OODB as file

OODB can be used merely as file in such applications as:

• Binary files supporting nested data structures (just like .mat files in Matlab).
• Local databases for mobile applications developed in C# (Xamarin).

In this case no such actions as defragmentation or backing up are performed automatically. It is up to the program that uses OODB to initiate appropriate actions. For example, there are no automatic calls to defragment() method - a app using OODB can monitor OODB's size and try defragmentation if the size becomes too big. Of course the developer must also take care of thread safety when writing/reading data from/to database file(s).

A top-level object is the one that is not nested (i.e., is not a part of another object) and not an element of a list/array. Two top-level objects cannot have the same name! See [Data types] for a description of supported data types.

For the following objects

• single OODBobject
• list of OODBobjects
• list/arrays of value types
  there are the following methods available:
• put
• get
• modify
• delete
  For Hashtables and their arrays there is no modify method.

OODB_example_as_file.zip contains a source code example how a database can be worked with from code in ExampleFileOODB.cs
OODB files can also be used from PowerShell - an example is given in ExampleFileOODB.ps1

Since the "native" data types in PowerShell are Arrays and Hashtables, these data types are supposed to be used when working from PowerShell.
In a way a Hashtable in PowerShell is a replacement for an OODBobject available in C# code.

For the first time on a new machine it is recommended to run OODB in 'verbose' mode by setting the second constructor's argument to true:
$myTestDb = (new-object OODB.OODB("myTestDb"), true)