DOCBOOK-APPS: Re: Editors and IDREFs

[Markus Hoenicka <hoenicka_markus@compuserve.com>]

Hi Karl,

Karl Eichwalder writes:
 > I have two "concerns" about refdb:
 > 
 >     . You're forced to use one and only database system (unfortunately
 >     not PostgreSQL).  There are generic frameworks like
 >     libgda/GNOME-DB, and there are also Python or Perl solutions.
 > 

I will switch over to a generic database access library like libdbi
before the first stable release. This has been long planned, but I
wanted to get a more or less complete implementation of the
bibliography stuff for SGML and XML before addressing internal
improvements. Please bear with me.

 >     . I didn't find a description how the database tables are
 >     designed.  And queries seem to be hidden in C code only.
 >     Probably I didn't try hard enough.

The reference database design is described in detail in chapter 17 of
the refdb handbook
(http://refdb.sourceforge.net/manual/book1.html). The description of
the style database is a bit murky due to the sheer size. Studying the
file refdb.dump (from which the database is created during
installation) should give you an idea how it works, though.

I'm not sure what's wrong with "hiding" the queries in C code. This is
how accessing a database with a C API works, after all. Keep in
mind that the user should not have to deal with database stuff
directly - this is the job of the application. This will be even more
apparent once the database server abstraction is in place.

Further discussion of RefDB implementation details is probably
off-topic on this list. Consider joining the RefDB mailing lists if
you are interested (for URLs see http://refdb.sourceforge.net).

regards,
Markus

-- 
Markus Hoenicka
hoenicka_markus@compuserve.com
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/hoenicka_markus/