Fast Text Searches speed new Eloquence
April 11, 2013
Marxmeier Software AG has announced the Eloquence B.08.20 release candidate is available for downloading from the Eloquence web site. Testing was expanded for this IMAGE-workalike database, after a beta period during 2012, and "and we incorporated customer feedback," said company president Michael Marxmeier. The extra development time yielded some details and improved documentation.
A B.08.20 production release of this replacement database for IMAGE applications migrated to Windows, Unix or Linux, "is expected to be available shortly and should be identical to the release candidate."
As we noted here in our 2012 summertime reports, Eloquence 8.20 introduces new functionality and enhancements in various product components. Most noticeable are
• Database full text search, adding fast and flexible search engine capabilities to the Eloquence database.
• Various database enhancements, including support for protected password files, repacking a database and improvements to replication management.
• Support for converting PCL output of existing applications to PDF documents on the fly.
Eloquence, a software solution more in line with HP 3000 budgets than Oracle or SQL Server, also has its own programming language. The company said that substantial improvements to the language include syntax enhancements, supporting path to access files, class methods, external classes, and on-demand loading of program code.
"Now is the perfect time to familiarize yourself with the new release," Marxmeier said. "Download a copy and try out new features or enhancements. We are happy to provide temporary license keys to try out optional features."
The most sparkling enhancement to this database is its FTS fast indexing power. Last summer, MB Foster led workshops for programmers who wanted to apply these fast indexes to a database.
"They might do database architecture based on the kinds of retrievals they'd want to perform," said CEO Birket Foster at the time. DBFINDs, DBGETs, and DBINFOs in the Eloquence IMAGE compatibility module have extra commands in 8.20. "If you have migrated and have this new database, we can help you take advantage of new features."
Inside the new Eloquence library for IMAGE/3000:
- DBFIND mode 1 may be used to ensure compatibility with existing applications
- New TPI DBGET modes obtain the Fast Text Seach results
- DBGET modes 5 and 6 help you check compatibility with existing applications
- A TPI DBINFO has enhanced 8xx modes to support FTS
- DBCONTROL's mode 800 and 801 specify the FTS DBFIND behavior if no records qualify
MB Foster's UDALink series of connectivity software allows access to Eloquence (and its new fast features) over HP-UX as well as Linux platforms.
In the Eloquence design of FTS, text fields, dates and numbers are indexed so they can be found by keywords, have a search narrowed by date range, then just get the high-dollar transactions, for example. FTS also enables queries with just partial information, like "find William or Bill in Atlanta." The searches are qualified in seconds, based on the number of records found."If you or your users feel the need for speed, you can do fast retrievals built right into Eloquence, without a table scan," Foster said. Minor changes to architecture can produce big results, he added. One example is speeding the searches which would drive a call center.
The innovation in FTS is that its search engine is implemented in the database. A basic functionality level is included in the base product. Extended FTS is a licensing option.
This kind of fast indexing was once a third-party add-on speciality of companies like DISC, which sold Omnidex to speed TurboIMAGE performance. The 8.20 Eloquence even has a separate library to integrate four of the most common Omnidex ODX calls.
Other features being explored in the new version include database encryption and item masking. The latter masks or blanks sensitive information upon retrieval. Database managers can control user authorization for masking. These enhancements help secure sensitive information to help meet the credit card PCI DSS requirements.