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 1, 2003 03:32 PM Tuesday; Rod Welch

Gary reported another problem with Aerospace company contact record.

1...Summary/Objective
2...Changed Line Number Format Eliminated Address Field
3...Remedy Fast and Easy
........010002 *Dr. Nancy, B***** \Home telephone
4...Contact Names of People Do Not Need Comma
........0101h *Dr. Nancy, B***** \Home Telephone
5......should look like this....
6...0705051 F2 Save Contact Record
7...SDS Contact Code Error in Handling Telephone Number Conditions

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

1...Still need to change Contacts from using Supersort to use Opt Tech

CONTACTS 
0201 - Boeing                                                                                                                                                             O-00000816 0505
020101 - Mr. Garold L. Johnson
020103 - Modeling and Simulation                                                                                                                                          O-00000816 0505

SUBJECTS
Save Contact Record, F2 0705051
Contacts Save Failing in Army M&S Record
Flexible Structure for Contacts Difficult to Manage Consistently Exam
Record Formats Filling Out and Executing Functions

1206 -
1206 -    ..
1207 - Summary/Objective
1208 -
120801 - Follow up ref SDS 9 0000, ref SDS 4 0000.
120802 -
120803 - Gary exposed more issues for using Contacts and flexible structure,
120804 - ref SDS 0 L738, which may augur for a more rigid format.  Corrected
120805 - the record, ref SDS 0 KW5I, and notified Gary to call tomorrow so we
120806 - can step through the corrections as a learning exercise.   Want to
120807 - review "best practices" to reduce future issues. ref SDS 0 0L3M  Also,
120808 - corrected a software problem that has been around for awhile,
120809 - ref SDS 0 XT7A  Put an SDS program update on the web to replace the
120810 - update yesterday. This has corrections for record 821, per below.
120811 - ref SDS 0 KW5I  Sent Gary a letter linked to this record notifying of
120812 - plan to do a training exercise by telephone on how to fix problems
120813 - with the current record, before he installs and overwrites the
120814 - defective contact record with the correction.
120815 -
120816 -      [On 030702 Gary called for training on SDS contacts. ref SDS 12
120817 -      XT5N
120818 -
120819 -
120820 -
120821 -
120822 -
120824 -  ..
1209 -
1210 -
1211 - Problem
1212 -
121201 - Gary reported that the Contact Summary is not displaying the correct
121202 - fields for a new record he created to identify Nancy B*****, who
121203 - respresents the Army on the  combat project, as shown in the recent record
121204 - on 030626. ref SDS 10 PA53
121206 -  ..
121207 - We did some work online together.
121209 -  ..
121210 - Noticed Gary has created two new records for the same outfit, so we
121211 - have a compound problem....
121212 -
121213 -             Army M&S...................... 821
121214 -             Army M&S...................... 822
121215 -
121216 -     There is another problem of people sharing a data base and
121217 -     overwriting other people's contact records.
121218 -
121219 -         [On 030702 followed up and fixed this. ref SDS 12 E56K
121221 -  ..
121222 - The first record 821 shows....
121223 -
121224 -             No phone    No Contact Person
121226 -  ..
121227 - The second record 822 shows....
121228 -
121229 -             No phone    Nancy B*****
121231 -  ..
121232 - This suggests that the first record 821 has a compound problem, and
121233 - the second record 822 has only a single problem.
121234 -
121235 -      Subsequent research showed three (3) problems....
121236 -
121237 -      1.  SDS code problem on handling phone numbers.
121239 -           ..
121240 -      2.  User changed format of line number field.
121242 -           ..
121243 -      3.  Comma added to Contact field name. ref SDS 0 LH4I
121245 -  ..
121246 - A fourth problem occurred creating a redundant record for the same
121247 - contact, trying to correct the first problem.  This typically occurs,
121248 - when a mistake prevents the record from showing up in the summary
121249 - list.  The user then feels the record does not exist, and so creates a
121250 - second record.
121251 -
121253 -  ..
121254 - Changed Line Number Format Eliminated Address Field
121255 -
121256 - While we talked, I examined record 821.  Saw no evident problems.
121257 - Further examination after the call revealed that the format for the
121258 - Contact Person's name in record 821 is incorrect, showing....
121259 -
121260 -         [On 030702 Gary made corrections and reviewed best practices
121261 -         using line numbers to manage fields in contact records.
121262 -         ref SDS 12 L74R
121264 -      ..
121265 -     01f       combat M&S            =Telephone/fax
121266 -     0100       [Secondary Department Description, e.g. Project, Section, Branch]
121267 -     010001   Description
121268 -  +  010002  *Ms.  Nancy,                        B*****      \Home telephone
121269 -     010003   Title        =(650) ***-***1; Cell: (510) ***-****
121271 -  ..
121272 - Instead, it should show what Gary's second record 822 shows....
121273 -
121274 -     05f       combat M&S            =Telephone/fax
121275 -     0500       [Secondary Department Description, e.g. Project, Section, Branch]
121276 -     050001   Description
121277 -  +  0501h   *Dr.  Nancy,                        B*****      \Home Telephone
121278 -     050101   Title        =(650) ***-****; Cell: (510) ***-****
121280 -  ..
121281 - Thus, the problem is evident from comparing the following lines..
121282 -
121283 -  821...010002  *Ms.  Nancy,        B*****      \Home telephone
121284 -  822...0501h   *Dr.  Nancy,        B*****      \Home Telephone
121286 -  ..
121287 - Comparing these lines with the format in Help....
121288 -
121289 -        0101    *Mrs. FirstName     LastName    \Home telephone
121290 -
121291 - ...indicates that the format in record 822 is correct, and so explains
121292 - why the summary listing correctly displays the contact name, per
121293 - above. ref SDS 0 LW97
121294 -
121295 -         [On 030702 Gary made corrections and reviewed best practices
121296 -         using line numbers to manage fields in contact records.
121297 -         ref SDS 12 L74R
121299 -  ..
121300 - In record 821 the contact name does not show up in the summary, per
121301 - above, ref SDS 0 LW92, because the line number structure in record 821
121302 - is incorrect, so the code read the record as not having a contact
121303 - name.  New records are presented with the correct format, however,
121304 - errors can occur in two ways...
121305 -
121306 -      1.  Manually adding two characters to the line number field to
121307 -          change....
121309 -           ..
121310 -          0101    *Dr.  Nancy,        B*****      \Home Telephone
121311 -              --
121312 -          ...to instead look like....
121314 -           ..
121315 -          0101nn  *Dr.  Nancy,        B******     \Home telephone
121316 -              --
121317 -
121318 -          ...then when F2 is pressed the line numbers update, and
121319 -          produce what is shown in record 821, per above. ref SDS 0
121320 -          L74R
121322 -           ..
121323 -          Since adding characters to a line number field is a proactive
121324 -          step, this probably not the cause in this case, although it
121325 -          could be.
121327 -           ..
121328 -      2.  Inadvertantly deleting a line, which removes an upper level
121329 -          structure, and then when F2 updates the line numbers the
121330 -          missing upper level, causes the uniform structure that shows
121331 -          up, per above. ref SDS 0 L74R
121333 -           ..
121334 -          This kind of mistake occurs for reasons reviewed on 030628.
121335 -          ref SDS 11 CP8N
121337 -  ..
121338 - Best practice is to create a record.  Then, after saving it and before
121339 - closing the record, open another session and check the summary to
121340 - verify the listing in the alphabetical summary is correct.  If not,
121341 - the record can be edited and saved again to correct the listing in the
121342 - Summary without causing the problem of not seeing an entry for the new
121343 - record in the Summary alphabetical list which prevents access and
121344 - correction, and so leads to creating a second record, as occurred
121345 - here, per above. ref SDS 0 N15T
121346 -
121347 -     [On 030702 reviewed with Gary. ref SDS 12 0L3M
121348 -
121349 -
121351 -  ..
121352 - Remedy Fast and Easy
121353 -
121354 - Flexible structure makes it easy to make mistakes of structure, as
121355 - occurred here, and for reasons reviewed on 890523. ref SDS 1 YN8J
121356 -
121357 -     [On 030702 Gary was able to make these corrections, and review
121358 -     showed everything was formatted properly. ref SDS 12 XT5N
121360 -  ..
121361 - Correcting mistakes is also easy by simply removing the two extra
121362 - characters to change...
121363 -
121364 -
121365 -        010002  *Dr.  Nancy,        B*****      \Home telephone
121366 -            --
121367 - ...into...
121368 -
121369 -        0101    *Dr.  Nancy,        B*****      \Home Telephone
121370 -            --
121371 -
121372 -
121374 -  ..
121375 - Contact Names of People Do Not Need Comma
121376 -
121377 - Both contact records 821 and 822 have another problem that does not
121378 - effect the summary operation, but does impact addressing
121379 - correspondence.  The following line....
121380 -
121381 -                           -
121382 -        0101h   *Dr.  Nancy,        B*****      \Home Telephone
121383 -                           -
121384 - ...should look like this....
121385 -                           -
121386 -        0101h   *Dr.  Nancy         B*****      \Home Telephone
121387 -                           -
121388 -                     -
121389 - Using Ctrl F10 to open Help in a Contact record shows the correct
121390 - format, per above. ref SDS 0 N170
121391 -
121392 -     [On 030702 Gary pointed out that the new record template file has
121393 -     a comma, which conflicts with the format shown in Help; corrected
121394 -     template file. ref SDS 12 LH4I
121396 -  ..
121397 - It might be possible for the code to look for a comma, and remove it
121398 - when a record is processed to address correspondence, however, there
121399 - be occasions when a name has a comma for some reason, and in that
121400 - case, if we removed every comma that would be another mistake.
121402 -  ..
121403 - Made following corrections to contacts....
121404 -
121405 -     1.  Fixed record 821 as follows.....
121406 -
121407 -         a.  Address line should be 0001
121408 -
121409 -             It is shown as 000003 because Gary evidently padded the
121410 -             line number field.
121412 -              ..
121413 -             This has the effect of making the Contact field, which
121414 -             should be 0005, 0001, and so "Contact" shows up as the
121415 -             name of the organization when using the record to enter a
121416 -             contact to an SDS record to address correspondence.
121418 -              ..
121419 -             Remedy is to change 000003 to 0000 by removing two places
121420 -             from the line number field.
121422 -              ..
121423 -         b.  Same mistake on Business, Comments, Projects, etc. all of
121424 -             the line number fields had been padded, so removed two
121425 -             positions to restore structure, as shown in Help.
121427 -              ..
121428 -         c.  Fixed contact line number field per above. ref SDS 0 T66J
121430 -              ..
121431 -         d.  Removed comma from Nancy's name in contact field, per
121432 -             above. ref SDS 0 LH4I
121434 -              ..
121435 -         e.  Conformed address, per record on 030626. ref SDS 10 PA53
121436 -
121437 -             Changed surname to Dr., because that is what Nancy shows
121438 -             in her contact stuff, and her email comes in that way.
121439 -
121441 -          ..
121442 -     2.  Deleted redundant record 822.
121443 -
121444 -         Gary needs to also delete this record, which is accomplished
121445 -         from the Contact Summary list.
121446 -
121447 -
121448 -
121449 -
121450 -
121451 -
1215 -

SUBJECTS
F2 Save Update Record 0705051
Contacts Changed F2 Save to DOSE Session to Save Memory

1404 -
140501 -  ..
140502 - 0705051 F2 Save Contact Record
140503 - SDS Contact Code Error in Handling Telephone Number Conditions
140504 -
140505 - Follow up ref SDS 9 XT7A, ref SDS 4 0900.
140506 -
140507 - I have known for some time that certain conditions caused Contact
140508 - summaries to get messed up in various ways by the F2 Save operation,
140509 - which results in No phone, when that is not what should be there, per
140510 - above. ref SDS 0 LW92  If there is no number and so the field is
140511 - blank, or if "Telephone" is left in the field, these conditions caused
140512 - problems.  Limited time kept this a mystery until today because a work
140513 - around is to enter a number in the Telephone field.  If there is no
140514 - number, then entering something linke 844 NNN NNNN posts that in the
140515 - Summary, and it has the same effect as being blank.
140517 -  ..
140518 - Today, since Gary ran into the problem, and has not built up this
140519 - experience, and since I had forgotten the solution, because it has
140520 - been automatic, I was forced to look at the code.  This revealed a
140521 - mistake.
140523 -  ..
140524 - The record on 030411 when we last worked on a similar problem has an
140525 - access into the code at...
140527 -  ..
140528 - Line 80, ref OF 2 9B9L, -label lpsnl in 0705051 about 30 lines below
140529 -
140530 -    loc_cur 4 10
140531 -    -if @128 = 2 loc_cur 0 45
140532 -
140533 -        Set up to capture name of organization on column 10, or the
140534 -        last name of an individual on column 45.
140535 -
140536 -    -label lpsnl
140537 -    macro 10
140538 -    setcnt 85 0
140539 -    setcnt 87 0
140540 -    setcnt 86 1
140541 -    -if @128 = 2 -goto indvLN
140542 -    setcnt 85 99
140543 -    setcnt 80 1000
140544 -    setcnt 81 30
140545 -
140546 -        For an organization, get only 30 characters to avoid writing
140547 -        over the phone number.
140548 -
140549 -
140551 -  ..
140552 - Line 280, ref OF 2 TV9I, -label gph in 0705051 about 80 lines below
140553 -
140554 -    -if @10 < 15 ins_text !No phone!
140555 -
140556 -        This is the code that was an error.  It is actually old code
140557 -        that uses counter 10 in a way that has since been abandoned, so
140558 -        it took awhile to figure out what is supposed to be happening
140559 -        in relation to the other code.  In any case, examination today
140560 -        shows that this code has been posting "No phone" in every new
140561 -        record for years, but since subsequent processing posts the
140562 -        phone number of a contact name, and since every such contact
140563 -        name has always had a phone number, this error has not been
140564 -        revealed, until today when Gary created a record with a Contact
140565 -        name that has a phone number, but since the other error caused
140566 -        the code to read the record as not having a contact record,
140567 -        ref SDS 0 L182, it revealed the underlying error by posting "No
140568 -        phone," leading to investigation.
140570 -     ..
140571 -    chrcnt 1 0
140572 -    -if @1 > 47 -if @1 < 58 -goto hatn
140573 -    ins_text!No Phone      !
140574 -    -label hatn
140575 -
140576 -        Added code today that reads the telephone number field after it
140577 -        has been posted to the contact summary, and if a number is not
140578 -        in the first position, then enter No phone.
140579 -
140581 -  ..
140582 - Line 1010, ref OF 2 LP6J, -label dlclfs in 0705051
140583 -
140584 -    Changed everything to a dose calls to save memory.
140586 -  ..
140587 - Still need to change Contacts from using Supersort to use Opt Tech
140588 - Sort, per work on 010301. ref SDS 5 G8TG
140589 -
140590 -
140591 -
140592 -
140593 -
140594 -
140595 -
140596 -
140597 -
140598 -
140599 -
1406 -
Distribution. . . . See "CONTACTS"