1. Presented at SIR International Conference
A Test Drive Report
Presented at SIR International Conference
Bath, England by
Tom Shriver, DataVisor
June 2001

2. Summary of SIR2002 Enhancements
FORMS routine type in PQL
Screen Painter
Secondary Indexes
Long String Variables
GRID
Auto-Increment Key Field Type
Parameterized ODBC queries
Various New Commands
New PQL Functions
Old Problems Fixed
Test Drive of SIR2002: © Tom Shriver, DataVisor, 2001

3. PQL FORMS The Good The Bad Continuity with “Old SIR/Forms”
Straightforward Programming
Make use of existing Forms Source with nice Features
The Bad
Takes the “Procedural” out of PQL
Test Drive of SIR2002: © Tom Shriver, DataVisor, 2001

4. Forms Screen Painter FINALLY! Only Partial Set of PQL Dialog Controls
We get “Fields”
We get Buttons for action
We get Static Controls (e.g. images, boxes)
Missing List, Choice, Text
A couple of bugs in the version I have --
Test Drive of SIR2002: © Tom Shriver, DataVisor, 2001

5. Secondary Indexes Finally! Possible Sleeper Feature
Does away with many inverted lists
Hides the “Dummy Case”
Start with PROCESS REC VIA … (no CASE IS)
Feels Natural
Potentially Hide All Case References
Would be similar to the USING clause in Forms or SQL Paths
Test Drive of SIR2002: © Tom Shriver, DataVisor, 2001

6. Long Strings Still Needed
Quick Report Support (wrap within column)
PQL Function for wrapping
Have the Potential to Alter how we think of things
Similar effect on me as arrays did when they were implemented
Test Drive of SIR2002: © Tom Shriver, DataVisor, 2001

7. Variable Length Records
Very Scary
Very Much Needed
Space Saver – possibly 25% or more
Test Drive of SIR2002: © Tom Shriver, DataVisor, 2001

8. GRID Use as a Record Browser Tool for Data Clean-Up
Use to Navigate to a Corresponding Data Screen
Test Drive of SIR2002: © Tom Shriver, DataVisor, 2001

9. New Commands DEDIT POP UP LIST LOOKUP HELP dialog message type
A different type of DIALOG
Specialized use, but very powerful
POP UP LIST
Should have been in Visual PQL 2000
Needs support for variable length list (e.g. using arrays)
LOOKUP
HELP dialog message type
CREATE PROCFILE
NOTFCHK option on Retrieval/Program/Subroutine
Test Drive of SIR2002: © Tom Shriver, DataVisor, 2001