Applications Programs to Facilitate Use of a DBMS (Data Base Management System) to Store and Retrieve Graphics Displays (INGRED II)

摘要

Applications programs were written to facilitate the use of the RIM relational DBMS to store and retrieve graphics displays generated using capabilities of a graphics editor. This DBMS storage capability is in addition to data file storage which was provided by INGRED, the graphics editor. The resulting system is called INGRED II. The addition of DBMS capabilities made the graphics editor much more flexible and more user-friendly. It resulted in capabilities to obtain a listing of displays stored in the data base, to delete displays from storage which are no longer needed, and to store pertinent information in the data base along with the display data. Neither of these capabilities was available using the original INGRED. In the study of the data structure generated by GWCORE to store display information, it was determined that some data structure was redundant. Routines were added to optimize the data structure before storage on disk, with a resultant savings of over 45 per cent. The time required to do the optimization proved negligible, especially considering the criticality of storage at most locations which will use INGRED II. The result of the INGRED II system is a more effective system for use in graphics research and software design automation. (Author)