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Programming Puzzle 8 - Sort of a Sort

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    Programming Puzzle 8 - Sort of a Sort

    Date Created: 10-Jun-2011 10:59:01 AM
    Last Updated: 10-Jun-2011 10:59:01 AM
    Created By : Tom
    Updated By : Tom
    Beginning Xbasic Programming

    Puzzle 8 - Sort of a Sort

    You solved Puzzle_6, and then Puzzle 7, but your sales manager now tells you
    that the list of product sales shouldn't have been sorted by the product_id.
    She needs the list of sales by product sorted (descending) by the sales amount.
    She wants the product that generated the most dollars first, and the product
    that generated the fewest dollars last. She doesn't think this will
    be very difficult for you because you've already computed the total dollars
    for each product. Can you have the script done by lunch time?

    Hah! Just like a manager, right? [ Doggone managers. What do they know, anyway? ]

    Your job now is to write an xbasic script that will list each product
    and for each product show the total dollars generated by that item
    across all the invoices. But display the list in descending order based
    on total dollars generated by each item.

    Instructions:

    a) you may not use any of the built in summary functions, methods,
    or operations in Alpha Five. We're doing this one by hand.

    b) you may open the table only once

    c) your output should be directed to the trace window

    #2
    Re: Programming Puzzle 8 - Sort of a Sort

    Originally posted by Tom Cone Jr View Post
    Can you have the script done by lunch time?

    Hah! Just like a manager, right? [ Doggone managers. What do they know, anyway? ]
    Tom, a good manager would know you are an Xbasic wiz and wait patiently in your office while you whip this up in 30 seconds since it's such a simple change. Why wait until lunch time?

    Lenny Forziati
    Vice President, Internet Products and Technical Services
    Alpha Software Corporation

    Comment


      #3
      Re: Programming Puzzle 8 - Sort of a Sort

      I like this manager, gonna keep me in business for a long time.
      Attached Files
      Andrew

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Programming Puzzle 8 - Sort of a Sort

        Andy, that's sweet.

        Because you're using a property array to hold the computed sums, displaying the list in sorted order becomes very easy.

        In my nested loop approach, on the contrary, I have more work to do. Will post results later on.

        -- tom

        ps. Your contribution to this exercise will be more valuable if you include comments explaining
        what your script is doing.
        Last edited by Tom Cone Jr; 06-10-2011, 12:38 PM.

        Comment


          #5
          Re: Programming Puzzle 8 - Sort of a Sort

          Don't laugh, Al.

          Puzzle 8 kludge.txt
          There can be only one.

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Programming Puzzle 8 - Sort of a Sort

            Originally posted by Stan Mathews View Post
            Don't laugh, Al.
            Who?? me??

            <Where's my Alfred E Neuman icon???>
            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

            Comment


              #7
              Re: Programming Puzzle 8 - Sort of a Sort

              Here's my solution.

              -- tom

              Comment


                #8
                Re: Programming Puzzle 8 - Sort of a Sort

                Here's my attempt for puzzle 8.

                Puz8.txt

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: Programming Puzzle 8 - Sort of a Sort

                  Jeb,
                  Are you and Stan Mathews the same guy?
                  Mike W
                  __________________________
                  "I rebel in at least small things to express to the world that I have not completely surrendered"

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: Programming Puzzle 8 - Sort of a Sort

                    No, I just started working under Stan. He's teaching me all about Alpha and how we (Houchens) use it. So in a nut shell I'm learning what he does and how he does it!

                    -Jeb

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: Programming Puzzle 8 - Sort of a Sort

                      Jeb,

                      Thanks for taking a crack at it.

                      The upper bound of your loop is a table record number. This number is found by fetching the last record after the table opens. However, after finding that record number you re-order the table basedon the product_id. Be advised that this could change which record is "Last". A better approach would be to order the records first, then fetch the "last" in that sort sequence. i.e. the last "product_id", not the last record number. Instead of using a For ... Next loop based on incrementing physical record numbers, I believe it's better to use a while ... end while loop based on product_id's.

                      Does this make sense?

                      -- tom

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Re: Programming Puzzle 8 - Sort of a Sort

                        Yes. I only tried using the for...next to switch things up. But now i see your point. However, i was using my "last" variable just to get a count of records in that table. That way i could use the "last" variable in my loop. I used item.recno() and it returned 129 i believe. And i used this to allow my loop to run from 1-129("last"). Thanks, Tom!

                        -Jeb
                        Last edited by jeb richardson; 08-10-2011, 09:42 AM.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Re: Programming Puzzle 8 - Sort of a Sort

                          Right.

                          But when you change the sort sequence you do not change the physical record numbers. The new "last" record may have a different "record number". The "last" record by sort sequence is not the same as the "last" physical record in the table. And, they will often ( if not usually ) have different "record numbers". The <tbl>.recno() method is looking at physical record numbers, not logical record positions in the current sort sequence.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Re: Programming Puzzle 8 - Sort of a Sort

                            I avoid using record numbers in code like the plague. You can put the table in record number order, fetch the last record and return record number 200. However the table only has 2 records in it. This can happen when records are deleted but the table is not packed. When the table is packed the records are renumbered. So in this example once you pack the table the last record will report a record number of 2.

                            Retrieving the record count is the appropriate method to get the correct total of un-deleted records in a table.
                            Andrew

                            Comment

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