Posted by Jim Guerber on September 30, 2005 at 11:56:00:
It has been over 20 years that I have been developing and enhancing Comet. In all of that time, I can count on the fingers of one hand the features that have been real product innovations. One of those innovations will be announced next year. It is my pleasure to announce another one of them right now. This new feature is so simple to use, so elegant, and yet so powerful, that I know it will change the programming practices of everyone who learns it.
Remember the meeting in May in Las Vegas? On the first day I presented my vision for the next major release of Comet, Comet 2006. By the end of the meeting you all convinced me that what was needed was something entirely different. Well, since then, we at Signature have been working on that new vision. We have been testing Comet 2006 for several months in house, and are getting ready to share it with you.
The feature I am talking about is multi-keyed files, or you could call it files with sub keys. With a couple of simple changes in syntax, you have the ability to look up data in many more ways. Many of you write multiple keyed files now by creating separate files with different primary keys corresponding to fields by which you want to search/sort. A Comet Multi-keyed file is WAY BETTER.
At first, when coding this feature, I thought "no big deal", but once I began to use these files, I saw what an improvement it made in the performance, reliability and readability of my programs. I also discovered that this method allowed me to make numeric values in my records into keys as well. That was even better.
Here is how you can make it work:
Once a keyed file is created, a program can create an additional key to the file by using one statement. Here is its syntax:
CreateKey file-name, key-name, Key-length, Key-position, Dir=directory-name, [excp=exception address]
Each key field has a name. Once the key is declared, you do not need to remember details about it; just use its name.
The program then may open the file using a sub key as follows:
Open(LUN)file-name, key=key-name[, Dir=directory-name][, excp=exception-address]
This is so natural and easy that we will start to call the old keyed files "legacy Keyed Files".
Use the link below to explore the formal documentation.
We expect to release the first beta of Comet 2006 in a few days. As usual, those subscribers who currently run Comet 2005 will be able to run this beta until its expiration date. The current expiration date is November 1st. As we produce new builds of Comet 2006, we will extend the expiration date accordingly. Of course, you can purchase Comet 2006 now, and continue to use Comet 2005 until you want to actually upgrade.
As always, we welcome your comments.
Jim