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A thought about the issue of multiple data sets ..

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    A thought about the issue of multiple data sets ..

    Hi all,

    I know that Peter Wayne has outlined a method to utilize multiple data sets in an application.

    But I was wondering ... I have been under the impression that the difficulty lies in the fact that the data must (or should) reside with the layouts, i.e, all tables, forms, etc. are recommended to be in one directory. But, given that with Network Optimize, one data set resides in one location (the server), and the layouts, etc. reside in another location (the shadow directory of the workstation), there is obviously a way for data to reside apart from the application itself. Why then, is there not an easy way to have the application in a main directory, and have many different data sets, each in their own subdirectory below the main directory?

    I would be interested in hearing some thoughts about this. Thanks.

    Gary
    Gary S. Traub, Ph.D.


    #2
    RE: A thought about the issue of multiple data set

    Gary,

    I think some people do as you suggest. As long as you use sub-directories it will probably be ok as you can maintain some portability. I used to do this way back in A5v1. But it got messy w. all the lookups referencing diff. directories, so I consolidated everything. However, if you do that, NetOpt/Shadow Refresh may not work correctly?

    Peter
    Peter
    AlphaBase Solutions, LLC

    [email protected]
    https://www.alphabasesolutions.com


    Comment


      #3
      RE: A thought about the issue of multiple data set

      Hi Peter,

      Yes, as it presently stands, I think things could get very messy and complicated. I am not suggesting that this could be easily done now. I am just wondering why it is not built in to a5, given that a5 already does a great job of keeping track where data and layouts are, with network optimize as my example of "proof in the pudding"??

      Gary
      Gary S. Traub, Ph.D.

      Comment


        #4
        RE: A thought about the issue of multiple data set

        Like Peter, we used this method in ver 1. We are still using it in version 5, but it is a little more tricky. You definitely need to be more careful about directory pointers. We utilize addin variables for path definitions. This way, if a database moves from one folder to another or even one server to another, we need only to change the addin variable pointer, and all is OK (I hope).

        As far as shadow databases are concerned, it looks like the network optimize / shadow routine creates a subfolder in the shadow folder for each sub database. In our case, it should work out alright for the specialized units in that they usually only use one specific sub database. If they need to get to another database, they will just need to wait for it to load. This is not a great problem.

        Of our 50 or so databases in version 5, only about 4 or 5 are in full production. They are small and fairly self-contained. Once we get our Customer information database completely converted, we will have a much better feel. The majority of our systems use information from the Customer Database for their processing.

        More to come......


        Tom

        Comment


          #5
          RE: A thought about the issue of multiple data set

          Gary,

          Alpha Five supports multiple folders for your database now. You can if you want put your design in one and your data in another. This will work fine on another machine provided the physical path and folder names are identical. What you seem to be asking is why this couldn't be done automatically, and I suppose the reason is that somewhere in the application Alpha Five would have to map the original path information to new drive and folder names on the second machine. Since there's no logical relationship between the folders on the original machine (the data and dictionaries could be on different drives, for example), I have a hard time seeing how Alpha could automate this further.

          To me, the network optimization is a special case, and is possible only because Alpha builds the folders it needs on the workstation machine.

          -- tom

          Comment


            #6
            RE: A thought about the issue of multiple data set

            Tom,
            What specific features in a5v5 are you talking about that make Alpha support definitions in one folder and data in another?
            John

            Comment


              #7
              RE: A thought about the issue of multiple data set

              Of course I am not talking about optimizining - just using multiple folders for organization purposes

              Comment


                #8
                RE: A thought about the issue of multiple data set

                Unless I'm not doing something right, the big problem I have found with having sub folders is when using the install creator that Alpha provides from the tools menu. The documentation says you can select a sub folder, but you can't directly, you select files inside it One at a Time. Thats fine if it's just a few files. Try having an images folder with 800 files in it. You would be crazy to try and select them all. Thus you are forced to use a 3rd party install creating tool which will handle subfolders properly, i. e. you can actually select the sub folder, and its contents and the intaller will maintain the relationships when installing on another computer.

                Phil

                Comment


                  #9
                  RE: A thought about the issue of multiple data set

                  John,

                  If you create the database in Folder A, you can 'add' tables to the database from any other folder on your machine. Mind you, I'm not recommending this. However, I was just mentioning it for Gary and others who may come along later to review this thread.

                  -- tom

                  Comment


                    #10
                    RE: A thought about the issue of multiple data set

                    Tom,
                    I see. You could do that in version 4 also. As a matter of fact the Alpha4 message board is full of problems that people had by doing that.
                    For Gary: that's why the suggestion to keep it all in one folder and use some good naming conventions for organization.
                    John

                    Comment


                      #11
                      RE: A thought about the issue of multiple data set

                      Hi guys,

                      I understand that the recommendation is to keep everything in one directory, and I would not rec deviating from that. I was simply throwing out a hypothetical or theoretical question. That is, if the technology has been worked out to have app in one directory and data in another in the case of network optimize, how hard would it be to implement this methodology to the issue of multiple data sets. Just asking ...

                      Gary
                      Gary S. Traub, Ph.D.

                      Comment

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