Re[4]: New Opcodes - %SETCELL

     Of course you get requests like this.  Of course RPG should be able to 
     integrate with the IFS.  But should there be BIFs for every 
     conceivable interaction between RPG and a specifically-formatted IFS 
     file?
     
     You suggest %setcell.  Is that BIF exclusive to Excel, or will it work 
     with Lotus 123?  If it is non-discriminate, how can it tell which type 
     of document it is using?  Can I have %setcolor and %setfont?  What 
     happens when a new version of Excel is released while we are waiting 
     for the next build of the RPG compiler?  What about Word or Powerpoint 
     BIFs?
     
     I don't disagree that RPG should be able to access the IFS, and do so 
     with ease.  I do feel that class libraries are a much more appropriate 
     and manageable way to approach this issue.
     
     ____________
     Paul Cunnane
     The Learing Company


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: Re[2]: New Opcodes - %SETCELL
Author:  John P Carr <jpcarr@tredegar.com> at InterNet
Date:    07-09-99 7:25 am


     
>> IMHO, a BIF should reflect a need that a *large* proportion of RPG 
>>programmers will have.  BIFs for every conceivabe esoteric application 
>> don't seem workable to me.
     
        If you don't think the IFS affects very many people,  and the need
to cross 
        communicate from DB2/400 to (say something like)  Lotus Notes,  or
Excel 
        isn't wide spread ,  IMHO you're wrong.    and getting wronger.  :-)
     
        How many of you out there have users who have said something like;
     
        "Can you just drop that into Excel for me ? "      or 
        "Now If I could just get that into Excel"
     
        or a notes person asking you to
         "Evoke a Agent"  or populate a "Fixed Length Text File"
     
        IMHO
        John Carr
     
     
     
        From:   pcunnane@pcunnane on 09/07/99 08:54 AM
        To:     RPG400-L@RPG400-L@midrange.com@SMTP@EXCHCONNECT 
        cc:      
     
        Subject:        Re[2]: New Opcodes - %SETCELL
     
        Strikes me as the sort of thing that belongs in a library function 
        (which could be implemented as a service program):
     
          eval  mycell = GetCell("/test.xls":"r1c1")
     
        IMHO, a BIF should reflect a need that a *large* proportion of RPG 
        programmers will have.  BIFs for every conceivabe esoteric application 
        don't seem workable to me.
     
        Just my EUR 0.02.
     
        ____________
        Paul Cunnane
        The Learning Company
     
     
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