>Hi Hilmar
>
>I finally skimmed through all the UT mags. The neatest trick of all was your ordering records bit.
>
>SELECT ..., at(Code, "QWER") as OrderField
Yes, I found that impressive, too, that's why I included it. (I certainly hope I didn't give the impression that I had invented it, which I didn't - I read it in some UT message.)
>That can be expanded to handle multi-string codes too. Assuming code is 5 chars with no spaces...
>
>select INT(AT("," + code + ",",",ABCDE,12345,FGHIJ,67890,") / 5 + 1) + 1 as OrderField
>
>I believe a UDF could be made for this, making it easier to use it in several similar queries. I would not make it very general purpose as it would add significant overhead with parameter checking etc.
>
>Something like this...
>
>UDFCodeOrder.PRG
>RETURN INT(AT("," + code + ",",",PEARS,12345,APPLE,ORANG,") / 5 + 1) + 1
>
>With the query being
>
>select UDFCodeOrder() as OrderField
>
>Agreed?
Well, yes, that seems the correct way of doing this. In the case of a UDF, a decision must be made about using greater simplicity (UDF) and greater speed (no UDF - type the expression directly).
Difference in opinions hath cost many millions of lives: for instance, whether flesh be bread, or bread be flesh; whether whistling be a vice or a virtue; whether it be better to kiss a post, or throw it into the fire... (from Gulliver's Travels)