Re: Make ORDER BY in a view?

From: Mungo Henning <mungoh_at_itacs.strath.ac.uk>
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1998 16:59:30 +0000
Message-ID: <367543F2.B1D4DC9C@itacs.strath.ac.uk>

KeyStroke (Jack L. Swayze Sr.) wrote:
>
> However, if for either technical, or political, or economic reasons you cannot
> change the code in the system that is issuing the original SELECT statement,
> then you have to take measures in the database to accomplish what the user
> really wants.

Methinks the saying "when needs must the devil provides" applies here. If you are
under pressure to "solve the problem" in the scene which you depict then I guess you have two stark choices:

1. Tell your boss that it cannot be done without a change on the "other side"
2. Implement a "dirty" fix and tell your boss that its not guaranteed to work

You may not have the luxury of choice one. You may therefore have to take choice two. Whether choice two is also accompanied by telling your boss how cr*ppy the fix is is down to professionalism/personalities and a raft of other issues.

Having browsed over the "simmering" posts on this thread I can see both sides (I think).
I understand the resentment from those at the "front line" when an application doesn't
support a particular feature which would make front-line life less like disorganised hell.
Those in the production factories are also right in their wish to keep the model clean
and not degenerate into a melee of minor features.

It is true that if manufacturers consistently fail to provide adequate features then
people will vote with their feet, but it is wrong to depict a unreliable 'fix' as anything
less than reliable - the "group by" would perhaps be all that the thread originator needs,
dependent on the platform/tables and other ingredients, but it won't work in every
circumstance.

I still think that without adequate warnings of the "reliability" of the 'fix' then
the information broadcast is dangerous to those "not in the know". Were I to use an Oracle feature within its advertised remit and it failed to work
then I would be on the telephone rapidly to get a fix from Oracle. Were I to use a
feature outwith its remit and it failed then I have no moral right of complaint (IMHO). I may have a right to criticise the supplier, but since I've moved out of
the "acceptable use" envelope then all my rights evaporate.

Interesting viewpoints from both sides: can I request a reduction in vehemence please?

Thanks in advance

Mungo Henning

P.S. To lighten the mood, here's a little apocryphal story.

A farmer was told by the government that a huge gas pipeline (crossing the country) was
to be laid across one of his fields.
No sooner had the work started when one night a pair of shady characters arrived at the
farmer's door.

"How would you like free gas for life?" asked one of the characters.
"How?" asked the farmer.
"We'll tap into that huge pipeline for you: they'll never miss a small amount

of gas with the volume flowing through there" said the shady character.

"How much?" asked the farmer
"Two thousand" replied the characters.
"Agreed" said the farmer.

A few days later the shady characters have laid a small pipe up from the field into the farm. An hour later they call the farmer to inspect the work: there is gas emanating from the pipe at the farm. With mischievious delight, the farmer paid the two characters who then bade him farewell and scarpered.
Two weeks later, the "free" gas supply stopped, and without any way to contact the shady characters the farmer investigated himself. He traced the pipeline from the farm into the field, and near to the main gas pipeline he unearthed two substantial gas cylinders... the characters hadn't tapped the main pipe after all.

Dilemma time: who does the farmer complain to?

You may see a connection between the farmer and anyone who uses a Group By to perform a surreptitious sort... :-) Received on Mon Dec 14 1998 - 10:59:30 CST