Windows GUI access to Universe DB files

Are there any Windows GUI applications that can edit Universe DB files on Windows or AIX?

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Phillip Potter
V.P. R&D
Data Management Associates Inc DMA
Cincinnati OH US
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Try AccuTerm's WED (Windows EDitor), which, of course, means installing AccuTerm and its host programs.

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Marcus Rhodes
Owner
Rocket Forum Shared Account
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Try AccuTerm's WED (Windows EDitor), which, of course, means installing AccuTerm and its host programs.

------------------------------
Marcus Rhodes
Owner
Rocket Forum Shared Account
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Consider _ Rocket's wIntegrate and _ 3rd Party xLr8.

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Bill Brutzman
IT Manager
Hk Metalcraft Manufacturing Corporation
Lodi NJ US
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Are there any Windows GUI applications that can edit Universe DB files on Windows or AIX?

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Phillip Potter
V.P. R&D
Data Management Associates Inc DMA
Cincinnati OH US
------------------------------

If you want to edit records in type 19 or 1 files (e.g. programs, equates, many system files like &SAVEDLISTS&), then you can even edit them directly using whatever text editor you like.  If the path to the record is visible to your desktop, then you can just edit it from there.  This won't establish/respect UniVerse locks, but that's often not a problem.  If locks are a concern and your database is on the AIX box, then you can use UV.VI from TCL.

Otherwise, we use AccuTerm and AccuTerm's WED (which Marcus already pointed out).

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Tyrel Marak
Technical Support Manager
Aptron Corporation
Florham Park NJ US
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If you want to edit records in type 19 or 1 files (e.g. programs, equates, many system files like &SAVEDLISTS&), then you can even edit them directly using whatever text editor you like.  If the path to the record is visible to your desktop, then you can just edit it from there.  This won't establish/respect UniVerse locks, but that's often not a problem.  If locks are a concern and your database is on the AIX box, then you can use UV.VI from TCL.

Otherwise, we use AccuTerm and AccuTerm's WED (which Marcus already pointed out).

------------------------------
Tyrel Marak
Technical Support Manager
Aptron Corporation
Florham Park NJ US
------------------------------

Thanks for the suggestion. I use Emacs to edit type 19 files (never use
Type 1 anymore), but my customer wants to edit records with attributes,
values, subvalues and do it with a gui. I had always thought that WED
was a gui editor but still limited to Basic source and other Type 19
stuff. Is it enhanced now to handle native Universe files?

--
Phillip B. Potter, R&D ????
Data Management Associates, Inc.
???*In theory there's no difference between theory and practice. In
practice, there is.*???????-??Walter??Savitch

Thanks for the suggestion. I use Emacs to edit type 19 files (never use
Type 1 anymore), but my customer wants to edit records with attributes,
values, subvalues and do it with a gui. I had always thought that WED
was a gui editor but still limited to Basic source and other Type 19
stuff. Is it enhanced now to handle native Universe files?

--
Phillip B. Potter, R&D ????
Data Management Associates, Inc.
???*In theory there's no difference between theory and practice. In
practice, there is.*???????-??Walter??Savitch

Depends on what you mean by GUI.  WED is a GUI editor in that it has a GUI, and it's an editor.  But, AccuTerm's 'GUI' editor is GED, not WED.  GED is an editor for the GUI part of ATW GUI apps, but WED was primarily meant for editing source-code, and it does that very well.  Syntax highlighting is, imho, its best feature, but its integration with AccuTerm ranks right up there, too.  But, for your purposes, editing data records, it works pretty well, too.  The syntax highlighting is easy to disable if it disturbs you when editing data (as unlikely as it seems), and the ability to insert value and sub-value marks, as well as their clever on-screen representation, is a real bonus.  You can even search and replace them.

------------------------------
Marcus Rhodes
Owner
Rocket Forum Shared Account
------------------------------

Thanks for the suggestion. I use Emacs to edit type 19 files (never use
Type 1 anymore), but my customer wants to edit records with attributes,
values, subvalues and do it with a gui. I had always thought that WED
was a gui editor but still limited to Basic source and other Type 19
stuff. Is it enhanced now to handle native Universe files?

--
Phillip B. Potter, R&D ????
Data Management Associates, Inc.
???*In theory there's no difference between theory and practice. In
practice, there is.*???????-??Walter??Savitch

Phillip,
Here's my honest assessment: It is meant for editing code, but can be used to edit records in hashed files.  Activating wED from the client (the button) doesn't quite work as a Windows user might expect.  The Browse feature has problems.  The user will most likely need to enter the file name and the record key without browsing.  Activating wEB from the command line for both type 19 files and for hashed files also works, but again the file name and record key must be provided.  Even once the user is in the record, they will still need specialized knowledge.  The user would have to know/understand attributes, values (and associations), sub-values (if you use those), and internal data formats.  wED allows the user to insert value and sub-value marks, but they have to know when/why they'd want to.  It does nothing to help them deal with internal data formats.  I think those are the biggest problem.  Most end users just don't know enough about those things to manage hand editing their own data ... and it's dangerous to let them.

------------------------------
Tyrel Marak
Technical Support Manager
Aptron Corporation
Florham Park NJ US
------------------------------

Phillip,
Here's my honest assessment: It is meant for editing code, but can be used to edit records in hashed files.  Activating wED from the client (the button) doesn't quite work as a Windows user might expect.  The Browse feature has problems.  The user will most likely need to enter the file name and the record key without browsing.  Activating wEB from the command line for both type 19 files and for hashed files also works, but again the file name and record key must be provided.  Even once the user is in the record, they will still need specialized knowledge.  The user would have to know/understand attributes, values (and associations), sub-values (if you use those), and internal data formats.  wED allows the user to insert value and sub-value marks, but they have to know when/why they'd want to.  It does nothing to help them deal with internal data formats.  I think those are the biggest problem.  Most end users just don't know enough about those things to manage hand editing their own data ... and it's dangerous to let them.

------------------------------
Tyrel Marak
Technical Support Manager
Aptron Corporation
Florham Park NJ US
------------------------------

Thanks for the info. I was thinking along the lines of something that
would present attributes, values, subvalues as drop-downs and allow
add/change/delete. What you describe is a windowed version of ed. As you
point out, it would require knowledge of universe record structure. But
now I know what wed does.

-P h i l?? P o t t e r

Depends on what you mean by GUI.  WED is a GUI editor in that it has a GUI, and it's an editor.  But, AccuTerm's 'GUI' editor is GED, not WED.  GED is an editor for the GUI part of ATW GUI apps, but WED was primarily meant for editing source-code, and it does that very well.  Syntax highlighting is, imho, its best feature, but its integration with AccuTerm ranks right up there, too.  But, for your purposes, editing data records, it works pretty well, too.  The syntax highlighting is easy to disable if it disturbs you when editing data (as unlikely as it seems), and the ability to insert value and sub-value marks, as well as their clever on-screen representation, is a real bonus.  You can even search and replace them.

------------------------------
Marcus Rhodes
Owner
Rocket Forum Shared Account
------------------------------

Thanks for the info. What I mean by gui is non-telnet, i.e. something
graphical in a window. I was thinking along the lines of something that
would present attributes, values, subvalues as drop-downs and allow
add/change/delete. What you describe is a windowed version of ed. It
works for someone with a knowledge of universe record structure.

-P h i l?? P o t t e r

--
Phillip B. Potter, R&D ????
Data Management Associates, Inc.
4000 Executive Park Dr. Ste. 400
Cincinnati, OH 45241
513-563-7300 x1205 513-371-5834
???*In theory there's no difference between theory and practice. In
practice, there is.*???????-??Walter??Savitch