One of the time consuming issue I always come up with during the conversion from DFD to DFW.

Displaying a field value from group on header. Either we have to put the field in items and use summary variables.
Or with the new D8 technique, using SetVar and GetVar.

Even these are seems to be unstable. 

So, Mr DataEase, do you see any easier way to display field value in Header of the report or DQL?

Problem I always face. Client running 8.2 without any issues for a while. Wants some enhancements done. Either I have to update them to 8.5 and use the new features. Which means, I have to provide gurantee it will not break anything else. Or find a workaround to do the enhancement without updating to 8.5. 

And of course, when I find an issue. I always test it under latest version to see whether it is fixed or not.

Some times I think you do this just to wind me up Arul ;-)

QBM and DQL Reports as introduced in DFW 5.x has never worked. QBM was an over idealised idea back in the early 90ies and the "crazy" idea that "someone" in Sapphire had of using it as the Layout Engine for DQL helped neither DQL nor QBM. 

It was no less than a disaster for DataEase!

Something as simple and beautiful as DOS DQL became a impossible Nightmare.

No amount of bug "fixing" ever helped. The problem that was there from the start are still there.

The problems in QBM is related to the fact that it now share it's engine with DQL, and by removing DQL from the equation one could possible make it work but why?

20 year of a bad idea doesn't make it a good idea. It needs to go!

The DQL "stuff" I don't even want to spend any time on. It was a bad idea, badly implemented by a amature team. 

Joining DQL with QBM is like a square peg in a round hole.

I think we have been clear from the start of DE8 development that it is the last version which will support QBM and Sapphire DQL.

To make DQL work the way it should you need to start with DQL and build a layoutengine around int that compliment it which is what we have done with ExecDQL which is only the first step. 

In the NEW layout addition to ExecDQL you can basically create a DFD style layout for a ExecDQL either as text or as HTML. You can format it any way you like, and you can output it to file (export), save it directly to a named PDF, print it etc.

With this new addition it is crazy to use the outdated Sapphire DQL for anything.

By the way you can use the data in headers and footer, have sums and groups etc.

Move forward, forget the past and join the future.

I completely agree with you on what you were saying.

BUT, DataEase is now your baby. So, it does not make any sense to blame previous owners...etc.
We need to at the minimum find a workaround to use D8.

Anyways, I am attaching a database with the exact same problem. This is a cut down version of the full database.
But, it will show you what I mean by header not showing grouped values.

Explaining not blaming Arul ;-)

I don't think I say anything that not everyone having used DataEase for WIndows have thought and wondered about.

QBM and DQL is left in DE8 for backwards compatibility. 

You are hitting the nail on the head here with the OLD DQL. There is no real match between the layout (QBM) and the DQL. It is an emulated relationship.

THere has not once since 1994 been any way you could get what you try to do to work simply because it was designed wrong from day one.

Your workaround is to NOT use Header and footer but user Group Header and Group Footer and Page Feed Always on group.

It is all about when things are computed in the model and this cannot be changed in the existing DQL.

We have left the route of "fix and mend", QBM and DQL is as it has been for 20 years with the same problems and challenges. We won't spend any more time fixing or create work arounds with it.

You have to realise that there is very good reasons for us making this from scratch....

I recommend that you stop wasting your time trying to bend this old stuff to your will and rather spend some hours on learning the new stuff. It is basically DFD with a lot of great new stuff.

Download Test.PDF which show the result!
Just to showcase how many times this has been "addressed", there is 3 different ways to insert a Statistical variable and the one that actually works is long forgotten...

Just tested it and it do work as you want it to. This is for the fun of it the original way from Express... This button was disabled until De8.1 for some reason, and we re-enabled it but never really got around to test it much.

Why it was disabled is a mystery, maybe someone wanted to force people to use the Summary option on the Field Definition dialog which however doesn't cover the same opportunities...

A lot of answers is buried in the sand i'm afraid.

Download Sample!

Just for fun we made the same report with the New ExecDQL body DFD style.

See the formatting options of fields etc for output. We have used a position font (courier new) to get the correct DFD feel and positioning.

In real life we would use HTML and tables.

I have used summary feature in the header since the DFW introduction. But, even that does not work when you have a second page.
Even second page. Then I have to place the field into .ITEMS area. Even that fails when 3rd page does not have the field and some instructions text. I am attaching a database to show this.

Yes, I agree that we should use the new features in DE8. This is ok for the new and future clients.

But, question comes, do I need to upgrade/update my clients each time when there is a new feature in DE8??
Even though it is a free update for DE8. Next question, if I update are we able to give guarantee to client all their existing functionality will work?

There is a lot of "awkward"  behaviour but.
1. It works if you print it rather than use Print to Screen.
2. It works when Print to screen if you use arrow down rather than PageDown.
3. The problem with the extra text is that it becomes a page of its own,and this page as no element of the group so no info. It ends up on its own page because you print to Landscape. if you print to Portrait and there is room for it then it is fine. See the attached PDF.

Downlaod!

But in general you have just proved my original postulate, this is useless stuff. It is 20 years old and have never really worked. We won't invest a dime more on trying to sort it out and we won't work on workarounds on it either. It is just not a good investment of our time. 

Hopefully someone else on here can give you some pointers, but knowing the inner workings of this thing I am not hopefull.

BTW: client using 8.2. And this new feature formatted body is 8.5 right?

You obviously don't have to update a client if you don't use any of the new functionality. You can keep them in any version you like as long as they and you are happy, but equally obviously you can't use a new feature without updating the software.

Guarantee is a difficult word because it imply compensation if things turn out not to work. As you know and can read from ours and any other SLA's is that there is no such option. 

On the other side, we have now released several 100 increments on DE8 and I don't think there is many instances where stuff haven't worked that worked before. Our approach to developing DataEase is the same as we "implore" the users to develop their application. Incremental development where we focus on expansion and addition rather than changing. If you change functionality you run a big risk of "breaking" some part of the usage, but if you expand it or add new functionality there is very little if any risk for existing code.

You manage your customers and applications and it need to be your decision what version of DE to use at any given time, but obviously any fix that we make will be to the LAST version so if reported problems are fixed it will be no gain for users that stay behind in outdated versions.

Actually, I do have a workaround which works every single time. I was giving this problem, and hoping you will show me something to make DataEase....EASY..... rather than HARD.

Only workaround works every single time is to use Holding table and SetVar/GetVar in combination. In the holding table, before printing, only keep
the data for one group at a time..... not EASY at all in this 21st century :-) computer world.

Yes, this is the latest feature in DE8 and is as such only available in the latest 8.5.

8.2 Development was concluded last year (2014).

I rest my case ;-) 

I am building you a new DQL, what more can I do? I think my view on the existing DQL implementation has been clear since the start.

I think I have been clear from the start that NEW is our focus, not mending old stuff that don't work.

This DQL symbolise everything that has been wrong with DFW. 

ALMOST!

You never get all the way, you get 95% of the way and they you realise that it won't work. Then you try something else, and at 95% again you realise that it don't work.

Our job is not to make the old stuff work when it never did before, it is to make a DataEase that works.