Re: echo from inside a ACE report

Hi, Use any Unix technique you like to get the user to specify the start and end dates. For example: echo "Enter start date: \\c" read from_date echo "Enter finish date: \\c" read to_date Note that this does not validate the dates. You could look at the System V packaging tools which has the command ckdate (ckdate -- prompts for and validates a date). It's in /usr/bin on my Sun running Solaris 2.4. from_date=`ckdate -p 'Enter start date: '` to_date=`ckdate -p 'Enter finish date: '` In the report, use the notation: DEFINE PARAM[1] from_date DATE PARAM[2] to_date DATE Do not use the INPUT block. And then pass the parameters to the report: sacego -s -d "$OURDBNAME" "$OURPATH/${arcName}" "$from_date" "$to_date" > $RptFile & echo "Processing started, please wait ...\\c" wait echo "Processing complete" Yours, Jonathan Leffler (johnl@informix.com) #include <disclaimer.h> >From: dblewi2@uswest.com (Don Lewis) >Date: Mon, 19 Feb 1996 10:20:08 -0700 >X-Informix-List-Id: <news.21419> > >I have an ACE report that is prompting for a begin and end date and then >doing a join with one accounting table against 15 state data tables: this >takes time to process. I have a customer that would like to see >"Processing started, please wait ..." displayed to the screen right after >they enter the end date. > >This report is being executed from a kshell using the lines: >sacego -s -d "$OURDBNAME" "$OURPATH/${arcName}" > $RptFile >retval=$? > >Does anyone know of a way do print/echo/diplay a message out to the >user's screen from inside the execution of "sacego arcName"? My >experience shows that sdterr and stdout are both being sent to my >$RptFile. > >Help..... > >Thanks in advance, Don Lewis >easiest email address to use for me: dblewi2@uswest.com