Re: Report Writer

From: Lueko Willms (l.willms_at_jpberlin.de)
Date: 10/23/04 

Date: 23 Oct 2004 08:04:00 GMT

. On 22.10.04
  wrote riplin@Azonic.co.nz (Richard)
     on /COMP/LANG/COBOL
     in 217e491a.0410221520.525f32de@posting.google.com
  about Re: Report Writer

r> Screen section does not use 'event handlers' the program 'falls off'
r> the ACCEPT after setting various statuses in CURSOR IS .. and CRT
r> STATUS IS .. fields.
r>
r> You do an ACCEPT and then check the results. This may indicate which
r> key terminated the accept and where the cursor was positioned.

   That lacks quite some features then for using it on e.g. a Windows
workstation.

>> Is there a place on the web where this effort can be studied?

r> Dunno, have you Googled for it ?

  I did and have posted the result.

>> ... REPORT WRITER ... is, OTOH,
>> one of the most underused feature of COBOL, and at the same time one
>> of the most powerful.

r> In my view it is 'underused' mainly because it is a programmer-centric
r> tool rather than being a user-centric tool. Ever report or change has
r> to be coded, compiled, tested by programmers before the user gets to
r> see it. It is a _programmer's_ solution to a user problem.
r>
r> Why are you spending your time rewriting reporting programs ?

  Using the REPORT WRITER, there is not much need to rewrite a
printing program, because its all in the DATA DIVISION. REPORT WRITER
is rather a program _generator,_ which needs some configuration.

  BTW, it is not limited to "reporting programs", and as I said, and
for "reporting programs", I would suggest an alternative:

r> Why are the users having to wait weeks for a requested report to go
r> through the process of a system change (program writing) when they
r> want the report _now_ ?

   I suggest to look up the data online and interactively in the
database, and not print so many reports.

   But creating and changing a listing using REPORT WRITER would not
take weeks. We don't use punched cards any more for programmings, do
we?

   BTW, have you ever used REPORT WRITER?

Yours,
Lüko Willms http://www.willms-edv.de
/--------- L.WILLMS@jpberlin.de -- Alle Rechte vorbehalten --

Wir wohnen in Göttingen in Scheiterhaufen, die mit Türen und Fenstern versehen sind. -G.C.Lichtenberg

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