RETE-DB

RETE-DB is a customizable multi-user web database.

Speed, security and scalability are the outstanding advantages when comparing RETE-DB with other multi-purpose internet databases.

Target

• Address database
• Bug management
• Todo list
• File server
• ... (any list or table you can imagine)

Features

RETE-DB is a web-based database frontend, which allows to enter, search and modify records.

• Groups: Access rights are defined on groups; a group concept allows easy administration of access rights.
• Security: For every record (row) and for every field (column), access rights can be defined seperately.
• Speed: As tests have shown, this program is amazingly fast - even when working with hundred-thousands of records.
• Scalability: Multiple distributed RETE-DB instances can run in parallel on the same database.
• History: Every change of data is logged; even changes in the RETE-DB administration.
• Export: Search results can easily be exported to spreadsheet applications.
• Import: New records can be created and existing records can be updated with data of spreadsheet applications.
• LDAP: User accounts can be managed externally.
• Notifications: When the status of a record changes, email notifications can be sent automatically.

License

• GPL - Gnu Public License (see appendix B of the manual for details)

Screenshots

This image shows a todo list. Since you can define which columns are necessary for your project, you can adapt this program to many environments: from address databases to file servers.

Installation

RETE-DB requires only a Jakarta-Tomcat servlet engine, a MySQL database and of course the RETE-DB servlet:

Feature List

Version	Date	Status	New Features
0.1	2004-02-14	dev	First try. The development of this version was terminated due to slow performance
0.2	2004-03-09	dev	Tables for user- and meta data are initialized, User authentication and session management implemented, Listing the contents of projects works, The column types Short-Text, Integer, Keywords and Real are available, Read access permissions are implemented.
0.2.1	2004-03-25	dev	Search functionality is implemented, Search queries can be stored as bookmarks, Showing the contents of single rows in an html form works, Stepping through the list of the search results is implemented, Performance tests show amazing results.
0.2.2	2004-04-14	dev	Adding and modifying records, Write access permission rules are implemented, Report on success and failure of actions
0.2.3	2004-04-26	dev	Implementation of an easy and understandable search form, Support for changing multi-select Keywords
0.2.4	2004-05-04	dev	Logging all changes in a history, Showing the history, Support for flipping pages of search results
0.2.5	2004-05-13	dev	Encrypting passwords when storing them in the database (DB), Passwords changeable by the user, Logging IP addresses and failed trials, Automatic user deactivation when the server is attacked, The history supports keywords
0.2.6	2004-05-19	dev	Improved Error Reports, Record creation is only permitted if write access on ACCS_Id column is granted, Ordering search results, Nicer handling of access rights via group names instead of integers
0.2.7	2004-08-24	beta	Replacement of project reference ids by drop down lists in the administration menues, Online debug information, Automatic Database initialization, Automatic Database structure adaption to Fields-Table, Documentation on Installation
0.2.8	2004-08-25	beta	First GPL version
0.2.9	2004-10-11	beta	Spelling corrections and layout improvements, Administration and User Documentation, Consistency checks for ACCS_Projects and ACCS_Fields tables, Functionality to Option-fields in ACCS_Users and ACCS_Keywords tables added, All currently known bugs fixed.
0.3	2004-11-06	stable	Code reviews, Analysis of log file, Additional tests, Update of the manual, Improvements for the automatic creation of test records, Solution for the default access right definition of new records, First stable version.
0.3.1	2004-11-23	dev	Support for Date and Time types, Redesign of some classes.
0.3.2	2005-01-07	beta	Logging the user logins in the Database, Conversion of times between timezones.
0.3.3	2005-01-24	dev	Support for huge texts (storage, logging + retrieval)
0.3.4	2005-02-07	beta	Support for huge texts (search + sort)
0.3.5	2005-02-25	beta	Exporting search results to spreadsheet applications
0.3.6	2005-03-13	beta	Import of records from spreadsheet applications, Sorting records by their creation date or their last modification date.
0.3.7	2005-04-07	beta	Support for file uploads.
0.3.8	2005-04-21	beta	Layout improvements, Bugs fixed.
0.3.9	2005-05-07	beta	Layout improvements.
0.3.10	2005-06-20	beta	Documentation improved, All currently known bugs fixed.
0.3.11	2005-06-21	beta	Problem in search form solved.
0.3.12	2005-07-11	beta	Import improved, Timezones updated.
0.4	2005-08-11	stable	Code Reviews, Stable version.
0.4.1	2005-09-18	beta	Support for manadatory fields, Search-order by Month(DATE), Hour(TIME), Size(FILE) and reverse order
0.4.2	2005-10-09	beta	Scalability: Support for MySQL replication
0.4.3	2005-12-06	beta	Bugfix for load balancing on MySQL replication
0.4.4	2005-12-17	beta	Easier administration of access rights
0.4.5	2006-01-03	beta	Improved search options (not operator, layout of search criteria)
0.4.6	2006-01-05	beta	Bugfix for problems at upgrading version 0.3.3 (or earlier) to 0.4.5
0.4.7	2006-02-02	beta	Bugfix for database initialization
0.4.8	2006-02-13	beta	XML Export
0.4.9	2006-02-19	beta	SQL Connections are more stable.
0.4.10	2006-02-22	beta	SQL Connections are more stable.
0.4.11	2006-03-08	beta	Hints for administrators improved.
0.4.12	2006-03-15	beta	Minor bugs solved.
0.4.13	2006-03-31	beta	Small improvements on installation and security
0.4.14	2006-04-13	beta	Managing indices via the RETE-DB web-frontend
0.4.15	2006-05-01	beta	All currently known bugs fixed.
0.4.16	2006-05-20	beta	Code Reviews, Bugfix for database initialization
0.5	2006-05-21	stable	System Test, Stable version.
0.5.1	2006-11-28	beta	Layout
0.5.2	2007-01-08	beta	Refactoring Import Classes
0.5.3	2007-01-21	beta	All currently known bugs fixed (e.g. DATE-Field)
0.5.4	2007-03-16	beta	Nicer user interface
0.5.5	2007-04-02	dev	Support for N-to-1 relations between projects
0.5.6	2007-06-24	dev	Nicer layout of forms and N-to-1 links
0.5.7	2007-07-01	dev	Import data can be matched to existing records by other columns than just the ID column
0.5.8	2007-07-08	beta	Some tests
0.5.9	2007-10-03	dev	Records can be copied
0.5.10	2007-10-03	dev	Copying and Importing GR_P fields improved.
0.5.11	2007-10-25	beta	Some tests
0.5.12	2007-11-05	beta	More layout options for list
0.5.13	2007-12-10	dev	Performance improved: 1 less SQL Statement
0.5.14	2007-12-25	beta	All currently known bugs solved; import improved
0.5.15	2007-12-30	dev	Nto1 fields show some information of the foreign record
0.5.16	2008-01-05	beta	Nto1 field types improved; Object Pool leak removed; initial layout beautified.
0.5.17	2008-02-04	beta	Code refactored (less Singleton classes), History layout beautified.
0.5.18	2008-02-19	beta	Tables can be optimized.
0.5.19	2008-03-21	beta	Code Reviews
0.5.20	2008-03-24	beta	All currently known bugs fixed
0.5.21	2008-03-30	beta	Database initialization improved
0.6	2008-04-05	stable	Stable version.
0.6.1	2008-06-19	beta	Bugfix for creating new Projects.
0.7	2008-06-21	stable	Stable version.
0.8	2008-09-05	stable	Bugfix for automatic updates on LastMod Fields.
0.8.1	2008-09-15	beta	Consistency checks added to project and field records.
0.8.2	2008-10-12	dev	Consistency checks added to member records.
0.8.3	2008-11-30	dev	Consistency checks added to keywords, groups and users records. And some more to projects and fields.
0.8.4	2008-12-17	beta	All currently known bugs are fixed.
0.8.5	2008-12-30	beta	Custom extendability improved: Constraints, Auto-Values and Notifications are possible.
0.8.6	2009-01-04	beta	Administration simplified for new-installed systems, group easy-admin exists now Some tests on system installation.
0.9	2009-02-01	stable	Documentation updated, Code Reviews
1.0	2009-06-09	stable	3rd party libraries are included in the distribution package
1.0.1	2009-09-27	beta	Compatibility to MySQL 5.0
1.0.2	2010-07-04	beta	Compatibility to MySQL 5.1
1.0.3	2011-06-24	beta	New interface to filedownload library is supported
1.1.0	2011-07-24	dev	Pages are xhtml1 compliant, inline-SVG image is shown in non-MSIE browsers
1.1.1	2011-07-31	beta	CSS Stylesheets used to beautify html pages
1.1.2	2011-08-28	beta	Links in administration pages added to better explain the access rights
1.1.3	2011-10-22	beta	Icons added
1.1.4	2011-12-03	dev	More icons added. At least Java 1.4 is now required.
1.1.5	2011-12-19	dev	LDAP login works
1.1.6	2011-12-26	dev	Basic LDAP support
1.1.7	2012-01-02	beta	Documentation updated, some more tests, Compatibility to MySQL 5.5.
1.1.8	2012-01-15	beta	Installation simplified.
1.1.9	2012-01-31	dev	Email notifications are sent now. Mail-Libraries or j2ee are required.
1.1.10	2012-02-05	beta	Documentation updated, more tests done, icons for projects added.