What sort of database is Portfolio?

Portfolio is a complete DAM application - not just a database engine.

Portfolio uses database technology based on the Faircom C-Tree database. This is a cross-platform database "engine" (Mac and Windows) that is OEM'ed to software developers. When using Portfolio's proprietary database the actual technology is best described as a "File-Sharing" system since the client does most of the work and server just brokers access to the database, this is in contrast to the typical Client-Server system where the workload is distributed.

The Faircom database is best considered as a flat file database but if the end user has purchased the SQL Connect module then the database is a highly relational database since it is then being hosted on an SQL Server. Since Portfolio is an application that runs on top of a database it is important to differentiate it from the classic database engine comparisons.

If you're not a database expert the above probably doesn't make much sense to you. You may remember someone at the office water-cooler saying "flat file = bad, relation = good" but it isn't as simple as comparing something Access with Portfolio. Portfolio includes a lot of image filters which otherwise you'd need to make yourself or licence from others. The client/server interaction is all taken care of for you. However, if you do want to do things like store address details of clients who've used certain images in your Catalogue, you might want to interface a relational database such as Access with Portfolio. This is no problem as there are automation interfaces for both Mac (AppleScript) and Windows (Visual Basic) allowing programmatic interchange of information. If you use SQL Connect, the blending of Catalogues with other database structures becomes even less of an issue.

Question: What sort of database is Portfolio? [FAQ00168.htm]
Last Update:- 21 January 2008

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