Place both ConnectionSetup and EnvironmentEdit in your 'Control Panels' folder or 'Apple Menu Items' folder for quick and easy access.
Macintosh 68K:
• Place the "PrimeBase Extension" in your 'Extensions' folder and restart your computer.
Power Macintosh:
• Place the "PrimeBase Extension" and the "PrimeBaseLib" in your 'Extensions' folder and restart your computer.
Setup a connection
After you have restarted, and when the the server is running,
• Start connection setup, and click 'Create', to create a new connection definition file (connect.def).
• Click the 'NEW' to create a new connection.
• Define a connection to your server.
NOTE: If the server is running on the same machine as the client, select the 'Program-Linking' Protocol, and if it is running on a remote machine, select 'ADSP'.
Run your client application
You may now connect to the server with a client application. Try the 'interactive Data Access Manager shell' (iDAM), in this folder, or download and try the example telephone application.
To login using iDAM is easy if you have already setup a connection to the server. We iDAM prompts for a Database Extension name you can hit return to accept the default: 'DAL'.
NOTE: User name for the server is: Administrator, and password in blank.
You may enter a multi-line DAL sub-program at the iDAM prompt. When you have done this, type 'go', and the program will be executed. For example, enter:
describe databases;
printall;
go
This DAL command lists the databases available on the server. You can now open a database:
open database telephone;
go
And then select some data:
select * from person; printall;
go
Enter 'bye' to close the DAL session, and quit the application.
ABOUT THE PrimeBase CLIENT SOFTWARE:
The client software consists of the following components:
• PrimeBase Extension - A standard Macintosh 'Database Extenstion'.
This component may be used on both 68K and PowerPC machines. It enables an application to access the a PrimeBase server using Apple's Data Access Manager.
It must be placed in the 'Extensions' folder, and the computer must be restarted before the extension may be used.
The database extension uses the name "DAL". Defined in the 'ddev' resource. Change this if you already have a database extension installed with the name DAL, or remove the other database extension.
PrimeBase Extesion also installs a macintosh driver with the name ".CL1E5' (defined in the DRVR resource). This is the standard name for the DAL driver. Change the name if you get the error 'Driver already loaded' on restart (or remove the other DAL driver).
• PrimeBaseLib - A PowerPC native shared library.
This is a Macintosh shared library version of the PrimeBase client software. It may be used only on PowerMacs. Applications that require this library search for it in the 'Extensions' folder, and in the current working directory.
Placing the library in the Extensions folder ensures that it can be found by all client applications.
• ConnectionSetup - A "control panel" to configure client connections.
ConnectionSetup must be used to define a connect to the server before a client application can connect to the server.
Multiple connections may be defined, and are identified by a 'connection alias'. The top-most connection entry is considered the default. Client applications must pass the connection alias in the 'host' parameter of the DBInit() call when making a connection to the server.
The connection definitions are stored in a file called 'connect.def'. Client software searches for this file by first looking in the current working directory (and 'Setup'/'PrimeBase Setup' sub-directories), and then in the Preferences folder. The connect.def file may be setup once by the administrator, and then distributed to all client machines.
• EnvironmentEdit - A "control panel" for editing environment (preferences) files.
Environment files contain settings for various PrimeBase components. These file end in '.env'. Normally you should not need to alter the default settings and other configuration information.
The client software searches for the 'client.env' file on startup. As usuall, the current working directory is serached before the Preferences folder. If the file is not found, then a new one will be created in the 'PrimeBase Setup' folder in the 'Preferences' folder.
Double-client on an environment file to edit it, or to see which value can be configured.
NOTE: Editing the PrimeBase server environment file (server.env), has no effect on server settings which are stored as 'System Variables' in the Master database. Check the Reference Manual for details on server system variables.
