[ZODB-Dev] ANNOUNCE: Released IndexedCatalog 0.5.0

[Johan Dahlin]

ANNOUNCE: Released IndexedCatalog 0.5.0

Async Open Source releases today the third public version of
IndexedCatalog. IndexedCatalog is an extension to the Zope Object
Database (ZODB) that makes object retrieval easier and faster, by
indexing all fields by type (string/integer/float/date) and 
providing a simple query language.

    http://www.async.com.br/projects/IndexedCatalog/

* Changes:

Support for subclassed catalogs
Added a new wrapper around ZODB, Shelf, that
simplifies database connections.
Improved list queries slightly
A new tool: dumper that exports and imports data
Unicode index support
Should work with ZODB4 
Support for lazy_numbers, when float convert 
to integer and vice versa

Thanks a lot to Christian Reis for testing, bug fixing and helping with
more or less everything and thank to Nicholas Henke for testing and
optimization.

A blurb about IndexedCatalog follows.

--- blurb -------------------------------------------------------------

* Overview

  IndexedCatalog is an extension to the Zope Object Database (ZODB)
  developed at Async Open Source that provides indexing and allows 
  queries for objects based on attributes.  This is accomplished 
  by indexing all fields by type (string/integer/float) and 
  by implementing a query language.

  IndexedCatalog is licensed under the Lesser GNU Public License (LGPL).

* Features 

    - Provides a Catalog class that stores objects and offers a query
      interface.
    - Provides Indexes for Strings, Floats, Integers, Dates and
      Instances.
    - Requires very little change to objects for catalogs and indexes to
      work: basically inherit from IndexedCatalog.IndexedObject, add 
      some special attributes to the Classes, and use catalog.insert() 
      to add the instances to the catalogs.
    - Supports composite objects, initializing and indexing sub-objects
      automatically.
    - Supports queries by type, and allows querying sub-object or
      referenced object attribute values.
    - Allows ordering query results by field, both ascending and
      descending.
    - Is 100% pure python, and by using Distutils requires
      minimal effort to install.

* Feedback

  We really would appreciate feedback on a few things:

  - The efficiency of the indexing and query algorithms, 
    especially sub-string matching.
  - The new improved query language
  - All comments are appreciated; don't hesitate to post your
    opinion.

* Download

  You can download IndexedCatalog from

    http://www.async.com.br/projects/IndexedCatalog/

  
* Dependencies

  Python 2.1.2 or higher or Python 2.2.2 or higher.
  (Python CVS/2.3 untested)

  ZODB 1.0.x and 3.x are known to work. ZODB 4 alpha 1 should work, but
  it's not very well tested.

  eGenix mx Extensions: mx.DateTime and mx.TextTools. 2.0.2 or later is
  required


* Installing

  Using standard python distutils:

    python setup.py install

  Or just set PYTHONPATH to the directory you unpacked IndexedCatalog
  in.


* Reporting bugs

  Report bugs, feature requests and all other things related to
  IndexedCatalog at

    http://bugs.async.com.br/enter_bug.cgi?product=IndexedCatalog


* Contact

  Johan Dahlin <jdahlin at async.com.br>
  Christian Reis <kiko at async.com.br>


* About Async

  Async Open Source is a company devoted to developing custom
  applications based on open source software, and providing support for
  other existing open source products. We are active in the OSS
  community, supporting (and employing) project maintainers, encouraging
  release of software as open source, and promoting reuse of existing
  open source products.

  Async is located in São Carlos, SP, Brazil, and online at
  http://www.async.com.br/

-- 
Johan Dahlin <jdahlin at async.com.br>
Async Open Source