Re: PERFORM FORMS: non-table input field help
Jonathon, If your book isn't very good on ACE and Perform then I would recommend Tony Lacy Thompson's book. I can't remember the title off hand but I always keep it by me for questions on Perform and ACE. I am not at home or I would quote the ISBN number. regards Malcolm -----Original Message----- From: Jonathan Leffler <jleffler@earthlink.net> To: informix-list@iiug.org <informix-list@iiug.org> Date: Monday, March 29, 1999 03:25 Subject: Re: PERFORM FORMS: non-table input field help >mabin001@tc.umn.edu wrote: >> Can anyone tell me how to implement a non-table input field on a >> form? I know from reading both the Informix Guide to SQL: Syntax >> and the SQL User Guide that it has something to do with using a >> "displayonly" field with the "allowing input" optional keywords. >> But I can't find a good example in the documentation that actually >> does this. Has anyone done this before with PERFORM? I know how >> to do such things with Informix 4gl and form4gl but my client hasn't >> purchased that product and I'd like to know if I can do this >> without it. > >Maybe you need the book - Using Informix-SQL - by yours truly. > >The biggest problem is deciding what you're going to do with the >value once it is entered. You might copy it, or a value calculated >from it, to another (probably NOENTRY) field for the table you are >really working with, but that is difficult to do since you have to >make the 'displaytable' into the current table to do the entry into >the displayonly field. So, normally, it is used with a custom runner >where most or all of the input is done via the displaytable and the >actual SQL processing is done with custom C (or, in this case, ESQL/C) >code built into a custom runner. You'll need a sufficiently current >version of the documentation and a compatible ESQL/C compiler to be >able to create a custom Perform runner. > >Actually, my book doesn't cover custom ACE or Perform - probably the >biggest oversight. > >On average, it is probably as easy (and as cheap!) to buy I4GL as it >is to spend the time getting this up and running. > >-- >Jonathan Leffler (jleffler@informix.com, jleffler@earthlink.net) >Guardian of DBD::Informix v0.60 -- see http://www.perl.com/CPAN >#include <disclaimer.h> > >
Malcolm Weallans wrote: > If your book isn't very good on ACE and Perform It doesn't cover custom versions of ACE or Perform, mainly because I forgot and only realized a year or two ago that it was missing. It covers all other aspects of ACE and Perform pretty well -- IMNSHO, of course. > I would recommend Tony Lacy Thompson's book. Fair enough. It doesn't cover custom ACE or Perform either, though. I just went and looked (to check whether I was being unjustifiably chagrined, but I'm not). > I can't remember the title off hand but I always keep > it by me for questions on Perform and ACE. I am not at home > or I would quote the ISBN number. Informix-SQL: A tutorial and reference Tony Lacy-Thompson, Prentice-Hall, 1991, ISBN 0-13-465121-9. Alternatively: Using Informix-SQL Jonathan Leffler, Addison-Wesley, 1990, ISBN 0-201-56509-9. -- Jonathan Leffler (jleffler@informix.com, jleffler@earthlink.net) Guardian of DBD::Informix v0.60 -- see http://www.perl.com/CPAN #include <disclaimer.h> Jonathan Leffler <jleffler@earthlink.net> wrote: > >mabin001@tc.umn.edu wrote: > >> Can anyone tell me how to implement a non-table input field on a > >> form? I know from reading both the Informix Guide to SQL: Syntax > >> and the SQL User Guide that it has something to do with using a > >> "displayonly" field with the "allowing input" optional keywords. > >> But I can't find a good example in the documentation that actually > >> does this. Has anyone done this before with PERFORM? I know how > >> to do such things with Informix 4gl and form4gl but my client > >> hasn't purchased that product and I'd like to know if I can do > >> this without it. > > > >Maybe you need the book - Using Informix-SQL - by yours truly. > > > >The biggest problem is deciding what you're going to do with the > >value once it is entered. You might copy it, or a value calculated > >from it, to another (probably NOENTRY) field for the table you are > >really working with, but that is difficult to do since you have to > >make the 'displaytable' into the current table to do the entry into > >the displayonly field. So, normally, it is used with a custom runner > >where most or all of the input is done via the displaytable and the > >actual SQL processing is done with custom C (or, in this case, > >ESQL/C) > >code built into a custom runner. You'll need a sufficiently current > >version of the documentation and a compatible ESQL/C compiler to be > >able to create a custom Perform runner. > > > >Actually, my book doesn't cover custom ACE or Perform - probably the > >biggest oversight. > > > >On average, it is probably as easy (and as cheap!) to buy I4GL as it > >is to spend the time getting this up and running.