At 04:25 PM 21/11/2003 -0500, you wrote:

>Hey all,
>
>I've been using IBX to update remote database when updates are required.
> I don't know if its me or the component, but sometimes the update
>process just flakes out and we end up having to roll back everything and
>the update can't happend until we remote in and fix everything manually.
> Its a real pain.
>
>So, I'm thinking of taking a whack at it with IBOScript to see if I have
>any better luck.
>
>We have a field in the database that is a numeric which indicates the
>database's current version such as 6.6. The software downloads a script
>from us that is modified with header info so that the software can parse
>through. For instance:
>
>#5.5%
>// Statements
>#5.6%
>// Statements
>#5.7%
>// Statements
>#5.8%
>// Statements
>
>The software loops through and tests when it comes to a "#", parses the
>line to see if the numeric value is greater than the current database
>version. If it is, then we read in everything past that, updating an
>internal variable as lines with "#" are encountered. Finally, we run
>the script and if everything goes ok, we update the current dataabase
>version with the internal variable that was tracking the "#" lines with
>the version.
>
>Anyone done anything like this?
>
>We have over 500 customers and it important that as updates to the
>software are made that require metadata changes, we can successfully
>update the database so that the operation does not require user invention.
>
>Any tips, advise, suggestions are appreciated.

Any metadata changes affecting objects that are currently in use are going
to make the script fail (except triggers and SPs - they will be
deferred). The script will also fail in some cases where a change isn't
committed before a later statement that relies on a dependency.

To make it bombproof, they need to perform a database shutdown before
running DDL. I know you don't want user intervention but you're probably
going to need to print them a how-to for doing a gfix -shutdown and going
online again after the script completes. You could put this in a command
file.

Helen