Ok then....

What do you think about this real exchange that occurred up here on the UT:

Somebody asks this question:


Is there a way to change the SQL property of a View without first dropping it from the database and recreating it. Also, in the DE you have to close then reopen tables for it to take effect. Is there a better way?


Here is response one:


Take a look at the dbsetprop function.


Here is response two:


The help on DBSETPROP() indicates that the SQL property of a view is read-only. I think that means that the view has to be dropped and redefined in order to change that property.


Here is the guy who made the first response asking the guy who made the second response a question:


Are you saying you want to change the actual select statement that defines the view?


Finally, here is the guy in response two, replying to the guy from response 1:


I can't speak for the originator of this thread but, if you use DBGETPROP() to obtain the SQL property of a view what you will obtain is the SQL syntax (the select statement) that is used to generate the view.


All of this occurred in a 3 hour time span.

Now here is the kicker.... The original poster, the guy asking the original question finally made this post 3 hours after posting his original question:


SQL property is readonly. The only way I found to do it during runtime, is to drop it from the dbc and recreate it. I use the code from GENDBC to make a prg that I can pass the new SQL string.

It would be nice to be able to change it on the fly, then issue requery().


The guy answered his own freaking question. A 2-second lookup to the help file would have shown the SQL Property is read-only.

If the exchange looks familar, it should. You my friend are the one who made responses 3 and 5. Exchanges like this are exactly what I was referring to. One line responses like 'check out dbsetprop' are lame at best. It shows laziness.

The answer should have been something like- No, the SQL property is read-only. A common strategy is to create a local temp DBC and create the view defs on the fly. Then again, as Jim said, if more people would look at the help file first, people would get thier answers faster <s>.

As for standards, I think what I am asking for here is not a big leap....