[comp.databases] WAS: Re: Strange problems with Informix Perform. IS: Manuals

locke@pdn.nm.paradyne.com (Richard Locke) (02/13/89)

In article <4768@sfsup.UUCP> jdt@sfsup.att.com writes:
>In article <130@attibr.UUCP>, mjm@attibr.UUCP (Mike Matthews) writes:

>Have you ever attempted to develop something with Informix, or are you just
>some kind of tech support parrot who keeps saying "RTFM"?  

Now that's not very nice ;-)

>Besides, it's not in the 3.3 manual.  Not much is.

>... I have full Informix 3.3/SQL/4GL manuals, and even so, you tend to get
>beyond what they cover pretty easily. 

I have some gross generalizations on this subject.  I have found the manuals
to be annoyingly limited too.  

One gripe is that the manuals never seem to clearly identify things that 
can't be done.  (My theory is that, if they did, it would be too easy 
for people to see the limitations in the product.)  (1/2 ;-)  One of
the best ways to discover limitations is to read all the error messages!

I have often wanted to know a little more than I could find in the manuals.
(I think this helps Informix sell support.) (1/2 ;-)

I do appreciate, to be fair, that the task of documenting a DBMS is huge.


p.s. Ever got an Informix error xxx & ISAM error yyy, where the error 
message for xxx said "see ISAM error", and the ISAM error was not in 
the manual?  Ever mutter bad things about Informix when this happens?
(Well, I did!)  The word is that undocumented ISAM errors (in the
range 0 to -100, I think...) come from your operating system!  Is that
info in the manuals?

--
"My opinions, not AT&T's, nor Paradyne's, nor AT&T-Paradyne's..."
Dick Locke					Paradyne (?) Corporation
{uunet,peora}!pdn!locke				Mail stop LG-129
Phone: (813) 530-8241				P.O. Box 2826
						Largo, FL  34649-2826

davek@infmx.UUCP (David Kosenko) (02/15/89)

In article <5628@pdn.nm.paradyne.com>, locke
	@pdn.nm.paradyne.com (Richard Locke) writes:
> 
> p.s. Ever got an Informix error xxx & ISAM error yyy, where the error 
> message for xxx said "see ISAM error", and the ISAM error was not in 
> the manual?  Ever mutter bad things about Informix when this happens?
> (Well, I did!)  The word is that undocumented ISAM errors (in the
> range 0 to -100, I think...) come from your operating system!  Is that
> info in the manuals?

	Error messages in the range of 0 - 100 are Unix error messages.
Check your Unix manual for the meaning of these codes.  That fact is not
documented in the manuals, as far as I know.

Dave
-- 
Disclaimer:  The opinions expressed herein |"But my words like silent
are by no means those of Informix Software | raindrops fell..."
(though they make you wonder about the     | 
 strange people they hire).                |