About ODABA
-----------
ODABA is a Terminology-Oriented Database Management System (TODBMS) based on
standards for object-oriented databases (ODMG 2003). Besides requirements for
object-oriented databases, which belong to the P2 database family (see "Unified
Database Theory"), ODABA as TODBMS also supports several P3 database features
(hierarchical set relations). As P3 database, ODABA can be considered as high
level intelligent database, which provides a lot of support for application
developers and database designers.
ODABA does not yet fully suppor P3 database family requirements. Full P3
support including aggregation schema support is planned for version 13 (January
2013).
A database driven GUI framework based on ADL ("Active Data Link") technology
provides extended comfort for GUI application designers. Since terminology is
passed trough all development stages, terminology definitions become an
integrated part of the application e.g. as tool tips or extended help
information on field level.
The latest version of the ODABA has been released on Thursday, September 20th, 2012.
Binary data blocks stored in BLOB properties are supported now by ODABA and the GUI
framework. ODABA and ODABA-GUI interfaces have been extended in order to support
BLOBs and image resources. Fixed text translation features have been provided as
application resources and by ClassEditor (ODE tool). The notification system has been
released, which allows attaching notices to most development resources. Several minor
improvements have been made for ODE tools. Finally, a pre-release for a MAC OS
installation (database and GUI framework) is included in the installation.
The complete list of bugs fixed is available in change and release logs or in
notifications delivered with ODABA development databases. ODABA can be downloaded for
free and is licensed as GPL software.
Release notes
-------------
1. Update information are provided on three levels. General release notes you will
find on the WEB site. In the logs folder of the installation folder, there are
detailed release notes (ReleaseLog_xxx.txt) and change logs (Changes_xxx.txt)
for all ODABA subprojects. 'xxx' stands for
sos - common service functions
opa - Database kernel
gui - GUI frame work
ode - ODE tools
Release logs contain information about detailed relevent (conceptual) changes.
Change logs contain a list of cheges per source file.
Moreover, notice collections in all development databases contain information
obout problems solved and open problems and new features planned for next
versions.
2. In addition, we provide test logs for ODABA interface classes, which include a
difference protocol which shows changes to the prevoius release.
3. In order to get information about new releases, you should register at
run Software by sending a mail to
support@odaba.com
Licenses
--------
1. You may use the GPL in order to develop other software licensed under GPL.
In order to develop commercial software not licensed as GPL product, you
may get a commercial development license.
2. Note, the the GPL allows you creating any sort of GPL projects, i.e.
projects for your own purpose as well as commercial products (as long
as those are published under GPL, again). In order to develop non-GPL
products, you need a commercial development licence, which can be ordered
at RUN Software.
3. You may also join the ODABA Software Development Foundation, which
supports the further ODABA development and which gives you a chance
to participate in strategic and short term decisions.
Installation
------------
1. ODABA does not require specific registration procedures and you may copy
the odaba folder to any location in your system.
2. Installation and build procedures are described for different platforms
and build environments at:
http://www.odaba.com/content/documentation/odaba/documents/opa/HierarchyTopics/ONLG_10_Install.html
3. Supported platforms
win32-gcc
win32-msvc2003
win32-msvc2005
win32-msvc2008
win32-msvc2010
linux-gcc
for all platforms 32- and 64-bit modes are supported. In order to compile
ODABA on other platforms or with other compilers, you might have to insert
a few platform specific extensions. In general, it should not be a big problem.
4. Several features require third party components, which have to be installed before
installing ODABA. When the corresponding libraries are not available, one may install
ODABA, but the features referenced below will not work.
libzip (required for LibreOffice document generation)
zlib (required for data compression and database backup and restore)
curl (required for enhanced email support)
hunspell (required for spellcheck in ODE tools, like terminus)
Getting started
---------------
0. When running ODABA 10 resource databases, those have to be upgraded. In order to
upgrade the resource database, appropriate upgrade procedures are described in the
online documentation. Moreover, you may have to upgrade application databases,
when those refer to system data type (e.g. DSC_Topic or __OBJECT). How to upgrade
a database is described at:
http://www.odaba.com/content/documentation/odaba/documents/opa/HierarchyTopics/ONLG_VersionUpgrade.html
1. A Quick Starter Guide is availale for new odaba users at
http://www.odaba.com/content/documentation/odaba/documents/opa/HierarchyTopics/ONLG_10_Steps.html
or in the ODABA-Base online documentation ("Quick Starter Guide").
and for the GUI framework at
http://www.odaba.com/content/documentation/odabagui/documents/ode/HierarchyTopics/ONLG_10_steps.html
or in the ODABA-GUI online documentation ("Quick Starter Guide").
Documentation
-------------
1. There is a separate documentation package, which you may download and
which contains the complete ODABA documentation. An documentation overview
is given in the DocumentationOverview document. Part of the documentation
has already been converted to .pdf and will be provided in an additional
PDFDoc folder. But there are still documents, which are available in
MS Office format, only.
2. There is also a HTML version, which can be started from the documentation
package downloded, but also from our WEB site
http://www.odaba.com/content/documentation/odaba
and
http://www.odaba.com/content/documentation/odabagui
Online documentation will be updated frequently and we suggest using the
online documentation, which is more uptodate.
Forum and bug report
--------------------
1. If you find problems or if you have any questions, please visit the
ODABA forum http://sourceforge.net/p/odaba/discussion and post your
problem or question or contact RUN Software directly via
support@odaba.com
2. If you think you have found a bug in ODABA, it would be nice if you
report it to us, so that we can fix it. Before reporting a bug, please
check reported bugs for similar problems.
http://sourceforge.net/userapps/trac/odaba-support
Always include the following information in your bug report:
- name and version number of your compiler
- name and version number of your operating system
- the version of ODABA you are using
- compile options used for compiling or build number for the binaries
If possible, add an example, the dictionary database and a database, as
well as the configuration or ini-file used for running the application.
3. In order to put your questions directly, you may contact support@odaba.com.
