Provided by: pxlib-dev_0.6.8-1_amd64 bug

NAME

       pxlib - Library to read and write Paradox databases

DESCRIPTION

       pxlib  is a library to read and write Paradox databases. It is far from being complete but
       should be very helpful for those working on unix and having the  need  to  handle  paradox
       databases, blob files, primary and secondary indexes.

       pxlib  is  a  C-library  with  bindings  for  Python  and  PHP.  The later is part of PECL
       (http://pecl.php.net).  This documentation will only describe  the  functions  of  the  C-
       library,  though  most of what is said here can be applied to the other language bindings.
       The PHP extension of pxlib is documented in PEAR. The extension is called Paradox.

       This library is the base for a gnumeric plugin which has been officially added to gnumeric
       in  version  1.4.0.  pxlib  is also used by hk_classes which itself is the database access
       utilized by knoda (http://www.knoda.org).

GETTING STARTED

       Programs which want to use pxlib will have to include the header file paradox.h  and  link
       against  libpx.   If the libgsf file access is to be used paradox-gsf.h has to be included
       instead of paradox.h. The gsf library cannot be used currently for writing  because  pxlib
       requires read access on the database as well, which is not supported by libgsf.  In such a
       case you will have to create a temporary file first and copy it the gsf stream afterwards.

       Before reading or  writing  a  database  file  the  library  should  be  initialized  with
       PX_boot(3). It will set the locale and selects the messages in your language as defined by
       the environment variable LC_ALL. The library should be finalized by PX_shutdown(3).

       A Paradox database is represented by a pointer to pxdoc_t. Such an object can  be  created
       with  PX_new(3)  and destroyed with PX_delete(3).  You can easily handle several documents
       at the same time, each represented by its own pointer to pxdoc_t.

       pxdoc_t is a faily large structure with various information about the paradox  file.  Most
       of  the needed information is stored in a substructure called px_head.  px_head is defined
       as the following:

       typedef struct px_head pxhead_t;
       struct px_head {
         char *px_tablename;
         int px_recordsize;
         char px_filetype;
         int px_fileversion;
         int px_numrecords;
         int px_theonumrecords;
         int px_numfields;
         int px_maxtablesize;
         int px_headersize;
         int px_fileblocks;
         int px_firstblock;
         int px_lastblock;
         int px_indexfieldnumber;
         int px_indexroot;
         int px_numindexlevels;
         int px_writeprotected;
         int px_doscodepage;
         int px_primarykeyfields;
         char px_modifiedflags1;
         char px_modifiedflags2;
         char px_sortorder;
         int px_autoinc;
         int px_fileupdatetime;
         char px_refintegrity;
         struct px_field *px_fields;
       };

       The structure is defined in paradox.h and can be accessed  directly,  thought  it  is  not
       encouraged  at all, because the structure will disappear in the future. Most header values
       can already be read with PX_get_value(3) or PX_get_parameter(3) and set by PX_set_value(3)
       respectively PX_set_parameter(3)

       The  following  example  will  do  the  basic  preparation  without creating nor opening a
       document on the disk.

       ...
       #include <paradox.h>

       main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
            pxdoc_t *pxdoc;

            PX_boot();
            pxdoc = PX_new();
            PX_delete(pxdoc);
            PX_shutdown();
       }

       In order to actually read a Paradox database from disk you will have to call

       int PX_open_file (pxdoc_t *pxdoc, const char *filename);

       or

       int PX_open_fp (pxdoc_t *pxdoc, FILE *fp);

       PX_open_file(3) will open an existing file with the given file name,  while  PX_open_fp(3)
       will use an already open file. Both require a pointer to pxdoc_t.

       Extending  the previous example with one of the former two functions to open a database is
       just another small step as illustrated in the next example.

       ...
       #include <paradox.h>

       main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
            pxdoc_t *pxdoc;

            PX_boot();
            pxdoc = PX_new();
            PX_open_file(pxdoc, "test.db");
            PX_close(pxdoc);
            PX_delete(pxdoc);
            PX_shutdown();
       }

       The database has to be closed with PX_close(3).  PX_close(3) will only close the  file  if
       it  was  opened  by  PX_open_file(3).   PX_close(3)  is  crucial  because  it also flushes
       unwritten blocks to disk.

       There are more sophisticated functions to create the  handle  for  the  Paradox  database.
       They are used when error handling and memory management shall be controlled by the calling
       application. Check the manual pages PX_new2(3) and PX_new3(3) for a  detailed  description
       or read the section about memory management and error handler below.

       If you rather like to create a new Paradox database the above example must call

       int   PX_create_file  (pxdoc_t  *pxdoc,  pxfield_t  *fields,  int  numfields,  const  char
       *filename, int type);

       instead of PX_open_file(3). Creating a Paradox file requires three further  parameters  to
       specify the database layout and the file type, e.g. pxfFileTypNonIndexDB. The function can
       be used to create both databases and primary index files. Secondary index  files  are  not
       supported  before  version  <=  0.6.0 due to several bugs in pxlib.  Since the format of a
       secondary index file is identical to a database file there is actually no need for special
       support of secondary indexes.  It is left to the application to create them itself.  pxlib
       >= 0.6.0 can open databases for reading and writing and provide  four  new  functions  for
       this purpose. They will be described in the section `Modifying a database'.

       Each field of the database is described by a structure:

       typedef struct px_field pxfield_t;
       struct px_field {
         char *px_fname;
         char px_ftype;
         int px_flen;
         int px_fdc;
       };

       The  memory for the field array must be allocated by the calling application using pxlibs'
       memory management functions, but will be freed by pxlib. For  a  list  of  available  file
       types see the man page of PX_create_fp(3).

READING RECORDS FROM A DATABASE

       Data  in  a Paradox database is organized in records containing fields.  This is much like
       in other formats, e.g. dBase or  a  relational  database  system.  Fields  can  be  of  17
       different  data  types  as listed below.  Field values are stored in sequential order in a
       record. A complete record is read by one of the functions

       int PX_get_record (pxdoc_t *pxdoc, int recno, char *data, int deleted);

       or

       int PX_get_record2 (pxdoc_t *pxdoc, int recno, char *data, int deleted,  pxdatablockinfo_t
       *pxdbinfo);

       The  second  function  returns  additional  data about the internal location of the record
       within the file, which is mostly valueable for debugging or  creating  a  seconday  index.
       Both  functions  need a record number starting at 0 for the first record and a memory area
       large enough for the record. The size of that area  can  be  determined  by  the  function
       PX_get_value(3)  when  `recordsize' is passed as the value name. The record will read into
       that piece of memory straight from the database file without modifications.

       Paradox files can be encrypted. pxlib will automatically  decrypt  a  file  while  reading
       without  the need to supply a password. This is possible because of a very weak encryption
       algorithmn and the password being stored in the database file itself.

       Once the record data has been read it can be accessed with a number of different functions
       depending  on  the field type. The following list contains the field type and the function
       needed to retrieve the value. Nothing can prevent you from accessing the record data in  a
       different way if you know what you are doing.

       pxfAlpha

              int PX_get_data_alpha (pxdoc_t *pxdoc, char *data, int len, char **value);

              The  field  value  will  be  automatically  converted from the encoding used in the
              database file to the encoding set by PX_set_parameter(3) with parameter name set to
              'targetencoding`. The string will be null terminated.

              This  function  allocates  memory  for  the  field  data which must be freed by the
              application. The chunk of memory can be different from len when  encoding  involves
              conversion  from  a  1-byte  to  a 2-byte character representaion. This is also the
              reason why the application cannot precisly allocate the memory for the data and  it
              must be left to pxlib. Read the section about `Memory allocation' for more details.

       pxfDate

              int PX_get_data_long (pxdoc_t *pxdoc, char *data, int len, long *value);

              Fields  of  type  date  are  actually  4  byte  integer  values counting days since
              jan-00-0000. In order to convert it into 3 single integers for year, month and day,
              you will have to add 1721425 to the value and call the function

              void PX_SdnToGregorian (long int *value, int *year, int *month, int *day);

              in  order  to get a valid date. The value 1721425 is the number of days between the
              start of the julian calendar (4714 BC) and jan-00-0000.  len must be set to 4.

       pxfShort

              int PX_get_data_short (pxdoc_t *pxdoc, char *data, int len, short int *value);

              This type is a short integer which is 2 bytes long.  len must be set to 2.

       pxfLong, pxfAutoInc

              int PX_get_data_long (pxdoc_t *pxdoc, char *data, int len, long *value);

              This type is a integer which is 4 bytes long.  len must be set to 4.

       pxfNumber, pxfCurrency

              int PX_get_data_double (pxdoc_t *pxdoc, char *data, int len, double *value);

              These types are floating poing numbers.  len must be set to 8.

       pxfLogical

              int PX_get_data_byte (pxdoc_t *pxdoc, char *data, int len, char *value);

              The extracted value is either 0 (false) or <0 (true).  len must be set to 1.

       pxfBLOb, pxfMemoBLOb, pxfFmtMemoBLOb

              int PX_get_data_blob  (pxdoc_t  *pxdoc,  char  *data,  int  len,  int  *modnr,  int
              *blobsize, char **value);

              This  function  may  not  in  any  case succed. You should call PX_set_blob_file(3)
              before to make sure even blobs in a separate blob file can be  retrieved.  See  the
              section about reading blobs for more information.

       pxfOLE This  type  is  not supported because there is too little known about it. Accessing
              fields of type pxfOLE like fields of type pxfBLOb may work.

       pxfGraphic

              int PX_get_data_graphic (pxdoc_t *pxdoc, char  *data,  int  len,  int  *modnr,  int
              *blobsize, char **value);

              This function has not been tested very well.

       pxfTime
              Use  PX_get_data_long(3)  as  documented  at  field  type pxfDate. The value is the
              number of milli seconds since midnight.

       pxfTimestamp
              Use PX_get_data_double(3) and convert the timestamp into a string with

              char *PX_timestamp2string (pxdoc_t *pxdoc, double *value, const char *format);

              PX_timestamp2string(3) takes a format string as described in the manual page of the
              function  and returns a string.  Alternatively you can process the value itself. It
              represents the number of seconds  since  jan-00-0000.  Dividing  it  by  86400  and
              converting it to an integer produces a value as stored in fields of type pxfTime.

       pxfBCD

              int PX_get_data_bcd (pxdoc_t *pxdoc, char *data, int len, char **value);

              This  function  allocates  memory  for  the  field  data which must be freed by the
              application.

       pxfBytes

              int PX_get_data_bytes (pxdoc_t *pxdoc, char *data, int len, char **value);

              This function behaves like PX_get_data_alpha(3) except for the character conversion
              which  does  not  take place. It will always copy exactely len bytes. This function
              allocates memory for the field data which must be freed by the application.

       Each function takes the current Paradox database object as the first argument.  The second
       argument is the start of the field data. For the first field this will be the beginning of
       the whole record. The second field starts at an offset of length(first field),  the  third
       field  starts  at  length(first field) plus length(second field) and so on. The len is the
       size of the field. The last parameter is a pointer to the data converted to an  equivalent
       C  type.  Each  function  either  returns 0 on success or a value < 0 in case of an error.
       Nobody prevents you from accessing the data with the wrong function, or  pointing  towards
       the  wrong  position  in  the  record.  Check  the manual page of each function for a more
       detailed description.

       Sequencialy reading records and fields from a Paradox database is illustrated in the  next
       simplified example.

       for(j=0; j<pxh->px_numrecords; j++) {
         int offset;
         if(PX_get_record(pxdoc, j, data)) {
           offset = 0;
           pxf = pxh->px_fields;
           for(i=0; i<pxh->px_numfields; i++) {
             switch(pxf->px_ftype) {
               case pxfAlpha: {
                 char *value;
                 if(0 < PX_get_data_alpha(pxdoc, &data[offset], pxf->px_flen, &value)) {
                   // ...
                   pxdoc->free(pxdoc, value);
                 } else {
                   // ...
                 }
                 break;
               }
               case pxfDate: {
                 long value;
                 int year, month, day;
                 if(0 < PX_get_data_long(pxdoc, &data[offset], pxf->px_flen, &value)) {
                   PX_SdnToGregorian(value+1721425, &year, &month, &day);
                   // ...
                 } else {
                   // ...
                 }
                 break;
               }
               case pxfShort: {
                 short int value;
                 if(0 < PX_get_data_short(pxdoc, &data[offset], pxf->px_flen, &value)) {
                   // ...
                 } else {
                   // ...
                 }
                 break;
               }
               case pxfAutoInc:
               case pxfLong: {
                 long value;
                 if(0 < PX_get_data_long(pxdoc, &data[offset], pxf->px_flen, &value)) {
                   // ...
                 } else {
                   // ...
                 }
                 break;
               }
               case pxfTimestamp: {
                 double value;
                 if(0 < PX_get_data_double(pxdoc, &data[offset], pxf->px_flen, &value)) {
                   char *str = PX_timestamp2string(pxdoc, value, "Y-m-d H:i:s");
                   // ...
                   pxdoc->free(pxdoc, str);
                 } else {
                   // ...
                 }
                 break;
               }
               case pxfTime: {
                 long value;
                 if(0 < PX_get_data_long(pxdoc, &data[offset], pxf->px_flen, &value)) {
                   // ...
                 } else {
                   // ...
                 }
                 break;
               }
               case pxfCurrency:
               case pxfNumber: {
                 double value;
                 if(0 < PX_get_data_double(pxdoc, &data[offset], pxf->px_flen, &value)) {
                   // ...
                 } else {
                   // ...
                 }
                 break;
               }
               case pxfLogical: {
                 char value;
                 if(0 < PX_get_data_byte(pxdoc, &data[offset], pxf->px_flen, &value)) {
                   if(value)
                     // ...
                   else
                     // ...
                 } else {
                   // ...
                 }
                 break;
               }
               case pxfBLOb:
               case pxfGraphic:
               case pxfOLE:
               case pxfMemoBLOb:
               case pxfFmtMemoBLOb: {
                   char *blobdata;
                   int mod_nr, size, ret;
                   if(pxf->px_ftype == pxfGraphic)
                     ret = PX_get_data_graphic(pxdoc, &data[offset], pxf->px_flen, &mod_nr, &size, &blobdata);
                   else
                     ret = PX_get_data_blob(pxdoc, &data[offset], pxf->px_flen, &mod_nr, &size, &blobdata);
                   if(ret > 0) {
                     if(blobdata) {
                       // ...
                       pxdoc->free(pxdoc, blobdata);
                     } else {
                       // ...
                     }
                   }
                   break;
               }
               case pxfBCD: {
                 char *value;
                 int ret;
                 if(0 < (ret = PX_get_data_bcd(pxdoc, &data[offset], pxf->px_fdc, &value))) {
                   // ..
                   pxdoc->free(pxdoc, value);
                 } else if(ret == 0) {
                   // ..
                 } else {
                   // ..
                 }
                 break;
               }
               case pxfBytes:
                 // ..
                 break;
               default:
                 break;
             }
           }
           offset += pxf->px_flen;
           pxf++;
         } else {
           fprintf(stderr, _("Couldn't get record number %d\n"), j);
         }
       }

WRITING RECORDS INTO A DATABASE

       Write  support  has  been  introduced  into  pxlib  in  version  0.1.9 but should be still
       considered experimental, though there has been reports from  users  who  has  successfully
       used it.

       Writing   paradox   databases  is  quite  similar  to  reading  them,  if  you  substitute
       PX_open_file(3) by PX_create_file(3) and PX_get_record(3) by PX_put_record(3).

       Modifying the above example in order to create a simple database  with  two  columns  will
       result in the following code:

       ...
       #include <paradox.h>

       main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
            pxdoc_t *pxdoc;
            pxfield_t pxf[2];
            int numfields = 2;

            PX_boot();
            pxdoc = PX_new();
            pxf[0].px_fname = PX_strdup(pxdoc, "column1");
            pxf[0].px_ftype = pxfShort;
            pxf[0].px_flen = 2;
            pxf[0].px_fdc = 0;
            pxf[1].px_fname = PX_strdup(pxdoc, "column2");
            pxf[1].px_ftype = pxfAlpha;
            pxf[1].px_flen = 20;
            pxf[1].px_fdc = 0;
            PX_create_file(pxdoc, pxf, numfields, "test.db", pxfFileTypNonIndexDB);
            PX_close(pxdoc);
            PX_delete(pxdoc);
            PX_shutdown();
       }

MODIFYING A DATABASE

       Starting  from  version  0.6.0 pxlib supports to open databases for reading and writing at
       the same time. If you intend to do so, please ensure to open the file for the database  in
       `w+',  `r+',  or  `a+' mode. You will also have to use a new set of functions as described
       below.

       int PX_insert_record (pxdoc_t *pxdoc, pxval_t **data);

       PX_insert_record(3) inserts a new record into a database.

       int PX_update_record (pxdoc_t *pxdoc, pxval_t **data, int recno);

       PX_update_record(3) updates an existing record in database.

       int PX_delete_record (pxdoc_t *pxdoc, int recno);

       int PX_retrieve_record (pxdoc_t *pxdoc, int recno);

ENCODING

       Exchanging text is not problem as long as both parties use the same encoding or  stipulate
       to use plain 7 bit ascii. Paradox allows one to use any encoding with a know dos code page
       and saves the corresponding code page number in  the  header  of  the  database.  You  can
       request  this number with PX_get_value(3) by passing `codepage' as the value name. Reading
       fields of type pxfAlpha will return the unmodified value unless the  target  encoding  has
       been set by PX_set_parameter(3) differently from the one stored in the database header. If
       the target encoding is set differently  PX_get_data_alpha(3)  will  automatically  convert
       into the requested encoding. This is either done be the iconv or recode library, depending
       on which one was found when  pxlib  was  configured.  If  both  were  available  iconv  is
       preferred.

READING BLOBS

       Paradox  knows  five  field  types  which all represent a type of blob data.  Blobs can be
       stored in the database file but are usually stored in an extra  file  with  the  extension
       .MB. pxlib provides two functions to read blob data.

       int PX_get_data_blob (pxdoc_t *pxdoc, char *data, int len, int *modnr, int *blobsize, char
       **value);

       and

       int PX_get_data_graphic (pxdoc_t *pxdoc, char *data, int len, int *modnr,  int  *blobsize,
       char **value);

       The  second function must be used for fields of type pxfGraphic, the first function can be
       safely use for fields of type pxfBLOb, pxfMemoBLOb, and pxfFmtMemoBLOb.

       In order to read blob data from a .MB file one must first associate  that  file  with  the
       database file by calling

       int PX_set_blob_file (pxdoc_t *pxdoc, const char *filename);

WRITING BLOBS

       Writing blobs is still the most experimental part of pxlib. There has been already success
       stories but there are also some missing parts in the paradox file format  which  decreases
       confidence on those files.

MEMORY MANAGEMENT, ERROR HANDLING

       pxlib uses by default its on memory management and error handling functions. In many cases
       the calling application has its own memory management and error  handling.  pxlib  can  be
       told to use those functions by calling PX_new3(3) instead of PX_new(3).

       int PX_new3 (pxdoc_t *psdoc, (errorhandler *) (pxdoc_t *p, int type, const char *msg, void
       *data), (allocproc *) (pxdoc_t *p, size_t  size,  const  char  *caller),  (reallocproc  *)
       (pxdoc_t  *p,  void *mem, size_t size, const char *caller), (freeproc *) (pxdoc_t *p, void
       *mem), void *errorhandler_user_data);

       The errorhandler  and  the  last  parameter  errorhandler_user_data  allows  one  to  pass
       arbitrary  data as the last parameter to its own errorhandler. This is quite often used if
       errors are being output in a widget of a graphical toolkit. The pointer to that widget can
       be passed as errorhandler_user_data and pxlib will pass it forward to the error handler.

ENCRYPTION

       Paradox supports a very weak encryption of the data blocks. The headers are not encrypted.
       Encryption is accomplished by three static tables with 256 bytes each and a  long  integer
       generated  from  a  password.  The  integer  is  called the checksum of the password.  The
       checksum is stored in the header of the .db file which makes it feasible to decrypt a file
       even  without  knowing  the password.  pxlib reads encrypted files silently without asking
       for additional information. Writing an encrypted file requires to supply  a  password  for
       calculating  the  checksum.  The  password can be set with PX_set_parameter(3). Once it is
       set, encryption is automatically turned on. The password must be set  before  writing  any
       records.  The  best  place  to  do  this,  is  right  after  calling  PX_create_file(3) or
       PX_create_fp(3).

SEE ALSO

       The detailed manual pages for each function of the library.

AUTHOR

       This manual page was written by Uwe Steinmann <uwe@steinmann.cx>.

                                          March 27, 2006                                 PXLIB(3)