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Very Hot Topic (More than 25 Replies) Re: Inside Sesame March issue (Read 6381 times)
The Cow
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Re: Inside Sesame March issue
Reply #15 - Mar 2nd, 2004 at 11:25pm
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We are not following any policy of the sort. The calendar was not included in Sesame because of time restraints. In general, there are literally thousands of features we would like to include in Sesame (without regard for pre-existing utilities), but we have to maintain a balance between market demand and time-to-market.

My office is dominated by a large white board slowly being covered with suggestions for additional features. Some will make it into interim releases, some will be in 2.0, and some will fall off the board because the market demand doesn't support the development time.
  

Mark Lasersohn&&Programmer&&Lantica Software, LLC
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Bharat_Naik
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Re: Inside Sesame March issue
Reply #16 - Mar 2nd, 2004 at 11:55pm
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I have been a long time subscriber of Quick Answer and learned a lot from the insightful articles that it came out with month after month.  I have incorporated a lot of different ideas into my system from this monthly. I look forward to have Sesame Inside every month. It is a great value for the the bucks and I recommend everyone here to subscribe to "Inside Sesame" if you as a non-programmer wish to make a custom application and grow with it. It has been an indispensable element in my learning and growing process as far as database applications are concerned.
  
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Bharat_Naik
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Re: Inside Sesame March issue
Reply #17 - Mar 3rd, 2004 at 5:52am
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As for the utililities and applications from private developers, they can only add to the value of Sesame. As for utilities, they fill the gap between what is available and what should be available. And because of dynamic development of the Sesame and competitive products, in due course many of such utilities will get obsolete as they are incorporated into Sesame as market forces and development of the product warrants. Nothing should be spared to make Sesame compete in the market and get the edge over established products such as MS Accesss and FileMaker Pro.
« Last Edit: Mar 3rd, 2004 at 1:39pm by Bharat_Naik »  
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tmarcellus
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Re: Inside Sesame March issue
Reply #18 - Mar 3rd, 2004 at 5:47pm
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Okay, here's, a hint -- and the crux of the procedure. A loop where vLoop is the counter variable:

@FormFieldValue("LineItem", "StockNo", vLoop)

Quote:
Tom,
Yes, I read that and I am looking forward to next issue to see how did you merge the SubForm elements. I thought it is very complex if not impossible with versions so far.  You also mentioned that the application requires ver 1.0.2. So, putting two together, I guessed that there is something in version 1.0.2 to make this simpler.  Am I right?  Do you want to give a hint as to how did you merge subform elements or we will have to wait for another long month to know that?

Bharat

  
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Bharat_Naik
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Re: Inside Sesame March issue
Reply #19 - Mar 3rd, 2004 at 6:05pm
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Thanks Tom, I will look into it. I was surprized to see the image item on the Invoice. So, either somehow you managed to merge the subform elements' values in Word Processor or it has to be preprinted forms with printstring merge.  Just a thought.
  
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GJK
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Re: Inside Sesame March issue
Reply #20 - Mar 3rd, 2004 at 8:30pm
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I don't mind paying the freight for a complete product. But I think that if the original intent was to produce a product that replaced a "workhorse" in the field, then it would make sense to be able to deliver a product that meets or beats the original feature for feature.

In the main I believe that Sesame meets this goal with the exception of a few items. Reports I would like to see become more polished, including a utility for making labels. I would like to be able to do this from the database and not have to port this through Word or Wordperfect.

The import and export features are present but they seem minimal, I would like to see Sesame offer at least the same capability with reference to ASCII files as Q&A did.

My earlier comment about being able to "tell the time and not having to build the watch" applies in these circumstances. I don't have the luxury of having time to program in Sbasic and debug  all of these features which I'm sure can be done. I just need to get my work done as efficiently as I can because of work imposed deadlines.
  
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Hammer
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Re: Inside Sesame March issue
Reply #21 - Mar 3rd, 2004 at 9:52pm
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Quote:
The import and export features are present but they seem minimal, I would like to see Sesame offer at least the same capability with reference to ASCII files as Q&A did.


We do have only the one import format right now, which is a powerful format that can manage both flat and automatic hierarchical imports. The import format matches the "standard ascii" output from Q&A and is a common format that most external programs are capable of producing. We may add more import formats later (especially fixed ascii), but many of the formats supported by Q&A are a bit archaic for us to spend time duplicating them in Sesame. I really don't want to spend a lot of time writing importers for Q&A-supported formats like PFS and IBM Filing Assistant.

The export features are actually quite extensive, require no SBasic, manage hierarchies, and match or exceed Q&A's export capabilities in many ways. Sesame's export features include custom separators, custom delimiters, optional header record, field type delimit options, full value export, fixed export, max length export, etc.

The hierarchical import is a nice tool for transferring data from relational products while automatically creating natural links in Sesame. I've worked with Access, SQL Server, mySQL and several other database engines. I've never seen one that could manage what Sesame's hierarchical imports can do in a single import pass without writing triggers and/or stored procedures and/or VBA.

I know that those of you who have to accept input from mainframes, etc. miss the fixed ascii import, but I think we've provided a pretty rich import/export feature set for a program that's still less than 90 days old.  Wink 

I'm sure we'll get fixed ascii import options in there, for those of you who need it and don't feel up to the SBasic file i/o functions. Like any product, Sesame will grow in features as we see user need.
  

- Hammer
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Re: Inside Sesame March issue
Reply #22 - Mar 5th, 2004 at 2:47pm
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As Hammer says, Sesame is actually pretty rich in import/export features. The main shortfalls are dBase import/export, and Fixed ASCII. The one we hear about most is Fixed ASCII import.

Sesame CAN import fixed ASCII. Just not directly. You need to use programming. I described the procedure in the January issue of INSIDE SESAME.  Sure it might take you half an hour to set it up, but the effort is little different to what Q&A required. And, like Q&A, once set up it can be stored (as a saved mass update) for instant re-use.
  

Alec
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BOBSCOTT
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Re: Inside Sesame March issue
Reply #23 - Mar 5th, 2004 at 3:31pm
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Quote:
The hierarchical import is a nice tool for transferring data from relational products while automatically creating natural links in Sesame. 


I know everyone has different needs and desires especially when it comes to importing and exporting data but in my little world Lanticans gets big kudos for having the ability to import data and have it work with the natural links.

I love having the ability to use the natural links feature along with passing key data to the child records to have the best of all worlds relational abilities with natural link simplicity.

This type of import might be a good candidate for one of the 1 page How To you are considering creating. Smiley
  

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Bharat_Naik
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Re: Inside Sesame March issue
Reply #24 - Mar 5th, 2004 at 3:57pm
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As far as I can see, export is good with all different choices. Import, other than hierchical import, it is not really upto par. You do not have even choice to have different delimiters. I had to first import a file in Q&A and make it compatible, so Sesame can import and that says a lot about Sesame Import. I would imagine that one would make certain that import is a quite versatile so as to make data tranfer easier for the people who wish to migrate from other competitive products.
  
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Re: Inside Sesame March issue
Reply #25 - Mar 5th, 2004 at 4:14pm
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Thank you Hammer and Alec! Your acknowledgement of the need for a Dbase and Fixed ASCII export and import feature would go a long way to help Sesame ascend to the ranks of the elite. Cheesy
  
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Re: Inside Sesame March issue
Reply #26 - Mar 6th, 2004 at 9:57pm
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This one could be long winded  Smiley and probably in the wrong section but I'm looking for suggestions on the best way to bring sales tax into our system.

After reading the March issue on the Invoice System, I decided to implement some of Tom's ideas into our point of sales system, which has brought about some other problems.
In our point of sale invoice system (which is not fully tested until we recieve the 1.0.2 upgrade for subform calculations) I have been working on bringing in the new State Sales Tax tables which went into effect the first of the year but we have till May to have it fully operational before we are in non-compliance.

Under this system we have to collect sales tax at the point of delivery which apparently is to work off the 5 digit zip code with the plus 4 to obtain the tax rate for that paticular address.
As this system now gives us over 872 tax rates for the state the question now comes to the best way to incorporate this into our invoice form.
With one or two tax rates it was easier to add it as a line item in the subform but with 872+ rates I placed a check box for taxable, an LE for tax after the subtotal and planned on doing a xlookup to return the tax rate then do the calculations.
As the State Dept of Revenue now tells us the downloadable date base will not be available until May and they don't know what format it will be in yet  Angry but they tell us there is a data base on the Dept of Revenue's Website you can input the address to get the tax rate, or input the address invoice amount and it will return the tax amount.
I then get to thinking about the size of this database for these new tax codes; as it is to work off the zip +4 then every address for the state will be listed in it which will be around 3 to 5 million or better, so now what.

Is it possible to do a lookup to the website database in this scenario?
How taxing (excuse the pun) will this db and lookup be to Sesame if it were download into Sesame for use?

I also understand there is 13 states that have now introduced this tax system with more to follow, so if theres other Sesame users fighting this same problem I would like to hear how your handling it.
Or if you undeclared guru's of Sesame have any thoughts as to the best way to handle this to keep the burden to the system at a minimum, would love to hear it.

Ok, everyone reading this is now asking why is the state doing that, well it appears our governor thinks she going to start collecting sales tax from internet sales and this is stage one being implemented, talk about re-inventing the wheel
  
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Bob_Hansen
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Re: Inside Sesame March issue
Reply #27 - Mar 6th, 2004 at 10:08pm
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Hi Becky....

Can you provide the web site you are referencing?  No promises, but I have an idea that might help you out.  Expect nothing, continue to look for other solutions, but have hope.

I am thinking of a routine that will use the zip code entered into Sesame,  go to web site, get value, and paste into Sesame tax field.
  



Bob Hansen
Sesame Database Manager Professional
Sensible Solutions Inc.
Salem, NH
603-898-8223
Skype ID = sensiblesolutions
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GW
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Re: Inside Sesame March issue
Reply #28 - Mar 6th, 2004 at 10:20pm
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Hi Bob, http://www.ksrevenue.org/streamline.htm
Middle of the page with hightlight arrow is one db then if you go down the page to "Sales and Use Tax Address Tax Rate Locator" you will find db's for address and zip +4 lookups, these I found the easier to use.

Either way this one's a mess  Smiley
thanks becky

My mistake Bob, both links go to the same page where the address and zip+4 db lookup's are
« Last Edit: Mar 7th, 2004 at 12:02am by GW »  
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Steve_in_Texas
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Re: Inside Sesame March issue
Reply #29 - Mar 7th, 2004 at 12:41am
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I just "copied and pasted" all the programming into an identical set of forms from the March issue of Sesame Insider. The "test programming" option is finding a lot of bugs. Is this due to the fact that I need version 1.0.2 or did I make some mistakes somewhere and should spend the time finding them.

I dont want to waste too much time, if the errors will require the upgrade, that is not out yet.

PS. It looks like there is a typo in the programming code on page 12, middle of page, right column, of the March edition "@Msgbox ("Invo..." has an extra " at the end of the line.

Thanks!

Steve in Texas
  
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