#CD ROM – How do I Produc
3 messages in this thread
We are developing a large database (200mb+) that our users will access via
bulletin board. Although it is updated weekly, significant changes take place
quarterly. We are thinking of distributing it on CDROM, quarterly. (500
copies).
The database is like a product price list. We must be able to search on all
the fields of each record. Some of our users have Windows and some will not.
It looks like the price is right to produce the CDROM's. My question is how do
I produce the software the users will use to access and search the database.
Also, in the future we will have to include drawings of the products (which we
cannot do easily with the bulletin board approach.
Our database is currently maintained using CA-Clipper.
I recently when through the same set of questions.
My company — small integrator in the DC area — was asked to produce 5000 CD's
for a Federal agency containing text and images. <the next CD is to contain
some video, a more interesting challenge>
We ended up using a search engine called Folio which works pretty well. Their
new version will run under both DOS and Windows.
In general terms, remember that the CD is just another disk drive. If you put a
copy of your database on it — and, of course, pay any associated royalties —
then your users will be able to use your database software. If you write a C++
front end and put the executable on the CD, the users will be able to use that.
And, like we did, if you use some kind of retrieval engine then the users can
utilize that retrieval engine.
If you would like to discuss anything further, feel free to ask specific
questions on CIS or call me at (703) 893-1030.
– Dan
Dan, Thanks for the benefit of your experience. My first CDROM drive, a
Toshiba 3401, will arrive today. Is there a reason why you specifically
mentioned C as a language in which to write the application? With CDROM
access so slow, do you have to use special retrieval techniques to keep all the
data a user needs physically together on the disk?
Thanks, Joe