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<html>
<head>
<title>Firestorm – Principles of Operation</title>
</head>
<body>
<table>
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<td valign=top width=15%> </td>
<td>
<table bgcolor="#FFFFFF" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width=100%>
<tr>
<td align=left>
<strong><font size=+5>sanbachs.NET</font></strong><br>
<strong><font size=+1>Serving the DataPerfect* Community</font></strong>
</td>
<td align=right><a href=http://www.dataperfect.nl/><img src=logo.gif width=318 height=61 border=0></a></td>
</tr>
</table>
<HR>
<table width=100%>
<tr>
<td>
<a href=../index.html>Home</a> >
<a href=index.html>Firestorm</a> >
Principles of Operation
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align=right>Last updated: December 5, 2000</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h1>Firestorm – Principles of Operation</h1>
<p>Firestorm is written entirely in the ANSI C programming language.</p>
<p>A firestorm program consists of a handful of object files
linked together. It allows certain operations on the panel data files, index
file, and text file of a DataPerfect database (called here the subject
database, S). The object files include the Forth engine itself (F), an
interpreter (E), a description of the subject database (PBA), and either a
<a href=cli.html>command line interface</a>
(C) or a <a href=fs.html>programmatic interface</a> (P).</p>
<p>The description of the subject database consists of a subset
of the information in its structure file, and is called the Panel Byte Array or
PBA. A utility program, METADXP.COM reads in the structure file of the subject
database and prepares a transaction log file for import into the metadatabase
(M). A DataPerfect report defined in the metadatabase produces the PBA source
code. For completeness, another report in this database can produce a STE file,
which can be converted into a structure file by the utility program DPIMP.COM.</p>
<a name=figure1>
<table width=100% border=0>
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<td width=50><img src=../1x1.gif width=50 height=1></td>
<td colspan=2>
<img width=493 height=370 src="./images/image001.gif">
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<tr>
<td width=50><img src=../1x1.gif width=50 height=1></td>
<th valign=top>Legend</th>
<td align=left>
<dl compact>
<dt>S<dd>Subject database
<dt>M<dd>Metadatabase (contains a description of S)
<dt>P<dd><a href=fs.html>Programmatic interface</a>
<dt>C<dd><a href=cli.html>Command line interface</a>
<dt>E<dd>Executable Engine
<dt>F<dd>Forth Engine as data
<dt>DP<dd>DataPerfect using METAD.STR
<dt>STR<dd>a DataPerfect structure file
<dt>STE<dd>a DataPerfect exported structure file
<dt>PBA<dd>Panel Byte Array (description of a database)
</dl></td>
</tr>
</table>
<p>The <a href=cli.html>command line interface</a>
allows certain operations from the command line
on a UNIX-like system or in the DOS box on Windows systems.
</p>
<p>The <a href=cli.html>command line interface</a>
has also been called from Perl scripts to produce
web pages in real time, using the Common Gateway Interface (CGI).
For an example of this kind of web application, see
<a href=../cdi.html>The Computerized Ancestor</a>.
This webapp features something quite a bit like the DataPerfect lookup
mechanism.
</p>
<p>
More recent webapps have been created using a technique diagrammed below.
A main program has been written in the C programming language to accept
input from an HTML form. This program calls a function named FSquery.
Numerous implementations of the FSquery function have been written,
each of
which, when linked with the main CGI program and the engine, produces a web
page in real time, based on the content of the subject database.
For an example of this kind of webapp, see the
<a href=http://www.knowmexico.com/>Know & Enjoy Mexico</a> travel site.
Another example is a
<a href=map-demo.html>map demonstration</a>, showing how any one of over
two million different maps can be generated by this kind of CGI program.
</p>
<a name=figure2>
<table width=100% border=0>
<tr>
<td width=50><img src=../1x1.gif width=50 height=1></td>
<td colspan=2>
<img width=373 height=475 src="./images/image002.gif">
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<p>
Other possible uses of Firestorm include a Perl DBI, a COM component callable
from Visual Basic, and an ODBC interface.
Each of these could be constructed by writing an interface program like
the <a href=cli.html>command line interface</a>
or the <a href=fs.html>programmatic interface</a>, but providing
the necessary functionality.
This is shown in the diagram below.
</p>
<p>
Such programs have yet to be written.
</p>
<a name=figure3>
<table width=100% border=0>
<tr>
<td width=50><img src=../1x1.gif width=50 height=1></td>
<td colspan=2>
<img width=301 height=370 src="./images/image003.gif">
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<HR>
<H2>Contacting sanbachs.NET</h2>
<P>Sign or browse our
<A HREF="http://cgi.aros.net/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/~sanbachs/ngb1.cgi?WsoID=1&WsID=5">guest book</A>.
</P>
<address>
<a href="mailto:webmaster@sanbachs.com">webmaster@sanbachs.com</a><br>
<a href="mailto:l.jbastian@worldnet.att.net">A. Lewis Bastian, Jr.</a><br>
<a href="../bruce/resume.html">Bruce Conrad</a><br>
<a href="mailto:thom@xmission.com">Thom Boyer</a>
</address>
<HR>
<H3>Disclaimer</H3>
*<FONT COLOR="#0000FF">DataPerfect®</FONT>
is a copyright of Novell, Inc.
sanbachs.NET is not affiliated with Novell, Inc.<BR>
<HR>
<img src="http://www.sanbachs.net/cgi-bin/countg.cgi?Name=fspop">
visitors since November 12, 2000.
</td>
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</table>
<h5 align=center>Copyright © 2001 sanbachs.NET</h5>
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