Focal Point Banner


As of December 1, 2020, Focal Point is retired and repurposed as a reference repository. We value the wealth of knowledge that's been shared here over the years. You'll continue to have access to this treasure trove of knowledge, for search purposes only.

Join the TIBCO Community
TIBCO Community is a collaborative space for users to share knowledge and support one another in making the best use of TIBCO products and services. There are several TIBCO WebFOCUS resources in the community.

  • From the Home page, select Predict: WebFOCUS to view articles, questions, and trending articles.
  • Select Products from the top navigation bar, scroll, and then select the TIBCO WebFOCUS product page to view product overview, articles, and discussions.
  • Request access to the private WebFOCUS User Group (login required) to network with fellow members.

Former myibi community members should have received an email on 8/3/22 to activate their user accounts to join the community. Check your Spam folder for the email. Please get in touch with us at community@tibco.com for further assistance. Reference the community FAQ to learn more about the community.


Focal Point    Focal Point Forums  Hop To Forum Categories  WebFOCUS/FOCUS Forum on Focal Point     [SOLVED] What is the difference between 'IF' and 'WHERE'?

Read-Only Read-Only Topic
Go
Search
Notify
Tools
[SOLVED] What is the difference between 'IF' and 'WHERE'?
 Login/Join
 
webmeister
Guru
posted
Can anyone please tell me what the difference is between using 'IF' and using 'WHERE' ? I've seen a couple of explanations in this forum, but they left me a little confused.

By thwe way, I am still using Mainframe FOCUS 7.1.1 - it's great working for a college that uses old technology Roll Eyes

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kerry,


Mainframe FOCUS 7.0
VM/CMS and MVS/TSO
 
Posts: 250 | Registered: January 14, 2008Report This Post
GamP
Virtuoso
posted Hide Post
The main difference is that IF can not compare fields, WHERE can.


GamP
- Using AS 8.2.01 on Windows 10 - IE11.
in Focus since 1988
 
Posts: 1961 | Location: Netherlands | Registered: September 25, 2007Report This Post
<JG>
posted
Basically

IF test a value

Where do the same but with the ability to use expressions as you can in relational DBs
 
Report This Post
Francis Mariani
Expert
posted Hide Post
Among several differences between IF and WHERE are:

The operators you can use, see "Creating Reports With WebFOCUS Language > Selecting Records for Your Report > Using Operators in Record Selection Tests" in the documentation.

Syntax for reading selection values from a file is different, see "Creating Reports With WebFOCUS Language > Selecting Records for Your Report > Reading Selection Values From a File", which also describes the limits of both IF and WHERE.

According to "Creating Reports With WebFOCUS Language > Selecting Records for Your Report > Selecting Records Using IF Phrases":

quote:
Tip: Unless you specifically require IF syntax (for example, to support legacy applications), we recommend using WHERE.


Francis


Give me code, or give me retirement. In FOCUS since 1991

Production: WF 7.7.05M, Dev Studio, BID, MRE, WebSphere, DB2 / Test: WF 8.1.05M, App Studio, BI Portal, Report Caster, jQuery, HighCharts, Apache Tomcat, MS SQL Server
 
Posts: 10577 | Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada | Registered: April 27, 2005Report This Post
Danny-SRL
Virtuoso
posted Hide Post
quote:
Tip: Unless you specifically require IF syntax (for example, to support legacy applications), we recommend using WHERE.


I beg to differ.
In my view it is the opposite: Unless you specifically require WHERE syntax (for complex conditions using OR), I recommend using IF.


Daniel
In Focus since 1982
wf 8.202M/Win10/IIS/SSA - WrapApp Front End for WF

 
Posts: 1980 | Location: Tel Aviv, Israel | Registered: March 23, 2006Report This Post
Francis Mariani
Expert
posted Hide Post
Daniel,

You're begging to differ with the Information Builders tip.

Why do you prefer IF over WHERE?

By the way, I have not used an IF selection statement for the last five or seven years and have been quite happy.


Francis


Give me code, or give me retirement. In FOCUS since 1991

Production: WF 7.7.05M, Dev Studio, BID, MRE, WebSphere, DB2 / Test: WF 8.1.05M, App Studio, BI Portal, Report Caster, jQuery, HighCharts, Apache Tomcat, MS SQL Server
 
Posts: 10577 | Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada | Registered: April 27, 2005Report This Post
Prarie
Virtuoso
posted Hide Post
I have found on occasion - and unfortunetly can't think of an example of what I was doing - that a WHEREe did not work...and I had to use IF.


In Focus since 1993. WebFOCUS 7.7.03 Win 2003
 
Posts: 1903 | Location: San Antonio | Registered: February 28, 2005Report This Post
Doug
Expert
posted Hide Post
I, as Francis, have not used IF for several years in favor of the WHERE. But then again, I have not done a Legacy application since 2001.

I’m curious as to where "a WHERE did not work".
 
Posts: 3132 | Location: Tennessee, Nashville area | Registered: February 23, 2005Report This Post
Francis Mariani
Expert
posted Hide Post
The only time I can think of where an IF is preferable to a WHERE is for selection criteria in a file - something to do with the number of records in the file or the total file size.


Francis


Give me code, or give me retirement. In FOCUS since 1991

Production: WF 7.7.05M, Dev Studio, BID, MRE, WebSphere, DB2 / Test: WF 8.1.05M, App Studio, BI Portal, Report Caster, jQuery, HighCharts, Apache Tomcat, MS SQL Server
 
Posts: 10577 | Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada | Registered: April 27, 2005Report This Post
Waz
Expert
posted Hide Post
quote:
great working for a college that uses old technology


Don't you mean Mature Smiler


Waz...

Prod:WebFOCUS 7.6.10/8.1.04Upgrade:WebFOCUS 8.2.07OS:LinuxOutputs:HTML, PDF, Excel, PPT
In Focus since 1984
Pity the lost knowledge of an old programmer!

 
Posts: 6347 | Location: 33°49'23.0"S, 151°11'41.0"E | Registered: October 31, 2006Report This Post
GamP
Virtuoso
posted Hide Post
Webmeister,

Old technology. Let me add to this with regard to this post.
In the 'old' days, when the WHERE statement was newly introduced to focus, it was actually transformed into a define based selection. In these times it would be best to use an IF where possible, since that would do the selection directly against the database record, instead of first doing the 'under-the-covers-define' and then the selection, resulting in IF being slightly faster than WHERE (and theoretically it could produce a slghtly different result set).
Nowadays, the process of dealing with WHERE is much more sophisticated and is translated into IF where possible.


GamP
- Using AS 8.2.01 on Windows 10 - IE11.
in Focus since 1988
 
Posts: 1961 | Location: Netherlands | Registered: September 25, 2007Report This Post
webmeister
Guru
posted Hide Post
To all who replied, THANK YOU!! Your responses are most appreciated.


Mainframe FOCUS 7.0
VM/CMS and MVS/TSO
 
Posts: 250 | Registered: January 14, 2008Report This Post
  Powered by Social Strata  

Read-Only Read-Only Topic

Focal Point    Focal Point Forums  Hop To Forum Categories  WebFOCUS/FOCUS Forum on Focal Point     [SOLVED] What is the difference between 'IF' and 'WHERE'?

Copyright © 1996-2020 Information Builders