Re: Trigger programme without a trigger.

David FOXWELL wrote:

That's exactly what I asked! : a Trigger programme without a trigger.

I hear there are occasional problems when a trigger program is involved, although I don't have a lot of experience with these. I've just created a new transaction file and the boss says no trigger. The trigger on the master file already fires off all over the place and can be a pain in the neck while developping.

I must add, I agree with you all, if it were me I'd use a trigger.

Ask the boss if he'd prefer that you spent a few months or so writing your own trigger-emulation software, or a day or two to learn how to use the trigger software he already paid for in the operating system. It's always his decision, of course, as to the best way to spend his money and development time.

If he decides to have you write your own trigger sans trigger :-) I think I would begin by writing a procedure that takes the externally described file record layout as a parameter along with an 'operation' like 'delete' 'add' or 'update.' Call this procedure (stored in a service program would be optimal) and pass in the record. Have the procedure do the 'trigger' behaviour as well as the actual data I/O. To guarantee that all updates go through your pseudo-trigger, lock the physical and associated logical files with very restricted authority so that no one can update the file. Make your procedure adopt appropriate authority and only your procedure can do the updates. You may need to engineer it so that you can create a stored procedure so JDBC/ODBC clients can do updates too.