[DB-SIG] xdb-xbase bindings for python

[jim]

David:
Thanks for the reply.

> --- jim <jlh at yvn.com> wrote:
> > I have bindings for the xbase-2.0.0 c++ library with the sip files
> > and a python wrapper module.
> > 
> > I would be willing to share if there is any interest.
> 
> I suggest that you either:
>   a) (preferably) establish a SourceForge project

I'll look into sourceforge.  Other than creating a project there, do you have 
any suggestions about how to publicise this in an approved and useful 
fashion?  Not to gain fame and glory, but to let others who need it, find it.

> Based on personal experience, I advise you not to get too hung up
> initially on issues such as whether the module builds out of the box on
> 36 platforms and whether it covers every last corner of the underlying
> C++ library.  Those issues can be ironed out in due time.

My plan exactly.  I am building it for my own use at work.  So, things that 
annoy me will get dealt with.  Those that don't will wait till someone whines 
about it.

At the moment, I can build it on linux-gentoo and win2k borland 5.5.  Again, 
until someone else whines about it, I won't bother with anything else.

> With regard to early documentation, it'd be helpful to explain how the
> module compares to other python-xbase modules and what your ultimate
> goals are. 

My goal is to have a way to seamlessly work with the Clipper5.2 production 
data software/system at work with python.  All data are currently in clipper 
xbase dbf files.

Clipper was as good as it got in '95 when I started work there, and still is 
better than most, but has been abandoned by Computer Associates and starts to 
not work in a serious fashion when you get to Win2K.  Works Ok with 98 but is 
still a dos program at heart.

However, I have ~500k lines of code that work and work pretty well and don't 
want to even think about an abrupt switchover -- thence a gradual transition 
to python, from there eventually to some sort of SQL database instead of 
xbase.

So far as I can find, there are *NO* other xbase-python modules.  
mxOdbc/windows ODBC sort of works with clipper dbf files if you don't want 
indexes.  Other than that, I don't know of anything, and I have looked pretty 
hard.

Now, I suppose that you will tell me about some project that does everything I 
need if I had just found it ( Hope, Hope, Hope?) but not expect.

For the moment, documentation is implicit in a python unittest module that I 
have been using to debug.  This will grow as I find bugs and need tests to 
excorcise them.  That and a README that this email is the start of.

> This'll help programmers who are browsing for a "Python 
> xbase module" to decide whether yours is worth investing time in.
> 

Any further suggestions regarding the above thoughts would be most welcome.

Jim