Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Having trouble understanding how to download FreeBasic.
#41
Dr.,

Last night I spoke to my son about your idea. He has a Computer Science degree. Anyway, he showed me how an Excel spreadsheet can be "saved as" an HML formatted file, which is a text file that can be easily digested by say a FB program. What's your opinion about this?

On of the major problems that I saw in my previous company was that Excel "databases" lacked data integrity and data validity. An FB program could check for these problems and report.

By data integrity I mean that "key" fields, like maybe employee number, actually exist on the master file (another person's Excel) where employee numbers are maintained with adds, deletes, and changes. You would need a copy of the master file in order to do the checking or matching.

By data validity I mean obvious stuff like:
* numeric fields are truly numeric, and right justified. If the field is a fixed length code, it must have leading zeros to fill out the length. Example: a 9 digit SSN with a leading zero should not appear as 8 digits.
* Alpha or alphanumeric fields should be left justified.
* Dates must be valid regardless of the format.
* Mandatory fields must not be blank or null.
* If a field is to contain a code, like 1, 2, or 3, then obviously it can't contain any other character.
* etc.

If these problems of integrity and validity are ignored, that is, not checked, then in short time the particular "database" is out of sync and full of garbage, and its reports are worthless.
*****
Reply
#42
I say go for it! Big Grin
y smiley is 24 bit.
[Image: anya2.jpg]

Genso's Junkyard:
http://rel.betterwebber.com/
Reply
#43
I made a mistake when I said to save an Excel file to HML --- it's XML. Anyway, I did some additional testing and found that the old "comma delimited" format .CSV is a lot simpler, and the only disadvantages are:
1) If a field (cell) contains text having a embedded comma, the entire cell is placed in quotes.
2) Any embedded quotes will appear as double quotes.
3) Multiple worksheets cannot be exported.

The embedded commas or quotes only requires a few extra lines of code, just in case.
Usually, you don't need to export multiple worksheets. If so, you can always export each worksheet separately.
However, parsing the .CSV is infinitely simpler that the very clever but intricate .XML format.

Any opinions or experiences?
*****
Reply
#44
It just depends I guess. I'm working on some 3D games in FB, and I'm using Lightwave to create the models. The default format for saving Lightwave objects is (.lwo), which is iff standard compliant, but I'm exporting mine as Wavefront(.obj), which is an ASCII format that is much easier to decipher. I really hate the way they did it, but I'm going to have to figure it out because the .lwo files hold information about the models that can only be obtained by a cheap hack... aka(doing it the way I am now.)


I guess it all depends on how much it's worth to ya. Wink
Reply
#45
i have some experience in the exact area you are trying to get your foot in ( or out Smile ).

the company setup where i worked for a few summers was exactly the same. internal communications via asp sites on the intranet ( phonebooks, reviews, reports etc. ), database managment in the normal bureaus via Excel. the company is the biggest car producing company in my country which shocked me a lot when i happened to see their internal data managment.

i was "forced" to provide them solutions to similar problems that you described ( data mining etc. ) via VBA, the ms office coding language of choice. i proposed to use a real database managment system but they refused this as the employers liked excel so much and it took years to get them to use excel.

well, of course doing stuff like writing a script that harvests datafields from several excel sheets of the same format is a poc. but it's in general a baaaaadd idea. nobody can guarentee you the integrity of the formating which has to stay the same. now go make your employees stick to that. no chance. maybe possible with about 10-20 ppl but not with say 500 of them.

Also such a "solution" has to be taylored on the companies "excel sheet standard". basically resulting in a hack for each and every company you want to sell your product.

don't get me wrong. this excel sheet tatics seem to be standard nowadays, resulting from some computer iliterate employes that normal do financial stuff and just explored the hackish ness of vba scripts. it's insane. still, if you find a dumb enough company ( and there's plenty of those ) and make them buy your product go ahead, money is a nice thing to have. just make sure you don't have a contract that guarantees support on demand. cause you'd not find time to eat anymore.
quote="NecrosIhsan"]
[Image: yagl1.png]
[/quote]
Reply
#46
MarzecTM,

Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences and opinions.
Let me make some comments in SOLID CAPS on your original text.

the company setup where i worked for a few summers was exactly the same. internal communications via asp sites on the intranet ( phonebooks, reviews, reports etc. ), database managment in the normal bureaus via Excel. the company is the biggest car producing company in my country which shocked me a lot when i happened to see their internal data managment.
I TOO HAVE BEEN SHOCKED. THERE IS VIRTUALLY NO DATA MANAGEMENT BECAUSE THE USERS OF THESE EXCEL SPREADSHEETS ARE NOT PROFESSIONALS.

i was "forced" to provide them solutions to similar problems that you described ( data mining etc. ) via VBA, the ms office coding language of choice. i proposed to use a real database managment system but they refused this as the employers liked excel so much and it took years to get them to use excel.

well, of course doing stuff like writing a script that harvests datafields from several excel sheets of the same format is a poc. but it's in general a baaaaadd idea. nobody can guarentee you the integrity of the formating which has to stay the same. now go make your employees stick to that. no chance. maybe possible with about 10-20 ppl but not with say 500 of them.
YOUR PROPOSED SOLUTION IS TOO GRANDIOUS. I PROPOSE A SEPARATE, PARAMETERIZED SOLUTION FOR EACH SPREADSHEET. THE FB PROGRAM THAT WILL BE THE SOLUTION GATHERS INFO FROM THE USER LIKE: WHAT "COLUMNS" OR FIELDS HE WANTS TO CHECK (VERIFY), WHAT THE FORMAT OF THESE IS, AND IF ANY OF THESE FIELDS IS A KEY TO BE VALIDATED AGAINST A KEY IN ANOTHER SPREADSHEET, PROVIDING THE FILENAME OF THE OTHER .CSV FILE AND COLUMN NUMBER OF THE KEY TO BE MATCHED.
THAT'S ABOUT IT. IT'S NOT FULL BLOWN DATA MANAGEMENT, BUT IT WILL CATCH A VAST MAJORITY OF EXCEL DATA PROBLEMS.

Also such a "solution" has to be taylored on the companies "excel sheet standard". basically resulting in a hack for each and every company you want to sell your product.
I DON'T KNOW ANY COMPANY THAT ADHERES TO ANY "EXCEL SHEET STANDARD".

don't get me wrong. this excel sheet tatics seem to be standard nowadays, resulting from some computer iliterate employes that normal do financial stuff and just explored the hackish ness of vba scripts. it's insane.
SMART USERS OF LOTUS 1-2-3 USED TO WRITE MACROS. NOW, WITH VISUAL BASIC, I HAVE NOT SEEN ONE USER GET INTO THIS. EVEN USERS OF ACCESS DON'T USE VB. THEY JUST LIKE TO SAY THAT THEY HAVE A DATABASE.

still, if you find a dumb enough company ( and there's plenty of those ) and make them buy your product go ahead, money is a nice thing to have. just make sure you don't have a contract that guarantees support on demand. cause you'd not find time to eat anymore.
YEAH, SUPPORT ON DEMAND WOULD BE DUMB TO OFFER.
*****
Reply
#47
Quote:This is the newest version of the IDE, plus the newest version of the compiler...

http://www.hot.ee/fbide/FBIde33a+FBC012.exe

I have found 0 critical faults with this package... unless it was my fault, but that doesn't count! :lol:
Dr.,

Version 013 of the FBC is out, and I think I heard that there's a new version of FBIde.

Do you have an address like you gave last time to download them both at the same time? I hope it's no bother.

Thanks.
*****
Reply
#48
fbide.sourceforge.net is the new location of FBIDE. See the downloads page for version 0.3.3, which still includes 0.12 - you'll need to download the newer 0.13 release of fbc itself from fbc.sf.net. However, you might want to wait for the new 0.4 release of FBIDE, which is not out yet - it will include 0.13, I expect, unless a newer version of fbc is released before then.
Reply
#49
Thanks, DrV, I'll wait for the new package.
*****
Reply


Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)