🚀 go-pugleaf

On 3 Jun 1998 11:12:56 GMT, "Alan" <ABoba@Compuserve.com> wrote:

>My bank downloads my account data to a Microsoft Access v2.0 database. One
>of the fields is named Desc. As it turns out, "Desc" is a reserved word.
>(gimmie a break, I'm a SQL novice)

Sorry, but the SQL-92 specification explicitly states that there will be no
breaks given novices <gd&r>. Article 23, section 9A states:

  "Neither break nor slack shall ye give to they new to the sport."

>If I use the Visual SQL tool, any attempt to run or close a query that uses
>the "Desc" field crashes VdB.
>
>If I use the SQL editor and enter the field name as tablename."Desc" the
>queries run fine. If I subsequently open the Visual SQL tool the query gets
>hosed again. I'm no where near fluent enoungh to use the SQL editor to
>create my queries.

I cannot speak for this Visual SQL tool in Visual dBASE, perhaps one of the
emminent dBASE TeamB folks will chime in on that. I can say, though, that
the use of reserved words for metadata object names (like column and table
names) is bad medicine. It can lead to problems no matter what programming
front-end or database back-end you might use. This practice is highly
discouraged. It is also documented in the local SQL online help file,
LOCALSQL.HLP, found in the main BDE directory.

Having said all that, you should know that local SQL *can* work with
columns named after reserved words. In local SQL statements, the column
name must be enclosed in quotation marks and that reference prefixed with
either the table name or a table correlation name.

  SELECT T1."Desc"
  FROM "MyTable.dbf" T1

Now, just because local SQL supports this syntax does not guarantee all
database systems will. Most will support this type syntax. Microsoft
Access, known for a number of deviations from standard SQL, will also
accept the column name delimited by square brackets (and prefixed with a
table reference). But to do this from Visual dBASE, you would need to use
pass-through SQL. (I believe this is done with the ExecSQL function.) For
example:

  SELECT T1.[Desc]
  FROM MyTable T1

And, just because local SQL (common to all BDE-using INPRISE programming
tools) supports this syntax and noncompliant use of reserved words does not
guarantee every visual SQL-building tool will.

>Does anyone know how to correct this problem so the reserved field name my
>be selected from within the Visual SQL tool?

As indicated before, use of reserved words is discouraged and "against the
rules." To then support deviation from the rules in this visual tool would
be unlikely. The better solution is to use appropriate naming conventions.

BTW, DESC (accepted short form for DESCENDING) is an element in the SQL-92
specification. Very standard, commonly-used. DESC as a reserved word is not
specific to the Borland Database Engine, local SQL, Visual dBASE, or even
Access.

>Does the point release that Borland charges $20 s&h correct the problem?

No. INPRISE does not produce updates for the SQL-92 specification.

**************************************************************************
Steve Koterski
INPRISE Corporation, Technical Publications
http://www.inprise.com/delphi