morris@ucunix.san.uc.edu (Ted Morris) (12/26/90)
We've never settled on how we want to tackle the problem of including graphics in our application which uses Oracle for Macintosh's HyperCard interface to talk to Oracle for VMS on a MicroVAX. For the textual information we want our people to be able to record and report out of the database, we have some fine user-friendly screen designs on the Mac side pumping the data back and forth across our Ethernet to the VAX. But the forms we're trying to emulate/replace include some diagrams, where the user of the paper form draws on the preprinted template to indicate notes about their interview with the client. How can we meet these two (divergent?) needs: 1) Create a screen on the Mac (HyperCard, remember!) which can be modified by the user and stored on the VAX, and 2) Make this mechanism for displaying, annotating (modifying) and storing the graphic images as transportable to other Oracle platforms as possible? (When SQL*FORMS for Macintosh comes out, we'll want to look at recasting our stackware into SQL*FORMS equivalents, to move the application beyond the Macintosh platform.) What kind of pixel-addressing or graphics definitions should we use, to try to make this more transportable? Are their standards (de facto or de jure) which could guide us? We've already thought about storing the picture from the Mac as a long string (32K or less) on the Oracle side, but that's not only wasteful, it's Mac-specific, and would have to be redone for every platform we move the application to. If there isn't any other solution at present, where are standards heading? Would we be better off moving to an X display system on the Mac rather than dolling up the Oracle/HyperCard interface on the Mac? Thanks for any help--for respondents on other groups than comp.sys.mac.*, please e-mail directly? Thanks! Theodore Allan Morris, U. Cincinnati, Med Ctr Info & Comm, Info Rsrch & Dev, 231 Bethesda Av, ML#574, Cinti, OH 45267-0574, 513-558-6046V, 513-558-0758F, MORRISTA@UCMCIC.OA.UC.EDU / MORRISTA@UCUNIX.SAN.UC.EDU, NTS WB8VNV, AppleLink U1091 | Call me up and I'll talk data to ya!