QUESTION ON VARIABLE

[ken tjia]

Dear A5users,

I recently adopted the idea of populated a series of
Variable(s) during the initial load of my "MENU" form.

This amounted to about over 20 variables. ranging from
names,value,date etc.. Theay are used for various task from filing the name and company address on all my report/labels.

So far this concept been working well, but only few days old into it.

My questions here are :
1) Is it safe to run application with so many variables loaded.
2) Is there any known bug related to corruption on Variable being loaded this way ?

3) If so, is there an effective way to prevent this corruption from happending ?

4) I know re-loading the menu form will reload and all my variables data(s) are obtained from a permanent file I named; PARAMETER.DBF and only has one record with 25 fields.

Your comment is greatly appreciated.

Ken Tjia

[Ken L Herrold]

RE: QUESTION ON VARIABLE

Ken:

[somebody named Ken can't be all that bad]

Funny you should mention.... I, too have a parameter.db that stores values I might need during a session. The principal need for the parameter db was to have company information, Name, address, Phone, or anything I might want in a report header. All my report headers hold variables for this information. When I sell an app I don't need to change all the headers, for instance. Just change the name in the Parameter DB.

To keep from loading all those variables at start up, I call the values from that db with xlookup, when needed. Don't know if what you're doing degrades performance - the 8 or so that I load at startup for other things don't seem to matter.

Just some thoughts, Ken.

Ken the newbie

[ken tjia]

RE: QUESTION ON VARIABLE

Yes indeed, we are on the same track.
I was also consider the lookup routine.
But you see, it is dirtier and quicker with permanent
Variables data readily available.

Will try the Lookup way later on today to see
The only trouble is that I need to do 12 or more
lookup statement to di one simple task.

We'll see anymore comment later..Thanks
Ken Tjia

[whanigsberg]

RE: QUESTION ON VARIABLE

Hi Ken,

I load a bunch (8-10)of global variables at startup. These are user-specific default values. I declare the variables in the table edit screen and use them in field rules.

I could use lookups for these defaults as they are stored in a table with a record for each user. But in a network situation having them in global variables *specific to the local machine* is faster as the lookup would have to go across the network each time a record is created and the variable is loaded only once, at startup.

I can say that this approach has not caused me any difficulties.

All the best,
Bill

[Finian Lennon]

RE: QUESTION ON VARIABLE

Ken:

I assume you are loading these values as global variables. Some people believe that global variables should be used only sparingly, others lavishly. I probably fall more in the latter category. This is due to the fact that, in order to keep our appointment scheduler running smoothly I have almost 100 variables loaded at startup. After that, more are added for other general purposes. There are no intrinsic problems or corruptions associated with this kind of use.

Having said that (and perhaps because of it) I am very careful about adding any more globals. I create additional globals only when absolutely necessary and, where possible, delete them after use.

In the circumstances we are discussing, I don't see any advantage in using lookups instead of variables. Lookups have a built-in overhead requirement - to open a table and associated index and parse a lookup value - before they can do anything. In many places this overhead would be unacceptable.

Finian

[Bill Warner]

RE: QUESTION ON VARIABLE

I have also used global variables, and have preloaded them as you're planning on doing. I've developed about 10 apps this way, and have never had a variable-related problem.

I like global rather than session variables, because (being inherently lazy) I don't have to worry about whether or not this variable will work with that form.

[JerryBrightbill]

RE: QUESTION ON VARIABLE

Another way to use global variables is to set up "generic" globals. I usually have a number of character, numeric, and logical variables loaded to transfer values to reports etc. I use char1, char2, num1, num2, log1, log2, etc and then set their values as needed. This cuts down on the number of variables needed.

I usually use a lot of globals and load the definitions from one script and then load the default values in another. Both scripts run from an autoexec script. When I find I need another variable I define it only in the definition script. In this way I can keep track of what globals are defined. I found when I defined globals in other scripts or forms, I could lose track of them and create multiple variables for the same use with different names.

Jerry

[ken tjia]

RE: QUESTION ON VARIABLE

Finian,

I remember the scheduling program that you talk about.
And I think it has been a bench mark for a lot of dicussion
Congratulation.

I am happy to know that there are others who use more than 20 Variables (global) loaded right at the beginning.

I found it extremely fast this way and almost no delay.
Yes the Laziness factor kick in when required to write XLOOKUP for every move hi...

I need to research further on BILL's Comment on network's station situation. I will comment after I tried it this evening. As I am curious now...Because those 25 Parameters
that I loaded as GLOBAL by the way is only UNIQUE to this particlar workstation. ie: Operator name from Log On step..
Terminal number from the parameter's terminal number field.

Is this meant that if I got 4 workstation, I will end up with a 100 Variables ? Or if the VARIABLE NAME ARE THE SAME. Then am I going to keep them at 25 variables at all times and see different data on different WORKSTATION ?

ie:
TERM1's VAR->USER="KEN"
TERM2's VAR->USER="JOHN" etc (the VAR->USER is Global)

Any comment ?

In another subject... BIG PROBLEM FOR ME NOW>..
Here is the description of my scenerio::::::

Each User got thier own label printer and some use network printer. Thus the name and LPT# are different from workstation to workstation.

All My report or LABEL are embadded with "SPECIFIED" printer instead of default. So when user push the PRINT BUTTON, it will automatically issue a label and issue to that xLPT and Printer name.. That is working fine on one workstation. But this application's label and report all need to be re-written agian for different Workstation because the LPT# and PRINTER name is different

ie: Toronto_backupeltron etc....

Can you suggest a way to have a VARIBALE'S PRINTER NAME ?
I just have to create another field in my PARAMETER.DBF
to ask for : PRINTER'S PROPERTY (Toronto_backupeltron)
and this is to be customized on the workstation by workstation basis.

Your assistance in this is greatly appreciated

ken Tjia

[Peter.Greulich]

RE: QUESTION ON VARIABLE

Ken,

Regarding your aforementioned question of 25 vars vs. 100 vars, I would suggest you create a table of 25 fields + user id or operator name. Then when the user logs on, read in those variables from his or her record. That way each user gets their own "custom" variables.

Peter