At the QUERY prompt (>), type in:

        ASSIGN LOCKOPTION=OFF

This causes QUERY to not issue a "DBLOCK" call behind your back every
time that QUERY calls "DBsomething".  Turning off the LOCKOPTION will
work just fine if you are simply *reading* from the database; however,
if you are using your XEQ file to add or update data, then you will need
to leave LOCKOPTION on and run your XEQ at a time when others are not
using the database (better yet -- have QUERY open the database in MODE =
3 to guarantee that nobody else can open it while you are in QUERY, but
you had better do this only when everybody else has gone home or you'll
end up with a phone stuck to your ear explaining your predicament to
some very irate users!!).

As a longer-term solution when you have a little free time on your hands
(yeah, right, snicker...snicker...snicker, now back to reality!), you
may want to investigate how your update programs lock the database.  Is
the database locked only during the update or put transaction or can the
database remain locked while a user is staring at the screen and
daydreaming?  Does the application code lock at the "least intrusive"
level (i.e. data item or data set locking)?

We "discovered" the ASSIGN LOCKOPTION function of QUERY out of necessity
during the mid-1980s at a place where I used to work because one of our
fellow COBOL programmers used this coding style for all of his IMAGE
programs:

        open the database
        lock the database (MODE 1)
        extract many megabytes of data (serially, I might add)
        sort all those megabytes
        generate a 1,500-page report
        unlock the database
        END RUN.

Needless to say, it didn't take too long for the phone to ring,
especially in light of the fact that the programs were being run on a
Series III with a whopping 512K of memory and (buckle your seat belt)
120 megabytes of disk.

Have a great day!!

Tom Madigan
System Administrator for Hire
Newport News, Virginia

Once Upon a Time, Costas Anastassiades wrote:
>
> When and why does the "DATA BASE IS BUSY DO YOU WANT TO WAIT" message come
> up in Query ? Any way to turn it off or default it to yes ?
> I was trying to execute a long XEQ file only to come back and find that this
> prompt came up and was "consuming" subsequent commands as answers.
>
> Many thanks as always.
>
> p.s. On a side note concerning the recent batch of email messages showing up
> as attachments, I found that all is well if the message is sent as Plain
> Text and UUENCODE (not MIME). The second being the important option. I'm
> sure you loose some of the bells and whistles of fancy email messages, but
> in my opinion messages of that nature are better sent as attachments anyway.
>
> Costas Anastassiades,
> Intracom SA
> Athens-Greece