05 PM >To: U2 Users Discussion List >Subject: Conversions > > >Does anyone have a short paper on the care and feeding of both >the company and its employees during a conversion/migration >from one system to another. > >I'm facilitating a migration from MV/Results/Primac to Great >Plains and it is a very large mismatch. GP seems to be >shopping-cart oriented and Results/Primac are more of a >traditional Order Entry system. > >I can't seem to convey that difference as management (read: >those who don't use the computer) like the GUI and all of the >nice links and screens. The worker bees are in a turmoil with >the increased amount of carpal-tunnel potential mouse/keyboard >back and forth as well as the absense of many functions that >were present under the MV app. Their productivity has fallen >75% as it takes 4x longer to enter an order. > >There are no sales tax lookups, no product or customer >lookups. You clearly cannot scroll through 35,000 line items. >There's no easy alternate shipping addresses and the original >reports leave a lot to be desired. The accounting package is >appealing but a company doesn't exist just for the accounting >dept. Not to mention all the hamburger-helper features i've >installed over the last 6.5 years. > >I also have to fabricate custom reports with Crystal Reports >and/or Access as there are many fields of data that should be >there like customer back orders, sampl
RE: XML or WORD Format???
It seems the problem here is that you're going from pure data to StructureX, then you want to go from StructureX to StructureY. Going direct to StructureX is a fine first-off approach, but since your needs are now expanding I'd suggest that you need to rethink your approach. You need to go directly from data to Y rather than data to X to Y. Further, if the business rules are extracted from the UI, you can choose any UI X or Y that you want without recoding the app. It sounds to me like you should have your app generate XML documents for invoices, and then someone can custom code from XML to PDF, XML to PCL, XML to Word, XML to Excel, etc. Yes, there is some pain involved in this process, but you're digging yourself a deep hole by trying to go directly from PDF to something else. I do have tools to allow you to do this without PS, PCL or other funky escape codes, and a happy client as a reference. I offer the tools and methodology as part of a service, rather than offering the tools on their own. E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] if interested. Good luck in any case, Tony >-Original Message- >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Haas, John >Sent: Thursday, April 01, 2004 5:49 AM >To: U2 Users Discussion List >Subject: RE: XML or WORD Format??? > > >Thanks, > >The goal is to have a copy of our invoice that can be opened >in WORD or Excel. I only mentioned the PCL and .pdf formats >because these are already produced when we create an invoice. >If there is another way please let me know. We are running >Universe version 9.6. > >John. > > >-Original Message- >From: Anthony Youngman [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >Sent: Thursday, April 01, 2004 8:43 AM >To: U2 Users Discussion List >Subject: RE: XML or WORD Format??? > > >In one word - it's IMPOSSIBLE. > >Okay, you may be able to achieve what you want, though. The >thing is, the output of pdf and pcl is an image, Word and xml >are structured text. You can't go automatically from a >structure-free format to a structured format. > >I'd investigate ghostscript, and see if you can get it to >throw out a text document rather than postscript (or feed the >postscript through a ps2txt filter), but if your original pdf >or pcl was of a graphic, then you're stuffed without an ocr >filter in place. > >So, basically, what you're after can be achieved, but without >knowing what is IN your input files, it's impossible to >recommend (or even >guess) what might or might not work. > >Cheers, >Wol > >-Original Message- >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >On Behalf Of Haas, John >Sent: 01 April 2004 14:33 >To: U2 Users Discussion List >Subject: XML or WORD Format??? > >Does Anyone know of a way to convert either .pdf or PCL >formats to XML and/or WORD format that will run under HP-UX. > >Thanks in advance. > >John. >*** >THIS MESSAGE IS INTENDED ONLY FOR THE USE OF THE INDIVIDUAL >OR ENTITY TO WHICH IT IS ADDRESSED AND MAY CONTAIN >INFORMATION THAT IS PRIVILEGED, CONFIDENTIAL, AND EXEMPT >FROM DISCLOSURE UNDER APPLICABLE LAW. >If the reader of this message is not the intended >recipient, or the employee or agent responsible for >delivering the message to the intended recipient, you are >hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, >forwarding, or copying of this communication is strictly >prohibited. If you have received this communication in >error, please notify the sender immediately by e-mail or >telephone, and delete the original message immediately. >For more information, please visit http://www.bakerlaw.com. >Thank you. >*** >-- >u2-users mailing list >[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users > > > > >*** >* > >This transmission is intended for the named recipient only. It >may contain private and confidential information. If this has >come to you in error you must not act on anything disclosed in >it, nor must you copy it, modify it, disseminate it in any >way, or show it to anyone. Please e-mail the sender to inform >us of the transmission error or telephone ECA International >immediately and delete the e-mail from your information system. > >Telephone numbers for ECA International offices are: Sydney >+61 (0)2 9911 7799, Hong Kong + 852 2121 2388, London +44 >(0)20 7351 5000 and New York +1 212 582 2333. > >*** >* > >-- >u2-users mailing list >[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users >*** >THIS MESSAGE IS INTENDED ONLY FOR THE USE OF THE INDIVIDUAL >OR ENTITY TO WHICH IT IS ADDRESSED AND MAY CONTAIN >INFORMATION THAT IS PRIVILEGED, CONFIDENTIAL, AND EXEMPT >FROM DISCLOSURE UNDER APPLICABLE LAW. >If the reade
RE: Re Text File to PDF
Troy Buss wrote >Otherwise its back to pcl2pdf ( www.visual.co.uk/pcl2pdf.html >) and blat for this other project I'm working on. Hey Troy, long time bud. Hope all is well. I have code here that I haven't had time to fully productize it yet. Very simply you populate a variable with substitution strings, and pass it to a routine that generates an HTML page, PDF, or PostScript. It's all clean BASIC code, there's no funky printer/device-specific escape sequences (PCL or PS) and you can change the report layout independently from the app code. Using a similar "set vars and call a subroutine" interface, you can also e-mail the resulting files - no SendMail, Outlook, or other mail client or server code required. All of this will work over Windows or Linux (Blat is great but it doesn't work over Linux). I'll be porting this to U2 within the next couple weeks. So far there is one happy client that's been using it over D3 for several months. I think they'll provide a good reference if asked. Regards, Tony [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: Modern Universe - was: The lists are closing
Joe Eugene wrote: >I have heard stories where several corporations migrated to RDBMS, >Never heard any LARGE Corp(Hershey, GE, BOfA etc) switch to UV/MVDBMS. Of the many companies who have migrated from MV to an RDBMS you always hear the fanfare of their initial decision but rarely of the years of toil as they try to get back what they originally had, let alone moving forward. Read up on Oxford Health for one of many examples. Moving to an unknown DBMS platform isn't good for stock values - sad but true fact of Wall Street. If IBM actually stood behind U2 then this attitude might change a little. It seems like many people over there support U2 but IBM as a company just doesn't want to openly embrace the technology. Also, as Chuck says, there is the big company, big money mindset - MV is just too efficient for those guys to consider because their IT staff wouldn't be commensurate with their company size. I do have an anecdote: One of my clients, an MV user, is a supplier to a fortune 500 company. That F500 company chooses to remotely connect into my client to obtain their business data - because they can't get the data they need fast enough from their "big 3" systems and IT staff. >Never seen any Enterprise Software (SAP, PeopleSoft etc) >mention UV on their Web Sites If you'd like to integrate SAP with U2, I told you I'd be happy to do it for you. So far no one has asked - that's why you don't see anything anywhere. I think the mindset is "one or the other" - it doesn't have to be that way. >Never seen a book on UV OR PICK at Barnes & Nobles. >Perhaps you can explain where UV plays an Important Role. Ahhh, and this is the point where most Pick people will agree the market has collectively failed to perform: Marketing. The people who have acquired MV environments have done so with the idea of somehow turning over a profit through investment, but rarely do the plans truly include expanding awareness of the Pick model to bring in new developers. It's a paradox that I've been trying to understand for many years. Expansion cannot happen without education, and that means encouraging books, magazine articles, and other forms of mainstream advertising. If IBM, jBASE, and Raining Data ever do for their products what Intersystems has done for Cache', _then_ we'd have some fun! Tony (Always willing to write a book, and I occasionally do...) -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: The U2 List is better than CDP
Craig Bennett >CDP is all very well, but the noice ratio can be quite high, >not to mention the trolls. Haha, I unsubscribed from this group for several months just because of the high noise volume in here. CDP volume tends to go up and down but since there are so few people really contributing "content" we're a bit more loose than we would be (I think) in a high traffic environment like this forum. >I missed the chatter from U2community when the lists at Oliver >split, but that made the U2 list all the more valuable as a >focussed technical resource. A switch to CDP or another >uncontrolled forum would lose this quality. Haha, I'm sorry, but is THIS the focused technical resource or the chatter group - I honestly can't tell though I've been here believing it's the technical group. I like the group and all but this group is not what I'd call focused. YMMV. We'll see what happens on the other side. Tony -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: Question for Donald Kibbey
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: >> George, the best commercial integration option available >> for MV right now is >> the Pick Data Provider .NET from Raining Data. > >But doesn't .NET take up like a gazillion bytes of space? >And doesn't "integration" require an object? >As in... integration with .. what? >Will I don't know why I need to clarify that statement, the other guys got it fine. An "integration option for MV" sort of implies "between MV and anything else that uses .NET". The word "for" is just as good a preposition as "with". I also said: "you don't need any data provider for .NET integration with MV". This implies that .NET itself _is_ the object. Since the whole purpose of .NET is to serve as a common ground for development, if you have integrated with .NET then you have accomplished a goal. This further implies that you can now integrate with anything else that is also .NET-compatible. Yes, "connectivity", "interaction", and real "integration" do have different connotations and I try to be more careful about my choice of words. You can connect to anything but unless you have a good API around your connectivity you aren't really integrating. PDP.NET is an API like UO but it is much more, and it does take advantage of .NET where UO does not and UO.NET may not - we'll see. HTH, Tony -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: PDP.NET, mvBASE, etc (was Question for Donald Kibbey)
george r smith wrote: >Get the Pick Data Provider .NET from Raining Data and get the >same support as Clink for mvBase - no thanks. Well George, there are many more engineers and support people working on PDP.NET than on mvBASE. mvBASE is a dead-end DBMS product that RD inherited - Clink was dead when GA had it, don't blame RD for that. mvBASE is essentially R83 over Windows - it's seen it's day and it's about time that support start slowing down for this one. Compare this to Universe and Unidata, for which IBM has proven their intent to support the software unless and until they see as much interest as we see for mvBASE. If you're bashing RD support in general, YMMV, but I can tell you that RD is very motivated to market and support PDP in a way that I haven't seen in years. And as I said in my last post, to make uninformed decisions on matters like this is simply inappropriate. I didn't mean to imply that PDP.NET runs with mvBASE. That's like putting a Corvette body over your VB Bug. Without trying to digress more OT from this U2 forum, you CAN use mvBASE and other MV DBMS products with .NET. In that case I would use FlashCONNECT as the conduit, and create a .NET wrapper around HTTP calls. This sort of interface can give new life to a number of applications that most people have written off. Similar connectivity can be created for U2 apps, just use a different pipe like UO or InterCall. (We have a new "pipe" here at Nebula R&D that is MV platform agnostic. Announcements will be made in about a month.) This is pretty much the topic of my article in the current Spectrum Magazine. Tony, Nebula R&D Connecting MV with ... everything -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: Question for Donald Kibbey
George, the best commercial integration option available for MV right now is the Pick Data Provider .NET from Raining Data. When IBM has UO.NET, that situation may change, but developers must research and understand the capabilities of both products before making assumptions and decisions - it would be very wrong to assume that all .NET connectivity products are alike. Honestly you don't need any data provider for .NET integration with MV, you can roll your own connectivity, but there is value in having someone else develop, maintain, and enhance these tools for you. The same holds true for any GUI RAD IDE or Web building product in our market. See my article in the March/April edition of Spectrum Magazine about other .NET connectivity methods for U2. HTH, Tony Technical Editor, C#Builder Kick Start, SAMS Publishing Author, "Web Services and .NET" articles, Spectrum Magazine Nebula R&D now offers C# training with a C# MVP, MCSD trainer. george r smith wrote >I would like to use C# against unidata what do I need to do >this. I come from a mvBase background and am a little lost in >the U2 market. -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: Modern Universe - was: The lists are closing
I think Joe may realize a couple things: 1) He doesn't know enough about the system to criticize it. 2) The IT people in his UV shop didn't know much either. Many Pick guys get into Pick because they know their business market but not much about technology, and Pick makes it easy to write software without being a real programmers. Once people do get into Pick, a high level of technical proficiency can be attained quickly - not always the same technical skills as in other areas but the job gets done nonetheless. Many people do branch out to understand how mainstream technologies integrate with Pick, but not everyone. As Dave says, when people don't extend beyond the basic skills it doesn't mean the technology itself is deficient. I think this will be my last comment on the topic. Tony Since people are posting quotes, the following came to mind: "Mankind have a great aversion to intellectual labor; but even supposing knowledge to be easily attainable, more people would be content to be ignorant than would take even a little trouble to acquire it." -Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784), "I refuse to get into a battle of wits with someone who is unarmed." -Unknown -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: Modern Universe - was: The lists are closing
I can't say if MV is slow or inefficient as far as database handling compared to various relational DBMS environments. Since the tests themselves (TPC, etc) are biased because they themselves are defined based on relational constructs, I suspect we'll never get real numbers that we can all agree on. Aside from that you're way off. Stating that UV people "use PICK" and that UV is not supported by SAP or Peoplesoft tells me you aren't very familiar with this technology. Saying MV is slow and then advocating a translation to Java tells me you aren't too familiar with Java either. Saying Pick doesn't support "advanced level computing" is simply wrong, and so are a couple of your other claims. But I think we understand and can agree with your point that MV isn't "mainstream". Pick-based DBMS products are very capable with regard to communications. We can connect an MV app to anything. Connectivity methods aren't always mainstream but the claims of "little/NO support" and "not compatible" are incorrect. Non-MV products incorporate tools that we can use just as easily. Remember that programming and connectivity are not natively done within most other DBMS environments, they use outside tools to connect into a DBMS too. So in a sense, because we have tools inside and outside of our environments, we have a bit more to work with than they do - that is, BASIC can be considered a built-on RAD language compared to the inadequacies of stored procedures. It's counter-productive to get into one-upmanship against relational products and other staples of the IT world, so I'll just close by saying all of these products are as good as the skills of the people using them. Here at Nebula R&D we'll be happy to help you connect your app to anything you want, including SAP, Peoplesoft, DB2, or whatever else you or your trading partners use. Tony Joe Eugene wrote: >PICK is LEGACY Technology and does NOT Support alot of >advanced level computing we have today. > >1. UV has Little/NO support for Emerging >Technologies(XML/XQuery/XSLT/WML etc) 2. UV is Not supported >in Most Integration Enterprise Software (SAP/PeopleSoft) 3. UV >is Not efficient compared to highly evolved >databases(DB2/Oracle) 4. UV Folks seem to use PICK, which is >Not Compatible with many of > of the Current Advanced Technologies and Techniques. >5. UV is very SLOW, TOO Procedural and Not the right tool for >an OLTP Environment. > >It would be nice if IBM provided a Package to convert all UV >Stuff to IBM DB2 and perhaps provide some kinda code converter >to convert all pick stuff to DB2 Stored Procs or Java Native >Compiled Procedures. I belive this would be ideal and would >help corportations intergrate systems easily. -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: The lists are closing
Thanks for the community effort Clif! Tony >Dear Friends: > >After 10+ years of either hosting or supporting the info-prime, >info-unidata, info-vmark, info-informix, and u2-users etc >lists, I have decided to shut down the list server. > >I *really* want to encourage ALL of you to come over the the >www.u2ug.org site and support this effort. -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
New offering, NebulaPay credit/debit payment processing
We're almost finished with the new NebulaPay, which facilitates internet-based payment processing for a wide variety of transaction types including standard credit and debit, EBT, check verification, restaurant/gratuity, and others. Source transactions can come from POS, web site, by phone, recurring charges, etc.. NebulaPay will support both USA and Canadian regulations and will support both English and French applications over Win32 and Linux/Unix platforms. All major cards are supported. This software will be offered free to MV VARs. There are no sign-up fees, initial purchases, or maintenance or support fees. (We reserve the right to modify this policy in the future, though we don't forsee any need at this time.) We help to negotiate transfer from a merchant's existing payment provider to ours, for an equal or better rate to the merchant - they never notice the difference unless they're saving money. Processing fees are then split between the payment provider, the VAR and us - everyone benefits and there are no extra costs to merchants or consumers. At this time we're looking for U2 VARs that have a need to implement or re-fit payment processing with their application. The D3 port is now in beta and we will go production supporting mvBASE as well. A jBASE port will immediately follow. Universe and Unidata will be supported if there is demand - which is the reason for this post. All inquiries are welcome, especially VARs interested in running a Beta, once the code is ported to U2. Thanks and regards, Tony Gravagno Nebula Research and Development [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: Clarion interface to Pick
>-Original Message- >>Does anyone know if there is an interface driver for Pick >into Clarion, or if anyone has written such an interface? >From: Craig Bennett >Hi Glenn, >you could use ODBC (erk) but I believe that sockets will be >the simplest answer. Depending on the version of Clarion you >may have to buy sockets libraries (see www.capesoft.com). ... >If you go down this route, I suggest you use HTTP as a base >protocol - saves reinventing that part of the wheel. As long as a custom interface with sockets is on the table, I'm very happy using Catalyst SocketTools which support Clarion: www.catalyst.com. I agree that HTTP is a good generic interface, though that may depend on which side is client or server. Some of our components are based on using MV as an HTTP client to an HTTP Server (all written by myself using Catalyst toolsand Pick BASIC) where the server is embedded in other application-oriented components to do "real work". It may work with Clarion code, I haven't checked yet. This technology will be offered to U2 sites soon. Inquiries welcome. Tony Nebula R&D [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: [UV] Does anyone know how to
You really don't want to read a binary document into your app. It's relatively easy to create a COM Add-in for Word which can be controlled from any MV environment over any OS. See http://nebula-rnd.com/products/doc.htm as an example of what can be done in this area. I've been thinking about creating a simple version of NebulaDoc that does nothing more than basic string replacement rather than supporting all of the other Word functions. This would facilitate these very common mail-merge type requests. Inquiries welcome. Same thing can be done with Excel. I already have an inquiry about this for using Word with QM from LadyBridge and a couple for D3. I just need a few more confirmed requests to kick me over the edge. Tony [EMAIL PROTECTED] >-Original Message- >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >I am running UV 9.5.1... on windows NT (PICK flavor). > >I want to be able to read in a .doc file created in Word 2000, >do a string replace, and then write out the file as a new .doc >file. I have tried using the standard READ and READSEQ. I use >the CHANGE command [REC = CHANGE(REC,txta,txtb)] and then >WRITE (or WRITESEQ). In each case I get the anticipated >results but when I attempt to launch the document in Word 2000 >I get THE "unknown file format" error. I have to figure that >some characters imbedded in the original document are being >stripped by the limitations of the uniVerse READ and READSEQ >commands thus making this method not practical. I did this in >the past - in another life maybe - but this is my first >attempt with WORD 2000. All practical suggestions appreciated. > >dan > -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: How to start windows programs
I have a new component which will launch multiple applications on any PC in a shop from any MV platform. No AccuTerm or wIntegrate involved, very affordable. It's currently named NebulaLaunch and is being incorporated into a couple other components here and will be available as a separate offering soon. Inquiries welcome. Tony Nebula R&D [EMAIL PROTECTED] >-Original Message- >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Björn Eklund >Sent: Wednesday, March 03, 2004 9:35 AM >To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' >Subject: How to start windows programs > > >Hi, >Is there a way of starting windowsprograms on the users PC >from a Unibasic program or do I need Wintergrate or some other >tool to do that? > >I would like to send a invoice number away to an invoice >archive on MS sql-server to get a pdf copy of the invoice in >an Internet Exploreror acrobat reader window. > >Björn Eklund > >-- >u2-users mailing list >[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users > > -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: UniVerse to excel feeds
Bob Modrich wrote >This worked >well until I deployed vb.net program on the Unidata windows >server and ran across a number of issues with using excel this >way. Microsoft has documented some of the issues at >http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q257757 >They say "Microsoft does not currently recommend, and does not support, > Automation of Microsoft Office applications from any unattended, non- > interactive client application or component (including ASP, DCOM, and NT > Services), because Office may exhibit unstable behavior and/or deadlock when > run in this environment." Except for reentrancy and scalability, it's relatively easy to code around all of the issues they've presented. I think their statement is less technical and more intended to discourage multi-user access to Excel. It's designed and licensed as a single-user desktop app, and they don't get paid for multiple users in a networked environment. Tony Nebula R&D [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: Pick AP-Pro Discs
If you had more of these deals you could setup a hosted environment (your choice of DBMS including U2 and D3). You use your own licenses on that system and do your development there. End-users can SSH into their own production accounts and pay you some monthly rate for using your app and resources until they're ready to move up. Voila', your own ASP. The initial cost of getting a licensed DBMS and ports may be prohibitive, but the advantage is that the system still belongs to you when the end-user has moved on to their own environment or even to a hosted solution of their own. If you already have a licensed environment then it should cost nothing to move the license to a hosted box, so the cost of getting this going is trivial. Note that (to my knowledge) it violates license agreements to run live end-users on development software provided by any of the MV DBMS vendors. You might be able to get a free temporary license to let users run for a couple months on a "try before they buy" basis. If you can manage that then they can host a DBMS locally and still pay you for your app. Couple ways to cut this cookie... Let me know if any of this is of interest. Tony Nebula R&D [EMAIL PROTECTED] >-Original Message- >I would like to acquire... an older Pick AP-Pro system... I only > need 3-5 users. > >I have a new client that I want to break into the Pick world >with an inexpensive application to start. I can develop their >new app on my own AP-Pro yet in 2 months they will want their >own system. We've explored the concepts of a W2K/D3 or U2 box >and its cost would kill the deal. I want to get my foot in the >door and as they grow, we can convert later. -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: UniVerse to excel feeds
Sounds like a great tool Ronnie.
http://www.PickSource.com is a great place for stuff like this.
I'll be happy to host it at http://Nebula-RnD.com/freeware, just e-mail me a
zip, and please include a ReadMe.
Good luck in any case.
Tony
Nebula R&D
>-Original Message-
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Ronnie Adams
>Sent: Friday, February 27, 2004 8:28 PM
>To: 'U2 Users Discussion List'
>Subject: RE: UniVerse to excel feeds
>
>
>I have a subroutine that works with both Accuterm and
>Wintegrate. It's fairly easy to integrate into an existing
>report. You can put column headings, set column widths, add
>formulas, multiple sheets, multiple books. It does quite a
>bit. I'd be glad to share it with the group if somebody would
>tell me where to put it. I should also put an example of a
>program that calls it. Let me know.
>
>Ronnie
>
>-Original Message-
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Bruce McAdoo
>Sent: Friday, February 27, 2004 3:26 PM
>To: 'U2 Users Discussion List'
>Subject: RE: UniVerse to excel feeds
>
>
>Don:
>
>If you have wIntegrate, terminal emulation and host-based
>application, you can accomplish your task. I did, but it was
>about five years ago.
>Maybe a current wIntegrate user could chime in.
>
>-Original Message-
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Sent: Friday, February 27, 2004 11:47 AM
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: RE: UniVerse to excel feeds
>
>Don:
>
>I have written a program called BEXCEL which takes in a
>command, formats a csv file, and then uses an ftp process (we
>have pi/open on hpux) to send this file to a place where the
>users can open it. For example, the command
>
>BEXCEL INMATE | LNAME FNAME MNAME DOB AKA.LN AKA.FN | IRPT1 | ALL | Y
>
>reads the INMATE file then outputs a file named
>"myloginIRPT1.csv" with columns LNAME, FNAME, MNAME, DOB,
>AKA.LN, and AKA.FN to the designated network site via an ftp
>transfer. The AKA fields are multivalued and are handled.
>All records were selected, but in the place of 'ALL' one could
>have put the name of a select list. The final parameter Y
>means to put a space between records in the csv file.
>
>I have the companion programs HEXCEL, which outputs a .htm
>file for your browser and has additional parameters to specify
>headlines, and TEXCEL which is the interactive version where
>users enter file name, fields desired, etc for Ad Hoc reporting.
>
>I have embedded calls to BEXCEL in a few programs ("send report to
>Excel")
>and it works fine.
>
>There is a little 'local' coding in each of these, but I will
>be happy to take that code out.
>
>You do need to set up a couple of VOC entries (easy) and also
>set up the ftp process to get the file automatically sent to
>the desired network directory (I needed my network guys to do
>this for me).
>
>Free if you would like to take a look.
>
>Harold Oaks
>
>
>Don Cutting wrote:
>
>Hi All,
> We are looking for a process, where a report run in
>UniVerse can feed direct into excel, with no human action
>being taken - or as little as possible. If you have a process
>or tool where you can do this, and are willing to share this
>information, please e-mail. We are on UniVerse 10.0.19 and AIX 5.2
>
> Thank you in advance for your suggestions.
>
>--
>u2-users mailing list
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
>
>--
>u2-users mailing list
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>
>
>--
>u2-users mailing list
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>
--
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RE: UniVerse to excel feeds
For an example of what's possible, see these links: http://Nebula-RnD.com/products/analysis.htm http://Nebula-RnD.com/demos/nebulanalysis/ (audio/video presentation) Unattended, all Pick BASIC, no CSV files or XML or other file I/O or translations, full formatting with charts and all other features of Excel. Internally I've written a COM-AddIn for Excel that listens for socket calls and processes the requests - that's a fast and direct pipe, no intermediate formatting. Another benefit of this is that many users in an office can share a single copy of Excel on a given host, or the MV server can use the Excel that's on the MV client PC. NebulAnalysis is not being offered over U2 at this time as a product but I am willing to implement the features as a service. It's been a long time since I've done anything with this, honestly because most people are quite happy with the traditional mess of writing a CSV, doing some manual import, then manually reformatting after they've done the import. In a world where people want everything automated I really don't understand this intense desire to do everything manually with Excel. Inquiries welcome. Tony, Nebula R&D [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Moderator for Spectrum, Las Vegas) >-Original Message- >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Don Cutting >Sent: Friday, February 27, 2004 8:22 AM >To: U2 Users Discussion List >Subject: UniVerse to excel feeds > > >Hi All, > > We are looking for a process, where a report run in >UniVerse can feed direct into excel, with no human action >being taken - or as little as possible. If you have a process >or tool where you can do this, and are willing to share this >information, please e-mail. We are on UniVerse 10.0.19 and AIX 5.2 > > Thank you in advance for your suggestions. > >Thanks and have a great day! > > >Donald H. Cutting >A. N. Deringer, Inc. >D. B. A. / Systems Analyst >Tel. (802)524-8172 >Fax. (802)524-8297 >www.anderinger.com >Our Service Recommends Us! > >-- >u2-users mailing list >[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users > > -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: Unidata, Monitoring system parameters
At the risk of making announcements too soon, I'm working on a tool right now that will do this sort of monitoring for MV environments - in collaboration with or instead of products like DPMonitor. A VAR or IT staff can automatically monitor remote client systems for OS, DBMS, or Application issues, and get notifications when action is required. This allows support providers to be more pro-active, and adds new levels of service options for everyone. Another feature will allow system updates along the lines of Symantec LiveUpdate or RedHat Network Management, and other forms of remote maintenance to eliminate the need for people to manually update hundreds of systems. There's a LOT more being built into this but it's too early to go into detail at this time. E-mail inquiries are welcome, especially from people who feel the pain of supporting a large number of sites. Tony Nebula R&D [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Moderatoring presentations at Spectrum in Las Vegas - See you there!) >-Original Message- >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Scott Richardson >Sent: Friday, February 20, 2004 5:25 PM >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Cc: Alan Billing >Subject: RE: Unidata, Monitoring system parameters > > >Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2004 18:50:24 +1100 >From: "Ken Wallis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: RE: Unidata, Monitoring system parameters > >> James Hogan wrote: From time to time we have customers who break a Unidata >>> parameter and the >>> program they are running will crash with errors such as "No more >>> entries in MI table in 'LCT -n'". > >>[snip] > >>> I have had a look at the commands "sms", "gstt" and "lstt". >With some >>> clever scripting these could be used to take snap shots of the >>> system periodically >>> to check for an over step of the parameters. The script could >>> then warn the user if any parameter is over 80% utilised. > >:>I doubt it could warn them in time James. When programs go >wild and eat smm >>resources they tend to do it in a big hurry. > >>With decent tuning you should be able to find a reasonable compromise >>between making lots of memory available for big jobs without >lumbering >>little jobs with a huge footprint. Even on AIX now there are some >>extended shared memory facilities which allow you to have >more segments >>instead of just making them all huge! I can't remember the exact >>details but EXTSHM rings a bell. >> >>Cheers, >>Ken > >Hello James Hogan,of Sungard and Ken Wallis, > >I have been getting the U2 Users Daily Digest for a for weeks >now, after getting individual emails for the longest time. I >just caught this thread, and had to get in on this. > >What James Hogan wants to accomplish can be done. >There are products out there such as the DPMonitor that do >exactly that. > >There are several key factors though: >1) Situations like that require constant monitoring, and >mapping out of platform operational dynamics, and knowing the >behaviors that occur when things "start to go wrong". > >2) The Monitor needs to be external to the application server >being monitored. You need a real low overhaed process (Agent) >on the Application Server doing low level kernel calls, >consistently, over time, and establish what the operational >baseline characteristics of the application are in "normal" >mode. A real key is having that Agent talking to an >"Operations Console" Performance Explorer and Alert Center, >and having Probes, or Alarms set up, to notify Operations in >things get out of whack, and therefore allow corrective action >to take place before the application server or process gets >"hung". Imagine that - a proactive response as compared to a >reactive response. > >3) You can't run such standard system >commands/programs/utilities, especially ones on the >application server being monitored, as they consume >significant volumes of resources, and contribute to the >problem, if they ever report back to you, (such as Ken mentions). > >So, what do you do? Reinvent the wheel with some configuration >of scripts? > >The smart choice is to download and evaluate the DPMonitor >Performance Monitoring Solution. The licensed version will >monitor individual, user-selected processes, in addition to >the system wide parameters and metrics. You can set up Probes >to test and watch for certian conditions or thresholds to be >crossed, and then take pro-active, pre-programmed by the user >responses to those situations, or simply generate an email, a >page, or what have you. > >DPMonitor has Performance Agents for AIX, Solaris, and >Windows. Even an Oracle Agent. U2 Products and applications >can be monitored via individual per process monitoring. One >Performance Explorer can display Agent data from all Agents, >for centralized Enterprise, or ASP providers. Very easily >installed and set up, and provides dynamic scaling, colorful, >detail graphs of the health and resource level consumption of >the application
RE: D3 on NT
Notice my next paragraph begins with the word "Seriously...". Yes XML has been usuable as a connectivity medium for years, but how many people are taking advantage of it? Microsoft and other companies are continually developing tools to reduce the time and money aspect of using XML, and make it easier to make use of relational databases, but I doubt most MV users or developers are keeping up with the details. No matter how much free information is available, I don't seriously think professionals like us who provide information, products, and services will go out of business anytime soon. ETL tools are always in vogue. Tony > >Tony, >Could you do me a favor and not declare my entire market >segment dead. > >"You now have the keys to data integration heaven and you >don't need to buy any more tools or migration services." > >The fact is, I could move data from any system to any other system >before XML, we all could. The question is always the 'time value of >money' equation. If a tool makes things work more >consistently, faster, >and with less setup time I still see a value. > >- Charles Barouch > > >Tony Gravagno wrote: > >>Without purchasing extra software, probably the easiest thing >to do in >>a migration these days is to take advantage of free .NET >features which >>allow seamless exchanges between XML and ADO.NET: >> >>1) It's simple to write code to wrap data in XML. >>2) You can use a program provided with the .NET Framework to >generate a >>Schema from the XML into a .XSD file. >>3) ADO.NET imports XSD files to create an internal map of a dataset. >>4) With one line of code ADO.NET can read XML and store the data as a >>relational dataset. >> >>Connecting the dots: It's easy to go from any MV platform into XML, >>then into ADO.NET, and from there to any Relational DBMS. >> >>And now that I've let the cat out of the bag, I have to retire a poor >>man. You now have the keys to data integration heaven and you don't >>need to buy any more tools or migration services. >> >>Seriously the way the technology is implemented depends on the >>application. If you ARE interested in data migrations From >any platform >>To any platform, I'll be happy to help. >> >>Tony >>Nebula R&D >>Former D3 DBMS Product Manager, Raining Data >>Technical Editor, C#Builder Kick Start, SAMS Publishing Author, "Web >>Services and .NET" series, Spectrum Magazine >> >> > > >-- >u2-users mailing list >[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users > -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: D3 on NT
Without purchasing extra software, probably the easiest thing to do in a migration these days is to take advantage of free .NET features which allow seamless exchanges between XML and ADO.NET: 1) It's simple to write code to wrap data in XML. 2) You can use a program provided with the .NET Framework to generate a Schema from the XML into a .XSD file. 3) ADO.NET imports XSD files to create an internal map of a dataset. 4) With one line of code ADO.NET can read XML and store the data as a relational dataset. Connecting the dots: It's easy to go from any MV platform into XML, then into ADO.NET, and from there to any Relational DBMS. And now that I've let the cat out of the bag, I have to retire a poor man. You now have the keys to data integration heaven and you don't need to buy any more tools or migration services. Seriously the way the technology is implemented depends on the application. If you ARE interested in data migrations From any platform To any platform, I'll be happy to help. Tony Nebula R&D Former D3 DBMS Product Manager, Raining Data Technical Editor, C#Builder Kick Start, SAMS Publishing Author, "Web Services and .NET" series, Spectrum Magazine >-Original Message- >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Dahn Finard >Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2004 6:24 AM >To: U2 Users Discussion List >Subject: D3 on NT > > > >Although I have been working in many pick flavors for the past >20+ years, I have been working in Universe for the past 8 >years. I have a client that is looking for a conversion out of >D3/NT to Oracle. I have two questions; 1. does D3 support the >OPENSEQ and WRITESEQ that Universe does. I downloaded the d3 >basic manual and found the UOPEN and UCREATE. 2. Could the D3 >experts in the group please offer any suggestion and >information about there experiences in conversions from D3. I >know that this is not the direction that we would like to see >software going in, but I did not make the decision about the >companys IS goals. > > >Dahn Finard > > >-- >u2-users mailing list >[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users > > -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: Proc or Para
RPL is alive and well. Realtime Software Corporation maintains the language and has made many enhancements. For a short while back in '95 I was doing minor assembler maintenance on it, and porting it to new AP and D3 releases. Realtime also continues to maintain, enhance, and sell the BCP/MCS business software for which RPL is usually recognized. That software is the best and most feature-rich business package I've ever seen - I don't make comments like that casually. There are a lot of long-term existing sites and new ones being installed all the time. These days RPL and the BCP/MCS package are only offered over D3. I can provide more info if requested. Tony Eugene Perry wrote: >I just supported a large client in Detroit that was using RPL >just a year and a half ago. They were running 50+ virtual >machines on 3 DG/UX servers. > >Eugene > Will at <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> Actually RPL was alive and well into, at least, the early 80s. -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: Format Text in Output Data File
If you are going to venture from CSV to another text file format at all, HTML is very "old school". Excel has supported XML for formatting data for a couple years now and v2003 has extensive support. Try this in Excel 2002/XP or above: -Open Excel from scratch - put text in a1 - select a1 and b1, then use the merge and center button or menu option - add numeric data to a2, format the cell with a currency mask - add text to b2, click bold and some color like red. - save-as, pull down the extension list to XML, and save as book1.xml Close Excel, re-open, and open book1.xml - exact same info right? Now open book1.xml in notepad. Pure text. Use that file as a template in BASIC, read it, update it, write it. There is your formatted data and you don't need a web designer, or HTML tools. The only XML you need to know about is what you actually want to use, and even then you can get Excel to generate it for you. HTH Tony Nebula R&D http://Nebula-RnD.com/products/analysis.htm http://Nebula-RnD.com/demos/nebulanalysis/ David Beahm wrote: >XML/HTML allow you to specify how something should be imported, vs CSV >which requires manual intervention to prevent annoyances such >as 3-16 (a part number) from becoming March 16th in Excel. The >formatting controls >are a nice bonus. Unfortunately, Excel takes much, much longer when >handling HTML, but since it eliminates so many user issues, >it's what I prefer. YMMV. -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: Format Text in Output Data File
Karl has one good way to do it. I'd like to slug whoever it is that put it into people's heads that CSV is the universal pipe into Excel. CSV is for raw data only, it has nothing to do with formatting. If you want formatting then you must understand how to use the functionality built into Excel, and how to invoke those functions. wIntegrate and AccuTerm are great tools but they are inadequate for this purpose. I spent months writing software to address the very pain that people mention in forums almost every day, but people insist on trying to put the square CSV peg into the round Excel hole. I'm not making a sales pitch, just encouraging you to take a look at this audio/video presentation to see what's possible: http://Nebula-RnD.com/demos/nebulanalysis/ Good luck. Tony >-Original Message- >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Karl L Pearson >Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2004 2:31 PM >To: U2 Users Discussion List >Subject: Re: Format Text in Output Data File > > >Open your spreadsheet program and then do a few cells with the >attributes you want, save them as HTML/XML and then open the >document with a text editor and see what the formatting codes >are for those cells. > >Karl > >On Wed, 2004-02-04 at 15:28, Simon Adams wrote: >> I am trying to format text outputted to a csv data file. >> I'm building a string of data and writing it out to a data file with >> 'comma' separation, line by line, and naming the outputted >file with a >> ".csv" extension. >> >> Is there a way to format the text/data line(s), as "bold" or >"italics" >> or "colour" etc. without using a third-party software ? >> >> Cheers, Simon. >> >> Australia. >> >> >> >> >> >** >> *** >> This e-mail, including any attachments to it, may contain >confidential >> and/or personal information. >> If you have received this e-mail in error, you must not copy, >> distribute, or disclose it, use or take any action >> based on the information contained within it. >> >> Please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail of the >error and >> then delete the original e-mail. >> >> The information contained within this e-mail may be solely >the opinion >> of the sender and may not necessarily reflect the position, >beliefs or >> opinions of Salmat on any issue. >> >> This email has been swept for the presence of computer viruses known >> to Salmat's anti-virus systems. >> >> For more information, visit our website at www.salmat.com.au. >> >** >> *** >> >> >> >__ >> -- >> u2-users mailing list >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users >-- >Karl L. Pearson >Director of IT, >ATS Industrial Supply >Direct: 801-978-4429 >Toll-free: 888-972-3182 x29 >Fax: 801-972-3888 >http://www.atsindustrial.com >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > >-- >u2-users mailing list >[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users > > -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: using commas in a csv file output
Once again you're looking at the problem like a nail because you're swinging at it with a CSV hammer. First import Tab-delimited text into your document. Then go to menu> Table >Convert >Text to Table. All of this can be automated. George, what kind of import are you suggesting for a Word table? Tony From: George Gallen that doesn't work if you are reading the data into a Word Table. It doesn't recognize quotes as ignore comma switch. Excel, however, respects it without a problem. From: Kevin King quote the entire data value. From: Simon Adams How can I force a comma in an outputted csv file ? -- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: using commas in a csv file output
In the interest of fairness, the comments about brain surgeons and poor
judgement (in this case) are mis-directed.
First Excel can easily import TAB delimited data. Go to menu > Data >
Import External Data > Import data, then use the wizard to specify the
delimiter is a tab and not a comma. That process can easily be made into a
macro.
Second, the issue with commas and decimals can't be attributed to Excel vs
MV. Excel processes and formats (renders) data. By passing pre-formatted
data into the Excel you blur the line between business rules and
user-interface, something that OO developers will tell you is a big no-no
because it causes exactly the problems you experience here. The proper way
to put numbers into Excel is to forget about all of the MV formatting and
just import unformated data, then assign formatting to cells, columns, and
rows as required.
Third, related to the last note in any case, by wrapping text in quotes you
are telling Excel that a piece of data is Text and not numeric. This may
cause problems later if you try to do calculations or reformat the data as
though it were numeric.
There are many ways to automate processes like this. People tend to look at
every Excel import function like a nail because the only tool they know
about is the CSV hammer. Excel is a powerful tool and you should look
beyond comma delimited text files for your import/export needs - or at least
learn how to properly swing that hammer.
Oops, 3 cents there.
Tony
Nebula R&D
-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On
Behalf Of Mark Johnson
Sent: Monday, February 02, 2004 10:19 PM
To: U2 Users Discussion List
Subject: Re: using commas in a csv file output
The reason quotes are needed in CSV is because some brain surgeon long ago
decided that commas aren't human characters and that they should become
value delimiters. Thus, CSV elements containing commas need the surrounding
quotes.
We MV people are thankful that our delimiters are far away from the human
characters, 254 etc. Early MS basic allowed INPUT A,B and your answer
contained a comma and their INPUT put it into the 2 variables. If your
single answer to INPUT A was "Perth,SW", you got an 'extra ignored' and
lost the SW.
It's a shame that we must live within the poor judgement of these early
designs. But they're out there.
I have 2 utilities that i use extensively when building CSV's (rows &
columns) from within Databasic when export/importing to a PC system. The
first is called LINE.CSV and it converts LINE<1>, LINE<2> LINE<3> (a built
variable representing one row) into a CSV row for appending to your eventual
text file (OPENSEQ or emulator export). I have its opposite called CSV.LINE
which will convert an invoming CSV row into LINE<1> etc paying attention to
the commas. If anyone would like a copy email me off line. I'm probably
going to publish them in Spectrum anyway.
BTW, to answer the second question, to remove the pennies from an ICONV'd
value you would use MD03. That's Zero Three , not Oh. The Zero indicates the
displayed decimals and the 3 is the converted. Thus, MD3 is the same as
MD33.
Also, check to see if the comma contained in a number offends the numerical
format of that cell. I don't think the comma contained is numeric, ie PRINT
NUM("123,456") returns false and PRINT NUM(123,456) implies a second
argument to the NUM function. you can't say X=123,456 and if you put quotes
around it, it's not numeric.
my 1 cent.
- Original Message -
From: Simon Adams
To: U2 Users Discussion List
Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2004 12:45 AM
Subject: RE: using commas in a csv file output
OK, I now get10,000.00but I would like to suppress the decimal
places.
This is my line of code :
FLAT.LINE:='"':OCONV(PARTS.REC<8,W>,"MD3,"):'"'
Any further advise, most appreciated.
Cheers, Simon.
Australia.
-Original Message-
From: Kevin King [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, 3 February 2004 15:51
To: U2 Users Discussion List
Subject: RE: using commas in a csv file output
quote the entire data value.
-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Behalf Of Simon Adams
Sent: Monday, February 02, 2004 9:44 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: using commas in a csv file output
How can I force a comma in an outputted csv file ?
I want to put commas in numbers eg: 10,000 but as the delimiter is a
comma, it puts 10 in one column and then the 000 in the next column.
How can I OCONV the output but keeping the number together ?
Cheers, Simon.
Australia.
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RE: [ot] Peoplesoft migrates to Ascential
> Ultimately, however, it is not engineers who decide product >directions. Recall the Golgafrinchan "B" Ark. > > >(dawn) Nope, that doesn't ring any bells, but sounds like >another story, so do tell ... That was a reference to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Good summary of the Golgafrincham story is here: http://www.sadgeezer.com/hhg/golgaf.htm In other words, Management makes the ultimate decisions... A bit more context can be found here for those who wish to be entertained. http://www.sadgeezer.com/hhg/episode6.htm Tony ___ u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: [ot] Peoplesoft migrates to Ascential
Ardent was right on both counts. Datastage can claim to be an excellent Data Warehousing tool, and people do flinch on buying a MV database. The two statements are not really at odds. Most people will claim to embrace the philosophy that VARs sell solutions, not databases, but in the sales and marketing cycle the focus somehow shifts back to the database anyway. As with Datastage, focus must remain on the end-product. The problem comes in when prospects ask questions like: - where can I get education? - who uses it? (Most people like to follow winners, not lead uncertainty.) - where can I get people to support it? If the MV community creates a firm set of answers these questions, then the "stigma" of MV can be overcome. Unfortunately MV is not taught in schools, you can't buy books on the subject off the shelf, and there aren't many MV/Pick job wanted/available ads in the paper to support the claim that it's easy to find talent. MV vendors and VARs must collaborate to create and support free education and information resources (like this forum) to insure that end-users see a healthy marketplace. Only then can we deal with a situation like "Ardent Management were saying that they don't know why anyone would buy a multivalue database". How about IBM sponsoring regional two week seminars covering everything possible (in the time allotted) about Universe? Put people in the work force who have MV skills and it will be much easier to sell an MV solution. Tony Nebula R&D >-Original Message- >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of djordan >Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2004 6:41 PM >To: 'U2 Users Discussion List' >Subject: RE: [ot] Peoplesoft migrates to Ascential > > >Hi Dawn > >The arguments we had with Ardent management on this. Ardent >Management were saying that they don't know why anyone would >buy a multivalue database, whilst on the other hand they were >promoting Datastage a UniVerse product, as being one of the >best Datawarehousing tools on the market. Figure? > >Not only is it a pick embeded application, Datastage has >outstanding capabilitions in data integration with impressive >benchmarks for data loads (I think it still holds the record >for dataloading) which flys in the face of the critiscms of >Pick for interoperability. Sure datastage has added other >facilities on, but if Datastage can do it so can Universe. > >Regards >David Jordan >Managing Consultant >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Dacono Holdings Pty Ltd >Business & Technology Consulting >PO Box 909 >Lane Cove >NSW 2066 >Australia >Ph 61 2 9418 8329 >Fax 61 2 9427 2371 >www.dacono.com.au > > > > >-Original Message- >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >On Behalf Of Dawn M. Wolthuis >Sent: Friday, 30 January 2004 6:16 AM >To: 'U2 Users Discussion List' >Subject: RE: [ot] Peoplesoft migrates to Ascential > > >I knew all of this except that I thought that DataStage still >ran on Universe, not a modified clone of Universe. So, this >does add to my MultiValue database picture another imbedded >PICK engine in a product and gets the Ascential company into >the MultiValue Family Tree picture (next time I update it). >Thanks to all for the clarifications. --dawn > >Dawn M. Wolthuis >Tincat Group, Inc. >www.tincat-group.com > >Take and give some delight today. > >-Original Message- >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >On Behalf Of David T. Meeks >Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2004 8:55 AM >To: U2 Users Discussion List >Subject: RE: [ot] Peoplesoft migrates to Ascential > > >Ascential is basically VMark/Ardent. Almost all of the >engineering, sales, support staff that were responsible for >Universe up until UV Rel 9.6 work for >Ascential (myself and Glenn being two you've come to know over the >years) > >When the split occurred, IBM retained the rights to >sell/develop the UniVerse product, as well as the former >UniData engineers who were trained on the >internals of UnIverse. They now are responsible for UV >releases, with UV Rel 10 being the first release to come from there. > >Ascential also kept the rights to the source code. Internal >to the DataStage >product set (specifically what is known as DataStage Server, >not to be confused with DataStage PX, TX, or 390) is the >UniVerse engine, re-branded the >DataStage Engine. It is only available as part of the DS >Server package. > >So no, Ascential is not a Universe customer. However, IBM is >an Ascential customer and reseller. They resell the DataStage >product suite. > >It does increase the footprint of enterprises around the world >that have one of those MV engines running at their site, though. > >Dave > >At 08:30 AM 1/29/2004 -0600, you wrote: > >Thanks for passing that along. Is Ascential a Universe >customer of IBM's or did they end up taking Universe and >changing it so that they are yet another flavor of 'PICK' (not >yet on my MultiValue Family Tree diagram)? I
RE: UD Coding a 'Hard Carriage Return" for an Excel file
Ed, the data that needs to be in the CSV is: "one" : char(10) : "two" The character Excel uses is indeed a LF, not a CR or CRLF. When you open Excel, you will still see a square rather than multiple lines. To remove the square, you need to set the WrapText property of the cells in question (or the whole sheet) to True. You can automate that with a macro or a COM Add-in, you can't manipulate the worksheet from CSV data, even with embedded formulas. It seems to me you don't mind doing manual processes, as in order to see your multiline data you will need to manually reset the size of the rows in question anyway. For what it's worth, my NebulAnalysis software does all this automatically with BASIC code directly from a MV app. See these pages if you're interested: http://nebula-rnd.com/products/analysis.htm and for an audio/video demo: http://nebula-rnd.com/demos/nebulanalysis/ HTH, Tony >-Original Message- >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Burwell, Edward >Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2004 2:51 PM >To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' >Subject: UD Coding a 'Hard Carriage Return" for an Excel file > > >Hello, > >I am creating a tab-delimted file with and xls extension that >excel is very happy to open. I would like to create a cell >that has line-breaks or Hard-Carriage-Returns in them. You >can accomplish this manually by pressing >ALT+ENTER while entering data into a cell. I belive the character is >ALT+the >same as what you get in MSWORD when you hold the ALT key and >enter 0010. > >Here is a snippet of the code that I am using: > >284: TAB=CHAR(9) ; CR=CHAR(13) ; LF=CHAR(10) ; CRLF=CR:LF >285: * * >286: HDR=SOURCE:TAB >287: HDR:=\=\:QUOTE(INVOICE):TAB ; * to force excel to >see this as >text >288: HDR:=CUST:TAB >289: * ADDRESS * >290: IF FULL.ADDRESS THEN >290: * set Line Break character * >291: *LB=CHAR(1034) ; * CHAR(10) + CHAR(1024) - ALT KEY >292: *LB=CR ; * CHAR(13) >293: *LB=CRLF ; * CHAR(13) : CHAR(10) >294: LB=LF ; * CHAR(10) >295: ADDR=NAME:LB >296: IF LEN(AD1) THEN ADDR:=AD1:LB >297: IF LEN(AD2) THEN ADDR:=AD2:LB >298: IF LEN(ATTN) THEN ADDR:=ATTN:LB >299: ADDR:=CITY:", ":ST:" ":ZIP >300: HDR:=QUOTE(ADDR):TAB >301: END ELSE >302: HDR:=NAME:TAB >303: END > >When I manually enter data into a cell and press ALT+ENTER for >a hard-carriage-return, then copy and paste that cell into >notepad, I see a square non-printable character where the >carriage-returns were. When I look at that square in a hex >viewer, its 0A or ASCII 10, char(10), the line feed character. > >When I run the above code then open the file in excel and look >at the cell, it seems to work, however, now there is a visible >square right where I put the char(10)'s! I get the same >result when I use CRLF as well. When I use CR only, it >doesn't wrap at all. > >Any help would be greatly appreciated. > >Also - I am only receiving the Digest, but I want to receive >all postings (and the Digest). I went to the site and my >settings look ok. My IE cookie setting is medium, but that's >what it's always been. If someone could tell me how to get >all mailings that would be appreciated also! > >Thanks in advance. > >Ed Burwell >[EMAIL PROTECTED] >973.361.5400 x1512 ___ >u2-users mailing list >[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users > > ___ u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: C#.net connectivity to Unidata
George, I'm not using Unidata at the moment but I know you have a number of options available. 1) For cheap and easy access you can use UniObjects through Com Interop. 2) If you want to get a little more fancy you can wrap specific functions written with UniObjects in Web Services, then call those services from pure .NET C# code on your own system. For more commercial development: 3) You can use the Pick Data Provider .NET from Raining Data. 4) You can use RedBack to create RedBack Business Objects, then access the RBOs through C#. (At the moment I believe this must also be through COM Interop.) 5) Try wrapping web services around the RBO's - this can be done with WebSphere and other tools. Then like #2, invoke your web services with pure .NET code. There are a couple other ways but I hope that's a good start. Tony Nebula R&D (Tech Editor, "C#Builder Kick Start", SAMS Publishing) (Forum Moderator, http://www.csharp-station.com/) >-Original Message- >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of george r smith >Sent: Monday, January 26, 2004 11:39 AM >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: C#.net connectivity to Unidata > > >Hi all, > >Is anyone connecting to Unidata 6.0 using M$ c# as a gui >front-end. If so what method are you using, just want to set >up a pick box at home and want to use c#. > >thanks > >There are only 10 people in the world who understand binary. >George Smith >[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
RE: Looking for Software
Barrie, you're not clear about exactly how and where you'd like the client interface to work (Win32/*nix?). It's easy to create a Windows interface which just uses the components you want out of Word - that is, the user may not need to fire up Word or use the Word UI, but the Word engine will still be there (and a license is required). When the user Saves a Word doc it can be stored in an MV environment. The question is, do you want Word? If you store the doc in Universe, you need to decide if you just want text or if you want formatting too (of course you can get both). If you strip formatting then the next time the doc is edited the user might want to add the formatting back - a bit of futility. If you want everything then Word can save as XML, which is pure text, so that the next time the doc is loaded it looks the same as when it was saved. I've done a lot of work with Word and the entire MS Office package. Please visit http://nebula-rnd.com/products/ and in particular the NebulaDoc page for more info. BTW, we also offer conversion from JET to Word with our software: ConnectingFlight. Good luck, Tony Nebula R&D -Original Message- From: Barrie Matovcik A snowy hello from Maryland. Does anyone know of a UniVerse or System Builder Word Processing package? We require spell checking, including the input of custom dictionary items and what MSWord calls AutoCorrect. This is a process that would take "shortcut" codes from the input and convert them to previously defined strings of perhaps technical, medical information. We currently have our staff enter the document, including the shortcut codes, in Word, then AutoCorrect it to convert the codes to text, then use System Builder to transfer the temporary ".txt" file to a record in one of our UniVerse files. Thanks for any responses. Barrie Matovcik MobilexUSA 410.773.2080 ___ u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oliver.com/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
