
Copyright (c) 2000 Ilya Verlinsky. All rights reserved.
Portions Copyright (c) 2000 Philippe Chane-You-Kaye. All rights reserved.

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. 

***************************************************************************
* CIsam.pm a Perl module allowing a Object Oriented acces of C-Isam files *
***************************************************************************

What is C-Isam?
__________________

Isam stands for Indexed Sequential Access Method. On Unix platforms the most
famous product is C-Isam from Informix.
Also this seems outdated compared with modern SQL databases, Isam is still
very important for many people who run old legacy software with data stored
in this format.

Why this module?
__________________

After looking at the only module available on CPAN for accessing C-Isam files,
I was quite disappointed. The module produced by Phillipe Chane-You-Kaye did
not include support for any data in the Isam files except text data. And to me
the plain c-style Informix function interface seemed not user-friendly enough.
The inteface that I'm used to using has 3rd party wrappers to the Informix 
C-Isam library that hide all the nitty-gritty of the isam file manipulation.

Thus the idea for this module was born. I believe that this module will provide
a friendlier API than the generic Isam library while retaining full functiona-
lity for the programmers that need it.


Module requirements
---------------------
- Perl 5.005 or later
- C compiler (gcc or other)
- Isam library (tested with Informix C-Isam and ByteDesigns D-Isam)

Where to download the module
----------------------------
Look on CPAN

How to install
--------------
- untar the compressed archive. For example: 
  tar xvzf Isam-0.1.tar.gz  
- cd IsamObjects-1.0
- vi Makefile.PL
  You probably will have to change the following line
  'LIBS'      => ['-ld96'],   # e.g., '-lm' 
  for example, to link with Informix C-Isam, change it to
  'LIBS'      => ['-lisam'],   # e.g., '-lm'
- perl Makefile.PL
- make
- make test
- make install
  (as root) 

Reference Material
------------------
- You can download a time limited version of the D-Isam library from 
  www.bytedesigns.com

Bugs
__________________
- On some Unix systems (AIX 3) Perl desides to do its garbage collection a
  little to early. Thus destroying my object. I have found a work-around for
  that 


How to contact me ?
-------------------
Mail me at ilya@wsi.net


ADDENDUM 
___________________

      Compiling
      ---------
      The Makefile.PL must have CISAM4 defined if you use Infoxmix C-ISAM v.4.00
	  (e.g. -DCISAM4).


If you have any questions e-mail me at ilya@wsi.net
