File limit reached in Quick screen

[Guy Werry]

It seems like we're busting Cognos' chops here un-necessarily.  After 20+
years in the business it seems to me that:
* If you're using > 32 files in ONE screen then it's probably too complex!
Stuff has to be maintained!
* Powerhouse has been, hands down, about the most stable tool I've ever
used.  (I only use 3GLs in the most extreme circumstances).
* EVERY last person on the list who has code has the code from hell, which
never gets touched because:
  * If you touch it it will puke all over the place and it will take a year
to figure out
  * The users have 4 gazillion other requests in the hopper that are more
important!

That's the nature of maintenance programming ... as for "tricking"
Powerhouse, I just finished doing a form in SQL*Forms (Oracle) where I had
to code TWO blocks because I couldn't code a join the way I needed to in ONE
block ... also just finished "un-enhancing" a screen in the same language
because the interaction of the triggers made my enhancement break something
else.  Now we do the flagging in an over-night process instead!

Guy L. Werry
Senior Systems Analyst
Hudson Bay Mining & Smelting Co., Limited. 

-----Original Message-----
From: Darren Reely [mailto:darren.reely@latticesemi.com]
Sent: Friday, November 05, 2004 12:25 PM
To: powerh-l@lists.sowder.com
Subject: Re: File limit reached in Quick screen


A friend (Batman) says, you don't program Powerhouse, you trick it.

Working around the 31 file limit via extra code is tricking PH to do 
what you want. As far as I'm concerned, any time you have to add code to 
work around a limit, the tool looses much of its appeal. Thankfully this 
limit isn't hit often, even by those creating very complex screens.

I look at this issue this way. If one day I need to add a LOOKUP to a 
field and that requires adding a 32nd file statement that is a reference 
file, I should NOT be required to rewrite some big chunk of code. That 
is simply ridiculous!

As the original poster found out, the first thing to do is look for 
files not being used. Unfortunately PH does not tell you that 
information, so it is a manual process. Perhaps Cognos could add a 
warning for files not being used? :-)

That's my 2 cents of frustration on this topic.

Darren.


Ohmes, Matt wrote:

> I know this is not what you want to hear Neil, but honestly, the best 
> way to get around this problem is to rewrite the one complex screen 
> into a series of interrelated screens. Break the problem into smaller, 
> more manageable pieces. Quick was designed from the beginning to 
> manage complex transactions through interrelated screens.
>
> If you side-step the problem by finding a way to shoehorn in more 
> files, you’ll still run into the same problem the next time a new 
> enhancement comes up. The mess will only get worse.
>
> I haven’t really coded in PowerHouse for about 3 years now, but I 
> worked with it seriously for about 20 years before that and I’ve never 
> once even come close to the 31 file limit. If you break the process up 
> you don’t really end up with complex screens that are impossible to 
> maintain.
>
> Just my 2 cents worth.
>
> Matt
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> From: powerh-l-admin@lists.sowder.com 
> [mailto:powerh-l-admin@lists.sowder.com] On Behalf Of Paterson, Neil R 
> SUKEP-EPT-IT-EA
> Sent: Thursday, November 04, 2004 10:34 AM
> To: powerh-l@lists.sowder.com
> Subject: File limit reached in Quick screen
>
> Hi all,
>
> Tried to compile a Quick screen, but get the following error
> *E* Too many files specified. The limit per screen is 31 files.
>
> Is there workaround for this, any place where I can reset the limit or 
> do I have to try to rewrite this rather complex screen...
>
> I'm running PowerHouse 8.19.D7 on a HP3000.
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Neil
>
> This message may contain privileged and/or confidential information. 
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