Searching for suitable database systems, more

[Guest guest]

Dear Michael

 

Its good to hear you being satisfied in following:

 

" I use a Macintosh with Filemaker 4.0, and have not problems getting

chinese characters into my database. Filemaker is 2 byte compatible

(something I CAN'T say for Microsoft products!), however you need to

install the Chinese language kit to get the characters to appear in

Filemaker. At least if you are using System 8.6 or earlier. If you are

using System 9, it comes with the language kit, you just need to

install it. "

 

I also work on a Macintosh and have language kit installed.

Yes, I can also input chinese characters into the database (no problems

with that), and they stay there and look beautiful.

As long as you don't want to edit the text you got there.

 

So as far as you dont want to change what you have " input'ed " into

Filemaker, I mean editing the text, then Filemaker is " 2 byte language

compatible " .

 

But when you want to edit in e.g. big bulks of chinese character text

(e.g. if you copy and paste from web pages or other programs) you will

find that filemaker is not 100% " 2 byte language compatible " .

So its okay for names (like herb names etc) but not for big text parts.

 

I have found Filemaker-newsgroups who have discussed this as well, its

a problem also in the business world, and a problem for all languages

using " 2 byte language systems " (e.g. Hebrew, japanese). - Or at least

it used to be, and I still havent got the sollutions.

 

So for my purpose, english filemaker versions are not doing the job.

 

I have maybe a chance now to obtain a Taiwanese version of filemaker,

so hopefully I can come back later and say: here is the way.

 

But I still hold up my quest from the first mail:

 

If anyone works with databases, using chinese and english, no matter

what system they use, or what kind of database software, please please

hand over your experiences and suggestions.

If anyone has ways of getting in touch with people working with the

same, again, please give me a chance to get in touch with them.

(very likely some of the people writing on TCM).

 

So thank you very much Michael, I agree Filemaker is probable one of

the best programs around, - the day it can solve my problem, it will be

the ultimative best.

 

I can say to the people out there browsing the internet for chinese

language information, its exploding!

I have followed the development for 1 and 1/2 years, and it is just

thrilling to see how much is coming.

There is also a huge database:

Traditional Chinese Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System

(TCMLARS)

http://wall.cintcm.ac.cn

http://wall.cintcm.ac.cn/tcme/

 

but untill now it will be out of proportion in costs for daily use, for

the average practisioner.

 

Also my little forecast: Soon there will be extensive online databases

usable for ordinary western practisioners, and I think this will change

the way we think about herbs. It can help in one way, but will also

make the TCM world more complex.

Hopefully we can be able to prevent problems such as nephropathy and

allergic reactions, which at times can be life threatning.

 

ALL the best, and all my thanks to those who follow this:

Sebastian Oliver Davidsen.

sebastian

 

PS

does anyone have experience with ACUBASE ?

http://www.trigram.com

http://www.trigram.com/demo6.htm

this is:

Trigram Software, Inc. Practice Management & Reference

Software.

 

It looks surely as a filemaker thing to me, but if anyone out there use

this or previous version, I would love to hear a little about it!

[Guest guest]

RE: Experience with Chinese in databases.

 

Double byte problems can take a lot of time to debug because there are a variety

of trouble sources. For example, we recently had Chinese seemingly interact

with WORD in an odd way, even when the WORD was vetted for Chinese and

otherwise works well with characters. Theoretically, UNICODE will solve all

these issues, and the Chinese-Japanese-Korean UNICODE font seems to work

well, the main issue being the degree to which we will be able to use the

`private

area' of the font to add specialized characters.

 

Our original Chinese character-based databases were build on the Taiwanese

edition of DB4. It actually works pretty well. The main problem with DB4 is

not even its obsolescence, or the weakness of the programming language, but its

inability to handle large text fields.

 

I understand fox pro to work with Chinese but have never used it.

 

My current writing is in Progress - a professional application development

language. Given that the machine running it has Chinese running, it is capable

of display and editing of Chinese in virtually unlimited fields. Although the

databases are now larger (probably 13K entries in terms , more than 7K herbs

and 2K formulas), these are relatively small DB's for Progress, which is

typically

used to develop large scale applications.

 

The key feature is the ability to index on the Chinese itself. Because pinyin

is

poorly written by Chinese people, and non-unique in the medical term set, the

Chinese must be the sine-qua-non of what is and is not `the same.' Otherwise,

relations created on pinyin or - very much more so English - are too unreliable.

 

There's a piece on the basics of the design issues at:

 

http://www.paradigm-pubs.com/comp-faq.htm

 

 

 

bob Paradigm Publications

www.paradigm-pubs.com 44 Linden Street

Robert L. Felt Brookline MA 02445

617-738-4664

[Guest guest]

Hi Sebastian

 

> I also work on a Macintosh and have language kit installed.

> Yes, I can also input chinese characters into the database (no problems

> with that), and they stay there and look beautiful.

> As long as you don't want to edit the text you got there.

 

Oh yes. I know the problem you are talking about. It is a problem that

bothers me too. But, I'm not using enough Chinese characters for it to be a

big problem for me.

>

> But when you want to edit in e.g. big bulks of chinese character text

> (e.g. if you copy and paste from web pages or other programs) you will

> find that filemaker is not 100% " 2 byte language compatible " .

> So its okay for names (like herb names etc) but not for big text parts.

 

This has be exactly my experience too.

>

> I have maybe a chance now to obtain a Taiwanese version of filemaker,

> so hopefully I can come back later and say: here is the way.

 

Check out www.asiasoft.com. They sell various Asian language programs.

 

zai jian

Michael

------

Michael Max, Licensed Acupuncturist & Certified Herbalist

michaelmax

http://www.home.earthlink.net/~michaelmax

 

>

[Guest guest]

Sebastian,

Yes I have used acubase, and especially enjoy the patent section, otherwise

there are some mistakes...

I am also very interested in your database pursuits, it would be much

appreciated if you could email me if you find out more info...

 

Zai jian (too bad we can't insert characters, or can we?)

-Jason

ALL the best, and all my thanks to those who follow this:

Sebastian Oliver Davidsen.

sebastian

 

PS

does anyone have experience with ACUBASE ?

http://www.trigram.com

http://www.trigram.com/demo6.htm

this is:

Trigram Software, Inc. Practice Management & Reference

Software.

 

It looks surely as a filemaker thing to me, but if anyone out there use

this or previous version, I would love to hear a little about it!