Hi DHookom,Would it be fair to compare this entire system as an equivalent to Access’ saveastext and LoadFromText?
Hi The_Doc_Man,This is all well and good, but if I may draw an analogy: You are like a car salesman showing us all sorts of flashy features on the car, but you have yet to open the hood (some folks call that a bonnet) to show us the gerbils running as fast as their little feet will carry them on the exercise wheels. The finish, lines, and coloring of the car is all well and good, but we might want to know how it runs. And from what you have posted, we cannot see that so well.
If you are building a dynamic object such as a form, I expect all the information required would be contained in a save as text file. The same could be said for the results of the database documenter. If I wanted to build a dynamic application with the definitions saved in a system table, I would start with a structure like [doc_tblObjects] created by the documenter. I believe every property of every object gets stored in this table so recreating the object would be a matter of querying the table and creating.Hi DHookom,
No, absolutely not. Unless I misunderstood your question.
The entire system has evolved in a RAD-tool, using generalized code.
Just name the Application, the Items (entities) and the Fields, with for every field to data for definition table, and the application is ready. Just need the data.
What still must be added are the application-dependant forms and the reports.
By the way, what made you think to compare this system with SaveAsText and LoadFromText?
Imb.
Field-definition form:
Hi DHookom,If you are building a dynamic object such as a form, I expect all the information required would be contained in a save as text file. The same could be said for the results of the database documenter. If I wanted to build a dynamic application with the definitions saved in a system table, I would start with a structure like [doc_tblObjects] created by the documenter. I believe every property of every object gets stored in this table so recreating the object would be a matter of querying the table and creating.
I can't believe you are still engaging. He's just blowing smoke![]()
Did you ask that question also at Microsoft, when you started with Access?
What does your proposal do that template based development environments don't offer? Does it allow some way to hook in specific code for specific requirements that are not in your general library? Looking to see if your offering more than Clarion 2.0 did when it came out.
Hi The_Doc_man,I asked the question because I HAVE had some experience with "automatic" systems that self-generate forms and interfaces - and that is why I remain a skeptic. I know their weaknesses.
Validating fields against a postal database and having relevant fields filled was something I could add a template for 30 years ago. Bonus was I could use one template and have it do the validation for any nation's postal database I had access to.Hi Mark_,
I have no experience with Clarion 2.0, so I cannot answer that.
The "template" that I use is not a "standard template", it is just a bag full controls.
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After definition (the layout) most off the control-events are handled in the general library. These are the regular events of a standard Access form. What is NOT handled by the general library, can be handled by procedures in the module of the form itself.
So, it is no hotchpotch. The module handles the field-specific things (layout, specific Before- and AfterUpdate events), all the rest that could be generalized, is in the general library. And many Before- and AfterUpdate events CAN be generalized, if you look at the processes.
One example is the automatic filling of Street, City, ... after supplying a Postal Code. IF you have a PostalCodeDatabase (for the right country), you can do it. Even the other way around: I have (part of a) Streetname in (part of a Cityname): What is the PostralCode.
Other processes: Validate EBAN-numbers, Telephone-numbers, ...
When such a module is placed in the application itself, it is local to the application.
If you move this module to the general library, it is available in all applications.
Imb.
That's not a bonus. When you need to have If statements in a "common" piece of code to determine what code to execute, the code is not actually "common". That is the programming style that leads to random bugs when a small part of "common" code gets changed.Bonus was I could use one template and have it do the validation for any nation's postal database I had access to.