Editing Restrictions

The SQL editor does not display more than 80 characters on a line and does not wrap lines, as the following two such restrictions show:

• If you choose an existing command file in which the characters in a line extend beyond the 80th column, DB–Access displays a percent sign (%) in the 80th column to indicate an overflow. You cannot see all the characters beyond the percent sign, but the statement should run correctly.
• If you type characters in a new command file so that a line extends beyond the 80th column, DB–Access overwrites all the characters in the 80th column. You cannot see the overflow, and the statement does not run correctly.

To make the full text appear on the screen, press RETURN at a logical place in the first 80 characters of each line. If you need to type a quoted character string that exceeds 80 characters, such as an insert into a long CHAR column, use a system editor instead of the SQL editor.

If you want to include comments in the text:

• Use double minus signs for ANSI-compliant databases.
• Preface each comment line with a double minus sign (--) comment indicator. The comment indicator spans the entire line.
• Use braces ({ }) for databases that are not ANSI-compliant. Enclose the entire comment indicator between the braces.

When you use the SQL editor, you can type as many lines of text as you need. You are not limited by the size of the screen, although you might be limited by the memory constraints of your system or the maximum SQL statement size of 64 kilobytes.

If you insert more lines than one screen can hold, the SQL editor scrolls down the page with the additional text. The beginning and ending line numbers of the current page are displayed on the fourth line of the text-entry screen, as Figure 10 shows.

NEW: ESC  = Done editing        CTRL-A = Typeover/Insert    CTRL-R = Redraw
     CTRL-X = Delete character  CTRL-D = Delete rest of line

-- 3 to 20 of 20 ---- mystores@dbserver1 ------- Press CTRL-W for Help ----

When you finish entering a new SQL statement or statements, press ESC to return to the SQL menu.