Convert an existing database into a Project
As of 4D v17 R5, you can create a database project. One of the greatest benefits of projects is how easy it makes collaborative work for distributed teams … by storing the source in a source control system in plain text files. Whether you’re a single developer or part of a team, this opens a new world of possibilities.
But what about existing databases? Can they be converted to projects? Yes! This blog post is all about showing you how to do this and making you aware of a few things to know before proceeding.
4D Project: Embrace a new era of collaboration
4D has been a longtime supporter of team development, ever since 4D Server 1.0. The greatest benefit of working together on the same source code, is allowing both team development and team testing. However this can create some disadvantages for distributed teams since they may not be able to work on the same source.
Following a complete rewrite, 4D now supports two ways to work with sources: binary and project. Binary is the 4D we all know and love, with the source in a binary file to allow team development with 4D Server. Project makes it easier for distributed teams to work collaboratively by storing the source in a source control system in plain text files.
Get started with encryption in 4D
In a previous blog post, we announced new data encryption tools for your 4D databases. Now it’s time to get our hands dirty and learn more about these tools which were designed to be as automatic as possible.
Read 4D object fields with SQL Engine
A 4D object field is a persistent database field type, stored as binary content. Previously, reading this type of field by an ODBC driver wasn’t possible. Until today.
Before, an error was returned when trying to read an object field. This prevented the completion of simple Select * from myTable requests, which could be frustrating for users who only wanted to browse the content of a table.
Good news! The SQL engine has been updated to allow 4D object fields to be read.
Introduction to data encryption in 4D
DATA is everywhere. As our lives increasingly move online, the importance of data security also increases. Customer data must be vigilantly guarded against potential threats and breaches. In many cases, using a disk encryption tool (such as Microsoft’s Bitlocker or Apple’s FileVault) provides a sufficient level of protection, but what if your customer or your CSO (Chief Security Officer) requires encryption at the database level – on a per table basis?
During 4D Summit 2018, you asked for a solution to encrypt your data and we’ve delivered. We’re excited to present new data encryption tools for your 4D databases.