sirxs in review aka the joys of xs presented at sir-uk conference dublin, ireland, june 2008 © tom...
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SIRxs in Review The Joy of XS Presented at SIR-UK Conference Dublin, Ireland, June 2008 © Tom Shriver, DataVisor 2008TRANSCRIPT
SIRxs in Review
akaThe Joys of XS
Presented at SIR-UK Conference Dublin, Ireland, June 2008 ©Tom Shriver, DataVisor 2008
SIRxs in Review
Presented at SIR-UK Conference Dublin, Ireland, June 2008
©Tom Shriver, DataVisor 2008
Photo Rights Alex Comfort, M.D.
SIRxs in Review
The Joy of XS
Presented at SIR-UK Conference Dublin, Ireland, June 2008
©Tom Shriver, DataVisor 2008
4
Progress of this Presentation
First, a Show of Hands: Who’s converted to SIRxs?
Lots of new features I/we haven’t tried Please join in with your experience
For the Un-Converted: What are you afraid of?
Thursday should be a good time to explore details of conversion and potentials of SIRxs
5
Personal Experience Using for special work since 2005
Import & CSV Save File for long header names Converted First Production database 2007 At DCC / Columbia U.
New Databases being developed in SIRxs Slow (methodical) conversions of existing databases
o 13 Total SIRxs databaseso 7 Newo 6 Convertedo 35 To Go
DataVisor Conversion of Generic Products: Occassional Surprises
6
Long & Special SIR Names At Columbia still Standardizing on 8 char names
Controlled Testing on New databasesConversions from other db formats (eg Access, SAS)
DataVisor Long names for Output; Short for Database operations DV Products: DVPainter & DVSchema help enforce
standardization on 8 char names General Experience
Good but not extensive Amazing number of dependencies (eg PQL)
in local “utility” programs
7
String Length
New “Default” STRING LENGTH is 32 Sometimes affects existing application definitions Similarly:
Treatment of String System GlobalsSIR2002 global DBNAME padded to 8 charactersSIRxs global DBNAME trimmed
8
Master
During our Transition Period Found several “bugs”
Mostly regarding new Journaling CapabilitiesReceived several Master Updates December-May
Still Awaiting “File Based” Concurrency Manager
9
Journaling in SIRxs
The Change I was most anticipating Later Presentation & Discussion
10
SIRxs User Environment Settings
SIR.INI Now (Windows) stored in \Documents & Settings\...
Great improvement for end users viz a viz permissions Additional Settings
Sizes of things (eg dialog lists)
11
Schema in XS Common Var Definitions
RECORD SCHEMA 0 CIR Automatic I/O Column Assignments WRITE SCHEMA by Variable BDI “BLANK as UNDEFINED”
Saves a User Defined Missing Value New Date Formatting: “E” for “Exact” on input
DATE MYDATE (‘EMMiDDiYYYY’) Standard Vars Encryption
12
PQL Enhancements (1) As always, many enhancements
PQL Output Procedureso Standardization of optionso Long Names & “AS” for output nameso XML
PROCESS CASE with expressions (e.g. COUNT, SAMPLE) Functions
o Mostly to support new Featureso SYSTEM(81) hot off the press “Corruption Flag On?”o CLIPSET(string_to_copy_to_clipboard)
Interactive Debugger PQL Forms
o Some added functionality
13
PQL Enhancements (2) PQL Dialogs & Controls
Many new Object Types SLIDER, TREE, SPIN, ComboBox, PROGRESS
Font & GUI object color control(EDIT, LABEL, LIST, etc)
BUTTON with IMAGE rather than text prompt IMAGE: FILL & CENTER
Demonstration: Color Coded Fields on Data Screens Multi-Line Prompts in Screen Tabbed Page Navigation
14
PQL Enhancements (3)
WINDOW (MainMenu) New Look/Feel to some SIR MainMenu Options
TIMER Control (hot off the press)o ENABLE TIMER no DISABLE TIMERo Timer Message ID is -999o No MESSAGE TIMER block (as in PQL dialog)
PQL SERVER