Re: SQL FORMS beginner's questions

In article <C2uMCF.4pF_at_shakti.ncst.ernet.in>, adv8_at_shakti.ncst.ernet.in (Course account) writes:
>In article <1lldp7$8ol_at_news.cs.tu-berlin.de> ernst_at_cs.tu-berlin.de (Ernst Kloecker) writes:
>>Hallo,
>>
>>I just started using SQL FORMS and ran into two simple problems :
>>
>>
>>1. How can one invoke an OS command from within SQL FORMS and pass a
>>field value as a parameter ? (OS = OS/2 in this case)
>>
>>
>>2. I find one feature of SQL FORMS quite annoying : When I press COMMIT,
>>all the records previously accessed are updated, even if I was only
>>browsing through their contents. I would rather have COMMIT to update
>>only the record on screen. Is it possible to do that ? Or else, is it
>>possible to disable scrolling through records with the cursor keys ?
>>
>>Can anybbody help me out ? Thanks in advance, Ernst.
>>--
>>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>Ernst Kloecker phone: ++49-30-6181635 e-mail: ernst_at_cs.tu-berlin.de
>>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>I have an excellent suggestion .... Just dont do anything
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>R. Chitra phone : India ,Bombay - 2186567, 8377598
>------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have been waiting for an intelligent reply to the above query, but since I have seen none, I will add my $.02 worth.

1. there is the HOST procedure. Can you not build the "system_command_string" to contain the field variable through concatenation of strings?
2. I find the fact that COMMIT is always on a form-level basis very annoying also--I would like a block-level commit. What I do in this case is to sequentially go through the other blocks with a PRE-COMMIT trigger, do a CLEAR-BLOCK(no validate), and then a COMMIT. Of course all other data has now been cleared from the form. In one case, I saved the ROWID's of each of the other blocks and then restored the data. What a pain.
3. Why do you want to disable scrolling? Why retrieve the data if you don't want the user to see it? It is the presence of a record in the other blocks which screws up the commit. The number of records is immaterial. The other blocks must be cleared to prevent the commit from duplicating them back into the database tables.

Any other (intelligent) comments on this would be appreciated.

Marvin Beck Iowa State University Received on Tue Feb 23 1993 - 17:25:27 CET