New TDAMemDataTable Component

One of the core features of any multi-tier database solution is of course the capability to store and persist data on the client, so that it can be presented and worked with without maintaining a live connection to the server.

In versions 4.0 and below of Data Abstract for Delphi, two client data table implementations were provided to achieve this, one based on Borland's TClientDataSet and the other using Microsoft's ADO.

While these two table implementations worked well in general, they were based on black-box technologies that no source code was available for, making it difficult to expand on the existing functionality in the ways we wanted, or for debugging and testing problems when they arose. Also, for obvious reasons, neither of the two underlying data storages were specifically optimized for Data Abstract.

Introducing the 100% Native Delphi Code TDAMemDataTable

To solve the aforementioned problems and to provide us with better flexibility moving forward, we have implemented our own client data table for 'Vinci', written completely in Delphi code that is under our control and ships with Data Abstract.

The new TDAMemDataTable was designed from the ground up to fit in well with the Data Abstract architecture, and to perform well in the scenarios needed in DA applications. We specifically optimized some of the scenarios that were causing bottle-necks in the old data tables, such as data load times.

While the TDAMemDataTable will work very well in every scenario, additional optimization has been done for working together with the new Bin2DataStreamer format (More) we are also introducing with 'Vinci', making many tasks even more efficient.

The Recommended Choice

While the old data tables are still provided for compatibility (they have been moved to the "Legacy" tab of the component palette), we recommend all users to start using the new TDAMemDataTable for best performance.

The new project templates and IDE wizards have been updated to automatically use the new component, and the DAConverter.exe tool is provided to make it easy for users to upgrade their existing projects to use the new component.