sqlite feature request

[neville]

First error.

Just got a hang when opening the Dictionary in Lite. Command-Esc broke into the debugger at line 83 of the load remote code, seemingly an infinite loop.

Can someone point me to where I can start a new thread, all I see is "Post Reply" - or do I just change the subject line, could it be that simple

[OpenXTalkPaul]

Can someone point me to where I can start a new thread, all I see is "Post Reply" - or do I just change the subject line, could it be that simple

In each forum section there should be a button labeled "New Topic", but before making a new topic please use "search" at the top of the page to try to find a thread already a topic related to your topic.

[neville]

Problem 2 [I am testing stacks developed in LC with OxTLite, and will report what I think are bugs in OxTLite, legacy bugs from LCE, and bugs/features which my stacks use and which were fixed or added since 9.6.3. This is for my benefit to see if I can convert to OxT, but also hopefully will prove useful to others.]

The LCE version of the sqlite library was compiled without REGEXP and MATH flags turned on; some time after LCE MarkW agreed to recompile it with these flags. It would be *really* good if this could be done in OxT; the ability to use regular expressions in a WHERE clause is supremely useful, and having math functions is obviously useful.

Oh, no doubt this should go into a separate post, but should the Dictionary work in OxTLite? Apart from the previously mentioned hang I got when I launched it, it looks very nice (I definitely approve of coloured icons, I hate the dreary grey and black look), but I get no content when I click on an entry. Resource missing?

Neville

[tperry2x]

Hi Neville,
Sorry to answer your question with a question, but I do have some bits just to clarify.
Are you currently using OXT DPE editions, or are you using OXT Lite?

The OXT Lite version does still use the dictionary if you have "Use Quick Dictionary" turned on in Preferences > Dictionary (that's where it'd use the "api.sqlite" file).

If however you turn off the 'Use Quick Dictionary', then you get an alternative dictionary which has all these entries as normal .txt files. (assuming you are using v1.07) That might not be what you are after, and is an intentional decision I've made - only for OXT Lite - purely so it opens editing of this up fully for all users.

(Everyone can change a text file, but not everyone knows how to dabble within sqlite databases). That was my reasoning. Plus, I experienced too much flaky db behaviour and strange errors - which was another reason I decided to move away from it.

If you do want to use the database, then Paul's DPE version of OpenXTalk is the one you'll want to go for - with the change to the REGEXP and MATH flags turned on - then the database recompiled (which I'll leave up to people who are more in the know to do).

[neville]

As far as the dictionary goes, I am using Lite, and I get no dictionary content whatsoever - a list of entries, such as "dgData", but no content for the entry. It could have something to do with the earlier infinite loop in the load random script. In Settings I see Quick Dictionary turned off. Turning it on gives me what looks like a search window (brown), but it doesn't do anything.Turning off the "browser" version of the Dictionary gives me a different window, looks like the LC Dictionary, but no entries as well as no text. Looks like reboot time.

BTW I've never had any problems with sqlite, it has been stable as a rock and never any corruption issues, more likely it is the data or the accessing handlers which are flaky. And for presentation to users, I use a few fields and buttons to allow them to construct queries hiding the need for any knowledge of sql.

Your comment about users and the dictionary suggests you might be considering allowing users to contribute comments, a feature of the old LC dictionary which was really useful. They turned it off when they went to the very slow browser version, and the result was lots of inaccurate entries that they never had the time to correct. I wasn't aware they ever had any problems with spam comments.

Great to know that Paul has turned on REGEXP in sqlite, I need it. So I have to wait for a merge of the two forks? (I like your palette design, hate the clunky black and white SGF icons - which seem to have taken over the rest of Paul's palette - so I'll mostly be sticking with Lite for my experiments for now)

Neville

[tperry2x]

If you could post a screenshot of what you are seeing (or not, as is more accurately the case), it'll help me understand better what's going on. It could be a file permissions issue possibly, but I thought I'd sorted that in an earlier test build.
If you could let me know what OS you are testing in. Edit: ignore that, I'll be able to see from the screenshot

Your comment about users and the dictionary suggests you might be considering allowing users to contribute comments, a feature of the old LC dictionary which was really useful. They turned it off when they went to the very slow browser version, and the result was lots of inaccurate entries that they never had the time to correct.

Yes, exactly - I'd love for people to be able to change this and open it up as needed.
Then any changes can be incorporated in the 'check for updates' window, as it's just a single text file to replace. Nice and easy.

[neville]

All versions of the Dictionary now seem to be working after a re-launch of Lite. [This is macOS Ventura on an Air] My guess is the original glitch I got (a loop in load random, tho why it wanted to run that bin script I don't know) caused the dictionaries to fail. What caused the original glitch I don't know, possibly an uninitialised local variable.

[tperry2x]

That's great news. Glad it's now working for you.
Future versions of my dictionary will load the entries from user plugins, but I'd also like to encourage new plugin authors just to make a text version.

This text version can then live in:
[path to the dictionary in OXT Lite]/exports/xtalk/plugins/

[OpenXTalkPaul]

REGEXP and MATH flags turned on

If adding these features is simply a matter of adding compile time switches to turn them on during building process for the revDB stuff then that shouldn't be difficult to add in I would think.
Mark Wielder has already been making changes to the build process for the Linux dependency binaries, maybe he could add those switches in while he's at it?

[neville]

If adding these features is simply a matter of adding compile time switches to turn them on during building process for the revDB stuff then that shouldn't be difficult to add in I would think.

That is my impression.

When recompiling, please check the version of sqlite is the latest (3.46, released 2024-05-23). Just tried

ALTER TABLE t DROP COLUMN c

and it gave a syntax error, whereas I could do that in LC 9.6.something.

Neville