can someone describe the differences between FTM VS FOCUS file option.

as i am trying to upload my XLS file to the WF system and it shows only FTM as an option.

i know i can again convert FTM to FOC, but i need a reason in doing it.

is FTM doesnt handle redundant access.

please post your thoughts.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: FP Mod Chuck,

You can have multiple segments in a FOCUS file.
You can also Index fields in a FOCUS file.
In the old days, you could have transaction processing applications update FOCUS files using OLTP screens. This is most likely not a consideration for your situation.

Indexed fields is probably the most useful for reporting.

thanks for your quick reply.

i can understand the benefits of FOC. so you mean to say FTM is a old version with lesser benefits.

why would the upload data option just gives FTM as an option when i try with a xls file.? or it is developers duty to convert them to focus again?

sorry if i am trying to beat the same bush.

Hi vinodh,

FTM and FOC files are just different not old or new.

As explained, FOC files give extra options, but FTM files are simpler and in many way quicker to load, as there is no need to keep indexes.

What you need to determine is how this file is going to be used, and whether the FOC file option gives benefits to the end result.

vinodh

Just a little more info for you. A ftm file is a flat sequential file and foc file is a focus database file which can be hierarchical in nature.

thank you waz and chuck.

i kind of paraphrase the question. i have a simple(200 records) xls file having the hierarchy of state->district->county. i uploaded it to the system and by default it is loaded as FTM format. All these days it was loading good for a filter dropdown control in a html.

but recent days i see error when the server is resource hungry due to some other reason. so i am trying to understand if converting this file to FOC will resolve this issue to an extent?

thank you all for your time. i can open another topic for discussion as we are diving deeper.

When uploading Excel file you only have the FTM option because FOCUS process Excel files as a flat file.
Then, if you want/need to have the uploaded data within an indexed format, HOLD it back in FOCUS or XFOCUS format.

A 200 records file will not make a large difference having it as FTM or indexed FOC. But all depend of what you are doing with it once loaded from Excel

As for performance issue, you may have something else than this 200 rows file causing the issue

martin, sounds like convincing. pls close.

i will leave this FTM file as such and see if there is any other that i can do to handle during performance surge.

If only IBI has implemented my original options in my prototype for file upload you would have had FOCUS and many other formats.