History

UniVerse was originally developed by VMark Software and UniData was originally developed by the Unidata Corporation. Both Universe and Unidata are used for vertical application development and are embedded in the vertical software applications. In 1997, the Unidata Corporation merged with VMark Systems to form Ardent Software. ^[5] In March 2000, Ardent Software was acquired by Informix . ^[5] IBM subsequently acquired the database division of Informix in April 2001, ^[6]making UniVerse and UniData part of IBM ‘s DB2 product family. IBM U2 Web Development Environment (U2 Web Development Environment) (U2 Web DEU) IBM U2 family consisting of UniData and UniVerse along with the tools, SystemBuilder Extensible Architecture (SB / XA) ) and wIntegrate.

It was announced that Rocket Software had purchased the entire U2 portfolio from IBM. ^[7] [8] The U2 portfolio is grouped under the name RocketU2.

System structure

Accounts

Systems are made of one or more accounts. Accounts are directories Stored on the host operating system INITIALLY That Contain the set of files needed for the system to function properly. This includes the system’s VOC ( vocabulary ) file that contains every command , filename , keyword , alias , script , and other pointers . Each of these classes of VOC entries can also be created by a user .

Files

Files are similar to tables in a relational database fait que each file: has a single name to Distinguish it from other files and zero to unique multiple records That Logically are related to Each Other.

Files are made of two parts: a data file and a file dictionary (DICT). The data file contains records that store the actual data. The file dictionary may contain metadata to describe the contents or to the content of a file.

Hashed files

For hashed files, a U2 system uses a hashing algorithm to allocate files to groups based on the record IDs . When searching for data in a file, the system only searches for the record is stored, making the search process more efficient and quicker than searching the entire file.

Nonhashed files

Nonhashed files are used as a source of code , XML or plain text . This type of file is stored as a subdirectory within the framework of the operating system.

Records

Files are made of records, which are similar to those of a traditional relational database. Each record has a unique key (called a “record ID”) to distinguish it from other records in the file. These record IDs are typically hashed so that data can be retrieved quickly and efficiently.

Records (including record IDs) ASCII strings; There is no binary data stored in U2. ASCII equivalent before being stored. Usually these records are divided into fields (which are sometimes called “attributes” in U2). Each field is separated by a “field mark” (hexadecimal character FE).

Thus this string:

123-45-6789^JOHN JONES^jjones@example.com^432100^...

could be represented in the EMPLOYEE file with 123-45-6789 as the Record ID, JOHN JONES as the first field, jjones@company.com as the second field and $ 4321.00 as a monthly salary stored in the third field. (The up-arrow (^) above is the standard Pick notation of a field mark that is, xFE).

Thus the first three fields of this record, including the record ID and trailing field mark, would use 49 bytes of storage. A given value uses only as many bytes as needed. JOHN JONES (10 bytes) can be replaced by MARJORIE Q. HUMPERDINK (21 bytes) and one for the field mark.

Fields can be broken down into values ​​and even subvalues. Values ​​are separated by value marks (character xFD); subvalues ​​are separated by subvalue marks (character xFC). Thus, if John Jones has arrived at a second email address, the record may be updated to:

123-45-6789^JOHN JONES^jjones@example.com]johnnyjones@example.net^432100^...

where the close bracket (]) represents a value mark.

Since each email address can be used in the context of a separate file (in SQL terms, an O2 term , a “translate”), this provides the reason why U2 can be classified as a MultiValued database.

Data

Raw information is called Data. A record is a set of logical grouped data . eg an employee record will have data stored in the form of fields / attributes like his name, address etc.

Programmability

Both UniVerse and UniData have a BASIC language structure (UniVerse Basic and UniBasic, respectively), which is similar to Pick / BASIC, which naturally operates on the structures of the MultiValue database. They also have a structured query system (RetrieVe and UniQuery) used to select records for further processing and for ad hoc queries and reports.

RocketU2 provides a set of Client Tools to allow software developers to access U2 databases from other software languages. ^[9]

Client Tool interfaces include:

• ODBC / JDBC
• Intercall (C / C ++)
• UniOLEDB – OLEDB Driver
• UniObjects (COM)
• UniObjects (.NET)
• UniObjects (Java)
• Native XML
• U2 Web Services
• JSON (JavaScript Object Notation)
• Python (available as of UniVerse 11.3 and UniData 8.2)

Security

Both UniVerse and UniData support TLS transport level data encryption and record level encryption and data rest with OpenSSL. Additional API encryption is also available to allow custom solutions or meet specific regulatory requirements.

Professional certification

RocketU2 offers three professional certification designations related to the U2 product family. ^[10]

• Rocket U2 Application Developer
• Rocket UniVerse Administration
• Rocket UniData Administration

Web-Based Applications for U2 Data

Rocket Software Universe and Unidata have limited ability to create web-based front-ends to Universe / UniData content. Since Rocket Software has SQL-based product can be used to build a web-based UI to the databases; regardless of using Files or Tables in U2. A third-party application framework, can be used to build such web interfaces.

See also

• Pick operating system
• OpenInsight
• Reality

Notes