Re: D3 ODBC Problem

Hi
The very first program we ever wrote so that we could write our 4gl was
ScreenGen that did all the data display and edit. I can honestly say that I
have never given a user a production program that did not validate the data
since I started commercial programming in 1973 with NEAT3 and Pick in 1977.
The examples you give are horrific. I have seen some phenomenally bad file
designs but even then the data was normally correct.
The only time I have seen editor used was the raw beginnings of Peter
Harvey's very successful hospital package. In the beginning he had a
gentleman from the hospital come in on Thursday afternoons and spend 3 hours
keying in his data, then sort and list it, going home very happy. But that
was 1977 and Peter was flat out often sleeping at the office, he soon wrote
a proper program.
Peter McMurray
"Frank Winans" <fwinans@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:S6OdnbZqutWOuRbVnZ2dnUVZ_tjinZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Peter McMurray" wrote
"Frank Winans" wrote
Make sure your data entry staff knows not to use their arrow
keys when correcting typos,
as the escape sequences they create only mask the typo

I am amazed that anyone would consider this a possibility. Surely nobody
would write a program that does not validate the data entered before
filing
it. Ah! just answered my own question. Some people may allow the users
access to editor in which case Tony's bullet is an appropriate response
for the system guy that is not the user.
Peter McMurray
Nah, your first guess was right, I'm talking unverified data entry
applications.
A lot of sites we encounter really don't understand the tools they've
inherited,
and have no access to the firms that developed them. And database layout
is driven by what looks nicest to the owner, who likes to browse data in
ED.
So I find a files with same zipcode repeated as 12th value of each
attribute of
all items, and those items grow {at the TOP} by one line each calendar
day.
Or a file with nnnn.nn format data on on file instead of nnnnnn with mr2
in the
dict. Makes me cringe. The R83 shops were the worst, but over time
they've
largely gone defunct.

Come to think, we use a screen generator package ourselves, and the user
input module didn't check for control characters for the first ten years
or so
despite a really impressive stream of other code enhancements. It seems
nobody really cared about that missing feature very much.

I've seen managers avoid general solutions like getting the code to use
terminal
type instead of hardcoded escape sequences, going so far as to buy the
exact
same model of green screen for all the desks, ages after that model was
out of
production. Software changes worry them, you seee.









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