Re: need help with this rpg application

Thanks for your offer, Rory.
It's been decided that the sandbox application will actually write the
unvalidated client data to the production files. It will then call the
production program which will then read this information and present
screens to the user to validate. The idea is that the program is
isolated from the sandbox files which have been given the same names
as the ones in production. If the user does not validate, the
information will be deleted from the production files. Seems back to
front to me, but I don't decide.

2012/7/17 Rory Hewitt <rory.hewitt@xxxxxxxxx>:

Dave,

I've done something a bit like this before using an array method.

Basically, I have a generic all-purpose routine which you call passing a
file name and the key information and it loads info from the *lowest* file
in the *LIBL into an array. Then it overwrites that data with info from the
next highest copy of the file in the *LIBL, and so on. So at the end, the
array might contain 'blended' data from multiple different copies of a file.

Originally it was written so there could be a hierarchy of control files in
the *LIBL. Then the user could go into the control data editing program and
if they change a record, it would copy the lowest (global, generic) control
record into the highest (user-specific) control file, and then update the
array (which is in a user-specific user space). All the user apps that use
this system don't read a file directly - they access the array.

It works really well because it means that the apps don't need to perform
multiple reads on versions of the control file, or need to be aware of what
libraries are in the *LIBL - they just read a record from the array.

Anyway, you could repurpose this for your needs. You're welcome to the
code. Just ping me.

Rory

On Mon, Jul 16, 2012 at 11:52 AM, Dave <dfx1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Imagine an application for entering client information to create
transactions. Users have been granted their wish to create
transactions with very little controls by using a "sandbox". Basically
they've been given a library containing copies of all the necessary
production files. That way they can create as much as they like with
the information they have as soon as it becomes available. Now for the
hard part: If the transaction is accepted, the user needs to be able
to select it in a subfile, which will then take them to the normal
creation application I mentioned at the start. At this point, the
library list will have changed to the normal production environment,
so that the sandbox files are no longer on line. The application will
display several screens before finalising the transaction. Each screen
needs to be populated with the information available in the sandbox,
the user completing the missing information. The idea is that the user
will not have to retype all the information on all the screens.

It has been suggested to call the application in a separate activation
group after having copied the sandbox information to the production
files. In case of abandoning the transaction, the application already
knows how to delete the information from the database.

Copying the uncontrolled sandbox data to the production files just
doesn't seem right to me, even if it can be successfully deleted and
even though the user will have to correct any incorrect data. Has
anyone another idea how this might be achieved? What about a special
file containing all the information from the sandbox files? Is that
possible?

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