filepro CD - map project update

[Mike Schwartz (PC Support)]

> If I can't do the data interface that will work on a CD, I imagine we will
> outsource the project to someone with more expertise.  I did a paper
> directory years ago that we outsourced -- I think they used Access to
> generate the cd.  Of course I wish to remain true to fp.
> 
> Linda Hapner

     You don't have to feel you are betraying filePro if you export the data
to some other format.  For example, I often export filePro data to comma
delimited or other formats so that it can be used by people with
spreadsheets, like Excel.  I've never considered that I was "betraying"
filePro.

     Actually it can be difficult to release filePro apps to the general
public.  For example, I wrote a filePro app that I believe is still in use
today with one of the Vietnam Memorial traveling walls.  For a couple of
hours, I trained the people who travel with the wall on how to do filePro
queries, but they still didn't understand the program well enough to do much
more than do simple searches.  They still send me the more complex queries.


    As a side note, many of the queries were heart rending.  The usually go
something like:  "My psychiatrists want me to reconstruct a timeline for
when things happened. I'm trying to recall the name of a Marine staff
sergeant who was killed a couple of weeks after a mortar attack killed about
10 guys in our platoon..."  These queries usually required a couple of
letters back and forth before I could whittle the list down to a reasonable
number of names and print out a report.

   Any way, complex queries are not something that the people traveling with
the wall ever learned to handle.

   Filepro was still a good tool to give these people, especially 15 years
ago.  Previously they had the database in several word processing files, so
they had to load each document into their word processor and then search for
things with a simple "find" command.

  They LOVED the filePro indexes.  I was able to span fields on some of the
indexes so that they could see things sorted by multiple keys.  I used all 8
automatic indexes and all 8 demand indexes, since I assumed this was a
fairly static database.  (Yes, I know they are still adding names a few
names to the wall each year.)

     Anyway, my point was to tell you that filePro might not be the best
tool to simply release to the general public, unless you are prepared to sit
at a help desk for the next several months, helping users do complex
queries.

Mike Schwartz