I was just talking to the boys upstairs and He says...

[Keith DeLong]

This is off -topic to the original post (which I think referenced the extra
v2 files not the user definable db file format).

However the point being debated is worth discussing. Having distributed a
'shrink wrap' commercial V4RB app for almost 4 years with thousands of
users, I can testify to Jon's concerns. Especially since the index file
takes the same name as the data file. This can and - often is - really
confusing for average users. I've had them delete the db file, only back up
the .ind file, rename files ... the list goes on and on and so have the
support costs.

The solution to Gunnar's valid concerns about indexes is (as Jon pointed
out) to use a single data file and rely on the built in Valentina Reindex
command. In fact, since we've had so many index corruption issues, and since
our data files are under 10MB, in our newest release it automatically
rebuilds indexes every time the application is launched. Many users will
simply quit and restart a misbehaving application, thereby eliminating
another batch of support calls all together.

My 2 cents,
Keith DeLong



> From: jda <jda at his.com>
> Reply-To: Valentina Developers <valentina at lists.macserve.net>
> Date: Mon, 9 Aug 2004 17:18:35 -0400
> To: Valentina Developers <valentina at lists.macserve.net>
> Subject: Re: I was just talking to the boys upstairs and He says...
> 
> I don't have clients. I have users who purchase and use a
> shrinkwrapped (well, not really shrinkwrapped these days, but...)
> app. If you survey commercial (consumer) database products on the
> Mac, you'd find that the large majority do not divvy up the databases
> into multiple files. Those that do tend to have been ported from
> Windows (and it shows). It makes things unnecessarily messy. I've had
> excellent experiences with single file databases. I'm not saying that
> anyone should or shouldn't using single file dbs, but they are
> certainly superior for my, and my user's, needs.
> 
> Jon
> 
>> I'm not sure how or what you are developing but I would think that
>> you could make your application function with the 4 files and still
>> make it transparent to the end user. As the developer, it would give
>> you a lot more flexibility for the inevitable last minute changes
>> that clients come up with.
>> --holly
>> 
>>>> I'd re-consider "only one". I think you'll find that over time,
>>>> this might cause more maintenance problems for you.
>>>> 
>>> 
>>> I politely disagree, especially for a consumer product (don't know
>>> what platform you are on, but on Macs this would be alien to most
>>> users). I have one db file, but include a menu option to reindex
>>> the database. My users find that quite natural. Finding a .idx file
>>> and trashing it is OK for a developer or a savvy user, but not for
>>> novices (IMHO, of course).
>>> 
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