Any chance of EDBManager displaying the decimals even if they happen to be zero ie 17.00 not 17?

Roy Lambert

Roy,

<< Any chance of EDBManager displaying the decimals even if they happen to
be zero ie 17.00 not 17? >>

What data type are you using ?  DECIMAL types should already be formatted,
and FLOAT types don't currently use a specific precision (something that
will be changing soon).

--
Tim Young
Elevate Software
www.elevatesoft.com

Tim

><< Any chance of EDBManager displaying the decimals even if they happen to
>be zero ie 17.00 not 17? >>
>
>What data type are you using ? DECIMAL types should already be formatted,

DECIMAL(20,2)

>and FLOAT types don't currently use a specific precision (something that
>will be changing soon).

Err that might cause a problem, but I'm sure you'll be able to tell me an acceptable way round it.

SCRIPT(IN Height FLOAT)
BEGIN
DECLARE HeightInMetres FLOAT;
DECLARE HeightHeight VARCHAR;
SET HeightInMetres = Height / 100;
SET HeightHeight = CAST(HeightInMetres * HeightInMetres AS VARCHAR);
BEGIN
EXECUTE IMMEDIATE 'ALTER TABLE BodySize DROP COLUMN _BMI';
EXCEPTION
END;                                                      
EXECUTE IMMEDIATE 'ALTER TABLE BodySize
ADD COLUMN _BMI DECIMAL(19,1) COMPUTED ALWAYS AS ROUND(_Kilos / '+HeightHeight+' ,1)';
END

Without using FLOAT (I originally tried decimal(19,3)) I couldn't get the calculation accurate. The divisor it added (HeightHeight) was sufficiently out that I got 33.6 instead of 34.1 as the value of the column for the one row I can remember.

Roy Lambert

Roy,

<< DECIMAL(20,2) >>

Okay, we've got an OnGetText event handler that is overriding this.  I'll
make sure that this is corrected in the EDB Manager.

<< Without using FLOAT (I originally tried decimal(19,3)) I couldn't get the
calculation accurate. The divisor it added (HeightHeight) was sufficiently
out that I got 33.6 instead of 34.1 as the value of the column for the one
row I can remember. >>

Did you try using DECIMAL(19,4) ?  4 decimal places should be enough
precision if you want the result to use 1 decimal place.

--
Tim Young
Elevate Software
www.elevatesoft.com

Tim


I actually tried 3 but that didn't work and I was muttering about how it would be nice to have the same capability as with VARCHAR and not have to bother and I suddenly realised FLOAT did just that.

As with a "no length required" VARCHAR I can see "variable decimal precision" being useful.

Roy Lambert

Roy,

<< As with a "no length required" VARCHAR I can see "variable decimal
precision" being useful. >>

That's what FLOAT does now.  The missing ingredient is being able to say
that you want the FLOAT values to only be 2 decimal places, etc. and have
EDB do the rounding during assignment, etc.

--
Tim Young
Elevate Software
www.elevatesoft.com

Tim

><< As with a "no length required" VARCHAR I can see "variable decimal
>precision" being useful. >>
>
>That's what FLOAT does now.

I know

>The missing ingredient is being able to say
>that you want the FLOAT values to only be 2 decimal places, etc. and have
>EDB do the rounding during assignment, etc.

I'm obviously missing something here. If it does that where's the difference between FLOAT and DECIMAL?

Roy Lambert

Roy,

<< I'm obviously missing something here. If it does that where's the
difference between FLOAT and DECIMAL? >>

The difference is that one is a floating-point value that can have a much
higher precision than the other that is *not* a floating-point value.
DECIMAL values are internally implemented as Delphi Currency types, with a
maximum scale of 4 decimal places.  This also means that calculations
involving the DECIMAL types don't use floating-point instructions, but
rather integer instructions.

--
Tim Young
Elevate Software
www.elevatesoft.com

Tim


OK, so are all FLOATS going to need a precision? If so what happens to tables / triggers etc that don't have one specified?

Roy Lambert

Roy,

<< OK, so are all FLOATS going to need a precision? >>

No, it will be optional, just like with VARCHAR in SQL/PSM.

--
Tim Young
Elevate Software
www.elevatesoft.com