Passed parameters and selection sets

[GCC]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: filepro-list-bounces at lists.celestial.com 
> [mailto:filepro-list-bounces at lists.celestial.com] On Behalf 
> Of Ray Scheel
> Sent: Tuesday, August 02, 2005 4:02 PM
> To: 'Nancy Palmquist'
> Cc: 'filePro List'
> Subject: RE: Passed parameters and selection sets
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > On Tuesday, August 02, 2005 2:00 PM Nancy Palmquist wrote:
> > Ray Scheel wrote:
> > > I would enter and save a selection set like this:
> > > a      |  5  | unitcd ; unit code      eqf|   @pm|
> > > b      |  @pm| Parameter               eq |   _|
> > > |
> > > c      |  @pm| Parameter               eq |   _|
> > > |
> > > Selector Sentence:
> > > a or (b and north) or (c and south)
> My goal was to create a re-usable chunk of selection at the 
> -s level so I could avoid having to slurp in the same code 
> into multiple -v tables for the relatively straightforward 
> task of limiting the records we are looking at to particular 
> unit(s).  We are moving more and more of our reporting to a 
> web presentation, and thus are relying more on passed values 
> to gather data at the front end we would have previously 
> snagged within an interactive -v process run after the -s 
> selection had already been completed.  I've started down that 
> route of anyway, but its a missed opportunity to not have the 
> contents of the passed parameters available for comparison to 
> a fixed value in a -s selection set.
> 
It would seem to me a more efficient plan to create a file to hold the various
fix parameters you wan t to use. Sent the first field to the name of the
selection set you are currently using.  Create fields to hold the values you
want to pass.

Then when your -v processing runs, get the particular fixed parameters with a
lookup.

How you get the value will depend on you.

You could pass it with a -r or even set up an array, do a lookup to the file and
read in the first field of your set file; then use a listbox to allow for
selecting which set to use.  This would make for re-usable code.

By the way. In doing this, you can keep your selection sets from being
accidentally changed or overwritten.

This suggestion, I think, was posted previously by either Nancy or Laura Brody.

Richard Kreiss
GCC Consulting