Oracle*CASE - code generation responses (NOT a summary)
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1993 13:40:25 GMT
Message-ID: <16B9D79FA.M22367_at_mwvm.mitre.org>
Here they are! I have trimmed many of them to the relevant subject matter. I apologize to anyone whose note got mangled :-/
Happy reading!
- Mike
From: solson_at_mgrm.com (Steve Olson)
We are using the CASE generators for SQL*Forms3.0, SQL*Menu5.0, and
ReportWriter 1.1 with great success.
If you have any specific questions I'd be happy to respond.
Steve A. Olson
From: wethater_at_mailbox.syr.edu
i have, you *don't* want to. trust me.
From: David Thornewill <R11202_at_WACCVM.corp.mot.com>
I (or rather we = Motorola) use Oracle*CASE, and have also generated code from it.
I however am more concerned with the upper CASE aspect of things and have little direct experience of the generator. If you have specific questions email me, perhaps I can find answers. Sorry I can do no better than this.
Regards,
David TvE -- usual disclaimers apply.
From: iasysdl_at_prism.gatech.edu (Daniel Looby)
I work at Georgia Tech where we are working on a large Oracle application. The application will integrate the formerly diverse Student Information System (Marketing & Recruiting, Admissions, Registration, Student Records, Housing, Student Accounts and more) into one database so that information can be shared more readily.
We use the Oracle CASE tools and generate our default forms from the tools. There always seems to be a second (human) pass at 'tweaking' the forms, but generally we are pleased with what we get. It helps if you have all the data in the dictionary before generating (major processing flaws result from some human not supplying the correct data).
I'll state that I am a Georgia Tech employee but that the development is a joint venture with Oracle Corp. and that we have about 15 Oracle employees here on site assisting with development. There are things not in the manuals that they know and have been a great assist on.
The staff of ISS (Information Systems And Services) number 41 including administation and support services. Of that approximately 21 are involved in application analysis, strategy, design, build, documentation, etc.
The number of Oracle staff on the project has varied and they will start final phasing out in about six months with the final group slated to leave in 1994 (when financials is complete I believe). Oracle staff averages about 35% of the total resource to the project.
Yes, it is a 'huge' and Oracle has made a big commitment to the project. Oracle will be marketing the package in North America, perhaps in Europe.
Daniel Looby | Major Premise: Sixty men can do a piece
Systems Analyst II | of work sixty times as quickly as one
dan.looby_at_oit.gatech.edu| man.
404-894-9587 | Minor Premise: One man can dig a posthole
| in sixty seconds.
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From: andy_at_vistachrome.com (Andrew Finkenstadt)
We use the CASE tools extensively for diagraming and organization. I know of people who have pushed through to actually generate a form, his address is 'gene_at_aee.aee.com'.
-- Andrew Finkenstadt, Vista-Chrome, Inc., Homes & Land Publishing Corporation GEnie Unix RoundTable Manager, andy_at_vistachrome.com, andy_at_genie.geis.com. "[The author] neither accidentally nor intentionally omits or includes anything that could support a preconceived thesis." - C&EN 21-DEC-92 p.72Received on Fri Mar 26 1993 - 14:40:25 CET
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From: btreuman_at_ems.cdc.com (Bob Treumann) If you are talking about generating forms code, I have done lots of it.
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From: gerrit_at_vtm.be Hi Mike, I guess I've overlooked your first posting but I did used the Case tool as part of a evaluation to create smalltalk code. I went to Oracle and sat down with a person from Oracle to do some things in the Case tool. First we've expanded the standard case-dictionary in such way that each table could be associated with a class name for smalltalk. And that each attribute in the table could be associated with an instance variable name of that class. Secondly we did create some tables using the case tool and specified for each table a class name and for each attribute an instance var name. Futhermore we specified for each foreign key also the instance var name which could then be used to retrieve information from the foreign object. The next step was to retrieve this information and put it in a appropriate form for code-generation. For this a sql script was written and generated information for each attribute/foreign key a single line in a text file : PERSONS;BIPerson;ADDRESS_ID;fAddress;NUMBER;BIAddress; PERSONS;BIPerson;BIRTHDAY;fBirthDay;DATE; 1st column is the table name 2nd column is the class name associoated with this table 3rd column is a column name of the table 4th column is the instance variable associated with this column 5th column is the data type of the column 6th column is the classname of the "foreign object" in case of a foreign key (each class inherited an instace variable fId containing the ID of the object/row) Then we ran an awk script (awk is a sort of programming language like C but you don't have to compile it and it is quite usefull for treating text-based data in a format like the one above) to generate the class definition and about 60 to 70% of the object code. Mainly to define the structure link for smalltalk to generate SQL statements and the methods to set and get the instance variables. And some methods which did conversion of date's to strings in a certain format that the user would like to see on his screen. Gerrit Cap {gerrit_at_vtm.be} Vlaamse Televisie Maatschappij N.V. Luchthavenlaan 22 B-1800 Vilvoorde Belgium
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From: ccocsma_at_blount.gatech.edu (Alex Alexander) We (at Georgia Tech) have been using Oracle's CASE tools for about 2 years on a very large scale development project. So, whatever aspect you have questions on, let me know. Alex Email: Alex.Alexander_at_oit.gatech.edu
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From: baden_at_oclc.org (Douglas L. Baden) Mike: I have done some work with ORACLE*Case, but I have not worked extensively with it. The people I worked with are not on the Net, so they can't help you. Try shooting the questions at me, and maybe I can help. Doug Doug Baden | When I see "And it is obvious that" I know that My opinions are my own. | I have many hours of work to see the obvious...
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From: Ian Williams <iwilliam_at_au.oracle.com> WARNING! I work for ORACLE. However I am a consultant and use CASE tools to generate skeleton systems for the contract I am working on.. What do you want to know! I'll try to remain as unbiased as possible.
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From: btreuman_at_ems.cdc.com (Bob Treumann) Mike- I have never heard any claim that CASE generates anything but forms and reports and sqlplus. There is nothing in my books or on my menus about C or C++. > > Thanks for your response. We're trying to find people who have genned C or > C++ code from the Oracle*CASE tool. So far the only responses we've had have > been people generating forms code. > > But that's good to know --> if nobody out on the net has done it, then it's > very likely it "caint be done". > > Thanks again! > > - Mike > > -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bob Treumann Ph (612)553-4570 Email btreuman_at_ems.cdc.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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From: scott.unrein_at_dwarp.sccsi.com (Scott Unrein) I use the CASE*Generators. On a whole the tools generate satisfactory code. Nothing fancy, just basic data entry screens. Of course, nothing fancy is relative... I know nothing about forms programming and was able to generate seven forms that implemented list of values processing; standard template lay-out; automatic on-line help; etc. So, while my screens aren't particularly fancy, they are productivity enhancers for me. The DDL generator is VERY good. With version 5.0 of the Dictionary you can generate more robust database objects -- Rollback Segments/TableSpaces/Indexes/Integrity Constraints/etc.. Scott Unrein --- . SLMR 2.1a . .....C:\DOS C:\DOS\RUN RUN\DOS\RUN.... ---- +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Data Warp Premium BBS (713) 355-6107 HST/V.32bis | | Spring / Houston, Texas Multi-line, multi-gig PCBoard BBS | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+
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From: wethater_at_mailbox.syr.edu -> Okay - what happened when you tried to gen code from Oracle*CASE? Smoke and -> flames? :-) nope, i don't think CASE supports HCF yet. ;-) but it did take twice as long to get good working code out of it than it did for me to write it from scratch. and it was larger and slower. it might be due to the fact that i was the first one here to try it, and i had to get the dba to change the way things were set up a few dozen times. it just left me with a very bad impression, and the fact that i can do it from scratch just as fast. we also had a number of problems getting CASE set up and working to start with. i guess i do not recommend trying to gen code from CASE with a deadline stareing you in the face. [like there's a time i don't have a deadline stareing me in the face? ;-)] Bill Bill Thater * You gotta program like you don't need the money, Centro Parking,Inc. * You gotta compile like you'll never get hurt, THATERW_at_VAX.CS.HSCSYR.EDU* You gotta run like there's nobody watching, WETHATER_at_MAILBOX.SYR.EDU *It's gotta come from the heart if you want it to work
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From: Tapio Luukkanen <vtl_at_tik.vtt.fi> Hello, We do have some experience with Oracle*CASE, both positive and negative. As you wrote, Case can generate upto 90 % of the work, unfortunately the remaining 10 % still tends to take 90 % of the time... This was, however, most certainly due to our somewhat unique constraints: our client provided us with a quite extensive document about their user interface requirements for Oracle. We saw it fit to to develop a 'mangling' system, which inserts both general and form-specific procedures, triggers, and PL/SQL -blocks (and more ...) to the generated forms. The generated messages were also systematically substituted to be "more user friendly". But, if the user interface that Oracle imposes, and the way the generated forms work is acceptable to you, then the Case tools could be a real time-saver. Tapio