TBEDITOR - version 3.0 1. Short description tbeditor is a Infromix database access and manipulation tool. It performs database operation simple-to-use interface and without any SQL statements (altough SQL processing is also an option). With this features it is very similar to the Informix dbaccess ot isql tools. In general it has the following features: - connectivity to arbitrary Informix database - connectivity to tables and columns alleviated through menus and many defaults - extended search pattern possibilities - multiple-screen forms possible - forms for tables with up to 300 columns - different views of the selected table set : one row at a time, popup-menu, field types - insert, update, delete possible right on the fly, group update and delete possible - no limitation for table magnitude and selection - integration with Informix dbaccess - SQl scripts may be executes and browsed 2. Installation The package conatins .4Gl, .per, script and Makefile files. Its installation implies the existance of the Informix commands c4gl, form4gl. In order to install it and start it follow the steps: - unzip the tbed.zip file in a new directory - start the make command to compile the program i_rptmn.4ge using the Makefile - start the formcp script to compile - edit the tbed script to point to the i_rptmn.4ge program, place it in a directory in which You have PATH to - start the tbed script 3.Using the tbeditor program: I Once You have started the program You are presented with a menu. First You must set up the database, table and its columns you are going to access and manipulate (later on you can change them): Database setting Press F2 or enter 2 and press . Enter a valid database name from the available Informix databases in the database field. If the name is not valid the program would prompt "The specified database is does not exist" and it must be reentered. Table setting Enter a valid table name. You might want to select from the tables - then press , when in the table field. You are offered a popup-menu with the list of tables: move with: arrows down, up; (), () - next page, previous page; F6, F7 - begin, end of the list, F8 - restrict: a form pops up - You must either enter a construct pattern for the name of the table or You can enter a pattern for the name of its columns (i.e. You can search tables based on their columns name). After having choosen the table press to confirm or to escape. You might decide not to enter a table and exit at this point - press or . Then You probably might want to create temporary table and browse it - this is done thru SQL script execute- see below. Columns setting After You have set the database and table enter the columns list in the array - there are three options at this stage: 1) You may enter the columns names one after another 2) You might choose the columns from a popup-menu - (for navigation see up) 3) or most probably you might choose all columns - just press on a empty form array or press or and confirm the columns empting. You might delete some of the columns with , also you might return to the column list later with and change it. II After having set the data source You are offered 4 options: 1) Options or 9 and 2) Search - or 3 and 3) Insert - or 4 and 4) SQL script execute - or 7 and 1) This is for enhancing the columns list with the type of each column - press (9), in the popped form enter or for selection: "columns with types"., press . Next to each column will appear its type (rem. some type may fail because this utility was made for Informix 4Gl ver 4.0) 2) For setting a criteria for searching enter (9). Against each column you must enter construct criteria like: ">0", "*AB*" etc but there are some more criteria than the 4GL construct allows like: "A*|B*|"ABCD"" (all records which begin either with A, B or =ABCD). By setting a criteria You might look at its type (see Options - ) to put a correct criteria. After having set the criteria press (but quit first the field You at last entered criteria). If a correct criteria is not set the program will prompt with a message. For browisng see below "Browsing" 3) Insert - You can just insert data through the form you just created. After each entry press and confirm the insertion. 4) SQL script execute- with this option You can execute a SQL script (which would probably create a temporary table) and then browse by setting the table name - see - Setup Enter in the popped form the name of the script (You might still choose to skip temporalily to vi or UNIX from this form) - it will be executed. III Browsing After the Search is completed the dataset is presented. You can browse it with: arrows left and right - next, previous row; arrows down, up - along the multiple-screen form; , - next, previous page of the multiple-screen form; , - begin, end of the dataset. Once You are positioned on a specific row you can choose to update it or delete it - see below - manipulations. You can also choose another view - popup for the data browsing - press - a popup-menu appears ( there is no limitation for the magnitude of the dataset for this popup-menu, its width its 900 characters; the columns widths for it are according to the types of the columns and the placeholder for it - i.e. for char(4) you will have 4 characters in the popup menu; You are positioned at the row you were just previously). Navigation: arrows left, right - to the left and right of the column list; arrow up down - up, down of the data rows; , - begin, end in direction width, , left, right one column; (), () - next, previous screen, , - first, last screen. After You have reached the desired row You can press and come to the previous view (where you can manipulate this row - update or delete) or You can just exit - , . You can also prefer to browse in Informix dbaccess - press or and You will be automatically transferred to dbaccess (you will have the combination you set as a _tbed.sql script by choosing it you will browse the data in dbaccess). By exiting dbaccess You will be again in tbeditor. IV Manipulations When browsing the data you can update it or delete it - Press , for update and enter the new data in the form. You will be asked for confirmation. Press , for deletion. You will be asked for confirmation. Press to delete the whole dataset, You just selected (You can browse it ahead to make sure you will delete the right data). Press to update the whole dataset - You will be positioned in the form - only the fileds You change will be changed in the whole dataset. 4. Some future plans I intend to: 1) put CASE SENSITIVITY ON/OFf in the Option section for search. 2) extend the criteria building with some function like length, max, min etc. 3) allowing fast browsing for views, synonims and temporary tables etc 4) alleviate SQL statements 5) increase compatability with dbaccess for inserts, updates and allow some temporary table transition between the utility and dbaccess Have great time using this utility. All comments welcomed at ivokt@hotmail.com (ivokt@usa.net). Best regards Ivaylo Todorov