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Problem with a set

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    #16
    Re: Problem with a set

    Mike, go for Al's offer. It will save your sanity.
    Question, and none of my business, but I have been there, why are you replicating in Alpha and not using the data in AM and building on Alpha's powerful features?
    See our Hybrid Option here;
    https://hybridapps.example-software.com/


    Apologies to anyone I haven't managed to upset yet.
    You are held in a queue and I will get to you soon.

    Comment


      #17
      Re: Problem with a set

      I apologize for starting a discussion, then seemingly abandoning it. Overtaken by events as they say. I was preparing to take Ted's advice, and take you up on your offer of help. To do so, I created versions of my three tables with no rows and tried to create the set again to see if the same problem occurred without data. It did, but before sending it off I fiddled around some more. The problem is indeed due to the space in the name of the "line item" table. If I remove the space, no problem. The strange thing is that the "buyer data" table name has a space, but gave no error. When I looked in the set build genie it showed that when buyer data was added to the set it had an alias of "buyer_data". I don't recall creating the alias and I added both buyer data and line item to the db in the same way. The problem is introduced because a number of the dbf file names in the Approach version have spaces and I tried to use them as is. As I've just mentioned, some seem to be handled OK, others not. Clearly the fix is to remove the spaces, which I will do. However, it does seem that A5 is handling file names/table names with spaces in a confused way. It would make sense for it to object to invalid names when it is parsing the names of things being incorporated into an application.

      Anyway, it's solved, and I appreciate everyone's feedback.

      Thanks.

      Originally posted by Al Buchholz View Post
      Mike

      Sure. You may want to send the app to me or someone else to help. Or do a quick remote session to save time.

      Comment


        #18
        Re: Problem with a set

        Regarding item 2 below - If my memo field is just called memo, and I try to display it's content in a form, "Approach bitmap" appears in the form. If I change the data type to bitmap, nothing appears in the form. I haven't had time investigate fully yet, but my suspicion is that when A5 seems a memo field, it's displaying what type of memo field it is (if it can). If it's a bitmap field, A5 tries to display the bitmap, but if it can't find the content it (sensibly) displays nothing. I'm wondering, when I add the .dbf and corresponding .dbt files to the db, does A5 automatically turn the dbt file into and fpt file, or do I need to do something explicit to make the conversion. I'll be looking for the answer to that question next, but if anyone has the information handy or can point me the right way, I'll be grateful.

        Thanks,

        Mike

        Originally posted by Al Buchholz View Post
        Mike

        Welcome to Alpha. Approach is nice system and easy to use. Too bad it is deprecated.

        1. In the set definition you have the linking established between parent and child. So you either enter a new parent, or find an existing parent and the child is attached to the parent using the set definition.

        Are you building a form based on the set with the parent record and the child as a browse? Look at the AlphaSports sample as a template to design from.

        2. In the table definition is the image field defined as a memo field or a bitmap field? Bitmap will work with a memo field that is holding an jpg or png too.

        Not sure if this is an option, but some choose to store images outside of the dbf and refer to the location of the image file. That helps to keep the size of the dbf smaller. But that may not be an issue for you...

        Hope that helps.

        Comment


          #19
          Re: Problem with a set

          Michael,
          Word of caution, do not create a memo file in a serious table. Create a second table for each memo field with a connection field and the memo. There is much written here about that.
          Dave Mason
          [email protected]
          Skype is dave.mason46

          Comment


            #20
            Re: Problem with a set

            Michael

            Thanks for the feedback.

            Glad you are on the right track.

            That Dr. Cone definitely knows what he is talking about...
            Al Buchholz
            Bookwood Systems, LTD
            Weekly QReportBuilder Webinars Thursday 1 pm CST

            Occam's Razor - KISS
            Normalize till it hurts - De-normalize till it works.
            Advice offered and questions asked in the spirit of learning how to fish is better than someone giving you a fish.
            When we triage a problem it is much easier to read sample systems than to read a mind.
            "Make it as simple as possible, but not simpler."
            Albert Einstein

            http://www.iadn.com/images/media/iadn_member.png

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              #21
              Re: Problem with a set

              Not sure that a dbt will transfer to fpt.
              You would be better with all the data, to export it to Excel or CSV and reimport. That way, when you import, you will trap any errors.
              See our Hybrid Option here;
              https://hybridapps.example-software.com/


              Apologies to anyone I haven't managed to upset yet.
              You are held in a queue and I will get to you soon.

              Comment


                #22
                Re: Problem with a set

                Michael said...

                As I've just mentioned, some seem to be handled OK, others not
                Michael, I've noticed this problem (mishandling object names with blank spaces) more often when the object name that has blank spaces includes the name of a built in function. In this case, Alpha has a LINE() function. See what I mean? However, I don't claim that this is always the case...

                -- tom

                Comment


                  #23
                  Re: Problem with a set

                  Tom,

                  That solves the mystery! I changed the name of "line item.dbf" to "linx item.dbf" and everything worked. I think A5 should handle this better (i.e., disallow names it violate its rules), but the requirement that spaces be avoided is not unreasonable in itself. I inherited these names and have to maintain them as much as possible. I wish A5 would maintain the case of file names, table names. I'd use LineItem.dbf and avoid spaces and underlines both.

                  Thanks again,

                  Mike

                  Originally posted by Tom Cone Jr View Post
                  Michael said...



                  Michael, I've noticed this problem (mishandling object names with blank spaces) more often when the object name that has blank spaces includes the name of a built in function. In this case, Alpha has a LINE() function. See what I mean? However, I don't claim that this is always the case...

                  -- tom

                  Comment

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