At 04:34 PM 04-09-02 +1000, you wrote:

>I went through demos 1 -> 3 in the GSG and compared the settings for PRODUCT
>/ PRODUCTTYPE with my SPRITEDETAILS / IPLOOKUP and even designed my SQL
>statements based on the demo. If my SQL statements are wrong then the GSG
>isn't very clear (it appears very clear). I white-boarded the GSG demos and
>converted the names just to make sure I had done the same.
>
>I asked once before whether I needed two datasets (hence transactions)

Dataset <> transaction. A typical task is several datasets being worked on
inside a single transaction. Other (non-synchronous) tasks can be going on
in other transactions.

Also, Post <> Commit.

> and
>never got an answer so I have been playing with both options. On my form I
>have a data entry screen to enter new records into IPLOOKUP and then there
>is another page that has data entry for the GROUPS/SPRITEDETAILS tables.
>Each query has its' own dataset. This bit is fine.

Or not...your problems LOOK like concurrency problems.

>Then I needed to implement a lookup for one of the fields. I made the
>assumption I needed a different query/dataset for the lookup
>(TIB_LookupCombo) so that is why you see two datasets. May be this is the
>point where I went wrong.

Maybe. If the lookup dataset is being edited inside a different
transaction to the one where it is being looked up, then you need separate
datasets; and you will also have to time your commits and refreshes so
that they happen in the right order. If the editing is happening inside
the same transaction, then one dataset will be fine.

>You said:
>
>This looks wrong:
>
> KeyDescLinks.Strings = (
> 'IPLOOKUP.IPL_IPADDRESS=IP_IPADDRESS')
>
>Not according to the GSG.

Yes, good catch on KeyDescLinks....I think you can't put table identifiers
in there at all (for either dataset) because KeyDescLinks refers to output,
not input.

So I think you need to change it to
IPL_ADDRESS=IP_IPADDRESS

>If you look at the previos email IP_IPADDRESS is marked as a computer field.
>
> 'IP_IPADDRESS=COMPUTED'

Yes, I see that in the DFM. Sorry, I was looking at the wrong dataset
when I made that comment.

>I get the feeling my questions are causing some frustration. If this is the
>case then I apologise.

It's frustrating when you don't provide enough information. For example,
although you provided an excerpt from the DFM, you have omitted to tell us
anything about your transactions. It's emerging now, after several emails,
that transaction isolation is at the bottom of your problems.

I guess also that, as one who tries to respond when possible, I do get
frustrated with self-confessed newbies who try to run before they can
walk. OK, it's your business how you go about self-teaching...but here you
are trying to do some quite complex stuff at a point when apparently you
don't have transactions clearly in concept yet. And, in my case, I have
had a couple of "all-nighters" in recent days which tends to get me a bit
impatient - even with the birds that tweet in my back yard! :-)

>Don't think I'm not putting in the effort. This is
>all I have done for the last 2 days - not very productive this week.

Sometimes it can be a great saver to get stuck into some lateral research
when the thing you are focused on won't go forward. I urge you to get your
head around transactions, since it is the stuff Firebird and Interbase are
made of - and therefore is crucial to understanding what you are doing with
IBO.

>Either bare with me or tell me I'm using
>up too much bandwidth and I'll disappear. < it has been a bad week >

You chose a bad time to do the curly stuff - a holiday weekend in the USA
and Europe and also one where the Aussies are up to their ears in work and
several of us here are currently deeply engaged in a demanding exercise
related to the Firebird infrastructure. You couldn't know that, of
course...but we are all volunteers here on this list and we give as much as
we can spare.

>I get the feeling we are going around in circles with my problem. I've
>obviously done something fundamentally wrong.
>
>I could write another small demo application doing a copy/paste from the
>real project and ask someone to take a closer look at it but does anyone
>have the time......

I don't - but if your project is in Delphi, zip it up with a *small* gbk of
the tables you are using and I'll try to take a look at it.

Helen