Questions about tables and Table Builder (OpenInsight 16-Bit Specific)
At 03 DEC 2002 01:55:57PM Cliff Harris wrote:
A lot of really basic questions, but as far as I can tell they are not answered in the documentation:
1. The default size for a DOLLARS column is DOLLARS(15), which is an awful lot of dollars. Does size matter? Will DOLLARS(15) always put 15+2 characters in the record, or does it only store as many characters as needed? Why would one use DOLLARS(6) rather than DOLLARS(15)?
2. If you're editing a table in the Table Builder and you want to check something in a different table, is there a way to do that without closing the table you are editing?
3. I saved a new table, opened it, and selected "File / Table Attributes…". This brings up a display-only message box, although the Help for it says you can change the numbers. Is there something extra that needs to be done to be able to modify the table attributes? Or is it too late once you have saved the table?
4. The first time I saved the table, a dialog with two checkboxes came up. I think they asked, Do you want to add the table to the dtabase? and Do you want to create the data portion of the table? Since I wasn't finished creating the table, I cleared them both. But when I went back into the Table Builder, I couldn't find a way to select these options. Is there some other place to do this, or is it now too late?
5. Maybe at this point I should just delete the table definition and start over?
At 03 DEC 2002 03:03PM Oystein Reigem wrote:
Cliff,
2.
You can open other tables' dict items in the System Editor. E.g, if you need a formula from a symbolic field in a different table you can get at it with the System Editor.
Something Mike said in a reply to Don Bakke not so long ago might be interpreted as meaning the new Table Builder of 4.1.3 scheduled for February will have the capability for opening more the one dictionary. (Try a search for MDI and "Table Builder" and Don and Mike.) Don't kill me if he meant something else.
- Oystein -
At 03 DEC 2002 04:54PM Donald Bakke wrote:
Oystein,
Well that's what I meant in my post. I know Mike liked my suggestions but I don't recall a guarantee that they would all be implemented by 4.1.3.
At 04 DEC 2002 03:40AM Oystein Reigem wrote:
Don,
Sure.
It seemed Mike said yes to something in that mail but it wasn't clear exactly what.
Also once the new Table Builder becomes MDI there might be additional features crying for implementation, like the possibility of cutting and pasting dict items between dictionaries, making the task harder than we think.
- Oystein -