ftp.robelle3000.ai 2014/2014.06.ftp.robelle3000.ai.tar/ftp.robelle3000.ai/newsletter/1995/w1995-06.txt

Text File | 1995-12-12 | 20KB | 506 lines

       What's Up, DOCumentation?



       Robelle Consulting Ltd.
       Unit 201, 15399-102A Ave.
       Surrey, B.C. Canada  V3R 7K1
       Toll-free: 1-800-561-8311
       Phone: [phone]
       Fax: [phone]
       E-mail: [e-mail]
       WWW: http://www.robelle.com

Date:  December 13, 1995

From:  Robert M. Green, CEO
       David J. Greer, President
       Francois Desrochers, Editor of the Month

To:    Users of Robelle Software

Re:    News of the HP 3000 and of HP-UX, 1995 #6

     What You Will Find in This News Memo:

       News Tidbits
       Introducing STExport
       Technical Tips
       About Robelle
       Robelle Products:  Problems, Solutions, and Suggestions
       FAQ, Frequently Asked Questions


                                 News Tidbits

Collaboration between SCO, Novell and HP.

There is an interesting article in the October 1995 issue of HP Omni magazine.
The editor, Tim Cullis, gives some details on the agreement between HP, Novell
and SCO to "take UNIX and NetWare into the next century". Initially, Novell
will hand-over its UNIX business to SCO who will continue to enhance and
support their own OpenServer in addition to UnixWare.  The plan calls for
merging the two operating systems some time in 1997.

On the other hand, Novell and HP will work on integrating NetWare Directory
Services (NDS) and Open Software Foundation's Distributed Computing
Environment (DCE). Basically, they want to replace DCE with the new extended
NDS. At the same time, HP will provide SCO with HP-UX extensions to ease the
move from a 32-bit to a 64-bit UNIX environment.  The latter will be developed
by HP and should be available in 1998.  In the words of Tim Cullis,
"...effectively Hewlett-Packard is delivering Novell's SuperNOS strategy (UNIX
and NetWare sharing a common kernel)".

What is in store for MPE/iX? Again, according to Tim Cullis, it is unlikely
that we will see a true MPE/iX 64-bit version.  It will probably run under
64-bit UNIX or in parallel on a separate processor.


                     STExport - Another Tool for the Belt

In the last few months, our tech support people have received numerous
requests for changes to Suprtool's Output ,Prn option. Customers have found
that various database management system (DBMS) utilities cannot import files
with the standard Prn format into their databases. Some databases complain
about the quotes around byte-type fields, and others do not like commas as
field delimiters. Some customers just want more control over such things as
trailing spaces, leading zeroes and sign placement.

STExport allows users to format files that can be imported into their own
spreadsheet or DBMS. STExport works on four data-types and has six different
formatting commands to manipulate these data-types.


Data-Types. Each STExport formatting

command applies to all the fields with a specific data-type.  That means you
can specify the format of each field type, but not of each individual field.
For example, all numeric-type fields are formatted the same way.

These are the main data-types that STExport identifies:

Byte-Type       STExport assumes that character information is

                stored in byte-type fields.  By default, all byte-type fields
                are surrounded by quotes and trailing spaces are removed.

Numeric-Type    The numeric data-types are integer, logical,

                floating-point, packed, and display.  STExport converts the
                internal representation of each data-type into an ASCII string
                of digits.  By default, all numeric-type fields have a leading
                sign and are variable length.  Where appropriate, numeric-type
                fields get a decimal point after the conversion.

Floating-Type   All commands that affect numeric-type fields

                also affect floating-type fields.  In addition, you can use
                the Floating command to specify the format and decimal places
                for floating-type fields (e.g., Classic or IEEE floating-point
                numbers).

Date-Type       If a field has a date format, STExport

                does extra formatting.  By default, dates are formatted into
                yyyymmdd (e.g., 19951125).

Use the following table to determine which command applies to each data-type:

     Command       Data-Type

     Date          date
     Floating      floating
     Quote         byte
     Sign          numeric
     Spaces        byte
     Zero          numeric


Column and Delimiter Commands.

You can also specify the delimiters between each field or whether the output
is in a fixed or variable format.


Sample Run of STExport


Before you can use STExport to convert a file, first create a self-describing
file by using Suprtool's Link or Query option with the Output command.  We
recommend the Link option because it retains the date and decimal formats
specified in the Item commands. This information is used by STExport.

Then you can use STExport to read the self-describing file and produce an
output file called Exfile. To demonstrate how dates are handled, you insert a
separator in each date-field.

     :run stexport.pub.robelle
     $input salefile      {self-describing input file}
     $date  yyyymmdd "-"  {dates with a dash separator}
     $sign trailing       {sign is trailing}
     $output exfile       {output to file called Exfile}
     $xeq

The resulting file will look like this,

         2222,1995-03-31,1,0.11,1995-01-01,1,0.01,0.01,"joe's hardware"

Only the last field is a byte-type.  All other fields are converted from their
internal numeric representation to a string of digits.  All date fields are
converted from their internal yyyymmdd format to the external yyyymmdd format
with a dash separator between the day, month, and year. All fields with
implied decimal places have a decimal point after the conversion.  A comma is
used to separate individual fields.

STExport is available from within Suprtool by typing the Export command and
passing the STExport command name.

     >export input salefile

STExport will be distributed free of charge to all Suprtool customers as part
of the Suprtool 3.8 release in 1996.  Until then, it is available in
Suprtool's latest pre-release version (3.7.22).



                                Technical Tips


Qedit 4.4 Manual in WinHelp Format.

You will notice something new in the Qedit 4.4 manual: a 3.5" floppy disk in
the back cover.  This disk contains the full contents of the printed Qedit
User Manuals for both MPE and HP-UX in the Microsoft Windows Help format.
These Help files can be used with Windows 3.1 and Windows 95. To install the
Help files, insert the disk in your 3.5" drive and run a:setup. You can make
copies of the disk for others in your organization.  You can also download the
Help files from our Internet FTP site at ftp.robelle.com.


Windows 95 Tips for MPE Users.

Many of our customers have started to upgrade some of their PCs to Windows 95.
At first they notice the new user interface with the Start button, the 3D
look, and the new graphics architecture.  The Windows 3.1 Program Manager is
banished and its Program Groups have become folders, which can now contain
nested folders. Most old Windows applications can still run on Windows 95, but
old utilities cannot. Then users may notice:

  *  the extended system resources limit
  *  pre-emptive multitasking (take the machine away from long-running
     tasks) if you are running only 32-bit applications (no 16-bit legacy
     applications)
  *  multithreading
  *  memory protection (not as good as NT though)
  *  TCP/IP networking
  *  Microsoft Network
  *  Plug-and-Play recognition of new peripherals
  *  long filenames
  *  wizards to make common tasks easier, and much more.

So why doesn't Windows 95 completely supplant Windows NT?  There are several
good reasons:  memory protection does not completely protect system data from
user applications as in NT, the design is a 16/32-bit hybrid for backward
compatibility, the file system is still based on the original FAT system of
DOS and wastes considerable disk space, international characters are still
handled via the clumsy ANSI character set with code pages instead of Unicode
(check http://www.unicode.org), and pre-emptive multitasking is only ensured
when all applications are running in 32-bit mode.

To display the Windows 95 logo, an application must satisfy the following
requirements:

  *  all code must be compiled in 32-bit mode
  *  must respond to interapplication drag-and-drop through OLE
  *  must provide automated setup and uninstall
  *  must provide small and large icons for toolbars, etc.
  *  must support long filenames (no 8.3 character restrictions on
     filenames)
  *  must detect changes to screen resolution, addition of new devices, etc.

Any respectable Windows 95 application should also use Tab controls for long
dialogs, a 3D appearance for user interface elements, the right mouse button
to bring up property pages (context menus).  It should also be able to move
.INI file attributes into the new System Registry and expose its capabilities
to other applications and developers as an OLE server.


Windows 95 Shortcuts.

Windows 95 uses the same keystroke shortcuts as Windows 3.x, plus many new
shortcuts some of which combine the mouse with keystrokes. For example,

  *  CTRL+ESC brings up the Start menu
  *  Windows key on your Microsoft Natural Keyboard brings up the Start Menu
  *  SHIFT+F10 views the shortcut menu for a selected item
  *  CTRL+SHIFT+drag creates a shortcut
  *  SHIFT+DELETE deletes an item without undelete.  DELETE puts item in
     the Recycle Bin
  *  ALT+ENTER views item's properties
  *  ALT+V+T adds Toolbar to any folder or "applet"
  *  SHIFT held down while you insert a CD disables "auto-play"
  *  CTRL+ALT+DEL brings up list of active tasks you can kill
  *  Click+drag moves an item, while CTRL+drag copies it (you can also use
     CTRL+C to copy, CTRL+X to move, and CTRL+V to paste)


Window Overlay in Windows 95.

By default Windows 95 opens a new window for every folder that you open. This
can make your desktop look a little messy and make it difficult to find
folders.  To solve this, you can get Windows 95 to re-use your current window
with the opened folder.  To change the default, you must do the following:

  *  Click on Start
  *  Go to the Settings Menu
  *  Click on Control Panel
  *  Pull down the View Menu
  *  Select Options
  *  Select Folder from the Tab menu
  *  Select the Radio Button for:
     "Browse folders by using a single window that changes as you
     open each folder."

Voila!  Now you can re-use each window while browsing for your application.


Windows 95 and Chinese Characters.

In a previous What's Up DOCumentation? article, we mentioned that some
existing Windows software packages for inputting and displaying Chinese
characters do not work under Windows 95.  The situation has improved since
then.

Twinbridge Chinese Partner, NJ-Win, and UnionWay are some of the software
packages that have released new versions. Besides being compatible with
Windows 95, these programs include support for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean
characters. You can use them in conjunction with popular Web browsers to view
Asian Web sites.  You can download working demos of these programs from
ftp://ftp.cnd.org/pub/software/ms-win/c-sys/. Microsoft has also announced
that Windows 95 will be available in Taiwan, Japan, and Korea at the end of
November.


Missing Taskbar.

One of our techies spent four days without a Taskbar (and no Start button)
trying to figure out why he had only a thin grey line at the bottom of the
screen.  It turned out that he had "minimized" his Taskbar.  To revive it, he
brought the cursor arrow down over the grey line until the arrow changed into
a skinny arrow. Then he dragged the Taskbar line up until it "maximized".


Shutdown Warning.

Don't just turn off your system when you are done. You must shut it down
properly or your files won't get updated. The same warning applies to the
32-bit file system in Windows 95. You can use ALT+F4 to close the current
application.

For More Information: Consult Yahoo's Win95 page (http://www.yahoo.com).

Final Tip: The CD-ROM version of Windows 95 includes the Windows 95 Resource
Kit, which is both indexed and searchable.



                                About Robelle

Welcome Allen James Greer.

Since October 11th, a new person has taken residency in the Greer's household.
Allen James Greer, weighing a healthy 10 pounds 4 ounces (4720 grams), made
his official entry into the world.  He is the third child of David Greer,
Robelle's president, and his wife Karalee.  Both parents and the baby are
doing fine.

According to David, Allen's older siblings, Jocelyn and Kevin, have adjusted
well to their baby brother.  He is not sleeping through the night yet, but he
is getting closer.  Mom and dad might catch up on their sleep by springtime.

Congratulations, David and Karalee, and welcome, Allen.


           Robelle Products:  Problems, Solutions, and Suggestions


Suprtool  Version 3.7

Incorrect Duplicate Totals.

One of our customers discovered a problem with the Total function on the
Duplicate command.  This customer was reading a flat file and used Duplicate
to generate sub-totals on two fields.  After some verification, he noticed
that some totals were incorrect.  Here is an example of the task:

     >input datafile
     >define department,1,9
     >define unit-count,10,4,display
     >define unit-value,14,8,display
     >define unit-size,22,9,display
     >define location,31,1
     >sort department
     >extract department
     >duplicate none keys total unit-count unit-value
     >list standard

After investigating, we discovered that the problem only occurs when Suprtool
deals with odd-length records in the Input file or in the Extract record.
Most totals are correct, but some are not.  The problem appears in version 3.7
and has been fixed in pre-release 3.7.12 and higher.  Pre-releases are
available on request for customers with support contracts.

As a workaround, you can pad the Extract record with some additional
information to make records an even length.  For the example above, we can
make the following modification,

     >extract department, " "



Qedit  Version 4.3

Correct Number of Commas.

A customer received a comma-delimited file from an outside source.  He had to
edit some of the fields to make sure they would not get rejected during the
import operation.  He also wanted to make sure that he had the exact number of
fields, no more, no less.

Let us assume that the file contains six fields and that the fields do not
contain commas.  In a normal comma-delimited file, we expect each record to
contain five commas.  If records contained fields with commas, however, the
field count may not be accurate.

     This,line,has,exactly,six,fields.
     This,line,has,more,than,six,fields.
     This,line,has,only five,fields.

We need to use the Pattern option and the QeditCount JCW to make sure there
are no more than five commas.

     /list "@,@,@,@,@,@,@" (pattern)
     if qeditcount > 0 then
        echo ***** !qeditcount lines with too many commas *****
     endif

Similarly, we can use the following commands to make sure the records have at
least five commas.  Notice that we are also using the Nomatch option on the
List command.

     /list "@,@,@,@,@,@" (pattern nomatch)
     if qeditcount > 0 then
        echo ***** !qeditcount line(s) with too few commas *****
     endif

You might want to put all these commands into a single command file and call
it Chkcomma.  Running Chkcomma from Qedit would give us the following results:

     /chkcomma
         2     This,line,has,more,than,six,fields.
     1 line found
     ***** 1 line(s) with too many commas *****
         3     This,line,has,only five,fields.
     1 line found
     ***** 1 line(s) with too few commas *****



Frequently Asked Questions

How can I enter a long If command in Suprtool?

A Suprtool command line cannot exceed 256 characters. You can reach this limit
if you try to stack all your task commands into a single entity.

     base ...;get ...;sort ...; &
     extract ...; duplicate ...; if ...; &
     output ...;xeq

The only solution in this situation is to put individual commands on separate
lines.  Then you can control the length of each command.  If you are not
stacking commands, you may also run into this problem if you use a long and
complex If command.  In that case, there are different ways to get around the
problem.

If your command is complex and you are using long item names, you can assign
shorter names by using Define statements.  Then you can refer to the same item
by using the short or long form.

     define low,re-order-quantity
     define curqty,on-hand-quantity

At the expense of readability, you can also remove unnecessary spaces. For
example, you can use if curqty<low instead of if on-hand-qty <
re-order-quantity.

If your If command is too long because your list contains numerous values, you
can load these values into a table.

     table itemtbl,item-no,item,"111111"
     table itemtbl,item-no,item,"222222"
     table itemtbl,item-no,item,"333333"
     if $lookup(itemtbl,item-no)

This table can replace the following If command,

     if item-no="111111","222222","333333"

If you cannot apply these suggestions to your situation, you can also use the
$READ function.  The maximum length of the If command is then based on the
complexity of the expression and not its length.

The $READ function reads the If expression from $STDINX, or from the use-file
when it contains the If command.  $READ continues to prompt for input lines
until you press Return or enter "//".  You must remember to enter all the
necessary parts of the If expression including connectors like "and", "or" and
commas. With $READ, you do not need an ampersand (&) to continue from one line
to the next.

     >get m-supplier
     >if $read                  {prompt for the expression}
     -cust-status = "20" and    {$READ prompts with "-"}
     -state = "AZ",             {the comma is still needed}
     -        "OR"              {no comma on the last line}
     -                          {blank line to terminate $READ}


Xpress  Version 3.1.04

Xpress Enhanced for E-mail Responses.

After reading an incoming mail message, Xpress asks you where it should put
the message. Typically, you might keep it in your Filing Cabinet, or Waste
Basket for further attention. Xpress then prompts you for a reply, which will
automatically be sent to the author of the original message.

Since it has become customary for a reply to quote text from the original
message, the latest pre-release version of Xpress (3.1.04) has been enhanced
to make this easier.  If you select Out Basket (option 3) as the destination
for an incoming message and then select Edit Message (option 6), Xpress will
automatically save the original text in your Waste Basket, as well as copy it
into the outgoing text file for editing.  You can then quote the original
message in your reply without affecting the saved copy of the original
message.

This pre-release version of Xpress is available on request for customers with
support contracts.


Tip for Formatting Replies.

It is customary to mark quoted text with a ">" in column 1.  It is also common
to have a standard heading and footing.  Here is a simple Qedit command file
to quickly pre-format an e-mail response. It requires a file (HDR) with your
standard header text and a file (SIG) with your preferred footer.  Both of
these files must be in your current logon group.

Respond.cmd:
     /changeq 1 ">" @   { insert a ">" in front of each line }
     /addq 0 = HDR      { Insert the contents of HDR file before }
                        { the first quoted line }
     /addq ] = SIG      { Append the standard footing from file SIG }
     /vis 1             { edit the reply in full-screen mode }