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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Nice, not-a-zero!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Are there still Powerhoose conventions? This would make a good presentation.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>I need to re-read this thing about 4 times. I’ve got a qtp with about 5 parallel legs and 3 hierarchical files down each leg and it doesn’t do what it looks like it should do.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> powerh-l-bounces+rwitkopp=phxa.com@lists.sowder.com [mailto:powerh-l-bounces+rwitkopp=phxa.com@lists.sowder.com] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Matt Ohmes<br><b>Sent:</b> Thursday, March 05, 2015 3:57 PM<br><b>To:</b> PowerHouse listserver<br><b>Subject:</b> Hierarchical vs. Parallel linkage<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Hi all,</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>I promised I would write up something on the differences between Hierarchical and Parallel linkage in Quiz (and QTP), so here we go. (And for those of you who know all this already, please forgive my trip down memory lane.)</span></tt> <br><br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Oh, and I'm assuming no bugs in the product regarding syntax. :-)</span></tt> <br><br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Differences between Hierarchical and Parallel linkage in Quiz (and QTP)</span></tt> <br><br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>In all examples below, we will use 3 files. Assume all are indexed files, keyed on Emp_No</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>File Employees: 5 records;</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Emp_No Emp_Name</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>1 Bob</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>2 Mary</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>3 Pat</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>4 Kim</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>5 Sean</span></tt> <br><br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>File Paychecks: 5 records</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Emp_No Pay_Date Amt</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>1 2015-01-01 100 (Bob)</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>1 2015-01-15 200 (Bob)</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>2 2015-01-01 300 (Mary)</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>2 2015-01-15 400 (Mary)</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>3 2015-01-15 600 (Pat)</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Note: 4 Kim and 5 Sean just started and have not been paid yet)</span></tt> <br><br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>File Dependents: 4 records;</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Emp_No Dep_Name</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>1 Bob Jr (Bob's 1st dependent)</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>1 Bobbie (Bob's 2nd dependent)</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>2 Marie (Mary's dependent)</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>5 Shawn (Sean's dependent)</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Note: 3 Pat and 4 Kim do not have any dependents</span></tt> <br><br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>This will be my Report statement for ALL examples:</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Report &</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'> Emp_No of Employees &</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'> Emp_Name of Employees &</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'> Pay_Date of Paychecks &</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'> Amt of Paychecks &</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'> Dep_Name of Dependents</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'> </span></tt><br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>First Hierarchical linkage:</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Access Employees &</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'> Link Emp_No of Employees to Emp_No of Paychecks &</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'> Link Emp_No of Employees to Emp_No of Dependents</span></tt> <br><br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Emp_No Emp_Name Pay_Date Amt Dep_Name</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>1 Bob 2015-01-01 100 Bob Jr</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>1 Bob 2015-01-01 100 Bobbie</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>1 Bob 2015-01-15 200 Bob Jr</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>1 Bob 2015-01-15 200 Bobbie</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>2 Mary 2015-01-01 300 Marie</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>2 Mary 2015-01-15 400 Marie</span></tt> <br><br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Obvious problems. Pat, Kim, and Sean are not showing up at all because no files are optional. I'm assuming the use of Optional in hierarchical linkage is well understood so I won't go into that discussion here. This post is about parallel linkage. :-)</span></tt> <br><br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>A bigger problem with the report is that paycheck and dependent records are being duplicated. Hierarchical linkage is simply wrong for this data; the results make no sense. </span></tt><br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'> </span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Using hierarchical linkage for this data is essentially saying, for each paycheck an employee has received, read down the list of all their dependents. That makes no sense. Just as it would make no sense to say, for each dependent an employee has, show me every time they have been paid. The number of paychecks I receive is based on how long I have worked for my employeer, not how many dependents I have. Similarly, the number of dependents I have is not based on how long I have worked for my employer. </span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'> </span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Paychecks and Dependents are both, obviously related to Employees, but they are NOT RELATED TO ONE ANOTHER. </span></tt> <br><br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Instead of one of these files "driving" the other, they should be read in parallel; i.e. at the same time. THIS is why we have parallel linkage. Parallel linkage is saying, for each employee, show me each of their paychecks AND each of their dependents.</span></tt> <br><br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Let's try parallel linkage in the Access statement and what that does to our report results.</span></tt> <br><br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Access Employees &</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'> Link Emp_No of Employees to Emp_No of Paychecks &</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'> AND Emp_No of Employees to Emp_No of Dependents </span></tt><br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'> </span></tt><br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Emp_No Emp_Name Pay_Date Amt Dep_Name</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>1 Bob 2015-01-01 100 Bob Jr</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>1 Bob 2015-01-15 200 Bobbie</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>2 Mary 2015-01-01 300 Marie</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>2 Mary 2015-01-15 400</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>3 Pat 2015-01-15 600</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>5 Sean Shawn</span></tt> <br><br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>This makes more sense for this data. Each paycheck is reported once and each dependent is reported once. </span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Notice, as long as there is at least one record FROM ANY of the parallel files you get a record complex returned. Parallel files are, more or less, "semi-optional".</span></tt> <br><br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>However, also notice employee 4 Kim was not reported. This was because Kim did not have any paychecks (yet) or dependents. If you want to see Kim on the report as well, make ANY of the parallel files optional; it doesn't make any difference which one because of the "semi-optional" nature of parallel files.</span></tt> <br><br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Access Employees &</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'> Link Emp_No of Employees to Emp_No of Paychecks &</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'> AND Emp_No of Employees to Emp_No of Dependents Optional</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'> </span></tt><br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Emp_No Emp_Name Pay_Date Amt Dep_Name</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>1 Bob 2015-01-01 100 Bob Jr</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>1 Bob 2015-01-15 200 Bobbie</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>2 Mary 2015-01-01 300 Marie</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>2 Mary 2015-01-15 400</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>3 Pat 2015-01-15 600</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>4 Kim</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>5 Sean Shawn</span></tt> <br><br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>To be honest, parallel linkage is not that common. It is fair to ask, "If two files aren't related to one another, why are you writing a report with both of them on it?" But it does have its uses from time to time.</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'> </span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>I hope that explanation helps. (It was fun writing about good old Quiz again after all these years.)</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Cheers,</span></tt> <br><tt><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Matt</span></tt><o:p></o:p></p></div>
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