>I have a database with 120,000 records and I was wondering how I could find
>out if they could fit on a PALM.
Of course, since Palm databases are indexed with UInts, 64K records is
the maximum you can have. And, as discussed in recent days, if you have
32K you need to implement your own sort routine; the PalmOS sort routine
breaks down at 32K (actually one of the two breaks down at 16K).
Of course, you can always break the database into two databases, and have
your software search through first one then the other, so 64K isn't
really an absolute limit either (or you could pack multiple records in
one larger pseudo-record, for that matter).
The BIGGEST issue by far in fitting large number of records on the Palm
is fixed vs. variable packing. If you follow "traditional" methods (X
spaces for field 1, Y spaces for field 2, etc.), you may take up 10-1000
times more space than if you follow "Palm" methods (embodied in the
source code of the built-in apps) which uses variable length fields
taking up exactly the space required and no more. Most apps use a
judicious combination of the two methods, fixed-length fields for items
which really are fixed length and are always present, variable-length
fields for optional fields or fields of variable length.
Access databases created under Windows can take up 150K for a SINGLE
record! That won't happen on a Palm unless you do some REALLY inefficient
things.
Steve Patt
President, Stevens Creek Software
http://www.stevenscreek.com/palm
Best PQA ("ePQA"), PalmSource 99
Best Application ("PizzaScan"), Palm Developer's Conference 1998
First printing software for the Palm - September, 1997
--
For information on using the Palm Developer Forums, or to unsubscribe, please see
http://www.palm.com/devzone/mailinglists.html
