Re: How to change many rows at once on a form?

Denis J. Pimple wrote in response to the following query: >>Greetings Netters, >> >>I'm fairly new to Informix (& databases generally) and have >>only limited C skills so apologies now for daft questions. >>I manage a small database with ISQL-SE 4.00 & ISQL 4.01 under SunOS 4.1.3. >> >>One problem I have is how can an end-user update a number of records >>in an identical manner without duplicating effort? >>E.G. if a query on an ISQL form finds, say, 10 out of a hundred >>records how can I update all 10 in the same way without going >>edit/escape/next 10 times? >No real easy way, although I suppose you could create a trigger in the >database engine that would update all matching records when one is >updated. >>Am I right in thinking this is all 'simple' with 4GL? >Absolutely. [stuff deleted extolling the virtues of 4gl] I must rise to the defence of ISQL because it is not as limited as you might be led to believe. The sql statement to do this update is as easy as update tablename set rowname="newdata" where <condition> Don't be afraid to let users access the database via RDSQL (the Query Language option) as well as through forms. I found the time spent training users in sql paid off in a reduction in the volume of queries that I (the DBA) have to deal with personally. BTW, does anyone else remember the pre-SQL version of Informix? That had an *interactive* update command which gave you the opportunity to confirm or abort the update on a row-by-row basis. Alas, it was eliminated in the *improved* Informix-SQL, proving once more that the latest is not always the greatest. ** Opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily those of my employer ========================================================================= Barry Toomey Phone +353-1-2822333 AT&T Network Systems Ireland Fax +353-1-2822864 Corke Abbey Avenue, email: bt@irl3b2c.att.comm Bray, uunet: att!irl3b2c!bt Co. Dublin Ireland =========================================================================