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Order By vs. Sort
Oracle's Order By statement on the Select command does not always generate the
same results. Specifically, sorted fields with null field values appear at the beginning
when they are sorted by Suprtool's Sort command.
Restrictions
Suprtool/Open cannot handle all Oracle database concepts. The current restrictions
are:
Suprtool/Open can handle varchar2, char, date, and number data-types. It
cannot handle any other data-type.
Because any Oracle Select command can be used, it is possible to generate
column names that are not compatible with Suprtool/Open. For
example,
>select sal + comm from bonus
This example produces a column called "sal + comm". In some cases Suprtool/Open
correctly uses this as the column name (e.g., the List command). You cannot refer to
this column by name in any Suprtool/Open command that accepts field names as a
parameter.
Suprtool and Self-Describing Files
A problem with data files is that there is no field information. Self-describing files
solve this problem by providing field information about the file. Suprtool reads and
writes SD files; Suprlink requires SD files as input and creates an SD file as output.
Create an SD File from a Table
You request an SD file using the Link option of the Output command. If you extract
columns from the table, only the extracted columns appear in the SD file.
>select * from sales
>output salefile,link
from sales}
>xeq
{input from a table}
{salefile has all of the columns
Create an SD File from a Data File
You must Define and Extract the fields you want to have in the SD file. Use the Link
option of the Output command to create the file as a self-describing file. Although
Suprtool itself allows longer field names, SD files only store the first 16 characters of
a field name, unless SDExtName is on.
Suprtool/Open 5.7
Suprtool Issues and Solutions • 49