Project databases: Architecture

Project databases, the headliner of the 4D v18 release, allow distributed teams to work collaboratively by storing an application’s code in a source control system, in text files containing everything from the database structure to the user interface, including forms, menus, user settings, or any required resources. And since a project database is made of text-based files, you’ll have several folders and files, stored within a single parent database folder. In this blog post, we’ll go through the architecture of a project database to give you a better understanding of this new type of database.

The architecture of a project database

A project database is made of several folders and files, stored within a single parent database folder.

Projects and Source control

Now that you know the folders and files in a project database, which folders or files should you upload to a source control system? Perhaps, you’re thinking it’s the Resources and Project folders. Well when you compile your database, 4D stores the compiled code in the “Project/DerivedData” folder. Therefore, it’s recommended to upload the “Resources” folder, the “WebFolder” folder and the “Project” folder (without the “DerivedData” sub-folder) to a source control system.

binary database vs project database

In this video, we compare the architecture of a binary database (.4DB) vs a project database (.4DProject).

For example, to open my binary database, I select a file with the “.4db” or “.4dc” extension. What’s the equivalent in a project database? It’s the file with the “.4DProject” extension.

For the compiled database, what’s the equivalent of the “.4DC” file? In a binary database, the source code of the application is found in the files with the extension “.4DB” and “.4DIndy”. For a project database, which folders or files correspond to the structure?

You can find the answers to these question and more in the video below: