Ray's Top n Uses for SQR

Today, n = 7.

One of the things that makes SQR great is that you can use it for so many things. Here's a list of how we've used it in our organization and on projects. Most common uses appear near the top of the list.

1. Reports. SQR is an industrial-strength, high-performance, report and database programming tool that supports multiple operating systems, databases, and output formats, and includes support for images, graphs, and barcodes.

2. Data Conversion. SQR is a nearly perfect tool for converting data from one database or format to another. It gives us complete control over the conversion process and we can implement arbitrarily complex conversions. No algorithm is too complex.

3. Data Interface. SQR is also a great tool to use for maintaining data connections between different applications. The ability to read and write files and do any necessary data conversions and consistency checks, makes SQR ideal. SQR gives us full operational control over the interface.

4. Data Consistency. SQR is a great tool for checking the integrity of the data in your database application. Sometimes there are business rules that are not adequately enforced by the online application (for whatever reason), and SQR programs can easily report data exceptions or even correct them if you like.

5. Spreadsheet File Creation. On a number of projects, we've had requests for programs which also create CSV (comma-separated, variable length) files showing the underlying data used by the report. These files can then be used by spreadsheet jockeys to further investigate the data in the report. SQR can create these files without making a second pass through the data.

6. Utility Programs. Because SQR is a robust programming language and can read and write files, it is possible to write a number of utility programs in SQR. We've written programs that read and write other programs, for example.

7. Web Programs. Not only can SQR generate HTML output, but SQR can be used to process the data passed via HTML forms and update the database in response.

Did we leave anything out that you think is an important use for SQR? Give us your feedback.