ejw1@quads.uchicago.edu (eric john weidl) (02/10/91)
I am asking this question for my father.
He is using Paradox 3.01 at his job and is having difficulty defining a
report. The people in software support at his company said "It's too big a
problem" for them to help him with. I can't believe it; it seems like such a
simple problem. I use FoxPro and FoxBase/Mac so I knew enough to understand
what he is trying to do, but I have no idea how to go about it in Paradox.
Thus, I have come to the net.
He has defined a database having 24 numeric fields. These fields represent
microbiological counts at different times. Often, these counts exceed
300col/plate. If they do, he would like to have "TNTC" (Too numerous to
count) appear on the report that is printed. As I understand it, he has
defined a screen form for entering the data, and a report form for printer
output. Neither form will accept "TNTC" as input (or output) since they have
been defined as numeric fields. I suggested that a numeric flag be input when
the count is "TNTC" and a statement like "-99 means TNTC" on the reports. The
boss didn't like this since the reports are going out to clients.
If I were doing this is FoxPro, I would say something like:
IIF(count=-99,"TNTC",str(count)).
This would immediately evaluate the value of count and print "TNTC" in the
output field if the value was -99 otherwise it would simply print the count.
The boss has no problem with flag values like this being used in the database
itself, just not in the printed reports.
The most unbelievable thing my father said was that since his own companies
tech support said this was "too difficult" he should get an outside
consultant. This consultant wanted $2000 to solve this problem. It doesn't
seem like a thousand dollar job to me.
Any help would be appreciated. Respond by email to ejw1@midway.uchicago.edu.
Thanks.