Can Rev be used as server database?

[Rob Cozens]

Everyone,

Jan passed his thoughts on some of this to me privately.  I'm posting 
my response to the list because (a) I think I know him well enough 
that he won't mind, and (b) to save any else the time of correcting 
me regarding selecting all columns of a single record.

>
>In our projects, we set in MySQL a single password and
>priviledges for the project, and handle the user
>password logic in our own programs.

But don't you have to create a user table in the DB with one entry 
for each user?  Or can the same user be active from more than one 
work station?

>
>Actually, 'SELECT * FROM customers' will give you all
>the customers, simply because you hadn't specified a
>WHERE-clause in your query.
>The * means 'all fields'. If you execute a 'SELECT *
>FROM customers WHERE customer_id=123456' query, you
>will get all the fields for that one customer ID.

Thanks for correcting me.  As I noted, I couldn't believe there was 
not syntax for this; but I didn't see it in the manual and no one had 
corrected me up to now.

>
>Though that can be easier for some type of projects,
>especially if you're building a hierarchical database,
>it's easier to remember a name than a number.

I agree; but just because it's easier doesn't mean it should be a 
requirement.  Should xTalks not allow references by id or ordinal?

>Plus, you can swap column sequences and insert new
>columns for greater consistency without bringing
>existing apps to your knees.
>

With SDB, I see no situation that causes the existing portion of the 
record format EVER to be modified.  Since fields are variable-length, 
changing a field size does not require changes in existing apps' 
logic [though the size of the field in the window might change].  New 
fields can all be appended to the end of the record: their position 
in the record has no relation to their position in the window. 
Obsolete fields can be left in the record definition at a cost of one 
extra delimiter character. It is true that the record field numbers 
and their corresponding windows' field numbers may no longer be in 
the same order--they were not likely to be in a one-to-one 
correspondence anyway.

That being said, I certainly intend to build a data dictionary for 
OenoLog and reference fields by dataName.

However, someone with a simple database structure can manipulate 
packing fields into a record and unpacking them again directly in the 
stack logic and never have to create user- or data-definition tables 
in the db.  Tell SDB Server, "file this record with this record type 
& key; return it when I pass this record type & key", and the server 
needs no information from the db about the user requesting the 
service or the structure of the record.
-- 

Rob Cozens
CCW, Serendipity Software Company
http://www.oenolog.com/who.htm

"And I, which was two fooles, do so grow three;
Who are a little wise, the best fooles bee."

from "The Triple Foole" by John Donne (1572-1631)