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Two Versions: Free and Professional

Hi. I just wanted to let DarkBASIC Pro users know about a new DBPro plugin, Whiskerstore, that provides easy access and storage for flexible objects in a datastore. Whiskerstore makes it easy for you to manage the complexity of your game data.

There are two versions, a free one and a professional version. Both the Free and Professional versions can be used royalty free on any game you create, even commercial products. Both versions provide basic storage and retrieval of flexible objects with as many named properties per object as you wish. Unlike traditional table-based databases, your objects do not have to all have the same properties. The Professional version adds support for managing lists and lookup tables (often called hash tables or dictionaries) as well as support for classes, optimized indices, and complex logical queries.

A full list of the features can be found below.

Free Version

* object oriented datastore
* each object can have any number of attributes
* supports booleans, integers, floats, and strings

Professional Version adds:

* optimized indices
* classes
* support for lists in attributes
* stand-alone lookup tables
* supports complex logical queries
* encrypted files

Download a copy or just get more information at:

http://www.onecatweb.com/whiskerstore/

The help documentation is also online if you wish to look through the functions.

Feel free to let me know what you like and don't like about the plugin.

Thanks,
Keith

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Thanks Mold Rat. I appreciate feedback. I'm a bit confused why this didn't generate a bit more interest, its not a real flashy plugin but it provides some solid nuts and bolts for completing more sophisticated games that involve a bit more data. I have gotten some feedback on another post and in emails from people though that has given me some insight. Confusion on what it is for is the main problem it seems. A better example of it in use has been requested. A GUI-based editor for the databases has also been requested. Unfortunately I have been besieged by other projects over the last two weeks and have not gotten back to the plugin to add a better example and the GUI-based editor. Hopefully within the next two weeks I will get to it.

Thanks again for the feedback!
Keith

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Wow! Top notch stuff! Free version downloaded.

My one comment though is that you might find that it is hard to sell a product that is meant to save information, when two very good scripting languages are on the market, which do just that (though not as powerful in the data saving department, they ARE scripting languages).

This topic does warrent mailback though.

PS. I just realised that a "Rat" was the first to compliment on the program made by "one man and a cat"

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I dont get it

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i dont have time to read all of that, could you be kind enough to make me interested on this in just 2 lines, if you manage to do it il lread it all

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What's to get it's a top notch object storage thing

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And the sarcasm runs thick ...

Keith
and his object storage thingy ...

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Update of Whiskerstore is now available.

URL:
http://www.onecatweb.com/whiskerstore/

Besides fixing some bugs, changes include:

* Keyword highlighting in the IDE was added for the commands.
* Help is now tied to the keywords.
* Help documentation significantly improved.
* Price for Pro version is now $15.

Of course, the free version is still free.

Thanks,
Keith

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I've tried to read up on what it is that your plugin actually provides, and I think you could sell it in one line:

arrays in UDTs

Bam. Sold.

I'm actually interested now - I think I understand what it provides. For the love of god, produce some "showcase source" which demonstrates how you can store very advanced objects. This plugin could be what people are looking for....

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is this like some kind of object oriented related plugin.. ?

neat

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It is a datastore plugin, like a database but more oriented toward game data than office data. Each chunk of data that you store is treated as an object, so you can consider it object-oriented, but it doesn't require you to program in an object oriented method. You still program in Dark Basic. Its really nice for accessing more complex data for RPG and puzzle-oriented games especially. And with a powerful query function you can find and list objects in a consistent way.

As an example, say you have an RPG and you want to keep track of what is in each room in your dungeon. Every object laying around, the monsters, and the triggers would be stored in the datastore. Using the query mechanism you could have Whiskerstore create a list of what is in a particular room like say the Kings Kitchen just by querying to list all objects that meet the condition "room=Kings Kitchen". Whiskerstore returns a list of objects, monsters, etc. that would be in the room and then you could render them in the room. Since objects are flexible, you can treat your monsters, objects, treasures, characters, and whatever else the same way. No need for stringently defined data structures, or specialized routines to handle each type.

You can also make more interesting queries for AI and story lines. By being able to store and search for any data you wish you can really do some cool things.

Of course for those who want a bit more Object Oriented methodology, it does support class definitions for objects. But these aren't required to be used.

Keith

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I think adr hit the nail on the head. I have been using this plugin for a little while, and there are some great features that seem to have gone unnoticed by the community:

1: Arrays stored into a simple variable. In whiskerstore, they are called lists, and are super cool. Yes, these little guys ARE BASICALLY USABLE AS ARRAYS IN USER DEFINED TYPES, and eliminate the need for massive complicated multi-dimensioned arrays in many cases.

2: Saving stuff is so easy! If anyone wants to save a lot of data for their program in an easy, readable text file, then this plugin is awesome! (oh, and all of that "query" stuff that Keith was talking about makes it so much easier to get the information back as well)

I really hope the community starts noticing this plugin more. I did, and I'm sold.

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Keith, this plugin is really awesome, I believe I told you that already.
But if made some cool examples, this would get a lot more attention, I think. People in here tend not to read longer posts(some does). I've been away from DarkBASIC and my pc in general for a while now, so I haven't had any opportunities to play around with the plugin, but I'll see if I can get to play with it very soon. Keep it up Keith!

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It sounds good, and I may try it for a new project (when I think of the new project). My main concern however is the performance hit. The fact that you seem to talk about queries leads me to believe it's more like a database...

I wouldn't really looking for persistable storage, rather, I'd be looking for fast runtime storage. When I query for a variable, is it effectively a memory lookup, or does it try to load something out from disk?

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Whiskerstore keeps data in memory for fast access. You can use simple indexing to get to data without a query. Or you can utilize a query to find the data or assemble lists of related items when time allows.

Keith

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I've decided that this plugin needs more publicity I still don't fully understand it's potential, but you've got me interested. Unfortunately, I get about 1 hour a night nowadays to play with DBP related stuff.... I shall disclose my findings if I ever get round to using it.

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It's a bank holiday weekend here in the UK, so that means it's time to do some serious programming I will be attempting to use your plugin for a project from tomorrow. I'll let you all know how I get on.

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it honestly is very usefull and impressive. what it lacks is visuals for both marketing purposes, display and convenience of use for the lamen. In short, it needs a GUI,Keith.

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I'll have a look at this if I ever get caught up. I have many plugins I have already bought and haven't even had time to play with lol. Look interesting though. I may buy it as I love plugins.

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The GUI for creating and editing datastores is almost done (and if I've said that before, then its more almost done ). I admit I've dragged my feet on this a bit ...

Keith