RealBasic Data Manipulation "Best Practices". . .?

[Michael Williams]

> On 27/6/07 4:00 AM, "Michael Williams" <mwilliams at mgreg.com> wrote:
>
> Hi Michael,
>
> I recommend subscribe to Valentina list and ask such general questions
> there. Some other Valentina developers can be in help faster or  
> more useful
> of me.  :-)

> Can I ask few questions to better help?
>
> 1) what is your db experience?
>
>     did you work before with SQL?
>
>     What dbs?
>
>     Do you know Relational Model?
>

Yes, Ruslan, I've been working with databases (and various other  
storage formats) since the mid-90s.   I've dealt extensively with SQL  
and data serialization, etc.  Since RB neither implements interfaces  
for OR Mapping nor Serialization I decided to try Valentina since  
everyone is raving about it.

I don't necessarily believe that SQL is evil, but I'd much prefer to  
access my data with dot-notation these days (e.g. RoR).  I was hoping  
that you all had written some low level code to allow data binding/ 
mapping at a higher level.

>
> 2) Did you read this sections of docs:
>

Yes, I believe I've read about 70% or so of what's there.  None of it  
seems to be what I'm looking for

> 3) So you do not want SQL. You will use LOCAL db ?
>     if you plan even use a remote Valentina Server with this project,
>     then better to use SQL way
>

No, if I were going to use SQL, I'd simply stick with RB.  Most of  
the programs I write will have less than 50,000 records.  I'm just  
looking for something that allows me to access the data more easily  
programmatically.

>
> 4) so if you decide to use non-SQL way, then you still have 2 choices
> described in above ARTICLES section.
>
>     a) API Way
>     b) Class way
>
> Which one is better for you?
>

Neither really.  I mean, I suppose the API method, but it still  
doesn't seem to provide what I'm looking for.

>
> 5) Well, syntax as
>
>         INVOICES(1).INVOICE_ITEMS
>
> Is look similar to Ruby On rails framework. And is tooo high level.
>
> What should be returned as result of this line?  SET of RecIDs ?
>

Yes, that's exactly what I'm looking for.  It should return an array  
of objects:

LINE_ITEMS = INVOICES(1).INVOICE_ITEMS

LINE_ITEMS(1).PRICE = $1

LINE_ITEMS(1).SAVE


. . .*that* would be worth twice the current price for me.
>
>
> 6) examples of table you have made are in RELATIONAL MODEL!
>     you use id as integer, ...
>
>   Do you want use Valentina's RecID, ObjectPtr, binaryLink?
>

Hrm, I guess none of them.  Some of these seem to perform well and  
allow you to take up less space in the DB, but those really aren't my  
interests.  Ultimately I suppose I'm looking for Object-Relational  
Mapping.  Folks keep directing me to Valentina, but I suppose it may  
not be what I need.

>
> 7) in V4RB code may looks as:
>
>
> MyDatabase
>     tblInvoice = ...
>     tblInvoiceItem = ...
>     tblClients = ...
>
> End
>
> Later in code:
>
>     Invoice_RecID = 1       // some record of invoice
>
>     setInvoiceItems = tblInvoiceItem.fldInvoicePtr.Find 
> ( Invoice_RecID  )
>
>
> Or using Vlink class the same can be done as
>
>     setInvoiceItems = linkInvoiceItem.FindLinked(
>                            Invoice_RecID, tblInvoice, tblInvoiceItem )
>
>

That still seems like a lot of setup.


Thank you for your replies.


Regards,

Michael