>>>I see. Yes, I may try to write something like that to apply structural changes. It also helps to eliminate deleted records.
>>
>>Actually, when the structure between the two versions doesn't change, the table gets copied through a COPY FILE, which is much faster. Of course, in this case deleted records would not get eliminated, so you may want a separate utility to PACK.
>>
>>On the other hand, checking whether the structure is identical is not trivial; you would have to check field names, types, validation rules, etc., and many more, I think. It is mainly here that I use a VFX function.
>
>I wrote my own DataDictionary about 7 (!) years ago. I think I would not attempt to do it now <g>
Well, just copying all the tables with APPEND FROM is safe, and should be fast enough for a small system.
Suggestion: Temporarily disabling RI will make the update much, much faster - perhaps by a factor of 10. For this, you
do need an alternative RI technology, such as Tax RI or AMRI.
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)
