RE: Re[2]: "extract" command enhancement (subfiles and BIFs)

>if you want "Position to:" functionality, you need SFLPAG=SFLSIZ

My standard template, refined over the years, is SFLSIZ>SFLPAG loaded page
at a time, and it has "position to". You simply clear the subfile and reload
the first page starting from the positioned to record, enabling roll down if
this is not also the first record in the file. Roll down is processed by
locating the new top record and treating this like another position to. It's
efficient and slick apart from one big hole. The big hole is that any
pending selections are lost when rolling past the current start of the
subfile. BRMS incidentally has this same "feature" in its subfiles.

I agree wholeheartedly with the KISS principle, and my standard template
just about respects it. Every workable solution to the
position-to/select/roll-down bug that I've come across would violate it by a
country mile. (If anyone does have an effective solution please let us
know).

The point is that it is still ridiculously fiddly to get subfiles working
the way they should. Subfiles are a strong feature of OS/400 and improved
support for them is long overdue; unfortunately it'll never happen.

Dave Kahn
Johnson & Johnson International (Ethicon) France
Phone : +33 1 55 00 3180
Email :  dkahn1@jnjfr.jnj.com (work)
           dkahn@cix.co.uk      (home)


-----Message d'origine-----
De: pcunnane@learningco.com [mailto:pcunnane@learningco.com]
Date: 22 September 1999 15:46
À: RPG400-L
Objet: Re[2]: "extract" command enhancement (subfiles and BIFs)


     John,
     
     My own personal problem with subfiles is how difficult it is to code 
     one that encapsulates all the nice list functionality.  For example, 
     if you want "Position to:" functionality, you need SFLPAG=SFLSIZ.  If 
     you want to be able to select multiple records on different pages, and 
     page back and forth at will without losing these selections, you 
     either code SFLSIZ>SFLPAG, or handle it manually.  And don't get me 
     started on reliably positioning the list, and positioning the cursor 
     in the list.
     
     I agree with you that it is cheapest to code the same subfile code 
     every time, but my experience is that this doesn't always provide an 
     optimal solution to the business problem.  It may be just a personal 
     quirk, but I think that the look-and-feel of a program is important - 
     especially if (as in my last job) the programs were for sale.
     
     I've said it before - if UIM were easier to code, it would have 
     answered a lot of my prayers.  It handles all the boring stuff like 
     actually displaying the data and managing user input, leaving the 
     business logic to the programmer.
     
     As to KISS, I wholeheartedly agree, but not at the expense of 
     functionality.
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