(1) See the Progress Programming Handbook, section on "Database Access" for
a discussion of data access and use of browse widgets.
QAD does NOT use the Progress browser. Refer to the QAD Users Guide for
more info. See chapter 4,5,and 6.
(2) I have never attended a QAD course, but I have had some experience with
various QAD browse programs (both those run from the menus and those that
pop-up with HELP key).
It appears that the browse "technology" used at QAD has evolved quite a bit
over the years, and that any one version of Mfg/pro may contain seveal
methods. Most of them have proven to be extremely annoying, as you say,
especially in the area of performance. The problems are as varied as the
technologies used.
It is offered now in their 2 week Version training cource and can be
presented in a 1 day cource.
In some instances, it appears that they download the data to a TEMP-TABLE
and then run the browse on that instead of the original table. Hardly a
method for quick lookups. I mean, what is the purpose of a tool, whose
purpose is to "help" a user find information, that takes ten minutes (or
longer) to populate the screen?
YES, this was their first and original design attempt. They realized this
was not the most effective way of presenting data and as of 8.5F and above
they re wrote the "Browse Engine". Now they capture the first 24 records
which is fast, and easily step threw "chunks" of 24 records very quickly.
In other cases, the default "BY" clause is completely different than the
fields implied in the "USE-INDEX" clause. That means that Progress has to
read the entire table and sort it before presenting the 1st line of
information to the user. Even if an explicit temp-table is not used, the
performance is about the same.
There were still problems with the use of the "where clause" and searching
criteria used. They have resolved most of these performance issues with
J3C3.
For those pop-up (HELP) browsers that actually work, many of them present
data that is illegal in the requesting program, because the browsers are
generic for the table in question, and insensitive to the context.
The newer browses (8.5F and above) allow you to still create a browse on an
index field (improve performance) and return a value from any column in the
browse. Those pop-up browses are referred to as "Lookup Browses". They
provide up to several columns of data to display in a simple query format.
For advance features they have created "Power Browses" which along with
querying information allow you to modify sort conditions, print from
browses, and, on the GUI version display graphs based on your browse.
Developing a good browse template that can be re-used for many tables in
many circumstances is not a trivial task. And although in the long run, a
good template might be preferable to dozens of one-of-a-kind browsers, for
the record, a reasonably good browse program can be put together in a
matter of minutes, if you are willing to skip the complexities of a
template. We have replaced a number of browsers with excellent results,
and users that are much happier.
This may be a preference for a programmer, however, QAD's intent with there
"Browse" was to create a template that any customer could use without
having a Progress programming background and create their own "queries" on
the database. A custom program, or , custom browser should provide best
performance because it is written for that particular search criteria. QAD
is trying to allow all users the ability to create their own search
criteria in a "standardized" format with this tool.
As mentioned in a previous email, this information can be obtained from or
users guide, it is now offered in our 2 week training package for a
particular version of MFG/PRO, and, on request we will provide a 1 day
training class on it.
Please contact me if you have problems obtaining this information,
Ed Grize elg@qad.com
QAD L2 Support (856) 840-2669 New are code change for Mt. Laurel
Mt. Laurel, NJ
