ODBCKit - News

01/12/2010 - 0.9.0 Prep Work Nearing Wrap Up

Wed, 21 Octobber 2009 18:13:41 -0500

Well, in the next few days the 0.9.0 work will wrap up. The ODBCCommand class that was the original implementation of the prepared statement has gone away. It has been replaced by a new class name ODBCPreparedStatement. Also added was a new ODBCStatement class, which is not required but offers some a slightly more JDBC like implementation that should ease the transition for the developers familiar with JDBC.

Also in 0.9.0 is a massive rework to address a bunch of little memory issues, though we believe after testing that Instruments is coming up with some false positives on the leak front as sometimes running the exact same test cases it finds some, and others it doesn't. That work has been extremely time consuming, but ultimately, very rewarding as performance and memory have both been improved.

With those changes out of the way, the path from 0.9.0 to 1.0 is all about bug fixes and documentation and advocacy. Look for an upcoming article about getting started with ODBC as well as work to build many more examples from this foundation.

As always, we look forward to any thoughts you may have on where to go next.

10/21/2009 - The Immediate Future and the not so immediate future...

Wed, 21 Octobber 2009 18:13:41 -0500

Like many projects, this one has been a long time in maturing. At this point, the ODBCKit is usable and stable for use in projects. We know of several projects that are either in development or deployed using ODBCKit. The basics work, and seem to work fairly well. The things that are missing are completely missing, not incomplete, missing.

This is by intent.

Until we feel that the ODBCCommand class is completed, we are keeping it out of the published framework. The natural extension of ODBCKit to support some more ORB/ORM features is well in the future. So what is the road map?

While not set in stone, the plan is to see if anything crops up with the current 0.4.1 release between today and November 1. Assuming nothing shows up, the currently available 0.4.1 will be retagged as 0.5 and released as the last build before we start a series of 0.9.x builds that will include the Prepared Statment support. These will start November 10, and we expect to have a 3 week cycle of 0.9.x releases. With a full blown release of a 1.0 framework on December 1.

Once 1.0 is released, the focus on ODBCKit will switch from development to advocacy, and documentation. This will be predicatd on the continued expansion of a sample codebase as well as extensive enhancements to the Query Tool, and the associated objects. It has reached time to take this project to the next level of visibility. One of those tasks is to generate an small graphic badge that can be used by ODBCKit users to help with the advocacy push. Another will be building examples to make it easier to learn how to use the ODBCKit.

0.4.1 Comming Soon, 0.9.0 not long after

Tue, 15 September 2009 20:54:51 -0500

After a good bit of work, and a couple of years coming, we are headed into the home stretch towards a 1.0 release of the framework. It has been a long and strange path from where this project started, and we have learned alot along the way. The road is not quite complete though.

Before we flip the 1.0 switch, we have a couple of things to finish. First, 0.4.1 is coming very soon. 0.4.1 is actually a small update that addresses a minor flaw in the read of the varchar data where the source data string is encoded in a multi-byte string encoding, as well as an issue with Garbage Collection and backwards compatibility issues with 10.4. With this we are going to publish an 0.4.1 build that disables 64bit and GC support.

Shortly after will be 0.9.0. This release will finally include the prepared statement support which is now largely completed in the ODBCCommand class which has been excluded from the 0.4.1 package. The second part of this release is merging a build that can support both 10.4 in 32 bit mode and 10.5 and 10.6 in 64 bit mode with garbage collection supported, but not required. This is the important final task in making the framework viable for any end user in either shared or embedded format.

Last thing for 1.0 will be documentation. We have tried to keep the documentation largely current as we have worked, but that has been a difficult task, and before we release this as a 1.0 it is impeatie that we complete the documentation.

All of that said, what comes after 1.0? Well, the big thing is to continue enhancements as needed, but also to enhance and expand the associated tools, the Automator Actions and the Query Tool, which needs to be rebuilt and replaced. All of this however, needs funding, so in addition to the donation link, we are soon to be adding a support plan option, to help you as users by providing fast turn around on your issues and support further development through your purchases.

Bugs and Enahncements

Thu, 6 August 2009 23:49:00 -0500

During the last 2-3 weeks a couple of users have come across a couple of interesting issues. Those issues were a little vexing, but between them they could provide enough information that it led me to solutions. The result is the release that is being published now. The specific issues are addressed in the website. This is also the first release with Garbage Collection enabled, as well as fully tested on current snow leapoard builds.

Garbage Collection

Tue, 19 Mar 2009 23:49:00 -0500

Over the weekend we took a few minutes to start testing a build of the ODBCKit with garbage collection turned on. There do not appear to be any major issues. With that in mind, the intent is to remove some known incomplete code and build a release 0.3.1 this week. That said, we have also started work on a port of the framework to GnuStep, with the intent of porting the Query Tool as well..

Prepared Statements / Bound Parameters

Wed, 23 Apr 2009 15:49:00 -0500

Probably the biggest single weakness in the current ODBCKit implementation is that is lacks any support for bound parameters or prepared statements. Over the last month, we have begun the process of fixing that shortcoming. At this point, we have a very rough implementation working in the testbed. With that, we are now working towards a ready for consumer use implementation. The expectation is that it will be good to go in a couple of weeks.

However, a customer let us know that there is an issue with the 0.2.8 download when using the ODBCLogin interface. It appears that the standard login is failing when it does the callback at the end of the connection process. We have a version that solves that issue and expect to have it published in the coming day or so.

Work in Query Tool and ODBCKit

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 14:17:09 -0500

With some of the outlying work that has been going on around here, ODBCKit has not been getting quite the love it needs. Something about a down economy and doing work that pays the bills. Anyways, this afternoon we got a couple of long standing issues in the Query Tool.

First, we finally have the basics of a schema browser working. While neither sexy nor terribly useful, this provides a foundation to build something on. In this first pass, we have a simple list of the tables in the database. Behind that we should be able to implement a host of other features over the course of the coming months. These changes are aimed at taking the Query Tool from the rather humble beginnings of providing a testbed for ODBCKit implementation into a full product that can stand on its own.

Second, as a part of the above change, the ODBCConnection class grew a new method. The clone method allows a quick way to clone a connection for parallel operations when required.

With that done, we are going to rev ODBCKit to 0.3.0 and move to getting BLOB and PreparedStatment support done for 1.0. As of now, 1.0 is scheduled to be ready no later than June 1, 2009.

Query Tool Enhancements & Prepared Statements,

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 11:33:21 -0500

There are a few changes underway in the ODBCKit project that we need to share. First, the ODBCKit is getting a new icon. Many thanks to Jonathon for his efforts in making this happen. This new icon is being used both in web presentation and as the default icon in the ODBCLogin panel.

In addition, the ODBCLogin picked up a new method to allow developers to set a custom icon to be used when the login panel is displayed.

- (void)setIcon:(NSImage *)value;

Using this method, an application passes in a pointer to an NSImage to be used by the application. Query Tool will begin to make use of this in the upcoming release.

Speaking of Query Tool, changes are coming there as well. As it has become a tool that we use every day in the shop, it is starting to get some changes that stem largely from personal needs, but that does not diminish the value. First, there have been many little annoyances with the application for a while. Those are being addressed, but we are also enhancing. The first enhancement is that the Query Tool is getting a Source List ala iTunes of the database schema on the current connection. When that is completed, we will flip the flag and make Query Tool a version 1.0 release.

In order to get there, we have another bit of code that has to be finished. The ODBCPreparedStatement class. This is a class that will make BLOBs usable, but really, also makes ODBC much more usable. In effect, the prepared statement allows developers to build commands that look like, 'select * from tablename where value1 = ? and value2 = ?' and then set the values via an array of dictionaries. This functionality reduces the burden of building complex strings containing command and lets the ODBC engine deal with some of the ugliness of formatting and proper escaping of the commands.

At this point we do not really have a timeframe on the project, but all of this work is already in progress. We are commiting to SVN as we go, so these changes are already starting to appear in the SVN code.