Bob's Notes - July 2009
7/16/2009 - Last time, we looked at the default behavior of this utility. Now, let's examine
the first optional test.
Character Field Usage - You might already be familiar with GoldBox's Filled Field
Count and Unique Field Listing. These two reports give you very detailed information
about the population density of GoldMine's fields (any table); and the range of populated
values for a single field. However, for SQL databases, they do require you to query out
the table/field, and then order the report(s).
In the Contact File Verifier, Item C. delivers part of that information quickly and
conveniently. When configured as shown below, it will return the report below (in 4
pages). It covers only the Contact2 (User-Defined) fields; and only those that are shown
in GoldMine as Character Type (SQL varchar).That's
because the focus of the report is the length efficiency of
the fields as they exist. For example, if you have a lot of 100
character fields in your database; and if the longest bit of data
in most of these fields is 40 characters; then you have a lot of
wasted space that could be squeezed out simply by shortening
certain fields. That's the information this utility can provide.
As you can see, the report also points out any fields that are actually empty in all records,
so you can consider deleting them entirely. (Again, this was a test database; you'd never
find your data as badly distributed as it is in this one). Note that the 6 points we covered
in our first discussion of the Contact File Verifier are included at the end of this report,
even though they are irrelevant to its purpose. They are simply boilerplate, and will
appear in all reports.
Next time we'll take a look at options D. through K.
the first optional test.
Character Field Usage - You might already be familiar with GoldBox's Filled Field
Count and Unique Field Listing. These two reports give you very detailed information
about the population density of GoldMine's fields (any table); and the range of populated
values for a single field. However, for SQL databases, they do require you to query out
the table/field, and then order the report(s).
In the Contact File Verifier, Item C. delivers part of that information quickly and
conveniently. When configured as shown below, it will return the report below (in 4
pages). It covers only the Contact2 (User-Defined) fields; and only those that are shown
in GoldMine as Character Type (SQL varchar).That's
because the focus of the report is the length efficiency of
the fields as they exist. For example, if you have a lot of 100
character fields in your database; and if the longest bit of data
in most of these fields is 40 characters; then you have a lot of
wasted space that could be squeezed out simply by shortening
certain fields. That's the information this utility can provide.
As you can see, the report also points out any fields that are actually empty in all records,
so you can consider deleting them entirely. (Again, this was a test database; you'd never
find your data as badly distributed as it is in this one). Note that the 6 points we covered
in our first discussion of the Contact File Verifier are included at the end of this report,
even though they are irrelevant to its purpose. They are simply boilerplate, and will
appear in all reports.
Next time we'll take a look at options D. through K.
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