Re: Anyone using Oracle*Case or TopCase?

deboer_at_wsl34 (Gert de Boer) writes:

>I happen to know them both. TopCase even very good. Today I am working
>with OracleCase (it may not be the newes version), and I find it terrible.

                  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
                       What's the version ?? Oracle CAse has improved
                       quite a bit recently.

>1) The (Forms) interface of Oracle isn't very good. Often 'unhandled exceptions'.

  I've never seen this and have been using Oracle CASE for a year now.   Pehaps you have a tuning/install problem ???

> There are also some mistakes in the logic of the OracleCase screens
> which you, as an application builder, would never make.

 Any specifics ?

>2)
> There are no Forms for all important repository tables in OracleCase. E.g.
> 'show
> me all the defined columns with name like %dis%: impossible.

    Hmmmm. You must have an older version. I can get this info a     number of different ways.

>6)
> The ER designer of OracleCase is not very well integrated with the repository.
> Attribute names are just text objects. When you use TopCase together with

   That's strange, ER stands for Entity Relationship. Why would there    be any attributes in the diagram ?

> e.g. Pro*Niam (also of Cosima/Comtecno), you get nearly all the results of
> you analysis in the TopRepository.
 

>7) TopCase has a one to one relation between contents of the repository and the
> DDL statements it generates. For OracleCase it seems to depend on the history
> of your several generations.

    Not exactly. Oracle CASE does ER modeling at the top level. ER     does not imply that every Entity will become a table in a     One to One mapping as you suggested. ER is an abstraction of     the physical database. See the note below on upper/lower tools.

>8) OracleCase is very poor structured: it does not lead you the natural way through
> your sytem designing.

  I guess this might be personal preference ? I find the progression   quite logical.

>10) TopCase's Forms are not so beautiful as those from OracleCase: but I never got
> a Form (in OracleCase and TopCase) that could be used without screenpainting.

      Perhaps you are not doing enough preliminary design work then ?
      On one project with about 100 forms, I'd say about 40 of them
      required absolutely no touch ups after they were generated.
      The ones which did require additional work only needed additional
      programming logic to enforce very complex business rules or to
      incorporate user exits (done in "C").  The screens themselves did
      not require a bit of touch up.

      In Oracle Case, there are many ways to influence screen
      generation. With teh latest version of Case, something like
      200 different paramteres of GUI based forms.  With the proper
      background design work, Case generator can create excellent
      useable forms which require no additional modification.

>11) TopCase also exists in a X and MS-Windows version, working with the same repository.
> In the Windows version you have 'instant-generation': there is no need for
> generating anymore. TopCase reads the repository, and in a few seconds starts
> the Windows interface you wanted to.

     Oracle CAse also has MS-Windows version. Sun/OS coming soon ?

>13)TopCase is in fact a lowercase tool: it can be used in combination with many
> uppercase tools. Just read the information from your uppercase tool, and fill
> the TopRepository with it.

     So there you have it. Oracle covers both the upper and lower
     ends which is why you get somewhat of a "gap" between initial logical
     design and physical implementation.  I'm certain such a gap will
     also exist between any upper case tool and TopCase.

>14) With TopCase it is easier to go back, and correct mistakes or implement changes.
> Application are easier to maintain.

    Sounds subjective to me. Since I've never used TopCase, I can't     comment.

    Anyhow, if you'd like more info and/or some sample forms, etc.     please e-mail me.

Rich Holowczak
Rutgers University
holowcza_at_andromeda.rutgers.edu Received on Thu Jan 06 1994 - 15:46:58 CET