I would like to announce the first beta of version 2.3 of KirbyBase, a small, pure-Ruby database management system that stores it's data in plain-text files.
You can download the beta here:
Windows: http://www.netpromi.com/files/KirbyBase_Ruby_2.3_beta_1.zip
Linux/Unix: http://www.netpromi.com/files/KirbyBase_Ruby_2.3_beta_1.tar.gz
Version 2.3 has a number of enhancements, so I thought I would release a beta of it and get some feedback before I released the production version.
Some of the new features are:
* You can now define one-to-one relationships and one-to-many relationships between tables. I hesitate to call KirbyBase "relational", because I know that the term, in its pure form, is supposed to refer to whether the dbms supports relational algebra, not relations between tables. That being said, KirbyBase now supports the ability to link a field in one table to another table, so that when you perform a select, you automatically have available in that field a reference to either a single record (for one-to-one links) or multiple records (for one-to-many) links. Check out the examples in the link_test and link_many_test directories.
* You can now define calculated fields in a table. These are "virtual" fields that don't get populated with data until runtime. For example, you can create a field called "total" and specify that it's value is "quantity * price". During a #select, KirbyBase will, for each record, calculate the value of "total" by multiplying the "quantity" field by the "price" field. Check out the example in the calculated_field_test directory.
* Two new fields types are available for table fields: Memo and Blob. Check out the example in the memo_test directory.
* KirbyBase now makes available "crosstab" functionality in the result set of a #select. I am probably not using the term "crosstab" correctly, but I am having a hard time finding the right word to use. Basically, you now have available all of the values for a particular column of the result set. Probably the best way to see what this is is to take a look at the example in the crosstab_test directory.
* KirbyBase now has the ability to take advantage of indexes if you specify them when you create a table. Both single and compound indexes are supported. In some very limited testing, I have noticed a 100% improvement in query times using indexes. There is still a lot of optimization that can be done in this area, so I am hopeful of greater speed improvements. Check out the example in the indexes_test directory.
Well, that is about it for the major new features. I would once again like to thank Hal Fulton for giving me the idea for linking tables and for his valuable feedback while I worked on this version. However, any implementation flaws are entirely my own. In other words, if you don't like the way I have implemented linking, don't blame Hal, blame me!
I hope you will download the beta version and check it out. Any and all feedback will be greatly appreciated.
Enjoy!
Jamey Cribbs
jcribbs@twmi.rr.com
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