Re: Test data laziness :)

Tim,

  *Disclaimer* We Sell and support DataMirror's Products!

  This would be a very good application for a product such as
Transformation Server from DataMirror.  On the source (production)
system you indicate the files to mirror, the records to copy and the
method (In this case a periodic refresh would be appropriate). On the
Target (development) system you point the files at your test library.
This way you can beat up the files on the development system and each
time you 'wreck' them with a failed test, you refresh them from the
production system with one simple command.  You can select records in
many different ways.  This allows you to build a subset database on the
development system that still has referential integrity. (ie Only a
selected 100 customers but all orders for those customers, all inventory
for items on those orders, all PO's for items in inventory and all
vendors for the selected POs)  Additionaly a file on the source system
can be pointed to several files on the target so multiple programmers
could utilize the same files. (ALSO the source and target system can be
THE SAME AS/400 so this all applies to an organization where production
and development are both on one system.)

  I hope this does not sound too much like an advertisement, but in my
decades as a programmer this type of tool would have been a great help
in maintaining a usefull and up to date test database.

  Larry Bolhuis
  Arbor Solutions, Inc
  lbolhui@ibm.net

Tim Truax wrote:
> 
> Hello and Happy "belated" D-Day....lest we ever forget.
> ---------
> Here's my question, and feel free to call me a lazy b*st*rd....
> I am working on a LARGE program that produces a large critical report.
> Now this program uses about 30 files, 22 of which are logicals that are
> built over various and sundry physical files.  6 of the files are major
> join files that bring together the data of multiple physical files
> around the production system.  Now, I work on a developement machine
> (hardly any security) that is seperate from the production environment
> (super secured environment) (passthru is the way we can access the
> different systems) this developement machine has bits and pieces of the
> actual types of data that reside on the production machine... but of
> course the data would have to be recreated on the developement machine
> for me to be able to test the program properly.  Is my only alternative
> to just slug it out and collect all these physical file pieces and parts
> and then SNDNETF them to the developement machine into my test library
> and then recreate the logicals that will connect the physical file
> pieces and parts as well as the join files?  Any other suggestions?
> I guess..... I should just sit down for a week and write a program that
> will automatically produce any type of needed data samplings.... Is this
> what you nice people are  gonna suggest?
> ----
> Tim & Dana Truax... and Caleb 4 years old.
> 
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