Very Computer

Hi Ingres Gurus:

What I want to do:
        I want let users write down their comments ( 6 lines ) and save
        those comments.

What I am trying to do:
        1. create a 6 lines box through 'vifred'
        2. let users write their comments into box
        3. save users' input

What I have done:
        1. created a 6 lines box through vifred.

Do you have experience about use Ingres 4GL to handle item 2 and item 3 ?

Thanks.

-Jane

I spent quite some time pulling hair out over this one myself.

In the end created six single line fields, one above the other, and put
box trim around them to make them look like one field. (If you use one,
multiline field then when the user presses 'Return' at the end of a line
they are taken to the next field - very unnatural).

Then when the user selects a 'Save' menu option, the six single fields
are concatenated into one long hidden field, which is then stored as one
field in a data table. The only thing you need to make sure of is that
you use the correct data type (can't remember if it's char or varchar or
what), otherwise all the spaces are compressed out when the fields are
concatenated.

Not an elegant solution I know, but it worked for me.

Matt Reeve.

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Hope this helps.

Jerry.
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Quote:

> What I am trying to do:
>    1. create a 6 lines box through 'vifred'
>    2. let users write their comments into box

As soon as you display your form on the screen, unless you have made
the field display only or invisible, you user will be able to enter
text.  Check the attributes of the field in vifred.

Quote:>    3. save users' input

INSERT INTO <tablename>  (column-name) VALUES (:<fieldname>);

You are probably gonna want to do some reading in your SQL and 4GL
manuals.

--
Leslie E Murphy

Dept. of Oncology
McGILL University
Tel.: 514 398 6026
Fax.: 514 398 3209

I also added a function which allows the user to edit the comment with
a text editor.  It creates a temporary table, saves the comment to the
table, uses the COPY command to copy the comment to a text file,
invokes an editor on the text file, copies the text back into the temp
table, and loads the temp table into the table field.  I use a shell
script to invoke the editor which preprocesses the text file to
eliminate trailing white space, uses the EDITOR environment variable to
determine the editor, checks the file after editing to make sure the
user hasn't created any lines longer than the column width, and gives
the user the option of fixing the file before exiting.

I would be happy to send you the code if you wish.

Robert Perlberg
Dean Witter Reynolds Inc., New York

"We don't believe the software industry is ripping off the customer."
        -- Ken Wasch, executive director of the Software Publishers Association