THE WELCH COMPANY
440 Davis Court #1602
San Francisco, CA 94111-2496
415 781 5700
rodwelch@pacbell.net


S U M M A R Y


DIARY: July 5, 2004 09:40 AM Monday; Rod Welch

Gary reports problems using cmd with w98; impacts SDS improvements.

1...Summary/Objective
2...F2 Save New Issue

ACTION ITEMS.................. Click here to comment!

1...When F2 is used once there is no flicker in the screen, but on the 2nd

CONTACTS 

SUBJECTS
W98 CMD Batch Commands Fail on Gary's Home Computer CMD NTVD Not Sup

0903 -
0903 -    ..
0904 - Summary/Objective
0905 -
090501 - Follow up ref SDS 7 0000, ref SDS 4 0000.
090502 -
090503 - This morning we tried to review progress on preparing the ASB form for
090504 - setting an SDS standard at Aerospace company that is listed in the record on
090505 - 040625. ref SDS 8 EF7O
090507 -  ..
090508 - This work entailed opening the file on 040625 in a web browser to
090509 - demonstrate using explicit links into the ASB file for navigating in
090510 - Knowledge Space between the ASB content and SDS records for planning,
090511 - performing and reporting on developing the content.
090513 -  ..
090514 - Failure occurred because Gary could not execute the function developed
090515 - on 040417 to open the current file in a web browser. ref SDS 6 0001
090517 -  ..
090518 - Gary investigated and found that he could not convert the record into
090519 - HTML using the standard function that calls 070405.  Further
090520 - investigation showed that 070405.bat has redirection parameters on if
090521 - and copy commands.
090523 -  ..
090524 - Gary advised that the w98 operating system installed on his home
090525 - computer does not support redirection commands on DOS batch file
090526 - "if..." commands.  He suggested changing if... commands to use goto
090527 - and label commands that eliminate the need for redirection parameters.
090528 - Initially, removed redirection parameters on if... commands in
090529 - 070405.bat.  This causes a flicker on the screen, but is easier to
090530 - deal with than continual problems customizing SDS updates on Gary's
090531 - home computer.
090532 -
090533 -     [On 040823 Gary switched OS to Windows XP, and this solved
090534 -     problems, eliminating need for special code to support W98.
090535 -     ref SDS 10 HM7L
090537 -  ..
090538 - Later, after the call to Gary, decided to try his suggestion to use
090539 - goto and lable comands in 070405.bat, ref OF 2 LP4O, for eliminating
090540 - redirection parameters on if.... commands, and this seems to work.
090541 - There is still a flicker, but it is less severe.
090543 -  ..
090544 - After this problem was fixed, Gary was able to convert the record on
090545 - 040625 (and any others) to HTML, but the function that opens the
090546 - current file in a web browser still failed.
090548 -  ..
090549 - Gary reported that w98 does not support cmd operations, developed in
090550 - the program on 040417 for this operation using 00903, ref SDS 6 6N3L,
090551 - based on prior work reported 031102, ref SDS 4 TT7P, for solving the
090552 - problem Gary reported earlier on 031020 to open long filenames.
090553 - ref SDS 3 F18I
090555 -  ..
090556 - Gary will investigate using cmd.exe from w2k or XP under w98; do not
090557 - expect the solution to be this easy.
090559 -  ..
090560 - Gary is reluctant to upgrade his home computer to w2k because he has
090561 - bad luck upgrading successfully.  We reviewed success with this
090562 - operation reported on 000310. ref SDS 1 4978  Gary cited other reports
090563 - of success, but his home computer system is complex, and he has not
090564 - had good luck upgrading prior versions of Windows, and expects w2k or
090565 - XP will not upgrade effectively, and if so he will have to spend
090566 - several days to a week configuring his home computer system.  This is
090567 - a major investment, illustrated by the record on 010202. ref SDS 2
090568 - 0001
090569 -
090570 -     [On 041118 example of Gary's concern is upgrading to c14 3.2 GHz
090571 -     system running under Windows XP took a week or so to configure,
090572 -     with several false starts. ref SDS 11 0001
090574 -      ..
090575 -     [On 041118 discovered using /realtime in 00903.bat increases
090576 -     performance 12 times when running on c14 3.2 GHz under Windows XP.
090577 -     ref SDS 11 TU4F
090579 -  ..
090580 - Gary is concerned about migrating away from w98 support by applying
090581 - tools only availabe in w2k and above.  Some migration seems useful and
090582 - inevitable in order to take advantage of increased power, in this case
090583 - memory.  The challenge is how to accomplish transition responsibly to
090584 - avoid causing customers inconvenience.  Some argue that the entire SDS
090585 - program should be transformed into Windows, the sooner the better.
090586 - Gary was concerned today we may be moving too rapidly away from legacy
090587 - support for w98.
090589 -  ..
090590 - If cmd is foreclosed from use on w98, this will impact using SDS on
090591 - Gary's home computer in the following ways....
090592 -
090593 -    1.  Launching other programs failure....
090594 -
090595 -        a.  Running 00903 to open files listed in SDS records, either
090596 -            in the Reference field or in the narrative, including with
090597 -            a web browser using IE, developed on 031020 at Gary's
090598 -            suggestion, ref SDS 3 0001, and upgraded on 031102 to open
090599 -            long filenames, ref SDS 4 0001, and which Gary developed a
090600 -            refinement recently on 040701 to handle filenames with %
090601 -            characters. ref SDS 9 RV4G
090603 -             ..
090604 -        b.  Open current record or current file in a web browser either
090605 -            on the Internet or on the local server, developed at Gary's
090606 -            suggestion on 040417 by applying experience using cmd
090607 -            methods on 031102. ref SDS 6 0001
090608 -
090610 -         ..
090611 -    2.  0702053a.bat minimal impact on F2 save....
090612 -
090613 -        This is a relatively minor part of the F2 save operation for
090614 -        SDS records, that only runs on rare occasions when a reference
090615 -        data base file needs to be deleted, reported on 031203.
090616 -        ref SDS 5 WX5F
090618 -         ..
090619 -        Gary mentioned today that he has had problems saving SDS
090620 -        records on his home computer, and initially we attributed this
090621 -        to w98 not supporting cmd operations added to the save tasks.
090622 -        Further research today on 031203 when cmd was added to the code
090623 -        for saving records, this does not appear to cause failure of
090624 -        the save operation.
090626 -  ..
090627 - Submitted this record linked in an email to Gary clarifying
090628 - understandings today.  Gary is researching options for meeting SDS
090629 - objectives with w98.
090630 -
090631 -
090633 -  ..
090634 - F2 Save New Issue
090635 -
090636 - There seems to be a new issue on saving SDS records under w2k.
090638 -  ..
090639 - When F2 is used once there is no flicker in the screen, but on the 2nd
090640 - pass there is a noticable flicker.  This seems repeatable -- every
090641 - other pass there is a flicker.  Maybe Gary can comment on why, and
090642 - what can be done to get consistent performance?
090644 -  ..
090645 - Tried adding delete commands at the end of 0702051.bat to remove
090646 - stufq* files created by processing, except for stufq itself, which is
090647 - needed to restore revised content to the user's file online.  This was
090648 - not successful, so removed the delete commands from 0702051.bat.
090649 -
090650 -
090651 -
090652 -
090653 -
090654 -
090655 -
090656 -
090657 -
090658 -
0907 -