> I like that approach (of encapsulating PalmOS functions)...
>
> To that end, I've been writing a small database engine, called DBQuick, that
> sits atop the PalmOS storage system, yet it is designed in layers so as to
> port easily to other platforms such as CE. The primary advantage to this
> little engine is it lets you stop (the madness!) reinventing all that code
> for working with fields, and it abstracts the peculiar PalmOS database
> manager into a more familiar PC-like table "object."
That's one of the very first things I did when I moved from the Newton
to the PalmOS.. I was so frustrated by all this packing and unpacking of
structures (once you've used a dynamic frame, it's hard to go back) I
finally wrapped the PalmOS records in a field-level API so I can randomly
fetch, change, add, and delete fields in my records, sort records on
individual fields, etc (one of the most important features is the ability to
have third parties add fields to my records without breaking my code). I've
already licensed it to others for a couple of projects, but have never found
the time to fully document it for generic use... I ran into another
ex-Newton developer recently and he had done virtually the same thing, and
come up with an API remarkably similar to mine...
I think there's a market for time/work savers like this, and I'm sure
there are quite a few who would benefit from such a beast (or indeed several
similar beasts with different ways of looking at the database)...
--
Dan Rowley
Innovative Computer Solutions
Developers of fine software for Newton, Windows CE, Palm Computing Platform,
Windows, and MacOS
