Matthew,

<< Does the database file format change at all? If we decided to go with
the Unicode version, would we notice any issues with things like
"field.AsString", or would it be automatic. And if we chose to go
ANSIString for now, would we have problems upgrading to Unicode later? >>

I'm going to duck these questions and wait for Tim...

Dan

Matthew,

<< Many thanks for that. We do have a lot of Chinese and similar users of
one package, and DBISAM seems to cope. >>

Actually, it's the Chinese that are probably coping, not DBISAM.

<< Does the database file format change at all? >>

Yes.  Using the Unicode version of ElevateDB means "all Unicode, all the
time", so the database tables, config files, etc. are all stored using
Unicode.

<< If we decided to go with the Unicode version, would we notice any issues
with things like "field.AsString", or would it be automatic. >>

It is automatic in Delphi.

<< And if we chose to go ANSIString for now, would we have problems
upgrading to Unicode later (in v2 perhaps?)? >>

No, other than having to move the data over.  Currently we don't offer a
migrator for this because of the fact that the migrator itself must be
Unicode if being called from the ElevateDB Unicode engine, thus making it
impossible to compile an Ansi migrator that works with the Unicode version
of the engine.  I'll be addressing this as soon as possible.

--
Tim Young
Elevate Software
www.elevatesoft.com

Tim

What are the implications for database selection when D2008 comes out. I intend to ignore the whole unicode issue as long as I can but at some point I may be forced into it. Do you know yet if D2008 will work with the non-unicode versions of ElevateDB?

Roy Lambert

Roy,

<< What are the implications for database selection when D2008 comes out. I
intend to ignore the whole unicode issue as long as I can but at some point
I may be forced into it. Do you know yet if D2008 will work with the
non-unicode versions of ElevateDB? >>

I'm not quite sure yet what will happen with AnsiString, although my
assumption would be that it stays around in the next couple of Delphi
releases.  Due to the fact that Delphi does the automatic conversion between
AnsiStrings and WideStrings, it really would not be a big deal either way.
For example, the ElevateDB Manager uses AnsiStrings for all of the VCL
stuff, even with the Unicode version.  With a Unicode VCL in D2008, the
situation would simply be reversed for an Ansi ElevateDB database
application.

--
Tim Young
Elevate Software
www.elevatesoft.com

From the blogs I've read, the change is to the String type. If you
explicitly need the ANSIString type, then you can make them such today and
it will stay unchanged in the next update. It sounds like you are already
covered.

/Matthew Jones/

Matthew,

<< From the blogs I've read, the change is to the String type. If you
explicitly need the ANSIString type, then you can make them such today and
it will stay unchanged in the next update. It sounds like you are already
covered. >>

That's what I expected them to do - just like the Delphi.NET, except
retaining an actual AnsiString type.

--
Tim Young
Elevate Software
www.elevatesoft.com

<< Does the database file format change at all? >>

Yes.  Using the Unicode version of ElevateDB means "all Unicode, all the
time", so the database tables, config files, etc. are all stored using
Unicode.


I am attempting to convert from Delphi 5 / DBISAM 3.x to Delphi 2009 / ElevateDB 2.x. My thinking was to first port DBISAM 3.x to ElevateDB 2.x
in the Delphi 5 environment. When I ported from Paradox to DBISAM (years ago) my software checked the files and did an automatic conversion
when it loaded. I was hoping to do this again when porting from DBISAM to ElevateDB.

The next step would be to port the code from Delphi 5 to Delphi 2009 (a few months later). The databases would already be running ElevateDB so
this would avoid the issue of DBISAM 3.x not being available in Delphi 2009.

I was hoping to use the Unicode version of ElevateDB. As I understand it, I'm going to have a problem converting the Delphi 5 non-unicode
ElevateDB files to the Delphi 2009 Unicode ElevateDB files?

Thanks,
Nick

Nick,

<< I was hoping to use the Unicode version of ElevateDB. As I understand it,
I'm going to have a problem converting the Delphi 5 non-unicode ElevateDB
files to the Delphi 2009 Unicode ElevateDB files? >>

Yes, that cannot be done using an ElevateDB migrator alone, so it is much
more complicated.   The issue all goes back to the fact that you cannot have
an ANSI and Unicode version of the ElevateDB engine active in the same
process.

--
Tim Young
Elevate Software
www.elevatesoft.com