Re: DSPFFD utility

Hey John,

And it doesn't have the functionality you're looking for?


I suppose I should say that my main interest in squirrel is for querying
data, saving results in convenient formats - basically working with the
data.
So I'm well versed in using it for that. Other things - not so much.

It's true that Squirrel has features to drill into schemata and maybe if I
was more familiar with some of those features, I might be able to set up a
better work flow with some shortcuts to get most or all of the information
I am accustomed to finding with, say, WRKDBF.

But I can't really see it.

Using the ACS schema example and assuming Squirrel will work similarly:
I find a hotkey to bring up the schemas view (I have friends that poke me
with a stick if I say schemas and not schemata, but that's what it's called
in ACS and Wikipedia tells me both are valid... )
Then I have to select a database. OK maybe I can set a hotkey to select
that automatically, I've only got 2 to choose from at the moment.
Then I have to select a schema. Lets set up another hotkey, although one
for each schema? maybe not. Better pick up the mouse and click on the
appropriate + sign to expand it.
Then I have to click on tables.
Then I have to use the filter or scroll to find my table.
Finally I can right click the table to bring up the context menu and select
"Definition"

I bring up AutoHotkey and Windows Startup because maybe you can

preload this "slow window"

So now I am at what I expertly and technically described as the "slow
window". Probably I should call it a slow-to-load window.
It's the functionality that goes off to find out about the table and it's
columns and key constraints and foreign key constraints etc.
Lots of good information.
I don't believe it can be "pre-loaded" it is infomation specific to that
table I just scrolled and clicked and shortcuted around to find so I could
then ask for the details.
I just timed it again -
6 seconds (from clicking Definition from the context menu) for a table in
one Schema. 86 seconds for doing the same thing on another table in a
different (larger) schema.

I like hotkeys and use them.
I just think that a tool like ACS or Squirrel is great for the rich
functionality it provides and for certain tasks that is exactly what you
want/need.

But when I just want to remember how I abbrevaited INTERMEDIATE as a system
column name - something like WRKDBF is a better tool IMHO.

best regards,
Craig


On Tue, 6 Aug 2019 at 16:07, John Yeung <gallium.arsenide@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Tue, Aug 6, 2019 at 10:22 AM Craig Richards <craig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

I pretty much always have Squirrel open.

And it doesn't have the functionality you're looking for? (I am not
being incredulous or snarky or anything. I genuinely don't know,
because I don't use it. But I could *imagine* that a full-featured
database IDE *might* have the feature you want.)

I don't have any kind of start-up complaints [...]
My reference to using ACS schemas was more around me not having set up

some

sensible filters although I will re-iterate that it seems pretty slow to
bring back the window with the columns and key constraints in

I bring up AutoHotkey and Windows Startup because maybe you can
preload this "slow window". I actually don't know ACS very well, so
I'm just kind of imagining what you might be talking about. In an
earlier post you also mentioned there's a lot of "clicking around".
Maybe that will go away once you've set up some filters, but maybe
there will still be some left. Whatever's left might be a good
candidate for AutoHotkey.

The main idea I was going for was: Don't forget that you can simplify
and automate quite a lot of things, not just which applications get
open at startup. Because you can put an AutoHotkey script in the
Windows Startup folder, you can effectively automate *anything* at
startup, including clicking on things and pressing keys. I set up a
lot of hotkeys at startup. The possibilities are limited mainly by
your own imagination. And of course not everything makes sense to run
at startup. You can write scripts that are run on demand, either by
hotkey or double-clicking.

In short, whenever I hear "that's slow" one of my first instincts is:
Can you move it to startup, to amortize the cost, and pay it while
going to the bathroom or getting coffee? And whenever I hear "that
takes a lot of clicks" or "that takes a lot of typing" one of my first
thoughts is: This is definitely a candidate for AutoHotkey. (There are
also Python libraries such as PyAutoGUI which can do some of what
AutoHotkey does, if you want to stick to Python.)

John Y.
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