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db4o Newsletter

  • Newsletter #45: db4o v7.4 Now Available for Production Use

    db4o 7.5 Development Release is available for immediate download!

    Articles

    7.4 Production Release Available

    Results of Performance Competition are out!

    • The results are detailed in this blog post.
    • Three entries are eligible for prizes (6000 USD). We thank Andrew Zhang and Erik Putrycz for their submissions.
    • Submitted patched consist of:
      • An improvement in the speed to sort queries.
      • A UTF-8 string encoder.
      • A patch to reuse query results in subsequent similar queries.
    • The improvements have been amazing as you can see by the generated PolePosition graph.

    Highlighted Contributions

    • Solstice combines Flex, OSGi and db4o: Solstice is the first framework to integrate Flex, OSGi and db4o in a single out-of-the-box package. Even though it's still in alpha, it provides a rich set of open source products and technologies, including Adobe Flex, Adobe BlazeDS, OSGi, Eclipse Equinox, Eclipse Equinox Servlet Bridge, JBoss, Felix and db4o.
    • DataNucleus Access Platform 1.0.0.m4 released: DataNucleus Access Platform is a standards-compliant Java persistence product supporting db4o. It is fully compliant with the JDO1, JDO2, JDO2.1, and JPA1 Java standards. It also complies with the OGC Simple Feature Specification for persistence of geospatial Java types. It allows access to all popular RDBMSs available today, together with db4o, LDAP, NeoDatis, JSON, Excel documents, and XML databases.
    • Milestone 8a of RSSOwl 2.0 released: Benjamin Pasero has posted milestone 8a of RSSOwl 2.0, an open source RSS/Atom reader written in Java and based on the SWT, db4o, and Lucene.

    Paircast of the Month

    • Custom Reflector with direct field access: In this session Rodrigo and Carl write a custom reflector with direct field access to be able to test the impact of reflection calls on the performance of db4o empirically.

    "Paircasts" are video recordings of "live pairing sessions" of db4o core team, designed to provide deep understanding of db4o code and practices. You can download the paircasts or see them on-line and subscribe via RSS, iTunes, etc.

    Kudos of the Month
    from the db4o Kudos Blog

    "db4o is an excellent open source object database for Java & .NET platform by Carl Rosenberger's team. I highly recommend it for rapid prototyping and RAD. It transparently handles object storage and retrieval [...] In db4o you can create an complex objects with other objects as its member and db4o will save them all like a champ with a single set() (now store()) method"
    Angsuman Chakraborty

     


    http://www.db4o.com/
    newsletter@db4o.com
    Phone +1 (650) 577-2340
    1900 S Norfolk Street, Suite 350
    San Mateo, CA 94403 (USA)

  • Newsletter #44: db4objects Announces Eclipse Plugin for Object Manager Enterprise

    • Articles
      • Object Manager Enterprise (OME) for Java and .NET Released
      • Final Month for Performance Challenge with $6000 in Prizes
      • db4o Welcomes our Most Valued Professionals (dVP) for 2009
      • Transparent Persistence and Transparent Activation in Practice
      • OMG Leaning towards the LINQ Way to a OODBMS Standard
    • Highlighted Contributions
    • Paircast of the Month
    • Upcoming Events
    • Kudos of the Month
    • Looking into the Mirror 

    db4o 7.4 Development Release is available for immediate download!


    Articles

    Object Manager Enterprise (OME) for Java and .NET Released

    • Object Manager Enterprise (OME) is the database browsing and maintenance tool every professional software shop needs when developing db4o based applications.
    • "Production Level" version (7.2) of Object Manager Enterprise (OME) for Java with Eclipse plugin is now released. Full OME functionality requires a license (you may contact one of our sales representatives to get one). OME is also usable in "reduced functionality" mode without a license.
    • Together with the Java version we're also offering a much enhanced "Production Level" version (7.2) of OME for .NET with Visual Studio plugin that can be downloaded under the same conditions.
    • Plugins for OME for .NET and Java for the current db4o "Development Release" (7.4) are also ready for download.
    • And remember that non-commercial open source community version of Object Manager (OM) is also available and is actively maintained by the db4o community.

    Final Month for Performance Challenge with $6000 in Prizes

    db4o Welcomes our Most Valued Professionals (dVP) for 2009

    • In order to recognize the effort of a group of people whose work has been particularly valuable to the project, db4objects nominates community members each year for the dVP awards. Now it's time for the 2009 nominations!
    • db4objects would like to congratulate all the nominees and thank you for your commitment and support. The 125 individuals representing 32 different countries are now listed on the dVP 2009 web page.
    • Three of the 2009 dVPs will be invited to attend the next db4o Global User Conference (date and location to be disclosed soon) among other prizes.
    • Read more about the dVP Program, its benefits, the selection criteria, and the list of all dVP award recipients in our dVP section.

    Transparent Persistence and Transparent Activation in Practice

    OMG Leaning towards the LINQ Way to a OODBMS Standard

    • Not having a standard query language for object databases has been a stumbling block for OODBMS adoption.
    • The OMG is working on creating such a standard (see the OMG activities).
    • In the last meeting in Ottawa in June, the committee has viewed LINQ (on .NET) as the way to go for the standard.
    • LINQ is a Native Queries approach combining Relational and Object Database Queries into a unified native interface, which has been accepted very enthusiastically by the community.
    • db4o is full heartedly supporting this direction, and has been first to release an optimized provider for LINQ.
    • We would like to hear your opinion on the LINQ for Java group.

    Highlighted Contributions

    • A Quick Database Comparison of db4o and SQL Databases through Cayenne: Peter Karich, creator of the gstpl project (Swing Timetable Platform), released this comparison as a PDF file. Note that the fact that activation with db4o has to be always manual is no longer the case after we introduced Transparent Activation.
    • Users comment on O/R Impedance Mismatch: ODBMS.ORG, a vendor-independent non-profit group of high-profile software experts lead by Prof. Roberto Zicari, announced the exclusive publication of a new series of user reports on using technologies for storing and handling persistent objects.
    • DataNucleus: DataNucleus Access Platform 1.0 M3 is released. The main things affecting usage with db4o are:
      • The original JDOQL implementation has been superceded by a new "generic" implementation supporting more of the JDOQL syntax.
      • Support for querying via JPQL is added.

    Paircast of the Month

    • "JProbe Profiling Session on Reflection and Read Performance" In this session Carl and Rodrigo use the JProbe profiler to analyse how reflection impacts the read and write performance of db4o for Java. They discover that the impact is very small and find a potential area to tune activation performance. For a list of the latest resources about JProbe please check our JProbe wiki space.

    "Paircasts" are video recordings of "live pairing sessions" of db4o core team, designed to provide deep understanding of db4o code and practices. You can download the paircasts or see them on-line and subscribe via RSS, iTunes, etc.

    Upcoming Events

    Kudos of the Month

    "db4o is the storage solution that actually saves you time! It's the best time saving tool I've found for developers that need persistent storage in their applications"
    Carlos J. Muentes (Software Engineer)

    Looking into the Mirror

    InfoWorld awards db4o with "Best of Open Source Developer Tools"
    InfoWorld. August 4, 2008


    http://www.db4o.com/
    newsletter@db4o.com
    Phone +1 (650) 577-2340
    1900 S Norfolk Street, Suite 350
    San Mateo, CA 94403 (USA)

  • Newsletter #43: db4o Announces its First Performance Contest - Win $6000 in prizes!

    db4o 7.4 Development Release is available for immediate download!

     

    A R T I C L E S

    db4o Announces its First Performance Contest - Win $6000 in prizes!

    ·         As part of our commitment to improving db4o's performance we're organizing this hands-on contest where community members can contribute and benchmark patches to the db4o core and win out of 6000 USD in cash prizes

    ·         The rules and deadlines are available in the Performance Contest page

    ·         A full set of tools to provide for a smooth start and a "leveled playing field" has been carefully prepared for the contestants (we're providing a "Getting Started" video and a full Eclipse workspace so you can be up and running in no time).

    ·         We encourage you to use the Performance forum for questions related to the contest

    Create your own db4o Distribution

    ·         Building a full db4o distribution will allow you to get the same db4o packages as you can get from db4o download center. However, the flexibility of the build project also allows you to get only parts of it, like only java distro, only documentation, only tests etc.

    ·         Now you can learn how to build db4o by yourself. This will allow you to implement enhancements and come up with your custom modifications of the engine.

    ·         The generation of db4o .NET sources is achieved through "Sharpen" which can be used for any application to automate conversion of Java sources to C# - get started using the conversion tool and give us some feedback the Sharpen forum

    Read Committed Isolation and Pushed Updates - Revisited

    ·         db4o guarantees that any query will return objects in their most recently committed state - unless they are still in memory on the client (i.e. on the reference cache)

    ·         To help you handle this last scenario we've introduced Commited Callbacks for providing Pushed Updates (i.e. notify a client that objects have been changed via events)

    ·         In this blog we provide code snippets for doing Pushed Updates while using db4o in embedded client-server mode (code is also compatible with the networked C/S mode)

    To Flush or not to Flush

    ·         In order to provide consistency a database must flush its data cache frequently (and db4o is no different in this sense)

    ·         db4o used to allow users to disable the flushing via Configuration.flushFileBuffers(false) but we're now discontinuing this configuration switch and providing a brand new NonFlushingIoAdapter which makes the risk of database corruption smaller (as it used to be in db4o 6.1)

    ·         Don't forget that there's always a trade-off between speed and consistency (to disable flushing might lead to a corrupted database file if your system is halted during the commit phase) so use the new IO adapter with care

    ·         This new IO adapter is already available in our latest development version

    Improved Read Performance by Profiling with JProbe

    ·         In our latest paircast (a step by step video) you'll learn how to use JProbe to improve performance in your applications

    ·         In this session you'll see how this tool helps db4o developers easily find a way to increase "read" performance by 30%

    ·         If you have any comments about the profiling session or any performance related feedback please don't hesitate to use the Performance forum

    ·         And don't forget that you can test drive JProbe for FREE, see JProbe's on-demand webcast and their weekly Live Demo. You might also want to check the new JProbe white papers

    Highlighted Contributions

    ·         func4: func4 allows you to use db4o for authentication through the JAAS spec for Java applications. It has been used for webapps in Tomcat 5 and Jetty 6. Currently it should be considered in beta

    ·         db4oBackup: a community contributed tool to schedule automated backups of a db4o db. Configuration is done through a config.xml file where you specify the source and target directories. More info here (in Spanish)

    ·         DataNucleus: DataNucleus Access Platform 1.0 M2 has just been released with a JDO/JPA API for db4o (read more here). Main things of interest to db4o users in this release are:

    o    Added support for db4o "embedded server" mode (contrib from Joe Batt)

    o    Zip file of Access Platform specifically for db4o, including bundled db4o-6.1 (GPL)

    ·         Groovy and db4o: In this blog post, db4o Netbeans plugin creator Gerd Klevesaat explains how to use db4o under Groovy (through a builder implementation by the author). The post includes links to download the builder and source code examples  

    Paircast of the Month

    ·         "How to Build db4o" (on-line version) takes you step-by-step through the process of building db4o yourself

    "Paircasts" are video recordings of "live pairing sessions" of db4o core team, designed to provide deep understanding of db4o code and practices. You can download the paircasts or see them on-line and subscribe via different services

     

    E V E N T S

    ·         Wednesday, July 2, 2008 - Munich, Germany
    Join the training course by db4o creator Carl Rosenberger (in German) sponsored by Ralf Westphal and Zoschke. Training will be .NET-centric, covering topics such as db4o based application development, transparent persistence, queries with LINQ, speed optimization and more...

     

    K U D O S    O F    T H E    M O N T H

    [db4o] really is a no-brainer to work with. And yet, it’s not a trite system either. Database experts will be interested to know if db4o offers multi-threading, flexible indexing, atomic transactions and other such things. The answer to these is yes; it is high performance and maintains integrity of its data.

    David M Williams, 6/11, ITWire  

     

    L O O K I N G    I N T O    T H E    M I R R O R

    "db4o Sharpens its Image"
    ITWire.com, May 23, 2008

    "Rapid Linux apps using object databases"
    ITWire.com, June 11, 2008

     


    www.db4o.com
    newsletter@db4o.com
    Phone +1 (650) 577-2340
    1900 S Norfolk Street, Suite 350
    San Mateo, CA 94403 (USA)

    PRIVACY NOTE: We respect your privacy. If you do not wish to receive our monthly newsletter, please send an email to unsubscribe@db4o.com with "UNSUBSCRIBE" as the subject.

  • Newsletter #42 - db4o Opens the Coveted "Sharpen" - an Automatic Cross-Platform Translator

      

    db4o 7.3 Development Release is available for immediate download!


    K U D O S    O F    T H E    M O N T H

    "LINQ for db4o is extremely easy to use and very powerful. The learning curve is very low. This article [about db4o and LINQ] only scratched the surface of the possibilities of db4o."

    Edwin Vermeer
    Senior Software Developer, Mirabeau B.V.
    "Embarcadero Technologies' acquisition of CodeGear and the announcement of db4o's support of LINQ are more evidence of the blurring of the lines of application development and database development. Increasingly, application developers want and need better insight and control of the data management aspects of their applications. On the flip side, database administrators are faced with responsibility of ensuring application performance. Common toolsets and better communication can only help both communities achieve their objectives."

    Gregory Keller on MetaFrequency
    VP-Product Management at Embarcadero Technologies, Inc

    A R T I C L E S

    -- "Sharpen" Translates your Java Application Sources to C# --

    • db4o opens its "secret tool" so that everyone can benefit from a super smart db4o created "cross-platform" Java-to-.NET translator. To learn more, and to find the repository, documentation and bug tracking for "Sharpen" read this blog post.
    • Get started on how to use "Sharpen" with a sample application and short startup guide.
    • You are all invited to enhance and augment to fit your needs. Please give us your feedback in the Sharpen forum.

     


    -- db4objects' dRS is the First Object Replication on Android --

    • dRS replication is now working on Android, adding critical value to db4o based Android Applications.
    • dRS keeps an Android db4o ObjectContainer in sync with another db instance. (either with a server db4o database or a relational database)
    • Download dRS and try it on Android now!

     


    -- db4objects is Leading a Community Effort to Promote LINQ for Java --

    • LINQ for Java follows db4objects approach of Native Queries. To know more about this initiative read Carl's blog.
    • Having a common interface on .NET and Java that is natively supported would create a easy to use, efficient standard for database developers.
    • To read along or participate in this effort join the JLINQ group.

     


    -- Paircasts - db4objects Innovative Agile Way of Documenting Code, Practices and Design Decisions --

    • "Paircasts" are video recordings of "live pairing sessions" of db4o core team, designed to provide deep understanding of db4o code and practices. Read more about our paircasts.
    • A library of db4o "paircasts" is being built for your convenience about specific topics. Check it out, and start downloading here or watch live.
    • The tagging system on the right helps you find the "paircast" that addresses your topic of interest.

     


    -- Paircast Pick of the Month --

    • "Working with db4o sources" (live) – this paircast walks you through the fundamentals of working with db4o sources, compiling the project, writing db4ounits test, etc.
    • This is what you always wanted to know in order to start contributing … let the party begin!

     


    -- JProbe - An Effective Tool to Improve db4o Performance --

     


    -- Highlighted contributions --

    • ObjectManager contributions: Initial support for working with encrypted databases and saving custom db4o configuration settings has been added to
      our community project ObjectManager championed by Gisbert Avellan. Please check the OM Google Code site and/or subscribe to the
      OM commits mailing list.
    • db4o NetBeans plugin author, Gerd Klevesaat shows us how to access db4o databases from Groovy. We welcome your feedback to the db4o-groovy project.
    • Need to validate your objects before a save/update in a db4o database? Check Dario Quintana's Validator.

     


    -- Events --

    • May 19, Auburn Hills, Michigan
      As an OSGi alliance member db4o attended the OSGi Vehicle Expert Group Workshop where representatives of the Automotive industry gathered to support the OSGi platform as the underlying framework for in-vehicle software. db4objects is the de-facto standard for object persistence.under OSGi and it was well received as a robust, straight forward and lightweight transparent persistence solution for the platform. For more information please check the OSGi Vehicle Expert Group site.
    • July 2, Munich, Germany
      Join the training course by db4o creator Carl Rosenberger (in German) sponsored by Ralf Westphal and Zoschke. Training will be .NET-centric, covering topics such as db4o based application development, transparent persistence, queries with LINQ, speed optimization and more…

     


    L O O K I N G    I N T O    T H E    M I R R O R

    "db4o Open Source Object-Oriented Database Supports LINQ". .NET Developers' Journal. May 12, 2008
    "An introduction to LINQ for db4o" by Edwin Vermeer. The Code Project, April 28, 2008
    "Just Objects No Limits" (live), Carl Rosenberger's talk at ICOODB 2008 in Berlin (video for download)

    --------

    With best regards

    The db4objects team.

    www.db4o.com
    newsletter@db4o.com
    Phone +1 (650) 577-2340
    1900 S Norfolk Street, Suite 350
    San Mateo, CA 94403 (USA)

  • Newsletter #41 - db4o Release 7.3 Makes Using LINQ for Object Persistence Easier

       

    db4o 7.3 Development Release is available for immediate download!


    K U D O S    O F    T H E    M O N T H

    "I did not have to do anything to setup db4o to save an object. It just serializes the object to the database. No need to worry about table names, column names or data types. This all comes for free with this engine, allowing a developer to focus on the domain model and the value-add code, rather than data persistence."

    -- Eric Hexter in LosTechies.com


    A R T I C L E S

    -- The efficiency of Transparent Persistence is added to .NET LINQ provider --

    • db4o features the only optimized LINQ (Language Integrated Native Query) provider for an open source object database > read blog
    • Transparent Persistence (TP) automatically stores and retrieves just the needed objects > more about Transparent Persistence and Transparent Activation
    • TP prevents object graph activation issues such as retrieving too many or too few associated objects

     


    -- New "Stable" Release 6.4 is available --

    "Stable" releases are of highest quality and stability, suitable for deployment in shipping products. Major highlights include:

    • Commit time callbacks and pushed updates – to enable client’s object-cache to stay in sync with changes that are committed to the server, and to ensure that certain constraints are not violated
    • Exceptions - helps developers catch certain conditions and recover from them during execution
    • Performance – an order of magnitude faster embedded client/server version of db4o


    -- New "Production" Release 7.2 is available --

    “Production” releases are candidates for "Stable", yet they have more recent features and are recommended for evaluation and development. Highlights of 7.2 include:


    -- dRS, db4o popular replication utility is now "collection-aware" --

    • dRS now preserves collections’ individual element’s accessibility and integrity after replication on .NET and Java


    -- db4o’s Ad-Hoc LINQ Console application offers fun, interactive mode --

    • Using Ad-Hoc LINQ you can play and experiment with queries and objects interactively
    • You are invited to enhance it further


    -- db4objects Survey results are in --

    • Our users vouch primarily for performance and scalability.
    • There’s a clear trend towards more professional db4o users!
    • Thanks for your participation! The winners are announced (in this blog)!


    -- Highlighted contributions --

    • db4o field generation support > read more
    • New financial management project with db4o > read more
    • Maven support for db4o project started > read more


    -- Profiling and tuning performance --


    -- Events --

    • The db4o User Conference 2008 (Berlin) in March was a big success! > read more


    L O O K I N G    I N T O    T H E    M I R R O R

    Select press coverage about db4o since the last newsletter:

    Object-oriented database programming with db4o - Part 2 (by Buu Nguyen)
    The Code Project, March 25, 2008

    When to use an Embedded ODBMS (by Rick Grehan)
    TheServerSide.com, April 07, 2008

    Polytechnic University in Hannover Germany Rehabilitates Injured Athletes and the Disabled with db4o
    SAN MATEO, Calif., April 21, 2008 (Press Release)

    --------

    With best regards

    The db4objects team.

    www.db4o.com
    newsletter@db4o.com
    Phone +1 (650) 577-2340
    1900 S Norfolk Street, Suite 350
    San Mateo, CA 94403 (USA)

  • Newsletter #40 - db4o 7.2 Features Fast LINQ for .NET

    db4o 7.2 Development Release (Beta) is available for immediate download!

    db4o now supports an optimized LINQ interface

    • db4o supports .NET 3.5 with a uniquely-optimized LINQ interfaces for its object database.
    • As a .NET standard-of-practice, the LINQ interface for db4o removes risk and leaves net benefit for those using the innovative db4o product.
    • For some background information about LINQ (“Language Integrated Queries”), see msdn.microsoft.com

    Read this story in our db4o developer blog

    dUC 2008/ICOODB fast approaching (Berlin, March 10-16)

    • The dUC is your chance to influence db4o product roadmap, learn about best practices, and socialize with db4o core developers and peers from all over the world.
    • Learn about other developments in the world of Object Databases at ICOODB (first international conference on Object Databases) held at the TFH Berlin.

    Read this story in our db4o community blog.

    Focus on Performance

    • PolePosition benchmarking integrated into our continuous build – 1000x improvement on one use case.
    • Our new Type Handler interface allows users to easily optimize storage and retrieval performance for any data types. (read more about type handlers in our db4o developer blog.)

    Read about the recent performance improvements in the db4o developer blog.

    Flexible rollback strategy to go with our Transparent Persistence

    • User ability to define rollback strategy nicely rounds up our exciting Transparent Persistence feature arrival of last month
    • Get more hints on using Transparent Persistence.

    Read the developer comments about transparent persistence, or

    Announcing CodeCommander Program for strategic community projects

    • db4o rewards project contributions by community members with access to core team and development infrastructure and more...
    • Current featured projects are ObjectManager and Mono support

    More information about the CodeCommander program can be found in the db4o community resources section.

    db4o training event (Munich, April 22-23)

    • Training course by db4o creator Carl Rosenberger (in German) sponsored by Ralf Westphal and Zoschke.
    • Training will be .NET-centric, covering topics such as db4o based application development, transparent persistence, queries with LINQ, speed optimization and more...

    For more information, visit the course information page.

    Carl Rosenberger on db4o (interview by Ralf Westphal)

    • Including topics such as the db gorillas, applicability depending on use cases, LINQ, C++ vs Java/C# object databases, O/R mapping and more...

    Read the full interview in the db4o community blog.

    KUDOS OF THE MONTH

    "I like db4o because it has a very simple API, a small footprint but also allows dealing with complexity. It is as transparent as I imagined data storing should be ... There is no need to modify your domain classes at all."

    Gerd Klevesaat
    (Author of Eclipse and NetBeans plugins for db4o)

    LOOKING IN THE MIRROR

    "db4o in the Mirror of JPA/EJB and Hibernate"
    .NET Developer's Journal, Feb 13, 2008


    http://www.db4o.com/
    newsletter@db4o.com
    Phone +1 (650) 577-2340
    1900 S Norfolk Street, Suite 350
    San Mateo, CA 94403 (USA)

    PRIVACY NOTE: We respect your privacy. If you do not wish to receive our monthly newsletter, please send an email to mailto:unsubscribe@db4o.com?subject=UNSUBSCRIBE with "UNSUBSCRIBE" as the subject.

  • Newsletter #37 - db4o 7.0 released, new XtremeConnect pairing service


    K U D O S    O F    T H E    M O N T H

    "I can have my applications working in pc's and mobile devices without writing a new object model or an interface for the storage, db4o rocks!"
                   -- Gisbert Avellan, dVP 2008


    A R T I C L E S

    -- db4o 7.0 RELEASED WITH TRANSPARENT ACTIVATION --

    db4objects has announced availability of a development (beta) release of version 7.0 of db4o for Java for immediate download from the db4o Download Center.

    db4o 7.0 features Transparent Activation (TA), which makes it even easier than before to retrieve data objects of any complexity in db4o with only one line of code while bolstering db4o's performance lead over incumbents such as Hibernate, relational or non-native object databases. The current release supports native Transparent Activation for Java and db4o collections, a .NET version is planned for December and full support for all collection types in Q1/08.

    Find the complete release notes in New in Version 7.0 (PDF).

    More information in Carl's blog posts The 7th Dimension and detailled item by item release notes.


    -- XtremeConnect VIRTUAL PAIRING SERVICE LAUNCHED --

    db4objects has launched its new premium service offering dDN Enterprise which includes the unique new support service XtremeConnect.

    XtremeConnect allows developers to directly connect with a db4o specialist for a remote pairing session that enables joint design reviews, problem solving or debugging with unprecedented efficiency.

    This service evolved from db4objects' engineering processes that are are based on Extreme and Agile practices and, by necessity, include some ingenuity to bridge the geographic gaps between remote engineers. With the help of Skype and VNC engineers always develop in pairs, one writing the code, the other writing tests trying to break the code or offering advice on how to improve the code.

    As a dDN Enterprise subscriber you can click on the XtremeConnect button located in the new ObjectManager Enterprise productivity tool or the db4objects Customer Portal to schedule a one-on-one session with a db4o specialist.

    For more information and instructions on how to obtain this product, please visit the XtremeConnect Product Information page.


    -- db4o 6.4 READY FOR PRODUCTION --

    db4o 6.4 has now been moved to PRODUCTION status, the equivalent of a candidate for stable, which means it is recommended for evaluation and product development. In this phase the feature set stays consistent and only bug fixes are be applied to the code. In Q1/2008 db4o 6.4 will move to STABLE, the version recommended for product shipment. Starting with release 7.0, STABLE releases are only available to commercial customers.

    Get version 6.4 Production from the db4o Download Center.


    -- NEW ObjectManager Enterprise LAUNCHED --

    ObjectManager Enterprise is a completely new design of the ObjectManager productivity tool. It provides great database browsing and maintenance features and adds the ability to access services such as case management and XtremeConnect, our new virtual pairing service.

    This first release of OM-Enterprise is implemented as Visual Studio 2005 plug-in with an Eclipse version to follow towards the end of the year. By leveraging the plug-in framework users never have to leave their favorite development environment to test their db4o database.

    ObjectManager Enterprise is exclusively available to all customers subscribing to the new dDN Enterprise offering. You can download a trial version of ObjectManager Enterprise here.

    The previous ObjectManager 6 is still available under GPL here and is maintained by the db4o community, together with a host of IDE plug-in projects.

    You can find more information on the web about dDN Enterprise and ObjectManager Enterprise.


    -- db4objects INTRODUCES NEW BUSINESS MODEL --

    The new premium service offering, db4o Developer Network (dDN) Enterprise, comes with a new business model -- a subscription bundle that covers all the needs for commercial product development using db4o.

    dDN Enterprise is priced at $18,000 per named developer per year and consists of a bundle of five components:

    Upgrades from an existing, basic dDN membership, may be eligible for a partial refund and discounts of up to 30% on orders placed and shipped prior to 12/31/2007. Volume discounts are available for dDN Enterprise subscriptions for multiple named developers.

    dDN Enterprise is available with a 30 day cancellation policy which allows for a risk free trial. If you decide not to subscribe to dDN Enterprise, you will only be charged 1/12 of the total fee.

    Download the complete dDN Enterprise Product Information (PDF) for more information.


    -- db4o - THE DATABASE FOR GOOGLE'S ANDROID --

    Google has created a stir with the release of the Android SDK, a comprehensive software platform for mobile phones that was recently announced at the Open Handset Alliance. The Java programming API and the fact that it is free makes it an ideal platform for millions of application developers -- and immediately compatible to db4o.

    Only hours after the Android release the db4objects team had some quick evaluations of the SDK running with db4o. The result: db4o runs without a snag on Android and is, out of the box and without optimization, already 20% faster than SQLite.

    Read more on Christof's blog here and Carl's blog here. You will definitely see more news around db4o and Android. Stay tuned!


    -- NEW AND IMPROVED dDN MEMBER PORTAL --

    The db4objects Customer Portal has received a face lift and exciting new features have been added. The new URL customer.db4o.com gives access to the following exclusive services:

    • XtremeConnect - web access to db4objects' expert support through live pairing sessions (Enterprise only)
    • dDN Support Case Management - file your support cases and receive replies in 24 hours or less
    • dRT Runtime and Contract Management - manage and report the shipments of your db4o Runtime Licenses (dRT)

    Access to the Customer Portal is subject to having an active subscription to the professional dDN Enterprise package or a basic dDN membership.


    -- SAMPLE APPLICATION: SYNC YOUR MOBILE PHONE USING db4o --

    German has created a ProjectSpace with a great sample application complete with video tutorial on how to develop a sync program for mobile devices. The use case shows how to synchronize Pocket Outlook contact information on a Windows Mobile 6 device over-the-air with a db4o server using db4o synchronization technology (dRS). This is not only useful for developers working on WM6 but for anyone looking at synchronization challenges.


    -- SERENDIPIRY, AN INFORMATION SHARING FRAMEWORK --

    Serendipity (by Alex de Spindler) is a high-level framework aimed at supporting the forms of information sharing required in social applications. It is based on the concept of peer collections that allow data to be managed and shared in a flexible way. The project includes documentation and an installer for Java. For more information visit the ProjectSpace here.


    -- MITOO: MIGRATE TO OBJECT ORIENTED DBMS --

    MITOO (MIgrating data To Object-Oriented databases) is an application framework for migrating data from relational databases to object databases through SQL queries. For more information such as usage scenarios, documentation, downloads, etc. please check the ProjectSpace for MITOO here.


    L O O K I N G    I N T O    T H E    M I R R O R

    Select press coverage about db4o since the last newsletter:

    "Inside db4o"
    TheServerSide, November, 2007, by Rick Grehan

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    With best regards

    The db4objects team.

    www.db4o.com
    newsletter@db4o.com
    Phone +1 (650) 577-2340
    1900 S Norfolk Street, Suite 350
    San Mateo, CA 94403 (USA)

  • Newsletter #35 - db4o 6.4 released with MTOC, db4objects supports ICOODB


    K U D O    O F    T H E    M O N T H

    "db4objects really makes persistence work for your business-model instead of the other way around."
                   -- Dirk Louwers (The Netherlands), September, 2007


    A R T I C L E S

    -- db4o V6.4 BOOSTS EMBEDDED CLIENT/SERVER SPEED --

    Performance matters. That is consistently the #1 message we get from the user surveys and we are happy to deliver: We have managed to boost the speed of db4o in embedded Client/Server mode by an order of magnitude. Embedded C/S is what we call a scenario where multiple client applications generate transactions concurrently against one ObjectContianer server.

    db4o V6.4 improves embedded C/S by passing objects directly between "client" and "server" instead of marshalling and unmarshalling them. It keeps a local reference system for each transaction and makes sure the correct reference system is used for query processing. Metadata is shared between all transactions. Embedded Client/Server now works as if an ObjectContainer had multiple transactions - and that was the internal name we used for the project while we were working on it: Multi-Transactional-ObjectContainer (MTOC).

    db4o V6.4 with the embedded C/S speed boost is available for immediate download from our download center. Read more on Carl's Product News Blog here. Embedded C/S is described in the Reference Documentation here - no change is required in your code if you used embedded C/S before as the APIs are consistent.


    -- NEW CONFERENCE ON ODBMS SUPPORTED BY db4objects --

    ICOODB is the first international conference purely focused on object databases. db4objects' CEO Christof Wittig and Chief Software Architect Carl Rosenberger are on the distinguished list of speakers together with recognized authorities such as Robert Greene, Mike Card and Ralph Westphal.

    The ICOODB is organized by an independent committee, headed by ODBMS.ORG experts Prof. Dr. Stefan Edlich (TFH Berlin) and Dr. James Paterson (Glasgow Caledonian University) and takes place on March 13 and 14, 2008 at the University of Applied Sciences (TFH) in the German capital of Berlin. You can read about the conference in the ODBMS.org press release.

    Please also mark your calendars for March 12 as we will be organizing a db4o user conference prior to the ICOODB.


    -- db4objects REWARDS COMMUNITY MEMBERS WITH TRIP TO ICOODB --

    Three winners have been drawn from the list of db4o most Valued Professionals (dVP) 2008. db4objects is sponsoring the trip to go to the ICOODB conference in Berlin in March 2008.

    The official winners are:

       Chris Beams (USA)
       Rosen Jiang (China)
       Buu Nguyen (Vietnam)

    These dVPs will also have a chance to attend the db4o user conference on March 12 and meet a number of core contributors and db4objects team members who will also be attending the conference.

    Congratulations to the winners and thank you again to all the dVPs for your contributions to the community!


    -- COMMUNITY NEWS --
     by German Viscuso

    It has been an exciting month for the db4o community. Here are some highlights of new projects in our ProjectSpaces:

    PHP support community project
    db4o developers are always interested in using db4o with different programming language dialects. A community project targeted at supporting PHP was launched after an inspiring Blog post by Nicolas Cano. It shows that db4o integration with other languages doesn't have to be difficult. This project is still in the proof of concept phase but since PHP is very popular you might see improvements by the user community soon. You can check this project space here.

    We also maintain a section featuring db4o integration with other popular dialects here.

    New sample web application
    Alan Lavintman and Dario Quintana contributed a new web application titled RHEs, a human resources managment web application (in Spanish) that leverages db4o, Spring, Javaserver Faces and Facelets.  You can find it in our sample section that showcases applications that are intended to serve as references or examples for your development work. You can find RHEs here.

    LINQ-provider-for-db4o project
    Another excellent project just started by community member Luciano Di Cocco is the LINQ-provider-for-db4o project. The objective is to have rough equivalence with Native Queries using LINQ. Even tough this is still a primitive and limited implementation of a LINQ provider for db4o you might find it interesting since it is based on Matt Warren's sample.
    You can see Lucianos's initial version here.


    L O O K I N G    I N T O    T H E    M I R R O R

    Select press coverage about db4o since the last newsletter:

    "The busy Java developer's guide to db4o: Arrays and collections"
    IBM developerWorks, September 18, 2007, by Ted Neward

    Startup City: db4objects Takes A Run At The Object Database Market
    InformationWeek, September 15, 2007, by John Foley

    "Konservierungsmittel"
    Linux-Magazin September 2007, by Tim Schuermann (In German)

    "Versatile Querying With db4o"
    FTPOnline, July 25, 2007, by Rick Grehan

    --------

    With best regards

    The db4objects team.

    www.db4o.com
    newsletter@db4o.com
    Phone +1 (650) 577-2340
    1900 S Norfolk Street, Suite 350
    San Mateo, CA 94403 (USA)

  • Newsletter #34 - 6.3 Production Release, dVP 2008 Nominations


    K U D O    O F    T H E    M O N T H

    "...It really is a pleasure not messing about with relational databases. Not just that, but I find it helps me to think far more clearly about how to structure code,..."
                   -- Shaky, August 12, 2007


    A R T I C L E S

    -- db4o 6.3 MOVES TO PRODUCTION RELEASE --

    6.3 has enjoyed some particular focus in the past months to ready it for the categorization of "Production". That means that it is in line as the next candidate for "Stable" once it has enjoyed extensive field testing.

    db4o 6.3 introduced remarkable features such as

    • Complete runtime exception hierarchy, giving developers more information when they encounter unexpected behavior and increasing the transparency of the db4o engine
    • A very efficient and robust BTree-based Freespace Manager to keep the database running fast and smooth in the face of complicated updates, deletions and abrupt terminations. The previous implementation was optimized for rapid insert performance; this release improves on that performance and completes the picture.

    Transparent Activation still needs to mature a little before it makes it into a Production release; you can test it in the Continuous release which is available on the download page here.

    To get to "Production", 6.3 underwent rigorous testing and bug fixing. Tetyana summarized the most important details of the release in a great blog post here.

    6.3 Production can now be downloaded from the download page.

     

    -- db4o MOST VALUED PROFESSIONALS 2008 --

    db4o is what it is thanks to the contribution of many individuals. We would like to recognize the effort of a group of people whose work has been particularly valuable to the project. We are very proud to announce the distinguished list of

    db4o most Valued Professionals (dVP) 2008

    The selection is based on many different factors - contributions can be code related such as feature creation, bug fixes and contributions to ProjectSpaces but can also be in form of Blog posts or Forum contributions - anything that helps share knowledge and expertise with other db4o users.

    db4objects would like to congratulate all the nominees and thank you for your commitment and support. The 88 individuals representing 29 different countries are now listed on the dVP 2008 web page.

    Three of the 2008 dVPs will be invited to attend the ICOODB 2008 Conference on Object Databases that will be held in Berlin (March 13-14, 2008) where aside from attending the conference they will be able to meet the db4objects team and discuss product design and priorities.

    Read more about the dVP Program, its benefits, the selection criteria, and the list of the dVP 2008 award recipients here.

     

    -- A FOCUS ON DOCUMENTATION --

    In the 2007 user survey a great many of you expressed a desire for improved documentation. In the past months we have focused our efforts to live up to your expectations on various fronts:

    • Improved search so that it is easier to find information
    • Improved usability of offline docs
    • Re-designed Resources section on the developer site, with new content and improved navigation
    • And last but not least, we overhauled all documentation, checking for broken links, content and all

    Improved Search: Search now includes searchable Wikis and extended search. Try clicking on the new "More Search Options" link under the search window. Maybe the docs had the information you were looking for it was just hard to find?

    Improved Usability: The offline docs now have collapsible trees to facilitate navigation – offline docs are included in the download of any db4o release you choose.

    Re-designed Resources section: Not only is everything much easier to find now, we have added some new content: Code Snippets and Starter Kits. The code snippets section is a a communit