Tips

LINC, LDA and PC tips, tricks and techniques you might find useful:


• You should set GLB.CENTURY before doing a date convert -- even if you are simply reformatting to yymmdd. If you don't, these gotchas can get ya:
  • GLB.DC-DAYNUM and GLB.DC-TODAY might be incorrect
  • All the new 8 digit forms or any of the alpha forms could be wrong
  • Leap year days won't be accounted for properly (1900 vs 2000)
  • Subsequent DCs might not work as you expect depending on your system "DC updates GLB.CENTURY" option.
• When printing logic and business rules, you can do character formatting by using commands that the printer driver recognizes. For example:

  	:some logic
  	:{bold+}
  	INIT; GS-HOLD
  	:{bold-}

  will produce:

  	:some logic
  	:
  	INIT; GS-HOLD
  	:

  For a full list of formatting commands, see LDA Installation and Administration.
• Want a quick way to find all references to a data item? In LDA, temporarily rename the item. This should cause (intentionally) lots of syntax errors; so, then ask for a Logic Status (go ls) for the business segment. You can print the logic status to a file with <ctrl> <shift>P. The file will be <business segment>.lg in the LDA executables directory and lists each place the item is referenced. Don't forget to change the item's name back to the original.
• Ever wonder what object the model load process is working on? Just add this to the LINC.ini (2.1 and later):

  	[LoadOptions]
  	LogEnabledDialog=Y
  

• LDA 1.3 development does not function properly with color resolutions above 24 bits. You can find this in Windows 95 control panel ... display ... settings.
• LDA 1.3 run time will loose data entry fields and mis-align buttons and bitmaps when using 'large fonts' instead of 'small fonts'. You can fix this in Windows 95 control panel ... display ... settings.
• You can activate LINC 16.1 LDL verbs in LDA 1.3 such as the new date formats, ELSE; etc. In linc.ini, under [startup], add an entry: 'LincVersion=16R2'.
• This one from Shane Kenny at Pensacola Christian College: In LDA, some monitor resolutions will not show the full width of some lists. To add horizontal scroll bars to LDA list windows, add the following to your linc.ini file:

  	[list]
  	hscroll=y
  

• In LDA (prior to 2.2), by default, nested DT;s on the same Profile will create a new set of pointers to the data. If you are an A Series site, the results will be different on the PC than on the A Series. To make the results the same, put the following in the [runtime] section of the linc.ini file:

  	TargetHost=A
  

  In LDA 2.2 and beyond, the default will be changed to A Series behavior.
• LINC 16.2 on UNIX uses a version of ORACLE that allows a better use of Profiles. The feature is activated by setting HINTS. Performance can be vastly improved through the use of this feature, particularly in non-integrity systems.
• Here's one from Tom Zeiszler. Beware when loading a Component Ispec that has Profiles into LDA using a partial model. If you do not include all the Profiles associated with the Ispec, any Profiles with DW conditions on MAINT will be lost! This problem seems to have been solved in 2.4 according to Adil Aibara.
• And from Adil: in the linc.ini file, you can add:

  	[ExtractOptions]
  	DefaultSelection=NONE
  

  The result is that when doing a partial extract, instead of 'un-checking' all the parts that are NOT wanted in the extract, you only have to select the parts you do want. We also wonder what other values can be specified.
• Beware web screens that scroll messages on the status line. Most all routines to do this that we have seen, do recursive calls to a function that never returns (exits). If you leave the screen active long enough, windows will run out of memory!