Re: How to read Flat files from 4gl

I hate having to do this, but ... }From: dennisp@informix.com (Dennis Pimple) }Date: 17 May 1995 14:21:00 GMT }X-Informix-List-Id: <news.13978> } }Joel Schumacher (jschumac@uns-dv1) wrote: }: habibollah valanejad (vala@netcom.com) wrote: }: : billy.wheeler@digitec.co.za (Billy Wheeler) writes: } }: : >-> I have a requirment to read the flat file from 4GL. Is there any way }: : >-> to do it. } }: : >... } }: You know, this seems to be one of the most common requests. I see it in }: FAQ's, I've heard of other companies writing their own C for this, and }: I've seen this in software packages selling this feature. } }: This need seems almost universal. Isn't it time that Informix recognize }: this and provide it as part of the language so that it can be a standard }: as to how to read a flat-file? }Feature Request #175, first entered 7/25/1988 (!), Status of YES for }version 5.00. Version 5 of I4GL is now called NewEra. }Of course, we have since jumped to version 6.x without }stopping at 5, and the early releases of 6.x are bug-fix and }compatibility to OnLine 6.x only, with few new features. Version 6 I4GL is the same as Version 4 I4GL except for NLS support and the new connectivity methods. }I imagine this feature will be added to the product soon ("soon" being }relative, of course). I also imagine johnl will follow up this post }with some clarification (thus adding once again to the debt I am }accruing with Mr. Leffler). In this case 'soon' means 'probably not this side of the change in millenium'. You will need to check the NewEra manuals separately to see what is available there. There are a large number of Feature Requests, not to mention quite a few bugs, which have higher priority than this one, despite its venerability. This is primarily because FR175 would be satisfied by providing a set of library routines to handle the task. These would standardize the flat file I/O, but would otherwise be indistinguishable from the various sets of flat-file handling code lurking around on the net. However, it is simple enough to provide a solution. Many of the other FRs and all the bugs require work which cannot be done by third parties without access to the main I4GL source code; these must have a higher priority than something which can be worked around so easily. Yours, Jonathan Leffler (johnl@informix.com) #include <disclaimer.h>