Cognos ADT Update & Plans

[Whittall, Conrad]

OK, I'm still battling with MS Outlook. Sorry that last post arrived as
HTML...this should be plain text.

Anyone who was able to read the last one please just delete this.

----------

Sorry for the delay, but to answer Robert's questions...

1) There will be no specific features added to QUIZ in the first release
   of PowerHouse Web to enable it to produce HTML output. We are
   considering what we might do in follow-on releases, but there are no
   solid plans yet. A technique for generating an HTML file from QUIZ
   was published in Supportlink (Vol.8 No.1 p.38), which simply
   uses the available QUIZ headers and footers to set up HTML tags, etc.

2) I'm not sure what you mean by "more tightly integrated". We currently
   have no specific plans for integration between Impromptu Web Reports
   or Impromptu Web Query and the PowerHouse family, other than it
   should be possible to call one of these tools and pass parameters
   simply by correctly formatting a URL which you might display in a
   PowerHouse Web screen (which based on how the user got to that screen
   would probably be parameterized for the report/query to be run).

3) We are always looking at ways to improve PowerHouse as a product, and
   simplify the language where possible. Obviously the inconsistencies
   in the language, especially between QUIZ and QTP, are annoying -- I
   know, I worked in our professional services group in the UK for nine
   years dealing with them. However, as thousands of customers have
   applications which rely on the current syntax it is difficult to
   introduce change without either breaking programs which already work
   (which is NOT an option), or having the product support both the
   'old' and the 'new' ways of doing things. We are studying what might
   be possible in these area, but customer demand for new features and
   better file/database support tends to be stronger than for tidying
   up the product inconsistencies.

4) Everyone contemplating putting applications on the web must
   understand the differences between the permanently-connected, state
   driven terminal or Windows client users and the occasionally-
   connected, stateless Web users. It is for these reasons that we were
   compelled to introduce the LINKSCREEN statement and DEFER LINKSCREEN
   verb. A discussion of this topic appears in the PowerHouse Web Guide,
   which will be part of the PowerHouse Web documentation set, and in
   the Introducing PowerHouse Web white paper, which can be downloaded
   from our web site, at http://www.cognos.com/phweb. We do not see
   customers wanting to move all of their existing PowerHouse
   applications to the web. The web isn't suitable for all applications,
   just as Windows isn't suitable for all applications. This has nothing
   to do with the tools used to build the applications and everything to
   do with the differences between the user interfaces. Just as you
   wouldn't deploy heads-down data entry to Windows, you won't deploy it
   to the web. We will all be going through a learning curve as we find
   out what sorts of applications work in the occasionally-connected web
   environment, which ones are more suited to a permanently-connected
   Windows client, and which ones are still best dealt with by good ol'
   green-screen terminals.

5) Clusters for SECONDARY files are supported in the first release of
   PowerHouse Web. We are currently investigating how to support DETAIL
   files for a subsequent release. I am uncertain what you mean by real
   time updates and reads. PowerHouse Web reads from the database/file
   system whenever a particular program is run. The data retrieved is
   then formatted into the associated HTML template and returned to the
   user's browser as an HTML page. Similarly, if the user enters data
   into the HTML page they are presented with (or modifies the data
   retrieved) and then clicks on one of the available buttons
   (representing the available activities in the QUICK program) that
   data is sent to PowerHouse Web, via the web server, which runs the
   appropriate program, initiates the requested user action and passes
   the data from the HTML page -- which will result in the database or
   files being updated and a new HTML page being passed back to the
   user, at which point the QUICK program is unloaded by PowerHouse Web.
   So there are no deferred updates or reads with PowerHouse Web...as
   soon as the user clicks that button the database will be updated,
   assuming the data provided actually passes all of the validation
   checks implemented by the program, data dictionary or database.


Best regards, 

Conrad 

Conrad Whittall 
Marketing Manager, Application Development Tools 
Cognos Incorporated, 3755 Riverside Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K1G 4K9,
Canada 

Tel : + 1 (613) 738-1338 Ext.4804 
Fax : + 1 (613) 228-3149

E-mail : mailto:conrad.whittall@cognos.com  

For information on the Cognos PowerHouse family of high-productivity
development tools for mission-critical business applications visit our
web site at http://www.cognos.com/powerhouse



-----Original Message-----
From: Robert J.M. Edis [mailto:Robert.Edis@creatcomp.com]
Sent: Monday 15 March 1999 11:40 AM
To: 'powerh-l@lists.swau.edu'
Subject: RE: Cognos ADT Update & Plans


G'day Conrad

Thank you very much for the 'heads up' on the current state and future plans
for PowerHouse.  I have a couple of questions though.

1.	What web features will be added for QUIZ to be able to produce an
HTML formatted report?  
2.	If QUIZ is to be replaced with Impromptu Web (for web reports) as I
heard a while back, will Impromptu be more tightly integrated with QUICK,
QTP and PDL?
3.	Are there any plans to simplify PowerHouse syntax?  I.e. having the
same reserved word in one product behave the same way in another like the
SUBFILE statement.
4.	Bob Deskin mentioned that PH Web doesn't use the RUN SCREEN or
SUBSCREEN statements but rather LINK SCREEN.  Doesn't this imply that we
can't simply add the new web syntax to our existing systems to make them web
enabled?  It this is true it implies major redesign or creation of a
parallel system for web users.
5.	In what version will PowerHouse Web allow functionality such as
clusters and real time updates/reads?

Robert Edis
PowerHouse consultant
Creative Computing, Inc.
Rhode Island, USA


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