BYPASS 2000 & ManDATE/2000

[Kaynor <Kaynor@xxxxxxx>]

Glenn,
When using ManDATE/2000 to analize your data for dates, you can tell it not to
bother checking for some date forms.  For instance, if you know that none of
your dates are stored in sets of three 2-char fields, you can skip checking
2-byte fields; if you know that none of them are 8-digit numeric, you can skip
that, etc.  There are probably 20 different formats it can test for.  If you
have the machine cycles, you can do what I did and check every field of every
record for every format possibility so your report is as complete as it can
be.

As someone else mentioned, this also tells you how many problems you have with
your data--if you see a date stored as 6 numeric that does not have 100% valid
dates, you will need to account for this.  It also tells you percents of
blanks and zeros in all fields checked.  This information can be printed as
reports about each file or looked up on the screen (it uses <F11> to switch
views and see different info about the files as they are displayed on a PDM-
type list), or even inserted into your file DDS Source.  Summary reports
identify likely dates and definite dates based on percentages of valid values
in the data.  Like most things about the product, it is parameter driven and
you can tweak the threshholds for identifying candidate date fields.

Again, I'm no expert on ManDATE/2000--we just tested it out and tried to put
it through its paces.  "Yes," this process is extremely automated, as is the
process of expanding your date fields, and converting your data.  The process
of updating your programs is less automated although nifty as far as it goes
(the assumption is that you will not change the output format--only the
internal storage).  Word is that Bypass does this the best.  I don't think
ManDATE can update Queries, either.

Note also that ManDATE can update your dates to the Date Datatype ("L") which
other tools we looked at would not.  This datatype performs very nicely in
SQL, Query, and RPG4 where date arithmetic becomes a cinch.
--Chapin Kaynor
   Vermont

In a message dated 11/17/97, Glenn Ericson said:
> What does "every field ""you"" tell it" to  look for mean?
> What  else might it do after that?
> Sounds much like the requirements of BYPASS
> Is there an automated front end?
> ...
  
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