About ODABA ----------- ODABA is a Terminology-Oriented Database Management System (TODBMS) based on standards for object-oriented databases (ODMG 2003). Besides requirements for object-oriented databases, which belong to the P2 database family (see "Unified Database Theory"), ODABA also supports several P3 database features (hierarchical set relations). Claiming to be a P3 database, ODABA can be considered as high level smart database, which provides a lot of support for application developers and database designers. With version 17 ODABA supports WEB database server and encoded databases. Moreover, email functions have been extended. OHTTPServer provides internet services for all HTTP methods and a specific OSI PUT request, which allows submitting requests of any complexity. A database driven GUI framework based on ADL ("Active Data Link") technology provides extended comfort for GUI application designers. Since terminology is passed trough all development stages, terminology definitions become an integrated part of the application e.g. as tool tips or extended help information on field level. The latest version of ODABA has been released on Saturday, April 16th, 2023. With ODABA 17.3.0 a several bug fixes and several new features have been provided. The complete list of bugs fixed is available in change and release logs or in notifications delivered with ODABA development databases. ODABA can be downloaded for free and is licensed as GPL software. Release notes ------------- 1. Update information are provided on three levels. General release notes are available on the WEB site. In the logs folder of the installation folder, there are detailed release notes (ReleaseLog_xxx.txt) and change logs (Changes_xxx.txt) for all ODABA sub projects. 'xxx' stands for sos - common service functions opa - Database kernel gui - GUI frame work ode - ODE tools Release logs contain information about detailed relevant (conceptual) changes. Change logs contain a list of changes per source file. Moreover, notice collections in all development databases contain information about problems solved and open problems and new features planned for next versions. 2. In addition, ODABATest environment is provided for running unit tests for ODABA interface classes and component tests for utilities. 3. In order to get information about new releases, one may should register at run Software by sending a mail to support@odaba.com Licenses -------- 1. One may use the GPL in order to develop other software licensed under GPL. In order to develop commercial software not licensed as GPL product, a commercial development license is also available. 2. Note, the the GPL allows creating any sort of GPL projects, i.e. projects for private purpose as well as commercial products (as long as those are published under GPL, again). In order to develop non-GPL products, a commercial development license is required, which can be ordered at RUN Software. 3. One also may join the ODABA Software Development Foundation, which supports the further ODABA development and which offers the possibility to participate in strategic and short term decisions. Installation ------------ 1. ODABA does not require specific registration procedures and may be copied or installed to any location in the system. 2. Installation and build procedures are described for different platforms and build environments at: http://www.odaba.com/content/documentation/odaba/documents/opa/HierarchyTopics/ONLG_10_Install.html 3. Supported platforms linux-gcc6 and below win32-gcc win32-VS2010 win32-VS2017 (since version 17.0.0) win64-VS2017 (since version 17.0.0) win64-VS2022 (since version 17.3.0) 5.9 - 5.13, Qt6 (Qt6 since version 17.3.0) for all platforms 32- and 64-bit modes are supported. In order to compile ODABA on other platforms or with other compilers, platform specific extensions or changes have to be made, which should not be a big problem. 4. Several features require third party components, which have to be installed before installing ODABA. When the corresponding libraries are not available, one may install ODABA, but the features referenced below will not work. libzip (required for LibreOffice document generation) zlib (required for data compression and backup and restore) curl (required for enhanced internal email support) hunspell (required for spell check in ODE tools, like terminus) libmicrohttpd (required for OHTTPServer) Getting started --------------- 1. A Quick Starter Guide is availale for new odaba users at http://www.odaba.com/content/documentation/odaba/documents/opa/HierarchyTopics/ONLG_10_Steps.html or in the ODABA-Base online documentation ("Quick Starter Guide"). and for the GUI framework at http://www.odaba.com/content/documentation/odabagui/documents/ode/HierarchyTopics/ONLG_10_steps.html or in the ODABA-GUI online documentation ("Quick Starter Guide"). Documentation ------------- 1. There is a separate documentation package, which you may download and which contains the complete ODABA documentation. An documentation overview is given in the DocumentationOverview document. Part of the documentation has already been converted to .pdf and will be provided in an additional PDFDoc folder. But there are still older documents, which are available in MS Office format, only. 2. There is also a HTML version, which can be started from the documentation package downloaded, but also from our WEB site http://www.odaba.com/content/documentation/odaba and http://www.odaba.com/content/documentation/odabagui Online documentation will be updated frequently and we suggest using the online documentation, which is more up-to-date. Contact and bug report -------------------- 1. If there are problem or any question, contact RUN Software directly via run@run-software.com 2. If you think you have found a bug in ODABA, it would be nice if you report it to us, so that we can fix it. run@run-software.com Always include the following information in your bug report: - name and version number of your compiler - name and version number of your operating system - the version of ODABA you are using - compile options used for compiling or build number for the binaries If possible, add an example, the dictionary database and a database, as well as the configuration or ini-file used for running the application.