<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd"> <HTML ><HEAD ><TITLE >What to include when asking for help</TITLE ><META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.79"><LINK REL="HOME" TITLE="FreeTDS User Guide" HREF="index.htm"><LINK REL="UP" TITLE="Getting Help" HREF="help.htm"><LINK REL="PREVIOUS" TITLE="The Mailing List" HREF="mailinglist.htm"><LINK REL="NEXT" TITLE="Helping" HREF="contrib.htm"><LINK REL="STYLESHEET" TYPE="text/css" HREF="userguide.css"><META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=utf-8"></HEAD ><BODY CLASS="SECT1" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#0000FF" VLINK="#840084" ALINK="#0000FF" ><DIV CLASS="NAVHEADER" ><TABLE SUMMARY="Header navigation table" WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" ><TR ><TH COLSPAN="3" ALIGN="center" ><SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >FreeTDS</SPAN > User Guide: A Guide to Installing, Configuring, and Running <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >FreeTDS</SPAN ></TH ></TR ><TR ><TD WIDTH="10%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="bottom" ><A HREF="mailinglist.htm" ACCESSKEY="P" >Prev</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="80%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="bottom" >Chapter 9. Getting Help</TD ><TD WIDTH="10%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="bottom" ><A HREF="contrib.htm" ACCESSKEY="N" >Next</A ></TD ></TR ></TABLE ><HR ALIGN="LEFT" WIDTH="100%"></DIV ><DIV CLASS="SECT1" ><H1 CLASS="SECT1" ><A NAME="ASKINGFORHELP" >What to include when asking for help</A ></H1 ><DIV CLASS="SECT2" ><H2 CLASS="SECT2" ><A NAME="WADDYAGOT" >Waddya got?</A ></H2 ><P >It's important to convey your setup and configuration. <P ></P ><TABLE BORDER="0" ><TBODY ><TR ><TD ><SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >SQL Server</SPAN > version</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ><SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >FreeTDS</SPAN > version (or snapshot date, if not a release)</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD >which client library you are using</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD >what language or Perl module, as appropriate, you're using</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD >your client OS and hardware architecture</TD ></TR ></TBODY ></TABLE ><P ></P ></P ></DIV ><DIV CLASS="SECT2" ><H2 CLASS="SECT2" ><A NAME="HELP.LOG" >Attach a logfile</A ></H2 ><P >If you're puzzled by some interaction with the server (often the case), it's a very good idea to set <CODE CLASS="ENVAR" >TDSDUMP</CODE > and attach the log to your message. Messages are currently limited to 75 KB attachments, and the logs are quite detailed, so make your query as short as possible. If necessary, trim the log; <B CLASS="COMMAND" >gzip</B > is also your friend here. It's always a good idea to post it on a website where people can fetch it if they're so inclined.</P ><P >Log files are especially important if you're not programming at the C level. Sometimes there are problems — an impedance mismatch, to coin a phrase — between <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >FreeTDS</SPAN > and the calling framework/language. But if you write to the list and say <SPAN CLASS="QUOTE" >"Why does my <TT CLASS="LITERAL" >PHP foo()</TT > returns an empty string?"</SPAN >, please keep in mind that your question might as well be in Urdu to someone familiar with the C library. Without knowing which C function was called, and with what data, it's impossible to even begin to try to answer the question. </P ><P >Think about it this way: If you attach a log no one reads, you wasted some bandwidth. If you don't attach one and someone asks you for it, you wasted a day. Like that.</P ></DIV ><DIV CLASS="SECT2" ><H2 CLASS="SECT2" ><A NAME="SHOWYOURWORK" >Show your work</A ></H2 ><P >Great questions make the problem crystal clear to a tired developer after supper. </P ><P >Show what you did, and show what happened. Throughout this User Guide, you've seen examples of screenshots; in each case the first line was the command entered, followed by the machine's response. By showing <SPAN CLASS="emphasis" ><I CLASS="EMPHASIS" >verbatim</I ></SPAN > what you did and saw, you give someone who knows what to do a chance to look over your shoulder. <SPAN CLASS="emphasis" ><I CLASS="EMPHASIS" >Across the Internet!</I ></SPAN > How cool is that? </P ><P >Whether you're having a problem with your own application or with something at a higher level, you're well advised to try to reproduce it using one of the <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >FreeTDS</SPAN > utilities, preferably one that used the same client library you're using. If, say, <B CLASS="COMMAND" >bsqldb</B > works and your program doesn't, that's a clue. By the same token, if <B CLASS="COMMAND" >bsqldb</B > exhibits problems, too, chances are you found a bug. Or — how to say it? — a <SPAN CLASS="emphasis" ><I CLASS="EMPHASIS" >missing feature</I ></SPAN >. It's always good to know about those. </P ></DIV ></DIV ><DIV CLASS="NAVFOOTER" ><HR ALIGN="LEFT" WIDTH="100%"><TABLE SUMMARY="Footer navigation table" WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" ><TR ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="mailinglist.htm" ACCESSKEY="P" >Prev</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="34%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="index.htm" ACCESSKEY="H" >Home</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="contrib.htm" ACCESSKEY="N" >Next</A ></TD ></TR ><TR ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" >The Mailing List</TD ><TD WIDTH="34%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="help.htm" ACCESSKEY="U" >Up</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" >Helping</TD ></TR ></TABLE ></DIV ></BODY ></HTML >
