v1.5 user manual


 

Introduction

prev    TOC    next

 

db2go is a database program especially intended for managing hete­rogen­eous data and infor­mation, e.g. personal or project related data. Often, this kind of data can not suitably be repre­sented by the common data­base concept of a fixed and prede­fined set of fields.

Therefore, db2go uses a record format that allows the required fields to be set up on the fly indivi­dually for each record according to the kind and amount of data it is intended for.

Also, via fields and field entries different records can be linked. Thus, to a certain extent hierar­chical patterns of the data can be mapped to the data­base. To point out this devia­tion from the common data­base idea db2go records are called objects.

Each field created in an object can be used in all objects of the database by picking it from a popup list. To each field a list is assigned that can be filled with commonly used entry items. These items are also available via a popup list.

The field definitions and the item lists are not stored in the object database (the main database) but in a separate database called the list database. The fields and field entries of an object are stored as links to this list database.

This concept provides the possibility that different object databases can share the same set of fields and item lists by refering to the same list database. (In the current version of db2go an object database can only refer to one list database. However, this limitation may fall in future versions).

db2go is written in C using the GNU compiler and the PRC-tool chain. It has been tested with the Palm OS versions 3.0, 3.5, 4.0 and 5.x. Comments of any kind are appreciated and may be sent to db2go@foeste.net.