At 09:35 PM 12/07/2005 -0400, you wrote:

>Helen Borrie wrote:
>
> > At 09:43 AM 12/07/2005 -0400, you wrote:
> > >The only strangeness here is that the edit queries need the following
> > >quoting:
> > >update "TODOS "
> > >set
> > > shortdesc= :shortdesc,
> > > category = :Category
> > >where
> > > ID = :OLD_ID
> > >
> > >(This may be the problem and may be related to the tools I am using with
> > >FIREBIRD to layout my tables)
> >
> > It's part of the problem. If you define objects with quoted identifiers
> > then you are stuck with having to use the quoted identifiers
> > everywhere. Recommendation: if you don't need quoted identifiers then
> > recreate the database without them and pump in your data.
>
>Is there a way to know that the table name has been created in a funny
>manner? I found that in IBO, the main SQL query does not need the
>quotes, but the update and insert queries do.

Actually, the situation with quoted identifiers is highly
confusing. Quoted identifiers are case-sensitive, that is

create table "aTable" is distinct from

create table "ATABLE".

Because the database stores NON-QUOTED identifiers in upper-case,
regardless of the case in which it received them in DDL, under some
conditions it is OK to refer to the second table above ("ATABLE") without
the quotes. The thing that's not absolutely transparent in all
environments is when it's OK and when it's not. Hence, the proper advice
is to use the quotes, even if you defined your case-sensitive identifiers
to be all upper case. Since mixing them is likely to get more complicated
with Firebird 2's new treatment of non-ascii character sets, including
UTF-8 being allowed for identifiers, I suspect it will be an area Jason has
to examine for its future implications.

>I have been using FlameRobin and IBEase+ to work with my tables, and I
>am pretty sure that one of them mucked up the name, but I don't know
>which one, and I cant figure out how to tell.

I don't know IBEase+ at all. With FlameRobin, you can configure the editor
to use (or not use) quoted identifiers. But remember that FlameRobin is
NOT released software. The current versions are alphas.

>Is there a better tool to interactivly modify my Database schema.

You can do a lot worse than IB_SQL for your "workhorse" toolset. The GUI
is not loved by some, but it does all its tasks fairly and squarely,
without any of the icebergs you might encounter in some of the more
featurose (and non-free!) tools. Try compiling IB_SQL yourself. The
sources are in your IBO root directory.

That said, IB_SQL does not give you a "for Dummies" route to modifying
metadata. It's strictly by DDL and according to the rules. It supports
both interactive DDL and scripting.

Helen