tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882871489986622702011-10-26T10:05:51.912+01:00Secrets from the life of Ffenics, DataEase for Windows, DOS and .NET consultant Adrian JonesAdrian Jonesnoreply@blogger.comBlogger161100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588287148998662270.post-22173097950164161582010-07-18T08:06:00.000+01:002010-07-18T08:06:42.170+01:00

I've been trawling through past articles and snippets that I've written, and came across this letter to the new editor of Dialogue in which I disagreed with an article in the previous issue. I don't remember ever sending this! But since I don't disagree with what I wrote then (this was April 2002), and since I still see DOS-like code permeating DfW and Ff apps, I'll print it now. You'll have

Adrian Jonesnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588287148998662270.post-41457241095650431692010-04-15T10:25:00.002+01:002010-04-15T10:30:05.297+01:00

I’ve been thinking a lot about relationships recently, but writing a ‘Definitive Guide’ seems such an enormous task that I’ve decided to make this a parts work, and focus on one area per blog. Here’s a rough guide to where I’m going, though. Relationships are one of the jewels in the DE-Ff crown. The simple connection of one table to another by common values yields many possibilities. Yet these

Adrian Jonesnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588287148998662270.post-8194665525072119642010-02-16T06:24:00.001Z2010-02-16T06:30:53.701Z

I'm sure you know this one, don't you? If, in any Windows version of DataEase or Ffenics, you are happily developing away and you get the dreaded "Exception" message to tell you that all the work you just didn't save is heading down to Rio, then: Curse Curse again Click the DataEase or Ffenics screen behind the message BEFORE you click ok, and Go File -- Save/Save As, etc Now click the GPF ok

Adrian Jonesnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588287148998662270.post-33791777358632482142010-02-11T18:23:00.004Z2010-02-12T07:22:25.039Z

Just found out something I didn't know re scripting. If you are in the object about which you are scripting, you can omit the object name. So, for example, if this is the ValueChanged event for FieldA, you DON'T need: FieldA.Fill.Color.Red := 255 . etc But can get away with: Fill.Color.Red := 255 . Show () . Which saves some typing! (I will also save some typing by NOT going back to old

Adrian Jonesnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588287148998662270.post-13778520835636199732010-02-09T10:52:00.002Z2010-02-12T07:17:56.653Z

Just uploaded a new article to my website about my time in New York working on the World Trade Center disaster, and developing a new application for the Office of Chief Medical Examiner. I think this is the third version I have written. The first appeared in Dialogue Magazine circa Winter 2001/2002, and I have no idea how to get hold of a copy. The second was included in a volume of writings

Adrian Jonesnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588287148998662270.post-82978514983627863182010-01-26T05:15:00.005Z2010-01-26T12:03:08.337Z

I'm probably going straight to hell, but ... Our Ffenics, Who art F7, Relationships be named. Thy index come, F10 be done In DOS as it is in Windows. Give us this day our DQL And forgive us our table views, As we forgive those who table view against us. Lead us not into temp form But deliver us from Access. For thine is the function, The aspect and the query. For ... ; enter a record .end

Adrian Jonesnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588287148998662270.post-70532886606161837712010-01-20T17:55:00.001Z2010-01-20T17:55:50.129Z

Time for some daft, ‘out there’ ideas … and a bit of fun. Here’s the goal: let’s imagine an environment, such as a busy, messy factory floor, where gloves and mess make it impossible to use a keyboard. So you have a touch-sensitive screen, covered with a suitable protective layer, and want to give users the ability to look up something by typing in a reference number or keyword. You need an

Adrian Jonesnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588287148998662270.post-70428648596519146962010-01-13T11:51:00.000Z2010-01-13T11:51:18.049Z

On DE/FF Ears: Looking Up

Adrian Jonesnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588287148998662270.post-86165863467321429902010-01-12T20:13:00.000Z2010-01-12T20:13:34.282Z

Following from my last post we should consider how you use script to point from an object in a main form to a specific row in a subform. Here, life is not so rosy. Yes, this script will copy main form value to subform: MySubform.MySubformField.Value := MainFormField.value . MySubform.MySubformField.show () . The trouble is, this will only update the first visible subform row. Now, if you're

Adrian Jonesnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588287148998662270.post-78189166783613494292010-01-12T15:08:00.002Z2010-01-13T11:49:43.739Z

Here's a quick Ffenics scripting snippet, on my mind since it just came up in a bit of support. Should also apply to DataEase for Windows 6.52 and 7.x. You have a sub-form, and you want to copy a value to your main form: MainForm.MyTargetField.Value := MySourceField.Value . MainForm.MyTargetField.Show () . This script could be placed in a button's clicked event, or in the clicked event of

Adrian Jonesnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588287148998662270.post-32614230732474143602010-01-05T17:53:00.001Z2010-01-05T17:54:26.807Z

In DataEase and Ffenics, the data model -- that thing that is represented by a little diagram in the query by model dialog -- is king. Whenever a change in a procedure, say, sends your procedure body to the waste disposal, you can bet you made a change that affected the data model. I was reminded of this in a support call this week, where the user had a pride-and-joy procedure with a beatiful,

Adrian Jonesnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588287148998662270.post-16134204451816704422009-12-10T16:39:00.001Z2010-11-12T18:50:31.264Z

Let me hope I'm not blogging too early, but I may have just solved something that has been driving me nuts!I could not work out why Google refused to find my website, save for the PDF files. I had everything in place I should, I thought -- robot.txt, sitemap, etc, etc. The site views fine with every browser I have on my PC. But check it out with google webmaster and it says, on every page, "

Adrian Jonesnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588287148998662270.post-64735783049097168412009-12-03T11:34:00.002Z2009-12-03T11:37:04.047Z

Today's Radio 4 Today programme has a story where "Nearly one in 10 hospital prescriptions contain a mistake, ranging from the minor to the potentially lethal." (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8391667.stm) Reasons given include the inevitable issues of handwriting, but also prescribing drugs without regard to the patient's allergies, and getting the dosage wrong. Why, I have to ask, are

Adrian Jonesnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588287148998662270.post-39246994544623181902009-12-02T09:55:00.002Z2009-12-02T16:47:09.598Z

If you want to pass, say, the ID for a record to the setglobal function using Ffenics or DataEase scripting, you need to include some field object on screen. So a typical scenario might be to create a virtual in your Ffenics form derived from the ID value (or to add a 'layout only field' to an aspect), place this field on the screen, and refer to its 'value' property in the script. You don't

Adrian Jonesnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588287148998662270.post-78803387788328720542009-11-27T10:29:00.005Z2009-11-27T10:36:15.896Z

At the start of this week I ran my second DataEase/Ffenics training workshop. The first one was eight years ago, and I do kick myself for not having thought to run more since. Still, I've started again, and will absolutely maybe do it again in the new year. Last time I ran the event in conjunction with Richard Laidler, who's now retired from the DE world. So it was (mostly) all my own work. I'm

Adrian Jonesnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-588287148998662270.post-16085127759141084682009-11-13T14:15:00.004Z2009-11-14T10:19:33.714Z

Ffenics consultants will nag on about not using reserved words, adopting single word naming conventions and so on, but the truth is that DataEase and Ffenics are so resillient to these mistakes that 95% of the time you can probably get away with them.We'll still laugh at you, of course, unless it's your round.But I did just come across an instance where idiosyncratic nomenclature aims its teeth

Adrian Jonesnoreply@blogger.com0