Tobias Oetiker, David Schweikert, Fritz Zaucker, Adi Fairbank, and
Freek Zindel are proud to announce: _ __ _ ____ ___ __ _ ___ __| | __ _ / _| ___ /
||___ \ / _ \/ _` |/ _ \/ _` |/ _` | |_ / _ \ | | __) || | | |
| (_| | __/ (_| | (_| | _| __/ | |_ / __/ | |_| |\__, |\___|\__,_|\__,_|_| \___| |_(_)_____(_)___/|___/
####Gedafe (the Generic Database Front-End) 1.2.0 ####
Introduction
------------
Gedafe (Generic Database Front-End) is an application independent end-user web front-end for databases.
Applicationindependant means, that the front-end doesn't have any information about the structure and contents of
thedatabase.
The idea behind Gedafe is to put all the application logic into the database, along with meta-information on how
topresent the data. The front-end then gathers this information and uses it to build the user interface. This
approachgreatly reduces development time since you only have to develop the application at the database level and
theweb front-end comes for free.
And there is more: * Gedafe uses a flexible templating system. It allows you customize the look of the user
interfaceto a large degree.
* Gedafe generated interfaces support "deep linking". This means that you can bookmark every page as it is
presented.
* At the moment Gedafe works only with PostgreSQL. But the structure of the application does not depend on
PostgreSQL.
* Gedafe is *NOT* yet another database-administration front-end with table editing ability. It is a real user
interface.
Release Notes
-------------
* PearlReports have been integrated with gedafe. It is now possible to write perl modules (pearls) which will be
pickedup by gedafe and presented in the "Entry" screen. The idea is to use this facility for generating complex,
structured(multi-level) reports. Pearls have access to gedafes Webform generator as well a to the database handle.
* More widgets: the 'widget' attribute of the meta_fields can now specify more widgets and widgets can now have
parameters. For example with 'idcombo(combo=...)' another combo-box can be selected instead of the one chosen by
Gedafe.
* Blobs (files) can now be inserted into bytea columns if you have Postgresql >= 7.2
* Referencing large tables can now be done trough a java applet instead of a html select widget. This makes large
(>100rows or a few kb) tables more easy to use.
* Dates can now be entered with a special 'date' widget.
* Data can now be scanned for tokens resembling web objects (e.g. e-mail addresses, http urls), and automatically
markedup to be hyper links. Set the 'markup' attribute to 1 in meta_fields for the desired column. * Gedafe can
nowcount the total number of results returned from the database. This is helpful for seeing the number of items
foundby a search, and in skipping to the beginning end or of a result set. * If you have the Text::CSV_XS Perl
moduleinstalled (available from CPAN), gedafe automatically detects it, and gives the option of exporting data
eitherin CSV format (comma-separated-values), or in tab-delimited format. CSV format is useful for data with embedded
newlinescharacters.
* The meta_fields attribute 'align' can be used to change the alignment of a coulumn.
* The buttons in the list view (with the arrows for navigation and 'ADD' to add a new record) can now also appear at
thetop before the list.
Availability
------------
Gedafe is released under the GNU General Public License. Read more about it and download at
>> http://isg.ee.ethz.ch/tools/gedafe <<
