HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: mcentral@netcom.com (Media Central)
Newsgroups: comp.databases.sybase
Subject: Re: Sequencer or Serial
Date: 15 Sep 92 00:19:56 GMT
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest)

In article <howard.716504676@judy.cs.iastate.edu> howard@cs.iastate.edu (Chris howard) writes:
>mparsons@fleming.csc.bcm.tmc.edu (Mark Parsons) writes:
>
>>Why not set up one table, with one column of type int.  Lock
>>the table when accessing/updating it.  The idea is that this
>>column will hold a counter . . . just increment the column
>>each time you read the number . . 
>
>>Mark
>
>Well, we thought of that, but we have been unable to determine how to
>get an exclusive lock on that column between the time that we read
>the counter, and the time it is updated.
>
>The best answer we've come up with is to use a trigger on Update to
>grab the value after incrementing it.  It seems like a hack... at best.
>

Try this :
begin tran
   update sequenc set col = col + 1		/* update first and then read */
   select @latest = col from sequenc where 1 = 1
end tran

By doing an update first within a transaction, you are imposing an 
Exclusive lock on the table(page). This method ensures that each user
recieves an unique number

cheers,
shahid ahmed
From: yslas@riverauswest.com ( Rob Yslas)
Newsgroups: comp.databases.sybase
Subject: Re: Question: Transaction log
Date: 15 Sep 92 18:17:57 GMT
Organization: U S WEST Advanced Technologies

In article <1992Sep15.124446.21526@uni-paderborn.de>, hackes@uni-paderborn.de (Markus Brakweh) writes:
> Hi folks.
> 
> I'm working with Accell/Sybase and got an astonishing effect.
> 
> When I gave the 4GL command 'update current record'
> I got the error message 'Transaction full.....' although I dumped the tran some seconds before.
> 
> Then I wrote 'insert into .....' instead of 'update current record' everything
                ^^^^^^^^^^^                    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Seems to me that Sybase handles these two situations differently.  If you are
updating the transaction log will keep two copies of the row(s), before and after
the transaction is completed.  When a dump transaction command is issued the 
log is up to the most recent checkpoint.  This may be related to how much space
the dump actually returned for logging purposes.  You may want to try running the
checkpoint command prior to the dump transaction or if you don`t care about the 
transaction log you may want to dump transaction with nolog or dump transaction 
to the null dump device.

Good luck,
Rob


-- 
yslas@uswat.uswest.com
Thanks
From: tmhoff@oogoody.Corp.Sun.COM (Todd Hoff)
Newsgroups: comp.databases.sybase
Subject: Re: Using NULLS
Date: 16 Sep 1992 00:49:27 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Distribution: world
Reply-To: tmhoff@oogoody.Corp.Sun.COM
NNTP-Posting-Host: oogoody.corp.sun.com

In article 26827@muug.mb.ca, dmenns@muug.mb.ca (Darren Enns) writes:
>It has lately been proposed at work -- just prior to going whole hog into
>Sybase client/server application development -- that the DBA's allow the
>use of blanks (and zeros) instead of forcing NULLS.  Since I am one of
>those DBA's, I need some 'real world' feedback from other DBA's to justify
>my position of using NULLS, otherwise I will be accused of simply insisting
>on an 'acedemia' concept that is impractical in the real world.  I am 
>already aware of the classic reason for NULLS -- meaningful number
>calculations.  I plead for more feedback -- either pro or con -- so that
>either I can justify my position or feel comfortable in abandoning it.
>Thanx!

You are righter than right! Tell the developers to build in a presentation
layer that mediates between the app and the database. This is good modular
programming practice. My guess is they don't want to filter user input.
I've been on both sides. The presentation layer takes care of all problems
both sending data to the database and getting data back out. Write a script
that parses the DDL to create structures and the correct routines.

For more technical reasons accepting blanks and 0s is loosing information.
Most likely someone doesn't mean a field has a value of 3 blanks, but that the 
field has no value at all. Sloppy data handling means you won't be able to
tell between the two cases. It's very bad practice to use data as a flag. Also, have
you ever tried to search on fields that have a variable numbers of blanks in 
them? Yuck. What about the sort orders? Another point is that it is very 
difficult to debug when important fields can be blank, you can't just visually 
inspect the data and see what the values are.

Don't let lazyness win.

Newsgroups: comp.databases.sybase
From: spe@cbqss1.att.com (Scott Elliott)
Subject: Re: Reporting a Sybase acknowledge bug #33245
Organization: AT&T Network Systems
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 18:04:36 GMT

This brings up one of my pet peaves about Sybase.  Since they don't tell
you about bugs, and don't send out EBFs to all supported users, you have
to encounter the bug BEFORE you can get the fix.  Admittedly, for some
problems, such as the one mentioned (a join problem), it's not critical,
but I have encountered problems where our database was corrupted,
and they new about the bug, and had an EBF.  With their new online system,
maybe this will get better, but I'd still rather not have to log into it
every once in a while to find out about serious problems.

Just for an example, I had a problem that corrupted our production database,
and they couldn't recover it, so I had to go to backups (and lost a day's
worth of data).  They sent me an EBF for the 4.2 server (EBF #930).
I installed it, and then encountered a problem doing backups, which they then
said they had a new EBF for (EBF #1007).

So what's my point?  If Sybase is not going to let me know about critical
bugs, what about people on the net?

I also received (accidently) an EBF list of bug fixes to the 4.8 server.  How
many people have found out about that?  (I know 4.9 is supposed to be released
(soon?) but because of support contract renewal problems (more fun!)  I
haven't received 4.8 (yet)).

-- 
Scott Elliott
AT&T Network Systems
spe@cbqss1.att.com
From: glarsson@igc.apc.org (Gustav Larsson)
Newsgroups: comp.databases.oracle
Subject: Oracle for Mac and DAL
Date: 15 Sep 92 02:51:00 GMT
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1607100001:000:410
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!glarsson    Sep 14 19:51:00 1992


I have read in several places that Oracle "supports" DAL, but 
the Oracle sales rep I talked with could not confirm this.  In
what way does Oracle support DAL?  I am interested in using DAL
to connect some front-ends that we already have with Oracle 
Server for Mac, which we also have.  Can this be done?  Are 
there other Oracle server products that support DAL?  Thanks!

-Gustav Larsson (glarsson@igc.org)
Newsgroups: comp.databases.sybase
From: vkrishna@iienext3.cim.eas.asu.edu (Vinu K. Krishnamurthy)
Subject: SQL SERVERS
Organization: Arizona State University
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 21:47:50 GMT


On the NeXT machines the Sybase Administrator Window does not show all my  
servers. It shows only the default Server: SYBASE. 
It does not show the remaining servers in the browser.

Reasons??????
From: mparsons@fleming.csc.bcm.tmc.edu (Mark Parsons)
Newsgroups: comp.databases.sybase
Subject: Re: Sequencer or Serial
Date: 14 Sep 1992 20:05:50 GMT
Reply-To: mparsons@fleming.csc.bcm.tmc.edu (Mark Parsons)
Organization: Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Tx
Originator: mparsons@fleming.csc.bcm.tmc.edu


In article <howard.716498215@judy.cs.iastate.edu>, howard@cs.iastate.edu (Chris howard) writes:
|> We need some help in discovering the most appropriate way
|> to achieve a non-repeating unique item number, like
|> the Sequencer facility in  Oracle, or the Serial datatype
|> in Informix.


I don't know what Informix does, and this may be oversimplified
for what you need . . . 

Why not set up one table, with one column of type int.  Lock
the table when accessing/updating it.  The idea is that this
column will hold a counter . . . just increment the column
each time you read the number . . 

Or as someone mentioned here in the past day or two, increment
and then read it to cut down on possiblities of deadlock?

Example:

	The column in the table has a value of, say, 25.  
Read the 25, and increment to 26 for the next person.(or
increment to 26 and read 26).  The largest int you can have
is something like 2^32 so you should have unique numbers for
awhile??

Mark

Newsgroups: comp.databases.sybase
From: pburry@manitou.cse.dnd.ca (Paul Burry)
Subject: Re: Sequencer or Serial
Organization: Canadian System Security Centre
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 92 02:55:50 GMT

In article <06ynl+l.mcentral@netcom.com> mcentral@netcom.com (Media Central) writes:
. . .
|begin tran
|   update sequenc set col = col + 1		/* update first and then read */
|   select @latest = col from sequenc where 1 = 1
|end tran
. . .

Why the 'where 1 = 1' ?  Is this some obscure optimizer work-around?

-- 
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Paul Burry			
Voice: (613)-991-7325		Internet: pburry@cse.dnd.ca
Fax:   (613)-991-7323		UUCP:	  ..!{uunet,cunews}!cse.dnd.ca!pburry
From: kono@csl.sony.co.jp (Shinji Kono)
Newsgroups: comp.databases.sybase
Subject: Re: Sybase + Unix 386 + X-Windows
Date: 15 Sep 92 23:47:59 GMT
Reply-To: kono@csl.sony.co.jp
Organization: Sony Computer Science Laboratory, Inc.

In article <1992Sep15.163247.25933@ghost.dsi.unimi.it> , 
	luciano@ghost.dsi.unimi.it (Luciano Candiani) writes 
>Do you know if it is possible to run Sybase
>in the X-window environment on a 386 based Unix
>machine?

Of course, you can use text base isql. But I find it is possible
to run DWB on xterm in this way.
    term=vt100 PRINTER="lpr -Pbb"
    export term PRINTER
    /mnt/SYBASE/bin/dwb
But you cannot use mouse pointer....

---
Shinji Kono @           kono@csl.sony.co.jp
Sony Computer Science Laboratory, Inc,Japan
Newsgroups: comp.databases.sybase
From: howard@cs.iastate.edu (Chris howard)
Subject: Sequencer or Serial
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames IA
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 19:16:55 GMT

We need some help in discovering the most appropriate way
to achieve a non-repeating unique item number, like
the Sequencer facility in  Oracle, or the Serial datatype
in Informix.

Any leads appreciated.

Thanks!

Chris Howard
Newsgroups: comp.databases.sybase
From: wfinnert@larry.shearson.com (Warren Finnerty)
Subject: Re: Sequencer or Serial
Organization: Lehman Brothers
	<06ynl+l.mcentral@netcom.com>
	<1992Sep15.025550.27360@manitou.cse.dnd.ca>
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 17:14:50 GMT

>In article <1992Sep15.025550.27360@manitou.cse.dnd.ca> pburry@manitou.cse.dnd.ca (Paul Burry) writes:
>
>   In article <06ynl+l.mcentral@netcom.com> mcentral@netcom.com (Media Central) writes:
>   . . .
>   |begin tran
>   |   update sequenc set col = col + 1		/* update first and then read */
>   |   select @latest = col from sequenc where 1 = 1
>   |end tran
>   . . .
>
>   Why the 'where 1 = 1' ?  Is this some obscure optimizer work-around?

Not needed I assure you.
However you might choose to use:

select @latest = max(col) from sequenc

That syntax makes it obv. what you are getting back.
Personal pref. I guess.
--
warren finnerty      | 388 Greenwich St.
Lehman Brothers      | NYC NY 10013
"Back off man!"      | wfinnert@shearson.com
 
Newsgroups: comp.databases
From: weller@osiris.cso.uiuc.edu (Bonnie Weller)
Subject: FoxPro2 problems
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 17:20:42 GMT


Hi,

I am trying to help a friend who just got Foxpro2 to print out her data.
(Her employer just got the program and she has had NO computer
experience.  I have had some dBASE IV experience)

Anyway, here is the scenario.  I hope it is not too convoluted.

She has a very large dbf file, called say, A.dbf. Using this file I
created a report called A.frx.  I wanted it to print using a
specific format.  The format allows for 2 records to be printed per
line.  Since file A.dbf is over 5000 records long, I want to print
out only those records which meet certain criteria.  So, using A.dbf, 
I created a query file called A.qpr.  It does the query fine, and when 
I look at it using the browse option in the query window, it shows the 
correct records.  However (you knew there was a however), when I save 
the file to use the report A.frx, and then look at the results in 
preview, it shows the same record 10 times instead of showing me the 10 
different records as it did in browse.  The format is correct though.  
When I go to print it out, it also prints the same record 10 times.  
(Also, the printing is all messed up, instead of getting lines and 
boxes I get weird symbols like @'s and a's.  I suspect this is do to
designating the wrong printer.  I have suggested she ask the fellow who 
installed the program to check on this) 

So, question number 1 is, how do I get the results from the query to
print out all the records selected using a pre-designed report form?

Question 2,  when I create a dbf file using the results of the
query, say Q.dbf, why can't I print out this file using the report
format?  Whenever I evoke the run report option, it always goes back
to using the A.dbf file even though I originally opened the Q.dbf 
file. 	I had hoped to be able to use the A.frx format using several
different files (which have the same database structure of course,
just different data entered in it)  The only way I have found I can
do this is to rename the A.dbf to something else, and then rename the
Q.dbf to A.dbf.  This seems inefficient to me.  There must be a better
way to do this.  

Question 3, is there a Foxpro2 book that addresses these types of 
questions?  I looked in the documentation that came with the software, 
plus Chou's "Understanding FoxPro 2", but neither book seemed to 
address this.  It seems to me this is a simple task, and one that 
most people would want to perform at some point, so surely Foxpro can 
do this.  I just can't seem to figure out how.  As usual, I know just 
enough to get me started but never enough to finish the job.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Bonnie 
weller@osiris.cso.uiuc.edu
From: kruytzer@ebe.eb.ele.tue.nl (Wido Kruijtzer)
Newsgroups: comp.databases
Subject: Record and file locking within Foxpro 2.0
Keywords: record locking, Foxpro 2.0, Codebase 4.5
Date: 9 Sep 92 09:01:24 GMT
Reply-To: kruytzer@eb.ele.tue.nl
Organization: Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands

I don't know if my previous posting came through, so here is a repost

I'm posting this for a friend of mine who hasn't got access to the internet.
I'm not an expert on this so I hope I did understand the question 
correctly.
The question is that he wants to know how the record and file locking
within Foxpro 2.0 works.
He is making an application using Foxpro 2.0 and Codebase 4.5 and has
encountered that when Foxpro 2.0 locks a record one can still access it 
whitin Codebase. 
Because he has the source of Codebase he wants to change this so it
will work well with Foxpro.
Wido Kruijtzer (kruytzer@eb.ele.tue.nl)
Eindhoven University of Technology
Digital Systems Group, Room EH 10.08
P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
From: wdh@holos0.uucp (Weaver Hickerson)
Newsgroups: comp.databases
Subject: Multiplatter CDROM jukeboxes questions
Date: 4 Sep 92 17:57:56 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Holos Software, Inc.

1.  Is there a CDROM jukebox device that will access, say, 100 5.25"
platters?

2.  If so, can anyone share any experiences with these?

I'll be hitting the library to research this, but I thought I'd look here
also.

Thanks,

Weaver
Newsgroups: comp.databases
From: dtodd@titan.ucc.umass.edu (David M. Todd)
Subject: Re: Advanced Revelation Users?
Organization: University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 20:04:29 GMT

In article <price.716151782@helios> price@helios.unl.edu (Chad  Price) writes:
>Count me as a user. There is also a employee of Rev Tech who follows this
>group. Perhaps you are volunteering to count the users of are to ascertain the
>interest level??

Yes, I'll do that.  I've gotten an email message from someone else, and
I'd be glad to keep track.  

David


|/ David M. Todd \ " " " " / Phone:  413/545-0158 \ " " " " /Fax: 413/545-5345\|
|DTodd@Titan.ucc.UMass.EDU [or todd@umass.bitnet or David Todd on UMass/Saturn]|
|Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003   USA|


Newsgroups: comp.databases
From: diesel@odie.ee.wits.ac.za (Bruce Diesel )
Subject: HELP - Cannot get APPEND to work in Clipper 5.01
Organization: Wits Electrical Engineering (Novell Users).
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 18:24:42 GMT

PLEEEEEAAAASE HELP

For some reason, probably my error, I cannot get the APPEND command to work 
in CLIPPER 5.01.

Will somebody please slap me on the forehead and explain why the following 
does not work?

SELECT 1
USE file1
SET INDEX TO file1ntx

APPEND FROM file2.dbf;
       FOR ((StartNo <= job_no) .AND. (StopNo >= job_no))

NOTE: The lcondition used in the FOR part of the command works fine in a 
COPY TO command. This is an abbreviated version of what I've written so I 
hope the error is elsewhere.

The program just flies through this piece of code!!!!

Thanks in advance.
   Bruce
**********************************************************************
*  Bruce Diesel            (011) 716-5444                            *
*  University of the Witwatersrand                                   *
*  Johannesburg                                                      *
*  South Africa            DIESEL@odie.ee.wits.ac.za                 *
**********************************************************************
From: kerrin@a.cs.wvu.wvnet.edu (Kerrin E Smith)
Newsgroups: comp.databases
Subject: Modular database info needed
Date: 8 Sep 92 10:24:35 GMT

Does anyone have any information on research conducted at the
University of Maryland on modular databases? I have heard that around
1987 a project existed which performed domain analysis on modular
databases and resulted in reusable database components. Any
references or leads would be greatly appreciated. Please reply to
smith@cards.com, if possible.

--
Kerrin Smith
Software Engineer
Azimuth, Inc.
smith@cards.com
From: tmhoff@oogoody.Corp.Sun.COM (Todd Hoff)
Newsgroups: comp.databases
Subject: Re: Databases & Ethics
Date: 11 Sep 1992 16:36:28 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Distribution: world
Reply-To: tmhoff@oogoody.Corp.Sun.COM
NNTP-Posting-Host: oogoody.corp.sun.com

In article 1608@eagle.ukc.ac.uk, dl1@ukc.ac.uk (Duncan Langford) writes:
>I feel this is a pretty important issue, and one having
>strong links to database issues, as well; but do people
>generally believe it's irrelevant? If so, this in itself
>is - to me - rather worrying.
>
>Comments, anyone?
>

Perhaps I missed your earlier post, but often you get more response
if you state your initial opinions first, the more disagreable the better.




Xref: sparky comp.databases:6622 comp.databases.theory:460 aus.general:1620 aus.ai:129
From: andrewm@uws.EDU.AU (Andrew Maclean)
Subject: Paradox 4.0 / FLImport
Summary: Where is FLImport.exe?
Keywords: Paradox 4.0, FLImport
Organization: University of Western Sydney
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 04:20:05 GMT


Why has Borland dropped their fixed length file import utility - FLImport.exe?

This was a particularly useful program in the sense that you could either
append to an existing database file, or create a new database file from 
a file of fixed length records.
A nice feature of this utility was the ability to name database fields, so your
users could use it to import data and you were assured of consistent file
names.  This is particularly important when the file were 7-35Mb in size with
up to 25 fields.

Have I just missed it - or has it gone for good?

If it has gone for good, what suggestions do you have?
I do not want to write a c-program to filter the data into a comma delimited
format on the grounds of it being an extra interface for the users and the 
use of large amounts of temporary disk space.
It was really convenient to be able to specify the fields, their names and
sizes and to just import the data.
I could accept that it would be difficult to write FLImport to handle BLOB's,
but memo fields could be handled as fixed length fields and later converted
to Memo fields.



+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Andrew J. P. Maclean                          E-mail: a.maclean@uws.edu.au  |
| University Planner,                                     andrewm@uws.edu.au  |
| University of Western Sydney,                  Phone: +61 2 678 7848        |
| PO Box 1000, St. Marys, N.S.W. 2760,             Fax: +61 2 678 7804        |
| Australia.                                                                  |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Xref: sparky comp.databases:6618 comp.lang.eiffel:1127
From: joet@dcatlas.dot.gov (Joe Trott)
Subject: Re: Paradox -- O Woe is Me!
Organization: U.S Dept. of Transportation
Distribution: comp.databases
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 16:38:41 GMT

exuptr@exu.ericsson.se (exuptr@exu.ericsson.se) writes:

>In article <5233@news.duke.edu> maria@acpub.duke.edu (Maria Spicer) writes:
>>From: maria@acpub.duke.edu (Maria Spicer)
>>Subject: Paradox -- O Woe is Me!
>>Date: 10 Sep 92 21:39:58 GMT


>>And so begins my Paradox nightmare...

...lots of grief deleted...

>I think your best bet is going to be re-modifying the table structure to
>exactly match what you had before the goof.  

Agreed.  Do you have an even older backup containing the old structure?
Do you have any printouts of it?

>Assuming you don't remember exactly what that was (fair assumption, i 
>think), you might try undeleting in your data directories, because paradox
>makes a temporary table when you do restructures, and it might still be 
>intact even though the "real table" is not.  Longshot, but worth a try.

Ditto.  You may need to play around with RENaming a lot of files first to
get this to work.

>Last but not least, call Borland tech support.  They may actually be able to 
>help you recover the reports / forms.  I'm assuming you cannot edit them, 
>either.

Not so sure.

>Good luck.

Very definitely.

-JTT
From: maria@acpub.duke.edu (Maria Spicer)
Newsgroups: comp.databases
Subject: Paradox -- O Woe is Me!
Date: 10 Sep 92 21:39:58 GMT
Distribution: comp.databases
Organization: Duke University; Durham, N.C.


And so begins my Paradox nightmare...

I accidentally copied an older version of my database over the
newest version, while in DOS.  I had recently made some minor
modifications to the structure (field width, etc.), so forms
and reports had been changed slightly by Paradox as a result.
Of course, in my diligent backing-up style, I also performed 
this screw-up on my back-up copy:

           HOW INCREDIBLY EFFICIENT OF ME!!!

I can deal with the loss of a little data, but now, when I 
attempt to access the forms and reports, I get a message that 
they are "obselete" or "corrupt".  These were very nice forms
that I had developed to perfection over the last two months;
I cannot deal with the idea of having to recreate them from
scratch. 

If anyone knows of a way to trick the program into believing
that the forms are okay, or has any other suggestions, 
condolences, etc., PLEASE let me know...

In advance, thanks,
Maria

-- 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^   Maria Spicer, DP Specialist		maria@soc.duke.edu           ^
^   140 Soc-Psych Bldg			919-660-5602                 ^
^   Duke University, Durham, NC		919-660-4317                 ^