
The MetaKit Library                 Version 1.1                 April 17, 1996
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(see the file README.TXT for general information about this C++ class library)


Notes about version 1.1 (1996,04,17,110) :

- Version 1.0 has been skipped - to avoid confusion with beta versions - so
  this is the current release version of MetaKit. Forget all about 1.0 stuff.
- File structures must be explicitly defined, as in version 1.0b3 - automatic
  structure determination has been postponed for a later version. The intro
  text for MetaKit has been adjusted to reflect this change of plans.
- Added new CATFISH utility, a small but complete application using MetaKit.
  This disk catalog browsing application is also distributed as freeware, as
  stand-alone exe. It's tiny (146k standalone, 42k using DLLs), and very fast.
- MetaKit now implements *automatic* integer field sizing. The number of bytes
  reserved for integer properties is determined by the values they will hold.
  Integer properties will be stored as 0, 1, 2, or 4 bytes per (signed) value. 
  An int property with only zero's takes zero bytes, regardless of row count.
- Simple versions of Find (linear scan) and Search (lookup in ordered lists)
  have been added as members of the view class. They have not been optimized.
- Added new FTPCAT sample utility, with sources. It's like DISCAT, but it
  creates directory catalogs of FTP servers (try it on some internet site).
- Sorting and filtering are only implemented in a very naive form: changes
  to the underlying view will cause any derived ones to become invalid.
  The solution to this - change propagation - has not yet been implemented.

Pre-release 1.0b3 (1996,03,12,53) :

- The c4_Storage constructor needs an additional parameter describing the
  structure of the data stored on file. This is a temporary situation
  until automatic structure design is completed. The general syntax is:
        name1[prop1:type,prop2:type],name2[...],...
  Examples of this can be found in the sources, such as in "discat.cpp".
  Note that the format is simple, but pretty strict: do not add spaces.
  This extra parameter is ignored when re-opening an existing datafile.
- The file storage format is frozen, coming revisions will not change it.
  Future storage formats will remain upward compatible.
- Searching has not yet been implemented, it's not hard, it will come soon.
- Rollback does not work (because re-initialization is not yet correct).
- The main "k4view.h" header file is pretty stable, others may still change.
- The 16-bit versions have a few limitations, the most restrictive being that
  the total size of strings stored should not exceed 32 Kb per view property.
  You can store any amount of data, but the data per view column is limited.
- This code should be quite solid, but extensive tests are still being added.
- A *lot* has changed since 1.0b1 (including the name of this library).


The MetaKit library is extending rapidly. This is possible because it is a
rewrite of code developed earlier in a number of recent projects. I have a
good picture of where I can be heading, because I've already been there :)
But with YOUR input, I can do a better job of prioritizing my to-do lists.

Best regards,
Jean-Claude

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mailto:jcw@meta4.nl       http://www.meta4.com/meta4       fax:+31 30 635 2337

