HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: bobb@netcom.com (Bob Beaulieu)
Subject: Re: INFORMIX 4.1 (ISQL & ESQL/C) FOR MS-DOS
Keywords: DOES ANYONE WANT TO SELL ME THEIRS?
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest) 
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 07:16:44 GMT

>In article <1992Dec12.042750.8222@informix.com>, aland@informix.com (Colonel Panic) writes:
> In article <1992Dec10.184110.10331@netcom.com> bobb@netcom.com (Bob Beaulieu) writes:
> >I need Informix's 4.1  SE ISQL & ESQL/C for DOS - single user version. 
> >

> It was my understanding that .06 - 4.1 DOS upgrades were free for maintenance
> holders (in the past, DOS upgrades had a $50 media charge).  By "cost to

I wasn't using the DOS version of Informix (2.10.x) and therefore wasn't on
the 1 yr maintenance contract. I called our Informix Rep in Kansas and the
below prices are what I was told. Informix people usually have their act
together, so I believed her. Personally I feel the prices are rather steep;
but, who am I to say. I just program with it, preferably with unix :-].

> >                                    upgrade docs  total
> >ISQL    2.10.06                      $218 + $55   $273
> >ESQL/C  2.10.06                      $165 + $55   $220
> >4GL     1.10.06                      $269 + $55   $324
> 
> $324 is pretty steep for a product that doesn't exist.  What are they

Welp, considering the source I got these prices from (Informix Sales Rep),
why should I question the existence of a NEW 4GL. Especially, since I DO NOT
want it? As I said, I am only interested in ISQL && ESQL/C.

So why did I mention it at all?
just maybe, there might be someone out there who wants to use 4GL and use might
trade my 4GL for a new version of ISQL - ESQL/C. Hey I'm just trying to save
a buck. My versions are perfectly legal and I'm doing it above board. How
much does the 4GL cost NEW? Much more than the $324 upgrade cost I bet!

> going to sell you for $324, a dozen freshly-formatted diskettes?         [-:

Informix wouldn't do that and you know it! I think their product is the best
thing since slice bread. If you think they'd sell someone a dozen freshly-
formatted diskettes for $324, you would be better off working for someone
else. Informix isn't that kind of company. ;->
> 
> >CISAM   3.10.06                      $149 + $55   $204
> >SQL RT  2.10.06                      $ 83 + $55   $138

Bob Beaulieu
> 
> --
> Alan Denney      aland@informix.com      {pyramid|uunet}!infmx!aland
> 
> "I'm so tough, when I go down to the beach, I kick sand in my *own* face!"
>     -- George Smilovich


-- 
 =============================================================
 Bob Beaulieu                                 bobb@netcom.com  
 San Jose, CA                                 (408) 978-0818  
 =============================================================
From: zellich@STL-07SIMA.ARMY.MIL (Rich Zellich)
Newsgroups: comp.databases.informix
Subject: Re: An insider's view
Date: 18 Dec 1992 09:38:08 -0500
Organization: Mailing List Gateway
Distribution: world
Reply-To: zellich@STL-07SIMA.ARMY.MIL (Rich Zellich)
NNTP-Posting-Host: emory.mathcs.emory.edu
X-Informix-List-ID: <list.1719>

> nothing which is much better - why should we spend money for
> implementing all these features if we can sell it as it is ?

Because, dummy, if *you* don't, someone else will - and will take away
your customers.  And you will be so far behind the power curve that you
will never be able to catch up to the oppositions better product...by
the time you match their initial functionality, they will have implemented
their second-generation product (unless they turn out to be as complacent
as Informix developers).
From: jgordon@ssf-sys.DHL.COM (Jim Gordon)
Newsgroups: comp.databases.informix
Subject: Re: Two index query optimization problem
Date: 14 Dec 1992 12:58:07 -0500
Organization: Mailing List Gateway
Distribution: world
Reply-To: jgordon@ssf-sys.DHL.COM (Jim Gordon)
NNTP-Posting-Host: emory.mathcs.emory.edu
X-Informix-List-ID: <list.1697>

> I'm having some problems with Informix over optimizing my query.
> I have a table with > 500000 rows and I can't get Informix to
> use what I deem to be the "correct" index.
>
> There are two indexes on the table:
>
>    index1: unique index on A, B;
>    index2: unique index on C, D, A, B;
>
> The problem I'm having is that I can't run a query with A and B mentioned
> in the WHERE clause that will use index2.  I suspect that the optimizer
> is looking at the query and saying; hey, I got A, I got B, I've got a unique
> index1 on both A and B.  Look no further, I am set dudes and dudettes, and
> I am outta here! (optimizers talk like that you know).
>
Devin,

I have had a similar problem in the past in an early version of 4.0
and I found something quite interesting.  Though Informix will tell
you that the new optimiser checks every path for completing the query
in fact it does not check every index.  It always uses the first one
it finds that can help do the query and will ignore later indexes
which are more appropriate.

So our solution was to drop both indexes and build them again but in
the opposite order (Index2 followed by Index1).  Now I have not tested
this in 4.1 or 5.0 so I cannot say whether this solution will still
work for you.

Alternatively you can change the optimisation level.  It changes for
your backend process until you change it back.  It does not change
for everybody or for ever.  So you can set it to low before the
select statement and set it back to high afterwards.

Lastly by splitting the select statement into two or possibly by doing
a sub-query you may also change the choice of index.  This can have
performance impacts, these may not necessarily be negative, there are
times when splitting queries up, using cursors, etc can speed up
response.

Cheers - Jim
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Name:     Jim Gordon               Internet: jgordon@ssf-sys.DHL.COM
Company:  DHL Systems Inc          Phone:    (415) 358-5911 (Work)
Address:  1700 S. Amphlett Blvd.             (415) 882-9728 (Home)
          San Mateo, CA 94402      Fax:      (415) 571-6429
--------------------------------------------------------------------
From: satish@terminus.ericsson.se (Satish Popat)
Newsgroups: comp.databases.informix
Subject: Re: Strange Informix form behavior.
Date: 14 Dec 92 14:04:42 GMT
Reply-To: satish@terminus.ericsson.se
Organization: Camtec Electronics (Ericsson), Leicester, England

I have had the same problem going back a couple of years and discovered that on 
return to the Master Form, PERFORM displays the screen with most number of fields. 
Perhaps you have the same problem. There are two solutions to this:

1. Rearrange form so that the first screen has more fields than any other;

2. Follow 'M' by '1S' to reposition to the first screen.

Hope this is of some help.
From: MARK.FARRIS@OFFICE.WANG.COM ("Mark Farris")
Subject: BEST RDBMS
Organization: Mail to News Gateway at Wang Labs
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 23:13:54 GMT


I'm not going to tell you ! I want you to tell me:

1.  Where can I find a current OBJECTIVE feature matrix for the major
    RDBMS's (Oracle,  Sysbase, Informix, Ingres, Progress)

2.  This is for people experienced with most of the major DBMS's:

    If you were going to standardize on 1 UNIX based RDBMS vendor, for
    client server computing on AIX / IBM pc's running windows, which
    one would it be ?


   Please email your information or recommendations.
   Mark.Farris@office.wang.com
Newsgroups: comp.databases.informix
From: andy@cmptrc.lonestar.org (Andy Hart)
Subject: Re: Suggested Changes to 4gl
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 19:24:30 GMT
Organization: CompuTrac Inc., Richardson TX

(Paul Mahler) writes:
>Hello the net,
>
>So far the only responses I have received have been suggestions
>for changes to the input array statement. Is everyone really
>this satisfied with 4gl?  Is there nothing else we can 
>complain about?
>
>Paul Mahler

I wouldn't consider myself satisfied with 4GL.
Among many others, how about:

Allowing use of variables in Report functions to specify the page size, etc.
Eg., I have a report function that I want to allow the user to either 
display or print.  If I set it up so that it displays on a 24 line screen
nicely, I can't use the same report function for output to a printer w/o
goofing up the pagination.

Support terminfo on the HP.

Bigger strings as parms to functions.

-- Andy
From: mfaurot@bogart.uucp (Michael Faurot)
Newsgroups: comp.databases.informix
Subject: Re: Help, tbtape is trashing my rootdbs!
Date: 17 Dec 92 12:58:12 GMT
Organization: ism:c:m/xo
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL4

davek@informix.com (David Kosenko) writes:

: I will speculate that the reason the second database seems to "cause" the 
: problem is that the space allocated for the tables in that database contain
: the problem area.  Since tbtape will only try to read allocated space, it
: does not encounter the problem until the second database is created. I am 
: not sure why the bad block was not encountered at the create time - it must
: be that the space allocated is not all read at the create time.
: 
: What you should do is run a low-level disk surface check on the devices you
: are using for your chunks.  Typically, this problem is caused by bad blocks 
: present on the device.

I suspected bad blocks on the device as well.  I haven't low leveled
the device just yet, but I figured I could easily find out if in fact
there were bad blocks by using dd.  Using dd I had it read the entire
surface area and never got a hick-up.  Since OnLine consistently has
this problem during back-up I would assume that dd should have a
problem reading the device as well--but that wasn't the case.

Is my logic flawed in assuming dd would report some sort of error
condition if it couldn't read some blocks on the partition?

: As per bringing your system back up after a "bad block experience": if you
: edit your tbconfig file and set MIRROR to 1, you will be able to restart
: your system even though the chunk is marked as down.

Thanks for the tip!

-- 

+--------------------+-------------------------------------------------------+
|   Michael Faurot   | Domain: mfaurot@bogart.UUCP		             |
|   ------- ------   | UUCP:   ...{irscscm|mimsy}!bogart!mfaurot             |
+--------------------+-------------------------------------------------------+
Newsgroups: comp.databases.informix
From: sjanney@baron.uucp (Sam Janney)
Subject: Informix/Wingz - help needed!!
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 17:14:13 GMT

We are in the process of developing a system using Informix, Wingz,
Unix, X-Window.

We are attempting to pull data into Wingz to do some analysis and graphing.
It is envisioned that the script would ask for minimal input from the
user and then go off and do its thing, producing gobs of graphs and tables
with no futher user intervention.

Problems encountered:

	1)  Is there a way to bypass the logon script to DataLink?
		We desire just to hook up and go!

	2)  Is there a way to print a graph or section of the worksheet
	    without utilizing the print dialog?
		We want to come back in the morning to a stack of printed
		graphs and reports (ie: no user intervention)!

Any and all help/suggestions are encouraged!  Have we picked the wrong tools?

	Thanks,
		Sam Janney	DSR,Inc (voice) 619-695-8220
				sjanney@satsys.san.mrms.navy.mil
Newsgroups: comp.databases.informix
From: shemminga@cix.compulink.co.uk (Stuart Hemming)
Subject: Re: "WordWrap" and temporary s
Reply-To: shemminga@cix.compulink.co.uk
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 15:54:00 +0000


TITLE: Re: "WordWrap" and temporary string storage


In <randall.723872563@seashore> Randall Rhea writes:

[Stuff deleted]

> One of the things I like about Informix-4GL is that it does NOT
> have all them "bells and whistles."  This is also why I and many other
> people like C.  Why have all those huge libraries filled with crud
> you'll never use?  If you want the bells and whistles, you can always
> add them yourself.  You can have highlighted display arrays rather
> easily using INPUT ARRAY.  Yes, it would be nice if the feature
> were there with just one command, but it's not that hard to do it
> with a little more code.  You can simulate dynamic arrays with
> temp tables; yeah, I know it's not exactly the same thing, but
> it will do in a pinch.  And yes, I suppose there's a bug or two
> in 4GL, but I know of no bug-free software product.

I sorry but this is completely the wrong attitude! The highlight bar
in display array is an obvious requirement. The fact that so many
people have had to hack together a fix is enough to show that.
Dynamic arrays are also a known requirement. To simply say you can
simulate it by doing such-and-such is completely wrong. I mean why
bother with INPUT ARRAY? With juditious use of INPUT, DISPLAY and
SCROLL you could simulate that too.

The whole idea is to have a working set of tools that allow you to
get the job done with the minimum of fuss. The 4GL "toolset" is good,
don't get me wrong, but it's not complete. "Fix it yourself" is not
an attitude I like.

| I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way -- Jessica Rabbit     |
|------------------------------------------------------------|     
| Stuart Hemming       | shemminga@cix.compulink.co.uk       |
| Tudor Labels Ltd     | uunet!cix.compulink.co.uk!shemminga |
| Roman Bank Bourne    | Tel :  (+44) 778 426444             |
| Lincs PE10 9LQ. UK.  | Fax :  (+44) 778 421862             |


Stuart
|8-)
Newsgroups: comp.databases.informix
From: andrewc@g2syd.genasys.com.au (Andrew Congdon)
Subject: Re: Informix 4.0 and AIX 3.2
Organization: Genasys II, Sydney, Australia
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 01:39:01 GMT

In article <jgabriel.723504339@academ01> jgabriel@academ01.mty.itesm.mx (Ing. Juan Gabriel Ruiz) writes:
>Actually I'm running Informix Online and Standard Engine under AIX 3.1.5,
>both of them work fine. Now I'm trying to make an operating system upgrade
>to AIX 3.2, and my question is if Informix version 4.0 is supported
>under AIX 3.2 or if I need to upgrade my Informix installation too (maybe
>4.1 or 5.0?).
>Any help will be appreciated.
>--
>Juan Gabriel Ruiz Pinto                Internet:  jgabriel@mtecv2.mty.itesm.mx
>Soporte Equipos UNIX                   NeXT-mail: jgabriel@roxette.mty.itesm.mx
>Depto. de Tecnologia Computacional 
>I.T.E.S.M. Campus Monterrey

We had some "fun" with Informix 5 and AIX 3.2, isql would report
"out-of-memory" errors when more then 8 (or thereabouts) filesystems
were mounted.  IBM said it was a known problem.

--
Andrew Congdon	|  Genasys II Pty Ltd
		|  13th Level, 33 Berry St, North Sydney, NSW, Australia
		|  Phone:    +61-2-954-0022 (-9930 FAX)
		|  Internet: andrewc@g2syd.genasys.com.au
Newsgroups: comp.databases.informix
From: dalk@login.dkuug.dk (Lars Kalsen)
Subject: Sizing of Hardware
Organization: DKnet
Date: Sat, 19 Dec 1992 22:52:47 GMT

Hi,

Does someone have a references to an articles og book where one could
read about scaling of hardware for Informix databases. We are using HP
9000's for running our databases but I would like to a concept for sizing
the machines when I know some data about the database (size, TPS, users etc).

Please E-mail or fax me if you have something - or send it to this group.



Greetings From Denmark.

Lars Kalsen


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lars Kalsen, MIS-Manager
SONOFON, Skelagervej 1, 9000 Aalborg, Denmark
+45-99-367000 (tel), +45-99-367070 (fax), E-Mail : dalk@login.dkuug.dk
===============================================================================
From: charleen@net.bio.net (Charleen Bunjiovianna)
Newsgroups: comp.databases.informix
Subject: SOLVED: SQL 2.10.03 problem:  cannot UPDATE table
Date: 18 Dec 92 00:31:50 GMT
Organization: BIOSCI International Newsgroups for Biology

I wrote:

>A user wants to delete a row from a table.  The query:
>
>delete from ft
>where entry_name = "P90589";
>
>dies with:
>
>263: Could not lock row for UPDATE.
>
>There is no possibility the table or row is being used by anyone
>else.  A number of other rows have been deleted from the same table
>without incident.  We've tried emptying the lock file.  No luck.

Turns out that some of the rows cannot be deleted with such a query
because they have imbedded double quotes.  Sorry, Informix, but this
and accompanying error messages were not helpful in finding the cause
of the problem.  

There are only two columns in this table, entry_name and comments,
and doing this worked:

delete from ft
where entry_name = "P90589" and comments matches '*"*';

delete from ft
where entry_name = "P90589";

We had to do this for each entry_name where the entry_name was marked
for deletion.

Thanks to those who replied.

Charleen
From: yaron@ortarg.edu.ar (Yaron Zarfati)
Newsgroups: comp.databases.informix
Subject: deleting large databses
Date: 14 Dec 1992 13:48:06 -0500
Organization: Mailing List Gateway
Distribution: world
Reply-To: yaron@ortarg.edu.ar
NNTP-Posting-Host: emory.mathcs.emory.edu
X-Informix-List-ID: <list.1698>

Hello, I am working in 4GL 4.00 under UNIX, and I need some help to solve
this situation:

  I have a table that holds 12000 rows, this table has 4 indexes, some of
  them on one column and some combined.

  I have an initialization process that deletes all of the rows.

  This process takes from 1 to 2 hours. I experimented droping the indexes
  before deleting and creating them again after the table was empty, and
  the process took less time.

  Another solution was to drop and re-create the table, which would be the
  fastest way, and worked fine.

  But now I have to work on the security aspect, and all the databases were
  re-created by a database administrator, giving INSERT, DELETE,... privileges
  but I cant DROP TABLES, DROP INDEXES, CREATE TABLES, CREATE INDEXES, without
  having RESORCE privilege on the whole database, not only the table I am 
  working with.

  Does somebody knows of a workaround for this situation ???

  Thanks in advance.

  Yaron
Newsgroups: comp.databases.informix
From: aburt@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu (Andrew Burt)
Subject: Re: Display array highlist
Organization: University of Denver, Dept. of Math & Comp. Sci.
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 92 14:50:06 GMT

In <memo.808387@cix.compulink.co.uk> shemminga@cix.compulink.co.uk (Stuart Hemming) writes:

>In <1992Dec10.181239.29704@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu> I, Andrew Burt, wrote:

>> But, seriously, here's one that I haven't researched enough to know
>> that it can't be done:
>> 
					     !!!!!!
>> Is there any way to display a report to a window, and scroll through
					     ^^^^^^
>> it (up/down)?

>In your report include:

>OUTPUT
>        REPORT TO PIPE "less"  -- Assumes you have less. Pick it up at
>                               -- FTP site near you NOW!

>The only problem with list is that you will always get the output on
>the screen.

(Actually, most modern 'more's can backscroll.  That isn't the point.)

The only problem is that the output is on the WHOLE screen, not in a WINDOW.

I want to say, "REPORT TO WINDOW foo".

Just for grins, I did get this idea implemented.  I consider the manner
of solution ugly:  writing 4gl-C wrappers for fopen, fgets, etc. then
defining a screen form N chars wide in M rows, for use in a display array.
It's ugly because (once again) you either have to use a fixed size array
with display array or roll your own display code (which to me seems insane,
since that's the kind of thing 4gl is supposed to do for you!).  This is
a lot more code than something like

	OPEN WINDOW foo AT 5,5 WITH 10 ROWS, 60 COLUMNS
	...
	REPORT TO WINDOW foo

"report to window" should automatically allow scrolling, like display array.

Heck, even having a

	DISPLAY FILE "report.out" TO WINDOW foo

would be good enough for me.

Are you listening, Informix?
Your customers are speaking... rumble, rumble...  :-)
-- 

Andrew Burt 		   					  aburt@du.edu

"But if he was dying he wouldn't bother to carve "Aaaaargh", he'd just say it."
From: Anbarnes@letterkenn-emh1.army.mil
Newsgroups: comp.databases.informix
Subject: [David Kosenko:  Re: turbo extents used]
Date: 16 Dec 1992 09:18:04 -0500
Organization: Mailing List Gateway
Distribution: world
Reply-To: Anbarnes@letterkenn-emh1.army.mil
NNTP-Posting-Host: emory.mathcs.emory.edu
X-Informix-List-ID: <list.1708>

Dave K writes in response to my request for help on determining how many
extents are in use in Turbo 2.10.03G:
>If the table is active (and you can make it active by going into isql and
>issuing a LOCK TABLE statement), then tbstat -t will show the number of
>extents allocated for the table (nextns).  There is a trick, however, in that
>tbstat shows the table with its tblspace number (partition number in Turbo
>parlance) not the table name.  To get a list of table names and their
>respective (hex) partition/tblspace numbers, use the following query:
>
>        select tabname, hex(partnum) from systables;
>>
>Dave
Good idea, and I had been told that before, but on our system that gives
a syntax error.  It doesnt like the hex word.  We are running ISQL
2.10.03G on a Unisys 5000.  Is that a "bug?".  Yes, we are on our way to
On-Line, but not until our application programmers get the application
ready to go.  The Unisys platform has only progressed to 4.1 that I am
aware of, there is no 5.0 or 6.0 like all you Sun etc. types are longing
for or even using.  Yes, it is an "antique" platform, but we do the best
we can with your tax dollars, and right now that doesnt include new
hardware.  Is there any further assistance on the problem of hex(partnum)
or how to tell what extents are being used?  Thank you for your responses.

PS:  Dave K, I cannot seem to succesfully e-mail to you. My phone is
717-267-9869. Please call re: ISAM info you wrote about. Thanks.
Ann Barnes, Letterkenny Army Depot, Chambersburg, PA

Newsgroups: comp.databases.informix
From: aburt@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu (Andrew Burt)
Subject: Re: Suggested Changes to 4gl
Organization: University of Denver, Dept. of Math & Comp. Sci.
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 92 15:05:08 GMT

In <1992Dec14.215058.24334@netcom.com> pmahler@netcom.com (Paul Mahler) writes:

>Hello the net,

>So far the only responses I have received have been suggestions
>for changes to the input array statement. Is everyone really
>this satisfied with 4gl?  Is there nothing else we can 
>complain about?

I have a two page list!  I just haven't typed it in yet.  (Something about
project deadlines, etc...)  I'll try to push it up in the queue on the off
chance it might do some good.

No, count me VERY disappointed with 4gl.
-- 

Andrew Burt 		   					  aburt@du.edu

"But if he was dying he wouldn't bother to carve "Aaaaargh", he'd just say it."
From: kristen.m.altman@ccd.harris.com (Kristen Altman)
Newsgroups: comp.databases.informix
Subject: ESQL C and sqlerrd[2]
Date: 15 Dec 1992 14:13:11 -0500
Organization: Mailing List Gateway
Distribution: world
Reply-To: kristen.m.altman@ccd.harris.com (Kristen Altman)
NNTP-Posting-Host: emory.mathcs.emory.edu
X-Informix-List-ID: <list.1706>

I am receiving replies to my original message about fetch
returning 0 in sqlerrd[2] while sqlcode = 0.  The messages 
all say that sqlerrd[2] does not return the number of rows.

I am using ESQL/C version 4.1 and sqlerrd[2] DOES return the
number of rows in the active set.  This application I have
written works 99% of the time with sqlerrd[2] returning the
number of rows.  In fact, I got the idea to look at that 
variable for the number of rows from Dave Snyder (and I believe
he knows what he is talking about).  

In the ESQL/C manual it saya:
	...
	sqlerrd[2] is the number of rows processed.
	...

Therefore, does anyone have any idea what's going on with
this??

Any help is appreciated,
Kristen
-- 
*******************************************************
*                   Kristen Altman                    *
*                 kma@ccd.harris.com                  *
*              Harris Controls Division               *
*                   Melbourne, FL                     *
*******************************************************