Database Indexing

[simulacra]

I am using Report Writer v. 7 (soon to be upgraded) in conjunction with MOM. In producing sales reports using criteria not accounted for in MOM, I have had to construct tables in Excel and save them as .dbf in order to relate them to MOM .dbf files. When relating one novel variable, this works fine - I choose the Excel-derived table as the master table and relate the MOM file using MOM-derived indexes (.cdx). The problem comes when I need to relate two Excel-derived tables to a MOM-derived table. Excel does not create indexes and I^m not that fond of Access. Is there a way to create indexes that will cooperate with R&R and MOM within MS Office, or will we have to purchase some other application? If there is just a bare-bones application that would accomplish this, that would be great. ____Additionally, I have been exporting R&R queries to Excel to allow greater flexibility with the information (albeit in small chunks, due to the limitations on Excel worksheet sizes), which is a rather clumsy process. If there is a R&R-compatible database utility that would allow spreadsheet-like manipulation of tables without the limitations of Excel for less than $1000 or so, I would be interested in that as well. Many thanks for any advice.

[kfleming]

You can upgrade to the latest 12.1 version of R&R which includes flexlink indexing on the fly for $500.____Kathleen__R&R Support

[simulacra]

Thanks Kathleen,____Does the $500 Infinity upgrade apply to multi-user packs, or is it just the single-user price?

[kfleming]

It is the single user price.__If you have more than 5 licenses to upgrade, you can contact our sales department for pricing.____Kathleen__R&R Support

[simulacra]

I have upgraded to Infinity and FlexLink is great...when it works. I set up a MOM v. 5.4 file to link via FlexLink with a database of my own creation. At first it worked fine, but when I went to change the relation from "Exact Lookup" to "Scan", it prompted me to re-enter the FlexLink data. Upon so doing, a dialog box popped up saying "Cannot Create Database Index File", and ceased to function even in "Exact Lookup" mode, despite its having worked five minutes prior. Any help or advice would be appreciated.

[kfleming]

Try changing the alias name of the related table and see if that helps.____Kathleen__R&R Support

[simulacra]

Changing the related table Alias did work, though I don^t understand why this should make a difference. Is it just a work-around to a known bug, or is there a legitimate programming reason why this is so? If the latter is the case, I would like to know the principle behind the alias ^fix^ so as to understand what this program wants to see on more than a rote basis. In either event, thank you for your help.

[kfleming]

It is a bug that we are currently investigating. Trying the workaround of changing the aliasname is only a workaround until we have a code change in place.____Kathleen__R&R Support

[simulacra]

I have come across a situation where the alias workaround is not helping. It did work when I tried to relate an excel spreadsheet saved as .dbf with .dbf files created in MOM. This time, I tried to relate multiple excel spreadsheets saved as .dbf without any already-indexed .dbf files in the mix. Is this a limitation of the workaround or am I just trying to make FlexLink do more than it was meant to do? Thanks as always.

[kfleming]

Please send me you email address so that I can send you a test version that may solve the problem for you.____Regards,__Kathleen__R&R Support