Database Structures

Before using any of the functions a firm understanding of the data structures is needed. The main objects held within the database are readings, contigs, templates, vectors, clones and annotations. These reference additional records of other objects or one of the primitive types.

There are five basic types from which the database structures are constructed. These are:

GCardinal

A single 4 byte integer.

Text

An ascii string which may ending in a null. The null character may, or may not, be present in the actual data stored on the disk.

Array

An extendable list of 4 byte integer values.

Bitmap

An extendable array of single bits.

Data

Any other data. This is handled in a similar manner to the Text type except the null character may be present.

In the C code, the GCardinal is the basic type used in most database structures. Other structure elements are larger and so are typically stored as another GCardinal containing the record number of the data itself.