Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att-cb!att-ih!pacbell!ptsfa!ames!ll-xn!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!ssc-vax!voodoo!bcsfse!bill
From: bill@bcsfse.UUCP (Bill Sears)
Newsgroups: comp.databases
Subject: Re: Need a menuing system for use under oracle
Keywords: oracle
Message-ID: <189@bcsfse.UUCP>
Date: 8 Mar 88 01:01:38 GMT
References: <248@rencon.UUCP>
Reply-To: bill@bcsfse.UUCP (Bill Sears)
Organization: Boeing Computer Services, Renton, WA
Lines: 46

In article <248@rencon.UUCP> gary@rencon.UUCP (Gary Falsken) writes:
>I have a question:   I would like to set up a nice menuing system 
>under the unix enviroment.  I have heard from oracle corp. that it
>should be done under sqlforms, but is that the only way?  If not,
>how can it be done?  

This has been a topic of much heated debate among the managers and analysts
of the project that I am working on.  We are using ORACLE SQL*forms on 
APOLLO hardware.  Now APOLLO provides this wonderful little tool called
Dialogue for creating menus and cool looking user-interface type stuff, but
it doesn't interface directly with ORACLE.  So we have to invoke iapx as a 
separate process every time we want to run a new form.  It takes some time
(approx. 30 seconds) for SQL*forms to setup the mailbox link to the database
server.  This results in a performance problem because of all of the forms
that we run.
Unfortunately, Dialogue and SQL*forms were forced down our throats by the
end-user and now we are being forced to rectify a performance issue that
should never have arisen in the first place.
Two options have been proposed:
    1. Use SQL*forms as our menu system.
       This is unsatisfactory because the "user must have a Dialogue
       front-end for the system to be usable at all."  A quote from the
       users.
    2. Develop C-code which would allow Dialogue to interface directly
       to ORACLE.  This is unsatisfactory because of time constraints
       imposed on the development team by the users.
Getting back to the original question, it seems like the two alternatives
available are using ORACLE products which may or may not save you development
time, or develop your own menu/database interface which involves a larger
initial development effort but will most certainly provide a better environ-
ment for later development.

As an aside, all of the analysts in this group feel that SQL*forms as a
user/database interface is virtually unusable in all but very simplistic
models.  Has anyone had any success using SQL*forms to develop a complex 
application?  We have had far more success using PRO*C and HLI.  I realize
that "complex" is a subjective term but we are talking about interface and
coordination of up to 6 tables at a time.

Disclaimer:  The above opinions are those specifically of myself and of
this group.  They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Boeing
Company in general.
-- 
	Bill Sears            ...!uw-beaver!ssc-vax!voodoo!bcsfse!bill
			FSE development project
	Do-it-yourselfers motto:  "Shit!! That broke easy."