Re: Xy as database handler?

["William H. TeBrake" tebrake@xxxxxxxx]

On 11 Jun 2009 at 7:53, Paul Lagasse wrote:

> Harry Binswanger wrote:
> > Being renewedly impressed with the extraction possibilities of things
> > of the form: , I'm considering using Xy to do primitive
> > database operations--probably using commas as field separators, and
> >  as record separators.
> >
> > But to do this, I'd have to have some nifty, economical way to change
> > the contents of a field. All I can think of, however, is a clunky DL
> > (define line) and series of SE/S /,/ followed by more defines.
> >
> > Is there a better way?
> >
> If you want to use XyWrite for databaselike operations, I'd suggest
> using some sort of markup to label your fields. I work with SGML text
> files, and the tagging allows me to use XyWrite to find an individual
> record (short article) that starts with "A" without knowing which of the
> 11 A files the record is located in and to run databaselike operations
> (find all articles that are biographies, and list their titles or copy
> the entire text). I've used XyWrite to massage databases and
> databaselike tables and almost always add markup to avoid counting
> commas and diminish the likelihood that I'll work on the wrong field.
> Something like this, with  as a field separator and two as record
> separators:
>
> 
> 
> 
> 
>
> If the field can contain a , I use a closing tag () to mark
> the end of the field. It's easy enough to add the tags when setting up
> the "database" using a CSV file or strip them out to export a CSV file.
>
> Paul Lagasse
>

Why reinvent the wheel. This is something that Notabene should be
able to do for you, out of the box. The Ibidem-Plus module allows
you to set up a structured database, search it quickly, index it on
any field you desire, and to design your own reports, including
export to CSV. Ibidem-Plus is part of the regular Notabene package.
So is Orbis, which quickly and efficiently indexes and allows
searches in HUGE quantities of text.

Best,

Bill TeBrake
UMaine, History