What's Up DOCumentation Robelle Consulting Ltd. Unit 201, 15399-102A Ave. Surrey, B.C. Canada V3R 7K1 Phone: (604) 582-1700 Fax: (604) 582-1799 Date: March 18, 1993 From: Robert M. Green, CEO David J. Greer, President Michael Shumko, Editor To: Users of Robelle Software Re: News of the HP 3000, 1993 #2 What You Will Find in This News Memo: News Tidbits Technical Tips Unix Survey Mexico Visit Maximize Productivity Robelle Products: Problems, Solutions, and Suggestions Suprtool: Downloading to a PC News Tidbits Attention SFD Users. We are interested in talking to any users of the HP System For Distributors (SFD). We believe that Suprtool can be used in these shops to greatly speed up the SFD application. In fact, a couple of years ago the Suprtool manual documented this, but we are looking for some up-to-date info from current SFD users. Risks of Computing. A Florida fifth-grader's computerized grade six placement test score was zero. Despite protests, the student was forced to repeat grade five. Six weeks into the new school year, manual re-scoring of the test detected an extra blank between the first and last names that had led to the zero score. [from the Communications of the ACM] WordWare. Last issue, we printed the address for WordWare, publishers of the IMAGE/3000 Handbook. We forgot to mention the phone number: (206) 323-1548. [Marie Froese] TurboIMAGE Prefetch Bug. I have just learned that certain versions of TurboIMAGE shipped with MPE/iX 4.0 contain a bug that surfaces if you go into DBUTIL and ENABLE FOR PREFETCH. The bug causes the control block to be marked as corrupt, when it is not, aborting users' transactions. No actual corruption occurs, but everyone must get out of the database. All returns to normal once you DISABLE FOR PREFETCH. Apparently a patch is available for those who do not wish to wait until MPE/iX 4.5 to use this new feature. The Response Center should have further info. [Steve Cooper] Technical Tips Selective LISTEQ. Here's a little command file that makes life easier when checking for file equations for a specific file. It will save you having to wade through a long Listeq listing. Execute the command file from Qedit. [Hans Hendriks] Checkeq.Cmd parm fname /set warnings off /purge eqs,temp /listeq eqs {send the listing to a temp file} /lq eqs \!fname\(U) {search the file for the string} /set warnings on How to consume disc drives. While doing Suprtool development, we found a serious problem in MPE/iX. The Fopen intrinsic allows each parameter to be optional. However, leaving a parameter blank to get the default value, or actually specifying the default value may not result in the same behavior. We discovered this when working with initial extents (parameter #12). We used to leave out the parameter when making an Fopen call: , <> We then decided to change this line to be: ,0 <> In this case, we were specifying the default value, which according to the MPE/iX Intrinsics Manual is zero. However, here is a :listf,2 showing the difference in two files -- one created without a parameter, the second with the value zero specified for initial extents: :listf file#,2 ACCOUNT= TECHSUP GROUP= NEIL FILENAME CODE ----------LOGICAL RECORD---------- ----SPACE---- SIZE TYP EOF LIMIT R/B SECTORS X MX FILE1 850B FA 11 700000 1 2048 1 32 FILE2 850B FA 11 700000 1 2324224 12 32 The second file takes more than a thousand times more disc space. This problem appears in many different versions of MPE/iX. The moral is to never, ever specify the initial number of extents when calling Fopen. [David Greer] Faster BBS Transfers. If you are having trouble downloading from a BBS at a speed above 1300 characters per second (CPS), even with a 14.4K-baud modem, the culprit may not be the modem but the Caller ID box. Apparently, if the box is removed from your telephone line, your transfer rate will jump up to 1700 CPS. Fortune Cookie of the Month RAM = Rarely Adequate Memory. Unix Survey From: Robelle Consulting, Canada To: MPE Sites switching applications to Unix Re: Questions you could answer to help us plan R & D 1. Briefly describe your business and computer applications. 2. What configuration of MPE systems did/do you have? 3. What configuration of Unix systems do/will you have? 4. Are you buying applications packages on Unix or writing custom systems? 5. What MPE tools do/did you use? (Qedit, Suprtool, Quiz, etc.) 6. Have you purchased any third-party Unix tools? Any comments? 7. In what language do/did you program your MPE applications? 8. What language do you use on Unix? Any comments on it? 9. What Unix database(s) are you using? Any comments? 10.What do you edit with on Unix? vi? emacs? Any comments? 11.Do you need Qedit for Unix? Which features? What price would you pay for it? 12.Do you need Suprtool for Unix? Which features? What price would you pay for it? 13.Is there any functionality from the MPE world that you miss? 14.Do you type Unix commands directly or use a development front-end? 15.Have you completed any Unix applications? Any in production? 16.Are you installing more than one brand of Unix system? 17.How do you plan to link your systems? 18.Are you using client/server technology? Any comments? 19.Are you using X-windows? Any comments? Please use an extra sheet of paper for any long answers and mark them with the appropriate number. Thank you for your participation. Mexico Visit By David Greer I recently gave a full-day presentation to HP 3000 users in Mexico City. The meeting was a success -- several users flew to Mexico just to hear my talk. Infosistemas Financieros provided real-time translation services into Spanish for all of my talks and two of the papers (including my very technical HowMessy talk). The results were quite interesting. A Spanish phrase has about 20% more words than the equivalent one in English. I slowed down my normally fast speech by about 25%, but by lunch time the translators were about to revolt. They were completely out of breath from trying to squeeze all of my words into tiny chunks of time. After lunch, I concentrated on talking at 50% of my usual pace. Making jokes was also an experience. After providing a comment that I thought was amusing but receiving no audience response, I would just keep on going. About five seconds later, there would be sounds of laughter as the Spanish translation of my joke was completed. I later found out that the translators even creatively translated some of the jokes into the local Mexican equivalent. Interactive sessions were also fun. Users would ask questions in Spanish. I would have to put on headphones so that I could hear the English translation. My headphones would come off and forty sets of headphones would go on, once I started my answer. And we would do it all in reverse (forty headphones off, mine on) for the next question. It was my first time using translation services in such an interactive setting. A useful and fun experience! Calendar of Events April 1993 * The Interex Computing Management Symposium (ICMS) is being held on April 4-7 in Seattle. Marie Froese and Neil Armstrong will be there to demonstrate Robelle software and answer your questions. April 1993 * Robelle will be holding three days of Qedit and Suprtool training, April 26-28. See the following article in this news memo for full details. Contact Rosemary Van Poelgeest for more information. (604) 582-1700. May 1993 * The Southern California Regional Users Group (SCRUG) is holding their annual conference on May 4-6 in Pasadena. Ken Robertson and Paul Gobes will be in attendance to promote the "Robelle Way." June 1993 * On Sunday, June 27, in Birmingham, UK, Clive Oldfield and David Greer will be offering a Suprtool training class, followed by "The Biggest Computer Security Threat on the HP 3000" by Vladimir Volokh. At noon, a buffet luncheon will be served. On Tuesday, June 29, David will give a Qedit tutorial. Everyone is welcome to attend. To reserve for the tutorial presentations and the Sunday lunch, please contact Robelle's UK office. Phone: +44 71 473 2558. Clive Oldfield, our UK representative, will be pleased to send you a registration package. Maximize Productivity: Increase Your Knowledge of Qedit & Suprtool As the demands on your data processing department increase, efficiency becomes paramount. Find out how you can improve productivity in your shop by attending our Qedit and Suprtool tutorials in Vancouver, April 26-28th. Learn everything you need to know about Qedit and Suprtool from expert Mike Shumko, Robelle's Manager of Technical Support and a longtime user of these products. You may attend both the Qedit and Suprtool sessions, or just one. We are presenting Suprtool as a two-day course, and Qedit as a one-day course. These courses will appeal to new users in your shop and to those wanting to upgrade their skills. Best of all, the price is unbeatable. LOCATION: Sheraton Guildford Inn, Vancouver, British Columbia DATES: QEDIT Monday, April 26 SUPRTOOL Tuesday-Wednesday, April 27 & 28 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. COST: QEDIT $150.00 US Funds$188.00 CDN Funds SUPRTOOL $300.00 US Funds$375.00 CDN Funds To register, or for more information about our training program, please contact Rosemary Van Poelgeest at (604) 582-1700. In the past, these sessions have filled up quickly, so don't delay. Registrations will be accepted on a first come, first serve basis and space is limited. To reserve your seat, we require a purchase order number or payment in full. Robelle Products: Problems, Solutions, and Suggestions Qedit Version 4.1 I/O Redirection Gotcha. Typos have always been hazardous. With Qedit now supporting I/O redirection, a new error can occur: typing ">" instead of "." which shares the same key on the keyboard. And with a powerful utility such as MPEX from VESoft, trippy fingers can be especially dangerous. For example, %deletespoolfile @.@>mis I had meant to type "@.@.mis". Qedit did what I told it to - it redirected the output to the file called MIS, and MPEX started deleting all of the spoolfiles in my logon account (not MIS). Pressing Control-Y right away can minimize the damage. [Ken Robertson] Streamx Bug. If you run a native-mode program with the VESoft Streamx XL file, you can, in rare instances, get your system into a deadlocked situation. The only way out is to Start Norecovery, according to VESoft. One user ran into this problem running native-mode Qedit with xl="streamnl.pub.vesoft." Fortunately, there is no reason to run Qedit with the XL file to intercept the MPE Stream command. Instead, do a Set Udc in Qedit to call the VESoft Stream UDC. The deadlock bug is reported to be fixed in the new version of Security/3000 from VESoft. [David Hurst] Xpress Version 2.9 Retaining a Message for Today Only. When putting an Xpress message into your Bring Forward File, Bulletin Board, or Filing Cabinet, you are prompted for how long you want to keep the message. You can enter an actual date, a relative date, or zero to keep the message forever. A little known feature is that you can enter +0 to retain the message for today only. This is especially handy for Bulletin Board messages. Note the difference between 0 and +0. Suprtool: Downloading to a PC by Dennis Smetsers SAMCO Automation b.v. Oisterwijk, Holland Suprtool can be used to prepare data for processing with PC spreadsheet programs. The data can come from IMAGE databases, MPE files, KSAM files, or tapes, in any combination. The data is put into a Suprtool PRN file, which is the same format as a PC "comma-delimited" import file. There are three steps: create an empty PRN file, add a headline if you want, and finally, add the actual data to the PRN file. If no headline is required, you can do everything in one step. You will see how to use Suprtool to convert data from an IMAGE database and an MPE file to a PC format. You will also see how to use Suprlink to join two different datasets and select specific data from the entire file. Converting Data from an IMAGE Database Let's assume we have an IMAGE database named Mybase that includes two datasets. The set called D-Order contains all information concerning the incoming orders. The set named D-Product contains the product information. We will select orders for January, 1993, where the quantity ordered was more than one or the price was over $1500. The PC file must include the following information: order number, order date, product number, product description, number of ordered products, and the selling price. We will combine information from both datasets into a single file, using Suprlink to link D-Order data to D-Product data. The link is established via a field that is common to both datasets. In our case, it will be the product number. 1. Linking two or more datasets: The ">" sign represents the Suprtool prompt and the text between braces is an explanation of the preceding Suprtool command. > base mybase.demo,5,reader { 5 = open mode; reader = password } > get d-order { Selects the D-Order dataset. } > sort prod-no { This field will be used to establish the link. } > extract order-no,date,prod-no,quantity { Specifies the fields from D-Order to be included in the final file. } > output orders,link { Specifies the output file name. The link option creates a self-describing file, which is required by Suprlink. } > xeq { Executes the task. } Now we have an output file that only contains the required fields from D-Order. Similarly, we now make an output file from D-Product. > get d-product > sort prod-no > extract prod-no,description,price > output products,link > xeq The linking of the two files created from D-Order and D-Product now goes as follows: > link input orders { The Link command of Suprtool invokes the Suprlink program and passes it the command "input orders". Because the Orders file is self-describing we do not have to specify the name of the linking field. } > link link products { The command "link products" is passed to Suprlink and indicates that the file Products has to be linked to the file Orders wherever there is a match on the key field. } > link output mixed { The command "output mixed" indicates to Suprlink that the result of the linkage is to be placed in the file Mixed. } > link exit { Exit executes the Suprlink task and returns to Suprtool when done. } All data from the selected fields from the set D-Order and the set D-Product are now joined and placed in the file Mixed. 2. Selecting certain information from the total data. Up to this point we have not selected any records based on date, quantity, or price. The Mixed file contains all the records from D-Order, with the corresponding D-Product data. The next step is to select the desired records, putting them into the file Outselec. > input mixed > if date == "9301@" and ( quantity > 1 or price > 150000 ) { Date is an X6 field in YYMMDD format, so we can use Suprtool pattern-matching to select January 1993. } > output outselec > xeq 3. Converting data to a PC format. We will now see how we can convert the data from the file Outselec to a PC format. This format is known in Suprtool as PRN format and in the PC world as "delimited". Next, we will follow the three steps that are necessary for converting your data to the PC format. We will give the output file (PRN file) the name Pclist. Step 1: Create an empty PRN file. > input outselec (0/0) { (0/0) = selected records (first record/last record). This specifies a range of records to look at. In this case, no records are selected. Only the structure of the file Outselec is important. } > extract order-no,date,prod-no,description > extract quantity,price { We rearrange the fields into the sequence required by the PC program. } > numrecs 105% { Creates extra space in the PRN file for the heading line. } > set squeeze off { Ensures that the capacity of the output file does not get squeezed down to the EOF, which would make it impossible to append data to the file in subsequent steps. } > output pclist,prn { ,prn = indicates that the format of the output file must be PRN. } > xeq Step 2: Add a headline. > input info { Info = arbitrary MPE file. The MPE file type does not matter; this command is only necessary for the following Extract command. } > extract '"Order-No","Order-Date","Prod-No","Descript.",' > extract '"Quantity","Price"' { Extracts a description for above the fields (the headline). A headline can also be added after converting the data to the PRN format with an editor such as Qedit. } > numrecs 1 { Indicates that the size of the output file has to be set to one record. } > output pclist,append { The append option adds the headline to the existing contents of Pclist. At this point Pclist is empty. } > xeq Step 3: Add data lines to the PRN file. > input outselec > extract order-no,date,prod-no,description > extract quantity,price > output pclist,append,prn { Appends the data to the end of the file after the headline. PRN adds the quote marks around byte-fields, inserts commas between fields, and ensures that numeric fields are in Ascii format. } > xeq The final PRN file, Pclist, contains both the headline and the data. We have reached the point where we can transfer the file to a PC using a terminal emulation program, and load the file into a spreadsheet program. These steps will be explained in the next What's Up DOCumentation. Dennis Smetsers is a product support representative for SAMCO Automation, Robelle's distributor in Holland. This article has been translated from the original which appeared in a Dutch magazine. It is the first of two installments.