Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!lsuc!ncrcan!ontenv!soley
From: soley@ontenv.UUCP (Norman S. Soley)
Newsgroups: comp.databases
Subject: Re: Informix problem with escape sequences
Message-ID: <806@ontenv.UUCP>
Date: 24 Sep 88 18:00:52 GMT
References: <483@pan.UUCP> <860@vsi.UUCP>
Organization: Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Toronto
Lines: 55

In article <860@vsi.UUCP>, sullivan@vsi.UUCP (Michael T Sullivan) writes:
> In article <483@pan.UUCP>, jw@pan.UUCP (Jamie Watson) writes:
> > 
> > The Informix products seem to be incapable of handling escape sequences,
> > such as are generated by the arrow keys on ansi terminals, reliably.
> 
> And how.  If you hit arrow keys too fast, sperform will goof up and
> interpret and escape sequence as separate characters, thus writing a
> possibly incomplete record.  There is an easy workaround, though.
> Are you familiar with how h,j,k,l are used in vi?  h=left, j=down,
> k=up, l=right.  In perform the control counterparts (^h,^j,^k,^l) do
> the same thing.  Use these control characters, NEVER use arrow keys
> in sperform.

I'm sorry but on this one I'll probably end up agreeing with jw, this
is not a solution, our users are managers and biologists and they just
won't be made to understand that they should push ^j instead of down
arrow, "the arrow keys are there, why can't I use them?". I had to
threatean my boss (an Urban Planner by training) that I would break
his fingers if he didn't keep them off the arrow keys in input mode in
vi.

I can somewhat sympathize with jw's perdicament with Informix's
support in Europe because we wen't through a similar situation here in
Canada, we bought our first copy of Informix from RDS in California
and had all kind of support problems until they finally got their
Canadian operation up and running (about 1 1/2 years after they first
told us they were doing it next month). But is was never as bad as the
problems we had when we bought it from a local VAR. 

However I can't agree with jw's attitude and tone, it's obvious from
things he/she has said that he/she has been forced to work with
Informix against his/her will and is taking it out on the product as a
result. There's an old saw that goes "it's a poor workman who blames
his tools". I've had very good success building applications in 4GL.
It has it's warts but so does any program, and in my veiw "known bug,
fixed in the next release" is the best that ANY commecial vendor has
offered.

The net will not solve your problems for you Jamie, the fact that
Alan has stopped reponding to you is proof of this. Why not try what I
did? Carefully document the bugs you have found, and make DAMN SURE
they are bugs! Then make notes on every time you try to contact
Informix, flag out the problems like moving offices and the American
offices refusal to deal with European customers, as much as possible
include exact dates and times and names of who you talked to. Then
send the whole thing to the CEO of Informix Software Inc. preferably
from someone in authority in your company (president or
vice-president). It worked for me. 


-- 
Norman Soley - Data Communications Analyst - Ontario Ministry of the Environment
UUCP:	uunet!attcan!lsuc!ncrcan!ontenv!soley	VOICE:	+1 416 323 2623
OR:     soley@ontenv.UUCP