sorting a subset of a dbf file et al

[BEAMER]

I know enough to be dangerous and need some help ...

I have a dbf file with each record containing a name, sort field, then 4 true/false fields.

I need to process this file, multiple times (one for each parameter) in a sequential manner, defined by the sort field.

Each time I process the file (once for each true/false field), I need to test the respective true/false field if it is "true" then write out a text asc file.

The problem I am having is that I cannot get the file in the sorted sequence I need so that I can cycle thru it multiple times .. then the issue is how to process/cycle it multiple times...

The rest is working ..

Any help would be appreciated..

[Stan Mathews]

Re: sorting a subset of a dbf file et al

The rest is working ..

And what might the rest be?

One generally orders a table by setting an approprite index into control.

tbl_pointer.index_primary_put("tagname")

or telling Alpha to order the table.

tbl_pointer.order("somefieldname")

[BEAMER]

Re: sorting a subset of a dbf file et al

the rest is testing if true is in the field and determining if a record should be written or not.

Now to cycle thru the database ...

Stan .. thanks for the suggestions . .now to see if I can make them work ..


ps .. maybe it is me .. but the help does not seem to be very much help at times ...

[BEAMER]

Re: sorting a subset of a dbf file et al

Stan, I inserted the following ...

tbl = table.open("hallwebpagemfg")
tbl_pointer.order("Mfgname")
tbl.fetch_first()

and it bombs out on the "tbl_pointer.order line ...

This is a "dbf" file .. and I thought I read some place where that sorting a dbf file (not using its index) is not possible ...

Is there other code that must exit for this to work ??

[Stan Mathews]

Re: sorting a subset of a dbf file et al

I used tbl_pointer generically to indicate you had to have one. Yours is tbl so you want

tbl = table.open("hallwebpagemfg")
tbl.order("Mfgname")
tbl.fetch_first()

[Al Buchholz]

Re: sorting a subset of a dbf file et al

and it bombs out on the "tbl_pointer.order line ...

Is there a space between .order and line?

Fieldname should have an underscore instead of a space. Xbasic code thinks there is another word there instead of a fieldname.

[BEAMER]

Re: sorting a subset of a dbf file et al

Stan and Al,

As I said I know enough to be dangerous ....

For some reason I thought you needed a new pointer object .. then realized that I already had the one I needed.

I changed it accordingly .. and it worked like a charm ..

Now to tackle the recycling for each of the T/F fields ..

Thanks ...

[BEAMER]

Re: sorting a subset of a dbf file et al

I hope there is someone that can help me with this as I have come to an impasse ....

I get an "expected value" error message (which to me tells me nothing ....
.... on the line ....

FileName = "d:\temp\" + category[IndxNum]


I am also toying with how to make

if tbl.activecode = .T. then

change to

if tbl.telephony = .T. then ...... on cycle 2

and

if tbl.strcable = .T. then ... on cycle 3

... etc.. etc.. to the last cycle .. that would be appreciated ...

Any HELP would be appreciated ..


Here is the code ..

'
dim tbl as P
dim category[0] as C
dim IndxNum as N
dim FileName as C
'
msgbox("Starting Process")
'
category[] = "Activecode"
category[] = "Telephony"
category[] = "Strcable"
category[] = "Security"
category[] = "Avproducts"
category[] = "Outside"
category[] = "Iptelephony"
category[] = "Specialneeds"
category[] = "Ipsecurity"
category[] = "Ipsupport"
IndxNum = category.size()
'
tbl = table.open("hallwebpagemfg")
tbl.index_primary_put("Mfgname")
IndxNum = 1
while IndxNum < (IndXNum + 1)
FileName = "d:\temp\" + category[IndxNum]
FileName = FileName + ".txt"
file_pointer = file.create(FileName, FILE_RW_EXCLUSIVE)
tbl.fetch_first()
while .NOT. tbl.fetch_eof()
if tbl.activecode= .T. then
file_pointer.write_line(trim(tbl.mfgname) + " " + trim(tbl.mfghtml))
end if
tbl.fetch_next()
end while
IndxNum = IndxNum + 1
file_pointer.flush()
file_pointer.close()
end while
msgbox("Completed Process")

[Stan Mathews]

Re: sorting a subset of a dbf file et al

Backslash has several meanings in xbasic expressions. Check the documentation for an explanation.

You need

FileName = "d:\temp\\" + category[IndxNum]

or

FileName = "d:\temp"+chr(92) + category[IndxNum]

[BEAMER]

Re: sorting a subset of a dbf file et al

Stan, thanks for your help .. it solved the file problem .... and as I suspected .. this has lead to another question ..

if I have a field name in an array variable called "category[IndxNum"] how do I get the contents of that field that is located in the table "tbl".

And the other question is I must be misusing the documentation as when I need to find out all the actions that can be applied to the object "tbl" I have no idea how to find it .. any thoughts ..

I really appreciate the help .. Don

[Stan Mathews]

Re: sorting a subset of a dbf file et al

if I have a field name in an array variable called "category[IndxNum"] how do I get the contents of that field that is located in the table "tbl".

Example is easiest (from the interactive window).

dim arr[2] as C
arr[1] = "state"
arr[2] = "city"

tbl = table.open("store")
? tbl.CITY
= "Glasgow             "

? eval("tbl."+arr[2])
= "Glasgow             "

tbl.close()

Though not complete you can find most functions and methods that are available to a table pointer in the documentation under the title (strangely enough) Table Functions and Methods. There are a few missing from that topic which you will see in the xbasic explorer or autocomplete in the code editor .