Re: Caution! Potentially stupid question about SQL*Forms : -)

John Bartley (john_at_wpa.com) wrote:
> Help! I'm suffering from information overload and I can't get up...I mean
> find the answer. At least in this lifetime. :-)
 

> I've got about 12 lineal feet of Oracle documentation running across the
> top of my file cabinets. With all these hundreds of pounds of manuals, I
> still haven't found the answer (not that it isn't in there somewhere) to
> this simple question:
 

> We have a SQL*Forms development license for Windows. I've been tinkering
> with it trying to set up some forms. It works fine under Windows, but what
> I haven't been able to figure out is what to do and how to do it in order
> to create forms that can be run under X on the HP server. On the PC menu I
> see "generate" but I haven't got a clue about what to do to create forms
> for different platforms (I also want some character-based versions for
> dial-in access from laptops.)
 

> Do we have to have a development license for every platform? Oracle came
> up with the specs for what we needed, so I assume that they didn't sell
> licenses that weren't appropriate for our intended use... would they?
 

> Could somebody who understands what I'm trying to accomplish loan me a
> clue? :-)

Basically it boils down to this ... (based on SQL*Forms V3 - should be similar for V4)

SQL*Forms has 3 segments ... the developer interface, the generator interface and the run-time interface.

You develop and store the form in a) the database and/or b) the .inf files. This the the source.

You run the generator against the stored developer's form. The generator is Operating System dependant - you need to run the generator on the target OS for the required display type. The generator is a type of compiler.

You run the 'executable' on the target OS using RunForm.

Based on Oracle's practises and sales methods from 2 years ago ...

In answer to you basic question ... you need the generator for each target platform, but not the development environment. (Oops, the generator is part of the development environment ... oh well, guess you gotta buy it - silly smirk from appropriate marketeers). However, you can legitimately get away with 1 copy of the dev. environment & generator for HP - if all your developers do the basic work on Windows & only one person does the conversion. You can also automate the generator processes to be totally unattended.

You will also need to purchase appropriate run-time environments for the X platform.

Hope this helps Received on Tue Aug 09 1994 - 19:41:31 CEST