SIMPOL Documentation

There are a number of differences between the SBME database design and that of the older Superbase format. One thing that immediately is noticeable is the lack of a column width or display format. Another big difference is that there are no field characteristics like "read only", "required", "non-stored", nor any validation, default or calculation formulae. The reasons for this are numerous. Ovedr the years most of the more advanced Superbase programmers have found that the use of these features tends to cause more trouble than they are worth. The only ones to profit from the use of such features tend to be very simple databases with little or no significant program code. The more complex an application becomes the more restrictive the use of these features becomes. As such, the right place to put these types of features is in the code that is responsible for saving records in a given table.

One of the common complaints voiced by some customers was the fact that Superbase databases tend to clutter up a directory with many files (sbd, sbf, sb!, 1 - 999 — indexes). Other customers liked the ability to change a file definition by simply copying over the sbd file (though this is not generally recommended). In the new design, all of the components of the database file are in one container. Optionally more than one database table can be stored in the same container. Because the SBME API is so low-level, there is no built-in referential integrity, data dictionary, etc. but if desired, much of this can be implemented inside of any sbm file.